City In the Sky

I have always wondered what goes on under the clouds and why it is so important that we not know it. Vault, Chief of the winged warriors (the people of the city), says that the beings that live under the clouds are not safe. He says that with one look at one of us they would attack without hesitation. But my question is that if the Groundwalkers hate us so much and want to attack us, why haven’t we ever seen one? Or even heard from one?

One day my best friend, Azure, and I were walking home from school and I asked her these questions. She looked at me for a moment and then laughed. When I looked back at her in confusion. She asked, “Oh, You were serious?”

“Yes.” I said dramatically. “No I asked because I am such a jokester.” I added with a sarcastic tone.

“Welkin, you know we aren’t supposed to think about those kinds of questions!” She panicked. “Do you remember what happened to the last person to ask those kinds of questions!? I haven’t seen Zephyr in a whole year! I heard he was banished from the city!”

“Oh calm down, he had to be homeschooled for personal reasons.” I said rolling my eyes.

“That’s what they want you to believe.” She grabbed my arm. Her eyes wild with fear. Her wings were shaking and almost hit me in the face.

“Who is “They”?”

“That’s not the point,” She said defensively. “The point is that you need to just ignore these types of questions. The rules are there for a reason, ya know.”

“I know but I can’t help it! I want to know what is beyond the clouds!”

Later that evening we were out on a short flight to stretch out our wings. The view of the city is breathtaking. This time we decided to be brave and go a little further from the city than normal. All of a sudden two nets sprang from under the clouds. They wrapped around us and jerked us down. We landed on a wooden surface with a thud.

“The ship and nets work, Captain!” yelled a man who looked exactly like our people but he had no wings.

“Now that we know our inventions work we need to make sure that none of the skywalkers find out our plan. We will take these two as hostages for studying.” Said another ma who I assumed was the captain.

I looked over at Azure and she looked as if she were frozen from fear. I tried my best to escape the netting but it was no use. Then I saw them pull out a gadget and walked towards Azure with it. I thrashed and thrashed until finally the net snapped. I tried to tackle the man with the gadget but just before I reached him another man hit me with a another one of the gadgets. It felt like a hundred tiny fires were sparked at once. Zapping through me until I couldn’t feel anything.

“Welkin!” I heard Azure scream before the world faded to darkness.

                                               To Be Continued…          

City In the Sky

Continued…

When I opened my eyes, everything was dark and blurry. I could vaguely make out bars in front of me. Everything ached, especially my head. It was excruciating to sit up. When I was almost all the way upright, I hit my head on the top of the cage I was in.

I layed back down holding my head. “Ow,” I moaned.

“Welkin? Is that you?” asked a weak voice from the dark.

“Azure?” I asked.

“Where are we?”

“I don’t-,” I started to say before a door to the room opened. Light flooded the room. My eyes tried to focus and when they did, I could see that we were each in our own small cage in a small, white room. The man in the doorway was the captain of “the ship”.

“I hope you’re comfortable.” he said in a joking voice.

“Oh we are very comfortable. Aren’t we Azure.?” I said sarcastically.

Azure looked as white as a ghost. Then she did the bravest thing I have ever seen her do. She screamed “LET US OUT OF HERE RIGHT NOW!” while shaking her small cage.

As I gaped at her, the man grinned and calmly walked towards her cage. When he reached it, he put his hand through the bars and lifted Azure’s chin towards him. “You might want to watch what you say.” he said. Azure pulled away.

He stepped back and snapped his fingers. Two really muscular men came in and walked to our cages. Each opened the cage they were at and restrained us. I squirmed as much as possible but the man holding me tightened his grip making it hard to breathe.

They took us to another room and threw us in. The door shut quickly once we were in. I got up and banged on the door with all my strength. Not even a dent was on the door. I turned to check on Azure, when I saw her staring at something with fear. I followed her stare. We were not alone in this new room.

There had to be at least a dozen other prisoners in the room. Each one stared back just as horrified. None of them were familiar faces nor were any of them Winged Warriors. Azure slowly stood up and backed towards me. At this motion the other prisoners jumped and moved back themselves. As I looked at all the faces I was surprised to see one that did not look scared. An old woman stared back at me with curiosity and wonder.

“I never thought I would live long enough to see if the Skywalkers were real.” the old woman said. When she said this, the others’ worry and fear faded. Their sympathy faded as well.

Before Azure or I could say anything the door opened behind us and hands restrained us. I took one last look at the prisoners. All of them worried but only for themselves except for the old woman who looked only worried for us. Her face showing great sadness.

We traveled down quite a few hallways before stopping in front of another door. It opened and the men holding us threw us in. We hit the floor harder than we did in the last room. I did not even try to pound on the door.

