Creative Corner

[center][img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/184f8dd2-7a2f-4109-b648-c612cda931d7/dcussyc-397790f5-0d31-458b-8390-58d696fab5ce.png[/img] Welcome to The Most Amazing Flyer, a Flight Rising story. This is a rewrite of a story I had going on before last year. This story is based on Sornieth, and focuses on several young flight students, fighting to be the best flyer Sornieth has ever seen. Join the hotheaded Zaki, outgoing Cadell, quiet Mist, friendly Elysia, and struggling Toril on their journey to prove themselves to Sorniet that went a little too far. [img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/184f8dd2-7a2f-4109-b648-c612cda931d7/dcusszc-454fa5bc-250c-4b6c-87f3-0255c167eab8.png[/img] [i]Five young dragons, competitive and daring. Determined to be the best fliers in all of Sornieth, one race to prove who's the top turns into a nightmare of being lost, alone, and left to the elements. Fly, young dragons. Fly, fly to safety before you're gone.[/i]

[img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/184f8dd2-7a2f-4109-b648-c612cda931d7/dcusszj-3d8df67c-aca9-4bfb-b4e4-b285c5376f11.png[/img] [columns][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49093524] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/490936/49093524_350.png[/img] [/url] [nextcol][b]Zaki[/b] [i]The Show-Off[/i] Zaki hails from the volcanic, dry lands of the Ashfall Waste, and has a matching temper to his fiery homelands. His parents were often busy with work and it was hard for him to get their attention, having to go to great lengths just to get them to notice him. That manifested itself into a deep-seeded insecurity that he will not be noticed and resulted in the development of a show-off tendency. He is a quick learner and picked up his lessons quickly, but always strives to be the best, even if it means stepping on others just to prove himself. He tends to put others down and is arrogant, but Rex reminds the rest of the class not to pay any mind to it.[/columns] [columns][b]Cadell[/b] [i]The Socialite[/i] Born in the frigid lands of the Southern Icefield, Cadell moved with her father to the Sunbeam Ruins at a young age, but because of her lack of experience in flying, slowed their travels by more than a week with the need to constantly stop and rest, and was only able to fly short distances. This pushed her to convince her father to let her take flying lessons, to which he agreed. Cadell has been getting on with her lessons well and with her classmates, though she doesn't try to hide the fact that she doesn't like Zaki and his arrogance very much. Cadell's hostility towards Zaki is one of the reasons why he remains apart from the rest of the class. [nextcol][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49613482] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/496135/49613482_350.png[/img] [/url] [/columns] [columns][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49635038] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/496351/49635038_350.png[/img] [/url] [nextcol][b]Mist[/b] [i]The Quiet One[/i] Mist hails from the dark and foggy lands of the Tangled Wood. His size made it hard for him to travel through the Tangled Wood with its massive forests, perpetual darkness, and trying to go into Foxfire Bramble was hell itself. He was constantly crashing into things, even as a hatchling, which frustrated him to no end. Determined to learn how to fly silently to pursue his dreams of being a hunter, he joined the flight academy. Mist is very quiet and slips out of notice very easily, if not for the efforts of his classmate Elysia. His lack of conversation doesn't stem from any lack in knowledge in socialisation, he just prefers clarity and brevity and is often very clear when giving instructions or stating facts. No beating around the bush for him. [/columns] [columns][b]Elysia[/b] [i]The Well-To-Do[/i] Elysia is arguably the lucky one, born into a rich life. Being an only child, Elysia received lots from her parents who strived to please her as much as possible. She was a naturally talented flyer as a hatchling, but her skills started to plateau without a proper teacher once she had mastered the basics. Interested in furthering her skills, she joined the flight academy and wants to learn complex tricks as a hobby. She is social and pretty, and liked by everyone in her class, even Zaki, though he refuses to admit that he has a crush on her. [nextcol][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49651739] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/496518/49651739_350.png[/img] [/url] [/columns] [columns][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=49434830] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/494349/49434830_350.png[/img] [/url] [nextcol][b]Toril[/b] [i]The Awkward[/i] Toril is a bit of a nerd and was never really outgoing, nor into high-risk activities, which he classes flying under. He only dared to fly short distances and low to the ground, but he realised he couldn't go his whole life on or near to the ground. It took a lot of courage for him to sign up with the flight academy, but he's been getting along well with Cadell, Mist, and Elysia. Toril is struggling with the class a little, but it's not because of his lack of skill. He is capable of flying, but he needs to get over his anxiety and dare to try. [/columns] [columns][b]Rex[/b] [i]The Teacher[/i] The instructor of the class at the Sornieth Flight Academy is Rex, a Blindsider courier and one of the swiftest, most talented fliers around. The air is her best friend, and from her years of working as a courier and needing to deliver all manner of packages, parcels, and letters, she's learned a lot about flying and has become quite good at it. Rex is bright and cheerful, and believes she can bring out the best in her students. [nextcol][url=http://flightrising.com/main.php?dragon=18321376] [img]http://flightrising.com/rendern/350/183214/18321376_350.png[/img] [/url] [/columns]

