In a world full of floating islands, sky pirates, exiled magicians, and Pokémon, peace is difficult to maintain.
Shaymin, kind Pokémon who'd guided travelers once man learned how to fly, were hunted to extinction for their Gracideas: magical flowers...
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The following morning, August awoke in an unsettled haze. Her eyes burned as she squinted, slowly taking in the world around her. She lied upon a thick bed of blankets atop springy grass with rustling canopies as green as emeralds swaying above her. Sunlight peeked through the leaves, and the scattered rays cast a lovely glow on the camp. It was dreamlike with the gentle, golden sheen warming the colors of delicate wildflowers. The blossom closest to her was a stray Gracidea within arm's reach.
August reached for it then gasped. A sharp pain shot up her arm and sunk its fangs into her shoulder. Fire coursed through her veins, igniting her blood and charring the wound below her navel. Every twitch fanned the flames, casting it higher and magnifying the intensity. Unable to endure it, she cried out.
The bushes quivered. A Shaymin raced to her side. Not Gracie, though zie looked like her. The familiar face met her gaze. Privet. He pressed his cheek to her damp forehead and grunted. Quickly, he left her just to come back with a soaked shred of cloth he placed on her forehead.
August wanted to shout. It wasn't her head that ached, it was her body! She groaned, wincing as her raw throat scratched.
"Don't move," Privet muttered, his voice low and worried. It didn't register how she could understand him, and to her distress, he disappeared again. A minute passed. No return.
She was alone. Alone with her thoughts. The images of last night crept back into her mind. The blood moon. The crimson deck. Calico's slashed scarlet neck. Roaring fire had consumed—
Realization struck August harder than any blow possible. It grasped her being and crushed her whole. Her heart shattered, taking the last of her crumbling strength with her.
A flood of tears obstructed her vision. The rainbow kaleidoscope of the bright isle swam before her vision. It wasn't right how merry the world continued on without him. It wasn't. The sky should be gray and pouring rain as flowers withered and trees tore apart. Her grief should be visible and shared with others to mourn this loss. But Caelum didn't comply. It never did. She was stuck alone in a sunny meadow, suffering all by herself as flower petals tickled her nose.
August hated Shaymin Island. She hated it so damn much. This cursed isle had brought her nothing but misery as it stole from her again and again. There was nothing good here. Why did they try to protect it? All it did was end Omar's life. She lost one of her closest friends to a species of Pokémon who couldn't care less about his well-being. She hated them.
She wanted to scream and thrash. She wanted to rip trees from their roots and launch boulders into pools. She wanted the world to be set ablaze like herself and feel the wrath of her agony. But she couldn't. Her body wouldn't let her, broken and bruised and tethered to the ground with crippling pain.
Silent sobs racked her body; her muscles wailed in protest. Her crying worsened. Vaguely, she noticed someone approaching her. Freezing cold hands as soft as velvet pressed something to her nose. It smelled of grass...
