by Katie Pottle
Instinctively, Cadin knew two things. One—the surface was close. Two—a lightning bolt was about to strike him.
Out of breath and nearly out of energy, Cadin scrambled to try and surface before the lightning could build enough charge to connect.
Almost there! Cadin reached for the exit as his legs tingled. Instead of breaking the surface, he felt a hand—of an adult. He grasped onto it. The cloud spewed him out as the helping hand pulled. The cloud closed behind Cadin’s limp form, followed by a deafening thunderclap just under the surface.
CHAPTER TWO
Travel
“Cadin!”
“Are you alright?”
“What happened?”
“Guuuur!” His small dragon landed on his shoulder and gripped a little tighter than normal. Gur wanted an explanation. Cadin opened his eyes to his friends’ worried faces alongside Instructor Kade’s stern glare.
“Are you okay?” Instructor Kade’s blonde, short cropped hair barely moved as the wind picked up around them—chilling Cadin to the bone.
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Now tell me why you are all up here.” His blue eyes flashed dangerously. The sun bounced off Instructor Kade’s armguard, and Cadin knew it was the same gleam he saw earlier. Instructor Kade must have been searching for them.
Cadin knew that now was not the time to make light of the situation to avoid getting in trouble. “It’s my fault, sir. Everyone came to Mist Lake to train and when you weren’t there, well, I was intrigued by all of the natural clouds.”
“We were doing some group training.” Sun added. Instructor Kade did not take his sharp eyes off Cadin.
“I need to speak with Cadin alone. The rest of you can train at Mist until we are through.”
His friends gave him sympathetic waves before taking off and soaring back to Glade. He tensed, expecting Instructor Kade to start yelling, only to be surprised when the steady Warrior of the Core took a quiet seat next to him and let out a sigh. “You risk too much playing in the open and exposing your friends. You know what is out there.”
Cadin hung his head.
“I have talked with your parents and Master Emilio. The consensus is that you want to win the Calvarian Games to get a spot on the Warrior Path Fast Track in the Academy. You remember why you originally wanted that spot so badly?”
Cadin calmed his breathing and considered the question. “So that I can join the Core in time…in time for…”
“In time for the war, Cadin. When we first talked about this potential war—that is all that it was. Once your mixed Aura shinned through and Tiberius made his first move for you, that potential became a reality. The Core is doing what it can to secure the Calvarian cloud-lands for now. I wish you did not have to make this choice at such a young age. Many of your friends and contemporaries will probably have to make the same choice; however, they will be afforded the luxury of a true childhood first. You, however are different. Your aqua Aura is unique and you know that makes you a catalyst.”
Cadin cringed and gave the clouds a nervous kick before Instructor Kade continued. “Master Sanjen is counting on you to succeed in the Games. It will be hard for him to promote you early enough otherwise. Being the youngest team to qualify for the Games, Dragon Fire has a hard road to victory.”
“You’re right,” Cadin said. “I thought I accepted what happened and the road it put me on—but you’ve shown me that I have mostly been hiding from it. I do want to win the Games and be able to make a difference.” He looked up at Instructor Kade. “I’m sorry for being so reckless.”
“You only have to stay safe here for a couple more days until we fly to Condor. Security will be extremely high with the Games and you will be allowed more freedom. However, slipping through clouds is not advisable anywhere in the System.”
“Oh, right!” Cadin patted down his still damp clothes and shivered.
“I have to admit that I didn’t expect someone with your natural cloud-shifting abilities to fall. What happened?”
“I was sitting, watching the others flip through the air and land on the surface, and wondered what it would be like to not be caught by the fluffy cloud. Right as I thought it, I must have stopped cloud-walking and sunk deep into the cloud. It was nothing like the surface, or even like the insides of the clouds at the Cloud Park. It was brutal.”
“Yes, the Park Rangers temper down the elements inside the clouds at the Cloud Park for training purposes. You are lucky you weren’t struck by lightning or tracked down by a wrath. Looks like the kind of cloud they like to make their nests in.”
