The forest ended so abruptly that I nearly walked past Coco.
She had stopped at the edge of the trees, one hand raised to shield her eyes from the sudden sunlight. I stepped beside her, following her gaze, and forgot whatever I had been about to say.
The Dadah Mountain Range floated above the clearing.
The name had prepared me for mountains. It had done nothing to prepare me for enormous spheres of earth suspended in the sky.
The lowest was wide enough to hold several estates. Grass covered its curved surface, growing sideways along the edges before disappearing over the rounded slope. Thick vines hung from its underside, some reaching halfway toward the lake below. Beyond it floated another sphere, then another, rising one after the next until the highest nearly vanished into the clouds.
Their shadows drifted across the clearing with the slow movement of the morning sun.
Coco lifted the Guidance Orb in both hands.
The green light within it turned upward and pointed toward the distant summit.
For several breaths, she simply watched it.
Then she looked at me.
“It really means the highest one, doesn’t it?”
“Unless the Diadem Herb has learned to fly down and meet us.”
Her eyes stayed on the range. “I was hoping Agott had exaggerated.”
“Agott does not seem inclined toward exaggeration.”
“That was what worried me.”
A lake spread beneath the floating spheres, reflecting their shapes so clearly that another range seemed to descend beneath the water. Near the shore sat a narrow wooden dock and a boat small enough that I doubted anyone had brought it here for comfort.
One boat. One oar. No bridge.
The trial had been designed to make its intention obvious.
Reach the sky or fail.
I found myself smiling.
Coco noticed. “You look pleased.”
“I am.”
“We have been learning magic for two days.”
“That is part of why this is interesting.”
She turned toward me fully, searching my face for signs that I was pretending.
I understood her confusion. She had entered the trial because Agott had questioned whether she deserved to become an apprentice. Part of her wanted to prove Agott wrong. Another part was probably afraid Agott had been right.
For me, the trial meant something else.
Qifrey-sensei had explained the foundation. Agott had placed a real magical problem in front of us. We had tools, a destination, and enough knowledge to begin.
That was how training became useful.
Not by waiting until nothing could go wrong, but by understanding what could go wrong before moving anyway.
I looked down at the Sylph Shoes on Coco’s feet.
“May I examine them?”
Coco followed my attention. “Now?”
“Before you trust them to carry you several hundred feet into the air.”
“That sounds sensible when you say it like that.”
She sat on the grass and removed both shoes.
I placed them sole-up beside one another.
What had looked like two separate seals from a distance was actually one design divided in half. The left sole held one side of the levitation glyph and part of the surrounding circle. The right held the rest. Individually, neither half could activate.
When the soles were pressed together, the lines aligned.
The glyph became whole.
Coco leaned over my shoulder. “So that’s why Agott said to put my feet together.”
“Exactly. Closing your feet closes the circle.”
“And then they fly.”
“They activate,” I corrected. “Flying still appears to depend on what you do afterward.”
She frowned at the distinction.
“You make that sound important.”
“It will become important if the shoes lift you upside down.”
Her expression tightened. “Can they do that?”
“I do not know yet.”
“Haruya.”
“That is why we are studying them.”
I took out two sheets of practice paper and placed them side by side. On the first, I began copying the left half of the seal. Coco moved around so she could see better, then took out her own pen and started on the right.
The glyph was unfamiliar, but parts of the surrounding design were not. I recognized signs related to direction and sustained force, though both had been altered from the simple versions Qifrey-sensei taught us.
The more I looked, the more questions appeared.
Did the seal lift the wearer directly, or did it repel the shoes from the ground? Did the directional signs respond to the angle of the feet? How much did the space between the soles matter before activation broke?
I wanted to ask Qifrey-sensei.
Since he was not there, I would settle for finding answers carefully.
Coco paused over one of the curves.
“This part is too narrow on my copy.”
I compared it to the shoe. “A little.”
“If the feet have to meet, then both halves need to line up exactly.”
“Yes. A mistake on one side changes the whole glyph.”
She looked at the two shoes, then at the papers between us.
“It is like matching a pattern across two pieces of cloth. Mother used to make me pin the edges before sewing, because if one side slipped, the design would bend at the seam.”
I adjusted the spacing on my copy.
“Then you may understand the difficult part better than I do.”
Coco blinked. “Really?”
“You noticed the alignment before I did.”
A small smile appeared before she bent over her page again.
We copied the design several times in ordinary ink.
My first pair looked clean, but when we placed the papers together, the outer circle met at a slight angle. Coco’s second pair joined properly, though one side of the central glyph thickened where she had pressed too hard.
Neither would be safe to activate beneath our feet.
