To Fly On Wings of Shadow

To Fly On Wings of Shadow
This is Fennec and my (Shrike's) entry in Bright's writing contest with partners. The story itself and the polls at the end are by me, everything else (plot, coding, extra information and edited) by Fennec.
==Chapter 1==
Storm slid on her flightbands carefully. Like always, she’d been listening carefully when they had explained how to put them on. Even though she’d put them on before, even she forgot certain steps. They were a little big, but she wrapped them twice around her arm so they fit nice and tight so she wouldn’t stop flying in midair once she took off. Once she succeeded in flight, of course.
She looked around and was satisfied to see everyone else was still putting on their bands. Everyone seemed to have some sort of trouble putting them on except one girl, which was irritating since Storm would have liked finding fault in her the most. 
“Finished putting on the flightbands, everyone?” called Professor Volante. Professor Volante was a genius- the inventor of the flightbands. Storm liked her. There was a glimmer in her green eyes that reminded Storm of herself: Determined. Smart. A leader. 
“Yes, Professor Volante!” the class cried.
“Do you all remember how to use them?”
Storm suspected many of them didn’t-just because they were capable of flight didn’t mean they had to be smart-but they all nodded. No one wanted to be the kid that held back the class, since even though they had varying levels of IQ, they all wanted desperately to be the one to achieve flight first. Although at this point they knew it was pretty much a competition between Storm and Swan. Storm got the best academic grades and practically born to be a leader, but Swan was much more eager (at least on the outside) and most of the class was cheering for her in their race to achieve flight. She was bouncy, funny, popular, easy to get along with… and Storm, to say the least, was not.
Storm was startled out of her thoughts abruptly by Swan, former best friend of hers. She was standing right next to her with an innocent expression.
“You’re supposed to start using them, Storm.”
“I know that, you idiot.” Storm snapped back.
Swan's innocent face fell and turned to dismay. “All I wanted to do was help. There was no need to snap at me.”
“I’ll snap all I want,” grumbled Storm.
Swan flounced off, looking hurt. Storm sighed. Whatever. I don’t care what Swan or anyone thinks. 
Now just use your flightbands. 
She closed her eyes and let her mind slip into the state required to use flightbands. She let the outside world melt away like ice cream on a hot summer day and focus only on her thoughts and all the emotions that were kept inside her.
The flightbands require great willpower and mindforce to create adequate amounts of energy to achieve flight, Professor Volante’s voice echoed through her head. It will send energy to all the bands and create an electric current around you, making an anti-gravity shield, thus allowing you to fly, theoretically. 
Storm opened her eyes, looking down on her feet, praying they were levitating off the ground like she always did. Her prayers never worked, and she was hoping against hope.
As always, her feet were still planted firmly on the ground. She sighed. Why can’t my stupid feet just float already? I’ve been training for so long!
Frustrated, she kicked the crash-mat with her foot. She looked around. No one else had floated either. At least that’s something.
She picked up a water bulb and threw it at nothing in particular.
Little did Storm know someone was watching her anger from the shadows. Someone with eyes like shadows and a heart of ice.
By the time she turned, he was gone.
==Chapter 2==
Storm kicked a pebble in the ground. She had dealt with her failure in flight before, but this had pushed her to breaking point. One day too many she had failed in taking to the sky. 
WHAT AM I MISSING?! She thought angrily. She always triple checked her flightbands to make sure they were on properly, she channeled all of her focus when she was using her flightbands…
But yet she still couldn’t fly. Not even a millimetre off the ground.
Recklessly, impulsively, she punched the brick wall of the flight school.
She staggered back, fist burning; That really hadn’t been too smart of her. 
“That can’t be good for your hand.”
The voice was female, slightly high pitched and sweet. Storm knew perfectly well who it was, but she wasn’t eager to greet them.
Oh well. She couldn't spend the rest of her life standing there.
She whirled around, facing Swan. standing there, her pale blue eyes dancing. No - that was the  wrong word. Not dancing. More like a deer realizing it was being stalked by a pack of wolves. Trying to put on a brave face but terrified. 
Does that make me the pack of wolves? Wondered Storm. 
Storm decided to file those thoughts away for future dark thinking. 
“It isn’t,” Storm said flatly. “You think I don’t know that, Swan?”
Storm waited for Swan to sassily flounce off, as always, but no.
“You know, you don’t always have to be so mean.”
Storm flinched. “I’m not mean. Now go away.”
“See? You’re proving my point right now, Storm. You used to be nice and caring and friendly. You would snap, but you were never downright nasty. Then, all of a sudden, I couldn’t help you without getting yelled out. Try to give you a hug without getting nudged off. Nothing. All of a sudden you were too good for friendship. Too cool for my companionship. You were drowning in the ocean, and I was giving you a lifesaver, but you weren’t taking it.”
Storm felt like Swan had just throttled her. Her ex-friend was always happy and bubbly and cheerful; or at least on the outside. Now, she was so quietly, shamelessly telling Storm what seemed to be years of personal, unspoken feelings.
Storm didn’t know what to feel. For one thing, she hurt. Swan saying all these things to her, so bluntly and without shame - it hurt her feelings. She admitted it. Even her feelings could be bruised. 
On the other hand, Storm appreciated how honest Swan was being. She hated it when people kept in their feelings to avoid hurting other people’s feelings. Better to be hurt by the truth then hugged by a lie.
Storm didn’t know what to do.
She turned and bolted.
==Chapter 3==
Storm ran. And ran. She bolted, her legs burning, her forehead so drenched with sweat onlookers might think she had dumped a bottle of water on her head.
She didn't care. She didn't look back to see if Swan was following her. Almost as if her legs were possessed, she sprinted straight to the Academy of Flight.
It was a beautiful place. Made of black and white marble for the most part, towering turrets like a princess’ castle in a fairy tale, it made Storm feel like it had been pulled out of a storybook.
But her favourite part was the wings.
Two dazzling wings, protruding from the academy’s roof. The one on the left was as white as fresh fallen snow, made of white marble and with diamond feathers. The one on the right was as dark as squid ink with plumes of obsidian. Storm had been told these represented the two lifeforms on the planet that were not humans but had all the characteristics of them.
The lightforce and the darklings.
The lightforce was prominent in society. They had been the ones to suggest to Professor Volante the idea of bands that encouraged flight. Their queen, Dove, rarely made appearances in the human world, though.
The darklings were different. No one really knew who their leader was, or if they had one. They had helped the humans discover how to utilize mindforce and emotions to help achieve flight, which was why they were represented on the Wings of the Academy. 
Storm looked down and realized she’d still been moving this entire time. She growled and dashed to the side of the academy, scampering with ease up the ladder that maintenance workers used when conducting repairs, and reached the roof.
“Gorgeous,” she breathed under her breath. Even after she had been attending the academy for years she'd never gotten over how dazzling the view from the academy roof was.
The academy overlooked the city, and at this hour the lights were off but the streetlamps. They were like tiny diamonds, like the ones that studded the wing of the lightforce on the academy roof. Over on the horizon were the more natural bits of the city, like the forest and the lake and the mountains that towered over them all in their majesty. 
“A beautiful sight, isn’t it?”
Storm felt a strange sense of deja vu as she remembered her encounter with Swan - hearing a voice behind her, not wanting to turn around but knowing it was inevitable.
Unlike that time, she didn’t recognize the voice, though.
Well, not exactly. She knew this voice. But she didn’t. It was like she had memory loss and was remeeting her best friend, but she was only partially recovered. 
She turned, and a man with ink black hair, pale grey skin, and eyes like shadows stood there.
“Why, hello, young Storm.” he said pleasantly. “How’s the path to flight going?”
==Chapter 4==
What in the world? Thought Storm.
She had climbed to the roof of the Academy, admired the view a  bit, then a random man with freaking grey skin asked her about a VERY personal topic.
There was something very wrong about this man. Maybe it was his weird skin tone. Or his shadowy eyes. 
But she felt drawn to him. She knew she should run. Knew that was the smart thing to do. 
But this man wasn’t having it. Instead of running away, completely forgetting the vital question HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME, she instead greeted him in the most polite, non-aggressive, un-Storm-like way.
“Hello,” she said, dipping her head in his direction. 
He looked surprised. “Hello,” he echoed, sounding surprised.
Storm suddenly snapped back to her normal personality. “How do you know my name?”
The man chuckled (how dare he LAUGH!). “I’ve been speaking to Professor Volante.”
“Oh,” Storm replied. “What-what did she say about me?” 
The man snorted. “On the lines of, smart, serious, bossy, thorny, hot-headed and with a temper shorter than a chihuahua.” 
Was that really what Professor Volante thought of Storm? Heat rose to her cheeks. “Word by word?”
“Most likely not. But close enough.” 
Storm was hurt. First Swan, now Professor Volante. Why was everyone attacking her today? 
“To answer your original question, my path to flight is going very well right now,” she lied.
The man raised his eyebrows. “Really?” 
“No-o,” stammered Storm.
“My own path to flight is going quite well,” the man said.
“Impossible,” snarled Storm. “No human has mastered flight yet.”  
“Then what’s this?” 
The man spread his arms, looked up to the sky, and shot off like a comet, his figure streaking the night sky. Storm watched in awe as he soared far above her head, like a black eagle.
Finally, he landed, not even sweating.
“Now you see?” he grinned. “I’m Hurricane, and I’ll help you learn to fly like I just did.”
==Chapter 5==
Storm found herself looking forward to her lessons with Hurricane the way a six year old might look forward to their birthday. Every night, she would don a black cloak, and at midnight, under the cover of darkness, she would sneak to the academy roof, where Hurricane would be waiting for her, ready for a night in flight lessons. 
She was still curious about his odd skin tone, but she didn’t ask, figuring it would be impolite. Instead of making comments on his complexion, she learned all she could about the secret of flight.
“How long did it take for you to be able to fly?” she asked.
“Eight years.”
Seeing the expression on Storm’s face, he chuckled. “Don’t worry, that’s because I didn’t have flightbands. At the rate you’re going now, you’ll be ready in a month.”
After that incident, Storm flung herself into her training like she never had before. 
Storm looked at the clock set in the wall in her dorm in the Academy of Flight. 1:00 am. Perfect. 
She reached to the hooks on the wall and picked a black jacket. It was a cold day. 
Storm sprinted to the roof, and as always, Hurricane was there, waiting for her.
“Hey Hur---” Storm stopped speaking. She realized there was someone else with him.
Swan was locked in an intense discussion with Hurricane. Her green speckled eyes flashed in a way Storm had never seen before, in all her years in knowing her, and her hair had fallen out of its long braid, and the diamond hair clip was lopsided. Either Swan hadn’t noticed or didn’t care. 
“Listem, Hurricane. I might not like Storm much now, but I still care about her. And if you don’t get your darkling hands off her, I will-”
Hurricane cut Swan’s threat off. “Storm isn’t suffering from my darkling hands. Rather, she’s enjoying my mentorship. Now, dear Swan, please leave so I can get a move on with teaching Storm.” 
Storm wasn’t even paying attention to their conversation now. 
Swan accuses Hurricane of being a darkling.
Hurricane doesn’t deny it.
Everything was fitting in like a jigsaw puzzle now.
Hurricane can fly when no human can.
She had just assumed that was because no one had ever known he could fly.
But…
No human can fly.
Hurricane can fly, but…
He isn't human. 
Storm’s head was spinning. Hurricane was a darkling. 
But she remembered how he had seemed so familiar when she met him.
But the darklings haven’t made any in-person appearances in the human world for decades. 
How… ?
