Unable to get away, the collar was forcefully attached to my neck. Its form soon smoothed over, covering the latch and preventing removal. The sudden trauma to my neck knocked me down to my knees. A mind-splitting headache appeared suddenly, attacking every cell in my brain.
"See feels good to have his gaze always on you, right?"
"No! Ahhh!"
A flurry of screams echoed throughout the valley around us. No matter how much I tried to shake the headache off, the pain only increased. The collar stayed stuck to my neck, defying my strength.
My view of the surrounding lilac and golden fields was quickly fading into black. Soon, not a single petal remained. Oddly enough, I wasn't unconscious. I was just blinded, still able to move my limbs.
My vision soon returned, but it wasn't showing what it had a moment before. Instead, an empty throne room now stood in the meadow's place. A single girl of small stature sat lazily on the throne, eating a handful of grapes.
She soon hopped off the throne and jogged over to me. Her six gleaming white wings drew my attention. The wings dwarfed her small size, easily tripling it.
"Interesting. My band has rejected someone and has transported their mind to my throne, how odd. This was a thing I set up as a line of defence, not something I would actually expect to happen."
Her azure, messy hair soon appeared directly in front of my vision. She tilted her head slightly. I saw the curious eyes of a child peering down at me. Intrigue and hesitation ran wild in her gaze. She hadn't decided what to do with me.
"Ickni?"
"He, he. You called me my name to my face. You are definitely not from around here, are you? But I suppose it's a pleasant change from just being the Custodian, such a dull name."
Ickni grabbed hold of the sacred band, which was tightly fixed around my neck.
"112247, Break."
With her words, the band scattered into multiple pieces, freeing my mind from its endless assault.
"Thank you."
"It would have broken anyway. It was unable to chain whatever power slumbers within you, so it tried to kill you instead. If you can't be controlled, then you should just die, in my opinion. But I'll permit your existence for now. Something interests me about you."
Ickni's hideous laughter drowned out all positive thoughts forming around her. An unsettling anxiety crept over my mind before my vision returned to the surrounding meadows.
"Ehhhh?! It broke? Hey! Stop looking at me like that!"
"Stop shouting, have no respect for my ears! And why didn't you tell me you are ruled by a child!"
"Huh… Child? What do you mean? The almighty custodian leads us, not some child. Did the sacred band take the rest of your intelligence alongside it?"
"Have you ever seen your beloved custodian?"
"Of course not. I'm only a Second String; only First and Divine Strings have the right to request an audience with the Custodian. I'm not worthy of my beloved custodian's gaze yet."
Lilia briefly succumbed to her lust and admiration for the custodian, who appeared as a child. Despite not knowing Ickni's childlike form, Lilia still experienced these feelings, which made her a creep.
"Stop rubbing up against your spear, you pervert! Go away!"
Swiftly picking myself up from the ground, I began to walk away from the pervert. Keeping my head down and my pace brisk, I aimed to clear as much distance as possible while she was still lost in her fantasies. The memories of Ickni were still fresh in my mind. I kept seeing the hideous grin on her face, replaying over and over, causing terror and anxiety to dance along my nerves.
The shimmering lances hovered above me, dwarfing me with their immense size. They emanated a shining light, serving as a beacon to my location. They sat idly, following my every move, awaiting a command or any sign of immediate danger.
However, their threat-detection skills seemed terrible, not even moving an inch when Lilia forcefully put the collar of Ickni around my neck.
"Tskk."
"Why so gloomy, wingless? Is it because our great custodian rejected you? I'm truly sorry, just blame it on that poor intellect of yours."
We started to walk towards the giant citadel looming in the distance, but my attempts to shake off Liliac were in vain. Her wings made her much faster than me, and I was unable to get away. I just returned to my normal pace, accepting her annoying presence.
"Why won't you leave me alone? You were just calling me vermin a moment ago. What's with the change?"
"Well, even if you are wingless, I can't abandon a clearly mentally deficient angel in their time of need, can I?
