Chapter One: How It Began

Long before Sky Knights protected their mountain top kingdoms known as Terra's, before dragons have become extinct, and before the Cyclonian empire began to abuse it's power over it's subjects, there were beings of unlimited power.

Power that allowed them to harvest the energy from the crystals, giving them the ability to wield what ever power it contained. One day, they vanished without a trace, only leaving behind a generation that had this gift running through their veins.

With this gift, many have achieved greatness and destruction in their wake. Because many feared that these beings would not take their side or that they would decide to overthrow anyone they perceived as a threat, they were hunted down and executed.

Thousands of these beings have died, some rumored to be in hiding. All because of their bloodline. Up until now, many saw these tales simply as legends and myths, stories to entertain younger minds. Those who dismiss these ideas are close-minded, wanting to deny what is true for they simply fear it.

Up until now, these descendants were thought to be just a fools fable, until one day, a young girl was caught up in the present chaos of Atmos.

An old Volkswagen moved down the bumpy road of Pineville, Oregon. It was a small town that was miles away from the nearest city, surrounded by trees and high hills. A real picturesque place for artists or those looking to settle down and have a quiet life.

"Okay, we're almost at your grandpa's place, you doing okay back their honey?" A middle aged man asked the eighteen year old as she laid her back on the floor at the back of her families van. It was spring break and her father was taking her out of the city and into the small town to visit her grandfather for a few days.

She was relaxed, knowing that they were pretty much far away from any police officers that could stop them if they saw she wasn't in a seat or had a safety belt on, even if they could see her. It never bothered her to sit like this in a moving car, especially in a quiet town like Pineville There was barely much going on, but farmers nearby were getting ready to get back to work in their fields now that spring was starting to show signs of returning and the town was getting ready for the annual spring fair.

"I'm cool, dad," she sat up cross legged as she looked at her father through the rear view mirror. People had always told her that she looked like her mother, but with her dad's eyes. While her mom had brown hair color along her blue-green eyes, her dad had dark hair and chocolate brown eyes.

He smiled a bit. "Glad to hear it, little fairy..." The girl rolled her eyes. That had been her nickname since childhood, started by her grandfather who insisted that her name should have been Fairy rather than Faelynn, as she was cute like one. It annoyed her a bit whenever people jokingly called her this, as she didn't think of herself as cute or a little girl anymore. She preferred being called Fae, as it was shorter and sounded more original than the annoying nickname.

Her grandfather and dad's father, Albert Jones, was a bit of an eccentric mechanic. He seemed amazed at even the smallest bit of technology, both old and new. While he never had a good education like his son, which was still barely much, he was a fast learner and very smart. A trait that he claims moved from his son to his granddaughter, Fae.

She didn't know much about her grandmother, other than the fact that she died when her son was at a very young age, so he barely knew much of anything about her either. Just that she was kind and helpful, going out of her way even when it was inconvenient for her. Regardless of that, her grandfather made an effort to spend time with his son and his family whenever he was free from his garage. Being the only auto shop for miles made him pretty busy with those who need assistance and his own projects of taking apart certain cars and even appliances before putting them back together, seeing if he could improve them.

Fae perked up as she saw an old farmhouse that had a barn nearby. Her grandfather converted it into his workshop, fixing it up himself when it was in major disrepair. "Hey, we made it." And just in time too, as the van began to sputter a bit once they neared the old house.

Exiting the workshop, an elderly man wearing overalls and oil stained gloves hurried over to the car to greet the two. His wispy white hair stuck up in several places due to practically living in his workplace most of the time and his brown eyes sparked a bit with energy. "Wasn't expecting you to show up until an hour," he called out as the two exited the car, which he begun to examine, "I was, however, expecting this to break down sooner or later."

"Dad..."

"Don't worry, Thomas, I believe I got the part to help the engine out!"

"It'll be fine, dad! I checked it this morning before we left!"

Fae snickered as her dad and grandpa started to bicker a bit over the car. This always happened. While her dad was a decent mechanic himself, his father would always nag at him about certain things of his van, offering to do a tune up or give it another part from one of the cars that he finds in junk yards or ones that are donated to him by old friends. While he tended to be pushy, Fae's grandpa knew what he was doing with mechanics, even offering to do free work on peoples cars when they were having trouble.

