Chapter 56

Narrat’s Peak

Serenity

15 Endless Sky 294

Esol stared down at the city below from his nest near the top of the Evergreen Spire. The enormous tree sat near the outskirts of the capital of Serenity, Narrat’s Peak, amidst the vast mountains. Parts of the branches were beginning to rot, and there were few leaves growing. Most of them had already fallen with the onset of winter a few months back. A light dusting of snow fell from the sky, sparkling off the sunlight cast by the blue giant in the sky.

Far below, he could just make out some Averians walking on the streets that meandered and ambled their way through the city. Other Averians soared through the air, passing between the trees and buildings making up the Peak. He stretched his arms out to either side, imagining what it might be like to have wings. What it might be like to be among the nobility. Instead, he was stuck working the dead end job at a factory making solar filament projectors for the battleships he would never fly.

With a sigh, he rested his beak against the wooden frame of the window. His iridescent brown feathers rustled in the wind. The thin cloth covering his body tightened against him. If only he could soar for a little bit, just to see what it actually felt like. Just once.

“Esol, get away from there!” came the sharp crack of his mother’s voice. It was quickly followed by a yank as she forcibly pulled him from the edge. Her talons dug into his back with the force of the grasp. “How many times do I have to tell you? You don’t have wings. If you fall, there’s nothing saving you.”

His mother had the same brown feathers as Esol, though they were dull and had started turning gray in places. Her beak was black with tinges of silver to the edges. With a smooth slide, the nictitating membrane moved across her eyes as she scowled at him. He sighed and moved away, kneeling at the low wooden table that took up a majority of their dining room.

Across from where he sat was a small fireplace which currently glowed with the dying embers of their last fire. Three doors led off the dining room, one to his mom’s bedroom, one to the bedroom he shared with his little brother, and one off the kitchen that led to the spiraling stairway that sat in the center of the tree they called home.

“I’m just imagining what it might be like to have wings.” He grabbed a handful of sautéed caterpillars from the center of the table and tipped his head back. They slid sumptuously down his throat and settled in his gizzard. “I’d be able to do whatever I wanted. No one could stop me.”

“Well, you don’t have wings, so you have to tread carefully, Esol.” She pushed a plate of seared skyfish towards him. “Don’t forget to eat your skyfish again. You’re looking thin. That new job of yours is running you ragged. Are you sure you don’t need me to pack you a snack? We have some nutrient cakes or jerky or dried fruits.”

“I’m fine, Mom.” He resisted the temptation to groan even as he grabbed the fillet and dropped it into his mouth. A chime sounded throughout the city, and he looked up at the clock over the fireplace. “I better get going! Don’t want to be late for work.”

He stood, quickly nipped on the side of her beak with his own, then ran to the door leading out of the apartment. As he reached it and was about to swing it open, a sharp rapping came from the other side. Esol hesitated, worried about who might be there, when the rapping changed to a banging. Not wanting a confrontation, he cautiously opened the door.

It had barely opened a fraction of a centimeter before two Averians forced their way through. The door slammed open and nearly into Esol. He dodged out of the way and let it hit the wall behind it, where the handle left a gouge in the world. Both of the other Averians were winged, the massive feathers curled up on their backs. One was black feathered with rainbows rippling along it like an oil spill and had a scar running across his beak. The other was a woman, her pale brown feathers a stark contrast to her partners. Both looked Esol up and down before the man spoke.

“Esol Accuawk?” His beak clicked with the booming question.

Esol stared for a moment, not sure how to answer. Barely a second passed before they reached forward and grasped him under the arms. They pulled him roughly out the door, leaving his mother screeching behind them. The woman leaned in close and spoke into his ear, her voice much softer but holding every bit of malice the man’s did.

“You are hereby drafted into the navy for battle against the Druthagar Kingdom and Thalyssian Union.”

He felt his gizzard tighten at the words. It wasn’t possible. The Averian Empire hadn’t been at war for almost three hundred cycles, ever since the Druthagar took their coreward territories. It was commonly taught in schools that it was the last war the Averians would ever take part in. Now, to find himself abruptly kidnapped from his home in order to fight when he hadn’t the slightest clue how?

