Preface 2:
Aerrow
Piper always told me that we should never do anything without having a plan first. Which, is okay, but how can you plan an adventure, when you you're going to uncharted Atmos? Well, we had never gone to the Other Side, so never once did we go off the maps.
But I had a plan, maybe not as awesome, or as detailed as Piper's, but more than maybe what anyone else could come up with. I had a plan for the Far Side: the place that Stork said was the place of no return. My plan: find Cyclonis. She escaped to the far side, and it is our duty as a squadron to follow her. It seemed solid enough, find her, and stop her, maybe even for good. Now, with the Dark Ace finally gone, by the hands of his own master, all that's left for me to do is to stop Cyclonis, just her, not even Snipe.
But, as Piper closed the portal… I don't know. Something strange happened. It was as if the atmosphere shifted in every direction and in no direction all at the same time. It was like light was blooming into this, tulip, but it was also dark and cold and still. Maybe I sound crazy, but it's true, it's what I saw.
The last thing I remember before I passed out is we just stopped abruptly; there was a moment of stillness. Then, we were suddenly thrusted forwards, like a hand grabbed us and pulled. I crashed through the windshield and smacked against the deck barrier. I looked up, and there were stars, so, so many stars. Stretching for miles and miles, big and little, orange, yellow, and white.
Then we began to fall. The world shifted. Stork had passed out, as well as everyone else on the hanger. It was only me. I managed to crawl in, I grabbed the wheel, but I couldn't control the ship. The ground had become a large black mouth, and it was breathing us in, ready for its next meal. Then I saw a flash of green, and quickly changed to brown, like headlights on a tree, and the lights were flashing along them, running along like a running man with a flashlight. Then there was only white.
Then, there was only black.
Chapter 2: The Beginning
If I ever leave this world alive
I'll thank for all the things you did in my life
If I ever leave this world alive
I'll come back down and sit beside your
feet tonight
Wherever I am you'll always be
More than just a memory
If I ever leave this world alive
If I ever leave this world alive
I'll take on all the sadness
That I left behind
If I ever leave this world alive
The madness that you feel will soon subside
So in a word don't shed a tear
I'll be here when it all gets weird
If I ever leave this world alive
So when in doubt just call my name
Just before you go insane
If I ever leave this world
Hey I may never leave this world
But if I ever leave this world alive
If I ever Leave This World Alive by: Flogging Molly in the album Drunken Lullabies
watch?v=Xql8CKE_9oI
I don't know how long I was out, but I came to with a migraine. When I opened my eyes my vision was woozy. I could see the walls. As well as the outline of a face with blobs of blue, green, and purple in places where clothes may be, as well as other neons dancing in the skies.
Then, somehow by a gut feeling, I knew it was one of the shape shifters, who are the fortune tellers of Atmos, and never had good news for me. I've met them only three times in my entire life. The first time I met them was when they told me I was destined to be a Sky Knight because of my dad, Lightning Strike, and that was when I was ten. Four years after that, I met Afrifin, a legendary Sky Knight trainer, who came to tell us we were all in danger if he didn't help us. Then another year after that they then told me that the future of Atmos was going to continue without me. I couldn't help but grow anxious in their presence, because of their history with me. The voice was horse, like the voice of an old man.
"One, who is open, shall come to the end with the means that once started,
Bringing light, hate, and sorrow
And when one obtained in a power of evil
and only the fire,
Will you have to choose,
Your home
Or the light"
What? What in skies did they mean by that? And what was with the riddle anyway? Don't they normally just straight-up tell me these things? What's with the riddle? The confusion in my head became too much for me; too much to comprehend at once. Then I ended up passing out again.
…
When I finally woke up for good, I was in the Infirmary. Junko was hovering over me, with a wet towel that he was dabbing my forehead with. I felt too weak to move, my mouth was made of cotton, it fluffed out like foam out from my lips when I tried to ask Junko what happened. He couldn't hear me, he instead turned and dipped the towel into a bowl of water, and I noticed that the towel was stained through with blood, and covered Junko's fingers. I froze, I turned back to my original position. Am I still bleeding? I refused to move to risk losing more blood for a peak. Junko had left from his chair, and went to the sink to rinse off his hands. He returned with another wet towel, which he wringed above my mouth. The drops weren't much, but they were just enough to enable me to speak.
"W-what happened?" I asked, my voice still hoarse.
"You know…" he began. "I'm not really sure." I opened my mouth to ask my next question, but he put his finger over my whole mouth. "And yes, Piper is okay, she just got a few bumps and bruises. Finn got a couple cuts on his forehead and arms, Stork got a minor concussion, but he should be fine, Raddarr broke his arm, but Piper gave him a nail crystal treatment, he she be fine by morning. You got the worst of it."
Piper's okay, I began to relax, they're all okay. I laid my head back against the pillow, I looked out the window, it was probably about midnight, it was a thick veil of black, and the quietness of the night made things seem a little more peaceful.
"So I take it we have no clue where we are," I said. He nodded softly, getting back to treating my wounds. Junko was, to be put bluntly, a gentle giant, being the kindest Wallop I've ever met (which doesn't really say much, because he's the only Wallop I've met, but from what he tells me he seems to be). Large grey eyes, and green brown hair, large elfin ears and chin, and a little horn on his nose. Not to mention his enormous size, he was bigger than the rest of the Storm Hawks combined.
When you see his body you think of a warrior, but when you look deep into his eyes you think of nothing but innocence. Who you'd think has never seen the same things as me, and had to face the same horrors, or see the same amount of pain as me. Instead those eyes have, and kills me to know that, like an icy dagger into my heart, of pure frozen guilt.
"So exactly how bad off am I?"
"Not really that bad, you just got some pretty deep cuts, and you have one that still tries to bleed when your stitches get loose. But you were just out for a while," he said, softly.
"Just, how long exactly?" I pressed. He hesitated, he wouldn't look me in the eyes.
"A few days..."
"How many days?" I asked, a little harsher this time, but again he hesitated. "Junko?"
"About a week and a half, you almost slipped into a coma-"
"A week and a half?" I cried. "Cyclonis has been out the whole time, and we've been sitting here for a week and a half?"
"Piper gave orders to stay here!" he protested.
"Piper said that? Where is she? Where are we? Can we fly the Condor? I want to get up and running now!"
"No, you need to rest, and take it easy, Aerrow. We still need to run scans!"
Forget taking it easy. I kicked off the sheets, and my right shin protested as I stood. I looked to see that I was only in my boxers, and a horrible cut, mended with stitches, ran along the side of my calf, it was covered in blood stains.
I didn't take more than three steps before the world tilted. My vision had holes growing in it, making it hard for me to make out Piper's face when she ran in the room.
All I could see were her eyes.
I stretched my arms out for her, but it was as if I just couldn't quite reach her. I landed on the floor. The sounds around me grew too loud and were warped, I couldn't make out any words. I squeezed my eyes and cupped my hands over my ears, and curled myself into a ball. It was becoming too much to take in; too much to handle. I rolled onto my back, and I remember the floor being cool and calm on my neck.
Then the world turned silent, and black.