"You will never listen to my warning, will you?" the cold voice whispered, sending chills down my spine.

The shadow wrapped its fingers around my neck once again. It was painful.

Leon's eyes shot open as he huffed. Pulling away the cloak covering his face, he sat up. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and nose and looked around.

He was still in the cave with Ophelia, who was asleep. When he saw no cloak on her, he realized it was the one covering his face earlier. He was perplexed thinking how her cloak would be with him.

A soft, golden light was present in the cave. It came from the sun outside and lit up half of Ophelia's face. Leon remained in the shadows and placed the back of his hand on her neck. It was not as warm as he thought it would be.

Feeling the sudden touch, Ophelia opened her eyes. She flinched back when she saw it was Leon.

Leon rolled his eyes and said, "You did not have to give me your cloak."

His words reminded her of what happened the previous night. She leaned toward him and touched his forehead with the back of her hand as she said, "You were shivering. I had to give it to you."

Leon furrowed his eyebrows. "What happened last night?"

Ophelia pulled her hand away and said, "You had a fever, but now it seems to have gotten better."

When the memories came back to him, he sighed. His hand lightly slammed his forehead and he snickered. "Did I really do all that?"

Ophelia's face turned slightly red. She stuttered, "What do you mean by 'all that'?"

"You know better than me," he said as he got up and looked outside. The feeling of confusion still lingered in him, so he took his pocket watch out.

Is the sun rising or setting?

It was half past five. Leon threw her cloak at her and said, "We should get going. I will not be able to stay out in the sun."

Ophelia gave him a quick nod and put on her red cloak. She followed him out of the cave and saw yet another stunning view.

A small ball of light slowly rose above the horizon, illuminating the soft mauve clouds in the distance. The stars shone dimly in the places where the light did not reach. Ophelia stared at the view with a slightly opened mouth.

"Hey, do you want to learn how to fly?"

The girl's attention moved to him as he stared down at the layer of clouds. Feeling a strong rise of excitement, Ophelia said, "Of course, I do!"

"Then... spread your wings out."

She did exactly what he told her to do. Leon walked towards her, saying, "Now is the perfect time."

He stood behind her and placed his hands on her shoulders. His next words sounded sheepish.

"By the way, forget whatever I did last night."

Ophelia turned her head to look at him, but she could only see the side of his face. The corner of his lips turned upwards in a smirk as he said, "Don't scream."

Before she could realize what was happening, Leon gave her a strong push.

The wind pushed against her face as she fell from the top. She could see the edge of the mountain getting closer; she had to do something quickly to avoid being hit.

Despite knowing the fact that she would not be able to fly at that moment, she still flapped her wings. The wings felt heavy; they took away her energy with each flap.

Somehow, she managed to move away from the mountain and let herself fall again. The barrier of clouds got closer and closer until she plunged into it, making a hole at the spot.

It was hard to not scream. She tried flapping her wings again and saw Leon catching up with her.

Seeing him gliding down with her, she froze. A few seconds later, Leon held her by the waist and rose upward.

"You almost crashed headfirst into that tree," he said.

Ophelia huffed and glared at him. "That's the worst way to teach someone how to fly!"

When he was high enough, he stopped going further. Ignoring Ophelia's statement, he said, "Let's do it again."

"No!" yelped Ophelia, but it was too late. She was already falling.

The girl tried to move her wings again, but they felt heavy. With each flap, she unsteadily moved upwards. Every time she released control of her wings, gravity would pull her down.

Feeling tired, she wheezed, "I can't... do this anymore."

She held her breath when she saw the woods getting closer to her. She knew she would crash into it and scratch herself, even break a few bones. But it did not happen.

It felt as if she was being held in the air by an invisible force. When Leon landed on the ground, she whispered, "What?"

The invisible force took her down and made her stand on the ground. She realized it was just Leon's magic.

After balancing on her feet, she snapped. "I could have gotten hurt!"

Leon said with a poker face, "That is why I used magic."

"I don't want to do it anymore. It's so hard!"

Leon began to walk through the woods. "You have to let your instincts take over. You will be able to fly gradually."

Ophelia folded her wings back and said with exhaustion, "Are we going to walk all the way to Miss Grace's home?"

"Yes, if you don't mind."

Hearing his reply, Ophelia sat on the ground with a pout on her face. Leon looked behind and sighed.

He walked towards her and picked her in his arms. Spreading his ink-black wings out, he rose to the sky, saying, "You really love to torment me, don't you?"