Yet another trait that some people had claimed that she inherited from her dad's side of the family, though not as pushy.

After getting himself cleaned up, Fae's grandfather was sitting at the kitchen table in a long sleeve shirt and fading jeans. He was pouring himself and his son some coffee as Fae helped herself to some lemonade in the fridge. The house itself appeared old fashioned and had some junk lying around. Some dating as far back as the 1940's.

"So, Joann couldn't make it?"

The younger man shook his head. "Nah, with several officers in the hospital and the budget cut, they need as many to help keep things in order back home."

Fae's mother worked in law enforcement, which sometimes worried her in case there would be a time where she could get into a situation she couldn't handle herself. Just recently, many of her co-officers were shot during a shoot out at a mall. They captured the gunman, but not before he could fire a few rounds at several officers. Some had injuries that weren't life threatening, however one had taken a bullet to the chest and was hospitalized ever since.

Soon, the teenager noticed a slim, rectangular white box with a purple ribbon tied around it. "What's that?"

The elderly man smiled as he picked it up and brought it over to her. "It's pretty much a birthday present to you, little fairy."

She raised an eyebrow. Her birthday was months ago, but knowing how forgetful her grandfather could be at times outside of his work shed, she just shrugged it off. Fae opened her present, curious to see what it is her grandfather had gotten her. She blinked in surprise - inside was an old fashioned locket with the gaudiest gem at the center of the inside. Like oil on water, it seemed to have a small rainbow of colors within the clear crystal.

"Well? What do you think, little fairy?" Fae looked back up at her grandfather, who looked like he was waiting for her response. "It's... Kinda cool." While she wasn't a retail snob or materialistic, she wasn't always crazy about anything that couldn't go with her simple outfits. As she pulled it out, her dad blinked at it in surprise. "You seriously found that thing? After all these years?"

"Yup. I finally found it through a friend of mine. Said she got it from an antique shop for a good price. Boy was she surprised when she learned it used to be from out family!" He turned to his granddaughter with a serious look in his eyes. "I want you to make sure that you take good care of it, alright honey? I don't want it getting lost, it's more important than you would think it is."

Fae blinked as she examined it more. So it was a family heirloom or something, probably her grandmother's? Now she really didn't know what to make of it.

The brunette sighed as she laid down on her bed in the guest room, already changed into her pajamas that consisted a purple tank top, dark gray sweatpants, and blue socks. Looking around, she saw that not much had changed since she was here last time, and that was when she was fourteen. The wooden floorboards creaked whenever she walked over them, the blue paint on the walls were fading out like the paint on the dresser, nightstand, and stripe patterned bed. She moved the locket in her hand, debating what to do with it. Since it was an old family heirloom, there was no way she could just simply give it away or put it in her junk drawer back home.

Carefully, she placed the tacky jewelry next to her on the bed as she dug through her bag for school work. She looked over the list of the layers of the atmosphere of the planet. While she had already been done with this sort of work, a friend needed help with getting a poster project prepared for biology. It did seem like cheating since she was helping with the design, but how could she say no to the extra money they were offering? Every bit of money she earned from the beginning of her final year in middle school, she put away in her closet to save for when she needed to get into college in case there were no scholarships available. Besides, her friend was struggling that class and it would hurt to show them how it can be done so they can do it themselves.

While she liked visiting her grandfathers house, it still creeped her out at night. It almost made her feel as though this is one of those horror films where a psycho serial killer would break in or a haunting to occur in, given to how old this house is. To keep herself calm, Fae decided to talk out loud the sheet of paper, which normally helped her when she was by herself. It kinda bothered her when people could overhear her muttering. "Atmos-"

A crashing sound was heard downstairs and an argument ensued between her dad and grandpa. She sighed and rolled her eyes, wondering what their new bicker match was about. Before she could get up and check it out or even get back to work, Fae heard a low humming sound and felt something warm at her hip. Looking down, she saw the locket turning brighter and brighter through the cracks of the cover. Soon, it burst open, the gem at the center glowing brightly, making colors dance around the room.

Fae looked at it curiously. "What the he-?" She cried out when the light began to envelope her. The brunette could feel the energy course through her, making her feel a combination of an adrenaline and a sugary caffeine rush as her heart raced. Soon, everything got too bright to see anything and her body felt numb.

