Day 174

[from Project Sky]

I appear to have encountered a heavy storm, hampering my progress north. Pegasi do not fly well during stormy conditions, and at this altitude, the low clouds can severely hamper one's visibility. The moment the storm starts to set in, I begin to seek refuge, heading for the nearest colony I can find. Fortunately, there is one not too far to the east, and I cling tightly to the reins of my pegasus as I gently guide it in that direction. The rain is already pouring down heavily, and a pegasus' mane and feathers are very slippery when wet. The last thing I want, after all this time and effort, is to simply slide off my pegasus' back and fall to my inevitable demise.

It's only a matter of minutes before I reach the colony, and instead of trying to find a good spot to land, I simply descend as quickly as I dare, landing on the very outskirts. It seems like a fairly large town, perhaps not as large as Harford, but still of an impressive size. The roads are made of cobbled stone, but the houses, at least in this part of town, appear to be made of wood, just as the ones in my home village were.

As I slide off my pegasus' back and step down onto the cobbled street, I'm already soaked through. I need to find shelter quickly, or else I might catch an illness, and that would delay me even further. A bright flash grabs my attention as a bolt of lightning streaks through the sky just to my right, followed a couple of seconds later by a rumble of thunder. The centre of the storm is still some distance away, then.

I ponder whether I should knock on the door of one of the houses nearby and ask for some temporary shelter from the storm, or whether I should walk further into town in search of an inn. However, the dilemma is quickly solved for me, as I hear a shout coming from my left: "Hey! Get inside! You'll catch your death out here!" Looking round, I see a man standing at the doorway of his house, holding the door open and frantically gesturing for me to enter. I quickly hurry over, tying my pegasus' reins to the wooden fence before heading inside the house.

It's pleasantly warm inside the house, and there's a nice fire burning in the hearth. Almost immediately I let out a sigh of relief, as I'm finally given respite from the cold rain. I thank the man for letting me shelter in his house. "No problem," he says. "What were you doing out there, anyway? You only just arrive here?" I nod, and tell him how the storm had interrupted my flight north. "Ah, I see," he says. "So you're stuck here waiting until the storm clears, huh? Well, now that you're here, you might as well stay the night. I don't think this storm is gonna let up until tomorrow. You can sleep in the spare bedroom, but first you should probably dry yourself off in front of the fire. You're soaked through."

I nod, and thank the man for his hospitality. He simply waves it off before heading upstairs, presumably to prepare the spare room for me. In the meantime, I kneel down in front of the fire and start to warm myself up. The heat from the flames gradually seeps into my body, and I can feel my clothes and body drying off nicely. It might take a little while before I'm completely dry, however.

Glancing out of the window, I can't help feeling a little sorry for my trusty steed, stuck outside in the pouring rain. However, it can't be helped; there was no available shelter for it in the vicinity, and I couldn't very well bring it inside with me. Pegasi are hardy creatures, so I'm sure that now it's back on the ground, it'll make it through this storm without a problem. The weather will have cleared up by tomorrow, and I can I can be on my way once more.

Day 145

[from Project Sky]

I knock neatly on the front door of the elder's house, and a voice answers from within. "Come in," it says. I presume this to be the voice of the elder. It's an old voice, a voice teeming with wisdom. I open the door and step across the threshold, finding myself in a large open sitting room. There's a fireplace set into one wall, though the fire is not lit right now: it's not cold enough for one to be needed. On the opposite wall are a number of bookshelves, most of which are completely full. If I took the time to peruse the titles, I'd imagine most of them would be quite old, and contain a lot of invaluable information about the world before the Ruin was activated.

The elder is sat at a dining table at the far end of the room, reading a book from the shelf. He must at least eighty years old, even older than our village elder. His eyebrows and thick and bushy, his snow-white beard is long and thick, and his eyes are sunken, like the eyes of a man who has grown weary. As I approach him, he puts down his book and looks up at me.

"A visitor from outside the town, hmm?" he says, his voice slow and deliberate. "May I ask what your business is with me?"

I'm curious as to how he knew I was a visitor from outside Harford, but I decide to get straight down to business. I tell him I'm travelling in search of a way to reverse the effects of the Ruin.

