by Katie Pottle
“Now,” Instructor Nightan said after taking a deep breath, “there are variations to what I have just demonstrated, but the main skill is to manipulate the cloud into alternate forms that are useful. You will want to experiment with what type of cloud-ball you can pull up, and what it is most effective for. For instance, the water in the cloud-balls can be turned to ice. The raw elements of the cloud can be released and directed. Lightning is a particularly strong offensive weapon, though incredibly hard to wield. Cloud-balls are used in many areas, including healing, biology and trade skills. There are ways to prolong how long they last, but for now, we are just concerned about you making them.
“To earn a passing grade toward a Level 1 Cloud-Shifting badge, you must either perform a successful foot trap or break down a transparent ice wall with cloud-balls from a distance of fifteen feet. It is best to practice this in pairs for obvious reasons. To perform a foot trap, you must feel where your partner is relative to you through the cloud. Once you have identified your target, you make the cloud lift around their feet and then harden, manipulating the cloud from a distance.” Instructor Nightan closed his fist as he explained and Cadin flinched.
“To create a suitable cloud-ball you must reach inside the cloud and tear out what you need. If you are good, you can pull out specific balls of dense cloud, wind, water or even lightning. It is up to you to figure out which one works best to break down a translucent cloud-wall.
“You will pair up and first practice foot traps while I build cloud-walls around the perimeter. You will then take turns practicing throwing or using the elements to try and blast apart the walls. Any questions?” No one raised their hand and they paired up to practice.
Cadin went with Lep while Sun teamed up with Xeno, and Vincent with Jade, leaving Treven to pair up with a large, quiet boy named Alex.
Lep kept talking about how excited he was to try the cloud-balls as he had already made one. Cadin had mixed feelings about both skills. Though useful, Cadin really did not like having his feet bound by the foot trap and did not want to do it to anyone else. The idea behind the cloud-balls seemed cool, but he wasn’t sure about ripping holes in the cloud.
“Okay, I want to give it a try,” Lep said. He paced back from Cadin the full fifteen feet. Cadin thought it would probably be easier to practice closer to each other and then once they had done it successfully they could try from the full distance for the badge, but he didn’t want to disturb Lep’s enthusiasm. Lep got a very serious look on his face and stuck his tongue out a little bit as he reached for the cloud. After a while of trying, he was able to bring some mist up a few feet in front of himself.
“Well it is a start,” Cadin called to Lep. “You should try to harden it now.”
Lep’s face turned red with concentration, his blonde hair falling in front of his eyes. Cadin heard the crackle in the distance.
“Yes, I did it!” Lep yelled as he jumped up to give Cadin a high five.
Instructor Nightan had heard Lep and came over to investigate. He looked at Lep and then down at the solidified little lump in front of him.
“Where are the feet of the person you trapped, boy?” Instructor Nightan asked as he kicked at the stump.
“I…well; you see I didn’t trap anyone,” Lep said in a low voice.
“Then why all the celebration? I suggest you get back to practicing, as it seems you really need it.”
“Don’t listen to him,” Cadin said as Instructor Nightan walked off. “Nobody else has done that yet. He was just being sour because you probably did it better than anyone in his class.”
“Yeah,” Xeno said. He and Sun had come over to check out what Lep had done. “Hey, how did you get it out in front of you? My fog just keeps following my hand.”
“Oh, you kinda have to think about what’s in front of you while you are touching the cloud,” Lep said with a proud smile.
“Cool, I’ll give it a try.”
“So, you ready to give it a go?” Lep asked Cadin.
“Sure,” Cadin said without much enthusiasm.
“Don’t worry; I’m sure you’ll get it.”
Cadin went back to his full fifteen feet and reached down. The connection with the cloud was becoming easier as he already felt the tingle up his wrists. This time Cadin concentrated on the vibrations on the surface of the cloud. He felt almost like he was under the water of a lake with a frozen surface, and he could see and feel what was going on above him. Each person had a vibration that rippled through the surface of the cloud, much like the plant in Master Emilio’s office. Cadin reached around through his connection with the cloud and easily found Lep’s vibration which was fast and exciting. He explored a little further to find Sun, whose vibration was erratic and happy. Xeno’s was slow and calm.