There was only one other door. It was barred and led to a small clearing where two men stood. One was really big and muscular and the other was scrawny and looked as if he had been starved. A bell rang and the bigger man charged towards the smaller. The smaller man was too weak to run or do anything and was pummeled by the bigger man until it seemed like he was barely breathing. The small bell rang again and a man’s voice came over a speaker saying that the bigger man won. Two other men dragged the smaller man out of the clearing as cheers filled the entire arena.

“And now for our special guests to take a shot at defeating our champion! Watch in suspense as our champion faces two Skywalkers!” The announcer yelled with enthusiasm. Gasps came from everyone in the crowd. Then the barred door slowly opened. The wall opposite of that door slowly pushed us towards the arena.

Once we got through the door I looked around us and thousands of people looked back at me with astonishment and hate mixed together. “Five! Four! Three! Two! One!” they shouted and once their countdown ended the small bell rang again. “Fight!” the announcer yelled.

To Be Continued…          

City In the Sky

Continued…

“Fight! Fight! Fight!” the crowd chanted. Their “Champion” roared out a battle cry and charged at Azure and I. Just before he reached us I tackled Azure to the side of the ring.

“What do we do?! I don’t even know how to defend myself let alone try to hurt anyone?!” Azure panicked.

“Um…” I said not sure how to answer.

Then the Champion charged towards us again.

“Um… Fly!” I screamed. We spread our wings and took to the skies. If it wasn’t for the fence dome we would have flown all the way home.

“You think you’re safe up there!?” the Champion roared with anger.

“Maybe a little.” I taunted.

He snarled at me. Then he did the impossible. He jumped from way down on the ground all the way to the top of the dome. He grabbed my foot and pulled me down with him. I tried to wrench my foot free but it was no use. It felt like ages before we reached the ground and when we did he slammed me as hard as he could into the ground.

With all that momentum, it is a wonder I even survived. The Champion stretched his arms to the sky ready to beat me into the ground. I rolled to the side, every motion stinging with intense pain.

“How did you even jump that high!? It’s like a thousand feet!” I exclaimed. I wobbled to my feet. The taste of iron in my mouth choked me. I coughed and blood splattered on the ground like paint.

“Easy” he said walking towards me. “I jumped.”

I backed away from him but did not get very far. I tripped over a rock. I tried to crawl from him but I was not quick enough. He picked me up by a wing, the bones that were already broken broke even more. He reared back ready for the final hit.

Thud! I hit the ground dumbstruck. I expected to be out cold but I layed there in pain but still conscious. I looked up and the Champion held the back of his head. When he took his hand away blood dripped off his hand and down his neck. A rock layed on the ground with blood streaked along the side of it. Azure hovered not far away, her arm extended from throwing the rock.

The Champion turned in her direction and snarled again. He jumped high enough to grab Azure but she quickly dodged his hands. He jumped again and this time Azure wasn’t quick enough. She landed on the ground with a big thud. The Champion went to crush her with his fists but Azure kicked him so hard in the face he toppled over. She jumped and took off flying again. She got to a pretty high point of the dome and flew towards the ground at top speed.

The Champion tried to roll out of the way but Azure was too fast. She stomped him so far into the ground there was a crater. If he wasn’t still breathing, I would have thought he was dead.

When she saw he was out for the count, she rushed to my side. “I’m sorry I should have acted sooner! I was just so scared, I didn’t know what to do! I’m… I’m sorry. You wouldn’t have gotten so hurt if I had helped sooner.” She said through tears.

“What are you talking about, that was perfect timing.” I winced as I tried to sit up. There was definitely a lot broken. “You are so strong and brave. Why didn’t you ever tell me you were so brave?” I said punching her arm softly. We both winced. Then we laughed.

The small bell rang. “We have ourselves some new champions.” the announcer said in shock. The entire crowd gaped at us. None of them cheered. Instead they booed us. A barred door opened and guards came rushing out of it.

A couple went to the old Champion and dragged him out another door. The others came to us and restrained us. I thought the restraining before hurt but now with bruises, gashes, and broken bones it hurt a lot worse. They dragged us to the door.

Once we were in the room the barred door slammed behind us. Instead of throwing us on the floor like the other times they held us tighter. Another door leading to a hallway opened and the Captain came through it. He had an evil smile on his face.

“So, you can fight. Though you act on instinct not the knowledge of how to fight. Fascinating.” he said slyly. “Now that we have the information we were seeking, you may do whatever you wish with them.”

The guards that were not restraining us evilly grinned at us pounding their fists into their hands. They came towards us ready to beat us to death. The Captain rolled his eyes and walked out. The door slammed behind him leaving just the guards, Azure, and I.

To Be Continued…