That did not frustrate me.
Every failed copy showed us something the shoes had hidden.
On our fourth attempt, the separate halves became one continuous design when the pages touched.
I examined every line with Observe.
Observe
Subject: Copied Sylph Shoe Levitation Seal
Structure: Complete when both halves are aligned
Known Function: Levitation and directional aerial movement
Stability: Acceptable
Observed Flaws: Minor variance in outer-circle thickness. Low expected effect on basic activation.
Estimated Risk: Low during ground-level testing
I reached for the magical ink.
Coco placed a hand over the bottle before I could open it.
“Are we going to activate it?”
“Yes.”
Her fingers remained on the lid. “Qifrey-sensei told us not to experiment with unfamiliar spells.”
“This one is not unfamiliar.”
“We only looked at it for an hour.”
“We know its purpose. We know how it activates. Agott gave you the shoes specifically so you could use the spell during the trial.”
“That doesn’t mean she expected us to copy it.”
“No,” I agreed, “but copying it is the best way to understand what she gave us.”
Coco glanced at the floating mountains.
“What if our copy is wrong?”
“Then the paper may move differently than expected. That is why we test it on paper before placing it beneath either of us.”
She slowly removed her hand from the ink bottle.
“You aren’t nervous at all.”
“I am careful. That is different.”
I dipped my pen.
“Magic follows what we draw. If we understand the effect and examine the seal properly, I would rather test it than spend the entire day wondering whether it works.”
Something in my answer settled her.
Coco held the papers steady while I reproduced the two halves using magical ink. We kept them separated, leaving both designs incomplete.
Once the ink dried, we placed a stone on each sheet so the wind could not steal them.
Coco crouched opposite me.
“Ready?”
“I am.”
We pushed the papers together.
The moment the halves met, silver light traveled around the completed circle.
Both sheets jumped.
The stones lifted with them.
Coco made a startled sound as the papers rose to the height of our knees, carrying the stones as though they weighed nothing. The two sheets trembled where their edges touched, but they remained aligned.
I reached toward one side and tilted it.
The floating seal drifted in the same direction.
Coco’s eyes widened.
“It follows the angle.”
“Like the shoes follow your feet.”
I adjusted the other side. The papers turned.
The movement was rough, though the principle was clear.
A notification appeared.
Glyph Magic Lv. 3 → Lv. 5
Drawing Lv. 39 → Lv. 40
Coco looked from the floating papers to the Sylph Shoes.
“You think I can try them now.”
“I think staring at them longer will not teach us as much as using them.”
She drew in a breath.
“All right.”
The two half-seals on the shoes remained safely open as she put them on. Coco stood, tested the straps, then looked down at her feet.
“How do I begin?”
“Bring your soles together.”
“I know that part.”
“You asked.”
“I meant what happens after that.”
“I suspect you will rise.”
“That is very useful.”
I smiled. “Keep your ankles straight. Separate your feet once you are off the ground. The circle should break and stop producing lift.”
Coco’s brows drew together. “Then how am I supposed to keep flying?”
“The magic may remain for a short period after activation, or the shoes may reactivate each time your feet meet. Agott only told us that they respond to your foot movements.”
“So we still don’t know.”
“Correct.”
She looked at me.
“You sound happy about that.”
“I am about to learn something.”
Coco shook her head, though she was smiling now.
She sat on the grass, raised her legs, and carefully pressed the soles together.
The two halves aligned.
The seal flashed.
Coco shot three feet into the air.
Her legs separated in surprise, breaking the completed circle, and she dropped directly onto the grass.
I moved toward her, but she was already sitting up.
Her hair had fallen across her face.
For a moment, she looked stunned.
Then she pushed the hair aside.
“I flew.”
“You went upward and came back down.”
“I still left the ground.”
The excitement in her voice made me laugh.
“Yes. You flew.”
Her second attempt lasted longer.
This time, she kept her feet together after the seal activated. The shoes continued lifting her, slowly at first, then faster as the magic gathered.
“Separate them,” I called.
Coco pulled her feet apart.
The light faded, but she did not fall immediately. The remaining force held her for a breath before gravity reclaimed her.
She landed awkwardly on one knee.
“So the spell lingers,” she said, already thinking through the result.
“For a moment.”
“And if I need more lift, I put my feet together again.”
“Probably.”
“Probably?”
“You are the one wearing them.”
Coco rose, brushed grass from her skirt, and tried again.
The next hour consisted of short flights, uneven landings, and a great deal of determined muttering.
The shoes activated whenever her soles met. Once in the air, she controlled direction by angling her feet before separating them. If she pointed both toes forward, she moved ahead. If one turned more sharply than the other, her body followed it.
