Chapter 2

–first goodbyes–

About 4 months later I found myself in the airport saying my last goodbyes to Mom, Dad, and Grandpa. Mom’s eyes were full of tears as one would expect when seeing her only son off to college.

“Do be careful son, make good decisions while you're at the academy” Mom choked out in between the tears.

“Don’t worry Mom when have I ever made a decision I wasn’t confident in and besides i'm not going by myself i was lucky enough to make it in the same batch as Ade”

“Don't forget to write home every now and then, remember you’re going to make us proud no matter what you do” Dad added.

“You’ll be sure to hear from me as soon as I can and I can promise next time you see me I'll be a bonafide Esmeralda pilot.”

“Well Marcus, this is it. Will be a while till next time we see each other so I have a gift for you” Grandpa said as he reached into his pocket. “Your grandmother gave this to me not long after we were married and when I was still flying during the last war, she told me it was a charm to help keep me safe during my flights.” As he handed it to me I noticed a tear start to form in his eye.

“Thank you Grandpa but are you sure you shouldn’t keep this? It was a gift from grandma after all” after saying that Grandpa wrapped me up in a bear hug answering in a choked up voice.

“Trust me, she’d want you to have it. Besides, I have your grandmother looking over me after all.”

“Well I'll be sure to take good care of it and take it with me wherever I go Grandpa.” I answered, putting the charm in my pocket as I gave everyone one last hug. With that I started to head towards the terminal not long after I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Hey Marcus wait up man, you done saying your goodbyes as well?” Ade called out.

“Yeah Mom was bawling her eyes out as expected but I'm sure there's plenty of other Moms doing the same seeing their children off to college.”

“True but you would think we're going off to war or something with how much my parents were crying, like there hasn’t been a conflict in years. In my opinion we're just going to some fancy, strict college with a guaranteed job at the end.”

While slowly tuning Ade out I started to look closer at the charm Grandpa gave me. It was made in the shape of an angel with wings spread out wide attached to a necklace chain. As I continued inspecting it my thoughts were brought back to reality with Ade’s voice.

“Are you gonna put that thing on or keep staring at it cause I'm just waiting for you to run into something.”

“Huh? Oh yeah sorry I didn’t realize I zoned out there. Also hey I thought we were friends wouldn’t you warn me that I'm about to run into something." I pointed out as I put the necklace on untucked from my shirt.

“It's because we're friends that I would have let it happen. Do you know how funny it would be to watch you run into a pole on such a big day.” Ade responded with stifled laughter.

“Hey Ade, it looks like our gates are coming up and we got some time to kill so imma go grab something to drink. Mind if I leave my duffle with you?”

“Yeah go ahead, can you grab me something as well while I grab us some seats?”

“You actually gonna pay me back for once?” I shot back as I handed my duffle bag to Ade. I couldn’t hear his response walking away looking for a store or snack stand. The hustle and bustle started to increase as I wandered through the airport. I noticed a little hole in the wall shop selling magazines, souvenirs, snacks and drinks. Walking into the store a magazine caught my eye on the cover. The title read Esmeralda military pilots a peek inside the lives of the men and women who command the skies, there was a photo of a man standing in front of a plane with a familiar dragon and lance painted on it. With time to kill I grabbed the magazine and two bottles of water, paid for them, and made my way back to my gate, magazine tucked under my arm. On the way back you could see Ade chatting up some girl with golden blonde hair tied up into a bun.

“Yo Ade, here's your water. It's not on the house by the way” I tossed the bottle to him as I grabbed a seat across from him.

“Yeah yeah I'll pay you back eventually just add it to my ever growing tab will ya” he responded while catching the water bottle.

“So whos your new friend” I asked, redirecting the conversation

“Oh this is-”

“The names Rebecca Marin but most people just call me Becca” the blond haired girl interrupted before he could finish getting the words out. Her emerald green eyes drew me in, perfectly framed by her long blonde curls that escaped her bun. It took me a second to respond while I refocused back to what she was saying.

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“Well uh… My name is Marcus Roylan and it seems like you've already met Ade Chiro but knowing him he probably forgot to introduce himself fully, nice to make your acquaintance Rebecca and sorry if my friend has been bothering you. He doesn't quite know how to be quiet.”

“Hey I do too, it's just hard to stop especially when it comes to someone interesting” Ade shot back defensively.

“Well seeing as you two to are friends I'm assuming you're going to the academy as well” she asked

“I am, it sounds like you're joining us on this trip,” I answered, opening up the magazine I bought earlier.

“So since we're probably seeing each other pretty often at the academy, what course are you taking Rebecca?” Ade said as the previous topic seemed to have died down and I paged through my magazine.

“Well I applied to the aeronautics program so I can become a pilot. How ‘bout yourself?”

“I'm mostly going for maintenance and engineering but I don't know whether i'm gonna do sea, land, or air based maintenance. Mister bookworm is in the same program as you so you'll probably see each other pretty often it sounds like.” Right as Ade finished answering the announcement for our plane to start boarding rang out over the intercom.

