Their hands parted. Kim looked toward the window and found Lloyd standing there.
"Are you finished?"
"Yes, my lord."
Lloyd opened a portal, and the two stepped toward it.
Elena screamed:
"At least… tell me where you are going!"
He looked back at her with a smile as he crossed the threshold.
"Do not be afraid… I am only going to Hell."
Her eyes widened, and she ran toward him, weeping. A flood of questions raced through her mind: Why Hell? Was he lying? Would he ever return?
She reached out, screaming his name… but the portal snapped shut.
Elena collapsed, her screams drawing everyone in the palace to her side, though none knew what had transpired.
The echo of Kim's words began to fade, leaving behind a harsh truth: To love is to believe before becoming attached. For everyone we love, a day will come when they depart—whether by death or by distance.
It wasn't just the portal that closed… but a heart left waiting.
Kim and Lloyd arrived in the otherworld. There was an agreement between them: Lloyd would lead him to the world where he once lived—where the Light began—so Kim could uncover the truth.
Kim was transported to an empty expanse.
"I moved you here so no one would suspect us," Lloyd said.
Kim looked up at the city suspended in the sky.
"The Saints and the high-ranking Angels dwell there. As for the lower ranks… they remain on the ground."
Kim asked him:
"And you?"
Lloyd hesitated.
"My lord… I would prefer not to answer."
Kim smiled.
"I do not wish to know right now."
He looked at that world with mockery.
"Paradise… and ranks? What a farce."
Suddenly, he asked:
"Would you be saddened if I destroyed your world?"
"No… I would be happy."
Kim laughed.
Lloyd dissolved into Kim's shadow, handing him a golden bracelet.
"This will suppress your power. Do not use any of your strength here."
In the first village, Kim saw the truth: a stark divide between those who possessed wings—one or more—and those who had none.
But the worst was the arrival of high-ranking angels, taking others by force.
Lloyd whispered to him:
"Rituals… to forge a weapon from an angel. A weapon meant to kill the Envoy."
Rage flared within Kim as he watched the lower ranks being treated like slaves.
He walked away, but questions burned in his mind:
Who is the Envoy? And how can an angel be turned into a weapon?