Chapter III : Take Flight
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FLAPPING HIS WINGS in an up and down movement, Cosmo soared and glided through the bright and blue sky of Aero. Y/n held onto the neck of the said pegasus as she navigated and helped Cosmo out of the dissolving clouds by giving him directions. Surely enough, they were having a bit of difficulties when it comes to flying in Aero. Many aircrafts passed by them; the clouds were also not very helpful.
The planet was already very known for its speciality with flight; so, it wasn't really an unforeseen situation. Up ahead in a near distance, the Lluminarian duo heard a sound of a flying aircraft. They were sure it was coming on their way since it kept getting louder as they flew straight forward. With an instant reflex, Y/n's eyes darted towards an aircraft infront of them.
"Cosmo! Move, quickly!"
Cosmo smoothly flew to the side due to the young royal's command─barely dodging the aircraft that was indeed flying its way to his direction. Cosmo paused and watched the aircraft fly pass them before moving forward once again. Y/n let out a deep exhalation of relief that she held in earlier. They were doing this for quite some time now and it wasn't anything pleasant. For them, it felt like death was casually making fun of them.
The (h/c) haired elf squinted her eyes─making sure she was seeing this clearly. They could see many buildings, there's no doubt she couldn't be wrong. It was a town larger than the last one they've been to. There were more aircrafts flying everywhere; the buildings were much more enormous than the previous ones they've seen. Cosmo flew slower this time, taking in the sight of the new environment around him.
Y/n let out a light gasp of awe. This place sure was beautiful to her eyes. It was more populated and everyone was busy doing their own businesses. The duo decided that it was best to land down on the ground once again. They still need to find that flight school. Asking some strangers on where the school was wouldn't hurt. Cosmo landed down safely, his hooves making contact with the smooth-stoned ground. The amateur crossdresser jumped down, she stood once again on her feet─studying every detail of the buildings.
While the (h/c) haired girl was busy admiring almost everything before her, she didn't noticed something moving on her way. She snapped out of her thoughts as soon as she heard someone yell out to her. The said elf turned her head to the side; but, only to have a look of horror invade her visage. Due to her reflexes, she jumped out of the way─looking very embarrassed and red.
An old three-eyed alien sat on the front part of a carriage; and passed by her. The hot-headed alien kept muttering incoherent words at her as he insulted her for being unaware of her surroundings. "Ignorant little brat! Watch where you're going! Tsk, young boys these daunas," Cosmo just glared at the weird-looking coach driver, muttering things about decapitating the annoying driver.
Y/n wasn't fazed at all by the insults being thrown at her; but, she was focused on the pegasus that was pulling the carriage. She was intrigued by it; she haven't seen a wingless pegasus before. With interest that sparked in her (e/c) eyes, her orbs followed the figure of the wingless pegasus─nearly gawking in awe. She didn't notice the pegasus beside her groan in annoyance because of the three-eyed alien.
Once the carriage was gone, she turned to Cosmo─nodding at him, giving him a sign that it was time for them to move. The pegasus guardian obeyed; and followed behind his young mistress. The said elf girl walked on the pathway, turning her head from here to there. She was a little anxious, worried if she won't find the flight school. That's when she took notice of a certain stand.
A goblin stood, encouraging tourists to buy his products. Some were interested, some weren't. Y/n watched as a tall steam-powered robot leave the stand, looking very happy after it bought itself some screws and even oil. She turned to Cosmo once again, a serios look on her lips was the only thing the pegasus noticed. "Cosmo, we will try asking that goblin the direction to the school," she whispered to him.
"You will speak for me starting now, do you understand?"
The said pegasus nodded his head, understanding the situation both of you were in. The elf straightened her posture before moving to the stand's direction with Cosmo following right behind her. The goblin took notice of this and gave the two a look, "What do ya youngins want?" The (h/c) girl turned to Cosmo─in hopes for him to answer the goblin's quite downright question.
Cosmo fixed his throat before answering, "Uh, do you perhaps know where the Flight School of the town is?" The goblin shrugged his shoulders as he continued to organise the products in front of him, "Yeah, behind the town hall, there is a big red building with aircrafts on the front yard. The town hall is that way, if ya didn't know." Cosmo grinned happily at the goblin.
After thanking the goblin, the duo marched their way to the town hall. After a few moments of searching, they found the Town Hall and almost immediately─they saw what they were looking for. The two quickened their paces as they feel andrenaline rushing inside them in excitement.
Upon arriving in front of the school, the two Lluminarians stared at each other before darting their confused eyes back to the strange-looking building. It was wide, the roof was slanted on both sides. which Y/n and Cosmo thought looked quite odd. They've never seen a building with a roof in an upside down V shape. The walls were grey coloured and the entrance was enormous─probably for everyone to be able to move the aircrafts in and out of the place.
