The Spirit's Gift

sorry it's so short. i just like how it ends, so i'll try to make the next one much longer. for those of you who are hoplessly confused, don't worry. i'll explain as the characters learn. oh yeah, in order to understand this, you need to read everything! No skipping out on sentances because it's long or in italic writing!!!

The Condor's flight was noticeably smoother and quicker. Stork played the control back and forth from hand to hand, dodging clouds playfully. He felt light headed and happy. "And then, once we get to Terra Neon, I'm going to go to their spare parts shop and see if I can trade some of Junko's left over junk for another rod for the other engine. I never realized that this would make the Condor's engines work so well! And then, as for the busted right landing wheel, I'll see if they have a new tire."

Aerrow sat at the meeting table, his head propped up on his fist. He had been listening to Stork's excited chatter for the last half hour, the time since they had set off from Terra Amazonia. Sensing a pause in Stork's babble, the sky knight cut in. "I get the point, Stork."

Finn unplugged his ears. "Seriously, I never knew he could talk so much."

Junko turned from the engine room and plucked a ball of fluff from one ear. "Eh?"

Piper suddenly burst onto the bridge from her quarters, a scroll in hand. "Look at this!"

She flattened it out onto the table and Finn and Junko squashed Aerrow between them to see. Finn scanned the old parchment. "What about it? It's a map."

Piper pointed at a sketch in the corner of the parchment. "This is made of a sky cow's hide. It's dated back to over a thousand years ago."

Aerrow felt the material curiously. "Sky cows? They went extinct a long time ago!"

She tapped the sketch. "Do you recognize this?"

They all leaned close, squinting at the faded drawing on the yellow background. Junko scratched behind his ear. "It looks like a terra, a pretty big one. But why isn't it colored in at all?"

Piper traced the terra's outline fondly. "It's Terra Odranoel."

Their heads snapped to the side to look at her. "Odranoel? But that place is…"

Aerrow straightened, laughing softly. "Piper, you have really outdone yourself this time. Where did you find this antique?"

"I was digging around under my bed, you know, cleaning it out and stuff like that. It was so dirty that I moved the entire mattress to get behind it, and I found an old sheet of metal that looked different than the rest. So I took a crowbar from the hanger bay, and pried it out." Piper waved at the map. "This was inside."

Stork couldn't see. He had caught a glimpse of the sketched terra, but then Junko stood in the way. The merb leaned from side to side, trying to peer past the people hunched over the table. Curious, he switched the control of autopilot and took a step in their direction.

Immediately a wave of pain washed over him and he doubled over, holding his head. Occupied, the others didn't notice. Stork stared at the floor wide eyed, his breathing regulating. What was that all about?

He faintly remembered a moth, limp and injured, in his hand. He set it on the ground and turned back to get something. Behind him, the moth stirred.

Stork fell to one knee, gritting his teeth.

The moth was enveloped in a white mist that brought it upright, stretched it out and the moth became a hauntingly beautiful women. He turned, and fell with his back to the tree, terrified.

Urgent voices sounded blurred and gargled. Stork fell to both knees, and his vision flickered on and off. He dimly felt a hand on his shoulder and someone lowering him to the ground. The hard floor was cold.

The winged women touched him, and he slumped there in unconsciousness.

He remembered. He recalled everything.

Stork opened his eyes and, panting, sat up. He looked up at the panicked faces of his companions, and then pressed his fingers to his forehead. "It's alright. I'm fine."

"Fine?!" Finn slapped his forehead. "You just passed out!"

Stork pushed him away. "I said I'm fine!"

Aerrow stumbled back as the merb leaped up and ran for the door. It slammed behind him, closely followed by another slam.

They all looked dumbly at each other.

Hours ticked by. The Condor was secured firmly between two cliffs in a small, uninhabited terra halfway between Terra Amazonia and Terra Neon. The night was cold, but calm, and there was no strong wind to rock the airship to and fro.

Aerrow and the others had stayed up until one o'clock trying to coax Stork from his quarters, but it didn't work. Finally they retreated wearily to their rooms and soon the airship was dead silent and asleep. Except for one.