“Well looks like that's us see you later Rebecca” I said, still distracted in my magazine

“I'm on the same flight you dork.” Rebecca answered with a grin. Unfazed, I grabbed my duffle bag and started walking to the gate. “Is his head always in the clouds or something?” she asked while ade was still collecting his stuff.

“Ehh you get used to it, he's pretty reliable once you get to know him.”

As we boarded our flight I noticed our seats were all spread throughout the flight but it didn't matter to me as long as I had a window seat. With the engines starting to roar to life I began to feel more at ease knowing I’d be up in the sky not long after and before long drifted off to sleep.

I found myself back in grandpa's crop duster soaring above the fields of corn and above the forests that I knew so well. Doing the usual laps and patterns I decided to fly a different direction than normal, feeling the wind racing through my hair, the sky never more clear, just open skies as far as the eye can see. Time flew by before I noticed a pillar of smoke rising in the distance and turned to go check it out, closing in on the disturbance. Flying closer, more and more pillars started to appear as I flew over the first pillar. I tilted my wings to get a better look at the ground below and saw what looked like the burning wreckage of some kind of vehicle. Continuing on to the next one it looked like the metal carnage of a crashed plane, the devastation more evident as even more pillars started to prop up. I felt a pit open up in my stomach, the world below seemed as though it was engulfed in flames and ash like the stories Grandpa told me.

Suddenly a roar grew louder in my ears, I turned my head and behind me, trying to locate the source of the sound only to see a black dot in the distance the size and sound growing. As it grew closer and closer the dot began to multiply with these unknown objects gaining on me. I tried to return to the farm where I knew it was safe, only for the objects to finally take from into jets- the kinds I've only read about in the magazines. As I looked ahead suddenly there were more but these ones were more recognizable than the same ones I saw as a child, racing straight towards me. As these familiar jets raced past me I found myself in the middle of a maelstrom of metal and flames, the only opening for escape was down below as I pushed the nose of the plane down the frame of the aircraft, almost screeching as I pushed it past the normal limits. I pushed forward one last time gaining every last ounce of power I could get to escape the chaos above only to hear the roar of an engine following right behind me. No matter how far I ran with grandpa's crop duster it felt like the chaos was following growing closer. I took one last look behind me yet right behind me the unfamiliar jet was still there. I heard the sound of something rapidly starting to spool up, time started to slow. The jet was so close I could see the pilot's helmet and the face emotionless and uncaring. A flash from the nose of the aircraft snapped me back to reality, trying to blink past the panic and closing my eyes tightly shut as the deafening sound of bullets rang in my ears. As soon as I opened my eyes again I found myself plummeting towards the ground, my wings spiraling while opening my mouth to scream as I saw the end coming- yet no sound would come out. My new necklace bounced against my chin as it was caught up by the fall and right as the ground began to rise to meet me I felt a hand on my shoulder and a familiar voice rang out.

“Marcus dude wake up we landed.” Ade said to me as I jolted awake. “Dude you alright you're sweating like crazy?” he asked as I started to get up.

“Yeah yeah… sorry I just- I had this crazy dream, maybe the nerves of the academy are finally catching up with me.” I shook it off while getting up from my seat, noticing Ade was already holding my duffle bag and Rebbeca was already at the front of the plane waiting for us. “I guess were the last ones off then?”

“Yeah cause someone wouldn’t wake up, come on let's get a move on so we can go get our stuff from the carousel.” Ade replied

As we met with Rebecca off the plane we started to head to baggage pick up on the way we discussed stopping for food on the way to everyone’s hotel. Though, as we found out, we all ended up getting put into the same hotel for the night before orientation.

“It's probably because we're from the same town, besides everything around here pretty much exists thanks to the Academy wouldn't even be surprised if they owned the place.” Rebecca said as we got out of the taxi.

“Yeah maybe or this hotel is just closest to the academy and all incoming students get put here.” I shot back

As we walked in we saw a two people around our age at the front desk getting their rooms, one a more muscular guy who ran a hand over his shortly cropped black hair while the other leaned against the counter, her black hair swooped over her shoulder in a ponytail- perfectly matching her purple glasses. One look and you could tell they were siblings. The pair nodded at us as they walked off, having successfully gotten their key cards for the night. “Do you think they’re academy students as well?” Ade asked while Rebecca waited at the desk, trying to get herself checked in.

“I guess we'll find out tomorrow, looks like all incoming students are supposed to meet down here at five in the morning for the bus ride over.” Rebecca chimed in while gathering her room key.

“Wouldn't be too surprising seeing as they are the same age as us at least they look like it” I shrugged as I gathered my stuff, adding in a goodnight before heading our separate ways. While laying in bed it occurred to me how quick Rebecca, Ade and myself quickly snapped together. “Well mom, looks like I definitely won't be alone on this new adventure then.” I mumbled to the empty room.