Hurricane finally realized Storm was there. “Hello, Storm,” he was smiling, but it seemed forced. “How much of my conversation with your little… friend have you heard?”
“Enough to know the truth,” she snapped. “You’re a darkling, Hurricane, and I deserve to know the reality. Who - no, what are you? I know you’re a darkling, but normal darklings don’t show up on roofs and start teaching kids.”  
“What would you know about darklings?” asked Hurricane. Suddenly, his gentle, amicable voice was gone. Had it just been a veneer of kindness? It was replaced by a swift, cool, shadowy and… cruel tone. “We don’t seek anything malicious. We want equality. The darklings have been mistreated for years.”
His eyes met Storm’s, and suddenly, she was drawn into a vortex of images that she’d never seen, yet she knew from personal experience these scenes. 
Standing in an obsidian palace, a lavish feast taking place. There were cries of joy and bliss. Seconds later, there was an explosion and the castle was reduced to ruin.
A beautiful star-dotted sky, in all its glory. Suddenly, two missiles came soaring from the darkness, shooting laser beams. 
Hurricane, standing in the wrecked tallest tower of the castle. He was carrying a tiny bundle wrapped in a navy blue blanket. He watched grimly as two armies- one the dark robes in the likeness of his own and the other in blinding, shining armour the colour of snow with streaks of yellow. The armies crashed, and they howled. 
Storm was suddenly ripped out of the memories that weren’t hers. Were these Hurricane’s memories? It seemed to be so. If they were, he’d led a terrible life. They definitely weren’t Storm’s, that was for sure.
Or were they?
That was preposterous. 
Wasn't it?
These memories had been drawn by looking into his eyes. But was it a maic trigger that transferred his thoughts to hers, or had he provoked her own memories by gazing into her ​​eyes?
Storm looked at Swan next to her. Her friend was wide eyed as well, and she wondered if Swan had experienced her own surge of foreign yet familiar memories.  Had she seen the same things? Storm couldn’t help but wonder. 
Hurricane stepped closer to both of them. “Now, little girls,” he said softly. “Shall I take you on a little tour through the realm of the darklings and lightforce?”
He grabbed their shoulders, and everything went black.
==Chapter 6==
Storm woke up. Where was she? Everything around her was foreign. The Academy and the mountains and the city were not in view. Instead, she saw two castles in the distance. One was white marble and shot through with veins of gold. The other was black and in ruin… and bore a frightening resemblance to the palace in the image she'd seen.
Swan was next to her, looking wide eyed at the white and gold castle. Storm wondered if she'd seen that one in her visions rather than the ruined black one. 
Hurricane stood in front of them, gazing at the completely obliterated black palace with an expression of stricken grief on his face. For a split second Storm felt pity for Hurricane… then she remembered she hated him. 
Storm took in her surroundings more critically. The white and yellow land stretched all the way to the horizon to the right of the land. The black land was just as vast on the left side. 
"There, on the right is Claram, Land of the Lightforce," Hurricane told them. "On the left… the formerly glorious realm of Umbra, Home of the Darklings.  It was ruined in a lightforce attack many years ago. Around the same time you two were born, I believe."
Storm couldn't believe it. Why had she never heard of Claram or Umbra? She opened her mouth to ask this question, but Swan beat her to it. 
“I’ve never heard of Claram or Umbra or frankly, any land of the darklings or lightforce. What is this place?”
Hurricane chuckled. “My dear Swan, it’s simple, really. No human has ever heard of Claram or Umbra for one key reason- these lands don’t exist.”
Swan flinched at Hurricane using the endearing term dear in referring to her. 
“That doesn’t make any sense!” protested Storm. “How can Claram and Umbra just not exist? We’re standing in it right now.”
Hurricane waved his hand dismissively. “Storm, you’re thinking too… narrowly. It’s quite cute. Storm, Claram and Umbra don’t exist physically. Like flightbands, it relies heavily, nearly entirely on mindforce. Claram and Umbra exist entirely mentally-they use the combined mindforce of all the lightforce and darklings to stay intact. The more inhabitants in here, the more healthy and stable the land.:
Hurricane grimaced. "But as of recently… When the lightforce attacked the darkling palace, they killed hundreds, diminishing the amount of mindforce severely, resulting in a collapse in the environment and a slow plague creeping through the land, turning everything in here a dark land comparable to a living nightmare. It has been in action for several years now-it completely consumed Umbra and is making its way towards Claram. Queen Dove blames my race for this problem. It's most definitely not our fault. We're not the ones who completely obliterated the darkling stronghold."
Swan and Storm looked at one another, startled by this revelation. Dove seemed terribly hypocritical, but how did they know if Hurricane was telling the truth? They didn't know who was better- humans, lightforce or darkling. 
"But," Hurricane said grimly. "There is cause for hope. Everyone knows lightforce and darklings tend to have equal amounts of mindforce, and are generally superior to the mindforce of humans. But one of our gifts is seeing the amount of mindforce someone has. And I've been watching your class for a while-your entire class, along with Professor Volante, all have noticeably higher than average mindforce, but your two have the highest by far. If I put you next to myself and Dove, the most powerful mindforces in all this land, I'm not sure who would have the largest amount." 
Storm hissed. "How long do we have to save your miserable land from turning into a living nightmare?"
Hurricane frowned. “It’s been spreading rather slowly… until now. It’s been speeding up quite a bit lately. I’d assume we only have three months, max before it consumes this entire land succumbs to the plague, unless we have a huge outbreak of lightforce and darkling children being born, or we have a select few of incredibly powerful mindforces to save us.”
Hurricane got a wistful look on his face. “But I doubt that--- Dove and I have the most powerful mindforces from the last six hundred years, and we aren’t nearly enough to save this land. Half at most, and the rest of the darklings and lightforce would only make up perhaps one eighth more.”
Storm whistled, forgetting how horrible Hurricane was for a split second, marveling over how powerful his and Dove’s mindforces were compared to the rest of the darklings and lightforce. Swan, who Storm knew from back when they were still friends, had never mastered whistling and simply had a look of awe on her face. 
Storm, despite loathing the air Hurricane breathed, was now feeling a bit more sympathetic to the plight of Claram/Umbra. Even if Hurricane was an absolute jerkface, the land couldn't be all bad, even if Claram was eyeball scorching and Umbra depressing to look at. Also, the concept of mindforce was greatly intriguing, and having an incredibly strong mindforce made her feel a teensy bit special. 
Hurricane turned toward the two girls. "Did you know that strong mindforces are inherited? Your parents must have had powerful minds indeed."
"Our parents are dead, Hurricane," seethed Storm. "We don't care about their mindforces. We just want them alive."
Beside her, Swan nodded in agreement. 
Hurricane assumed an expression of sympathy. "My condolences."
"Thank you," Swan said stiffly. 
Standing here watching Hurricane voice his pity for them, it was so easy to believe everything he said… but Storm doubted even one microbe was genuine. 
“Is there a way to make our mindforces visible?” asked Swan in the long, awkward silence that followed. Partly to fill the quiet, but Storm also guessed she was genuinely curious.
Hurricane didn’t say anything, but he slid out a weird contraption that looked like a flashlight, and he shone it on them both. It hurt Storm's eyes for a bit… and then the pain ceased.
Storm looked down, amazed. Where Hurricane had shone the light, a light had grown out of her body, it seemed. It was black with streaks of gray, and it was twisting and foaming-there were actually bits of grey froth forming on it. But it was so strong-it reached out like a sunburst at least two feet away from her body. 
She turned towards Swan… and she stared at Swan's mindforce.
It was exactly equal to Storm's. But instead of frothing and twisting, Swan's was much more passive. It was simply a light. In the middle, their mindforces mingled. The other difference in Swan's mindforce was that it was white and shot through with gold.
"See what I mean by incredibly strong?" Asked Hurricane. "Most mindforces only stretch maybe half a foot away from the body."
Storm wasn't listening. 
Storm frowned.
Wait. 
Black and grey, yellow and white…
Those are the colors of the darkling and lightforce.
Coincidence? 
Maybe.
Or maybe not.
A voice from behind her broke out of her thoughts. But it wasn't Swan or Hurricane. This one was feminine, but too elegant to be Swan's.
"Except for yours and Dove's, dear Hurricane. Yours stretch just as much as these poor girls."
Storm and Swan simultaneously whirled around.
Mistake.
The figure was radiating white, brilliant, blinding light that seared their eyes and blinded them.
They dropped to their knees, unable to see anything, just for a few moments.
But it was long enough for the new woman to knock them out. 
==Chapter 7==
Storm dreamed of the dark.
The glorious dark. The place where you could go, and slip in, and go away from all the hurtful things and mean accusations and cruel lies. 
Except before they found you, took their lights and destroyed your hiding place. 
Storm cried out. She swirled around, and the woman who had had the blinding light surrounding her stepped out. The light no longer surrounded her, but Storm recognized her. She had the same body shape-she’d seen an outline before the light had blinded her. 
“Hello,” the woman said.
Storm stood up, her ponytail flying, grey eyes flashing. “Why did you take me?” she demanded. “Where’s Swan? Where’s Hurricane? For the Academy’s sake, at least tell where I am and who you are.”
The woman didn’t seem frazzled by Storm’s outburst. “To answer your questions, I took you because Queen Dove of the Lightforce ordered your capture. The blond girl you arrived with was put in another cell and is being led out by my partner Lucian. The foul deputy of the Darklings is being escorted by the queen’s second-in-command Alina. You are in the dungeons in Queen Dove’s palace in Claram, and my name is Ilene. I’m bringing you for a private audience with the queen with Hurricane and that other girl, Swan I believe it was? And you are Storm. Now come.”
“N-” 
Before Storm even had time to say the two-letter word, a rope of white light shot forth from Ilene’s body and lassoed Storm in. No doubt this was her mindforce. 
“LET ME GO!” yelled Storm, thrashing in the rope’s hold. But the more she struggled, the tighter Ilene’s mindforce bind became. 
Ilene said nothing but dragged Storm through the winding hallways of the palace. The hallways were lined with gleaming doves made of what looked like marble, but when Storm looked closer, they were sizzling and cracking, so she realized they were probably molded of mindforce. 
How can I learn to do that? Wondered Storm. Make objects from my emotions. I could do whatever I wanted. Achieve all my dreams.
Ilene very rudely shoved Storm right in front of her into a room filled with lasers.
No, literally. Instead of jewels and gold or even decorations made of mindforce, the room's walls were composed entirely of shining gold and white lasers. The rest of the room was in complete darkness, making the lasers even more flashy. 
In the center of the room, a throne made entirely of lasers-and held together by mindforce judging from the fizzling white glow surrounding it- sat a tall, elegant woman. She could be anywhere from her late thirties to fifty, but she was striking and imposing more then beautiful. Her long blonde hair lay in a single, thick plait down her back. Her blue-green speckled eyes were hard, resembling jewels. 
This must be Dove, though Storm.
With a start she realized Hurricane was kneeling before the queen, in chains molded out of mindforce. His face was set in a hard mask. 
Swan was being brought before Dove as well. Surprisingly, she wasn't in chains like Hurricane or binded in rope like Storm or anything. Her guards were simply holding her, but Storm noticed they were holding her gently yet firmly- like they'd been given orders not to hurt her. 
They gently set Swan down on the floor, and she knelt to Queen Dove. Their hair was an identical shade of blonde.  
“Good afternoon, my lightforce,” called Dove. “today, we are preceding over the trial of Hurricane, deputy of the Darklings, responsible for the murder of my dear husband Raiden. Present also are two human prisoners found associating with him-Swan and Storm.”  