"I'm not mentally deficient!"
"Oh, don't be so angry. You clearly don't have it so bad. These spears of light are quite powerful and act as sentries. But I've never seen such a spell before. Do you have an Edict of Light, or is it something else?"
"Um, I don't know what that is."
"Stop being so dense. You must have hit your head. Everyone knows what an Edict is, even the wingless pests."
Lilia didn't believe that I didn't know what an Edict was. She brushed it off as a joke, waiting for me to correct myself. She stared into my eyes, expecting an answer I couldn't give.
"Could you just enlighten my stupidity then?"
While I didn't want to go along with Lilia's train of thought that I was stupid and lesser, if it helped me find more about this world, then I would just have to bear her remarks.
"Ugh, fine, I guess you are lesser after all. An edict is a medium for your power within you. There are many edicts, around 8 in total. Depending on the colour of your soul and your personality, you'll receive an edict that corresponds to it. From those spears of light, you most likely have an edict of light or creation."
While her little retorts are extremely annoying, I listened dutifully to her explanation, soaking in all the knowledge within her words.
"Here's an example of an Edict, look at my left hand."
I did as she asked. On her left hand was an elaborate mark, almost like a tattoo. Its design was much more detailed than any tattoo I'd ever seen. Its form mimicked a roaring phoenix soaring through the sky, surrounded by a sea of flames.
Its black colour began to glow scarlet. It slowly emitted steam and traces of flame. The flames whirled in the air and gathered in her palm. A small fireball swirled serenely in her grasp, completely under her control.
"Wow, I've never seen anything like that. It's amazing."
The fireball was very familiar. It was common in fantasy books and TV shows from Earth. But despite this, seeing it in person still amazed me. It was much more intriguing than watching or reading about it.
"So you have an Edict of Flames, or Fire then, Lilia?"
"Pretty cool, right? While that's a good guess, it isn't exactly what my Edict is."
"Huh?"
"All Edicts revolve around the key concepts and constellations of this world: Stars, Moon, Nature, and Light. My Edict actually uses the power of the Sun to create the flames you see in my hands."
"So it is fire then? The Sun is just a big ball of fire, so I'm actually right."
"No! It is the Sun, not some lowly fire. The Sun is a vast, proud ball of pride and honour, don't compare it to some little spark."
I didn't respond to her declaration, rolling my eyes. I increased my pace, trying to shake the annoyance off me.
Panicking, she flew to catch up after my sudden retreat. She had been too busy with her insults to notice I had even left. Her expression was now filled with worry and slight annoyance at my actions.
"Are you stupid or something?"
"What!?"
"How do you expect to get to Grandheart on foot? It would take days to cross this area. If you ask me, you should beg me to carry me there. If you don't, you'll die of exhaustion in these lands. You won't get a break with the forsaken lurking in the shadows."
From our position, the citadel didn't seem far, just a couple of miles away. By my estimate, it was only a couple of hours' walk, not a few days.
"But that doesn't make any sense; it doesn't appear to be days away. Only a couple of hours."
"Grandheart is just that big; it doesn't matter where you are. It'll always appear as a looming tower, watching your every move. It's another one of my beloved's creations, ensuring peace and harmony in the lands."
"It doesn't matter where you are? Even if you are on the edge of the Order Dominion, you can still see it?"
"Yes, exactly right. Rather impressive, don't you think?"
These lands were much more dangerous than I first thought. The forsaken creature was only my first taste of this danger. It seems that Ickni and her whole dominion are a prison built for control.
A cold sweat appeared all over my body at the thought of being the odd one out in a shackled world. My lack of a sacred band would invite trouble into my newfound life. If I stayed in this Dominion, it would only mean despair.
My mind was growing more desperate by the second. I didn't want to experience any more brutality. I also didn't want to be confined and used for whatever power slumbers inside me.
Ickni, the Dominion of Order. The one who would most definitely only invite despair into my life if I continued down the path towards Grandheart. I had to escape Lilia while she wasn't awful to be around, to be honest, she was still a servant of Ickni and couldn't be trusted.