The old man raises his eyebrows a little. "I see," he says. "Is that so?" I see the wrinkled corners of his mouth curl upwards in a smile. "What a noble goal indeed. I myself once thought of trying to undo the damage it caused, but I am far too old to pursue such a goal now. A child like yourself, though… yes, a child like you could do it. Come, my child. Sit with me a while, and I shall share with you all that I have learned about the Ruin."

I nod, and as I sit down at the table, the elder stands up, carrying his book back to the shelves. He slots it neatly back into its place, then runs his fingers gently along the spines of the books, trying to locate a specific tome. I wonder whether he is losing his sight. "Where is it…" he mutters to himself. "Ah, yes, here it is." He pulls a dusty book off of the shelf and returns to the table, sitting opposite me and placing the book open on the table in front of him.

"The Ruin was constructed over 2,000 years ago, by an ancient civilization known as the Daricians. It is said that the Ruin's creator, upon realizing what he had created, immediately sealed it away, so that it may never be used. However, fifty years ago, towards the end of the great war against Alondis, Emperor Javiz and his men discovered the Ruin. Sensing his inevitable defeat, Javiz instructed his men to activate the Ruin, hoping it would repel the on-rushing armies of the Great Alliance. However, he did not realize the true power of the weapon.

"As I'm sure you know, when it was activated, the Ruin proceeded to shatter our entire continent, sending thousands of fragments of land floating hundreds of feet up into the sky. Many thousands were killed. Entire cities were destroyed. The Alondis Empire crumbled in an instant, and Javiz perished along with his men."

The elder turns a page of his book, and turns it around to show me. There's a drawing on a page of a tall, thin black spire, rising hundreds of feet above the surrounding area. "We do not know for certain what the Ruin looks like, or where it is," said the elder. "It was hidden well, and those who discovered it perished when Javiz activated it. Most scholars that I have talked to believe it to be some kind of giant spire, from which a shockwave rippled through the earth and tore it asunder. If that is the case, such a tower would be easy to locate, but I fear that it remains on the surface below us, almost unreachable. In any case, to reach the Ruin you will have to travel to the ruins of the Alondis Empire. Those ruins are highly treacherous, and you would do well to be cautious when in them."

The elder suddenly leans forwards a little. "However," he says, "this is the important part. Consider this: the person who created the Ruin was so fearful that it might be activated, that he hid it away in such a manner that nobody discovered it for two thousand years. I - and many others - believe that such a paranoid man must surely have also built a failsafe into the device, to reverse its effects in case it was ever activated. Once you locate the Ruin, you must activate that failsafe, and the continent will be restored to its original state. We cannot bring back those who died that day, or replace what was lost, but at least that much may be fixed."

The elder leans back in his chair. "I'm sorry that I cannot help you further," he says. "There is simply so much about the Ruin that we do not know. If we knew more about it, perhaps we could have reversed this calamity sooner. But from now on, it is up to you. You must locate the Ruin, reverse its effects, and restore this world to its former glory."

I nod, and tell the elder that I intend to. I thank him for all his help, and prepare to leave. "Wait," says the elder, as I stand up. "Before you leave, might I know your name, young one?" I nod, and tell him my name. "I see," says the elder. "I wish you all the best of luck on your journey."

I thank the elder once more, and take my leave. Elizabeth is still waiting outside for me, holding onto my peagsus' reins. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she asks me.

I nod, and tell her I know now that the Ruin's effects can be reversed. "It can?" says Elizabeth. "How?" I tell her about the failsafe that the elder believes is built into the Ruin. "I see. But you don't know for sure that there is a failsafe, right? What happens if you reach the Ruin and there isn't one, or you don't know how to activate it? Is that the end of it?"

I shake my head, and tell Elizabeth that I'm sure there's a failsafe. If I can't find a way to activate it, I'll just have to keep trying. Her expression grows a little surprised, and perhaps a little impressed. "You really are dedicated to this, aren't you?" she says. I nod, and she smiles. "Well, in that case, I hope that there is a failsafe, and that you find a way to activate it quickly. I do like living up here, just beneath the clouds, but… it would be nice to live back on the surface, like we used to."