Storm felt a jolt in her stomach. Murder? No wonder Dove seemed to loathe the air Hurricane breathed. 
But then she remembered how bitter Hurricane had seemed when telling the girls about the Lightforce’s attacks. She frowned. Who were the good and bad guys here? 
“Now, Hurricane,” hissed Dove. “The last time you were put on trial it was several years ago, a few months before I conceived. You pleaded not guilty, despite the evidence including traces of a mindforce knife on his body. Running tests in the lab, it was your own unique mindforce. How can you explain that?”
Hurricane shot a look of pure hatred at Queen Dove. "I'm not. I'll admit it- I did kill him. He deserved it."
A ripple of shock and fury went across Dove's face. As did Swan's. Storm's didn't. Hers wore a poker face- Storm was excellent at those. Especially when she was so confused she didn't know what the heck to think. 
"So." Growled Dove, obviously trying to keep her temper in check. "You finally admit to killing my dear Raiden in cold blood, king of the Lightforce?"
Hurricane shrugged. "He was very easy to kill. It's astonishing how weak human mindforces are."
Dove then promptly lost it.
"MY DEAR RAIDEN," she screamed. "MAY NOT HAVE BEEN A LIGHTFORCE OR  DARKLING, BUT I LOVED HIM MORE THEN CLARAM ITSELF!" She got off the throne and picked up one of the lasers. It crackled with bright  gold light- no doubt her mindforce- and she continued her rant, jabbing the laser at Hurricane once for every syllable she spoke. "And who are you to go talking so disdainfully about Raiden when your own wife was a human as well?"
Hurricane, who'd been watching Dove's outburst with a smirk on his face, gasped as if he'd been struck. He then assumed a poker face not unlike Storm's. "Don't." He growled, his face curling up in a savage mask. "Don't even mention sweet Starling. I know you killed her."
"No I didn't!" Cried Dove. "I did what every good queen does- I took revenge on the darklings for killing Raiden. I destroyed the darkling palace, just as you did on my heart."
"But unlike you," snarled Hurricane. "I didn't kill hundreds of darklings in the process. I also didn't set off a plague that's slowly swallowing our beautiful land." 
"I-" began Dove. She stopped and took a deep breath. "Let us cease this senseless fighting, Hurricane. Now, we shall perform a rite I've been saving for you all these years."
She slid a glowing marble out of her robe. It was huge- about the size of a soccer ball- and was fizzling and sparking with gold and white, black and grey, and millions of other colors, at least half of which were completely foreign to Storm.
Hurricane gasped. "How did you get the Soul Orb?"
Storm was now more confused than ever. "Soul Orb?" She asked.
"Sometimes referred to as the Globe of Memory or the Ball of Emotion." Agreed Hurricane anxiously. "It represents all the mindforce in the entire world concentrated into a single sphere. It's made with the same technology as the flightbands, only it gathers everyone's mindforce instead of just one.It has amazing effects- all the wielders of it may transfer their memories to it by using the tiniest fragment of their real mindforce. From then on, someone can harness all the memories in it and pass them onto any person's mind. The stronger the mindforce of the person's memories you're transferring, the more vivid the images."
Storm froze. That was exactly what had happened to her and Swan when Hurricane had looked them in the eyes. He had been transferring memories to them? The ones she'd experienced had no doubt been Hurricane's, but she couldn't help but wonder who's memories Swan had gone through. 
"What do you want me to do with the Soul Orb?" Demanded Hurricane.
"Why, it's simple," Dove said.  "I want you to take back the extra shard of your mindforce that's in here. I didn't expect you to come with two teenage girls, but I know who they are, Hurricane. I haven't seen them since they were a couple weeks old, but I'll never forget those eyes."
Storm was now extremely confounded. Dove knew them? She'd known them when they were babies? Something wasn't quite right here. 
"And if I don't withdraw the bit of mindforce?" asked Hurricane.
"Then we go through the procedure as planned. You are painfully executed, and my people will demand I imprison these girls for associating with you as suspected spies, and they never know the truth."
Hurricane's smirk faded. "That isn't a very good alternative option, is it?"
"No, it's not," replied Dove. "Now, make a choice now."
Hurricane, wearing a strained smile, reached into the orb and removed a single, tiny, peanut-sized piece of sizzling black mindforce. 
Storm and Swan were both looking at the orb.
And they were immediately plagued by images once more.
They were the exact same as the images Storm had experienced when Hurricane had flared in her eyes… but they were different. She knew why these things were happening now. (A/N: go back to when Storm was looking in Hurricane's eyes and find the differences!)
Standing in an obsidian palace, a lavish feast taking place, celebrating the birth of their second in command's first daughter. There were cries of joy and bliss. Seconds later, there was an explosion and the castle was reduced to ruin.
A beautiful star-dotted sky, in all its glory. Suddenly, two lightforce missiles came soaring from the darkness, shooting laser beams. 
Hurricane, standing in the wrecked tallest tower of the castle. He was carrying a tiny bundle wrapped in a navy blue blanket- his newborn daughter. He watched grimly as two armies- one the dark robes in the likeness of his own and the other in blinding, shining armour the colour of snow with streaks of yellow. The armies crashed, and they howled. 
Then new images came, ones she'd never seen before: 
Hurricane, crossing blades with a man with freckles just like Swan. The other man's sword was metal- not mindforce like Hurricane's was. His name was King Raiden of the Lightforce. A baby was in the shadows, crying hysterically. Hurricane's knife met Raiden's temple, and Raiden collapsed.
Queen Dove, screaming like a banshee in the background, which only added to the baby's cries. 
These were the missing pieces, Storm realized. These were the things she needed to know. Those events had happened before the first 3 pictures. 
There was another one now, Storm realized. But then she saw it. This was the last one. The one that tied it all together.
Hurricane, kneeling over a beautiful woman's broken body, carrying the same tiny bundle. It was a baby girl, with huge grey eyes resembling that of Hurricane. His newborn daughter. How was she going to grow up with no mother? He would leave her on the steps of the Academy. They were close to the unlocking the key to flight, and they were looking for babies and toddlers to become the first flyers.
Then Storm came to a realization. 
That baby girl…
It was her.  
==Chapter 8==
Crying out in shock, Storm lifted her hand from the Soul Orb and gasped.
My father is the second in command of the darklings. 
I am half darkling.
Storm staggered back. Her brain felt like it was going to explode from this new revelation, and physically she wasn't feeling exactly excellent either. 
Swan didn't seem to be taking whatever her news had revealed though. Instead, she was staring blankly into empty space, her eyes taking on the colour of her mindforce, white with gold specks. 
Storm whirled around to face Hurricane. "You lied to me!" She cried, her face twisted in a savage, furious mask. "I'm your daughter?!"
Instead of looking heartless like Storm expected him to, Hurricane actually looked troubled. "I'm sorry, Storm. And I didn't lie to you. I never said you weren't my daughter."
Stupid darklings and their stupid logic. "Maybe you didn't, but when we met on the Academy roof, you were like, oh, Storm, I'm going to teach you how to fly! You should've told me, hi Storm. I'm one of the most evil lifeforms on the planet and killed my arch-nemesis' husband. I'm also your dad. Come on in!"
"But," Hurricane said softly. "Would you have believed me? Really? Truly?"
Storm frowned. Hurricane had a point. If he'd said that, she'd've laughed at him and assume he was insane. But this way, in his arch-nemesis' palace, where Dove had come dangerously close to impaling him? Yeah. She could believe that. 
Dove was looking at her, her head cocked, and she looked curious. "How do you feel of this news?"
"Oh, I don't know," snapped Storm in a harsh tone dripping sarcasm. She could feel the tears coming, hot and fast, and she didn't try to stop them. "My mentor turns out to be a darkling and my father. I've been told since I was a few weeks old that my parents are dead and it turns out my dad isn't even human! There's a completely different mental realm I never knew about, it's suffering from a plague coming from a lack of mental energy, Swan and I apparently have enough mindforce to save it, but neither of us have any idea whatsoever how to do it!" She staggered back, gasping."oh, gee, Dove, I'm doing just fine."
Dove didn't look surprised at Storm's outburst. Rather, she seemed to be analyzing Storm critically. "The girl has spirit. I like that."
Swan's head snapped up, and suddenly her eyes were their normal blue-green speckled again. Rather than screaming and crying like Storm had, when she spoke her tone was even. "I don't like the way you're talking with Storm. Like just some product to be bartered or sold. She's more than that. She's a girl, orphan just like I am, and top of our class. She's a person."
Storm cringed. In any other circumstances she'd've appreciated Swan's nice comment. But her uses of the words human and person set Storm off. Apparently she was only half homo sapien.
"So, about that, Swan," Storm coughed, feeling more awkward then she ever had in her life. "I'm actually not human…"
Swan stared at her. "What? That's impossible!"
"My mom and her ancestors were human. But my patriarchal side is-"
"I'm her father." Hurricane said flatly. 
Swan gawped. "Father?"
"Yep," grumbled Storm. "Half darkling! The second in command, nonetheless. Bow before me, lowly peasant!"
Swan looked amused. "Actually, Storm, I have some news as well. I'm-"
Dove snorted. "Enough with this silly talk. Now both you girls know the truth, and now we can preside over Hurricane's execution. The traditional lightforce way."
"That being…?" Storm asked nervously. She had a feeling it wasn't going to be pretty.
"Mindforce guillotine."
Storm gulped. She imagined a fizzling golden guillotine and Hurricane's severed head. Sadly, Storm's graphic imagination added quite a bit of blood and gore to that scene, which reached the point where she wanted to vomit.
"My lady, the courtroom is free today," said a man with curling golden hair and green eyes. Probably Lucian, Storm guessed. "We can execute him there and within the next hour, Hurricane will be no more."
Storm felt a rising indignation inside her. They couldn't kill Hurricane! He was cruel, shadowy, vicious and good for nothing, that was true, but he was still her father. He was the only family Storm had left. Frankly, she was a bit shocked that they were pressing the death penalty on Hurricane for killing one person when Dove had killed hundreds, collapsed a castle, and caused a plague. Then again, they couldn't very well execute their own queen.
"Wait a second," she hissed.
Dove looked up. "Do you have any last words to say before my soldiers haul you off the serve as witnesses for the trial?"
"Why," she seethed. "Is Hurricane dying when you've committed more crimes then him?"
Dove stiffened and looked up from her perfectly manicured nails. "What do you mean by that?"
Storm's eyes flared. Her mindforce crackled to life around her, spitting black and grey.  She could vaguely feel Swan's hand on her arm, Swan whispering for her to stop. She didn't care. "He killed one human. You brought an end to hundreds of darklings. You demolished their palace, their pride and joy. You started the blight spreading across the land. Overall, I think you're the one to blame, not Hurricane."
Dove pursed her lips together. "Perhaps in the plight of this realm, but your home of Earth- much of their suffering is caused by Hurricane." 
"What?!" Cried Storm. "What did he do!"
Dove was silent. Then she began once more. "I've changed my mind. Take the blond one and let her serve as a witness. I will personally escort this one to my information storage room, and show her Hurricane's crime records."
Storm watched as Lucian, Ilene and Alina led Swan away, and Dove grabbed Storm's shoulders. She thrashed in her grip, but Dove's hold was iron. Storm collapsed in defeat, and Dove dragged Storm off, to wherever Dove kept her crime records.  
==Chapter 9==
Storm had never seen such weird hallways in here life.
Truthfully, she hadn't exactly been in 15 million corridors, but still, Dove's were pretty bizarre.
They passed one where lightforce soldiers played polo with a mindforce ball. 