[center][img]https://images-wixmp-ed30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/intermediary/f/184f8dd2-7a2f-4109-b648-c612cda931d7/dcusszr-7c4b3f81-5d03-4466-a601-bc949fffc491.png[/img] [url=http://www1.flightrising.com/forums/cc/2641585#post_37956760]Prologue - The Sornieth Flight Academy[/url]

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On the hills of the Zephyr Steppes, on the shores of the Windswept Plateau lay a school. This was no ordinary school for little hatchlings learning Draconian or any academic subject. On the hills, was the Sornieth Flight Academy, founded by a little red and black Nocturne who was at the doors, unlocking it as the sun began to rise behind her.

The Flight Academy was the best school to learn to fly. With almost a hundred teachers at all levels, the academy catered to teaching from hatchlings to take their first flight, to competitive sports flying and even military-level flight.

The Nocturne, named Rex, unlocked the doors and entered the school's building. There was a proper building for theory classes and exams, but it was fairly small as most learning was in the vast plains, around spewing volcanoes, over moonlit lakes, between frigid spires. Rex believed very strongly in learning in the outside world, not in a classroom. The only time she ever used a classroom was when she needed to teach theory and use illustrations. After all, dragons wouldn't be flying in classrooms, they'd be tackling the colourful world outside.

For the next hour before classes began, teachers with classes poured in to ready their lessons for the day. Rex herself took a class, and while she was a very talented flier and had taught very high levels, she found herself most comfortable teaching fledglings, who were just learning to sharpen their skills and learn more complicated moves.

She currently had a class of five students at an intermediate levels. They had all mastered the basics under another teacher at an academy with the exception of one who only joined recently and went right to the intermediate lessons, having learned the basics elsewhere.

The Nocturne grabbed a marker in her classroom and wrote on the board: Students, please report to the training field for your lessons today. Satisfied, she left the classroom and waited in the field for her students.

The first to show up was Toril, a little Fae who was a competent flier, but had anxiety and struggled to overcome it, limiting his flight to low levels. He had been overcoming his anxiety lately as Rex found the best way to work with him. He needed constant guidance, but became a lot more confident after the first success, so Rex usually manipulated the air to help him out for the first time he tried something new, and it would make him feel better about trying it again and again, until he did it with no guidance at all.

"Good morning," Toril greeted, coming out onto the field where Rex was waiting. The Fae sat down on the grass, then remembered that Rex liked them to stretch while waiting for the rest of the class. He got back up, starting his stretch routine.

Rex smiled warmly at Toril. "Good morning Toril, glad to see you're early. Finish your stretches and we'll do some warm up rounds while the class arrives."

Once Toril was done with his stretches, he and Rex took to the skies, keeping close to the field so that Rex could see if her other students were arriving.