I nod in agreement, and Elizabeth hands me my pegasus' reins. "Will you be going now, then?" she asks me. "It's a long way to the ruins of Alondis. Shouldn't you prepare first?" I nod, and tell her I'll be sure to prepare well for the journey ahead. "Okay. Well, in that case, I wish you safe travels," she says. "If you like, you can come back and visit us again once the continent has been restored."

As I mount my pegasus, I nod, and tell her that I will if I can. "Okay. So long, and good luck," she says. I bid Elizabeth farewell, and motion to my pegasus to take off. It duly obliges, soaring forth into the sky once more. As I fly away, I look back and see Elizabeth waving me goodbye. Soon she is little more than a grey dot behind me, and I turn my attention back to the skies in front of me. It's going to be a long journey to Alondis, but I know I can make it.

Day 124

[from Project Sky]

As I get closer to the girl, I start to get a better look at her. She's relatively beautiful, with long mahogany-brown hair and brown eyes. Like most commoners, she wears a standard un-dyed tunic that extends down to her knees, and wooden sandals. In the olden days her tunic might have extended to her ankle, and perhaps had a hood attached to it, but in this new floating continent, materials are scarce. Though modesty still needs to be preserved, there are simply not the resources for clothes to be made any larger or fancier than they need to be. Hand-me-downs are also common; the clothes on my back were once my father's.

She looks over as I approach, looking up at me. "Hello, traveller," she says. "Can I help you with something?"

I nod, and tell her I'm looking for information about the Ruin. I want to know how to reverse it, and fix this world. Her smile fades a little; it is, after all, rather a serious subject.

"I see," says the girl. "The Ruin, you say… I have heard of it, but I don't know anything about it. Our elder might know, though. Shall I take you to him?" I nod, and the girl stands up, shaking the excess moisture off her hands. "Okay. Follow me." She makes her way back towards the road and I follow behind, my pegasus walking alongside me.

"Is this your first time in Harford?" she asks, and I nod. "I thought so. Where have you come from?" I tell her the name of my colony. "Ah. That's a few colonies over, isn't? It must have taken you a while to get here." Not really, I tell her, and she nods.

"My name is Elizabeth Coulson Liland," she says. "Liland" is the name of the country Harford would once have been part of, back before the ruin. My home colony, too, would have been part of Liland. In the wake of the Ruin, many people adopted their countries of origin as part of their name. The elder told me it was their way of holding on to their national pride, and remembering the nations they were once a part of but have now ceased to be. This tradition has now become established throughout the continent.

Elizabeth asks for my name, and I tell her. "It's nice to meet you," she says. I tell her it's nice to meet her too. We fall silent for a moment as we head up the road, making our way towards a bridge leading to another island of the colony. Looking into the distance, I notice that the shimmering blue lines I spotted on my approach seem to be emanating from a tower on the adjacent island. I decide to ask Elizabeth about them.

"Those?" she says. "Those are the Skylines. They're a magical transport system that allow you to travel to far-away colonies in the blink of an eye. Only the larger colonies are linked, though, which is why you wouldn't have seen them before. If you can't find what you're looking for here, then you may want to use the Skyline to travel to another large colony quickly. A word of advice, though: always send your pegasus through first. If you go through first, it might not follow after you. Does that make sense?" I nod. "Okay. You can get to the Skyline through that tower. It's free for anyone to use, and it's perfectly safe, so don't worry." I nod again.

Now that I'm at street level, Harford seems even bigger than it did while I was flying over it. The clock tower, positioned over on an island to my left, has to be the tallest structure I've ever seen. Even at this distance, I can clearly make out that it's 2:36pm. I can also see some heavy clouds on the horizon: it's going to rain later on. None of the colonies I've visited so far are high up enough that they actually touch the clouds, though I have heard of colonies far away that are tall enough to do so. For a moment, I can't help wondering what it would feel like to be inside a cloud, then I dismiss the thought as inane. I'm here for a reason, and I should concentrate on that.

