The sounds of explosions within the corridor died down for a moment, replaced by the roar of the Blue Bird—though it was no ordinary roar, but rather sonic waves that tore through the air. The bird began to flap its giant wings violently, its eyes burning with a furious blue light, as it started attacking everything that moved around it, including the comrades who retreated in terror.
Picos (Screaming while hiding behind his shield): "We saved it just so it could eat us! What a happy ending!"
Romulius: "It's out of control! The Heart Stone energy it swallowed is too immense for its body to handle right now; it sees everything as an enemy!"
Ortinus stepped forward with steady strides and pulled out the "Blue Feather," which was pulsing in his hand like a living heart. He held it high toward the eye of the raging bird and closed his eyes, focusing all his emotions into that feather.
Ortinus (In a calm, deep voice): "Be still... we are not Pionel. We are the ones who carried your feather through the fires to return you to the sky. We are the comrades... we are freedom."
The feather began to glow with a warm golden light that blended with the blue light of the bird. Gradually, the violent flapping of the wings stilled, and the massive bird lowered its head until it touched Ortinus's forehead. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Nirar (In amazement): "You've tamed it... the biological frequencies are perfectly in harmony."
Ortinus: "It's not taming, Nirar... it's a covenant. Come, everyone, mount up! The palace is collapsing from within, and gravity is starting to lose its balance. This bird is our only ticket to survival."
With great effort and cooperation, the comrades mounted the back of the legendary creature. Romulius held onto the neck, followed by Ortinus, then Meron and Nirar, while Nikos held onto his son Darius, and Picos sat in the back, trembling with a fear of heights.
The bird took off like an arrow, smashing through what remained of the laboratory ceiling to emerge into the open sky of Atheria. Beneath them, a scene unfolded that was both majestic and terrifying.
Meron (Looking down with tearful eyes): "Look... it's the same scene we saw when we first set foot on this land. Armies clashing, fires devouring fortresses, and smoke covering the horizon."
Ortinus (In a voice weighted with wisdom): "Yes, Meron... the scene is the same, but we have changed. The first time, we were lost strangers; but now, we have come to know everything. We know the oppressor who hides behind the laws, and the oppressed who fights for their livelihood and dignity."
From the heights of the sky, the comrades saw Kayan's army engaged in a suicidal battle with the Royal Guard. In the midst of that chaos stood Kayan atop the ruins of the main gate, bloodstained but standing tall as a mountain. Kayan spotted the Blue Bird flying the comrades away; he paused his fighting for a moment and raised his hand high, bidding them farewell with a sad smile of victory.
Suddenly, amidst the falling debris of the upper laboratory, a frail body emerged, crawling with difficulty. It was Meres. The sight of him was heartbreaking; his right arm was gone, his left eye was sunken and extinguished, and his hair, once black, had turned white as snow from the severity of the torture he endured at the hands of the guards.
Meres raised his weary head toward the sky. He saw the Blue Bird and the comrades he loved moving toward safety. He did not scream or call for help; instead, the faintest, simplest smile touched his cracked lips. It was the smile of one who had fulfilled his mission to the end. Slowly, Meres fell to the ground, closing his eyes in peace amidst the ruins of the state he tried to save.
As the bird carried the comrades away toward the distant clouds, the actual "Great Collapse" occurred.
Nirar (Screaming as he looks back): "Hold on! The Black Heart Stone energy has reached the point of no return!"
Suddenly, a blinding white light erupted from the heart of the Royal Palace. In a solemn silence, the floating state of "Atheria" exploded. The flying rocks crumbled, the palaces evaporated, and the hanging forests vanished in a cloud of glowing dust. In mere seconds, there was no longer a trace of the state that had inhabited the sky for thousands of years. It vanished from existence, leaving behind nothing but memories in the hearts of seven comrades flying on the back of a blue bird toward an unknown horizon.
Darius (In a choked voice): "It's... it's gone."
Ortinus (Wiping his tears and clenching his fist): "Atheria hasn't disappeared, my friends... it has returned to where it belongs. To the earth as dust, and to the sky as a memory. And we... we are the witnesses that it was once here."
The bird continued to fly away from the wreckage of the explosion, leaving the ash behind and heading toward a new world—a world where there are no flying palaces and no heart stones, but only the freedom for which they paid a heavy price.