There were different types of aircrafts outside. There were many creatures outside also, some of them were just hopping off from their planes. Y/n could tell some of them were near her age, it was definitely the perfect time to study about flight. Y/n decided to waste no time, she walked in front of the giant building─tailed by Cosmo from behind. Her eyes kept admiring every single detail that was quite foreign to her─well she was the foreign one here but, that wasn't the point.
The girl turned to Cosmo, there was no way she was going to talk. She needed to stay quiet in order to hide her identity away from everyone. The pegasus soon noticed what she was doing and immediately led her first. Y/n could feel eyes following her figure, everyone was probably curious about her since she was new. Y/n stopped as soon as she noticed an older male flyer with blue coloured skin.
He wore the same style as hers, the aviator uniform and all of those things. His piercing green eyes travelled their way to the younger one and smiled happily. Approaching her and Cosmo, he greeted them delightfully. "Hello, I haven't seen you two around here before, you must be new, am I correct?" He spoke as he stopped in front of the two. Cosmo nodded his head in confirmation. "Yes, we are from another town far away from here. We are here so that this gentleman right here could get himself.. uh.. What is the word you name of?"
The flyer laughed at the trailing pegasus, Y/n also had no idea what they call it when signing up for school. She had no idea of schools and such, she just found out such things existed just recently. "You mean─so that this guy right here can get himself enroled, right?" The male finished for Cosmo who nodded his head absentmindedly. Y/n hummed silently as she thought. 'So that is what they call it, enrol..' Y/n didn't question what he called her. She was a bit confused on what in Eros's name is a guy.
The word was very uncommon to the inner planets and inhabitants of Glamoura, like Lluminaria. It was a word borrowed from a far away galaxy or part of space. That's why the two didn't know about it. The inner planets of Glamoura were the types to stick to tradition, these planets were also very outdated unlike Aero who has unbelievable steamed machines and planes. The perfect words to describe Lluminaria and the other inner planets are either Medieval or Mythical not Modern nor Futuristic.
The flyer's eyes widened as soon as he realized what was going on, leaning down to the two.
"You don't know the word 'enrol', that means you two aren't from Aero, right?" He whispered so that it's only the three of them that can hear their conversation. Cosmo felt himself gulp while Y/n froze on her spot. The said flyer already figured them out after saying only two sentences to them. "I also noticed you talk very differently, it's obvious you guys are not from here. You have the accent of someone from inner Glamoura."
Y/n knew she couldn't lie and deny that since it was too obvious. She nodded hesitantly, gaining the attention of the tall flyer whose eyes remained widened. "Oh, so you really are an elf, if that's the case─we'll make sure you'll have a great time here in Aero!" He beamed, he avoided the topic about their home and instead welcomed the two which was a relief for Y/n and Cosmo.
"I'm the Master Flyer of the school, Swift Acer. May I know your names?" He introduced pointing to himself before darting his eyes from Cosmo's figure to hers. The pegasus smiled at this before introducing the two of them. "I am Cosmo! This is my young master, F/n F/L/n," he answered, turning to Y/n before looking back at Swift. "Well then, Cosmo and F/n, I welcome you to Horizon Academy, a school for young flyers!" Swift added, raising an arm as he gestured at the building behind him.
Cosmo thanked Swift for the warm welcome before the Master Flyer offered a tour which was gladly accepted by Y/n and Cosmo. Swift showed them everything and even told them there were dorms for them to stay at. Swift nervously laughed as he realized his mistake, forgetting the fact that they don't know what dorms are which he immediately explained to the confused duo.
Swift even offered to teach them foreign and outer Glamouran language or slangs which they accepted once again, for them to never get confused. As the dauna ended, the two found theirselves in a room, Swift told them that there was a stable for Cosmo to sleep in but he declined due to the fact that he was scared to sleep alone. Cosmo stayed with Y/n in the dormatory the master flyer gave them. The runaway elf was told that she was going to start class on the next dauna and she was looking forward to it.
She was looking forward to it a little too much that she was having troubles of sleeping. Cosmo was already fast asleep and the girl could hear his faint snores. Y/n stared at the ceiling as her mind went off somewhere. Her eyes then darted to the clothes folded near the wardrobe. She was given two sets of her new uniform for flight school. It was similar to what they would normally wear but there were a tad different too.
The outfit is like what an aviator would wear, there were new patches that indicated the school symbol. A patch of Y/n's fake name just above the breast pocket, Y/n wondered how they got her name sewed so fast. Must've been their advanced machines. The girl had a new arm band too. It was yellow coloured, a symbol of the school in the middle was sewed. The elf was relieved that the outfit mostly covered her body, she wouldn't want anyone to see her feminine features.