Cadin tried to lift the cloud up around Lep’s, feet but couldn’t quite feel how. He started to sweat with his effort.
“How do I get the cloud to rise in the distance?” He asked Lep.
“I don’t know, you just do.” Lep was distracted and kept yelling advice over to Sun and Xeno.
Cadin redoubled his effort, feeling his body tremble. Just as he felt the cloud rise a bit, Lep jumped. “Oh, I felt a cold tickle! I think you got some of the cloud up.”
“Nice,” Cadin said as he released his connection to the cloud. “I don’t have enough energy to trap you, though. Plus, it seems kinda useless if you can feel it before I am able to harden it.”
“A good observation,” Instructor Nightan said from behind Cadin, making him jump. “There are many stealth options that you can work on after you master the basics. However, first you must produce a suitable step one trap. Continue.”
Lep could harden traps, but never around Cadin’s feet, and Cadin seemed to have the opposite problem. He was getting better at raising the cloud where he wanted it, but could not harden them. Instructor Nightan called time, and Cadin looked around at all the cloud-walls around the pit.
“Pick one wall with your partner and take turns trying to break it down with cloud-balls,” Instructor Nightan said. “I have marked the fifteen-foot range for each wall. Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Cadin and Lep stepped up to the wall with Sun and Xeno on their left, and Lexi and Hydra on their right. Lep found the green mark that indicated fifteen feet and smiled at Cadin.
“No problem, we can do this.”
“Be my guest,” Cadin said to Lep.
Lep reached down to the cloud and after a minute or so, Cadin heard a crackle. Lep’s face turned red as he pulled at the solidified cloud. Finally, Lep ripped a piece of cloud up as he fell back. The ball was dark, and Cadin saw a few sparks jump around on the raw side of the cloud-ball.
“I got shocked by lightning coming from my hole!” Lep huffed as if offended that the cloud would do such a thing.
“Did it hurt?” Cadin asked with a smile.
“Well, not really. Just stung a bit.”
“At least you got a cloud-ball out of it. The wall is waiting.”
“Oh, right!” Lep jumped up and focused on the wall. He switched his cloud-ball to his right hand and stepped up to the green line. Most everyone nearby stopped to watch.
“Knock it down, Lep!” Sun said.
Lep took aim and threw. The cloud-ball swirled with a bit of lightning coming out the side. It hit the top left corner of the wall and shattered it. Everyone cheered and went back to their walls with renewed enthusiasm.
“Nice,” Cadin said.
“Yeah, that took a good chunk out of it,” Lep said with a big smile playing across his face.
“Go ahead and try another one,” Cadin said.
“You don’t mind?”
“Nah, it will take me a while to try and form my cloud-balls anyway.”
“Nice work, boy,” Instructor Nightan said as he examined the wall with the corner missing. “Let’s see if you can keep it up.” Instructor Nightan stood behind them as Lep reached down to try and pull another cloud-ball up. C
adin sat back and watched Lep and Instructor Nightan as Cadin connected to the cloud. He could feel Lep reaching into the cloud and solidifying it. Lep looked like he was trying even harder to pull up this cloud-ball than the first one with sweat dripping down his face.
Cadin both heard and felt Lep pull the next ball up. This one looked different than the first. It was lighter in color and did not look as dense. Instructor Nightan had a nasty smile on his face, and Cadin guessed that this was not the type of cloud-ball that would do much damage to a transparent wall. Lep did not seem worried as he stepped up to the green line with his head up and shoulders back. He threw the cloud-ball hard and true. It hit the wall dead-center; however, instead of blowing apart the wall it bounced straight back at Lep. Too surprised to dodge it, the ball hit Lep square in the chest and knocked him back into Cadin.