Terra Amazonia was a one of the many mountain top kingdoms of Atmos. It was covered in dense rainforest and the Terra itself was sparsely populated. Most of its rare inhabitants live in small isolated villages perched high in the treetop canopy, as any roads or cities cut out of the forest are usually overgrown in only a matter of two months, thus navigating would be difficult for those not familiar with the area as the jungle was home to many dangerous predators.

Among it's dangerous inhabitants were a small colony that kept moving about to avoid others in Atmos, as they would either seek to destroy them or abuse their natural talents. A group of hooded figures from the said colony sat in a circle within a cavern they were resting in. Soon, they both felt some sort of energy pull, and it was close. "... Did you feel that?"

"Hard not to."

"It was so close!" One whispered in awe. "Does... Does that mean-?"

The leader of the group nodded, a dark grin upon his face. "Yes. Our brother has returned with the stone."

He then got up and made his way out of the cave and into the jungle. "Come. We must greet him after all these years. After all, he has left us with so much work that we need to get back to..."

Fae groaned as she slowly opened her eyes, her body felt sore against the dusty hard surface. Believing that she fell out of bed, she reached her hand out for the covers only to grasp the cool air. Once her vision cleared, her heart sank; she wasn't in the guest room of her grandfather's house, she wasn't even indoors!

She slowly sat up, looking around. She could see she was in some sort of forest like the ones in South America. There were many lush plants and tall trees with vines that stretched for miles. The brunette blinked as she walked around a bit, trying to figure out if this is a dream or if for some seriously bizarre reason, she got teleported to the other side of the planet. The first one seemed more realistic.

As she moved around, her foot kicked a small metal object. Looking down, she saw the locket wide open. Upon picking it up, she noticed something. The color was drained, giving it a stone gray color rather than the annoyingly colorful hues it had before.

She raised a questioning eyebrow at this. What the hell was going on?

"... That is not our brother..."

"She is not even part of the Descendants!"

"Strange clothes. What Terra does she hail from?"

The group frowned as they looked down from the cliffs they were standing at and at a young girl with strange looking clothes. This was not one of their brothers, but the stones energy was impossible to miss. So what was she doing with it?

As she began to hesitantly enter the jungle of Amazonia, the lead member turned to his brother. "Regardless of this, she has the stone. We cannot ignore that. Prepare the ritual. I will fetch the girl." They had questions for the strange girl and they also needed the stone if they were ever going to complete their plans.

The young brunette sighed, wondering what she was thinking. If she really was in South America, then it would be very stupid to just wander about without a map or GPS to help guide her to any sort of civilization. She froze when she heard a snap nearby. Twisting her head around, she saw nothing. Fae felt anxiety build up, wondering what sort of animal was there or possibly a person?

Feeling her feet and ankles starting to ache, Fae sat down against a tree to rest. As she did so, she didn't see the hooded figure creep up behind, a bag of glowing light blue stones in hand. Once he was close enough, he stuck his hand in the bag, absorbing the energy.

Just as Fae turned around, she was struck with the said energy, but felt her limbs go numb and stiff. She was paralyzed. Well, partly, she could move her limbs, but only at a small degree. The brunette couldn't even scream as the hooded man carried her away.

Fae did her best not to cry as they tied her hands up on a hook that was attached to the ceiling of the cavern. It stung and felt as though it was going to tear her wrists right off. Whatever was used to stun her had already worn off by the time they strapped her up.

The head of these creeps was holding her locket, examining it. Soon he turned towards her. Although she couldn't quiet see his face, he seemed pretty angry about something.

"What happened to the power in the stone?" Fae didn't answer, only whimpered in pain as she felt as though her hands were going to pop out of their sockets.

"Answer me, girl! What did you do?!"

"Perhaps she has already used the stones power."

The hooded man's rage was more noticeable as he reached for a crystal on the side of his belt, ready to get whatever information he needed from this brat.

Before he could so so, however, one of his brethren approached. "Master, she has called. She wants a report now."

Lowering the crystal he had, he stormed out of the room.

After what seemed like an eternity, Fae swung her feet back in forth out of instinct until she heard something shift. Looking up, she saw that the rope around her wrists was being worn down against the hook in this motion.

