"Stone, it is not a live animal" Said Grandma Flurry "It is a tool, like a cart or an ax, something built by man, not nature" Stone nodded

"Then the girls are right to want artists, only they could create such a work" He said.

"This is not a time for laughing boy" Said Grandpa Marble. He produced a staff with a blade at the end. "This spear will help you take it down for good. It is the strongest we have." Stone grasped the spear, and an Elder showed how to collapse the staff into itself. The blade never lost its edge, despite being so old it was made before the ascent.

"If you don't destroy it, more will come." Said Grandma Flurry. "More may already be coming, we must protect the village".

"You must hurry, before the trail goes too cold." Said Grandma Spring. Stone wondered if he failed to explain how that beast got away, and how the only trail it left was smoke. Grandma Flurry noticed Stone's concern.

"Do not worry, we have something more for you" She said, leading him to the back housing area. Stone grew concerned by the Elder's behavior. Nobody was allowed to enter the housing area but the Elders. To go there meant you were an Elder, and could never go back up. Leading him by the hand to behind the housing area, Stone saw a door that had never been discussed or seen by non-Elders. Grandma casually opened and walked inside, busily working the orbs to turn on the light. As the room slowly brightened, Stone saw that the room was nearly half as large as the farm room! It was filled with massive triangles.

"Your great grandfather was one of the greatest fliers in the village." Said Grandpa Marble. "He could catch the faintest draft and sail for hours." There was a bit of nostalgia and jealousy to his tone.

"These are the wings?" asked Stone, he had only heard about them in stories, back when there were other mountaintop villages to communicate with.

"Good l'm glad you remember." Said Grandpa Quarry, slapping Stone’s back. "Now open the back door and go"

"How do I fly?" asked Stone

"We don't know, none of us trained, l'm sure you will figure it out" Said Grandpa Marbles. He patted Stone on the bottom, half shoving him forward at the same time. Stone was hesitant, the idea of falling down was never appealing, but he did have a village to protect. Stone picked up the surprisingly light wings closest to him, and after a bit of observation, figured his feet went into the sack hanging in the back, and he was supposed to strap himself in with the dangling cords. The metal pole in the front was to control it. The Elders gave their opinions about various aspects of the wings and observations they remembered. Grandma Flurry put an end to the conversation.

"You will not be taking these wings" she said while pointing to the far end of the cavern. "You will take your great grandfathers" Stone walked to the large wings. This set was not a simple triangle like the others, it was complicated and shiny, looking much closer to actual bird wings. The materials reminded him of the mechanical eagle. The wing's feathers composed of thousands of small transparent scales, like dragonfly wings. It was also lighter than the triangles, and only had a harness, no control pole. Were Stone to say he wasn't scared, he would be lying. Being in front of the Elders, he couldn’t let his fear show, and put on the harness. For a few moments, his back stung and itched, but the sensations passed. Suddenly, he felt connected to the wings as if they had always been there. Stone stretched out his wings. The whole room erupted in "oohs and Aaahs" as a very startled Stone realized the wings were moving, and he was controlling them with his mind.

Stone folded his wings up close to his back, and extended them as far as possible. It felt completely natural, like moving an arm or a leg, he could even feel the wind on the individual feathers.

"l knew it would work!" said Grandma Flurry. "Now stop dilly dallying and go protect the village!" She said, pushing Stone off the steep cliff.

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The fall was in slow motion, Stone felt the direction of every gust and breeze as he fell. Stone had a new instincts, he understood that his wings would hurt if he spread them out fully while dropping so fast, so only a small bit of wing extended, and he guided his descent away from the stony ground below. A bit more wing, and Stone felt himself rise a little more, steadily decreasing his imminent demise. Just before Stone hit the tops of the trees, he extended his wings completely and was able to swoop up higher.