Understanding the idea did not make coordinating it simple.
Coco drifted backward when she intended to rise, spun sideways twice, and once crossed half the clearing while shouting that she was perfectly fine in a voice that suggested otherwise.
I watched with growing fascination.
Every movement of her feet became part of the spell. The shoes extended her body into the seal, turning posture into instruction.
It was magical footwork.
I wanted to feel it myself.
While Coco practiced, I continued copying the divided glyph. Drawing the design once was not enough. If I placed it beneath my own boots, it needed to survive repeated activation while supporting more weight than two sheets of paper.
I measured the halves against one another. I changed the placement of the directional signs to suit the shape of my soles. I reproduced the seal until my hand could follow the curves without hesitation.
The sun climbed higher.
Coco improved.
Her movements remained unsteady, but they began to carry intention. She learned to activate the shoes while standing by lifting one leg behind the other and pressing the soles together. She learned to separate them before the upward force became too strong.
She even managed a slow turn around me.
“How does it feel?” I asked.
Coco drifted past at shoulder height, arms spread for balance.
“Like standing on something that keeps moving before I decide where it is.”
“That sounds familiar.”
“To you?”
“Unstable terrain. Loose stone. Ice.”
“This is nothing like ice.”
“You have not seen me on ice.”
She laughed, and that small distraction tilted her left foot.
Her body turned sharply.
Coco corrected too quickly.
The shoes carried her across the lake.
My amusement disappeared.
She rose toward the underside of the lowest sphere, legs kicking as she tried to slow herself.
“Separate your feet!”
“They are separated!”
“Then stop trying to correct both directions at once!”
“I don’t know which direction is correct anymore!”
A hanging vine passed within reach.
Coco seized it.
Her momentum swung her beneath the sphere. The Sylph Shoes hung uselessly below her, their soles too far apart to activate.
For one breath, she was safe.
Then the vine moved.
A small round head pushed through the leaves near her hand.
The creature had short pale bristles, tiny black eyes, and a tail shaped like the end of a paintbrush.
Coco stared at it.
It stared back.
Neither seemed pleased by the meeting.
The little creature squeaked.
Coco screamed.
Her hand opened.
The creature jumped at the same moment.
They fell together.
“Coco!”
She struck the lake hard enough to disappear beneath the surface. The brush-shaped creature followed with a much smaller splash.
I was moving before the ripples spread.
The boat sat against the dock with one oar lying inside. I shoved it into the water, jumped in, and drove the oar down.
The boat turned sideways.
One oar.
Of course there was one oar.
I shifted my grip, adjusted the stroke, and pulled again. Body Control found the rhythm quickly, balancing each forward motion with a shorter correction.
Coco surfaced, coughing.
The little creature climbed onto her head and clung to her wet hair.
“I’m coming!”
“I’m fine!”
“You are in the middle of a lake with an animal on your head.”
“I know!”
I reached her a few moments later and caught her forearm. Coco tried to climb over the side, nearly turning the boat over in the process.
“Wait. One leg first.”
“I can’t feel the bottom.”
“There is no bottom here. Use the boat.”
She finally managed to pull herself inside.
The little creature came with her, still buried in her hair.
Coco sat in the bottom of the boat, soaked and breathing hard. I checked her face, her arms, and the way her chest rose.
“Are you injured?”
“I don’t think so.”
Her attention dropped to her feet.
The levitation glyphs were gone.
Water had dissolved the ink, leaving faint stains across the soles.
Coco’s expression emptied.
Then she reached for her pen case.
Water poured from it when she opened the flap.
The paper inside had softened into a blackened mass. Her practice seals separated beneath her fingers. One bottle of ink had opened during the fall and filled the case with dark liquid.
She stopped moving.
I rowed us back in silence.
By the time we reached the shore, the sun had warmed the grass, but Coco was shivering. She stepped out of the boat and sat near the dock with her ruined supplies beside her.
The brush-shaped creature followed.
It shook itself between us, spraying water across my clothes, then settled near Coco’s knee.
She barely reacted.
“I ruined everything.”
“The shoes are still intact.”
“The glyphs are gone.”
“We can redraw them.”
“With what?” She lifted the pen case. Wet paper sagged over its edge. “Most of my ink is in the lake, my sheets are useless, and I promised Agott I would return the shoes safely.”
“You can return the shoes.”
“That is not what I meant.”
Her voice sharpened.
Then she looked away, ashamed of the anger before I could answer it.
“I barely reached the first sphere,” she said more quietly. “I couldn’t even control a contraption that was already made for me. Agott has probably used those shoes hundreds of times without falling.”
