"Celestia possesses... a rare four-winged talent." Ankris's words carried a trace of past astonishment. "One pair symbolizes pure power and fearless guardianship—the 'Guardian Wings'—broad feathers in the profound and noble black of the night sky, edges shimmering with star-like silver glow, and when flapped, they seem to stir ripples in space; the other pair symbolizes boundless potential and shadowy freedom—the 'Shadow Wings'—bat-like wings covered in resilient membrane, with sleek and powerful lines, presenting an abyssal deep purple hue, edges sharp as blades, allowing her to shuttle through light and shadow at incredible speeds and eerie angles. Her strength, her potential, her innate and astonishing affinity for the four elements (wind, darkness, spirit, and thunder) all foretold that she was destined to become the youngest and most powerful among our thirty-six Guardians. She was the hope for the dome's future, the idol admired by all young Winged Ones."
Fa and her group listened quietly, only the sound of footsteps echoing on the ice steps. Lin Ya continued to release a gentle emerald glow, like a warm stream enveloping Ankris, nourishing his severely injured body and alleviating the intense pain from movement. Arya tightly gripped Fa's hand; the elf's intuition filled her with an ominous premonition about this story, her eyes revealing deep anticipation and unease. Ankris took a deep breath, the cold air seeming to carry the scent of the past.
"But fate... is always filled with the cruelest irony." He said bitterly. "She fell in love with... a Winged One who, in our Winged Clan's traditional views, was almost synonymous with 'weakness'—'Aerios'." His voice involuntarily softened when mentioning "Aerios," carrying a complex and indescribable tenderness, as if recounting a beautiful yet doomed dream.
Fa slightly furrowed her brows, trying to sketch in her mind the image of this person who could capture Celestia's heart. Arya couldn't help but ask softly, her voice sounding particularly clear in the ice crystal passage: "Aerios? What kind of person was he?"
Ankris paused, as if searching in the scroll of memories for the most fitting description. "Aerios..." He began slowly, his voice low. "He was a very... unremarkable member of the Winged Clan. He had only a pair of the most ordinary bat-shaped wings, in a common gray-brown color, mediocre in size, strength, and speed." He paused, his tone carrying a trace of indescribable regret. "More importantly, his magical talent... was so weak it was almost negligible. So weak that... he couldn't even stably cast the most basic light healing spell. He wasn't skilled in combat, and even... basic flight seemed clumsy for him; in his youth, he often fell from low altitudes due to poor control of air currents, ending up bruised and battered."
"In our Winged Clan society," Ankris explained, his tone carrying a hint of helpless reality, "strength—whether physical power, flying skills, or magical intensity—is a key cornerstone for measuring a Winged One's value. We worship free soaring, but that freedom requires strength to defend; we pursue powerful magic to maintain the dome's operation and defense. Someone like Aerios... with magic so weak it's nearly 'incompetent,' and even flight lacking grace, in the eyes of all clansmen, was almost equivalent to... 'defective'." He used this heavy word. "Because of this, he was often mocked by some hot-blooded young Winged Ones who worshipped strength, privately called a 'waste.' Some idle pranks... like deliberately using wind magic to mess up his carefully tended flower branches, or tripping him with air currents during takeoff to watch his embarrassment... happened from time to time."
"Such a person... why would Celestia fall in love with him?" Arya's voice was filled with confusion and curiosity; although elves also revered nature and harmony, their pursuit of absolute power wasn't as extreme as the Winged Clan's.
"Because he... possessed the purest soul in the dome." Ankris's eyes flashed with a complex light—nostalgia, regret, and even a trace of imperceptible guilt. "Like an uncarved, naturally clear and transparent crystal, pure without a single impurity. No jealousy, no resentment, no blind craving for power." His tone carried a warmth of reminiscence. "He was the caretaker of the dome's 'Crystal Cluster Garden.' There, the most delicate 'Starlight Orchids,' extremely sensitive to magical fluctuations, were planted. These flowers required utmost patience, meticulous observation, and a truly serene heart to cultivate; any impatience or minor magical disturbance could cause them to wither. Many powerful healers couldn't make them bloom stably. But... in Aerios's hands, those Starlight Orchids always bloomed with the purest, softest light, as if condensing starlight into petals. He didn't understand combat, didn't understand intrigue, and even..." Ankris shook his head, "when facing the mockery and pranks from those young Winged Ones due to his 'incompetence'—he always... just smiled."
