Kyora's screams echoed through the Skylands, falling at the speed of a comet and feeling the wind currents pressing against her torso.
She was nearing the celestial tree's bottom, preparing to splatter on the ground like an egg into bloody pieces. It looked like she was in an inescapable position, scheduled to die.
She was terrified, her twirling eyes expressing that fear.
Nobody near them could save her. Every group was in a distinct area of the islands, Ralphie's group being the closest but still too far away from being able to do anything to save them.
She tried to locate an answer to escape her predicament but failed to do so. "What about Tim?! What happened to him?!" She expressed loyalty to him, indicating that even when falling to her death, she still thought about her captain's safety.
"Tim! Can you hear me?!"
But her voice got clouded by the heavy wind and the rippling sound of her attire. She couldn't see nor hear him. It alarmed her that something might have happened to him or that she had already fallen too far for him to detect her voice.
She didn't know that Timothy got knocked out and was now plunging to his death as well.
Turned upward, Timothy had his eyes closed. His arms and legs were soft and numb, dangling before his torso. His hair rapidly swayed, and his garments wavered in the wind.
The flames he could manipulate and form disappeared in the wind without a visible trace. They became enclosed by transparency, vanishing them from sight.
"I can't find a key... to open my eyes." He got lost in his thoughts. "... I don't feel my body. No matter how hard I try to move it..." The strong wind surrounding him became louder. "... It's like I'm about to have a seizure..."
What was happening around him didn't come through into his head. He seemed lost and afraid like a child. "I trained for two years without a break. Now it feels like I made no progress at all. After a single strike to the neck, I get knocked out..."
"...Was it all for nothing?"
His shaded forehead concealed his closed eyes.
"I know I don't have much time before I fall to the bottom. But I haven't figured out my goal. Ivione... was all of what he said true? Should I really depend on my predecessors? Should that be my dream, a wish? And... should I really chase a dream this pathetic?"
Kyora saw the ground below her nearing, feeling the wind rushing close to her skin, scraping it.
She clutched her head and opened her mouth to scream fearfully. "Aah! I can't get out of this! I'm gonna die! I didn't anticipate this is how my life would end!"
She couldn't stop yelling in fear while Timothy continued to fall at a rapid speed. He felt his heart beating, his mouth breathing.
"It doesn't matter... how hard I try to move. I won't budge..."
He heard a woman's voice. It called out to him as the minor part of his body — fingers wriggled.
It kept calling, developing words for him to understand, some of which included his name and someone else's memories.
"Flames aren't what they seem. You don't know their true potential..."
"...Have you ever thought about how your abilities appeared? Do you believe you just developed them from pure talent? Think about it. You merely unlocked the fraction of what you can do with them. There still so much more you need to learn about yourself that I can't tell..."
"...Now... push through your seal and overcome your troubles. Arouse and return to battle. Head forward and seek the answer you're searching for..."
Timothy's heartbeat gradually picked up speed, pounding louder with each passing second and rhythmically returning Timothy's consciousness.
He experienced arguments from other people who called out the name "Photine."
It played a brief vision of a woman caving to her death, plunging into what appeared to be a never-ending abyss or deep-dark void.
It was a similar incident Timothy went through presently. But the vision showed him miscellaneous hints of destruction, broken pieces of the unknown, and something like an ablaze city standing in its final moments.
"It's true... I can see her. She fought till the end without succumbing to her death without finishing her mission. If I want future generations to exist, someone who could inherit powers like mine, I need to continue breathing."
He remained senseless, not ready to face his death for a miserable reason such as this. The few images he underwent drove him to continue living and learn everything he required to know about these ancient abilities.
The flames awoke before his view cleared and began to burst forth around his arms. They seared, boiling his blood and diminishing the pressure racing in his body. It warmed his heart up and colored his skin rose.
He witnessed a glowing silhouette of a woman's body before him, standing in the darkest part of his body. She looked like Timothy's female alternative body, rung by sparkling particles.
The woman's voice reverberated as she spoke to him. "You must keep going and learn more about yourself and me... When you grow and awaken your abilities, only then will you find the answer you aspire to achieve."
He couldn't gain much knowledge about his abilities' history and the meanings of why they were deemed ancient.
By finally regaining consciousness, Timothy broadened his eyes to wake as the flames' power increased drastically. He breathed in and out, hurling his body backward to fall upside down, shooting out a massive amount of fire to use as a rocket boost and speed toward the ground like a comet.
Kyora prepared to face her death, but she heard a colossal and loud explosion above the skies and a blue trail speeding toward her that resembled a comet.
Timothy's clothes hung tight on his body. He caught up to her in no time, and before she'd splatter on the ground, caught her by the waist and hurriedly shifted directions to fly to the side.
Kyora screamed in shock, feeling Timothy's hands wrap tightly around her as she suddenly felt Timothy's soles sliding on the ground.
Timothy's shoes started getting scraped because he rapidly slid on the rough terrain. It ignited the grass behind him, burning it to a crisp, and succeeded in stopping before crashing into the wall ahead of him, saving Kyora and himself.
Once Kyora slowly opened her eyes, she seemed flabbergasted and horrified at the same time, understanding she could live for another day.
"You all right, Kyora?" Timothy inquired with a carefree demeanor and smiled as if nothing happened. She nodded as Timothy let her go.
And before they could return to battle, they gazed into the distance and spotted their friends.
Ralphie's group found and caught up to them in the nick of time.
To be continued...