On their way down the interior ramp acting as a staircase, he heard similar events taking place. Some yelled in response and smashed into things. Others cried and pleaded to be left alone. Yet more silently marched along ahead of Esol, just like he did.

Esol tried craning his neck to get a look at his apartment window when they exited to the street. However, it was much to high up for him to be able to determine whether his mother stood there. He just hoped he would return alive.

#

Reid Flight Academy

Mornage, Stariek

15 March 3303

“Hey, Emmie, want to join us for lunch?”

Amelia Fischer groaned inwardly as she heard her nickname from across one of the many small lawns dotting the campus. Immediately, the halfway decent mood she was in was extinguished. How many times did she have to tell them to use her actual name?

Turning, she saw a boy and a girl walking towards her down a narrow path lined by a short stone wall. The boy was short, around one and a half meters, with a head of tidy black hair topped by a kippah. Thick rimmed glasses adorned his light brown face. Next to him, the girl stood taller than him by about a head with chestnut brown hair coming down past her shoulders. Both wore the standard blue jumpsuit with a symbol of a red phoenix in the corner of the chest denoting their status as students at the academy.

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“Hi Ori,” she said, trying her best to keep her disdain out of her voice. “Hi Nadine. I would, but I have lots of studying to do. I was just on my way to the library. Got in late last night and didn’t have time to study for the calculus test this afternoon. I’ve heard Professor Whitfield always makes the midterm super hard. Don’t want to be underprepared for it, you know?”

“Oh, maybe we could come with you then,” Nadine said, brushing stray hairs out of her face with one hand as she clutched a datapad to her chest with the other. She smiled brightly at Amelia. “You’ve always been so much better than us at math, and we could use the help.”

Amelia hesitated. She didn’t want to try coming up with another excuse, but there was no good way to brush them off. Her plan of going back to her dormitory and locking herself up alone for a couple hours was rapidly disintegrating before her eyes. It was, after all, the seventh anniversary of the day she got the letter stating her older brother, Ethan, had been captured by the Druthagar. Not that either of the other students standing in front of her knew that.

“I… I guess that’s fine.” She cast her eyes to the ground and mentally calculated how to change her direction towards the library instead of Thibault Hall where her bedroom waited for her. A moment later, Ori and Nadine both fell in step beside her. They walked in silence for several blissful seconds before it was broken.

“I heard the Hyperions are really going to be stepping up their attack against the Druthagar now that the Thalyssians have joined the war on their side,” Nadine said. There was fear tinging her voice. “I hope we don’t get involved. I’m not ready.”

“Don’t worry, Nadine.” Ori patted her on the shoulder. “They’ll pull the cadets from Vertyn before the academy. After all, they haven’t taken anyone before graduation in the six years since the war started.”

“There’s a first time for everything, Ori.” Nadine’s voice grew shrill, causing Amelia to recoil away reflexively.

“If you weren’t prepared to fight, you shouldn’t have enrolled.” Amelia wrapped her arms around herself and frowned at the ground as they walked. She was fully aware she was being rude but didn’t care. “They didn’t hide the fact there’s a chance for us to be called to action. Pretty much plastered it everywhere they could after they took over.”

“Are you feeling alright, Emmie?” Ori asked as Nadine looked at her with something with shock.

“I thought I asked you not to call me that,” she replied through grated teeth. “My name is Amelia.”

Ori and Nadine glanced at each other. Amelia noted how they didn’t bother hiding their expressions of unease. However, she hardly bothered herself with noticing it. If they knew what happened to Ethan, if they understood how she was feeling and why she enrolled at Reid Flight Academy to begin with, they wouldn’t have been making such snide comments.

“Maybe we should give you some time to yourself,” Ori said, though his voice was hesitant. “We’ll catch up with you in class.”

She could feel his gaze burning into her but didn’t look up. Their receding footsteps told her she was alone once again, which suited her just fine. It was them that approached her anyway. If it were up to her, the conversation never would’ve taken place. The entire thing could hardly be her fault.