"Just smiled?" Kayla couldn't help but raise an eyebrow; the beastkin revered strength and straightforward combat, finding this nearly 'weak' response hard to understand.
"Yes," Ankris nodded affirmatively, emphasizing, "not forced smiles or cowardly flattery. But a genuine... tolerance and peace. He would silently bend down, carefully pick up the messed-up flower branches, and with his not-so-strong but incredibly dexterous hands, reorganize and trim them to perfection; he would dust off his clothes and gently say to those pranksters hiding in the distance and laughing, 'Be careful next time, don't hurt yourselves.' He was kind to everyone, polite, always wearing that gentle smile, as if... born without knowing 'malice.' He would secretly place the most beautiful and fragrant Starlight Orchids he cultivated on the windowsill of some disheartened clansman; he would use his faintly imperceptible magic, patiently and repeatedly soothing frightened fledglings that fell from their nests until they calmed down. He was like... in this cold, brilliant sky city of Light Feather Dome, pursuing power and glory... a touch of gentle, indispensable undertone."
Ankris's description evoked in everyone's minds a gentle figure busying among exotic flowers and plants, forming a stark and peculiar contrast with Celestia's radiant image.
"Celestia... was attracted by this 'quality' of his?" Fa asked, understanding the allure of that unique purity, which became incredibly precious in a specific environment. It reminded her of some qualities in her own team members.
"Yes." Ancris sighed even deeper, a sigh filled with a sense of the capriciousness of fate."Celestia, this star anticipated by all, incredibly proud herself, her power enough to tear through storms, her will as hard as diamond. Yet, Aerios's defenseless, impurity-free gentleness and purity, like the softest beam of starlight, miraculously melted her outer ice. She would mercilessly scold or even strike those young Winged Ones bullying Aerios, using her powerful aura and the oppressive presence of her four wings unfolded to make those mockers flee in disarray. She would guard by Aerios's side, whether in the garden or in public, as if protecting her most cherished, untouchable treasure."
A flash of reminiscent brilliance passed through Ankris's eyes. "She even... set aside her pride, restrained her powerful radiant glow, and in Aerios's Crystal Cluster Garden, like a clumsy apprentice, carefully helped him tend those incredibly delicate Starlight Orchids, just to see the pure, satisfied, childlike smile on his face when the flowers bloomed. During that time... the eternally swirling seven-colored glow in the dome's sky seemed to become softer and warmer because of the peculiar warmth between them."
"But their love was not recognized by most clansmen," Ankris's tone turned heavy again. "There were disputes within the Guardian Council. Many believed Celestia's talent was so precious that she should choose an equally powerful, or even stronger, Winged One as a partner to continue the dome's guardian strength. They thought Aerios would 'taint' her noble bloodline, wasting her world-shaking talent. Secular pressures were everywhere." He paused. "But Celestia didn't care. Proud and resolute, she believed the power of love surpassed all worldly measures; she was willing to give everything for Aerios, challenging all prejudices."
The slope of the ice crystal passage began to steepen, the passage gradually widening, and ahead came a dull energy hum, and... increasingly clear, thunderous roars of intense battle! The indicator lights on Rex's armor flashed urgently, and he reported in a low voice: "Ahead 500 meters, passage exit! Energy readings spiking! Large-scale battle!" At the same time, through his rune goggles with shared vision, the drone captured images: the passage exit connected to an immensely vast space where light suddenly brightened! At the edge of the exit, hundreds of rapidly moving, fiercely clashing figures could already be vaguely seen! The more ferocious and powerful variant Winged Ones led by Celestia were engaged in a brutal aerial and ground melee with the Winged Clan defense forces desperately guarding their home! Behind the guardians, wings varied in form; some burned with blazing white holy flames, sprinkling purifying light rain; others surged with profound dark energy, weaving shadow shields and deadly shadow arrows. They desperately blocked the tide-like assault of the variant Winged Ones, with Winged Ones constantly being hit in the air, their holy flames extinguished or black mists entangled, wings breaking as they wailed and plummeted from high altitudes, smashing into the crystalline buildings or floating platforms below, shattering into pieces.
Seeing the horrific scene in the goggles, Ankris's body trembled violently, his voice becoming urgent and sorrowful, filled with heart-wrenching anxiety: "We're almost at the exit! Hurry! Faster!" He struggled to quicken his pace.
