Cloud Lands Saga Box Set Books 1-3

by Katie Pottle

  He picked at the grass and watched as a small cloud drifted through the empty field, leaving dewdrops on the foliage it brushed on its journey. Gur rested in the main crook of the tree. Cadin glanced back at the sheet with his third quarter class choices listed.

  “Hey, man.”

  Cadin startled, and quickly looked up to see Lep smiling at him. “Oh, hey, Lep. I didn’t hear you at all.” He smiled and waved him down to the ground next to him. “That stealth training last week has paid off.”

  “Yeah, right. You were so deep in thought, I could have been a wrath bringing my prey here to eat and you still wouldn’t have caught on until the meal was finished and I started stalking you for dessert.”

  “That is a very strange thought. But yeah, I was sorta oblivious to the world.”

  “What’s got you so engulfed?”

  Cadin sighed and handed over his copy of the schedule. Lep glanced at it and soon was shaking with laughter. “Unsure a bit?”

  Cadin took the schedule back and nodded. Nearly every class was circled out of interest. It was a year’s worth of classes.

  Lep calmed down and nudged Cadin's shoulder. “It’s okay to be unsure what you want to do with your life.” The sincerity in his best friend's voice broke down his barriers.

  Cadin took in a deep breath. He hadn’t realized that his anxiety was not just about upcoming classes, but about his life. Once Lep said it, it rang true. He had to choose a life path, and felt unprepared or unwilling to limit himself. “I just don’t feel ready to choose a Path yet; and according to all of our instructors, we should be ‘keeping a Path Choice in mind’ as we select our classes for the rest of the year.” Cadin felt his body slump, reflecting his mood.

  “You worry too much, Cadin of Glade.” Lep gave him a friendly punch on the arm before continuing. “You can’t look at class choices like they are limiting you. Just let that visceral feeling guide you. Some classes might suck and others will be amazing. Either way, they will all help guide you to your ultimate decision.”

  “And what if I like all of the options equally?”

  “Even if you like all the Path Choices, it will not be equal. One you may be drawn to because it stimulates your mind, one because it utilizes skills that you are naturally good at, and so on. It's up to each of us to decide ultimately what truly moves us. You may not know now, but I think you will when the time comes."

  "And when did you get so smart?" Cadin asked.

  "Ha, I've always been smarter than you," Lep said with a wry smile. "I'll leave you to it," he said as he stood up. "We leave for The Park in twenty."

  "Thanks, Lep."

  "Any time."

  “The clouds look angry today,” Treven said as they approached the Cloud Park. Cadin thought the same thing but was too excited to worry about it. He had told Master Emilio that the school was taking them to the Park again for another field trip and Master Emilio hinted that he might stop by and show Cadin a few tricks with gins and cloud-shifting.

  “The clouds are quite unsettled today,” Instructor Kade said to Treven, “but that is good for us. The nature of clouds is to change, and the best way to learn cloud-shifting is to try on a temperamental cloud.”

  “I’m definitely going to earn my Cloud-Shifting badge today!” Lep said excitedly. Many others echoed his sentiment as the transports stopped in front of the main gate.

  Cadin saw Bart with a group of second years standing by the transports and pointed him out to Lep and Sun. Their own group stopped in front of the transport next to Bart’s group so they went over to say hello.

  “Oh, hi guys,” Bart said as they approached. He did not seem to be standing with anyone in particular and seemed quite happy to see them.

  “Hey Bart,” Sun said. “Did you hear about the Com Games?”

  “Yeah, pretty cool prize. I always thought that the Warrior Path Games would be interesting, but you need a team to enter.”

  “Well,” Cadin said, “we don't all have our Paths fully figured out, however, we are supposed to form teams for training purposes and in preparation for the Games, so we were talking about forming an unofficial Warrior Path team that can train during the Archery Club."

  "Yeah," Sun jumped in, "we know that you are a second year and may want to form a team with other kids your age, however, we thought we would offer you a spot on our team with Lep, Cadin and I? That is if we establish eligibility and of course if you’d like to.”