Cadin shivered at the thought of encountering the dark, leathery creatures that feed on cloud-creatures to absorb their energy. “I was almost struck by lightning. I felt it arcing towards me.”
“I know. It struck the cloud under you after you surfaced. Luckily, I think you subconsciously closed the cloud behind you. Otherwise you would be much crispier during this conversation.” A rare smile lit Instructor Kade's chiseled features.
“It is so cool that we are traveling to the Contra Quad!” Lep peered over the side of the group airship. The school had rented two large long distance airships from Sun’s dad. Cadin and his team claimed the front end of the blue airship with black, diagonal stripes. Sun’s dad was adamant about painting unique patterns on each of his airships. “Harder to steal,” he had said when Cadin first saw them. “Sun and I only just finished painting all of our distance airships—time to move on to the heavy riders.”
“You helped with this?” Cadin had asked Sun at the time, a faltering smile on his face. She had smiled and given him a friendly kick in the shins for making fun of her efforts.
Team Dragon Fire shared the diagonal blue and black airship with team Strikers.
“Perfect,” Lep said as he assessed the group travel situation. “Gregor and Ariana deserve each other. Maybe they will fall in love and have babies and name them Ara-gor. Get it? Ariana and Gregor together!”
“You may want to talk a little quieter,” Sun whispered. “The Daisy airship is only a few feet away.”
“Yeah, and they will already be mad that they got stuck with an airship that has pretty flowers painted all over it,” Cadin said with another mocking smile—for which he received another kick to the shin.
Cadin’s parents had volunteered to be chaperones for the trip along with Gregor’s older, and even bigger brother, Junior, and Instructor Kade who was their Glade leader.
They flew for the better part of the day before approaching the docking station at one of the blue Aura cloud-lands in the Arkta Quad. Ansford was one of the largest cloud-lands in the Calvarian system, second only to Condor, their final destination for the Calvarian Games.
“Only one night to visit Ansford,” Instructor Kade said as everyone stood up to stretch as their airships bumped the docks. “We have to charge up the airships and hit the skies first thing in the morning.”
“Oh, why can’t we stay a few days? It is our first time here. Plus, we will be on Condor the entire summer.” Lep peered around the dock. Cadin had been excited by the idea of checking out Ansford, where his dad was raised. A tall building peeked over the lush foliage.
“We are on a strict timeline to reach Condor in time for the Welcoming Feast.”
“Then why didn’t we just fly over Central Cloud instead? It would have been a more direct path,” Lep said.
“And a far bigger hassle to get permits to land and recharge. Besides, this way we get to meet up with some of the other teams.”
A slight angel flew up to the airship and addressed Instructor Kade. “I have a message for you, Captain.”
Bart and Lep mouthed Captain to Cadin. Instructor Kade read the message, his brow tightening more the further he read.
“Talvarian, as you know this cloud-land, will you please take everyone to the Ansford Grand Hotel? I will meet up with you later.” Instructor Kade put a few final items in his pack and secured a long sword between his wings. C
adin had never seen Instructor Kade’s weapon of choice while at school, but traveling was a different story. He dressed in civilian clothes, but Cadin noticed distinct Core qualities to them. His shirt looked waterproof and had slight wear along seams where armor would fit over it. Both his pants and his shirt had pockets and straps everywhere, and Cadin counted four daggers, one small folding knife, a compact crossbow and his long sword among weapons hidden within the pockets and straps of his clothes. Cadin could only guess at how many more things he had stashed away.
“Come on, everyone, I’ll show you to Town Square and the Grand Hotel,” Tal said as he shook his hands together. He grabbed Cadin’s hand as if he was still a small child, and tugged him along, pointing out different town features. Blue Auras were everywhere, with several white and even red Aura angels salting the colored air.
