The World Above

Kathryn had never been on a plane before, she couldn’t wait. Kathryn, her brother, Harris, and her mother were in the airport getting ready for the flight. It was raining intensely, so she sat and twisted her legs impatiently. She couldn’t wait until finally the pilot announced it was time for the flight. Kathryn ran onto the airplane with excitement. Her brother and mother followed right behind. They took off shortly and were gliding easily.

After a couple of minutes Kathryn didn’t feel so good. She felt like her body was leaving her, and when she looked down it was. She was fading away. What was happening to her? Before she fully left she screamed out, “Mom, help!” Her mother didn’t even look at her. She closed her eyes thinking it was a dream. She took a couple of moments and then opened them again.

She was definitely dreaming. When she opened her eyes she looked down and saw clouds. How was she standing on them? A tall woman approached her. She had on a white blouse, and her hair was in a bun. “Hello! Kathryn isn’t it? I’m Ms. Caelum. You must be wondering where you are! Well I can answer all your questions!” She looked at Kathryn with that big fake smile. Kathryn just paused and looked around. She was speechless. Where was her brother and her mother?

“Um..hello? Got any questions?” Ms. Caelum sounded irritated, but Kathryn was still confused. 

“Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but where the heck am I?” Ms. Caelum nodded, and looked up from her clipboard. 

“Ah yes, this is caelum et terram. Also known as the sky land.” She looked back down at her clipboard and wrote something on a piece of paper. 

“Wait, sky? Oh, ya sky! Wait SKY!? Does that mean…?” Kathryn looked around again, and down at the clouds under her feet.

“Yes, we are on clouds in the sky! Did you not get the name? Huh, thought that was pretty straight forward.” She marked another thing on her paper. 

“Um...first of all, what? Why am I in the sky!?” Kathryn thought this was actually cool, but she knew she was dreaming, right?

“For some reason the sky thought you were the chosen one. Only the gods know why. By the look on the face, you need me to explain it more.”

“Yes, that would be helpful,” Kathryn said as nicely as she could.

“Well our people are facing a crisis. And everytime we face a crisis, the sky choses a person they think can go on a quest and fix it. Since you were on a plane at the time, the sky got a better look at you, and for some reason chose you. It could have chosen anyone on your plane, or someone on a different plane. It could've chosen a bird for all I know. Is that more clear? I know it’s a lot to take in! I should know I was chosen a couple years back!”

“Sorta, but why me? There is absolutely nothing special about me. I’m just a fourteen year old girl. I can’t save whatever world this is!”

“I thought the same thing when I was the chosen one! You have to believe! Just know the sky chose you for a reason! If you couldn’t do it, you wouldn’t be here! Now are you ready for me to tell you what your quest is?”

“I’m not sure if I can handle this, but I will try! Go ahead, hit me!” Kathryn was holding back tears. What if she never saw her family again? If she finished this quest she could go back, hopefully.

“We have this stone that keeps our clouds and everything settled. It keeps it from raining and storms. When the stone is touched the wrong way, or in the wrong possession of someone then bad storms can happen. A couple of weeks ago the stone was stolen by Malus. He is always seeking power, and can’t live without it. Without that stone here, there will be terrible storms everyday. We need you to help us! So will you do it?” 

Kathryn took everything into consideration. Worst case scenario, she’d die, but you know it’s all good. 

“Do you know where the stone is? And would I have to battle this guy, because I’m not much of a fighter?”

“We do know where it is, but it’s too dangerous for me to go, because I’m not human anymore. Malus has hidden it in a secret cave that we have tracked. He ran to hide from us, because we are much more powerful than him, even if he has the stone. He will return to the stone when the full moon rises. We have to get the stone before that happens. If he has it during the full moon, he will gain all of the stone’s power. So if you get the stone before the full moon, then you probably won’t have to battle him! Exciting, right?” 

Kathryn just stared at Ms Caelum. Her jaw dropped open. She could do it, maybe. If she rescued the sky land thingy, she could finally be loved. 

“I’ll do it! When do I start?” Kathryn was ready, sort of. Ms Caelum told her to follow her into a room full of armor and weapons. 

“Now, just in case we will give you a couple of useful gadgets. Incase you run into a problem, you can use any of it.” Ms. Caelum handed her a bag full of stuff. 

“Don’t open it, unless you really need it! Do you understand?” Ms. Caelum said seriously. Kathryn nodded a simple little nod. 

After a couple hours of Ms. Caelum training, Ms Caelum announced that Kathryn was ready. Kathryn’s heart hadn’t beat as fast as it was ever. She was ready! Ms. Caelum opened some portal thing to the human world. Kathryn fell in midair for a while, and then landed on a patch of grass. Ms. Caelum had given her directions to the cave before she left, so she had an idea of where she was going. Ms. Caelum had told her once you get to the grass keep walking in any direction, until you meet the horse of doom. She said to get on the horse’s good side, and then it would give Kathryn the next step of where to go next. 