Then a Hawaiian themed luau. (Why. Just why).
Then a squad of lightforce soldiers on their break playing the ancient video game Dance Dance Revolution. (How did lightforce access those?)
At the end of the 3rd hallway the went through, there was a tall, honey-colored door that did not have lightforce soldiers playing vintage video games. (Thank goodness). There was no knob. When they reached it, Dove let a bit of golden mindforce gather on her left index finger, and pressed it on the door. The door clicked, and suddenly it was open, although Dove didn't swing the door.
"What would have happened if anyone else tried to open it?" Asked Storm. 
"Then mindforce lasers would burn them to ashes. Why do you ask?"
"Oh, nothing. Just curious."
In reality, Storm was mildly disturbed by both the mindforce lasers and the offhand way Dove had said it, which reminded her another time exactly how dangerous the lightforce queen was. 
Dove raised her eyebrows in doubt and swung open the door.
The lightforce queen's information room was surprisingly organized, with drawers with the same golden hue as the door. They were neatly alphabetized with shiny gold labels. There was a circular table in the center of it all.
"Now, what are we looking for?" Mused Dove. She walked to the H drawer. "Hurricane's records, of course."
She pulled the drawer open. It was color coded with folders the colors of the rainbows.(of course. Those lightforce couldn't get any more organized). The red one read, Arrest reports. The yellow one read, Mug shots. The orange was Court records. The green was Sentences- execution, imprisonment, probation, etc. The blue was Jury and Judges of Lightforce History. Indigo was Incriminating Evidence. Purple was Extreme Diabolical Plans.
Dove rifled through the purple folder. Clearly, that was the one with the papers she was looking for. She slid out a sheet marked Hurricane. 
She flipped it open and handed it to Storm. "See for yourself."
Storm peered at the paper. It was cramped, the font size was tiny and Storm felt like her eyeballs would explode. Nevertheless, she peered at the paper, that judging from the way it was written had been transcribed by Hurricane himself. It seemed more diary-type then a diabolical plan though.
13 March
Lightforce.
Technologically advanced, blond, blue, green or silver eyes. Usually blond, although there are some exceptions.
But I hate them. I hate them all. 
I'll never forget what Raiden did. I want revenge. 
Lightforce are too powerful, though. They are exactly equal in power to darklings, which is why we have lived side by side so peacefully for years. 
But I know somewhere where I can take them. 
Earth. The land of the humans. Some lightforce moved there over the past few years. There are even a few half lightforce half humans there. 
Not a lot.
But enough.
My missiles, my mindforce weapons…
Enough to satisfy me.
Then it ended abruptly, and Storm gasped.
"He set missiles and mindforce weapons on Earth?" She yelped.
Dove nodded grimly. "He caused the great Amazon fire a few months ago, killing hundreds of rare and beautiful animals. The earthquake in Indonesia last year. All for the sake of killing a few dozen lightforce."
Storm didn't know what to think. She wanted to believe that Dove was lying… but she wasn't. Storm could see it in her eyes. She didn't need any mindforce orb to tell her that.
"Dove," said Storm, taking tremendous effort to keep her voice steady. "Where is Hurricane's trial happening?"
Dove frowned. "Courtroom 16, I do recall? It's in the hallway with all the sapphires embedded in the door. Easy two minute walk from here."
"Good," growled Storm. "Because I have a darkling I want to kill."  
==Chapter 10==
Storm stormed (A/N unintended pun, couldn't find another way to describe it, sorry XD).down the hallways, her mindforce crackling around her in her anger, her mind buzzing with creative ways she was going to yell at Hurricane.
Dove had said it would take a few minutes. Storm didn't even know how long it had taken her. It could have taken her a decade and she wouldn't have noticed. 
She found a hallway with dozens of tiny blue gems embedded in it. She swung it open, and she found a honey coloured door with the words Courtroom 16 engraved in it. She opened it so violently it was a miracle it didn't go flying off its hinges.
She was greeted by a lightforce trial taking place. The lightforce judge sat in the box, his gavel poised over his desk. Next to him was the jury, which consisted of several guards, older, middle-aged lightforce who were perhaps there because they had known Hurricane personally, and Swan. The teenage girl looked out of place, and she looked uncomfortable and awkward. She looked slightly relieved, though surprised when Storm came in. She marched up to Hurricane, her face twisted in a savage mask.
Storm let a mindforce spear grow in her arms, although she didn't even realize it was there. That didn't stop her from waving it in a threatening way in his face.
"HURRICANE!" she screamed. "WHEN YOU TOLD ME YOU'RE A STUPID DARKLING, YOU REFRAINED FROM TELLING ME THAT YOU KILLED HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE AND PROBABLY BROUGHT TO EXTINCTION A FEW DOZEN SPECIES."
Hurricane looked taken aback, though not frightened, which was an impressive feat considering a moody teenage girl was waving a deadly weapon in his face. "Yes. Some humans, some animals. But dozens of lightforce. My revenge."
"HURRICANE, YOU KILLED THEM JUST FOR SOME STUPID GRUDGE!" screeched Storm. Then she lost it. She attempted to swing the spear at his face, but she was blocked instantly by a blade of Hurricane's mindforce. It was a long knife, exactly reminiscent of the one in her vision of him and Raiden.
"Don't you ever try that again," Hurricane said, his voice cold. "Or I'll not hesitate to lop your head off."
Storm opened her mouth to respond, then she looked down and realized their mindforces were running off their blades and up the other's arm. It ran up her long sleeves, then it hit her shoulders at the exact same moment it hit his.
Dove chose that time to come running into the courtroom. Her eyes widened with shock when she saw father and daughter crossing weapons, and she hissed. A whip of gold energy formed in her hand, and she cracked it above their heads. She didn't strike them, but it was enough to break them out of their focus.
"Enough," she growled. "Do not approach." she added when she saw her lightforce guards come with golden and white weapons. 
They reluctantly stepped back. All but Swan. She continued sprinting towards them, a fizzling white gauntlet forming on her left hand, complete with golden brass knuckles.
When she reached them, she yelled, "What the heck is-"
She stopped when simultaneously their mindforces flared, two black and silver, two white and gold. And images came again, one from each of them. Hurricane's and Dove's were of normal, however significant memories, whereas Storm and Swan's were of memories that had been unearthed by looking into the Soul Orb.
Hurricane:
Screaming, falling to his knees as he watched Dove slam her mindforce whip against sweet Starling, knowing full well she was human and couldn't defend herself. He screamed and attacked Dove with his mindforce dagger, cutting a wound long and deep in her right arm.
Dove:
Raiden! She had to get to him. He was extraordinarily powerful with traditional weapons, but he couldn't last long against Hurricane. She tripped into the room and saw his body, lifeless and unmoving, and she screamed with agony no one had ever heard before. She stared heartbroken at her pregnant belly. She would name her after the bird Raiden had loved so much, the birds he always fed at the lake.
Swan:
Her mother lifted her up. This was her mother? She had blond hair and blue-green speckled eyes. Her mother whispered a single phrase, and she somehow knew this was her name and the story behind it. "Your father always loved those swans at the park. You'll be Swan, princess of the lightforce."
Their images faded away, and each one of them was wide eyed at their own three revelations. 
Storm's were all shocking, but the last one was the most by far.
That Queen Dove, her father's biggest enemy, whom he had scarred with a mindforce blade, and who had come dangerously close to running him through with a laser…
Was Swan's mother.  
==Chapter 11==
Slowly, one by one, their mindforces faded, the intense black and silver and the blinding white and gold disappearing. First Dove's was gone, then Hurricane's, then Swan's, then lastly, Storm's. Probably because she'd been the most ticked off one when their mindforces had flared.
Storm looked around, dazed. Now she could see the huge resemblance easily between the lightforce queen and Swan. How had she not noticed it before? They had the same golden hair and blue-green mottled eyes, the same heart shaped face. Dove was missing Swan's signature freckles, but other than that, Dove looked like a middle-aged Swan.
Dove's eyes burned. "Lightforce?" She asked, turning towards her bewildered subjects, her voice trembling with effort to keep it even. "Please leave. I must attend to other matters with these three. Make haste-go to your normal guard posts and duties."
The lightforce obeyed their queen, and shuffled out of the room, scrambling away. When the last lightforce went out of earshot, Queen Dove immediately turned on Hurricane and spat out, "WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?"
Hurricane shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"You do," she seethed. "Mindforce is made of two parts-memories and thoughts. I suppose these girls saw memories- I saw a thought."
Seeing Swan and Storm's outright I-have-no-idea-what's-happening expressions, she sighed in exasperation. She stretched out her hands. "Take them," she ordered.
Hurricane yelped. "No, Dove. I know exactly what thought you're talking about and I swear if you share it with them I will-"
"Since when have I cared about your threats?" Asked Dove. "Besides, this is one of your most genius thoughts ever, and, oh yeah, I forgot, it's about destroying an entire race."
Storm bit her lip. Honestly, she wasn't all that surprised that Hurricane was planning on obliterating so many people. But how? And who? She needed to find out. Together, she and Swan pressed their palms to Dove's. Storm tried to appear nonchalant, as if touching the queen of one of the most technologically advanced races in the world was something she did every day. She thought Dove's skin was surprisingly soft.
For a single heartbeat after that, it was normal.
The next heartbeat? Not so much.
Her mind was dark and swirling with plans and secrets, plots and murders. They had their own little spaces. The thoughts were bubbles and the memories were boxes. But one stood out- a black bubble that was the darkest dark imaginable. Squid ink and a moonless, starless night with obsidian could not compete in the slightest with this hue.
She dove into the bubble.
The plan was mapped out before her, in the most sinister thought of all of them- and for Hurricane, that was saying a lot.
First, he would find his daughter on the Academy of Flight's roof. He'd watched her grow from a little girl into a young woman over the years, and he knew that whenever she was sad or despondent she turned towards there for comfort. He knew she was constantly at odds with the other one, Dove's daughter, and it wouldn't take much magic to flare their passions and have them have a particularly bad quarrel.
The scene Storm knew so well flashed before her- finding Hurricane on the roof.
Check.
Next, he'd teach her. Not false information- real, raw secrets of flight. He needed to get her to trust him enough.
Check.
Then, he'd take her to Claram and Umbra, and do it.
Take her to the place where her ancestors are buried- the royal darkling graveyard.
The lost mindforces of her ancestors still mingled in the air- her already extraordinarily potent mindforce would grow even more so. She would absorb them, and she would fly.
In that single moment her mindforce would be the most potent in the land- and he'd use it to do it.
Resurrect the darklings Dove had killed. 
And annihilate the lightforce.
Dove drew her hands back from Storm's and immediately Storm had her own mind back rather than Hurricane's.
Storm slowly, deliberately turned towards Hurricane. Her father. The one who was using her as a weapon in his plan to kill all the lightforce.
Then it came out, soft and gentle, which was somehow more terrifying than if she had shouted.
"You."
Hurricane's eyes burned. "Storm. I'm not just bringing the darklings back. I'm bringing Starling back as well. Your mother. Wouldn't you like to meet her?"
That was true. Storm wanted to know her mother, the woman Hurricane had fallen in love with. But she knew she couldn't. Bringing someone back to life was wrong. It violated the laws of nature that even the most powerful beings had to obey. Except Hurricane, who seemed intent on breaking that rule never meant to be broken.
"But what if I don't want to obey you and help you eradicate the lightforce?" Asked Storm.
Hurricane's face hardened. "Then I make you."