“I think you were on more of the right track with your first attempt.” Instructor Nightan walked away without another word.
Once Instructor Nightan left, Lep seemed to realize how funny it was and started laughing. Cadin, Sun, and Xeno joined in, finding a bouncing cloud-ball quite ridiculous. Soon many people in the class had pulled up various cloud-balls. Lexi threw one that had an odd shape which whipped around like a boomerang before it was reabsorbed into the pit wall. Xeno picked up a huge cloud-ball, but was unable to throw it the full fifteen feet. It just sank into the bottom of the pit with a sputter.
The holes in the ground were many, massive and quite distracting. When it was his turn, Cadin used a different tactic. Instead of solidifying the top of the cloud and ripping it out, Cadin searched the cloud for features that he figured would best break down a translucent wall. Lep’s dark lightning cloud-ball had certainly performed better than anyone else is so far, so he focused on a nice stormy piece of the cloud. He willed it to the surface and reached into the cloud.
“Cool! How are you doing that?” Lep asked, but Cadin was concentrating too much to answer.
Cadin felt a rumble under his feet and saw the cloud light up under him as a bolt of lightning arced through the cloud straight for Cadin’s hand. He pulled his hand out of the cloud just before the bolt reached the surface. Part of the bolt escaped through his hand hole, whizzing past his ear and grazing Instructor Nightan’s shoulder before reabsorbing into the wall.
“What the…!” Instructor Nightan spun around and zeroed in on Cadin. “How did lightning escape?” His words were slow and dangerous.
Cadin opened his mouth, but nothing came out.
“Well?”
“I was reaching inside the cloud to avoid ripping a hole…and it just zapped out.” Cadin held his breath as Instructor Nightan drew closer, still holding his shoulder.
“Basics first! Someone could have gotten seriously hurt. Follow my directions and learn what I teach before you go experimenting with cloud-shifting. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!” Cadin spent the rest of the time dutifully ripping small holes in the cloud.
“Time is up!” Instructor Nightan shouted, making Lep and Cadin jump. “Off to the cloud-walking section in the big pit.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Cloud Walking
“There are many practical skills for angels to have when it comes to cloud-shifting.” Instructor Zephran began as they circled around the edge of the giant pit. Cadin looked down to see a thick, misty cloud swirl around the pit. He was not standing near any of his friends, as Instructor Zephran gave them assigned spots, all away from their closest companions. Cadin had no idea how Instructor Zephran was able to remember who each other’s friends were in classes other than her own. But she had nailed it in this class as Cadin was staring at Sun and Lep directly across the pit from him, with a couple of people in between them. Likewise, Xeno and Treven were to Cadin’s left and Vincent was to his right with Cadin’s other classmates directly next to him.
“Today we will work on a skill that is imperative to all angels…cloud-walking.” The students started clapping when she demonstrated by walking right off the edge of the pit, and instead of falling or flying, the mist followed her feet to make a sort of bridge that supported her across the pit, the bridge dissolving behind her. “Now, you have all learned the basics of cloud-shifting today at the other two stations, so we will skip over that,” the class sighed in relief; “however, we must go over the differences that you must understand in order to cloud-walk. Instead of concentrating your energy to your hands for cloud-shifting, you must switch up your way of thinking and cloud-shift with your feet.
“This is the only practical skill that we will be focusing on today, and for good reason. This is such an essential ability, that you are not allowed anywhere else in The Park without it. To earn a passing mark, you must successfully cloud-walk across the large pit without falling—yes, Leptan?” Cadin was surprised to see Lep raising his hand.
“Well, what would happen if you went on the big cloud-mountain without cloud-walking?” Lep asked.
“You couldn’t even get to the base of the big mountain because there is no solid ground anywhere near it. Look.” She pointed at the huge curling cloud. “Do you see any pink paths?”
Lep just shook his head, looking confused. Cadin guessed that he must be thinking about their adventure up the big cloud-mountain and wondering how they had managed to climb it. Since most of the class heard their story on the ride over here, they were looking back and forth between Lep and Cadin.
