“Yuki. I know what it means now.”

The sky was clear on Erytheia, but there was a wind in the air. It was a strange wind. It whistled softly, like a whisper, and it meandered as if it didn’t know where to settle until choosing a spot almost at random. It played with his hair, his folds of his uniform and even the birdcage he held or, rather, the lock — the reason for his coming here.

When you have overcome what only might,
It is then you will see the true light,
And in that moment, you shall take flight.

That was the riddle his ancestor had given him and he had solved it. Now there was only one thing left for him to do...

“That’s certainly a bold claim. It is a heavy thing to say you know. Can you handle what such self knowledge brings?”

Yuki’s familiar voice was comforting to Erytheia for once and he came to the sudden realization as to why. Yuki was being serious for once.

“Tell me then. What is the meaning of the riddle?”

Erytheia saw a high cliff ahead and walked as he spoke.

“‘When you have overcome what only might’... I must not worry about what I cannot control.”

Erytheia began climbing the cliff.

“‘It is then you will see the true light’... I must follow where the light of my heart — my starseed — leads.”

He was almost at the top now.

“‘And in that moment, you shall take flight’... This one. This final line. It took me the longest to understand, yet it was the simplest one out of them all.”

He was on the ledge of the cliff now staring down into the wind of the valley.

“You meant it literally... that last line... Yuki, we will see if you are right about me, after all.”

And, with eyes closed, Erytheia held the locked birdcage aloft and leapt...

... and, in that moment, the seal was broken.

A white feather formed in his hands and flew from his grasp to his back and a pair of spectral wings — if just for a moment — gave one large flap upward with a downdraft of wind right before he hit the ground and he landed as light as the feathers that now surrounded him in a whirl of wind.

And then they were gone.

“That, Yuri, is your personal item,” Yuki said with a sly smile. “It will work for you as long as you believe in yourself as I believe in you.”

He looked to Erytheia and continued.

“And that is not all. The feather may be your personal item, but the bird cage is the artifact the holds your summons.”

Suddenly, the gilded bird cage began to glowed.

And a creature was summoned!

A large white bird with starlit eyes.

“That is P’rue. She is your summons. The bird is very loyal and will allow you to ride her. She can only carry one person. Two, if you are desperate. But that will cause her to de-summon quickly.”

✪