Chapter 1

–recollections–

I remember when I was young, sitting on the front porch, watching Grandpa fly his crop duster over the fields, I first felt the call. When I was around 15, Grandpa took me up in his crop-duster; the freedom of the deep blue sky was unmatched.

As I looked over the side, down below was miles of green forest and fields of corn; it all looked so insignificant from up there. Then, as we landed, I started to have a feeling of homesickness and a sense of longing crept up on me. It was then I knew I wasn’t meant for the land. The sky was calling me, and as time passed, that calling only grew louder and stronger.

Right before we left the airport, a low roar began to pick up, growing louder as it seemed to get farther away; from behind the control tower, a trio of jets began to lift into the air as they continued to shake the ground around them. I could just barely make out the tail of one; on it sat a painted dragon holding a lance, and once I blinked, they sped off into the distance. After that I was certain I had to fly, the ground was no longer my home. When we arrived at home I asked Grandfather how he started flying, he spoke of a time when planes were just cloth and wood. He told me of the barnstormers and flying circuses, the times he would ask the traveling pilots if he could take rides in their planes, going on to recount the early air mail delivery system.

He recounted those times with a bright smile and glee in his eyes then that happiness started to fade as he began to speak about the wars that engulfed our continent of Mariela though our country Esmerelda engaged only in a handful of the wars that took place over a semi century, talking about how when he was my age the barnstormers and flying circus slowly began to disappear when the military found use for the new technology that was aircraft. As the sky's started filling more with military's planes he decided he'd fly for the military however by the time he was old enough to enlist the time of cloth and wood planes had rapidly come to an end and a new age of metal planes began due to the speedy advancements brought about due to the needs of the ongoing conflicts. The sky wasn't so blue at that time it was always field with a gray haze, be it from rising pillars of smoke and ash from far off battles or the pitch black smoke from engines being pushed to the limit as pilots risked their lives for our country grandpa recounted. At school this time was called the period of endless war but as most things do after a long time that so-called endless period came to an end as eventually countries were devastated, stalemates were becoming more and more locked into place, and people had just grown tired of constant war. Thus the Grand Mariela accord was established to bring everyone into agreement that the wars must be stopped and for the first time in half a century the guns fell silent. After his experiences in the wars grandpa decided to just buy some land and start a farm using his crop-duster to still be able to touch the sky.

With my time in highschool coming to a close as graduation grew closer I had to decide where I would go after graduation. I only had three options: join the military, keep helping on the farm, or go to college. There was plenty to think about. In a blink of an eye graduation was here yet I still had no idea where I was heading my friends all had jobs lined up or they were heading to college very few in my class joined the military, everyone else saying with the Mariela accord there's no more wars why waste your time doing something so useless. My best friend Ade Jackson nearly got into a fight with some kid who told him he's an idiot for not going to a real college. “The Esmerelda Armed Forces Academy is a finer college than you'll ever manage to get accepted into!” I remember hearing him shout. After that near miss altercation he looked at me saying, “speaking of the academy Marcus you should join me i think they have a pilot program. I mean it's hard not to notice how much you love flying. You would always talk my ear off about flying grandfather's crop-duster.”

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“ Yeah yeah listen I’ll apply when I get home if you stop hounding me about it, besides I'm not sure if college is for me. Who’s gonna take care of the farm? We both know my gramps is getting up in years so I'm kinda stuck here.”

Ade looked at me rolling his eyes, “you got a point, but wait why don't you just ask him for his opinion, it is his farm after all.”

“I'm gonna ask him as soon as I get home now are you done hounding me now.” I grumbled.

Ade then flipped me the bird, "if I didn't hound you then you would just sit staring at the sky all day anyways i'll catch you later man."

As the night started to come to an end I went and found my grandfather before I started heading home. Gramps asked “Well congratulations again on graduating Marcus, have you called your parents yet?”

“No, I called them before we left for the ceremony. I'll probably call them again when we get back. Also grandpa… tomorrow morning can we discuss my future plans- maybe let me pick your brain- because I think I might have an idea of what I want to do but I'm still not completely sure.”

“Well there's no real work to do on the fields for a while so I don't see why not," he shrugged as he started to climb into his truck.

“Alright I'll see you at home then grandpa,” I shouted as he started to walk away. Approaching my car I saw Ade sitting on the hood waiting for me.

“Yo Marcus some of the guys are throwing an after party you gonna come?” Ade said as I started to fish my keys out of my pocket,

“Nah not this time. I think I'm just gonna head home this time. Still wanna get my thoughts in order before talking with my grandfather in the morning, also would you quit sitting on my hood you're gonna dent it with that ego of yours,” I joked. “I'll see you later man don't get into too much trouble at the party. I don't have money to bail you out.”

“What? me get in trouble with the law in case you forgot I’m a world class smooth talker.” Ade replied with a chuckle. “Anyways you better get going before your grandpa starts worrying and give me a call after your discussion tomorrow.”

After arriving back home I saw gramps watching for me from his bedroom window. Heading into the house I heard him start to get into bed, before heading to bed myself I picked up the phone and tried calling my parents one more time, but to my dismay they didn’t pick up. With that, the exhaustion from the day finally caught up to me and I decided to head to bed as well.

As the daylight started to break through my windows the sounds of sizzling breakfast and conversation coming from the kitchen helped stir me awake. While crawling out of bed I started to recognize the voices coming out of the kitchen as Mom, Dad, and Grandpa. Stumbling out of my room I groggily wander into the kitchen, “Mom, Dad when did you guys get here?” I asked, rubbing my face.

“We just got in this morning; sorry we couldn’t make it to your ceremony last night our flight got delayed” apologized dad from the kitchen.

“There's fresh coffee on the counter, go grab a mug and come join me in the living room so we can talk about the questions you had last night” Grandpa spoke from behind this morning's paper. I walked over to mom and dad giving them hugs before grabbing my mug of coffee.

“Congratulations son, I'm so proud of you” mom said to me as she hugged me tight. Dad had his apron on as he was manning the stove, the smell of eggs and bacon filling my nose as I got closer to him.

“You're one step closer to adulthood now do you have an idea of where you want to go next” dad asked.

“Actually that's what me and grandpa were gonna discuss this morning.” I answered while filling my mug with coffee. Wandering into the living room I grabbed the seat opposite of grandpa and started to tell him what was on my mind. “I'm thinking of applying to Esmerelda’s Armed Forces Academy with Ade.”

“So what's sparked your interest in going to the Academy Marcus” grandpa wondered as he set his newspaper down.

“Well I still want to fly and remembering some of the stories of your days as a pilot it sounded like the best pilots are in the military”

“That may be true but are you sure that's where you want to go?” grandpa spoke with a serious expression on his face.

“Just know no matter what you choose you have the full support from both me and you parents” The expression on grandpa's words softened.