Location: Earth

Seonghwa

The tallest tree in the forest is coming into sight now.

Seeing as the sun rays were not quite hitting this part of the forest yet, I had opted to walk. Tree branches, in general, particularly a few exceptionally spiky ones, are not great to smack into. Especially not in the dark. It is also not advisable to climb trees in the dark, but I do it anyway.

One thing I like about taller trees: the higher you reach, the more you see. Although I have a fear of heights, which doesn't make me a great flyer, the curiosity of what can be seen further and beyond outweighs the fear. At the top of the tree, I observe as the sun rises above the horizon, dawn breaking up here even before it does down below.

I unfurl my wings, beating them a few times to loosen them up, since I don't think I've taken such a long flight in ages.

Somehow, I feel like these feathery things have a mind of their own, which I wouldn't doubt if they actually did. As I feel the sunbeams spread their warmth, I fly, lifting off from the final branch of the tree. Circling around the top for a few minutes, I savour the moment of complete freedom. The breeze that flows from the mountains is cooling, and accompanied by the sun's heat, the temperature is perfect. Finally, once I feel warmed up, I soar up to the clouds.

It's nostalgic, the way touching them reminds me of what it was like working in heaven. And that is not necessarily a good nostalgia, considering the final events that occurred before my departure. Vaguely, I recall something Hongjoong mentioned, that day when he were laying on the hillside.

"Us humans are so fascinated with clouds, especially children. They believe they feel as fluffy as they look, but we never get to touch them. That's always been one of my dreams though, to touch a cloud." The thought continues into my answer. "I can't bring one down for you, Joong, but they truly are as fluffy as you all imagine it to be. If I get the chance to, I'd definitely bring one for you."

Lost in memory, I ram into another cloud, but unlike the others, this one doesn't disintegrate as I hit it, leaving me winded for a second. Instead, I rebound off it backwards, almost falling out the sky a second time. "Get it together, Seonghwa, one time was painful enough."

Patting the unpenetrable cloud, I look upward to see that the one I had bumped into was the lowest of a long flight of white, fluffy cloud stairs. I had reached the stairway to heaven.

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