“Agott has been studying magic longer than three days.”
“And I have been studying for three days. That is the problem.”
The words kept coming once she started.
“She was right. Qifrey-sensei took me because of the forbidden spell, not because I was ready. My mother lost her house because of me, and then I left her alone because I thought I could learn enough to fix it. What if I can’t? What if I only keep making things worse?”
I sat beside her.
The brush-shaped creature crept toward my hand. I let it smell my fingers before stroking its soft bristles.
Coco watched the lake rather than me.
“Maybe I should have stayed with Mother,” she said. “I know how to sew. I could help her rebuild her work. At least I would be useful there.”
“You did not leave because sewing was beneath you.”
“No.”
“You left because you always dreamed of magic, and you finally had the chance to learn it.”
“A chance.”
“Yes.”
She finally looked at me.
Her eyes were red again, though no tears had fallen yet.
“You always sound so certain.”
“I am certain that failing once does not decide what you are capable of learning.”
“You did not fall.”
“Not yet.”
“That is different.”
“It is.”
I would not insult her by pretending our situations were identical.
I had years of physical training behind me. Coco had entered this world of spells less than a week after believing magic was something she could only admire from a distance.
“You learned to activate the shoes,” I continued. “You learned how they responded to your feet. You crossed the lake and reached the first sphere. Then you lost control.”
“And fell.”
“Yes. That part also happened.”
A small, unwilling laugh escaped her.
I smiled.
“Qifrey-sensei praised your straight lines yesterday.”
“They were only lines.”
“They were your first magical lines, and they were good enough for him to say so. Agott also trusted you with something she values, even if she looked unhappy while doing it.”
Coco rubbed at her eyes.
“She always looks unhappy around me.”
“She looked worried when you asked for the shoes.”
“You noticed?”
“I notice many things.”
She drew her knees closer.
“The ink is still gone.”
“Yes.”
“The glyphs are gone.”
“Yes.”
“And the flower is still up there.”
“Yes.”
Coco turned toward me with a tired frown.
“You could say something encouraging between those answers.”
“I thought I was.”
“You are not very good at it.”
“I think I'm improving.”
This time, her laugh was clearer.
The little creature climbed into my lap. I scratched gently beneath its chin, and its brush-tail curled around my wrist.
Coco watched it.
“It came out of the vine.”
“It may live inside them.”
“We frightened each other.”
“You screamed first.”
“It squeaked first.”
“I was too far away to judge.”
The creature looked at her.
Coco extended one hand.
It hesitated, then moved from my lap to hers.
As she stroked its bristles, her gaze drifted to her cloak.
The cloth was soaked and heavy against the grass.
Then she looked at the floating practice papers still resting near our original workspace.
I saw the idea reach her before she spoke.
“The shoes lift because the glyph is drawn on them.”
“Yes.”
“The glyph does not care whether it is on a shoe.”
“The paper test suggests it does not.”
Coco gathered part of her cloak between both hands.
“If I draw it here, the entire cloth could lift.”
“Possibly.”
“And if I spread the cloak…”
She stood, letting the brush creature slide gently back onto the grass. She pulled the cloak behind her and lifted both arms.
“It could catch the air like wings.”
The doubt in her face gave way to concentration.
“My mother taught me how to alter a garment without changing the way the fabric pulls. If I attach the cloak to my sleeves, I can hold it open. The spell would lift the cloth, and the cloth would carry me.”
I opened Inventory and retrieved my sewing kit.
Coco stopped in the middle of her explanation.
“You had that?”
“I prepared for damaged clothing.”
“You did not think to mention it earlier?”
“You had not invented wings earlier.”
She took the kit and immediately opened it.
The change in her hands was remarkable.
The same fingers that had trembled around a magical pen now selected a needle without hesitation. She tested the thread, spread the cloak across the grass, and began measuring where it would need to connect to her sleeves.
“You know exactly what to do,” I said.
“Mother taught me. She said a garment should move with the person wearing it. If it fights them, the sewing is wrong.”
The needle passed through the damp cloth.
Coco’s movements became quicker as the idea took shape. She folded one edge, secured it, then matched the other side before committing the next stitch.
There was no fear in her work now.
Only attention.
After several minutes, she glanced up.
“What are you going to do?”
I lifted one boot.
Half of the levitation glyph covered the sole.
Coco leaned forward.
I raised the other foot enough for her to see the matching half.
Her mouth opened.
“You did it.”
“I finished the design while you were practicing.”
“Does it work?”
“I have not activated it yet.”
She stared at me.
“You waited?”
