Chapter One: Fall of the Lefeinish

The clouds whipped past in a frenzy found only at these heights. The immaculate glass separating them from the limitless sky made it seem as though there was no glass, no separation; it gave Arpa a sense of vertigo, even now. He turned his eyes from the swirling white and soft blue to the large square room he stood in. It was made of smooth metal on the floor and walls, shining beautifully and reflecting the glare of thousands of lights dangling above them; placed in decorated sconces on the walls; sitting on the tables; worn on the ears, necks, and fingers of the people there, in their hairpieces and sewn into their clothes. They were a race of beauty, and revelled in the elegance around them, moving so gracefully as to nearly be floating in a room of polished steel and bronze, gleaming in the light like angels. And the Floating Castle was before him, shining and glorious and new, and the expensive surroundings made him feel magnificent.

Soon, he would be one of those angels, a trained mage with great powers, garnering respect and with gold and silk and diamonds more than any of them. He didn't want the objects for themselves, but to show everyone who had doubted him how great he could be.

And one, more beautiful than any other woman Arpa had ever seen. Her hair was a deep gold, rather dark for them, and fell in thick waves to settle on her lap, clinging to her clothes, strewn around the soft seat on which she sat, one of pillows on an ivory chair. A silver circlet held the bangs out of her eyes, adorned with small lights that surrounded her face with a halo. Her loose blouse and long skirts were of the palest lavenders, blues and greens, nearly white. He stared at her until she looked his way, but when confronted with her dark gray eyes, he felt uncomfortable, and turned away, as he always turned away.

All the people around him were somewhat the same, wearing the finest cloths in the lightest colours, with fair skin and hair, large, pale eyes, delicate features, and gentle movements. The sensual beauty that was the Lefeinish was beyond the understanding of most people, and only they truly saw the rest of the world as bland and dark and colourless as it was. They were the Sky People, chosen by the gods to be superior in every way, to rise above other people in their fortresses hovering in the heavens, and look down upon them in the form of divine protectors. This fortress was their most grand, but soon they would all be like this, and then, only then, when they had fully abandoned Home on Land, would they be the true Sky People.

Arpa felt a sense of quiet come over the gathering. He glanced over at Leina, trying to be discreet, and saw her dismiss the young girls with her. Then she beckoned to him, called him closer. He sat on the cushions at her feet where the young girls had been before, staring at her with such idolatry as to seem more like a young man, no more than a score of years, in the awkward state of infatuation bordering on love than some graceful, beautiful seraphim in the perfection of a statue, like a god, like the idealistic images of Lefeinish found in their Home on Land. Perhaps he should have acted more exalted than he did.

"I feel as though I'm doing you some great injustice," she said, starting as though they were continuing some old conversation, as she usually started. "I shouldn't call you over here...for the reasons I do."

"Why do you call me, then?"

"To see your eyes." She must have understood that he didn't know what she meant, for she usually was sparing in her explanations, but she chose to elaborate, "See the way you look at me."

"I look at you as I do all others."

"No. There is adoration in your gaze. Which I don't deserve." Her face had the slightest look of unhappiness, although she kept it respectfully blank, and he couldn't discern what it was that made him think she was sad. "I really shouldn't feel superior to the other girls in the room, just because a mage thinks I'm better than I am. But I do... My pride, I suppose. And you have the same issue as the others: always pretending that you're flawless, so perfect. You come to me every week, and pretend as though you have nothing to say...because you don't want to admit you cannot bring yourself to say it. I think our pride is making us rot away. It is the poison of the Lefeinish. But we're proud enough to let it kill us first, before we admit to imperfection. Perhaps we should stay in our Sky Homes - keep the rot of pride away from the rest of the world."

"I don't–"

"Don't tell me you don't understand." Leina looked over the crowd, seemed disappointed. "Sit by me, so I may look at you."

