The Quest for Onyx (Book 1)

Chapter 22

That night we catch back up with Star, who has composed herself rather well. We keep walking until we find ourselves out of the small expanse of forest and into another field. In the middle of the grassy field is a clump of rocks that looks like a makeshift shelter. We all manage to squeeze inside and we sleep there for the night.

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The next morning a fierce wind is blowing. I can hear it howling around the rocks. I look out of the entrance and I see the grass dancing in the wind like it's welcoming the rising sun.

I look over at Star. She's currently passed out in a deep sleep. She would probably say that we should stay inside our rock shelter. But I gotta get out of here. This small space is making me nervous. It reminds me of when I was strapped to that lab table and I don't like it.

I take one last look at Star and Tiny sleeping. Then I creep out of our shelter and ease outside. As soon as I step outside I'm instantly flattened by the wind.

I regret my decision to sneak out. Abandon mission, I repeat abandon mission! I have to almost crawl back to the shelter.

I sneak back inside and I come face to face with Tiny and Star who looks like they've been waiting for me. I shrink away. This isn't going to be a fun conversation.

"What do you think you're doing? The wind could have blown you away!!" Tiny exclaims sternly.

"I'm sorry, I just don't like staying cooped up in small spaces anymore." I mumble.

Star looks at me thoughtfully "Well maybe you won't have to."

Dare I ask? "What do you mean?" I say suspiciously.

Star holds up a finger "Flight training."

I raise an eyebrow at her.

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Ok. For anyone who hears the words "flight training", I suggest you run away. At first I thought it was going to be fun. Nope. It's terrible.

Star is up in the air above me and I am on the ground with my head stuck in a hollowed our tree stump. In case you guys didn't know I'm not that great at flying yet.

Star is taking great pleasure in my failure. She's trying not to laugh at me.

"Essix the point of flying is to have your head in the clouds not in a tree stump." She teases while trying to stifle a laugh "Do you need help?"

"No I got it." I huff while I struggle to free my head from the hole. After a little while it's clear I'm going to need help. My pride will never recover, and I'm certainly not asking Star for help. "Uh...I don't got it. Tiny help me, I'm stuck!!"

"Hold on Essix!" Tiny says.

After Tiny helps pull me out I fly back up to Star.

"Nice crash. I'd give it a 9.5 on the fall because of the landing." Star said with a smirk.

"Shut up." I grumble.

Star claps her hands together. "Right let's continue then. Time for projectile dodging!!" Star announces.

Before I could react Star starts throwing rocks at me. I quickly dive to the right to avoid the first rock, but I didn't see the second one until it hit me in the cheek.

"Ow!!" I shout angrily "What was that for?!"

"It's called projectile dodging for a reason!!" Star responds while she throws another rock at me. I got pelted with quite a few rocks that day...

This continues for what seemed like forever. In reality it was only about 30 minutes but let's not dwell on that because it was a stressful time in my life I'd rather forget.

"Nice work Essix. I think that concludes today's flight training." Star says.

I flop down onto the grass. "Finally. That lasted for what seemed like 50 years." I rub my bruises all over my face and limbs from where I got hit by rocks. "Wait what do you mean "today's" flight training is over?"

Star tilts her head at me and chuckles. "What?You think one day of flight training is enough to make you a good flyer? Ha please!"

I cover my face with my hands and groan. I can't take another day of that. Even my village army training wasn't this bad.

I promise you though that this helped me, I'm much better at flying now. I'll never admit to Star that it helped though. Today taught me a lot of things like learning to fly in hurricane force winds (or at least that's what it felt like), or that Star has a really strong throwing arm...
The bruises throb just thinking about it.

The good news is that every step or wing beat we take brings us closer to home, and there's nothing I know that's better than that. Well...except for Tiny's cupcakes. Those are truly the best.

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Hey guys!!

Another fun filled chapter down!! I hope you guys enjoyed it and thanks for reading!!

Please continue to read my story and as always please vote and comment!!

Love ya guys!!

------ScarletApollo99 😘