With a sigh, she changed direction for the second time and headed across the grass toward a large oak tree. Ever since she enrolled in the academy, it had been her favorite. Its branches were wide and bare still from winter, like thin, skeletal fingers reaching for the sky. Some birds fluttered throughout its upper reaches. Wild tweeting filled the air. A squirrel ran up the trunk, stopping only for a moment to glance at her before continuing its mad dash. She watched it go before leaning against the bark and slumping to the ground. Closing her eyes, she leaned her head back against the tree.

“Oh, I wasn’t expecting you to come this way, Amelia,” said a familiar voice from the opposite side of the tree. Her eyes flashed open as she turned to the source. Sitting there was a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes. A pair of glasses adorned his face, the navy blue now matching the school uniform of the same color. He peered around the edge of the tree from where he sat. “I thought you would be back in your dormitory today of all days.”

“Hey, Luca,” she replied, trying her best to not let the irritation she felt toward Ori and Nadine lash into an innocent bystander. Despite her desire to be alone, she found herself scooting around the large, knobbly roots to sit closer to him. “Why would you say that?”

“Today is the day you received that letter six years ago, is it not? The one that… upset you so much.” Luca seemed to be carefully choosing his words, as if he wanted to do anything but upset her. Part of her found it annoying, having people always feeling like they needed to tiptoe around her. Another part…

Her mind began to wander at the mention of the letter. That day exactly six years ago. She had come home from school, excited to share her improved math grade. She got an A on that test and wanted to show her parents. They would be so proud of her, she knew it.

No, she hissed at herself. Lightly shaking her head, she brought herself back to the present.

“And every year since, you usually try to be alone,” Luca finished.

“I was alone until they bothered me.” Amelia gestured vaguely in the direction Nadine and Ori disappeared. Thinking about them was better than reliving that day again.

“They care about you.” He scooted along the ground and around the tree until he was just a meter away from her. “They just want to make sure you’re alright.”

“Well, I’m not.” Amelia felt her face flush as her hands clutched into fists at her side. She resisted the urge to hit Luca and run away. If she were still in middle school, she probably wouldn’t have been able to do so. Tears stung at the corner of her eyes. Before she could stop herself, she said, “They don’t know me. They don’t know what I’ve been through. What I’ve had to endure the last six years. Not knowing where my brother is, if he’s okay, or if he’s even still alive.”

“I know a little about how you feel.” He smiled, though it didn’t quite reach his eyes, and looked down at the ground. “Before I met you, the Hyperions took all three of my best friends. They might have taken me too if things were different. Two, I think, were sent to Vertyn.”

He gestured up at the sky where the metallic structure of the space station was clearly visible in the daytime sky. Amelia followed his finger without thinking, glancing up with tear filled eyes. She blinked a few times to clear them. Each of the hot drops raced down her cheeks to her chin. If only her brother were that close. At least she’d be able to look up and see him every now and then, unlike now where she was completely in the dark.

“I’m planning on getting up there somehow.” Luca leaned against the tree and continued staring at the station as it sailed across the sky in its orbit. “Then I’ll find them. Rescue them or something.t”

“They meant a lot to you, didn’t they?” Amelia whispered. Her face heated as she realized she wasn’t the only one effected by war. It shouldn’t have taken her that long to come to the conclusion.

“They did.” He looked at her, and she could see the tears sparkling in his own eyes before he blinked them away. “Hardly a day went by that I didn’t spend with them. But I am coming up with a plan to get revenge against the Hyperions and Druthagar. If you’re willing to listen, that is.”

Amelia continued staring at him with a raised eyebrow. Their eyes locked onto each other’s. His held a certain fierceness that told her he was serious. She could hardly deny the fact she was looking for an opportunity to do that just that. And if their classes were any indication, Luca was among the smartest at the academy. If anyone could figure out how to get revenge, it was him.

“What do I have to do?” she asked, determination filling her. “And how soon can we do it?”

“Near the end of the month, we need to figure out how to steal some starfighters. Then the opportunity will present itself. Until then, we just act like nothing is different.”

“I can do that.” She stood, brushing grass off her uniform. “See you around, Luca?”

“Always, Amelia.”

He stood as well and held out a hand to her, which she shook before walking off in the opposite direction from him. There was a new pep in her step, and she could feel the elation surging through her at the prospect of getting a step closer to her brother. First, though, there were two people she needed to apologize to.