A few years later...
"Hey, come back," I laughed chasing after Felice. She waved the sparkly violet crystal and grinned. "Why would I?" "It's mine!" "Well, I don't see your name on it!" I flew and flew, until finally I realised that I would never catch her. Felice was by far, the best person at flying in our group, and anyone who raced her was guaranteed to lose. I landed panting on our island and stared at Daryl. He was sitting on the edge of the island, staring out into space. I walked over and sat down beside him. "You okay?" He shrugged. "Yeah. I'm just thinking about home." I patted him on the shoulder reassuringly. "I'm sure our parents are getting on fine. You know how Dad is. He would have cheered Mom up. And we'll get home some day. We'll work tog to." mma."ke i happen."" Daryl nodded.
Suddenly there was a commotion behind us. I turned to see that a strange man was standing in the middle of the island. I stared in awe, because none of us had seen a stranger for years. He had kneat black hair and he was wearing a light grey cloak.
"Everyone, gather here!" he said in a loud voice, gesturing to my friends' island. The other teams began flying over, their gazes fixed on the newcomer. "Who is he?" Drayson murmured beside me. "Maybe he got banished too?" Felice suggested doubtfully. I glanced at the man and narrowed my eyes. He didn't look like a typical outcast. He looked calm and collected, not devastated because he had just gotten thrown out of the only place he called home, but who knows?
Then the guy raised his hands and the excited chatter around him quietened. "Hello, outcasts. I am not one of you. I have not been banished from Alyncia. Instead, I have come to offer you something. I know you all want to go home, so I will be giving you a chance to go back to Alyncia, to prove your innocence and build a new name for yourselves." An eager murmur spread through the crowd. "Awesome! This sounds too good to be true!" Daryl exclaimed. Catrin frowned. "It probably is. I don't think we should trust this guy. He seems ... sketchy." I nodded. There did seem to be something strange about the man, though I could not pinpoint exactly what yet.
The man waved and we all fell silent once more. "Yes yes: I will be giving you a chance to get home, but, I will only let one team go back, and that will be the team that wins, the games." "Games!" I whispered. "There's always a catch," one of the Jurdens in front of us muttered. I quickly focussed my attention back on the speaker. "In the first round of this game, you will just have to fly around and collect as many of those crystals as you can," he pointed a finger at the bright crystals around us. "The more colourful the crystal, the more points it is worth. The rules of this round are simple enough. The objective is to get as many crystals back to your island as you can, however you are not allowed to steal crystals from other teams. You are also not allowed to throw crystals to your team-mates, or onto your base. Good luck Rainers, Jurdens and..." he glanced in our direction. "What is your team name?" Catrin shifted her feet. "Uh, we don't really have one." The man thought for a moment before saying, "And the Fly-Aways. Good luck to the Fly-Aways!" Without warning he clicked his fingers and shouted, "Begin!"