Then, before Storm could even blink Hurricane threw a mindforce dagger at her. It penetrated her shirt and pinned her to the wall. Little more than a heartbeat later, Swan and Dove joined her in the pinned-to-the-wall club.
"Better," mused Hurricane. "Much better."
Dove and Swan's eyes were both full of hate. Storm tried to make hers like that as well, but she couldn't. He was still her father, and no matter how much she wanted to, she just couldn't despise him the way Swan and Dove did. He was family.
"No it isn't," murmured Dove.
Her eyes flickered open, and they were as hard as jewels.
"You forget who I am. I'm just as powerful as you are."
Her hand shot out, and her mindforce grew around her and screamed against the walls as they rubbed against it. Hurricane dropped to his knees. 
Dove whispered two words.
"Animo perdere." 
Hurricane looked up, and his formerly cruel face was now mad.
Quite, quite insane.  
==Chapter 12==
Hurricane let out a high pitched, crazy laugh.
Storm, who was still pinned to the wall by Hurricane's mindforce dagger, leaned over to Dove.
"What the heck is happening?
Dove cringed, "Um… I screwed up."
"I can see that," Storm replied, rolling her eyes. "But what exactly was supposed to happen?"
"Animo perdere is Latin for mind destroy. What that spell was supposed to do was cause his mindforce to implode inside him, therefore robbing him of all his thoughts and memories, rendering him absolutely useless."
"So why did this happen?" Asked Swan, leaning in as well. She waved her hand at Hurricane, who was pacing around and muttering like a madman.
"Mindforce is comprised of thoughts and memories, correct?" Replied Dove. "Well, the older you get, your memories start merging into one another and your thoughts grow more confused. Of course, very young people don't fully understand mindforce yet, which is why the mid-teens are usually the best years of your life in terms of mindforce manipulation. Fifteen is in general the peak."
Fifteen. Just like me and Swan, thought Storm.
"So," Swan said, rubbing her temples. "You're saying that since you're older, your mindforce spell went awry and instead of imploding his mindforce it-"
"Drove him insane," agreed Dove.
"Well, this is the best situation ever!" Storm said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "My dad is crazy, and we're pinned to the wall and can't fight him!"
"Now's not the time for snark, Storm," snapped Dove. "What's Hurricane doing?"
Storm's eyes went to her now-insane father, and she stifled a yelp. Hurricane's mindforce was growing around him, twisting into incomprehensible, distorted shapes. He threw back his head and yelled something Storm didn't comprehend. It didn't sound English, but one thing was certain- it was absolutely psychotic. 
"Oh, no," muttered Dove, her eyes filled with terror. And anything that could scare that woman, Storm did not want to see. "He cannot be doing that. Not that. No, no, no."
"Dove, ENOUGH," snapped Storm. She'd had it with Dove's wild implications. "What exactly is it?"
"He's bringing someone back to life," Dove whispered, clearly horrified. "I've read about it in the lightforce advanced manuals. But it's never to be practiced- it has horrifying consequences. The last time it happened, it caused what humans remember as the Great Fire of London."
"What?"  Yowled Swan. 
"Maybe I can do something," Dove murmured frantically. "He has us pinned, but I'm just as powerful as he is. Maybe I can-"
Too late. 
With one last maniacal cackle, someone formed in front of Hurricane.
It was a woman, with dappled brown hair and orange eyes. No, not amber. True and truly the color of marigolds. She looked about Hurricane's age, but she looked like Storm. She had the same bounce to her hair, the same expression like she was waiting to be attacked.
Storm choked on her tears. She knew it herself who this woman was.
It was Starling, her mother.
*********************************
"Hurricane?" Starling asked quietly, cocking her head."is that you?"
"Yes, it's me, love," Hurricane said. He seemed to be non-insane for the time being. 
"I know I should be horrified," whispered Swan. "But this is kind of sweet."
"Not for much longer," muttered Dove, though not quietly enough so the girls couldn't hear. 
"What do you-" asked Swan, then she stopped. "Is it just me, or is the earth cracking?" She pointed to a chasm in the earth in front of them that Storm was pretty sure hadn't been there before.
"It is," screamed Dove. "He did what I feared- he's harnessing all the mindforce in this land to keep Starling alive. Now, it's collapsing." Her mindforce came to life around her, and fueled by fear she hadn't felt before, was now strong enough to dispel the mindforce knives pinning them to the wall. Her mindforce was already deteriorating as Hurricane drained it. Then she started the obvious.
"RUN!"  
==Chapter 13==
Storm and Swan needed no orders.
The girls ran faster than they ever had in their fifteen years of life, quicker even then when Storm had ran to the Academy roof on that fateful night where she met Hurricane. They didn't dare waste energy looking back, although they could imagine that the chasm was widening and chasing after them.
Storm cursed under her breath when she saw that Dove was falling behind. Of course. The queen was in her forties, and there was no way she could keep up with a couple of teenagers. And she couldn't fly- Hurricane had sapped her of too much of her mindforce. 
Dove would just have to strain. Storm put on a burst of strength and ran faster, even though she had no idea where they were running. She weaved through the hallways, dodging lightforce guards.
"Shoot," muttered Storm under her breath. The lightforce were in absolute chaos. The land was crumbling beneath their feet as their mindforces were drained and focused on keeping Starling alive. Voids were randomly opening beneath their feet. So far no one had fallen in, but Storm knew it was only a matter of time. 
"To," Dove gasped. "The… courtyard… back… of… palace."
Storm nodded to show she heard Dove, and continued, running towards the back of the palace.
Thankfully, Storm had originally been quite close to the back, and she reached he courtyard with only moderate amounts of panting and a stitch in her side.
She looked up and realized with horror that the courtyard must be the storage area for Dove's military vehicles. Clearly the majority of them were made of mindforce, as they were all disintegrating, all but one.
One ancient, rusted plane wasn't crumbling. It looked perfectly intact. 
"GET IN THERE!" Dove screamed. 
Frightened by the new desperation in the queen's voice, Storm threw open the door and jumped in, Swan joining her a split second later. About five seconds later, Dove tripped in, panting.
Storm analyzed the control panel carefully. She thought she knew how it worked. She'd been in similar vessels to stimulate the feeling of flying as a class in the Academy.
She carefully pulled a lever and pressed a few buttons, and they were off.
"You already have this thing going?" Asked Dove in disbelief.
"Storm's top of the class," Swan said proudly. "There aren't a lot of things she can't do."
"Oh, stop with the flattery, please," Storm grumbled. "Now isn't really the right time."
Swan rolled her eyes. "It's not flattery, it's a compliment."
Storm snorted. "Whatever you say."
But both girls knew, deep inside them that neither of them was really bothered. This whole insane experience in an entirely mental realm had kind of forced them to get along, and while they weren't besties anymore like they used to be, their relationship was a whole lot more positive then it had been when they left Earth for the Land of the Darklings and Lightforce. 
"So," Storm said, turning around to face Dove. "Why are we in this ancient piece of junk?"
"Because this is quite possibly the only safe place in all of this land," replied Dove. "It was retrieved from your human world, so it runs on gas, not mindforce, so Hurricane won't be able to drain it."
"Then what happens when it runs out of gas?" Asked Swan.
"Then it crashes and we all die. But personally, I'd rather that happen then having our thoughts and memories taken by an insane darkling."
Oh, those lightforce. Realistic, depressing- Storm was really starting to hate that now.
They flew for about a quarter of an hour before Dove broke the silence.
"Storm, you do know what this means?"
Storm cocked her head. "What?"
"So you don't. Well, what this means is that you have to let Swan fly first."
"What the heck?" Asked Storm. She jerked one of the levers and they went flying forward for an instant before she found control again.
"Don't you see?" Asked Dove. "Storm, Hurricane has control of nearly all the mindforce in the land, and right now he's focusing it all on Starling, but he can use it for other things- face it, Storm even you don't have enough power to resist that. But mindforce only works if you have strong knowledge of the person you're enchanting- at least for spells as big as this. He doesn't know Swan well enough to enchant her, which is why she can do it. What can do one thing can usually do the same in reverse- meaning that Swan can put Starling back where she belongs, and stop Hurricane from annihilating the lightforce."
Storm's hands went slack on the steering wheel.
But… I'm so close to flying.
But if I fly first, good bye to the lightforce.
But if Swan flies first… lightforce stay, but my mother dies.
Storm shook her head. She'd think about it later.  
==Chapter 14==
"Storm?" 
Dove's voice broke through the endlessly circling thoughts in Storm's head.
Swan first. Lightforce live. Mother dies. Me first. Lightforce gone, mother lives. 
"Yeah?" She asked, chewing nervously on some lightforce gum Dove had given her.
"We're almost there," she said gently. "The border between Claram and Umbra, the last place to dissolve, and the home of the graveyards of the ruling families of the lightforce and darklings. Their mindforces still mingle in the air, and since we are all descendants of them, they will strengthen our mindforces. Hopefully, it'll be just enough for us to break Hurricane's focus on Starling and let enough mindforce trickle back into the land so you two can possibly heal the land."
Storm swallowed. "But… she's my mother. Isn't that matriacide?"
Dove bit her lip. "Technically, yes. But Storm, face it. By exchanging her artificial life, you are saving the lives of hundreds."
"But…"
Dove looked into Storm's eyes. "Listen, Storm. If Hurricane succeeds, then it isn't just the lightforce that will go. Swan most likely will as well."
Swan, who was lying down on the seats and whom both Storm and Dove had assumed was asleep, snapped her eyes open. "What?"
"You know," Storm said. "You're really good at faking asleep."
"Thanks," replied Swan. "But D- mother, you're saying that Hurricane plans to use Storm to kill me?"
Storm noted how Swan had nearly called Dove by her name but switched to mother. Clearly, she was still grasping the idea of Dove being her mother.
Dove wrinkled her brow. She seemed to have  noticed as well. "Yes. Which is why you need to fly first and break his focus."
"But how?" Asked Swan.
Dove shook her head. "Trust me, you'll know when the time comes."
Swan did not look assured at all, but she grunted and went back to either sleeping or fake-sleeping - Storm really didn't know.
Storm looked down at what she was flying over. She realized that she was nearly at a line in the middle of the land. The side closer to her was white and gold; the other was black and silver. It didn't take a genius to figure out that this was the border. 
As she got closer, she realized lumps of dirt on the ground. She realized with a start that they were not lumps- they were graves. She knew that around half of them were her ancestors. The others were Swan's and Dove's.
"Alright," called Dove. "We're close enough. Let's get off."
Swallowing, Storm manoeuvred the plane to the ground and hit the brake.
**********************
The three women walked out of the plane and gazed at the graves of their ancestors. Storm didn't know how she was supposed to feel- sad or respectful or something in between- but she didn't have to worry for long. Dove showed them to two mounds about a foot apart. The one on the right was for Swan, the one on the left was for Storm. They were supposed to stand on them and channel their mindforces. It was extremely important that Swan channel hers first.
"Alright," Dove said quietly. "Swan, begin."
Swan closed her eyes and started the process that would change Claram and Umbra forever.
For better or for worse, Storm didn't know.  
==Chapter 15==
Storm watched Swan carefully. With a start she realized that Swan's normally blue eyes were slowly giving way to white. The green specks faded to gold. Her mouth moved but no sou d came out. In front of them, the same thing was happening to Dove. Storm supposed they were doing something only lightforce could do. But still… Storm really wanted to experience that. 
Seeking the longing expression on Storm's face, Dove splayed her fingers and let a small yellow ball form in her hand. She tossed it to Storm, and the moment in hit Storm's flesh, something happened.