The group immediately accelerated, Lin Ya and Arya practically carrying him as they dashed up the ice steps. But Ankris's narration didn't stop; that tragic turning point clung like a maggot, needing to be fully confessed at this moment, as if accounting for the past and mentally preparing for the impending battle.
"However, fate dealt this couple the heaviest, most cruel blow." Ankris's voice trembled uncontrollably, as if reliving that nightmare. "Just a year ago, disaster struck without warning. Aerios... collapsed without any sign while tending his beloved Starlight Orchids." His fists clenched unconsciously, knuckles whitening from the force.
"It wasn't an ordinary illness, nor an external injury..." Ankris's voice was filled with powerlessness. "It was a kind of... extremely vicious 'curse' we had never seen or understood! It wrapped around his life source like an invisible venomous snake." His description sent chills down spines: "His wings began to wrinkle slowly, revealing skin that rapidly turned dark purple; his body visibly emaciated and grew cold, and no matter what methods we used, we couldn't warm him; soon, he fell into a deep, unawakenable coma! All the healers in our dome—whether angel-winged healers proficient in life divine arts with white wings, or soul masters delving into soul secrets with demon wings—were all helpless! We exhausted the holy pool's century-accumulated spring water, stored the rarest herbs from the clouds, even activated ancient soul awakening rituals that required several Guardians to combine their efforts... all conceivable methods! But Aerios's flame of life still inexorably... extinguished. We could only watch helplessly as he... approached demise." Ankris's voice was filled with the despair and impotence of that time.
Fa's heart felt gripped by an icy hand; she could fully imagine the immense pain and despair Celestia endured then. Arya's eyes shimmered with crystalline tears as she asked softly: "Then she... what did she do? She couldn't just watch..."
"Celestia... went completely mad." Ankris closed his eyes, his facial muscles twitching in pain. "She couldn't accept this outcome! She refused to believe it was an unsolvable fate! In her view, it was the dome's isolation, our 'Guardians'' incompetence, this isolated island's resource scarcity that prevented Aerios from getting effective treatment! She obsessively believed that as long as she left Light Feather Dome and went to the vast outside world, she could surely find hope to cure Aerios!"
"Leave the dome?" Yuyuer frowned; she had some understanding of spatial seals. "Haven't you completely sealed off connections with the outside world?"
"Yes, for a full thirty years." Ankris's tone was as heavy as a mountain. "Thirty years ago, a catastrophe triggered by outsiders coveting the Star Shard nearly knocked Light Feather Dome from the sky, countless clansmen fell, and our home teetered on destruction." His voice carried a painful historical weight. "To protect the last pure land and the Star Shard, the high-levels at the time activated the highest-level 'Eternal Ice Realm' seal. This seal not only completely severed all known spatial passages with the outside, but also deeply folded and froze the entire spatial layer where Light Feather Dome resides, leaving only complex illusion mazes and spatial folding traps at the entrance as the final, theoretically almost undetectable portal. We became truly... an isolated island forgotten in the seams of time. Cut off from the world, self-sufficient, relying on cloud creatures, magical fruits, and elemental energy to survive."
"So... Celestia wanted to go out, seeking the only hope to cure Aerios?" Fa fully understood the core conflict of this tragedy.
"That's right!" Ankris suddenly opened his eyes, filled with the shock, anger, and disbelief from the council hall back then. "She strongly demanded the Guardian Council open the passage! At the time, this seemed like a pipe dream, a challenge to the entire clan's survival laws! Once activated, the 'Eternal Ice Realm' could only be reversed by thirty-six Guardians simultaneously expending massive source power in a ritual—almost impossible, as activating the seal had already exhausted the previous generation's source power, and the new generation hadn't fully grown to that level! The council flatly rejected her request, believing she had been completely overwhelmed by grief and despair, her demand a betrayal of the sacrificed predecessors and the entire clan! It would put all survivors at risk again!"
"She... what did she do in the end?" Arya's voice trembled slightly, already sensing that resolute breakthrough.
"She..." Ankris took a deep breath, as if expelling the heaviest words. "She somehow learned of ancient forbidden knowledge—the night of the 'Double Moon Eclipse,' when the Eternal Ice Realm seal's power periodically fluctuates due to cosmic tides, the moment when the seal is most vulnerable." His voice became bitterly bitter. "On that cursed night, when the double moons overlapped, casting eerie purple-red glow... Celestia... erupted."
