We walked all day toward the closest village from our home, the capital. If we were flying, it would barely have taken a few hours, but since I had to walk I would say a few days. I wasn't used to it. I never walked kilometres before, but those who lost their wings once could easily reach it in a day or so. Unlike the capital, where I was the only one without wings, humans were common in the villages.

I was indebted to Sebastian. Even if he could fly all the way there, he was patiently waiting for me. He even walked with me for a few hours until his foot couldn't take it anymore. Or sometimes, he would even carry me into the air. However, as the days came and went, I became impatient and was about to lose any kind of hope about finding him and getting my wings back. Plus, we were getting closer to the borders of our Kingdom and to the end of the month. I wasn't excited about that at all. It was terrifying as hell. I remembered when I was still a child, and I had my growth spurt, my wings had to adapt and grow all at once in one night. It felt as if my back was ripped into pieces as something tried to force its way out.

Hopefully, there was a small village near our location. I was finding it quite dangerous to find out that some of our people lived so close to the border since the Aquilam and Ignis Clan were in a frozen era of war. Both Kingdoms were waiting for the other to break the fragile era of peace between us. Only one error and war would follow.

Near sunset, Sebastian succeeded to find a family that was kind enough to take us in for the night. Of course, it won’t be for free. We will compensate them generously for their kindness. Plus, Sebastian and I also agreed to hunt a deer for them with a few coins of gold. After the meal, the wife offered us a chance to take a bath. I was so grateful for that. I think it had been at least a few days since our last bath in a river.

Later into the night, I couldn’t fall asleep, so as I was staring at the stars, my mind wandered away to live back what happened this past week. A few days ago, I could still perform acrobatics and hunt in the air. My only distraction to free myself from every day’s troubles.

"Mister?" asked a small voice who scared the hell out of me.

"Yes? And please don't call me that, I'm only nineteen," I answered to the little human girl from the family that was hosting us after I had calmed my racing heart.

"Why are you crying while looking at the sky?" she asked innocently as she handed me a tissue.

I gladly took the tissue after thanking her. I didn't realize that I was crying. Who knew that looking at the sky would make me feel so sad.

"I used to have wings and fly up there," I answered sadly. "Now, that I don't have them anymore, it makes me feel as if I am missing an important part of myself."

"You had wings?!" she exclaimed excitedly. "What did they look like? How did you feel when flying through the sky?" she asked with so much curiosity and envy in her eyes.

"My wings weren't the biggest or the longest of the knights or the archers, but they were the most beautiful one. They were pure white while almost shining in the sun like freshly fallen snow and when I was flying into the sky..." I paused sadness filling me again. “It was as if all my troubles, all my fear are gone. Up there, only happiness and freedom could reach me. Nothing else..." I talked and talked lost in my thoughts, not really knowing what I was saying.

What snapped me out of this trance was the unbearable pain in my back. Why? It wasn't even the end of the month yet! However, what I wasn't expecting was the most delicious smell that floated in the air. I was hurting so much yet I was in heaven for smelling this fragrance. It was so familiar, but I couldn’t remember where I smelt it before. With a pain clouding my mind, I wasn't really conscious of what I was doing anymore. My body was instinctively attracted by the source of the smell. I was getting close, so close, but suddenly, I was stopped by someone.

"Keith, where the hell are you going?! You were about to cross the border!" yelled Sebastian angrily as he pulled away.

As an answer, I only groaned something incomprehensible because the only thing I desired was to follow the delicious fragrance. Without it, I felt like I was going to miss something very important. If I reach the source of it, everything will be okay, everything would be right again. In order to get what I wanted, I started to fight against his arms trying to free myself.

"Wow, calm down Keith! What went under your skin?" he asked worriedly, but when he saw that I wasn't going to stop until he released me, he started to gain altitude into the sky. "Please talk to me, Keith. Tell me why you want to go there?" he pleaded to maintain us in the air.

"Smell," I groaned in pain still trying to make him loosen his grip, disregarding the fact that we were a hundred feet from the ground.

"Smell?" he sniffed the air. "I don't smell anything and please calm down Keith or you'll only injure yourself," he tried to calm me down.

"N-no, m-mate!" I said desperately as the odour became more aromatic. "Please let me go..." I whimpered.

After a moment, we landed, but not where I wanted. We were on a rooftop! How the hell was I going to get down? Oh, well, I would just jump. However, Sebastian prevented me again. This time, I was getting pretty annoyed.

"Let. Me. Go." I growled furiously.

"No, you're not thinking clearly, and whatever you're smelling isn't even one of our kind. You were just about to cross the border. You may have been KILLED!" explained my friend as mad as me.

However, before I could respond, not only the smell was so much stronger, but a man stood in front of us. In the position I was, I could only see his shoes, but God did he smell good. It was so pleasurable that I almost moaned. When I looked up, deep metallic gray eyes were looking at me intently. We stayed like this for God knew how long, but no words were needed. We knew exactly what the other was thinking.

"Mate," we both said simultaneously.