Her eyes didn't turn white. She didn't look possessed like Swan. There were some things that Storm would never experience, but suddenly Storm heard.
Whispers.
Whispers of the ancient lightforce past. Where things were hard and challenging, but good.
The first ruler, Queen Seriema. Her silver eyes flashed, and golden hair fell down her back. Fair and good, honored as the best ruler the lightforce had ever known.
Then came the darkest part of history, in comparison to the best. Queen Seriema's counterpart in all ways. Normally, the heir for the lightforce throne was the daughter with the strongest mindforce. This generation was the one exception, the one where only one son had been born.
King Passerine had been cruel and ruled his subjects with an iron fist. From unfair trials to meaningless torture- he had been a nightmare in all ways. Uprisings were brutally suppressed.
Except for one. 
Passerine's daughter, Ibis, planned a conspiracy against her own father with her friends, including a young man named Swallow.
That night, Ibis assassinated her father, ending his reign of terror.
Ibis, being both his only daughter and with the strongest mindforce in the land, took the throne and was a much better ruler than Passerine. (Although that wasn't saying much).
After three years on the throne, she fell in love with Swallow, and they had a daughter.
Her name was Dove.
The images ended, and Storm looked up, and realized that Swan's mindforce was curling off her in tendrils, wrapping around her wrists. She thrust them to the air, and then something broke.
Tiny trickles of black and silver seeped back into the earth, and the small cracks were sealed.
Mindforce was coming back to the land, slowly but steadily. Swan used her mindforce to distract Hurricane's attention, forcing his mind to focus on other things. The amount of pinecones in a tree. The hairs on the squirrel. 
Swan was floating off the ground now as her natural mindforce returned to her, and the mindforces of her ancestors aided her, white and gold ropes sprouting from the ground.
She was only about a centimeter of the ground, but still, she was flying.
"You can do it," whispered Dove.
Storm nodded, excitement and anticipation exploding inside her chest. She closed her eyes like Swan had and listened for the story of the darklings, the way Swan and Dove had heard the lightforce.
Instead of going back to the beginning of the race like Swan, she went back just a few generations.
Cyclone stood over his son, Hurricane. He was furious! How dare he go to the human world- which was prohibited by itself- and fall in love with a human!
"HURRICANE," Cyclone roared. "I repeat, for the last time- she's a human! You can never love her!"
Hurricane glared back, the teenage boy hissing, "I love her, father." He turned the term into a curse. "And you can't control who I love."
"The only way you can be with her," said Cyclone, his voice flat and cold. "Is by escaping to Earth. And no darkling has survived that in the past three centuries."
Hurricane crept through the darkling palace, searching for the Orb. It would tell him how to go to Earth and survive. When he'd parted ways with Starling, he'd told her he'd go to the ends of the earth to find her. She would know he really meant it.
He rounded a room, and saw it. There! Standing on its pedestal, the legendary Soul Orb. It had knowledge beyond comprehension- no doubt it would know how to go to earth.
He closed his eyes, touched the Orb, and let it pour its knowledge into his mindforce.
Storm opened her eyes and gasped. She looked down with delight, and saw she was hovering at least a meter off the ground, and black and silver pouring off her hands. The ropes of mindforce jerked to the right, and touched Swan's, which was pouring off her in the same way. They mingled together, forming a huge sphere in the air, exactly one half gold and white, one black and silver.
And then it exploded, and Storm and Swan dropped to the ground.  
==Chapter 16==
Storm groaned as grit flew into her eyes. What was happening? She rolled over and saw Swan get up and reach out a hand to help. She gladly accepted.
"What the heck is happening?" She rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand.
Swan's eyes were wide. "I-I think we did it, Storm. Look."
Storm scrutinized the horizon and realized with a shock that their mindforces were shooting across the land like lightning. Storm's danced across Umbra, and Swan's on Claram's. Everything they touched sealed the cracks in the earth and rebuilt it. Storm's mindforce fixed the darkling palace, which had been absolutely obliterated fifteen years ago. Swan's mindforce slammed into the lightforce castle and immediately repaired the crumbling tower. 
The lightforce and darklings had at last worked together, and for that the land was repaired. 
Lightforce poured out of their houses, wide eyed and looking at their good-as-new kingdom, courtesy of Swan. Darklings came staggering to the border from the other side, mouths open in awe.
One caught Storm's attention. Hurricane, in his black robes, was walking with all the rest of them. But the insane expression was gone from his face. I guess my mindforce healed his brain as well, Storm thought.  
Next to him was a woman who stood out among the black robes of the darklings. Starling, Storm's mother. Storm choked on her tears when she saw her. Her outline was already fading. 
I did this. I killed my mother. 
Hurricane reached Storm. "Storm." He said gently. 
Storm felt her knees wobble. I think I used a bit too much mindforce. Next to her, Swan mirrored this action.
They collapsed, the life slowly draining out of them.
***********************
Hurricane swore under his breath when he saw his daughter and Dove's collapse. Of course! too much mindforce usage at one time could kill you, and these two had performed the largest act of mindforce utilization ever.
Dove growled and shook her head. She got on her knees and felt for a pulse on Swan. To her relief, it was still there, but the mindforce was ebbing away fast.
"What did I do?" She whispered.
"You seem intent on killing my entire family, that's it," snarled Hurricane.
Dove turned towards him, her eyes blazing. "MY DAUGHTER IS DYING!"
"MINE IS TOO!" Yelled Hurricane right back.
"As is mine."
It was a voice that neither Hurricane nor Dove ever thought would hear again.
Dove turned around and gasped in shock when she saw that ghosts were rising out of he earth, tempted out of their slumber by Storm's and Swan's mindforces. The one they were hearing, though…
"Raiden," Dove breathed. His ghost must have been awakened.
All around them, more spirits poured out of the earth, darklings and lightforce together, watching, waiting. 
Raiden was standing there, his hair caught between brown and blond with his grey eyes. His freckles, the one obvious trait he'd passed to their daughter were as glorious as ever.
Raiden tilted his head. "She looks just like you."
"I know," Dove whispered, choking on the tears.
"She's dying," observed Raiden.
"So is mine," added Starling from the back, the first time they thought of her in recent memory. "But," she added carefully. "I think we could save them. Me and Raiden."
"What?" Yelped Hurricane. "How?" 
Raiden lifted his arm, leaving a trail of faint cobalt blue mindforce in his wake. "We could pour our mindforce into them; that would be enough to save them."
"But ghosts are made of mindforce," hissed Hurricane. "Starling won't be able to stay alive without her mindforce, and you'll fade altogether."
"This is not life, my love, but living death," Starling murmured, tugging Hurricane's sleeve. "So, which do you choose- breaking the laws of the universe by keeping me alive, or saving this young promising woman who has the majority of her life left to live?"
Hurricane choked and looked away.
That was enough answer for Starling.
She looked at Dove, who with tremendous effort nodded.
"Then we begin," announced Starling.
********************
Raiden and Starling's mindforces flared, his navy blue with her dark red. Blue poured down the length of Raiden's arm, and red dribbled down Starling's side. Storm and Swan absorbed their strength, the blue and red temporarily transplanted into them until they could replenish their regular black and silver and white and gold. They twitched and stirred in their sleep, and Hurricane thought he could hear a grunt or two coming from them.
Half an hour later, all their mindforce was gone and lent to the girls, and Raiden and Starling were finished. Raiden's outline was already fading, and Starling's breath was labored.
Storm and Swan got up and yawned, and opened their eyes.
Just as Raiden and Starling exploded into blue and red dust.  
==Chapter 17==
"You know," Storm said to Swan. "I really could get used to living like this."
"Yeah," she responded. "It really is nice."
After Raiden and Starling had poured their energy into Storm and Swan, their mindforces had replenished considerably, and neither was in immediate danger of collapsing into a coma. Storm and Swan both wanted to go back to Earth, but Dove and Hurricane insisted they stay a week or so longer to recover and rest.
The darklings and lightforce agreed to peace and an alliance, although there were still some dissenters, most of them were on board with the idea. Most of them remembered the disastrous events fifteen years ago, and no one wanted a repeat. They agreed to build a universal sanctuary right at the border, where all were welcome.
And now, on the seventh night staying in the new sanctuary, Storm and Swan were going to depart that midnight. Dove and Hurricane insisted on throwing a party in their honor, and neither girl really complained. From the birds of paradise formed out of mindforce to the crackling mindforce streamers that changed colour to the tune of the music, parties here just weren't the same as ones on Earth.
Hurricane walked up to the two girls. Hurricane had somehow transformed into a good guy amongst all this- maybe it was their mindforce healing the land, but Storm thought it was more likely that Starling had just opened his eyes. 
Storm shuddered. Starling was still a painful topic for her. It had been bad enough when she'd realized she'd have a role in her death; but Starling sacrificing her mindforce to save her from certain death? That was another matter altogether.
"Girls," he said with a wicked smile. "We have a human guest today."
"Really?" Asked Storm, genuinely surprised. "Who is it?"
"Someone very familiar to both of you," responded Hurricane with a grin.
Storm and Swan exchanged a dubious look.
Hurricane stepped out of the way, and the woman behind him was indeed familiar to them both.
"PROFESSOR VOLANTE!" they screeched in unison.
Professor Volante grinned. "Hey. I have the impression you're glad to see me?" 
It was a rhetorical question. Volante already knew how much Storm adored her.
"Can I have a private word with you two?"
Storm frowned. Why? The music was certainly loud enough so that bystanders wouldn't hear. But she didn't want to appear disrespectful, so she nodded.
Volante grabbed their wrists and led them towards the hallway in the back.
"You know, that was an excellent usage of mindforce there," she said casually.
"Thanks," Swan said stiffly. 
"You two are extraordinarily powerful," Volante said.
A wicked smile grew on her face.
"Too bad I have to do this."
She shot out her hands, and a teal mindforce shot out. 
And everything went black.  
==Chapter 18==
"Dove?" Asked Hurricane. The lightforce queen was standing in the middle of the room, boredly sipping from a cup of cider.
Dove looked up. "Yes?"
Hurricane cringed slightly. Even though the past week had been one of the best weeks of his life since for once he didn't have to look over his shoulder every two seconds checking for people with pointy objects trying to impale him, he was still struggling with the fact that he was now allies with the woman who had killed several hundred of his subjects along with his wife. Although he was also spending it with his daughter, so that was a plus. But that was why he was worried.
"Storm and Swan should be back by now," he said worriedly. 
Dove frowned. "She could just be taking longer than we expected."
Hurricane snorted. "And since when in our insane lives  has the best case scenario be the one happening?"
"Fair point," admitted Dove. "Should we look in?"
Hurricane nodded. "Best choice."
She sighed and put down her mug. "Let's go."
As they stormed down the corridor, Hurricane's mind continued to grapple with his feelings over Starling and Dove.
Dove killed her. She's my ally. Should I be angry at myself for allying with her or… 
Hurricane swore. Not now. Right now he had a daughter to save.
******************
Volante muttered under her breath. Stupid her. She'd knocked out these two without thinking of how she was going to get them back to Earth. True, she'd done it before, but never with any kind of load, much less with two teenage girls.
She would just have to take the chance. She splayed her fingers and let a bit of her teal mindforce gather in her palm. She breathed into her hand and let the largest secret of the Soul Orb initiate.
Take me to the Academy.
Home of Professor Volante and the students of flight,
I give myself into the Soul Orb and let it have control.
She opened her eyes and breathed. Her breath formed a teal cloud in front of her and swallowed Storm, Swan and herself.
The next heartbeat, they were on the Academy. The wilderness stretching out in front of them, the gleaming Wings of the Academy.