  “Oh, that would be great!” Bart said bouncing on the balls of his over-sized feet. “My classmates had already formed teams before I transferred here, and none even considered me as an alternate.”

  "I think we will make a great team."

  “Hey guys, did you hear that?” Someone called from the perimeter of the group. Gregor, the bulky third year that had confronted Cadin at the end of the triple exercises stepped forward with his friends behind him. “This second year has sunk so low as to join this group of firsty turds.” Gregor was smirking as his cronies laughed.

  “Don’t forget criminals,” one of Gregor’s friends called from behind him.

  “You’re right Jordy, first year criminals. Man, that is pathetic!” Gregor said to Bart with a sneer.

  Bart hung his head as Gregor’s friends and even some of the second years laughed.

  Cadin stepped up to Gregor and felt for the first time how big and intimidating Gregor really was with his Aura, wings and bulky muscles.

  “What do you care?” Cadin asked, sounding braver than he felt.

  “What did you say to me, pipsqueak?” Gregor took a step closer and Cadin noticed that all the instructors were busy organizing the group transports. Gregor smirked at his obvious discomfort. Cadin decided that he needed to say something to stand up for his friend. Cadin looked Gregor in the eyes and said clearly, “I asked ‘what do you care?’ If it means so much to you that a second year not be on a team with first years, why don’t you invite him to join your team?”

  “I don’t work with people below me,” Gregor said in an intimidating voice.

  “Then why do you care at all what team he is on? Do you feel threatened by him or by my team?”

  “I don’t feel threatened by anyone, pipsqueak, especially a bunch of little firsties!” By now Gregor was shouting, and most of the other kids close by were watching, along with a few instructors. “I have true team of Warrior Angels that will annihilate any other team we go up against—and not just from Glade, but from any team in the Calvarian System!”

  Cadin could feel Gregor’s breath on his face. Gregor’s team was cheering from behind them, but Cadin could see that Gregor was serious, and Cadin thought he might be a bit unstable. Best to defuse the situation before Gregor blows a vein, Cadin thought. Stepping back slightly, but keeping his eyes on Gregor, Cadin spoke in a calm but confident voice.

  “Well, I would like the team that wins the whole tournament to be from Glade.” Gregor blinked and then took a much needed breath as his face had been turning beet red. Cadin continued carefully. “I mean everyone knows that Gladers are the most powerful angels in the System, right?” There were a lot of cheers from the onlookers. “We could very well have the strongest team from all of the cloud-lands right here among us!” Now everyone was clapping, and Gregor looked confused whether it was meant for him or not.

  “Alright everyone!” Instructor Nightan called. “Let's head in!”

  Cadin started to follow Lep through the main gates, but Instructor Kade caught him by the shoulder.

  “Master Emilio talked to me about training you today. Because you have already earned your Cloud-Shifting badge, I told him he could have you for the whole day—that is if it is okay with you.”

  “Yeah, of course,” Cadin said as he looked around for Master Emilio.

  “He is going to meet you in the natural cloud section, but I must accompany you to the entrance or they will not let you pass. They don’t like collecting kids that don’t have the appropriate cloud-shifting sk
ills to get around.”

  Cadin told his friends what he was up to and wished them good luck before heading off toward the natural cloud.

  “Remember to not think about your basic cloud-shifting too much and you should be fine,” Instructor Kade said as they approached the gate. Master Emilio was waiting on the other side. After a few words with the guard who eyed Cadin suspiciously and a cursory hello to Master Emilio, Instructor Kade left to return to the school group.

  “Good morning,” Cadin said happily to Master Emilio.

  “Morning” he grumbled back. They were still in earshot of the guard and Cadin remembered that Master Emilio liked to put on an unapproachable front.

  They walked and climbed for a while until they were completely secluded.

  “Where are the path outlines?” Cadin wondered “How do we know when we need to cloud-shift?”

  “There are no land paths here. As soon as you entered the gate you were cloud-shifting.”