The next to arrive were Cadell and Elysia, two very close friends. They were both incredibly social and had many common interests and helped each other out during class when the other struggled to catch on to something. They quickly did their stretches before joining Rex and Toril in warm up flight rounds around the field.

"Hi Rex!" The two girls greeted in unison, giggling at their unexpected synchronisation.

"Good morning you two!" Rex greeted in return. She looked at Toril, who matched her leisurely pace. "Shall we speed up a little?" She prompted, powering ahead with a single stroke of her wings.

Cadell and Elysia caught up with no issue, though given Toril's size he had to push harder compared to his teacher. They had completed another lap when Mist joined the group behind, only noticed by Elysia when she hung back to match pace with Mist and chat with him.

A sudden orange blur whipped by, and Rex already knew it was Zaki. Zaki was loud, arrogant, but talented all the same. He always had to be an overachiever, both to prove himself to Rex and to one-up his classmates. Zaki had finished two laps by the time the rest finished one, and when he finally fell into pace with Rex as they went on their last lap, he smirked.

"How was that?" He asked, wanting his teacher to praise him.

"Good, but you've already spent so much energy just doing that. A good flier is knowing how to spend your energy efficiently. You'd have burned out and flown much shorter if you kept at that speed, compared to us. Come on, I want to see your landings," Rex replied, directing the last part at the whole class.

The Nocturne turned and split off from the rest of the group, gliding down to the field once more. She landed without a sound, gliding to the ground. The grass barely touched her as she landed, until she was completely on the ground.

Zaki was the first to land. His landing was flawless, completely silent and with minimal drag at all. He had good control and glide, and looked at Rex expectantly, growling softly when she only nodded briefly and returned her attention to the skies.

Elysia came in for landing, silent and graceful as well. Cadell followed behind and had a little more drag as her tail feathers brushed the grass, but it was still a good landing. Toril's gliding was good, but he stumbled as his legs hit the grass and it tripped him up.

Rex could hear Zaki's condescending snort, but chose to ignore it.

"Good! Now, before we start lessons today, I wanted to tell you all of something very exciting. Sit down, everyone, and listen carefully," Rex instructed. The class took a seat in a rough semi-circle around her, watching her expectantly to drop the news.

"Wind has two specialised military units called Scout Squadron 5 and Airforce 6. Now, what does this have to do with you, I'm sure you're wondering. Well, they've partnered up and are creating an international competition called the Most Amazing Flyer. They've extended an invitation to the Academy's fliers, and that includes all of you. They're offering cash prizes of up to one million treasure and trophies to the winners in multiple categories. Now, who wants to join the competition?"

Immediately, the class all raised their hands, some more reluctant than others, but they all wanted to join. One million treasure? Just for flying? That sounded like a great deal!

Zaki scoffed as he saw Toril raise his hand. "Maybe the invitation should not be extended to some," He muttered, getting a glare from Elysia, Cadell, and Rex.

"The competition is open to everyone, Zaki," Rex reminded, "Anyone who wishes to join is allowed to join." Deciding to switch the subject before Zaki could make any more mean comments, the Nocturne clapped her hands together. "Great, the competition is in two months time. I'll give all the details when we get back to the classroom later. Now, I want all of you to win, so from now until the competition, I will be training all of you specifically for it. Come, let's go back to the classroom as I can give you all the details."

---

After a day of Rex giving the details on the flying contest held by Wind's military units, it was decided on who would participate in which categories. All of them wanted to take part in the Ultimate Race, which was an international marathon flight through all eleven flights, following a specific route with obstacles that would challenge the competitor's every skill in flying. The race would span several days, with time for sleep in between counted. At the checkpoints in Light, Water, and Arcane, fliers could only take off after a specific time to ensure fairness and that no one could take off in the middle of the night to get a head start.

The class had also decided on specific courses each of them wanted to take as well. Zaki wanted in on the Ring of Fire course, which involved flying over and in between the active volcanoes of the Ashfall Waste, as well as the Hunter course, which would test his accurate flight and dive bombing, to catch live prey in an arena against other challengers.