It was almost too beautiful for what she was about to do.
****************
Dove and Hurricane threw open the door to the room where Volante had taken Storm and Swan.
Best case scenario: she was just taking longer then expected
Worst case scenario: she had kidnapped them or done even worse.
No sign of any of them.
Dove and Hurricane swore loudly. Of course, the latter had to be true.
*******************
Storm opened her eyes. To her surprise, she, Swan, and Volante were on the Academy roof. She was sure she hadn't been there before.
Oh, Volante. She was the ruler of the lightforce and darklings, wasn't she? Storm couldn't believe it.
Storm frowned. Wait. Something didn't feel right. It was like a cage had taken over her brain and was holding back her thoughts.
She shook her head. She'd ask Volante about it later. She always knew what to do.  
==Chapter 19==
"Well, this is just the greatest," roared Hurricane, ripping his hand through his hair. "We stupidly invited Volante to the party, she took our daughters to the back rooms and we let her, being the geniuses we are, and then she kidnapped them!"
"It might not be as bad as that," said Dove worriedly, crouching down and scrutinizing the room. "Maybe she didn't kidnap them! Maybe, uh, she just took them to a tropical vacation villa in Hawaii!"
Hurricane snorted. "You have scarred me for life with images of Storm wearing a grass skirt." (A/N, not gonna lie, I was scarred when I imagined that. Please don't,  although probably by this point it's too late).
Dove ignored Hurricane's remark and let a bit of mindforce grow in her index finger. She traced it along the floor, leaving golden lines in its wake. When she'd outlined all of the tiles, they glowed simultaneously and suddenly a series of outlines appeared in the room.
Storm and Swan were there, outlined in silver and gold. Volante was there as well, glowing teal. 
"What is-" started Hurricane.
"Shush," snapped Dove. "We need to watch the scene play out."
They watched as Volante praised the girls over their usage of mindforce, then Swan thanked her so warily. Clearly, she'd noticed something was up. 
"Volante's right about one thing," murmured Hurricane. "That was the most impressive use of mindforce in history."
Dove forgot to snap at him to shut up when her eyes widened when Volante created a cloud of her mindforce and let it swallow her. "Hurricane," she whispered. "Is she travelling to Earth?"
Her question was soon answered when the scene dissolved for a split second and it reformed showing the Academy roof. Her teal mindforce shot out and…
Hurricane's very blood turned to ice when she watched her wrap the girls in teal and rip away their mindforce.
"PASSERINE'S RULE!" Cursed Dove. Hurricane gulped. He knew Dove reserved that curse for special occasions. 
"Is she…" Hurricane whispered. 
"Yes," breathed Dove. "She's taking away their memories."
Her mindforce shot out and slammed into Storm and Swan's, transplanting mindforce. False memories, no doubt. I wonder what lies Volante is making them believe.
Hurricane shot to his feet.
"Dove?" He growled.
"Yes, Hurricane?" The queen replied, a distraught expression on her face.
"I'll take you to Earth," he held out his hand. "We have two teenagers to save."  
==Chapter 20==
Professor Zephyrine Volante gazed with delight at her new henchmen. She didn't know how long she'd have to keep up this lie about her being the ruler of the lightforce and darklings. Hopefully not too long. She would be able to dispose of them soon enough if her plan went as accorded.
"Queen Volante," murmured Swan, her voice completely devoid of emotion. Just the way Volante liked it.
Her eyes drifted to Storm. She frowned. Storm didn't look stripped of emotions like Volante wanted. She looked like she was struggling against Volante's transplanted memories. Volante frowned and slid out a pair of spectacles from her bag. To any normal bystander, they were normal reading glasses, but they were far from it. They were bewitched to be able to let her see mindforce, the way the Mindlights worked, although Volante was reasonably sure that Hurricane had the only remaining one, as Dove's had been destroyed in the lightforce assault fifteen years ago.
Swan was enveloped in teal, just like Volante wanted. But Storm… she was as well, though Volante thought she could see tiny hints of black shining through. 
The scientist in Volante kicked in, and her mind began analyzing the possibilities critically. These girls' mindforces were identical in strength. Why were there reactions to this different? Perhaps it had  to do with their natures- Storm was more rebellious than Swan.
She shook her head. There was no time to think about that. She would have to use what she had. But first, she had to check to make sure they weren't faking.
"Swan and Storm," she said, leaning in. "What happened to Dove and Hurricane after the assault fifteen years ago?"
"They both died," the two said automatically.
Volante tried to suppress the satisfied grin. They were now officially full of lies and falsehoods, and nice and brainwashed. She'd been struggling to brainwash them for a while using the enchantment on the flightbands- their mindforces were too strong- so she'd been forced to do it manually. It hadn't been pretty business, but , oh well. You had to do what you had to do.
She breathed in her palm and whispered the incantation to take her back to Claram and Umbra.
Zephyrine Volante had been introduced to the darklings and lightforce when she was just fifteen, and now, at forty, she would take their land for her own.  
==Chapter 21==
"Hurricane, wait." Dove grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. "Look."
"What?" The darkling grumbled, clearly upset that Dove had spoiled his dramatic departure. He turned and looked at the outlines Dove had made. His lips parted in surprise when he saw that Volante was questioning the two girls. "Well, that gives us some inkling on what memories she planted in their mindforces," he commented. "We are certainly not dead, though."
"We aren't," agreed Dove. "For once we agree on something."
The scene continued to play out, and Hurricane snorted when Volante grabbed them and travelled back to Claram and Umbra. "Well. That's a good thing that you stopped me. Otherwise we'd be on a wild goose chase looking for Volante on Earth. Now we can just stay here."
"We can," muttered Dove, biting her lip hard enough to leave the imprint of her two front teeth. "But where would Volante travel here? This land is so huge."
Hurricane tapped his lips thoughtfully. "I actually have an idea on where she is. I met her before, when she was figuring out how to use the flightbands, and a few times after that, and I learned she is ambitious, controlling and clever. She'll want to use their mindforce to cover the land and most likely brainwash everyone. Dove, where is the place where it would spread fastest and most evenly?"
Dove's eyes alighted. "The border," she breathed. "Genius."
*****************
"So let me get this straight," said Dove, trying to keep her voice even. "You don't know how to drive a plane? You don't have the faintest clue?"
Hurricane shrugged. "I never found reason to learn." 
They were sitting in the vessel that was the one safe haven for Dove, Swan and Storm when Hurricane had gone mad. It had been falling into ruin, and Dove had considered selling it for scrap several times, but after that ordeal, Dove had grown fond of it and cleaned it up, repainted it, and filled it with gas. Now, she was more grateful than ever that she had seen fit to repair it. Before, Hurricane had complained.
"Why aren't we just flying using our mindforces?"  
"Because if we do, then we'll attract Volante's attention and exhaust ourselves before we have a chance to fight her."
Dove shook her head. "I was going to ask you to be co-pilot, but if you're an absolute novice, I'm not sure that'll be wise. Alright, I'll fly this thing myself. And hopefully we don't die."
Hurricane pointed to Dove. "You, queen, are a ray of sunshine."
"Thanks," Dove said sardonically. 
Dove kicked the engine into motion. After a few annoying coughing sounds, the plane rumbled and flew off the ground. 
"Alright, it shouldn't take too long," muttered Dove as she fiddled with the controls. "As long as we don't encounter too much interruption."
Lucky for Dove, the wind and weather were good, and there was only one minor interruption.
Unluckily for Dove, the minor interruption wasn't minor.
Hurricane might not know how to fly, but that day, he discovered that he was prone to air sickness.  
==Chapter 22==
Storm marched through Umbra, her legs moving not of her own accord, rather of Volante's. One message pulsed in her brain.
Obey Volante at all costs.
She turned towards the horizon and realized the border was little more hen a hundred yards away.
Volante's voice sounded behind her.
"Use your mindforce, girls? Make it spread all across the land, please?"
Storm and Swan nodded.
************
"Can't you make this thing go any faster?" Muttered Hurricane.
"My foot is flat on the floor," Dove said calmly. "But this thing is forty years old."
"Piece of junk," muttered Hurricane.
"So? I like classics," Dove said. "Besides, we've been driving for thirty minutes, and we're nearly there."
"We could've gotten here using mindforce in ten," grumbled Hurricane.
"And simultaneously exhaust ourselves and draw attention, neither of which we want," explained Dove as patiently as possible.
Her face went slack when she saw Volante, Storm and Swan at the border. White and black were already sparking around them.
"Neither of which I care about anymore!" Snapped Hurricane. He jumped out of the window.
Dove swore under her breath. "Those reckless darklings!"
She followed him out of the window.
**************
Storm walked towards the border. What was she going to do there? Use mindforce, of course, but how? In which way? Why? There were so many unanswered questions, but it seemed like Storm's brain just wouldn't obey to disobey Volante. What was wrong?
Storm heard Volante behind her, walking.
"We're there," Volante breathed in her ear.
The border didn't look like much- just a line with crackling white and gold and black and silver- but Storm knew it held incredible power. Using mindforce here could cover the whole land, but few, if any, had strong enough mindforce to do that.
"What do we do now?" Inquired Swan from the back.
"Take these," Volante ordered, holding out ten black bands. "Two on your ankles, two on your wrists, one in your head."
Storm felt a strange sense of déja vu, looking at the bands. She'd seen them before- she was sure of it! But she couldn't quite grasp it, the memories slipping through her brain. She obediently nodded and slid them on. She was surprised to discover she knew how to put them on. How could she remember that but not what they were? 
"Use your mindforces to spread the enchantment in these throughout the land," she ordered. 
"Ready," murmured Swan. She ran her fingers through the air, leaving golden smoke in its wake.
It was at that point when the queen of the lightforce and the second in command of the darklings fell out of the sky.  
==Chapter 23==
Momentarily Volante felt panic. What were Hurricane and Dove doing here? Falling out of the sky, nonetheless. She felt the emotion flicker across her face briefly before she reassumed the sneer she usually wore. 
Hurricane got up and dusted his robes, looking surprisingly calm. Dove got up as well, looking significantly less relaxed as him. She looked agitated, frustrated and more than a little angry. But when her eye fell on Volante, one emotion overrided the rest. It was of pure, raw, absolute fury, which Volante had only seen once in her life before, and wasn't eager to see it again. 
"Volante?" Asked Swan. "Who are these two?"
Volante turned towards them and forced a smile. She was good at those. "Oh, no one. Keep on doing it, girls."
Swan frowned, looking defiant for a moment, but soon after her eyes glazed over, growing glassy, and she nodded in monotone. White glowed around her, and she resumed the process.
Dove threw herself at Volante, gold blazing around her. A whip grew in her hand and she lashed at Volante. At the same moment, a black knife came shooting through the air at her.
If Hurricane and Dove had been targeting anyone else, the whip would have pummeled her senseless, and the knife would have killed her outright. But Volante was the most dangerous woman the world had ever seen, and her teal mindforce shot out from her body and sliced Hurricane's weapon out of the air, and Dove's clean in half.
Dove eyes blazed. Volante had this kind of power? She'd never seen it before. And from a human? Even more astonishing. 
"Now you've seen what I can do, lightforce queen," whispered Volante. "And if you try your petty mindforce tricks again on me, let's just say I won't be aiming for your weapons."
************
Storm heard a faint bubbling sound coming out of Volante's mouth, but she couldn't pick out individual words. Oh well. They couldn't be anything bad, could it?
She frowned at the two newcomers, whom Volante had described as not a big deal. They most certainly were, she decided. 