Soon, we're crossing the stone bridge that leads to the next island. The stone feels very sturdy beneath my feet, and it's almost impossible to tell that I am actually on a bridge and not still on land. As we walk, we pass a man walking in the other direction, carrying a bundle of straw. My pegasus looks wistfully at it, as though craving it. I gently remind my pegasus that it only ate a couple of hours ago, and Elizabeth lets out a high-pitched giggle. "I guess the flight here must have made it hungry again," she says. I have to concede that she's probably right. Having to barter for pegasus food as well as my own food can be a bother at times, but if not for my pegasus, I would never have been able to reach this far. Having it is certainly worth it in the long-term.

After a few more minutes of walking, we reach a large stone house with a neatly-kept garden in front. "This is the elder's house," says Elizabeth. "Shall I look after your pegasus while you go inside and talk to him?" I agree to this, and hand over the reins before heading inside the elder's house. I've already talked to several elders who knew nothing about the Ruin, but perhaps Harford's will have more to tell me.

Day 110

[from Project Sky]

It's been a couple of weeks now since I set out on my journey. I've visited the five colonies that were the closest to my own, but none of them held any clues as to how I might be able to reverse the effects of the Ruin. So now, I'm travelling towards the town of Harford, which is apparently the biggest colony for miles, and not too far away either. Perhaps I can find some useful information there.

I've already gotten used to the travelling lifestyle. It's usually recommended that one avoids flying at night, primarily because of the poor visibility, but also because at this altitude, it gets extremely cold after the sun sets. For that reason, I have to stay overnight at each colony before flying off in the morning. Of course, renting a room for the night isn't free. This fractured world has no unified currency, so I have to pay my rent by doing errands and favours instead. That's the way this world works: a favour for a favour. The elder likes it better this way, and hopes that once the world is restored we won't return to the old ways of being ruled by greed.

As the dozen or so floating islands that make up Harford gradually grow larger in front of me, I realize for the first time just how large it really is. Having spent all my life in my tiny village of only a dozen or so houses, the thought of a town as large as Harford is hard for me to comprehend, and yet there it is in front of me, gradually filling my vision. Even at this distance I can make out far more houses than I've ever seen in one place before. And from what I've been told, even this is a drop in the ocean compared to the very largest colonies. I can't even begin to imagine how large they must be.

As I get closer, I notice something strange. Extending from one of the islands and out into the horizon are three thin blue lines, shimmering in the midday sunlight. I have no idea what they are, but there's no doubt that they have some sort of magical property. Perhaps they're connected to other far-away colonies, and provide some kind of rapid communication or transport between them. It might be worth investigating those lines, once I've landed.

It's not long before I'm flying directly over Harford, looking for a place to land. It truly is enormous. There must be at least a hundred buildings, possibly more. One large island, easily the size of our entire village, is completely taken up by a massive farm. In the centre of the town is a large clock tower, at least thirty feet high, surrounded by a large cobbled square. I can make out the people below me now, as they make their way through the paved streets and across the bridges linking the islands together, some of which are made of stone. I've only ever seen wooden bridges before. I can't help wondering why stone bridges would be necessary.

I can now also make out the remains of a river snaking its way between the centremost islands, split into its opposite banks where the Ruin caused the landscape to rupture along its centre. The river would have been drained as the shattered pieces of land rose up into the sky, but the enterprising townsfolk appear to have built walls around the edges of each river segment, causing the rainwater to collect in them and form makeshift lakes that trace out the river's path. No doubt this is where they get their water supply from. It's quite a clever engineering solution.

Spotting a wide open bank next to one such lake, I decide this would be an excellent place to disembark. I guide my pegasus towards it, gradually descending before slowing down and coming to a rest next to the water's edge. As I climb off the pegasus' back, looking at the shimmering mass of liquid before me, it suddenly occurs to me that I've never seen a body of water this large before. It's a narrow strip, only about two metres wide, but at least a hundred metres long. It's surprisingly clear and blue, just like the sky above.

As I look along the water's edge, I see a figure crouched by the river bank a short distance to my right. It's a girl, about the same age as I, perhaps a year or two younger. She appears to be drinking from the river, gathering water in her cupped hands and then raising them to her lips. It's the most readily available source of water in the town, and it looks clean enough, so it doesn't surprise me too much to see someone drinking from it.

After watching the girl silently for a moment, I decide that this would be as good a place as any to start my usual investigation. Leading my pegasus gently by the reins, I make my way along the river bank towards her. 