Y/n sighed, she knew she needed to go sleep, there was a new dauna coming for her tomorrow, she needs rest to have the needed energy for the next dauna.
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"F/n, glide to the left!"
The elf nodded her head as she dodged a battle aircraft flying on her way. Her grip on the aeroplane steer tightened as she watched the aircraft flew pass her. She gritted her teeth as her eyes darted back to her front, her altitude lowering as she tries to fly lower. With her fake short hair flying along with the wind together with her scarf, she spoke to the communicator. "I am back on the air safe and sound, preparing for landing in a moment!" She told Swift who was the flyer from the communicator.
"Good job, F/n! The coast is clear you are now free to land on runway 3, over!" Swift answered, relief was obvious in his voice. "Yes, Master flyer Swift, I am now nearing runway 3, thank you for your coorperation," Y/n finished as she lowered the altitude of the plane more, on the near distance was the runway she was supposed to land into. She flew her plane on its direction as she prepared to land.
She flew lower and lower slowly until the wheels of her aircraft made contact with the solid and hard ground. The wheels led her to the place where she would always leave the aircraft when she's done soaring through the skies. The flight was once again successful, and Y/n was very happy nothing bad happened. It looks like she was passing the test after all. She hopped down from her aircraft and was soon approached by a certain pegasus who looked way too happy.
"F/n!! I am so glad you passed the test!" He happily yelled out making you smile in return. "Yeah, we knew you were going to pass anyway, you're the school's greatest flyer in your batch," a voice added which made Y/n turn to its source. Swift stood with a grin on his face, he looked very proud of her. "Thank you, I did my best for this," Y/n answered with a smile not leaving her face.
It has been lunarias since her first day in Horizon Academy, Y/n couldn't deny that this was the best thing she ever experienced. Y/n made a few friends but Swift was the one that remained very close to her. Swift treated Y/n like his own and the elf was happy about that. The said Master Flyer knows about her undercover mission and everything. He was very smart to figure out everything in a lunaria. Cosmo and Y/n pleaded for him not to snitch on them. Swift said he didn't think of doing so and it has been like that since.
He was the only person besides Cosmo that she would actually talk to, he also volunteered to help her during her flight tests since it was hard for Y/n to talk to anyone but him and Cosmo. He was like a second father to her and she was truly greatful for everything he had done for her and Cosmo. As lunarias passed, Y/n was known to be the best flyer of her batch─some even agreed that she was the best of her generation. Y/n was a fast learner and she eventually learned to fly a plane in one and a half lunaria.
That was surely a record in the school, she was highly respected by everyone since then. It was her final weeks in school, she was going to graduate from flight school and will be an official licensed flyer soon after. The school was rushing everything because of a sudden news going through the whole planet. The Protection Crystal of Planet Plasma was destroyed and everyone was immediately trying to gather an air force and other more for security. It was said that after she graduates she will be immediately put in the Air Force despite being so young.
Everyone was preparing for a battle since the Protection Crystal was the only thing keeping them safe. The special artefact of Planet Aero, the Gem of Air, was still heavily guarded by the harpies. The said Gem was always been protected by harpies despite the fact that it was already protected by a spell casted by Eros, the King of all Elves, a long time ago. It was said that the Protection Crystal was destroyed a few lunarias ago and the news was just released now.
Despite being safe for the past lunarias and since the breaking of the crystal, everyone still panicked, the crystal was never broken nor destroyed since The Elf War. Y/n was also worried, she wondered if her brother already received the news. If so, then the elves must've made their training more intense. The elves were only one of the few races that can cast spells and magic; they will definitely be put in the frontlines if war broke out.
Y/n began to think about her planet's own artefact. The Sceptre Of Light. It was said to be the most powerful artefact out of the seven artefacts. It was also the only one that takes the shape of a sceptre; it is the artefact that holds every gem together. Stories and legends said it was very dangerous if all the artefacts were put together, not only it would be very powerful─it will be also capable of destroying and recreating the whole galaxy that will cause unbalance.
Only one race was able to steal all of it and it was the dark elves. Thankfully, Eros was there to stop them from doing so and immediately sealed all the artefacts to the planets all of it now called home. After the Elf War, the whole galaxy didn't experience chaos until the breaking of the Protection Crystal. If war does break out again, Y/n was there this time to fight along with the others in the frontlines. Whoever caused all of this will be put to misery and that's what the girl hoped for.
She eyed the two, it was obvious they knew what she was thinking about.
"Shall we proceed back to the school?"
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Disclaimer: The illustrations that are shown above aren't mine and all of it belongs to the respective owners.