Stork was wide awake, though not aware of it. He curled up in a ball on the floor, a sheet tangled around his feet and his hands clutching his head. The throbbing in his head was overwhelming, so strong that his entire body convulsed. His muscles ached, his heart beat like a racing greyhound's, and he continuously retched. Stork stared in horror at the floor. What was happening to him?

A huge wave of pain came from within his brain to wash down his spine. The agony was so intense that his vision went dim and he went rigid in shock. A vein stood out from this thin neck. Another wave. Pain. A soundless scream. Convulse. Wave. Agony. Unable to call for help. Pain!

Finally Stork slipped into the black abyss of his exhausted mind and lay still like a broken doll. The night outside was as black as a well.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Three beeps emitted from his clock where it lay clattered on the floor, swept from his nightstand in one of Stork's pain fueled thrashes. Three o'clock.

Stork slept soundly.

He found himself enveloped in white fog. He was standing upright, and yet he could feel the floor pressed against his back. The fog was so thick he could actually feel it in his fingers. What was this place?

The fog faded. He found himself standing on a terra. A transparent terra. The merb looked about in fascination. No, it wasn't transparent. It was real… solid. He walked carefully over to a lump that looked like a rock. He touched it. It was so smooth it was slippery. It wasn't crystal, but glass. Stork straightened and looked about in fascination. The entire terra was made of glass.

Huge pillars jutted up from the perfectly smooth ground. A light mist floated about the place, making it seem like a dream. Stork shook his head, shutting his eyes tightly. It was a dream. It had to be!

And yet when he opened his eyes, the glass terra was still there. The merb swallowed hard, and took a step forward. Suddenly he was swept away across the glass with a startled yelp, cool wind whipping past his face. The unseen force pushing him ushered him toward the heart of the terra, the center. A huge plateau, made entirely of glass, loomed up high into the white sky. Stork was rushed toward it.

There was no way to dig in his heels to halt his rush. Just as he squeezed his eyes shut and prepared for impact with the diamond hard side of the huge landform, he was halted. Moments passed, and Stork ventured an eye open. He was alive.

There was no crack or blemish that he could see in the glass. It was perfect, flawless, turning the unseen sun's rays into rainbows. It was like heaven. Wait… Stork slapped a hand to his chest. Was he dead?!

Something gleamed. The merb squinted against the brilliance of the surrounding glass. There was something there in the plateau's wall. Nah, it was nothing.

He received a little push from behind, causing him to stumble forward and closer to the wall. Then he saw it.

It was about as big as Stork's fist, perfectly round and looked like a giant pearl. It was an amber color, yet a soft gold in the sun's rays. Stork felt drawn to it. He came closer. The orb had the atmosphere of a living creature, but how could this thing be alive? The merb reached out to touch it, and it came more into focus. It was wedged tightly into the glass wall, millions of tiny and large cracks running from where it was as if someone had simply slammed into the wall.

Stork's fingers hovered just over the orb's surface. His index finger rose from the rest and he gently, cautiously, rested the tip onto the pearl-like surface.

The orb changed. The amber receded into its center and the color became milky white. Red veins ran from pole to pole and, at the pole facing Stork, formed a black circle, surrounded by a gold ring. It was a pupil and an iris. This thing was an eye.

The merb shrieked and jerked his hand back. He lost his balance in his panic and slipped backwards. The invisible force snatched his foot and began to tow him at top speed in the opposite direction; toward the edge of the terra.

Storks' fingers clenched helplessly at the ice smooth surface of the terra. Whatever was dragging him hurled him from the edge of the terra, and the merb screamed.

Suddenly he was caught, and lifted high for a bird's eye view of the glass terra. He gawked at it for a moment, and then the entire scene vanished. Then he turned, and found a hand around his throat. Dark Ace laughed evilly and squeezed. Stork grasped the Talon's wrist helplessly as his life was drained away… down… down… down…

Into the eye.

Stork's eyes snapped open. He understood everything now.

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