Day 36

[from Project Sky]

Having accepted the elder's quest, it is time for me to leave. For now, my goal is to discover the location of The Ruin, somewhere within Alondis. If it's intact, as the elder supposes, then I can try and see if there's a way to reverse its effects. If it's broken, or can't be undone, then at least we will know, instead of eternally wondering whether there's a way to fix all this. But if there is…

"You can ride a pegasus, can't you?" asks the elder suddenly, as we cross the bridge that leads to the next island along. I tell him I can; my mother taught me how. "That's good," he says. "You'll be needing one for your journey. Tell you what: you can borrow mine. I'm getting too old to ride anywhere these days, but I'm sure you could make good use of her."

Pegasi were used a lot in the old days to travel between distant towns, especially when there were impenetrable forests or mountain ranges in the way that horses could not move through. Horses were far more common, and so were used a lot more, but with the devastation caused by The Ruin, pegasi have become ubiquitous up here. Even the smallest colony has at least one pegasus, so they can travel to other colonies for trade, and the larger colonies have huge breeding farms so they can supply the rest of the continent with them. It's strange how pegasi have become so much more common, and yet at the same time they've become so much more valuable.

Here in our village, we have only three pegasi, a fair amount for a village of around thirty-five people. The stables are on the island we're heading towards, the second-largest and centremost of the islands. It's also home to most of the colony's houses, and all of its shops and market stalls. It really is a tiny colony; if you run from the church at the centre of the island we just left, right the way through to the elder's house on the furthest of the islands, it'll take you about a minute. I'm told the largest of the floating islands out there can take you up to an hour to run across, or even more. Having lived here my whole life, I can barely comprehend the thought of having so much space to run around in.

With this in mind, it's not long at all before we arrive at the stables. My mother is there, waiting for me. I guess the elder must have told her he was planning to send me on this mission. She looks a little nervous, which is understandable considering her son is about to leave home for the first time. I start to feel a little nervous as well, as the realization sinks in.

"So, you agreed to go, then?" she asks me. My hunch was correct. I nod in affirmation. "I see," she says. "I know it'll be a long, and probably dangerous journey, but please, try and stay safe, okay? And come home as soon as you can, won't you? I'll be missing you every second you're gone."

Mother hugs me and kisses me on the cheek. I promise her that I'll return as soon as I can, and that when I do, the land will be restored. "I hope so," she says, sounding like she's going to cry. "I'll be cheering you on all the way."

She lets go of me, and she and the village elder help me climb up onto the pegasus, a fine white mare with well-groomed wings. My mother passes me up a backpack full of supplies, and a purse with some money in it in addition to what I already have. I thank them both for their help and support and, once more, I promise them I'll return as soon as the land is restored. I don't know whether it's a promise I can keep, but one way or the other, I'm going to find out.

I put my feet in the stirrups and take the reins. The elder un-tethers it, and it takes off, ferrying me up into the sky. I take one hand off and wave goodbye to my mother as I head out. The elder has his arm round her, comforting her. It's hard to say goodbye to her, and harder still to think that there's a chance it might be the last goodbye. But I can't think that way. I have to approach this task with the belief that I'll succeed, or else I won't.

As my home colony gets smaller and smaller, I turn round and face forward. I know that the closest colony is in this direction, only a few minutes' flying time away. I can already just see it, a faint dot on the horizon, with a faint shadow beneath it where the islands block the sun from reaching the shattered land below. There's almost no chance that the answers I seek are on that colony; it's simply the first stepping stone on what is sure to be a tremendous journey. But if I have to visit every colony in the sky, then I will.

Day 15

[from Project Sky]

I'm standing near the edge of the largest of the five small floating islands that my village stands upon. If I look straight ahead, I can see the infinite sky around us, and the clouds floating just above. If I look down, through the wispy clouds I can just make out the ravaged lands below. You don't want to fall off the edge; it's a long way down. I'm told some of the bigger towns have walls, to stop you stumbling over the edge, but here only the bridges have walls.