The girl sighed as an idea came to mind. This was going to hurt, she knew it.

Swinging back and forth now with more vigor, her feet hit the ceiling. Once she managed to set her feet sternly against it, Fae began to pull against the bindings, hoping it was worn enough to be cut like this.

It was. With a snap, the bindings came loose and she came crashing to the hard floor.

Fae instantly shot her hands to her mouth, muffling any cry as she felt as though her head would split open. She really needed to rethink these sort of things.

Shakily, the teenager stands up and holds herself up against the wall, carefully listening to any footsteps of these guys.

Just as she was passing one of the rooms, she couldn't help but overhear a female's voice. Peeking, she saw it was the leader talking to what looked like a crystal.

"It's impossible not to see this, since every bit of our technology has started to malfunction. If my sources are correct, then whatever it is, it's affecting the rest of Atmos as well."

Fae raised an eyebrow. Power surge? When did that happen? And what was Atmos? She didn't want to stay longer to find out more, fearing that her luck will run out by the time they realize she's gone from her bindings.

As she began to make her way down the halls, the teen came across a huge room, filled with several different types of crystals. If it hadn't been for the fact that they were glowing and humming energy, Fae would think that they were smuggling minerals or something.

Feeling tired and sore from falling on her head, Fae slid down the wall, rubbing her head, hoping that the headache will go away soon enough for her to find a way out of here.

Unfortunately, she may have waited too long in the room as she heard a rush of footsteps and shouting.

"She's gone!"

"Find her! Don't let her escape!"

"Oh hell..." Fae muttered as she got up, trying to find a place to hide as the foot steps neared. As she got behind one of the baskets filled with the glowing rocks, the teen leaned to close to it, causing it to tumble over noisily, attracting the footsteps.

As grew louder, Fae stumbled onto the crystals, feeling strange once again. It felt so wonderful, that she closed her eyes to focus on the feeling, even when the hooded figures entered the room.

She could hear voices, but couldn't figure out what they meant. Soon, she opened her eyes, glowing with energy. As she tried to back away from the nearing men, her hands hit the a nearby stone pillar, releasing a huge amount of energy from her hands causing it to break.

Soon a loud rumbling was heard. Once her vision cleared, she saw the men running as the cavern shook violently. It soon registered into her mind that it was time to get out of here to avoid any of the rocks to squish her.

Rapidly, she got up and ran as fast as she could, feeling less tired than earlier. She came across several openings that led outside, but missed her chance everytime as the ground below it collapsed or was caved in.

Eventually, Fae saw through the crumbling rocks and dust a light on the other side. She could see the exit!

As she darted towards it, the brunette prayed that this time she could get out and alive. As a boulder started to crumble above, Fae darted and jumped out through the opening, barely missing the heavy rocks.

Fae gasped as she finally made it out of the cavern, torn up and shaken. After catching her breath, she collapsed to the ground, feeling tired and sore. There felt as though there was still a rush of energy going through her, but that was probably just leftover adrenaline.

That. That was insane...

When she looked up, she realized this was not the same entrance they took her in. As she shakily got up, Fae could see edges of a cliff. After slowly making her way over to it, hoping to get a better view of the jungle, she was shocked at what she saw.

An endless, mass of clouds below the cliff line and a few mountains that dotted the horizon like bread crumbs. She was certain that she wasn't in South America now. It didn't even seem like she was on Earth anymore.

She dropped to her knees, not caring that she was still hurt.

Where the hell was she?

As the hooded figures sat down on the rocks near the collapsed entrance of the caverns, their leader took out the communication stone.

The raspy voice returned. "Yes? I trust that you have good news to report to me."

"I am afraid not. The girl and locket are long gone. Apparently, she is more than what she appears to be."

"Then find her and the stone," the voice said evenly, yet harshly. "Bring them here. Perhaps I will have better luck at negotiating with our friend..."

The hooded man scowled, not liking the demanding tone from someone who was not even of his peoples bloodline. However, he knew that listening to this brat will pay off soon.

"I assure you, Cyclonis, that I will have the girl brought to you."

Author's Note: Started to make a new Storm Hawks fanfic, curious to see how I've improved on my writing skill. Hope you like it, more will be revealed in the future.

I also don't own Storm Hawks, they're owned by Nerd Corps.