  “Wow, cool.” Cadin saw Master Emilio smile a bit before he cloud-shifted a seat for himself that looked simple but comfortable. Upon closer inspection of the cloud-chair, Cadin noticed that it wasn’t simple at all; there were small ornate details around the entire base, and the part that Master Emilio sat upon shifted a bit under his movement, so Cadin figured that the actual seat was not as solid as the base and somehow remained partly natural cloud.

  “That is amazing.” Cadin said.

  “Have you never seen someone make a cloud-chair before?”

  “No.”

  “Another dying art I am afraid,” Master Emilio said, shaking his head. “It used to be a bit of a status symbol, you see.”

  Cadin shook his head, having no idea what Master Emilio meant.

  “Whenever angels would convene for important meetings, they would cloud-shift their own chairs. It started out of convenience, but quickly turned into showing off. Some would create these fabulous thrones that took up half the cloud!” He chuckled and then looked at Cadin. “Why don’t you give it a try?”

  “Okay, what do I do?”

  “Imagine the type of chair that will work best for you in size and shape, and then think of any embellishments you would like to add. I enjoy a soft seat so I don’t harden the center completely. As you are shifting, actively imagine all the things that you want your chair to be. Shape it slowly at first so if there is anything that you would like to change, you can do it before you harden rather than simply starting over.”

  Cadin thought for a moment and then reached into the cloud to begin. Master Emilio was watching with sharp eyes. Clouds started to bubble up in front of Cadin and slowly take shape. For his first chair, Cadin wanted it to be super cool rather than completely comfortable, so he decided to bring water from the cloud up the back and form an iced back that looked a bit like Gur’s wings. Since it reminded Cadin of Gur, he decided that any chair that he shifted should have a proper perch for his dragon, so he imagined a prong that would be easy for Gur to climb on from his shoulder.

  The base of the chair swirled and rose to form the seat. The cloud wavered a little bit before Cadin decided to harden it, and he lost focus when he tried to harden everything but the seat cushion. The chair hardened and both Cadin and Master Emilio stood up to inspect his work. Cadin was upset to see the clouds making up the seat cushion floating away. They had not hardened at all, leaving a hole in the middle of his chair which now resembled a toilet with a cool ice back that had many prongs poking out of the top.

  “Very interesting,” Master Emilio said. “Did you make this branch on purpose?”

  “Yep, that is for Gur, see,” Cadin said as he sat on the chair carefully so as not to sink into the toilet bowl. “Gur, go up. That is for you.”

  Gur looked curiously at what Cadin was pointing at. He smelled it and pushed it a little bit before jumping onto it. He wobbled a bit, turned all the way around, slipped and then jumped back onto Cadin’s shoulder, hissing in his ear.

  “Guess we’ll have to work on that, buddy.”

  “Actually, you did exceptionally well for this being your first chair. Kade was right about your natural shifting abilities.”

  Cadin looked up curiously and asked, “What else did Instructor Kade say about me?”

  Master Emilio just smiled and Cadin knew that he was not going to say a thing.

  “Now we can at least use your chair as a target for the gins,” Master Emilio said as he walked back a few paces. Cadin jumped up and followed.

  Master Emilio brought out his own slice-gins and Cadin did the same. They buzzed a bit in his hand in anticipation.

  “Since you have several spikes coming out of the top of your ice back—nice touch by the way—why don’t you try to take off the one on the far right, like this?”

  Cadin watched as the gin in Master Emilio’s hand grew to a curved shape that had a wicked edge to it but still fit nicely in his hand. When he threw it, the gin spun through the air and neatly clipped off the far-left prong before returning gracefully to his open hand.

  “You may not want to have the slice-gins return to you until you gain more skill because they can take your fingers off if you get it wrong.”

  Cadin flexed his fingers at the mention of losing them. He then focused on his black slice-gin and asked it to form into a shape similar to Master Emilio’s. Nothing happened. Cadin focused and tried again. It complied though it seemed to take a lot of energy and it looked more like a rocky blob than the sleek weapon that he had hoped for. He took aim and threw the gin. It spun and wobbled through the air and sailed over the top of the chair—disappearing into the cloud behind.