These islands have been floating here since before I was born. Since before my parents were born. We all know, however, that they weren't always floating. That the continent wasn't always like this. Most of us know what happened to make it this way. I don't. Not yet. But now that I've come of age, I'm about to hear the full story, directly from the only one of us left who was there when it all happened: the village elder.

"I thought I might find you here," he says, as he approaches from behind. "Not really the safest place to be having this chat, but I guess it's… maybe the most poignant." He draws alongside me, and I see that he, too, is looking wistfully down at the shattered surface. He sighs gently into the wind. "Fifty years… fifty years, and I still miss what this land used to look like. There's nothing I can do about it anymore: I'm too old. But… your mother told me you want to see the land restored as well. That might be a lofty goal, but it sure is a noble one. Well," he continues, "I was gonna tell you how this happened anyway, so perhaps you can find some clue as to how to undo it.

"It all started many years ago, when a new emperor rose to the throne of Alondis. His name was Javiz, and as far as tyrants go, he was surely one of the worst this world has ever seen. He put his people to work in harsh conditions, taxed them into poverty and starvation while he and his advisors grew tremendously wealthy, and funded research into all kinds of dark, twisted magic. Anyone who spoke out against him was executed. We know all this because people fled Alondis in droves, seeking better lives elsewhere. If his troops caught you fleeing, though, you would also be executed.

"Fifty-five years ago, Javiz decided Alondis wasn't enough. He wanted the neighbouring kingdoms as well. So he invaded Concordia, our nation. For the first year or so, it looked like he might win, but of course we fought back… our allies on the continent joined us, as well. They realized it was about time that Javiz fell. And so, by fifty years ago, we'd pushed his army back towards the capital. It looked like it was all over.

"But Javiz had one last trick up his sleeve. During his research, he'd discovered an ancient magical superweapon known only as "The Ruin". Nobody knows what "The Ruin" is, or how it works; we only know that it was created by a long-lost civilization, and sealed away inside a hidden temple for fear of the destruction it might cause if used. Javiz found it, unsealed it, and decided to use it to turn the tide of the war back in his favour. He didn't know what the device was truly capable of.

"When Javiz activated the weapon, it created a tremendous blast of magical energy that shattered the entire continent. The capital of Alondis was completely destroyed, much of the rest of his empire crumbled, and the land across the continent was broken into millions of pieces and scattered across the sky. They remain here even to this day; most likely the power of The Ruin keeps them afloat.

"We've had to rebuild our civilizations in the past fifty years. We've had to change our entire way of life. And those of us who were alive when The Ruin was activated… we're growing old. I'm the only one left in this village who still remembers what the world used to be like. Soon nobody will remember at all. I fear that it will become nothing more than a legend, a myth. That the continent will never be restored to its former glory. And that thought saddens me more than anything else."

The village elder turns to me, his face grave. "I want to see this land restored," he says. "I know you do too. I'm too old now, I couldn't possibly do it, but I know you could… if you can undo this destruction, and restore the land, I know I won't be the only one you'll be making happy. Where to start? I'm afraid I don't know exactly… but I can tell you were to look, perhaps.

"In the fifty years since it happened, I've come up with two different theories of how to reverse this damage. The first, is that there must be some kind of magical energy keeping the fragments afloat. No doubt this energy is generated by The Ruin, which would mean that it is still intact. Perhaps, if you were able to find it, you could deactivate it, and the islands would return to their normal places on the surface. It's a long shot, but it just might work.

"The second, is that if The Ruin's creators were so afraid of its power that they sealed it away, perhaps they built a second device that could undo its effects, in case it ever was activated. Again, it's a long shot, and finding such a device - if it even exists - would probably be even harder than finding The Ruin. But it's almost guaranteed to work."

"I know this will be a long and difficult voyage," he says to me finally. "But you have grown into a strong and highly capable young man. I'm sure, if there's anyone in our village who can restore this land, it is you. So… will you do this? Will you take up this mighty quest? Will you find a way, no matter what, when or how, to reverse this cataclysm?"

As much as I would like to make this promise, I know in my heart of hearts that the chance of me finding a way to reverse this is almost zero. But, as long as there is still a chance, I can't give up. I have to at least try, and try I will, with all my might. So I look the village elder in the eye, and tell him: yes. I will restore this continent.