Arpa knew he should be going to his father. He was about to receive a great honour, the allowance to train in the high magics of a wizard, and would receive the robes with the other students. But he chose instead to sit with her and stare at her. He was entranced by her hands, folded delicately in her lap, and took much effort to look away from her for a moment, to collect his thoughts. Then back to those dark gray eyes, like the clouds in a storm, the angry force behind it, the light veins of colour like the flashes of lightning, as those he only saw when a storm came upon them while they were in their sky fortress, and he would stare out the windows, entranced by the powerful winds. For a moment, he felt as though he could feel that powerful wind, but then nothing.

The night wore on. He saw his father among the people, the look on his face when he found his son, first livid, then confused, and finally calm when he saw who he was with. Arpa thought he almost saw him smile before he slipped back into the crowd. The sky turned dark.

He felt her take his hand, and eventually found himself closer to her, until she was under his arm, her head tucked below his chin. He felt calm, and didn't, at the same time.

Then she stiffened. "What is it?"

"Can you feel it, Arpa? A badness in the air. A wrongness."

It was too quiet. The wind had died. A great shudder ran through the floor, and the air twisted. Arpa felt sick. Many people lost their footing. Then a terrible sound, like nails on a hard surface, and a grating, high-pitched squeal, and a gash was torn into the thick metal walls of the fortress as though it were cheap cloth.

A dragon's head shot through the wall, accompanied by the full strength of winds magnified at such great altitudes. Another head entered by way of the window, the pane shattering and spraying them with the fine grainy fragments of glass that cut Arpa's skin as he tried to wipe it away. A great screech filled the air, and his ears ached. He covered them, and it didn't help.

"Look at you! Cower!" The dragon's voice was booming and sent the air rippling in its wake around them, and the pressure on his face made him close his eyes. Leina screamed. "You think yourselves so high and mighty? You think you can rope the wind!" One of its heads swung towards the great crystal that hung in a glass case. It screeched and a large claw swooped in, shattering the glass casing and grabbing the crystal orb in one movement. Its light shone brighter than Arpa ever remembered it shining. The claw tightened, and the orb snapped. A deep crack spread from one end to the other, and small pieces of it fell from inside – the green shine pulsated quicker, as though it were a racing heartbeat, then it went out. The fortress heaved. "It's mine now, as the wind always should have been, and you'll never abuse it again!"

Arpa was overcome with a fear that the fortress would fall. But it stopped in its speedy decline, at least for the moment, hovering in the air, and for once, he felt vulnerable in it. He wanted solid ground.

"Such stupid angels!" came the nasal voice. Another claw struck, and those beautiful people in the corner of the room, who seemed so grand a moment ago, lay broken and slashed, dark blood staining their pale clothes. The Lefeinish wailed, rushing to get to the portal to Home on Land.

The fortress rocked to the side, and hung suspended on a slant, knocking everyone off their feet. Arpa held Leina's hand. She held tight to him, and he watched people tumble before him as he held the pillar that kept them from slipping and going through the window panes, as some did.

"The ocean!" The slant of the windows gave them a view of the shoreline as an impossibly huge wave swept over the land, flooding the forest there to near the tips of its trees and engulfing Home on Land in water.

He held Leina up and got to the other side of the pillar. Funny, that only now could he truly hold her, when he'd never get to do it again. She looked at him, tears reddening her eyelids and cheeks, glistening on her spiky lashes, the loose clothes torn, her hair in tangles. She seemed more beautiful now. He felt her arms around his neck. They clung to each other, and watched more people fall under the vengeful dragon's claws. He kissed her, told her what he could never have said in words, and he couldn't speak now, felt desperate, passionate, more so than he probably ever would have in his whole life.

"Ha! You shall see the might of my brothers and sister! When we rule the orbs, nature's forces will rule again!"

The dragon's might crashed down on them, and Arpa looked at the head rushing them, pushed Leina out of the way, and knew she wouldn't catch that wall, that she would slip and go through the open window dangling on its shattered hinges, and join the massacre.

Pieces of crystal were flung out the windows. One fragment caught his eye, a flashing glare from one of the lights reflecting off its only mostly-flat surface, before it twisted and began its spiralling descent, down, down, towards the ground.

The wind orb... No longer airborne.