The Laughing Swordsman

The sound of rushing wind and the crackling of lightning came together to make a violent cacophony.

Apollo grit his teeth and fiercely resisted.

The wind carried him away easily.

His body was still covered by blue lightning. Though it did little to actually resist against the gales, it was a symbol of his struggle.

Apollo could hardly make sense of which way was up and which was down. His general direction was up, but his body jostled from the left and right, not by his own volition. It could be said that Apollo would go wherever the wind took him.

In his struggle, he eventually got closer to the black spot in the sky. Yet, it seemed that the wind was also repulsing him from the black spot as it sent him upwards.

At first, the sky was dark. But after quite some time, Apollo found himself squinting due to the bright light.

He was brought over the black spot. Though that was probably a bad description for what it was.

Apollo couldn't truly make sense of what he saw as before his vision could focus, his head would be thrown to the side.

However, he did catch occasional glimpses.

It was of a city.

This was a city that was floating in the middle of the air, on top of a massive chunk of earth. The city was far cleaner than the toxic wasteland underneath. The sudden transition between two places almost made it seem like two sides of the same coin.

In the center of the city stood a needlessly tall palace that took enough land that the average village used. Surrounding that were many more houses and farms. As for the very edges, they seemed to be abandoned.

Not even a single house was there, though that was probably understandable considering it would be really easy to fall off from there.

Apollo continued to rise, high above this floating city. Right when he thought that he was going to go up for all eternity, the wind suddenly stopped blowing.

And so, he was left to fall onto the city.

Naturally, because Apollo had the ability of flight, he wasn't just going to watch himself take this fall. And so, he attempted to fly in order to stabilize himself, leaving trails of lightning.

Unfortunately, this would turn out to be a mistake.

Before Apollo made it even a few meters out, a violent gust of wind came back for him. The gales caused him to uncontrollably plunge towards the city at dangerously high speeds.

Apollo's eyelid twitched.

Something bad was probably going to happen if he didn't make it out of this. He attempted to resist the wind, going upwards. Yet, ironically enough, his speed down only got faster.

Noticing this, Apollo hesitated, not sure if he wanted to resist any further, but there was hardly any more time for him to do so. In the end, within those few seconds, it already became too late for him to change anything.

A rather loud crash resounded along with a frightening crack.

Apollo landed head-first into the roof of a house, breaking right through it. You'd think he would think of protecting his head by now, but maybe the mental trauma might've made him forget about that.

Anyways, Apollo landed right in the middle of someone's room. A large amount of dust gently fell from the air. Apollo remained face down on the floor with a few broken wooden boards next to him, from the broken roof. A ray of sunlight shone from above.

If nothing else, there was a new window in the room now.

The room itself was a modest size and looked rather ordinary, but not shabby. There was a simple bed along with a relatively large wardrobe and desk.

Moments after Apollo landed, a shocked gasp rang out.

"Heavens! Is this a blessing from the sky?"

There was a young woman with her jaw dropped and her hands blocking her face. She was at an age where she could've been Apollo's older sister. Along with that, she had matching bright yellow hair that reached her waist and clear blue eyes.

Perhaps this woman really was Apollo's long lost older sister.

She had a casual light blue dress on. Although it wasn't anything overly luxurious, it definitely showed the woman was well off compared to the average commoner commonly found.

She began coughing and waved her hand, trying to blow the debris away. Once the dust settled, the woman brought her hands down and had a proper look at Apollo.

She blinked a few times in surprise.

"...A person?"

The woman bent down and brushed off some of the wood chips on Apollo's body. Then, she hoisted him up and put him down on the bed. The woman didn't seem slightly concerned about dirtying her bed.

Granted, it was already covered in wood chips, but the fact still stands.

After a few seconds, Apollo's eyelids parted ever so slightly. He slowly blinked a few times before sitting up. Upon turning to the side, he saw the woman, then tilted his head to the side.

"Mommy?"

The woman laughed.

"Silly one now, are you? I am not old enough to be a mother yet!"

She smirked.

"You're lucky. If you weren't so cute, I would hold that against you."

Apollo scratched the side of his head and pouted.

"...Not mommy."

The woman sighed softly and gently put a hand on Apollo's cheek, making him face her.

"My name is Eden. May I know yours?"

Apollo gave a few light nods.

"Apollo!"

Eden got a little closer, inspecting him closely.

"Are you an angel that has fallen from the skies?"

Apollo blinked a few times with confusion.

"What is an angel?"

Eden smiled sweetly.

"Why, angels are those that bring blessings down from the sky! Without them, there wouldn't be enough to provide for all the people of our city!"

Apollo put a finger on his chin and blinked.

"....City?"