“What is wrong with you guys?” Instructor Zephran asked the class.
“Well, Lep and Cadin told a story about them climbing the big cloud-mountain last summer,” Lexi told Instructor Zephran.
“Impossible,” Instructor Zephran said softly. “Unless of course they were able to cloud-walk earlier than any angel I have ever heard of, and without any proper instruction. Has anyone ever trained you in cloud-walking before?”
Everyone in the class looked back to Lep and then Cadin with doubtful looks. Cadin didn’t know what to think or say. They weren’t lying.
Lep shook his head and Cadin simply answered, “No.”
“Then you must have natural cloud-walking skills…or a very big imagination,” Instructor Zephran said with a smile. The girl next to Cadin let out a giggle, and Cadin could feel his face warm.
“Let’s have you two try cloud-walking first then,” Instructor Zephran said. “Go ahead, Leptan and then Cadin.”
Lep looked like he had swallowed a cloud-worm as he inched his way toward the edge of the pit. He took a deep breath and then stepped forward. He hovered over the pit and took two more steps. He looked up and smiled just before dropping straight to the bottom, the mist swirling around him. The class laughed but stopped when Instructor Zephran held up her hands.
“Not too bad for a first attempt, though nothing you could climb a cloud-mountain with. You’re up, Cadin.”
Cadin had so many thoughts and feelings coursing through him that he couldn’t focus on any of them. He closed his eyes and tried to connect with the cloud under his feet. Don’t fall, he thought before he stepped forward. His eyes were still closed, as he kept taking small steps towards the edge of the pit. If he was going to plummet, he did not want to see his classmates laughing at him again.
He could hear some whispers, but was too full of adrenaline to process what they were saying. He took another couple of small steps thinking that he should be to the edge by now. He peeked down just enough to see that he still had cloud under his feet and had not yet reached the edge. He shut his eyes tight and took two big steps forward. When nothing happened and the whispers became increasingly loud, Cadin opened his eyes.
He found himself looking into the shocked faces of his classmates from mid-pit that he was hovering over. He had cloud-walked without even realizing it.
“Alright, Cadin!” Lep shouted from below. The rest of the class started to cheer as Cadin tried to figure out what to do. He took a tentative step backward and found cloud-footing. He decided to turn around and try to get back to his or
iginal spot. He took a couple more steps and then wondered what he had to do to stop the cloud-walking. As soon as he thought it, he fell. Lep ran over to him and helped him up.
Instructor Zephran had jumped down and used her wings to slow her descent and land gracefully next to the pair of them. Her Aura lit up the mist around her as she looked down at Cadin.
Speaking in a very quiet but firm voice, she addressed Cadin. “How did you do that?”
“I don’t know,” Cadin said honestly. “My eyes were closed and it just happened.”
Instructor Zephran gave Cadin a hard, searching look and then flew back out of the pit. “Well, it is time for the rest of you to give it a try!”
Looking a little shocked, the rest of the class peered into the bottom of the pit before trying to cloud-walk. Most of them fell before Cadin and Lep could climb out. The others took tentative steps towards the edge. So far, no one had done as well as Lep, let alone actually cloud-walked. Cadin decided to sit and watch for a little while as he processed what had happened. Instructor Zephran did not say anything to him as he sat on a raised pink cloud above Lep’s spot.
What was it that Instructor Kade said to me earlier…? Cadin tried to remember. Something about knowing how I was able to climb the big cloud mountain. I guess I can cloud-walk. What about Lep, though. He must have been following me closely and when I jumped and stopped cloud-walking he fell. It is a cool skill to have, Cadin thought as he watched Sun in her third attempt. She cloud-walked four full steps before falling. Instructor Zephran mentioned to the group that angels who had developed their Aura were more capable cloud-shifters.
“If you can successfully cloud-shift before you develop your Aura, once your Aura does shine through, it drastically increases your power and duration.” She did not have to look at Cadin for him to know she was talking to him.
