"The Frost Core can be made into Frost Armour and a Cool Whip," Jeff the Guide said.

"Frost Armour? What is that?" William asked.

"It is a hybrid melee/ranged armour that requires Frost Cores and Titanium to craft. The Cool Whip can be crafted using one Frost Core with some Souls of Night and Light."

"I'd been wondering if there were any other new whips," Sid said. "Can I take the Frost Core so I can make it?"

"Sure," William said, who didn't feel that interested in the Frost Armour. He didn't notice the disapproving look on Meg's face as he handed Sid the Frost Core – an item that he had had no part in obtaining.

"What about the Ice Feather?" William asked.

"It is one of the many items that can be combined with Souls of Flight to make a pair of wings."

On hearing the word 'wings', Sid jumped up and shouted, "Yahoo! We can make wings! We'll be able to take to the skies!" He spun to Meg and boasted, "Then I won't run out of flight and fall into the Queen Slime's jelly!"

Meg just rolled her eyes and kept her disapproving look on her face.

***

William hadn't been up into the sky since long before the Guardian's defeat, when he'd used a gravitation potion to reverse his gravity so he could float up to the floating islands. That was how he'd gotten his Starfury, a sword that had once served him well.

They now built up a large rope that could extend into the sky thanks to this world's physics, in the opposite direction that the rain around them was falling. It led to the floating island where William had gotten the Starfury from. It was a small grassy island on top of some cloud blocks. Along with the trees that dotted the island, the only structure on the island was a house made from blue-and-gold sunplate blocks, inside of which had been the chest that had contained the Starfury.

The only enemy that William remembered encountering were the Harpies, which were flying bird-like creatures with the face of women, and that seemed to still be the case. They were fairly easy to take out with the weapons they had at that moment, but they were prone to shooting a lot of razor-sharp feathers. He suspected Souls of Flight were obtained similarly to Souls of Night and Light – all enemies in their location would have a chance of dropping one. However, after killing about a dozen Harpies between the three of them, they had yet to yield a single soul.

Shivering in the cold rain, Sid turned to William and Meg and said, "These Harpies aren't dropping anything. Will, this isn't the way to get Souls of Flight."

"Wait. There's something," William said.

It looked to be a floating, grey cloud. A swirly pair of arms stretched out and an electric-blue face crackled upon it. An angry electric-blue face.

"Angry Nimbus," Meg said, reading its label. The creature swept towards them and stopped directly above William. He looked up just as some raindrops from the Nimbus landed on him, dealing some damage. With a grunt he leapt up, Cutlass swinging, but the Nimbus just floated upwards at the same pace, continuing to pelt him with lethal rain.

Fortunately, Sid's Blades and Meg's Crystal Storm were quick to dissolve the cloud, and upon it bursting it dropped a blue staff tipped with a thundercloud that had a lightning bolt sticking out from the top.

"Nimbus Rod," William said. "Magic weapon for you, Meg."

"No Souls of Flight?" Sid asked.

William was going to reply when a long, white creature swooped down from above and rammed Sid right off the island.

"Whoops!" Sid cried out, though his voice just faded into the rainstorm.

"Sid!" William called, then looked up at this new arrival. A Wyvern – a long dragon-like creature with four tiny legs, a long tail, and a strangely kindly face.

He began hurling Shadowflame Knives at it, accompanied by streams from Meg's Golden Shower, but it was too fast, navigating the air with ease. It curled around for another charge, straight towards William. He jumped, the Wyvern passing underneath, though in the lower gravity of the sky his jump took him higher than he'd intended and he found himself falling slowly back to the ground, meaning he wasn't able to avoid the Wyvern's next charge. It took some damage from the titanium shards that spun around his armour, but it was only a little.

Meg swung her new Nimbus Rod, casting forth a couple of rain-clouds that dropped damaging rain beneath them in a similar way to the Angry Nimbus that weapon had come from. The weapon also reminded William of an old one that Sid had once tried, the Crimson Rod, except much more damaging as the Wyvern found itself passing through the rain.

She jumped upwards, her double-jump and Frostspark Boots propelling her upwards like a rocket, while the Wyvern arced upwards and flew at her from directly underneath. She kept swinging her Nimbus Rod, casting rain-clouds that dripped directly onto the Wyvern's face, but William was shocked to notice the creature's life dropping fast from the rain-clouds. Some sort of weakness to rain? No – the rain seemed to be piercing straight through its entire body, dealing constant but massive damage.

Right as it looked like the Wyvern was about to catch up to Meg, the rain washed away the last of its life and its entire body dissolved, leaving some gold coins and glowing cyan items that rushed into Meg's inventory. Souls of Flight.

William heaved a sigh in relief, then saw a familiar shadow ascending to the top of the rope.

"How'd you guys go?" Sid asked.

Meg gave him a look.

***

After collecting enough souls to make three sets of wings, they returned to the Guide. He told them that Souls of Flight could be combined with a variety of different items to create different types of wings. As he had previously stated, combining with the Ice Feather they got from the Ice Golem created Frozen Wings, which William equipped. Meg had collected a Giant Harpy Feather from a defeated Harpy, and used that to craft Harpy Wings.

They didn't have any of the other items besides the Pixie Dust required to make Pixie Wings, so Sid crafted those. While William's and Meg's looked more like traditional feathered bird wings, Sid's Pixie Wings more resembled that of a fly's.

"You look so silly, Sid," Meg said.

"Hey!" Sid exclaimed.

"Pixie Sid," she teased.

He groaned.

William just sighed. He was going to have to talk to them about their conflict at some point.

The three of them then headed outside to try out their newly crafted wings. The rain had stopped, and the sun was shining brightly. Perfect flying weather.

"Up we go!" Meg shouted as she lifted off. She soared high – much higher than Rocket Boots could have ever taken them.

"Geronimo!" Pixie Sid flew up.

William smiled and jumped. He felt the beating of his icy wings on his back as the wind rushed past him. The wings turned out to not last forever – eventually all they could do was spread out, which allowed him to glide softly to the ground. But regardless, they were a massive upgrade over the flight provided by Lightning Boots.

Upon landing he ran to the cliff overlooking the valley and took off again. He soared and spun in the sky. He paused to admire the view up here – he could see much of the forest all around. The Hallow not far away, the snow biome just on the horizon, mountains rising up behind it. The sun was setting, the sky turning a vibrant red.

He saw Sid and Meg soaring up not far away, and flew in their rough direction.

"We should head back to the village before the sun sets," Sid said.

"Wow, what a great idea!" Meg said in an obvious sarcastic voice.

"Thank you," Sid replied, missing her sarcasm completely.

William was about to follow them down when his gaze landed on the lake at the bottom of the valley.

He slowly glided down to get a closer look.

There was a figure down there, sitting on the dock.

It was Robyn.

***

He landed softly behind her, at the point where the dock met the land.

She was dressed in Titanium armour now, just like him, though unlike him there were no wings adorned on her back. She had a fishing rod in the water that bobbed slowly up and down.

"Robyn?" William called tentatively.

She made no response, barely even moving. A full moon began rising on the horizon, its presence seemingly darkening the world around them.

That was when William spotted the water of the lake changing colour. Swathes of red overcame the blue in swirls, soon turning the pond into a lake of blood.

Robyn stood up and reeled in her fishing rod.

A massive creature was pulled forth, leaping upwards. For a brief moment it hung in mid-air, like a predator about to strike, silhouetted in front of the moon.

The moon, which had turned the same blood-red as the water.