She kept walking straight for a while, and her legs started to hurt. She sat down on the grass, not knowing if she would find the horse soon. After a couple of minutes of sitting and waiting in the grass, Kathryn felt the ground start to shake a litte. She told herself not to be scared. As she got up slowly, she saw a black figure emerge in front of her. It was the horse! Ms. Caelum had told Kathryn the horse was dark black, and had bright blue eyes. This horse fit that description perfectly, it had to be the horse. 

The horse stared at her for a few seconds, and then charged. Kathryn sprinted as fast as she could in the other direction. The horse chased her, until she couldn’t take it anymore. She was supposed to get on the horse’s good side, not run from it! Kathryn made an abrupt stop and turned to face the horse. She remembered her gadget bag! This was an emergency, right? The horse stopped too, but looked like it would tear her apart if she moved. Kathryn looked through her bag quickly and found something she thought would do the trick.

The horse started chasing her again, and threw back a huge chunk of grass. Kathryn knew there was grass all around them, but this was the best gadget she could come up with. The horse stopped when he saw the grass. He started eating! Kathryn walked over slowly and carefully. She started petting the horse on the nose lightly. “You're not so bad after all, are you?” Kathryn felt bad not knowing what to call the horse. She decided to name it Chloe. Chloe was her friend now, and she was going to help her get the stone. Chloe made a gesture with her head that looked like ‘get on!’ Kathryn had never gotten on a horse before so it took a few attempts to successfully get on.

Chloe started moving at a fast pace. It was late and the sun was setting. Kathryn was getting tired, she leaned her head onto Chloe’s neck and fell asleep. Chloe didn’t mind and kept moving.

Kathryn woke up on the grass. Chloe’s head was hovering over her face. Kathryn got up and in front of her was the cave! Chloe took her all the way there! Kathryn was hesitant to walk in, but Chloe gave her a nudge. It was pitch black, so Kathryn opened her bag and looked for a flashlight. She found one easily, and flickered it on. She walked deeper and deeper into the cave, while Chloe waited outside. As she walked farther she saw a yellow light that wasn’t coming from her flashlight. She walked until she found the light source. It was a shimmering stone!

Kathryn reached out and grabbed it delicately. She felt a pulsing pain in her body. She held onto it still, she needed it! It felt like the stone was electrocuting her. Kathryn let out a yelp. Chloe ran in and picked her up on her back. Still clutching onto the stone, Kathryn screamed. Chloe knew exactly where she was going. She led Kathryn through all the grass they had come across on the way there. Kathryn felt herself close her eyes, and fall forward onto Chloe. 

Kathryn saw shades of green around her. She was still on Chloe, and the pain had stopped. She got off of Chloe and looked around. This was where she started, or it looked like it. She looked down at her hand, and thankfully the stone was still there. A flash of light peered over Kathryn’s head, and she got sucked up. She waved goodbye to Chloe. Chloe tried to jump up to Kathryn but she was getting sucked up too fast. 

Finally the sucking stopped, and she was standing on clouds again. “You did it, you got the stone,” Ms. Caelum looked at Kathryn's tired eyes, “Are you okay?” Kathryn nodded and handed her the stone.

Ms. Caelum walked over to a container and placed the stone in it. She put the container on a table, and the earth shoke. Kathryn fell to the ground. “It’s still raining down there, but not as bad. The stone doesn’t have all its power! I think, I think some of it is in you!” Kathryn didn’t know what to say, mostly because her body was numb with pain. 

“Is it going to hurt me?” Kathryn tried her best to sound strong. Her voice cracked a couple of times, but it still came out right.

“No it just means you can do awesome things, like shoot lighting out of your fingers!” Kathryn had saved the world and got powers! This was the greatest day of her life, besides the gushing pain inside her. 

“The pain should wear off in about twenty-four hours. But now that you have saved our earth, you can go home,” Kathryn took all of this in. She had saved earth, and couldn’t tell anyone about it. She got to go home and see her family! “When I release you back home, you have to be careful that you don’t just fire lightning out of your hands. You can also come back whenever you need me. Here take this,” Ms. Caelum pulled a necklace off of her neck and handed it to Kathryn.

“Press the jewel in the middle, and I will know you need help! Now it is time for you to go home.”

Kathryn took the necklace and wrapped it around her neck, she thanked Ms. Caelum for everything and was ready to go. A flash of light appeared over her body and she was going home. As she was about to go back down to the ground, Ms caelum called out to her, “Now do you know why you were chosen?”