The main town was huge, and even though the clouds were changing colors with the setting sun, the streets and shops were teeming with activity.
“This town doesn’t rest,” Tal said as they reached a busy intersection. “The Grand Hotel is there, across the street. It was designed by a famous architect called Ravi.”
An enormous tower with glass spirals snaking up the sides rose gracefully from the cloud-land. “The spirals are for flying up and down to your floor, and they are glass so you can see everything happening in the town as you fly. It really is an interesting building.” Then he pointed to a beautiful fountain out of the way of the hustle and bustle and told Cadin, “That is where I toiled over how to ask Marvin if I could marry his daughter. I forgot to even worry about how I would ask her. But it all turned out well in the end.” Sara kissed Tal on the cheek as they crossed the road to the hotel.
“Awesome building!” Bart said. “Let’s go check out the lobby.”
As Cadin followed his friends, a dizziness overwhelmed him and staggered his step. “You alright there, Cadin?” His dad asked as he pulled him upright.
“I think so…the ground just felt…wrong or something.”
“Probably just travel sickness,” Sara said. “Let’s get you to your room so you can rest.”
“I don’t want to rest! I want to explore Ansford!” Cadin protested.
“But you don’t feel well, honey,” Sara said as rested her hand on his forehead. Cadin could hear Gregor giggling behind him.
“I’m fine,” he said briskly as he pushed his mom’s hand away and backed out of her reach.
Tal eyed him for being rude, but did not say anything in front of the group. Instead, he addressed everyone. “We will check in, get our gear to our rooms and then explore the town a bit.” Gregor was high fiving his team, but Tal was not finished. “Everyone will be with an adult from our group at all times outside of the hotel.”
“What?” Araina said. “That sucks.”
“Watch your words, young lady. Those are the rules if you want to explore. Of course, you are welcome to stay inside your room here if you do not want to come with one of us,” Tal said lightly as he indicated the other adults.
“Whatever,” she said as she dropped her bag onto the beautiful mosaic floor. Cadin bent down to look at the stunning cloud-stones that were precisely cut and inlayed into an intricate pattern throughout the lobby.
“Talvarian! It has been a long time, my friend,” a tall angel from behind the desk boomed as he made his way around the desk and through the group. Tal smiled and hugged the man as he approached. He had a white Aura, light skin and was skinnier than most adult angels. His smile was sincere as Tal introduced him to Sara and Cadin first before saying that they were chaperoning the Glade teams.
“Everyone, this is my friend, George. We went to the Ansford Commons High School together back in the day.”
Everyone waved or said hello.
“Welcome to the Ansford Grand Hotel. We are happy to have you staying with us. I believe the Galen and Ansford teams will be joining you this evening to stay in the hotel so you can all wake up and depart together early in the morning. In honor of you qualifying for the Calvarian Games, I have been authorized to upgrade your rooms to the penthouse floor free of charge!
“Here are your room keys—12A for the ladies and 12B for the gentlemen. We have weight rooms and saunas on the second floor along with our outstanding restaurant. You will need your keys to access these areas so please do not lose them. Enjoy your stay,” George said with a wave to the group. He then turned to Tal. “Come and have a drink and catch up if you get some time.”
“I’d love to after lights out for this group.”
Gregor’s team had left with Junior immediately after dropping their bags off in their room. Everyone else was content taking a tour of Ansford with Talvarian.
“The clouds are so flat here!” Lep exclaimed as he ran to the front of the group.
“Most cloud-lands are not as bumpy as Glade,” Tal said. He stopped and turned back to the group. “Except for Condor.” Tal stopped at the base of a new, smooth building. “Condor has billowing peaks and is larger than Glade. You can’t see all of the towns from any one peak on the cloud.”
“How many towns are there?” Lep asked, eyes lit.
“Wait and see tomorrow,” Tal said before turning back to the building in front of them. “This building is the South Library.”
“It doesn’t look very big,” Sun noted, peering around the curve.