They were both familiar, but the darkling especially so. He was so, so, so familiar- how could Storm not recognize him? The lightforce was as well, though not to a near high enough degree.
She bit her lip. Was she to trust Volante?
Of course, her brain chided. She's the ruler, isn't she?
But her heart said otherwise.
*************
Hurricane gasped when he saw his knife drop to the ground. How? No one in his life- well, except Dove- had ever done that. And this woman was human, and her mindforce was not nearly as strong as Dove's. 
Then he remembered: this woman had seen the insights of the Soul Orb as well. It had given her extra power. For Hurricane it had come in a tiny amount- which he was grateful for, as he wasn't sure what more would do to his mind- but it was obvious Volante had consumed more. 
Her mindforce shot out and knocked Hurricane to the ground. He groaned and tried to get up, but his muscles wouldn't obey.
Is this how it will all end? He wondered. Knocked out and killed by a human? My daughter enslaved to her?
He tried to move one last time. Nothing.
Looks like it.  
==Chapter 24==
Volante watched her new minions with a satisfied smile. Within the next twenty minutes, this land would be hers. 
She turned to look at Dove and Hurricane. She felt overwhelming satisfaction. Oh, the wonderful irony! The great Hurricane and Dove taken out by a human, of all races! 
Her enjoyment was soured slightly by the fact that she would most definitely been beaten senseless by them had she not had the magical aid of the Soul Orb. She'd heard Hurricane had experienced that as well- why had he been so easy to beat? Perhaps the doses of powers varied. That seemed like a likely hypothesis.
Storm and Swan's mindforces now illuminated a ten-yard span. The strength was remarkable. The earth was now painted in light in shades inky and sterling, ivory and golden. 
It was spreading fast. Volante calculated a rough estimate of perhaps half an hour for complete control. A grin curled her lips. After that she could dispose of the girls as necessary.
And she'd have it all to herself, as she'd always had, the beautiful land she'd set her sights on the first time she saw it when she was fifteen.
****************
Dove muttered a few incomprehensible words and tried to roll over. Surprisingly, she could. From the looks of Hurricane, he was completely immobilized. Does Volante think I'm less of a threat then him? Thought Dove. That seemed to be the case. Rude. 
If she could move, could she use her mindforce? Doubtful, but Dove figured it wouldn't hurt to try. She tried to focus it and let her fury pour into it- she thought she could see slight yellow sparks dance across her fingers, but that was it.
"Passerine's rule," she croaked under her breath. Personally, she wasn't even that surprised she could talk. So what if she knew half a dozen spells that could bring Volante down in an instant? They weren't much use if she couldn't use her mindforce.
Volante turned towards her and gave her a mocking look. "The great Dove, taken down by a human inventor," 
Dove was half tempted to try her luck and bash Volante on the head, but she decided against it. Volante would certainly kill her before she made it, although she desperately wanted to do it.
Her eyes closed for a single instant before snapping open again. Her green eyes were blazing. There had to be some way to defeat Volante! No one was undefeatable. Someone could be very, very, very difficult to kill- and that seemed to be the case with Volante- but there was usually a major flaw that could be exploited. 
What was Volante's flaw? Dove knew her well enough from those nights they'd spent planning the flightbands. But Volante had turned out to be the exact opposite as Dove had taken her to be- clever, funny, and kind.
Well, not entirely. She had turned out to be clever. And Dove smiled. She knew what the flaw was now.
Volante was too clever. She assumed others were as coldly logical as her. In Volante's case, she would give up, figuring that she would rather die this way than in the alternative. As a result, she'd poorly researched the geography and history of the land, and Dove's powers.
She shivered. What she was about to do was incredibly risky. The spirits of the lightforce were no doubt drained after giving Swan so much of their power.
But a slim chance of survival was better than none.
*************
Volante smiled. This land would be hers! Hurricane was entirely paralyzed, and Dove partially so. Her mind was already spinning with what this wonderful land would be like. Mind controlled subjects, so she was sure they'd accept her cover story about Swan and Storm's 'accident'. 
She lifted her fingers and let a bit of teal mindforce smoke around them. She carefully aimed for their backs. She let two matching darts form on her fingertips and let them fly.
When they were an inch away from the girls, she heard Dove whisper two words.
"Animo perdere."
The tyrant collapsed, and she would never move again.
At the same time, the darts fizzled and faded, and Storm and Swan turned around. Swan gazed confusedly at the strange sight- Hurricane struggling to his feet after being paralyzed; Dove, an unnaturally bright glow around her, with tendrils coming out of the ground to lend to her.
After a moment of silence, Storm spoke.
"Alright, I'll bite," she said, locking eyes with Dove. "What just happened?"  
==Chapter 25==
Storm felt like her skull was about to explode from this new revelation. 
"What?"
Hurricane and Dove had spent the last half hour explaining their insane escapade. From evil Volante to Dove's spell, Storm couldn't believe it. She admitted she remembered it vaguely, but this was all too much to swallow. 
"Is she… dead?" Storm asked, turning to Volante.
Dove pursed her lips. "Hard to say. She has no mindforce any more since I caused it to implode, but she still has a pulse; most likely she's in a coma from which she'll never awaken."
Storm shook her head. This woman had killed her mother and her teacher. Well, Volante had turned out to be evil, but still. She was finding it hard to digest. But her mother… she would never truly forgive Dove for that. Starling had been everything Storm had wanted in a mother, if what Hurricane said was true. Down to earth, serious, strong willed. 
"What do we do now?" Asked Swan softly. 
Storm froze. Swan had a point. Of course they both felt attached to this land where they were born and their parents ruled- but they wanted to go back to the Academy as well. To home. Earth.
Hurricane hesitated. "You want to go back to Earth, don't you?" He said softly.
They nodded. "But I don't want to leave you forever," said Swan.
"You won't," Dove said immediately. "Swan, you're my only daughter. Meaning you'll be the queen someday."
Storm found this nearly as hard to swallow as Volante's true nature. Imagining Swan sitting on the lightforce throne was both intimidating, awe-inspiring and shocking. But what looked the strangest was that it didn't. Swan looked right sitting there. Proud and good and fair. She felt a feeling in her gut- Swan would be the next Seriema.
"But here's the problem." Hurricane said gruffly. "We can't take you back."
"What?" Storm hissed. "That's impossible. Volante did, you took us here- why can't you?"
"Because," Hurricane said quietly. "We both used the Soul Orb way."
Spotting the looks on the girls' faces, he quickly explained. "The Soul Orb had much knowledge in it," he explained. "But none of it comes without a price. Not gold or jewels or even your knowledge. The Soul Orb is paid with your servitude. Most cost only a few minutes of obedience, but that particular spell costs you your complete servitude for over a decade. My service just ran out a week ago. It wasn't your mindforce that healed me, or Starling- although I admit she and you two both helped a lot- it was the Soul Orb's time limits."
Storm blinked. "What will you do to it later?" 
Hurricane cast a glance at Dove. "You have it in your possession."
She frowned. "I'll lock it up in one of the mindforce specific locks, like the one on the door to my crime records room. That should keep it secure, so this never happens again."
Swan coughed. "Sorry to interrupt you, mother, but the whole trapped-in-here thing?"
Dove frowned. "Is there another way that you know of, Hurricane?" She asked, turning towards him.
"Not that I know of," he murmured. 
"So," Swan commented, her voice pitching higher in alarm. "Are we stuck? Like, forever?"
"Not necessarily," Dove commented. "If you harnessed your own mindforces, there is a small chance you could. Queen Ibis did it once."
Storm looked up. "Tell me," she demanded. "Tell me how Ibis did it."
"I have no idea," Dove said. "I was a little girl when mother did it, and I was being tended by my father that day. I suppose you just visualize it?"
"You don't sound certain at all." Commented Hurricane.
"Ninety nine percent of mindforce spells work that way," she snapped.
He shrugged. "Just wanted to be snide." 
She rolled her eyes. "I will see you again, right?" She gazed at the girls.
"Of course you will."  Storm stated. She could feel it in her heart and mind- this would not be the last she would see of the lightforce and darklings.
She closed her eyes and imagined the Academy. The cool night air. The rustling leaves on the trees. The chirp of crickets in the night. The other students at the Academy. Volante, even.
When she opened her eyes, she wasn't on the border anymore.
She was sitting on the Academy roof with Swan.  
==Chapter 26==
There was a silence. The deep, crisp, natural silence of the outside. Then Storm broke it.
"What in the world just happened?" 
"No idea," responded Swan. 
"Well, it turned out we were both only half human," noted Storm. "We saved the world, less then a week later we very nearly destroyed it, the inventor of the flightbands turned out to be wanting to mind control us all and achieve world domination, your mother killed my mother, my father killed your father, my father went insane and tried to wipe out an entire race, and your mother collapsed a castle, killed hundreds of darklings and started a plague. Totally normal night."
Swan stifled a laugh. "You are the most blunt, literal girl I've ever met, Storm. And that's what I love most about you."
Storm flashed a smile. "And you're the most naive, annoying one."
"Gee, thanks," Swan joked, feigning offense. 
Storm looked down at her watch. She jolted. "What?"
"What's weird?" Asked Swan, walking over to her.
"It's the exact same time as when we left for the land of lightforce and darklings." She said. "But that's impossible. We were there for a week!"
Swan shrugged. "We already know it's entirely mental. Probably has something to do with that."
"Yeah, that's probably it," agreed Storm. "Besides, I think that's the least weird thing we've experienced lately."
She laughed. "Right." 
Storm looked around. "We should probably get back to the Academy."
She nodded. They felt around in the darkness for the ladder. Once Swan's hand snagged it, they shimmied down the long ladder. Once Swan hit the pavement, she helped Storm off.
"Let's go," she whispered, grabbing her hand and leading her to the Academy.
They finally reached the tall black and white building they had last seen a week again, but it felt like a small eternity.
Swan threw open the door, and ushered Storm in. They stepped lightly, trying to be as quiet as possible.
They reached the dormitory hall, and they started creeping towards the girl's hallway.
They froze simultaneously.
For a single instant, eighteen mindforces grew around all their classmates' bodies. Nine boys and nine other girls.
Nine of them were black and silver. The other half were white and gold.
Well then, thought Storm.
Things just got more interesting.
THE END
==SEQUEL==
https://authors-and-artists.fandom.com/wiki/Immortal_Death 
==Extra information by Fennec==
This is set quite far in the future, when new technology is being designed all the time.
This is about a class of kids trying to finally manage to use the new flight technology correctly, for the first time ever. Whoever first gets off the ground will be the first human to fly using just the power of their mind (and some cool tech). 
Water bulbs are these little balls filled with water but with extra nutrients and energy boosting chemicals. The flight students are each given a few for every training session, to give them more energy and keep them hydrated if they get tired out.
The flight technology is five black bands with small metal electron detectors attached to them. There are two for your ankles, two for your wrists, and one for your head. You put them on with the electron detectors against your skin, and they pick up brainwaves and energy from you and use it to create a sort of anti gravity shield that allows flight. The stronger your thoughts, the more e energy is channelled into the anti-gravity shield. Angry thoughts work best.
==Polls by Shrike==
(Note, I recoded this and in the process lost the Hurricane/Dove poll votes. Plz vote again)
<poll>
Who's screw ups were the worst?
Hurricane 
Dove
</poll>
<poll>
Whose better- Storm or Swan?
Storm
Swan
</poll>
<poll>
Which would you most like to be?
Human
Lightforce 
Darkling 
</poll>
==Q and A==
https://authors-and-artists.fandom.com/wiki/Thread:9149#4
==Character Page==
TFOWOS Character Page
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