“I wanted both halves to dry before pressing them together.”
That seemed to reassure her that I had not become an entirely different person.
I stood, placed one foot next to the other, and pressed the soles together.
The completed glyph flashed.
Lift struck upward through both legs.
I steadied my feet and rose above the grass.
My balance shifted, but my body corrected before the movement became a fall. I kept both feet pressed together and leaned my body to the right, drifting toward the lake. Leaning the other way changed my direction.
The air became ground with fewer rules.
A laugh left me before I could contain it.
I crossed the edge of the lake, turned, and returned toward Coco. The movements were unfamiliar, but Footwork and Body Control understood the problem. My stats supplied the strength to hold awkward positions while my skills corrected them.
Coco stood below me, sewing forgotten in her lap.
“You’re flying!”
“I am.”
“You look like you’ve done it before.”
“I assure you, I have not.”
I rose slightly higher, felt the wind catch my clothes, and adjusted both feet.
So this was what she had felt.
Freedom with consequences waiting directly beneath it.
I landed near her, still smiling.
Coco stared at the soles of my boots.
“I want to do that.”
“Then finish your wings.”
She bent over the cloak again with renewed speed.
We shared my remaining magical ink. Coco enlarged the levitation glyph across the center of the cloak, splitting the design so its two halves would meet when she spread her arms.
She understood the fabric better than I did.
Where I would have copied the design exactly, she adjusted the placement so the lines would not bend sharply along the seams. The circle looked slightly stretched when the cloak lay flat, but once she wore it and spread her arms, every sign settled into proper alignment.
She left one final gap.
Then she stitched the cloak to her upper sleeves.
Coco stood near the lake, cloth hanging between her arms and body like folded wings.
The small brush creature watched from the grass.
“What if it tears?” she asked.
“It did not tear while you were sewing it.”
“That is not the same as flying.”
“No.”
She looked toward the floating spheres.
Her mouth tightened.
Then she looked down at the cloak her mother had made.
“I know this cloth.”
The fear remained.
It no longer controlled her hands.
Coco brought her arms up on each side. The two halves of the design aligned across the folded cloak, completing the glyph.
Magic flashed behind her.
She spread her arms.
The cloak opened.
Wind gathered beneath it, lifting the fabric first, then Coco herself. Her feet left the ground slowly. She wavered, caught the angle, and rose another few feet.
Her face changed.
“Haruya.”
“I see you.”
“It worked.”
“Yes.”
“I’m flying.”
She laughed, loud and breathless, and climbed higher.
I activated the seals beneath my boots and joined her.
The first sphere passed beside us.
Coco learned quickly once the cloak began responding to something she understood. She tilted one arm to turn, raised both to catch the upward wind, and folded them slightly when the current became too strong.
The higher we flew, the colder the air became.
Wind moved between the spheres in restless circles. I crossed it through short adjustments of my feet. Coco used the breadth of her cloak, riding the currents instead of fighting each one.
The Guidance Orb was in my hand, pointing toward the summit.
By the time we reached the highest sphere, the air had grown thin and still. Coco’s cloak fluttered lightly at the edges as she adjusted her balance.
She still cleared the final ridge under her own power.
The top of the sphere opened into a field of silver-green grass.
At its center grew pale flowers shaped like crowns.
Coco landed first and rolled twice before stopping on her back.
I descended beside her, managed three steady steps, and sat before my legs chose a less graceful solution.
For a few moments, neither of us spoke.
The sky stretched in every direction around us.
The lower spheres floated beneath the clouds. The lake had become a small silver circle far below.
Then Coco started laughing.
The sound rose into the open air.
I laughed with her until my chest hurt.
Eventually, we crossed the field.
The Diadem Herbs grew in small clusters, narrow leaves supporting rings of crimson, pointed petals. Coco knelt before one and touched it carefully.
“Do you think Agott will accept this?”
“You reached the summit with a cloak you turned into wings after falling into a lake.”
“That was not the question.”
“I think she will struggle to criticize the result.”
Coco smiled.
“That sounds more likely.”
We each harvested one flower.
A window appeared at the edge of my vision.
Quest Objective Completed
Reach the highest floating sphere. (1/1)
Harvest one Diadem Herb. (1/1)
Remaining Objective: Return safely with the herb. (0/1)
Coco held her Diadem Herb against the sunlight.
The petals glowed around her fingers.
Agott had sent us here to prove we deserved to become apprentices.
Looking at Coco, with wet hair drying around her face and a cloak stitched into wings across her shoulders, I thought she had proven something more useful.
She had failed, doubted herself, and continued anyway.
That was a skill no seal could draw for her.