“It’s not,” Tal conceded. “Cloud buildings in the Arkta Quad are smaller in general because it is not as easy to pull the solid elements out of stratus clouds as say the cumulus clouds on Glade.”
“But the Ansford Grand Hotel is gigantic,” Lep said.
“It is. And it took a lot of time, money and energy to build it. However, in general, instead of one big building, establishments like libraries are built small, and spread across town.”
“Can we take a look?” Cadin asked.
“That’s why I took you to the South Library rather than East. It stays open the latest. Go ahead and check it out, and then we can head to the Windy Valley to practice cross-wind flight!”
It had been an exhausting day and Cadin face-planted in the plush hotel bed. For a moment, he felt discombobulated like he was still flying rather than laying down, but the feeling passed. I will not get sick! He commanded to himself.
“Ansford is cool, but I can’t wait for Condor,” Lep said as he jumped onto another bed.
“Yeah, we should try to get some sleep,” Bart added as he arranged the pillows on the nearby sofa. Cadin originally offered to sleep on the sofa, but Bart had insisted Cadin take one of the beds since he hadn’t felt well since they had landed on Ansford.
“Okay,” Lep said, switching off his light. “See you guys bright and early.”
“Good night, guys,” Cadin said before sleep pulled him under.
The morning mist still hovered over the cool cloud-land when Tal gently shook Cadin awake. “Time to travel to Condor,” he said.
CHAPTER THREE
Condor
As the mist of the morning cleared, Cadin peered out over the airship’s helm at the largest cloud-land in the System—Condor. It had many cumulus peaks, similar to Glade, and they were close enough for Cadin to make out some of the shops wedged on little outcroppings of the large peak nearest them. A faint red glow hovered over the massive cloud-land. Cadin nudged Lep to wake him.
“Lep, they have a cloud-creature pet shop! And look, Warrior Path Accessories – school age appropriate gear.”
“Where, what?” Lep said as he rubbed his eyes and stood up next to Cadin. “Wow. This place is huge!”
“Wake up, everyone,” Instructor Kade said. “We are approaching our dock at Condor; as tradition dictates—the host qualified teams are here to meet us.”
Cadin turned his head sharply and found a clump of red waiting on one of the docks. If he squinted, he could make out a little falcon resting on the arm of Ryker. Of course.
“Great,” Cadin said as he reached for his pack and started putting
away his things. Gur hissed quietly on Cadin’s shoulder, sensing his change in mood. “It’s alright, Gur. Here,” Cadin fed him a small portion of dried meat.
Everyone was taking in their first sights of Condor as Instructor Kade pulled their airship into one of the many bays on a long landing dock. The dull gray airships carrying the Galen teams landed next to them. The Ansford teams set down last. Cadin heard murmurs from their welcome group laughing and talking about daisies. Sun stiffened next to him, gripping her bow a little tighter. He gently touched her now white knuckles and whispered, “It’s okay, Sun. They won’t be laughing when we beat them. We can even trade airships on the way back and take the Daisy airship for a victory ride.”
“Yeah, okay.” Sun said as she clipped her backpack on. Cadin thought she did that nicely. He was still getting used to having wings and would sometimes forget that he could no longer just swing his backpack on over his shoulder. He had given himself a couple of bent feathers before he remembered to unclip the strap before slinging it on his back.
“What are you staring at?” Sun asked with a smile.
“Just admiring the way you do…well, everything.”
“Thanks,” Sun said, blushing. “You’re not half-bad yourself.” Her eyes sparkled for a moment before they shifted to serious as she turned to the docks.
Cadin stood up and sized up the group of red warriors awaiting them. They stood in a perfect formation and only occasionally moved their eyes from one airship to the next. Cadin spotted Ryker’s team without a problem, though there were a few other teams next to them. They stood in the number one position—it wasn’t hard to guess this was because they had qualified with the number one seed. Cadin’s eyes met with Ryker’s.
