WITHOUT any further incidents, the party safely reached the summit of the mountain.
“I had a feeling it might turn out this way, but…I don’t feel like we’ve achieved anything whatsoever,” Cornelia grumbled. Everyone—apart from Marialite—nodded in agreement.
Usually, they would at least be able to enjoy the breathtaking views that came with reaching the top of the mountain, but Mount Caelis was different; it was surrounded by nothing but dust and darkness. The capital was so far away that it was no more than a vague haze of light on the horizon, and there was no other civilization in the area to see.
They had gained absolutely nothing by coming here.
“Aren’t you all hungry? We can have our supper here,” Marialite suggested, taking no notice of the gloomy atmosphere as she spread a picnic blanket out on the dusty ground.
“Now, now, Saint. Hold your horses. You’re gonna want to see this,” Celestine said, turning the palm of his hand towards her.
“Is something going to happen?” she asked.
“That’s right. Just as dawn comes to pass…” he said, watching as the minute hand joined the hour hand on his pocket watch.
A second later, a flash of light enveloped their surroundings. It was possible to see across the land even without the help of Sirius’ magic.
They looked up at the sky to see it turn from dark black into a delicate, faint blue.
“I…” Sirius trailed off, letting the orbs of light surrounding them disappear. He was speechless.
“As of yet, I’m unsure what causes the phenomenon, but…” Celestine began to explain. “Once a month, on the summit of Mount Caelis, you can see the other sky for about two hours after dawn.”
Meanwhile, his assistant was swiftly running from place to place, carefully studying the ground beneath her. She was moving so quickly that it was difficult to believe she was the same girl who moaned and complained because of how grueling their hike was.
“Ohh, floweeeeer? Where are youuuu?” she called out.
“Mrow?” Snow mewed curiously.
“Hey, Snow! Could you help me look for a rainbow-colored flower? It’s about this big!” she said, gesturing with her hands. “It’s gotta be somewhere around here!”
“Mew!” Snow said with a nod. She had no trouble enlisting the divine beast’s help.
“A flower which enhances your life in every way…” Sirius pondered. “If something so lucrative truly existed, everyone would have far fewer obstacles to overcome… Lady Marialite?”
She’d stopped busying herself with setting up the picnic and was now staring fixedly at something, completely frozen.
A thin beam of light peeked through the gap between two mountains, blessing the sky with a warm morning glow. Marialite whipped around to look at Sirius and smiled unreservedly.
“Just look at it, Lord Sirius! I’ve never seen such a beautiful dawn before,” she said, pointing at it with eyes full of childlike wonder.
“Oh…yes. You’re quite right,” he replied, clutching at the left side of his chest.
Sacred. Precious. Beautiful.
Those three words rushed through his head over and over, until eventually, tears began to spill over his bottom eyelashes. He couldn’t help but cry.
Cornelia and Raven watched him with looks of displeasure on their faces.
“He has got to be one of the strangest princes I’ve ever met,” Cornelia snorted.
“Meh, don’t think about it too much. He’s always like this when Marialite’s around,” Raven shrugged.
“Wait, everyone…” Marialite hushed all of a sudden. “Don’t you think the mountain seems…different?”
The group looked around curiously to see the dusty ground change before their very eyes. The dull, drab scenery was gradually overtaken by leaves and flowers, turning gray and black to green and brown. The withered trees sprung back to life, and grass covered the ground where they stood as flowers bloomed.
“Ah, I meant to tell you, but it musta slipped my mind,” Celestine nodded. “For these two hours, and these two hours only, the mountain comes alive.”
“Yesss! I know it’s here! The flower’s got to be here!” Liffey exclaimed with newfound enthusiasm. It seemed like there’d be no stopping her, but only a moment later…
“Eeeeek!”
She let out a scream and retreated back to hide behind Celestine at an astounding speed.
“What’s the matter? Did you see some sorta creepy crawly?” he asked.
“No! Look over there! They’re back!” she pointed towards a large tree, where some of the monsters from earlier could be seen hiding in its shadow, watching them. However, something was different; dresses made of ivy covered their branch-like bodies, and flowers of all different colors bloomed on the top of their heads. Reds, yellows, oranges, purples, whites… They were gorgeous, and the change made the monsters seem a lot less threatening than before.
“Ooh, even they’re covered in plants. How intriguing,” Celestine noted.
“But why’re they still following us?” Liffey wondered. “They’re not even trying to attack us, so…maybe there’s some other reason?”
That was when the monsters stepped out from behind the tree. Sirius and Cornelia were immediately poised for battle, but soon relaxed when they noticed something: a single monster was grimacing sadly, and its head wasn’t covered in flowers like the rest of them. The others were all looking to Marialite, silently willing her to do something.