His words were filled with the shock and chaos of that time: "At the cost of burning her life source, she forcibly broke through the inner defense barriers of Light Feather Dome! Four wings fully spread, power unprecedentedly violent! Holding the comatose, barely breathing Aerios like a burning meteor, she charged toward the spatial edge sealed by the 'Eternal Ice Realm'! She ignored all Guardians' obstructions, ignored the clansmen's terrified shouts and condemnations! In that moment, she personally tore apart her bonds with the clan, bearing the eternal sin of a traitor! She was spurned by clansmen, cursed by elders! But she didn't care; her eyes were only on the gradually cooling body in her arms, wanting only to grasp that last straw of salvation! She used all her strength to crash into the fluctuating weak point of the seal..."
The group fell silent, the ice crystal passage filled only with urgent footsteps and the increasingly loud battle roars ahead. Fa asked softly, trying to understand that complete transformation: "Then what... did she experience later? Why did she become like this now... leading Doomsday Rebirth back?"
Ankris closed his eyes, as if forcibly recalling those painful, unwilling-to-touch fragments. "We... don't know what she specifically experienced in the outside world. The crack in the Eternal Ice Realm repaired itself shortly after she rushed out, and we completely lost her trace." His voice was filled with powerlessness. "But I can guess... she must have encountered endless tribulations, deceptions, and despair. A Winged Clan woman with immense power yet knowing nothing of the outside, carrying a dying lover... her situation is imaginable." He opened his eyes, his gaze filled with sorrow and cold understanding. "When she returned to Light Feather Dome in a way we couldn't imagine... she was no longer the Celestia who risked everything for her lover. She had become a cold, ruthless killing machine, eyes vacant, surrounded by ominous purple-black aura. Leading those twisted monsters of Doomsday Rebirth... she tore through our entrance defenses, slaughtering... the clansmen she once swore to protect."
"Perhaps," Ankris's gaze turned to the increasingly bright and noisy battle light at the passage's end, slowly saying, "when she sought the last hope to treat Aerios in the outside world, she encountered people from Doomsday Rebirth. She might have been attracted by the eerie and powerful forces they displayed, or... more likely, she was used by them, forced to compromise for that slim chance to cure Aerios, accepting their power modifications... or even..." He didn't continue, but his heavy tone hinted at more terrifying possibilities. "Regardless of the specific process, her return and transformation was a thorough... tragic turning point." He looked at Fa, in the depths of those brilliant golden eyes, besides deep pain, there was an extremely faint, even unnoticed by himself, glimmer of hope. "Your arrival, with such peculiar and powerful forces, perhaps... is the 'variable' mentioned in ancient prophecies. Maybe... you can stop her from fully falling into the abyss, saving Light Feather Dome from the edge of destruction."
Fa took a deep breath, the cold air surging into her lungs with the scent of blood and smoke. The light in her star-like eyes became incredibly resolute: "We'll do our best. But we need more information—the current battle situation inside Light Feather Dome, and Celestia's specific goals and location."
With Elder Ankris's heavy story concluded, the team also burst out of the final steep section of the ice crystal passage, stepping onto the platform at the exit!
The scene before them instantly stole everyone's breath—
Light Feather Dome: The Fall of the Sky Sanctuary
They stood on the edge of an immense ice crystal cliff. Below, no longer a cold rock cave, but an unimaginably magnificent yet hellish—like a purgatory—sky city!
This was a vast space enveloped by an enormous seven-colored light dome, as if an independent world amid the clouds. Countless floating islands of varying sizes hovered above the misty sea of clouds, constructed from magic floating stones emitting soft white light and light yet sturdy 'cloud wood' in pale golden hues. Between the islands, rainbow bridges of flowing colors connected them, their bodies like solidified beams of light. On the islands, buildings shaped like giant bird nests were scattered, not crudely built from branches but from polished cloud wood and crystalline gems embedded, elegantly hanging from the edges of floating islands or inset into mountain-like floating stones. Sunlight pierced through layers of flowing mist, refracting dreamlike seven-colored rays, like countless flowing rainbows sprinkling every corner of this sky sanctuary. The air was filled with exotic floral scents and a pure magical aura—that was the 'Light Feather Dome' recorded in books, the Winged Clan's home isolated from the world for thirty years!