Cadell signed up for the Dip Challenge. As Rex had taught them, a dip was the distance in which a dragon fell after leaping off a platform before they started to ascend in flight. The goal of the challenge was to have the shortest dip possible.

Elysia joined the Performance flight, which involved doing flight tricks to impress a panel of judges. Mist joined the stealth flight challenge, and Toril, the obstacle course.

The important one was the Ultimate Race. It was a challenge of speed, endurance, agility, quick thinking, and had to be executed flawlessly to even get close to finishing first. Rex had submitted their names to the competition already, and it was just a matter of time before she got the course outline. Until then, she trained them in their usual lessons.

The six of them now stood on the top of a steep mountain’s drop off here in the Southern Icefield, overlooking a sharp fall and the ground, far below them. To any expert flier, this was a simple jump, but the class was shifting with excitement and anxiety at the thought of leaping off that.

“Alright, we’re going to test some potential real life situations you might find yourself in. Maybe you slipped and fallen over a drop, or someone pushed you. If you’re falling, what’s the first thing you should do?” She prompted, looking around the class.

“Fly, obviously,” Zaki muttered, but before he could really explain Elysia cut in.

“You should align your body so that your nose faces the ground, then spread your wings slowly and push to create an upwards force and work into a glide,” The young Skydancer confidently replied. Next to her, Zaki rolled his eyes.

Rex nodded approvingly. “Very good, Elysia. Now, why should you never suddenly open your wings in a fall if you’re not positioned correctly?”

This time, it was Toril that spoke up. “Because if you do, the air resistance could tear your wings?”

Rex smiled. “Right again! Come closer to the edge, I’ll show you all what you have to do. Stay behind the safety line, you’ll be able to see me anyway.”

The Nocturne crept over the safety line of blueberry juice she had made in the snow, peering down at the drop. Without a second’s hesitation, she turned around to face the class and jokingly saluted to them, falling backwards off the drop.

“Whoa!” The class gasped, watching their teacher fall.

Before she could get too close to the ground, the flight teacher folded in her wings and twisted around, nose divebombing right for the ground. The class swore she was going to hit something, but right before the trees even brushed her, she spread her wings and flapped once, pushing her up into a glide.

She flew back up, going around the mountain before landing quietly in the snow. “Right, any observations?” She prompted.

“Your body is already position so that it looks like you’re flying before you’ve even flapped,” Mist quietly pointed out.

“Good! Anything else?” When there was no response from the class, she clapped her hands together. “In that case, everyone line up. I want to see you all do it one by one.”

The class scrambled into a line, which also reflected their level of excitement and confidence to try it, with Zaki right in the front, followed by Elysia, Cadell, Mist, and finally, Toril, who did not look excited at all.

“Alright Zaki, remember flight protocol and go when you’re ready,” Rex prompted, standing to the side where she could watch.

Zaki quickly glanced to the sky, making sure that it was clear, before he took a running start and leapt off, twisting with a flourish in the fall. He was flawless as expected, keeping his wings close to him while falling before he lifted himself up with a powerful stroke of his wings and soaring back up onto the mountain top.

“Good! Very good form. Alright, the rest of you keep going,” Rex instructed. Zaki smirked at the compliment on his form.

“Of course it’s good form. I’m a great flier. I don’t see why I haven’t graduated yet,” The proud Coatl muttered, puffing some fire onto the snow below him to melt it and make a warm patch to sit on.

“There’s still much to learn Zaki,” Rex commented in return, peering over the mountain as Elysia checked the skies and the valley below for flying dragons, and leaping off gracefully.

Elysia, Cadell, and Mist all completed with varying levels of success, but all succeeding anyway. It was Toril’s turn now, and he was visibly shaking, looking down at the far drop.

Rex came up beside him, with an encouraging smile. “We’ll do it together, okay?” She offered, but Toril still looked hesitant.

