Chapter Three – Blown Away

Bright light. Jacy slowly opened his eyes. It was now day time, and the sun was so incredibly bright Jacy had to shield his eyes. 'What's that smell?' After a few moments, Jacy's eyes became use to the light and he was able to examine the scene. His eyes felt like they were still burning and his lungs felt like they were about to die. His nose detected the heavy odor of smoke, but this was being overpowered by a truly more pungent smell. "Eeeoowwwwww…" He looked around and saw a giant lump of sticky, black guts smothered in dried blood 'Oh, Goddesses. What IS that?' He looked down at his body and saw that his whole entire body was covered in the same dried, crusty remains. 'Dear Goddess, it's the Kikwi! How'd it even get here?' Jacy could hardly even bend his hand because of the dried blood. He shook his body around trying crack the crustiness and quickly slapped it off with his gut-covered hands. Realizing his actions were next to futile, he sighed and looked around again.

Jacy looked up and saw what was left of the tree he called his home. Everything that was inside the tree burned into ash. He got to his feet and stepped cautiously over to what was left of the dead tree. The tree turned into just a hole, exposing the ground below the plateau. Jacy could still picture his lovely home as he stared at the pile of ashes below him. His eyes spotted a piece of metal 'My dagger!' Jacy screamed in his mind. He lowered his body off the ledge until he was hanging off the side of the plateau by only his hands. He let go, and grazed his feet against the wall while he descended and landed in the pile of ash. Ha trudged over to the dagger and lowered his hand to pick it up "Ahhowwwww!" The metal blade was still hot and with the wooden handle burnt away, there is no way he could grab it. He decided to kick it over carefully to a waterfall a few yards away from him.

Once it hit the water, it sizzled and became cool in an instant. Jacy decided to cleanse his clothes and body of the vile substances covering his person. He took his tunic and pants off and let them sit in the water. Jacy submerged his body in the water and viciously scrubbed away at his whole entire body. His body was completely clean after a couple of moments and he went back to where he left his clothes. He picked them up and let the force of the waterfall wash away the rest of the rotten gunk stuck to his clothes 'Much better…' Jacy thought as he threw his clothes over his shoulder and picked up what the handle-less dagger. He walked his way back to the plateau, and fortunately, the vine was still intact and functional. He swung across and laid his clothes out on the grass to dry and stuck the dagger blade next to it.

Now, Jacy had the rotting, reeking Kikwi corpse to deal with. 'How did this even get here? Why was it even next to me?' Jacy thought with a disgusted sneer on his face. He pushed the carcass and trailing innards to the closest edge and launched it over the edge. Jacy felt kind of bad for wasting the Kikwi and hoped that Guays would be able to scavenge what was left and edible of the rotting creature. He sat down in the center of the plateau to take a breather. Jacy's lungs were still painful and his eyes were still tingling, and think about his future and where he was supposed to live. 'Gah! What am I supposed to do now?' Jacy thought as he gazed at the Great Tree in the distance. Jacy heard stories that it was utterly hollow on the inside, but Jacy couldn't live in there. The only entrance was completely submerged in water and he could not hold his breath long enough to make it inside, and there was no other way inside that Jacy could make out, even in his snow leopard form.

Jacy pondered more about what to do 'I suppose I could just go to the look-out point and see if there is anywhere I overlooked…' Jacy gathered his clothing and dagger. He tore a strip of fabric from his tunic and wrapped it around the edge of his dagger where the handle was supposed to be. Jacy hoped it would be enough to protect his hand if he ever needed to use it. He dressed in his still slightly moist clothing and attached his dagger to his belt. Jacy decided the best thing to do was to morph into a snow leopard. He sprinted over to the look-out point and was there in no time at all. As he neared the top of the look-out, Jacy felt like something was out of the ordinary, but could not realize what it was at first. He transformed back into a man and looked around to see if he could spot anything. He saw the cave where he caught the Kikwi 'That could work…' Jacy thought, but continued looking to see if there was something even better.

Nothing was as notable as the cave to Jacy, so he turned around and set course for the cave. As he turned around, Jacy noticed that there was now a vine hanging down in front of a high ledge to a tunnel in the earth that was, before, inaccessible. "Should I check it out?" Jacy thought out loud. He leaned against a statue as he contemplated whether he should risk going into the unfamiliar territory in his current state. He looked around as he thought and noticed something strange 'Since when did this glow?' Jacy thought as he looked at the statue. 'This must be a sign from the Goddesses…Yes it has to be' Jacy instantly kneeled down to the statue and prayed outloud, "Great Goddesses, please give me a solution to this chaotic turmoil that has happened to me. Please bless me with answers and a place to rest."

Suddenly the statue began glowing brighter and two reddish-orange lights swirled around Jacy. "What in th-Wahhhhhhhh?" A burst of wind suddenly burst and launched Jacy up into the sky. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH!" Jacy screamed as the wind threw him higher and higher above the land below him. His eyes widened as he flew up and up and up. He was approaching a blanket of clouds and the wind propelling him sent a final tempest that sent him soaring through the clouds into the space above. He reached the climax of his ascent and began to fall back towards the ground. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HHHHH!" Jacy screamed again at the top of his lungs. He closed his eyes. He felt the wind whip his hair as he fell faster and faster.

Jacy felt something pull on the back of his tunic and his descent speed was rapidly decreasing until he stopped falling all together. "Huh?" He gasped in confusion. Jacy opened his eyes and looked up. His eyes widened and his body paralyzed in fear. A giant bird had its talons hooked into his tunic and it was carrying him away to what appeared to be a flying island. 'What is this? Where am I? Am I dead?' They were approaching the island and he could see numerous buildings and structures on the island floating in the sky. 'People actually live up here?! I've heard stories about them, but I can't believe they actually exist…I must be dead…I have to be…It's the only explanation…How did I die?' They were over the island and the bird lowered itself closer to the surface, and released Jacy from its grip.

Jacy face planted on the ground, and rolled around onto his back. "Owww…" Jacy muttered in pain. He looked back at the bird that carried him and noticed a man on its back. "How did I die?" Jacy asked the bird rider. "You're not dead!" He responded with a grin on his face as he slid off his bird, "You're lucky I saved you or else you would have been! Who are you, anyway? I've never seen you before…"

"Ummm…I'm Jacy…I guess I came from the surface below…I was kind of blown up here by a statue…"

"Listen, kid," the man said, his grin dying, "Just tell me the truth...I don't have time for this."

"I'm serious, though…How else could I have gotten here if you've never seen me before?"

"I dunno, kid…I guess I can't do anything but believe you…" He said, with his grin half returning, "Welcome to Skyloft, I suppose! Stay right there. I'ma get the Headmaster."