  “Oh no—it’ll be lost!” Cadin exclaimed in a panic.

  “Calm down. Now simply ask it to ‘return.'”

  “Return! Please, return.” Cadin was surprised to see the gin come up from the base of the cloud that they were walking on rather than where it had disappeared into the cloud.

  “Path of least resistance,” Master Emilio said simply. “Remember Cadin—these are your gins and they want to return to you. They do not get lost or instantly reabsorbed into the cloud. They will not fall through to Earth. They are drawn to you and will return to you when asked unless they are physically restrained. Even then, they may change shape to escape their holdings to try to get back to you.” The wind whipped around them, and the cloud below rumbled with thunder.

  “Oh. Um, why was mine not as weapon-like as yours?” Cadin asked, brushing the dark hair out of his face. The weather was making it difficult to concentrate.

  “That just takes practice. Eventually, your thoughts and wants will be translated much more clearly to your gins and you will not have to work as hard for your results.

  “What were you thinking of when you released the gin?”

  Cadin thought for a second and then answered, “I wasn’t thinking about much except for not wanting to lose my fingers.”

  “You must have intention in your guidance of the gin—that’s what makes them special and different from an ordinary weapon like a throwing knife.”

  Cadin looked up, confused.

  “Gins have a strong connection to their master and bend to your will, but you must guide them. It helps if you speak your thoughts aloud when you are first learning so that you are clear and precise in your thinking and your gins will perform better for you. Try again with your other slice-gin and think, feel and say aloud exactly what you want it to do before releasing it.”

  “Okay,” Cadin said as he fingered his white slice-gin. Already he could feel the ‘personality’ of this gin to be different than the other. First, he thought of the shape and concentrated on changing the gin. It took a few moments and a lot of energy before his gin turned into a slightly more weapon-like shape than his first attempt. He focused on the large ice prong that he wanted the gin to clip off.

  He raised his hand and said, “Cut off the far-right chair prong…and do not return.” He threw the gin and was disappointed to see it stick into th
e top right back of his chair before falling to the firm cloud. Cadin ran and grabbed the gin before it could fall through and then sat awkwardly in his chair.

  Master Emilio took to his own chair, while Cadin was constantly rearranging so as not to fall through the hole in the middle. Master Emilio shifted a bit of cloud up through the center of Cadin’s seat and partially hardened it for a cushion.

  “Thanks,” Cadin said. “That is much better. I’m frustrated that my gins don’t seem to be working for me very well.” Cadin slumped in his cold chair. The water in the chair had turned to ice when he hardened it. He made a mental note to not use water again for a seat.

  “On the contrary. You are doing quite well with your gins. Remember this is a lost art for a reason. It is not something you can master in a day—no matter how naturally talented you are.”

  Cadin nodded but did not feel very reassured. He decided to change the subject. “Why did this gin not fall through the cloud?” Cadin asked as he returned the gin back to its resting state.

  Master Emilio nodded and then turned to the question. “Because we have been walking and cloud-shifting in this area, the base of this cloud is reacting to our energies and hardening a bit into the first stages of a cloud-land. A full-blown cloud-land is formed by many angels naturally shifting on it for a long period of time. The more angels in an area, the more a natural cloud will shift into a cloud-land. This is good for us, because cloud-shifting takes up our energy, but if a natural cloud shifts to a cloud-land we do not have to exert any energy to stand on it.”

  “Oh, that’s so cool.”

  “Indeed.”

  “How many cloud-lands are there around Earth right now?”

  “Impossible to say,” Master Emilio answered. “You see, where we are now could technically be considered a baby cloud-land, though once we leave it will quickly shift back to a natural cloud, and anything that we leave behind will reabsorb into the cloud. There are many angels resting from long journeys, or small colonies or even families that do not want to live on the main cloud-lands and so they move to a smaller cloud to live on. All of these are technically cloud-lands though they are not fully recognized as such by the map makers and the Core. There are just too many that get recycled too quickly to count. Though there are currently ten established Cloud Systems around Earth right now—each with between two to ten cloud-lands. Of course, that does not include any fringe-lands.”