He was still going fast, no longer falling, and he shortened his wings a bit, feeling himself acclimate to flight. The instinct was powerful and guiding, he understood not to go up too quickly or turn too tightly. It took only moments for him to understand what the gusts of wind were telling him. He felt the need to flap his wings, he was slowing down and hadn't gained much in altitude above the trees. The idea of flapping was scary, he imagined the little starlings when they beat their wings, they would fold them entirely into their bodies. He did not like the idea of folding his wings completely.

“Slow and steady, small corrections” came Grandpa Marbles' words. Looking around Stone caught sight of a blackbird, wings fully extended and flapping with just the tips, Stone imitated, it did not increase his speed much, but enough to stay up. Fortunately the mountain was big, and all he had to do was stay level for the ground to drop far below. It had been a long time since the eagle left a smoke trail, but still Stone did his best to guess where it had gone. Despite the slow descent, Stone only now realized he had fallen below the cloudlike. The terrain below was confusing and unfamiliar. As far as he knew, nobody had gone below the clouds in years. Only Stone had ventured close to the cloudline for hunting. In mere moments he had flown twice as far as anyone in the village had ventured, ever.

"Maybe" thought Stone, he had to reconsider what the village was like back in the day when the villagers flew. Regardless no recent villager had gone half as far out as Stone, and he was still just drifting about. The world was drearier below the clouds, his visibility only a few miles.

Fortunately the large smoky fire was easy to spot, rising like a black beacon. Stone approached and enjoyed circling around the dark smoke pillar, his wings causing ripples in the smoke. Best of all, Stone discovered that the heat of the fire below was helping him go up! Unfortunately it was not his job to go up, he needed to go down, and investigate the wreckage.

Stone attempted to land, envisioning a hawk flapping to slow down and gracefully perch on a branch. He flapped wildly and came to a near stop, ten feet above the ground. Unable to hover, Stone fell to the ground, it felt like he hit every possible branch of every tree on the way down.

One snap, came from his ankle as he landed. Pain flooded his muscles and spasmed in his brain. instinctively, Stone punched the nearest tree trunk as a pain release, leaving a deep knuckle impression in the weak bark. Stone kept his wings folded tightly against his back, and attempted to stand, His foot was already swelling against his boot, and throbbing painfully to the beat of his heart. Landing would require more practice than instinct.

There was no shortage of sticks nearby, and Stone fashioned a leg splint to keep weight off of his foot, and a crutch to help keep balance. The pain was still intense, but Stone had a job to do, so he hobbled toward the wreckage. The crash site was at least a hundred miles away from the mountain top, maybe more. Fortunately the metal bird was only a stones throw away from Stone's crash site, he chuckled at his pun. Hobbling closer, Stone saw that the ground had shattered, with deep cracks widening as he approached. There was a wide hole where the eagle crashed, and Stone felt the ground go weak. He did his best to hobble back to sturdy ground just as a few larger chunks of earth fell down.

Observing the hole from afar, the inside of the hole looked strikingly similar to the Elder's cavern. It was odd to think that lowlanders might still exist, but it made sense to him that they would liveunderground. All the legends and stories said that the lowland was unable to sustain life.

Looking around at the dense forest, Stone realized the legends may need adjustment. Curious, Stone came to a tree that was no wider than his head. Looking around, there were no trees wider, this forest must be new. Up in the mountain, many of the trees were thicker than him! Stone pushed, and the tree swayed. Forcing with his might against the tree, and the trunk snapped. Stone did not expect the trees here to be so weak. Worried about the weak tree being a danger, Stone slowly helped the tree down to the ground, ensuring it didn't fall on any animals.

"C'mon Get up!!!" Yelled a higher pitched voice, it sounded like a little girl. Stone turned to the gaping hole and watched two hands emerge, grasping to find something to hold. The hands moved frantically before disappearing in a cloud of dirt. Stone hobbled closer to see what happened to the hands. He didn't dare get too close, and couldn't see, so he picked up the snapped tree and placed it into the hole, resting the trunk against the edge. He hoped the girl would be light enough to not break it.