Chapter One: The Map That Should Not Exist
The morning sky over the village of Larkspur was pale silver, the kind of sky that promised rain but never delivered it. Arin sat cross-legged near the open window of his small wooden room, charcoal smudged across his fingers, carefully sketching the outline of a mountain range he had never visited.
He worked slowly, adding tiny details — cracks in cliffs, imagined waterfalls, hidden caves. Mapping places he had never seen was Arin's favorite escape. In maps, everything made sense. Every path led somewhere. Every danger could be drawn, measured, and understood.
Real life was messier.
"Arin!" his mother called from downstairs. "You'll be late again!"
"I'm coming!" he shouted back, though he kept drawing for another moment.
The mountain on his paper felt… familiar. Too familiar. As if he had seen it somewhere before — maybe in a dream.
A strange chill ran across his arms.
He quickly rolled the map and slid it into his leather satchel before heading downstairs.
The village market buzzed with noise — traders shouting prices, children chasing each other, the smell of fried bread and spices filling the air. Arin usually loved mornings here, but today something felt wrong.
The wind was too still.
Even the birds were quiet.
His best friend Mira waved from the fruit stall. "You look like you saw a ghost."
"Do you ever feel like something bad is about to happen?" Arin asked.
Mira raised an eyebrow. "That depends. Did you forget to finish someone's map order again?"
"No. Not that."
Before Mira could reply, a deep rumble rolled beneath their feet.
The ground shook once.
Then stopped.
People looked around nervously, but within seconds, the market noise returned. Only Arin remained frozen, heart pounding.
Because in his satchel, the rolled map was glowing faintly.
Arin ran.
Past the market. Past the river bridge. Past the last row of houses.
He didn't stop until he reached the old forest ruins — broken stone pillars covered in moss, half swallowed by roots and vines. Nobody came here anymore. People said the place was cursed.
That made it perfect for hiding glowing maps.
Hands shaking, Arin pulled the paper out.
The mountain he had drawn was now different. At its peak, a floating island hovered above it — something he had never drawn before.
And written across the sky in thin, silver light were words that slowly formed like mist:
THE SKY IS FORGETTING
The air turned cold.
Behind him, leaves rustled though there was no wind.
Arin slowly turned.
From the shadows between the trees, shapes began to rise — tall, thin figures made of darkness and drifting smoke. Their eyes glowed dim blue, like distant stars about to fade.
Arin's breath caught.
One of the figures stretched an arm toward him.
The map burned hot in his hands.
Instinctively, Arin threw it — but instead of falling, it unfolded mid-air, glowing brighter and brighter until light burst outward like a small sun.
The shadow creatures shrieked — a hollow, echoing sound — and dissolved into the forest floor.
Silence returned.
Arin collapsed to his knees, gasping.
On the ground before him lay something new.
A pendant shaped like a feather. Silver, but glowing faintly from inside.
With trembling fingers, he picked it up.
The moment his skin touched the metal, a voice spoke — not in the air, but inside his mind.
Find the crystal.
Arin froze.
Before the sky forgets the world.
The light inside the pendant pulsed once.
Then went still.
Far above the forest, hidden beyond clouds, something enormous shifted — like a city moving in its sleep.
And for the first time in thousands of years, the floating kingdom of the sky had lost its greatest protection.
Arin did not know it yet.
But he had just become the only person who could save it.
Chapter Two: The Kingdom Above the Storm
Arin did not remember leaving the forest.
One moment he was kneeling among the ruins, the silver feather pendant cold against his palm. The next, he was stumbling onto the dirt road leading back toward Larkspur, his mind buzzing with the voice's words.
Find the crystal.
Before the sky forgets the world.
The afternoon sun was already fading, though he was sure only minutes had passed. The sky above looked strange — stretched thin, like fabric pulled too tight.
Arin swallowed hard and started toward home, but stopped after only a few steps.
High above the clouds, something shimmered.
At first, he thought it was sunlight reflecting off mist. But then the shape moved.
A shadow of towers. Bridges. Spires.
A city.
Floating.
Arin's breath caught. His hand tightened around the pendant — and suddenly it grew warm, vibrating gently, like it was alive.
A thin beam of pale light shot upward from the feather, pointing directly at the floating city.
"I… I think you want me to go there," Arin whispered.
The pendant pulsed once.
Yes.
That night, Arin couldn't sleep.
Wind howled outside his window, stronger than any storm he remembered. The wooden walls creaked. Somewhere in the village, dogs barked nonstop.
Around midnight, the pendant began glowing again — brighter than before, filling his small room with silver light.
Then something impossible happened.
The light stretched outward, forming shapes in the air — lines, curves, symbols — until a map made of pure light floated before him.
Not a normal map.
This one showed the sky.
Cloud paths. Wind currents. Floating land fragments. And at the very center — the shining sky kingdom.
A single path blinked slowly, leading from Larkspur into the clouds.
Arin stared at it, heart racing.
"This is… how I get there?"
The map shimmered.
Outside, thunder cracked — loud enough to shake the house.
Arin made his decision.
Before sunrise, he packed his satchel — food, charcoal, paper, rope, and his old compass, even though it rarely worked properly.
He left a short note for his mother:
Gone to map new places. I'll come back. I promise.
His chest hurt writing it.
Then he stepped outside into the cold dawn air.
The storm clouds above swirled in a slow spiral, exactly like the glowing sky map showed.
Arin held up the pendant.
Wind rushed past him — not pushing him back, but pulling him forward.
Step by step, he followed the invisible path through the hills beyond the village… until he reached the Clifftop of Whispering Winds — a place no villager visited.
The drop below was endless mist.
Arin's legs trembled.
"Okay," he whispered to himself. "This is either very heroic… or very stupid."
The pendant flared bright.
Wind exploded upward from the mist, forming a spinning column of air and silver light — like a staircase made of storm.
Arin stared.
"No one is going to believe this," he said.
Then he stepped into the wind.
The climb felt like walking through a dream.
Wind held his feet. Light guided his steps. Clouds passed through him like cold smoke.
Below, the world shrank — forests turning into green patches, rivers into silver threads.
Above, the floating kingdom grew larger.
He could now see massive white towers, glowing bridges, and waterfalls pouring straight into clouds below.
But something was wrong.
Parts of the city were dark.
Lights flickered. Some floating platforms drifted out of place, like broken puzzle pieces.
The sky around the kingdom looked… cracked. Like invisible glass about to shatter.
The wind staircase weakened.
"Hurry," Arin whispered, climbing faster.
The moment he reached the lowest floating platform, the wind vanished.
He fell forward onto smooth white stone.
For several seconds, he just lay there, breathing hard, heart hammering.
"I made it," he whispered.
But as he pushed himself up, a sharp metallic sound echoed behind him.
Click.
Arin slowly turned.
Three tall figures stood at the platform entrance — armored in silver-blue metal, faces hidden behind smooth masks. Spears of glowing energy pointed directly at him.
One stepped forward.
Its voice echoed, cold and distorted.
"Surface human detected."
Another raised its weapon.
"Unauthorized arrival."
The third tilted its head slightly.
Then said words that made Arin's blood run cold.
"Possible crystal resonance detected."
All three weapons charged brighter.
Arin's pendant began to glow in response.
And somewhere deep inside the floating kingdom…
Something ancient woke up.