“I… I don’t know, it looks really far and I don’t know if I can push hard enough…” Toril muttered shakily.

"I know you can do it, give it a try. I won't let you fall, okay?" Rex prompted again, and Toril took a deep, but shaky breath.

"Okay... okay. Here we go, I guess," The Fae muttered, stumbling to the edge. Closing his eyes tight, he let himself fall off and Rex dove after him, keeping behind him.

Toril forced himself to open his eyes and immediately freaked out seeing the ground rushing up to meet him, but from behind, Rex blew a puff of wind to lift him up and pushed his wings out. Before he knew it, Toril was gliding through the air.

"H-hey, I did it! I did it! Oh goodness, this is exciting!" Toril exclaimed as Rex flew besides him.

She grinned. "I told you! See, you can do all this! Come on, let's go back up."

The two of them flew back up onto the mountain top, and already Toril was looking over at the cliff again, considering if he wanted to try again, alone this time. Looking up, the sun was starting to set, painting the Southern Icefield in warm shades as the golden sun started to dip.

Rex noticed this too, and smiled. "I suppose it's time for you all to return home. Zaki, I assume you'll be flying home on your own?"

The Coatl nodded stiffly. "As always." He turned and readied himself to take off from the mountain, briefly looking around for other flyers. Then, he quickly looked back at his class, mumbled a quick "bye" and took off.

Mist parted from the class too. "Oh, my mom said she'll meet me at Snowqsquall Tundra so I'll go on my own. Bye everyone, bye Miss Rex," Mist mentioned. The class chorused their goodbyes to him too as the Imperial took off, soaring down from the mountain towards the tundra.

"Well, I suppose that leaves three. I'll flying the rest of you home, come on," Rex mentioned. Toril lived in the Starfall Isles and was the first to be dropped off back home in Starwood Strand. He wished Rex, Elysia, and Cadell a good night before bounding over to his parents, excitedly telling them about his day.

Rex flew Cadell to Mirrorlight Promenade in the Sunbeam Ruins next and let her head home. Cadell hugged Elysia before she left and waved goodbye to Rex, and then there was one.

Elysia lived in the Tangled Wood as well as Rex, but the young Skydancer lived in Wispwillow Grove while the Nocturne lived under Foxfire Bramble, where she worked her second job. Elysia was greeted by her parents and she turned to say goodbye to Rex before the Nocturne left.

Rex took off and flew through the Tangled Wood, the dim glow of Wispwillow Grove turning into the dark fog of Foxfire Bramble. She made her way into a half-sunken market, where some dragons lurked. There was a grey and black Wildclaw with metal implants there at the gate.

"Hey Rex, how's your class?" The Wildclaw greeted, as Rex made her way to the church all the way in the back.

"Hey Blackwire, they're great. I got a lot of training to do with them though, they all joined the flying contest held by the SS5 and A6," Rex replied.

Blackwire idly tossed a knife in her hands. "Oh, that thing. Yeah, one of the Airforce 6 guys just came with a package for you. I told him you weren't around and to leave it with Consoleglitch. She's in the clock tower."

Rex thanked Blackwire for the heads up and headed for the church, where a purple portal lay. She jumped in, and appeared on the other side in a dim and massive cave with a town below her. She headed for the clock tower first, where another metal-like Skydancer was busy fiddling with the supercomputer.

"Hi Lady Consoleglitch, I heard there was a package for me?" Rex asked, peering into the tower.

The Skydancer eyed her and gestured to a box sitting on a stool. "It's there. One of the Airforce guys was here to deliver it."

Rex picked up the box and found it pretty heavy, which meant it was something good usually. "Alright! Thanks Lady CG," Rex replied, taking the box and flying over the cave town to a small outcrop in the cave wall with a ledge. She lived in this small house, and pushed the box inside and squeezed in after it.

With a sharp claw, she opened the box carefully and found all the information booklets and some souvenirs for the competition, each with her students's names on them. Perfect. Guess tomorrow was the day they began training just for this!