“To me, it looks like they want Marialite to grow some flowers on that monster over there—the odd one out,” Raven suggested.
“…You think so?” Marialite said before going silent, withdrawing into her own thoughts to give it some careful deliberation.
A minute later, she stepped forward and approached the monsters with a huge smile on her face. Sirius and Cornelia followed after her with fear-stricken expressions.
“Cornelia,” Sirius said gravely. “If they try to harm Lady Marialite in any way, we will decimate this mountain.”
“I’m tired, hungry, and losing my patience. I’ll be happy to assist in any destruction simply to blow off steam,” she cackled.
There was a dark, troubled aura emitting from the two demons as they approached, causing the monsters to tremble in fear.
“…She looks sick,” Marialite said with concern as they drew closer to the monster with no flowers.
“Really? How so?” Sirius asked.
“Well, since awakening to my powers, I also gained the ability to tell how a plant’s feeling just by looking at it. I’ve seen quite a lot of sick plants,” she explained.
“Interesting… And, can you cure them?” Cornelia asked.
“Of course! Just give me a moment,” she said, walking closer to hold her hands over the sick monster’s head. A pale glow emitted from the palms of her hands, its light slowly cascading down the monster’s entire body. Then, a large bud sprouted from the top of her head.
“Oh!” Liffey called out with a gasp as the flower’s petals unfurled, revealing a brilliant pink.
The monster had a dazzled, amazed look on her face as she reached up to touch the new addition to her head, and her friends and family smiled with relief.
“There. You’re okay now,” Marialite assured her with a beaming smile on her own face.
Tears welled up in Sirius’ eyes once more.
“Whoa,” Raven grinned. “I sorta had the impression that monsters were a ferocious bunch, but I guess even they get worried about their friends.”
“That’s ’cause they always have a proper reason for getting all upset and bothered,” Celestine commented. “To protect their territory, to seek food… None of it’s done outta spite. That’s a big difference between monsters and people. In a way, they’re much purer creatures.” He fished a piece of candy out of his pocket and popped it between his lips before sucking on it casually.
Liffey stared at him with a puzzled look on her face; it was always a surprise when he came out with those little tidbits of wisdom.
“Oh!” she suddenly exclaimed again.
“What is it now?”
“Look, look!” she whispered. “The monsters just gave Lady Marialite some kind of flower…”
As they left, the monsters handed a single flower to Marialite, seemingly as a token of their gratitude. However, as touching as their exchange was, Liffey’s train of thought was far from considering the bond between humans and monsters.
It was a rainbow-colored flower—the exact flower that Liffey had sent herself into a frenzy searching for.
“It…it really exists! Woohoooooooo!” Liffey shrieked in excitement. Her cry echoed back and forth between the mountains, a seemingly infinite scream of “Woohoo!” repeating over and over.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…C’MON, young’un. Cheer up.”
“Don’t worry, Liffey! You’ve still got plenty of opportunities ahead of you in life!”
“I kinda get how she feels, though…”
Just as Celestine claimed, after exactly two hours, darkness befell the mountain once more. Grass turned back to dust, and the trees dried and withered before their eyes.
Until then, they’d enjoyed their time on the summit by partaking in Marialite’s picnic, stuffing themselves with the delicious tea and sandwiches she’d made. She’d even made special fruit sandwiches for Snow, who gobbled them up as though he were starved. Hence, they’d begun their descent down the mountain with a spring in their steps.
Liffey’s bout of sorrow came after that—when the mountain was enshrouded with darkness once again.
The flower that Marialite had given to her for safekeeping suddenly wilted, its rainbow coloring dulling to a dark brown. Eventually, by the time they reached the foot of the mountain, it had withered completely, becoming nothing more than a dry husk.
That was how short life was on Mount Caelis. Having been faced with that harsh reality, Liffey turned into a hollow shell of a girl. Despite her show of energy at the summit, Snow ended up carrying her back down the mountain, too.
“My magic…my strength…my looks…my riches…” she muttered, lamenting her loss.
“Fool that you are,” Celestine sighed. “It’s preposterous to think that drinking a cup of tea made from one measly flower would give you all that.”
“But what if it did?!” Liffey protested. “That’d be so awesome! You think so too, right, Lady Marialite?”
“Hmm, well…” Marialite said, looking around at everyone else before replying. “Personally, I’m already extremely happy just spending time with my loved ones.”
The stunned look on their faces suggested that her words had pierced each of their hearts one by one. As she skipped away, humming contentedly, Sirius began to wail. He bawled his eyes out, unable to suppress the lump in his throat any longer.
Later on, he had to drink buckets of water to replenish all the tears he’d lost that night.