"Um, I think I'm going to go this way instead. I'll just head to the new Dominion. I don't have a sacred band after all and… Don't want to be a burden…"
"... … …"
"No, no, no. You can't leave now, you either come with me or I'll kill you. I'll give you five seconds to decide."
Lilia was smiling, but the joy didn't reach her eyes; they were completely hollow, as if the energetic Lilia had been completely erased and replaced by an obedient machine. Her hand was firmly secured around the pommel of her sword, awaiting the opportunity to split me in two.
"Don't even think about it. If you command those spears to protect or kill, I'll reduce your time to zero. While they are unknown, I don't believe they'll pose much threat at the moment."
"They will move in response to threats. How can you be so confident?"
While I appeared confident on the outside, I was anything but, taking anything I had to not break out into shivers and drop to my knees at Lilia's hostility and malice, overwhelming any part of my body.
"Four."
She didn't respond to my question; she was absolutely confident in her own abilities and knew that my newfound centuries wouldn't pose any real threat to her. Her confidence was expected after all, they didn't move to protect me when she collared me, also destroying my mind.
"Three."
Lilia's body shifted towards her sword, preparing to cleave me in two in one fluid motion. Her training and expertise were blatant even to my untrained eyes. In an actual battle, I won't last a second against her.
On Earth, I had never seen a sliver of combat, always keeping away from the public eye and keeping to myself. Because of my normal features, I never caught the eye of any bullies or criminals. So my combat experience against Lilia was a perfect zero. I was no match; she and I knew that.
"Fine. I'll come with you, I surrender."
Lilia's joyful persona soon returned in full, a wide smile on her face, looking relieved and slightly amused. The machine built for killing was completely gone, the light swirling within her eyes being testament to her switch.
"Good. Perhaps you aren't that stupid after all. Well then, shall we get going?"
Lilia outstretched her arms, waiting for me to jump into them, apparently adamant on carrying me to Grandheart. I didn't feel practically inclined to accept her proposal, not wanting to ruin my reputation as a man. Luckily, my mind wasn't so dense as Lilia suggested; ideas about getting there were already running through my mind.
"No. I will not be carried like a newborn. I have another idea on how to get there."
"Huh? What else but me carrying you? It's not like you can just sprout wings when you want. I wish I could put these inconveniences away sometimes."
Can't they put their wings away? How odd. Most of the stories I've read about angels involve them disguising themselves as humans, but these angels seem different, not allowed to hide their divinity. Although from her earlier words, I doubt anyone would willingly want to put them away.
Being reduced to a wingless vermin was most likely worse than death in this world. And unfortunately for me, I was one of those wingless vermin.
"I can't possibly see any other solution to your wingless status."
Shutting out Lilia's words, I concentrated on controlling the floating spears above me, commanding them to lie parallel to the ground. It took quite a while until they obeyed my commands; the spears of pure light eventually lowered to the ground.
Although they were gigantic, I still felt that I would be able to jump on top of the pommel of one of them, allowing it to carry me to Grandheart. While I didn't consider this a noble solution to my troubles, looking frankly ridiculous, it was still better than being carried like some child.
Thankfully, I was able to climb onto it using the small gaps as leverage. From the spear top, I had a much better view of the surroundings, seeing a meadow filled with golden and lilac trees. Never had I seen such a majestic sight; it was truly fitting for a land of the divine.
"So how are you gonna move it if you aren't moving? They are sentries, aren't they?"
Without responding to Lilia, I focused solely on the spears, willing them to move, acting as my carriage. Much to my surprise, they gave no resistance to my orders, launching back into the air, heading towards Grandheart at a staggering speed, nearly knocking me off. It took everything I had to stay rooted to the colossal spear.
Just like that, I had saved myself the embarrassment of being held like a child heading towards Grandheart with my own power. But could I really stay mine? This power isn't originally mine, so can I truly call it mine?