Yet at this moment, this sky sanctuary had fallen into a bloody battlefield!
Piercing shrieks, energy explosion booms, sharp sounds of wings tearing air, colossal crashes of collapsing buildings intertwined into a symphony of death. As far as the eye could see, thousands of figures madly slaughtered in the air, on floating islands, between rainbow bridges!
One side was the Winged Clan warriors defending their home. They displayed astonishing aerial combat skills and magical prowess. Warriors with pure white angel wings had feathers burning with blazing white holy flames, sprinkling vast purifying light rains with a wave, or condensing massive light spears to pierce enemies; mages with demon wings fanned profound dark energy, weaving shadow shields to block attacks or firing deadly shadow arrows. There were also warriors with azure wings controlling violent airflows, summoning sharp wind blade tornadoes with gestures amid broken yet heroic songs in the chaos. Their skin shimmered with faint golden-white glow in battle, gem-like eyes filled with resolve and fury, long hair wildly dancing in intense airflows and magical storms like burning clouds. They used floating islands, rainbow bridges, and suspended crystal clusters as cover, nimbly shuttling, diving, climbing, showcasing the Winged Clan's innate flying talent and combat instinct. But the enemies were too strong; Winged Clan warriors were constantly hit, holy flames extinguished, black wings shattered, wailing as they plummeted from high altitudes, smashing onto exquisite bird nest rooftops or floating platforms below, blooming glaring blood flowers.
The other side was the Doomsday Rebirth legion led by Celestia. Besides the previously encountered massive, violently powerful variant Winged Ones, there were more twisted monsters of various forms: some small, extremely fast, ray-like flying creatures spitting corrosive acid; some like giant insects with purple-black crystals embedded in their exoskeletons, firing energy beams; even some 'converts' vaguely retaining Winged Clan features but covered in ferocious exoskeletons, eyes vacant, numbly executing killing orders against former kin. Relying on violent power and eerie abilities, they gradually eroded the Winged Clan's defenses. Many suspended bird nest buildings were destroyed, burning with black-purple flames, precious cloud wood snapping and falling, crystalline gems turning to dust in explosions.
And at the very center of the battlefield, high in the sky, one figure stood like the core of a death storm, drawing all gazes!
Celestia!
She hovered at the highest point, four wings fully spread! The pair symbolizing guardianship, pure black feathers now wreathed in ominous purple-black energy, the star-silver edges already polluted; the demon membrane wings surged with boiling darkness, edges sharp as tangible blades. She emanated a suffocating terrifying pressure, purple-black energy encircling her like boiling toxic flames. She didn't even directly attack the ordinary Winged Clan warriors below, just coldly overlooking the entire battlefield, like a monarch surveying her hunting ground. Her gaze locked dead on the farthest point, a floating island at the highest altitude, the largest, built from pure white magic floating stones, topped with a massive crystal emitting soft yet vast starlight—there, the core of the entire Light Feather Dome, and the location of the 'Star Shard'! Twelve powerful Winged Clan Guardians surrounded that island, resisting the assaults of several mountain-sized, terrifyingly aura-ed variant behemoths, the battle's aftershocks exploding into blinding halos in the air. Clearly, Celestia was waiting—waiting for her monstrous army to tear open the final defenses, or... waiting for some optimal moment to strike.
Just as the group was shocked by this grand and horrific scene, at the edge of the passage exit platform, a variant Winged One spotted Fa and her group, immediately turning direction, flashing red light, emitting piercing buzzes, diving toward Fa and the others! Their fronts extended high-speed rotating energy drills, targeting the group who had just rushed out of the passage and hadn't yet steadied themselves!
Battle erupted instantly!
"Enemy attack! Prepare for combat!" Fa's sharp shout cut through the battlefield's clamor like a sword, also declaring their formal entry into the destructive vortex of Light Feather Dome. Elder Ankris, seeing his purgatory-like home, had brilliant golden eyes burning with fury and resolve to die; he forcibly broke free from Arya and Lin Ya's support, bloodstained pure white wings unconsciously spreading, though weakened, the Guardian's aura condensed once more.
The fate of Light Feather Dome, Doomsday Rebirth's conspiracy, Celestia's tragedy and madness, and the ownership of the Star Shard... all endings would meet their final resolution on this battlefield suspended in the clouds. And Fa's group, this 'variable' from the outside, was already deeply entangled, with no retreat.