The Devil's Cursed Witch

Ember was excitedly running towards the slope where Morpheus was waiting for her. She was happy that she could go outside today instead of just staying inside the palace. Now that she’d thought of it, ever since she returned from Ronan after being given citizenship by the council, she hadn’t been able to step outside again.

She stood in front of the winged man with bright eyes. “Are we going to leave now? Where are we going?”

Morpheus stared at her for a moment, both amused and bothered to see how much she trusted him. She didn’t even think twice before saying yes to going out with him.

‘Is she so naive to trust any person who showed goodwill to her? Though she knows me, why does she trust me this much? Is it because I called her my friend? Is being a friend that special to her?’

“Morph?” she called him, seeing him not answering her. She was completely oblivious of why he’s approaching her in the first place.

“Oh, you’re here?” he reacted as if he just noticed her. He heard her laugh. “You spaced out. So, where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise for you,” he replied with a lopsided grin.

“If you say so, umm… we aren’t going to walk, right?” she asked, pretending nonchalance, but inside she was excited to be carried by him so she could fly in the sky once more.

“How do you wish to go?” Do you want me to borrow Lusca from Leeora?” he asked, but of course, he didn’t mean it. He just wanted to tease her and check her reaction. He could clearly see what she wanted. Those innocent and beautiful eyes of hers could not hide what was in her mind.

She cleared her throat awkwardly, before offering him a gaze full of expectations. “Can’t we just… fly?”

“Do you want to fly with me?”  he asked.

She nodded immediately. “Yes! Uhm, only if you’re fine with the idea…Can we fly like last time?”

He chuckled at her shy expression. “Of course! We will do whatever you want,” he assured, and the next moment, she saw his majestic wings opening to their fullest.

She could not help but be excited like a little girl, smiling happily upon seeing him playfully flap his wings. She even reached out to catch one of the soft feathers that fell from his wings.

‘Such a kid!’ he thought as he smiled. “Shall we?”

She bravely stepped towards him. “Shall I hold onto you?”

“Yes, like last time.” He nodded and pulled her closer with his hand at her waist. She didn’t hesitate and let him carry her in his strong arms. She tightly circled her arms around his neck in fear of falling down once they’re up in the air, though deep in her heart, she knew that would never happen with him.

Ember let out a happy squeal the moment they were up in the air. WIth each flap of his wings, Morpheus flew higher and higher until they’re above the palace walls. He then headed towards the southern side of the mountain range surrounding the kingdom.

Feeling the cool air brushing against her face, Ember slowly opened her eyes to look around. She was thrilled but also scared to look down to check how high they were flying.

‘So high!’

She could see the size of the entire palace grounds to be no bigger than her fist, and the river outside looked more like a thin silvery rope. The huge trees of the forest looked tiny in comparison, and rather than a forest, it looked more like a painting of a green-colored sea.

‘It’s higher than last time!’

Feeling scared, she closed her eyes back and buried her face in the garment wrapped around his shoulders.

“Aren’t you going to look around, little female?” she could hear his deep yet languid masculine voice seemingly laughing at her reaction.

“The wind hurts my eyes,” she countered, not willing to say she’s afraid because he flew too high for her liking. She didn’t want to give him any reason to refuse flying with her next time.

“But I’m flying slowly?”

“The wind still hurts my eyes.”

Ember was thankful she could not see his expression, because she could hear his laughter along with the flapping of his large wings. Soon enough, they reached the peak of one of the mountains. She felt Morpheus land and heard the sound of his feet stepping on pebbles and small rocks.

“We have reached our destination, little female,” Morpheus said as he lowered his head to look at the scared human in his arms. She had her body shrank as much as she could, held onto him as if her life depended on it.

Ember slowly opened her eyes to see where her friend had brought her.

‘It doesn’t smell like the forest?’

She tentatively looked at Morpheus’ strikingly handsome face before looking around and she could not believe what she saw.

“Clouds? Are those clouds?” she asked with large eyes, staring in disbelief at those soft huge fluffy white tufts of cotton floating around the tract of rocky ground where they’re standing..

“They are,” he replied as he looked at her shocked face.

She wanted to take a big gulp of air, but realized that the air was too thin. She then looked at Morpheus with a bewildered gaze.

“Are we above the clouds?”

He nodded in response.

It was real. They were so high up in the sky that they’re above the clouds.

From her point of view, it looked like they were on a rocky island surrounded by a sea of clouds. The experience was so unexpected she didn’t know how to react.

Morpheus then slowly put her down. The moment her feet touched the rocky ground, Ember held onto him, still unable to fully get a grasp of her situation. She could not believe she could even reach the clouds, but with Morpheus, she was able to reach higher grounds. The fact he could fly that high didn’t feel that shocking to her; it was that she personally experienced it that made her unable to believe this to be true.

‘I’m on the peak of a mountain so tall, I could see clouds below me…’