|:|CotHS [Story: (Ch 2 part 3) A Long Way To Fall]|:|

Instructions

Void was awoken by a paw to his shoulder when the sky was dark and Moonstone’s moon was high in the sky. He looked over and saw Cobalt. Her large wings were illuminated by the light of the moon and cast a shadow down over Void’s dark black fur. Void’s gaze fell to his paws. “Why didn’t you tell me” He whispered to his mother. “Why didn’t you tell me about the flight test” His claws dug into the stone beneigh him. “Why didn’t you tell me anything?! Why didn’t you tell me that I was going to die?!” Void looked into Cobalt’s yellow eyes, and found them filled with sadness. “Because I don’t want to have to believe this is your fate myself” She answered. Silence fell over the two, as Void’s eyes looked at anywhere but Cobalt. “I don’t understand…” He whispered, fighting back more tears. “Why can’t I live here in Airborne? Why is it that because I can’t fly, that I have to leave?” Silence fell over Void and Cobalt again. It was still and quiet, with only the faint sound of the wind and owls acting as their ambience. “This law was not always in place” Cobalt’s words broke the silence, and Void once again looked back up at her. “Airborne has had the flight tests since the dawn of the Empires, but it wasn’t until 300 years ago that the exile of all those flightless after their 10th birthday came to be” Cobalt extended her paw, and after some hesitation, Void took it. Pretty soon they were both in the sky, Cobalt carrying her son on soft sturdy wings as they flew through the night sky. “A flightless Airborne by the name of Fallen became the Alpha. She had lived only because she had stayed in a house low near the valley, where she could climb to without falling to her death. These mountains are a dangerous deadly place to those who can’t fly, which is the gift that protects us from other Empire and the curse that lead to the death of Alpha Fallen. When she had plummeted to her demise off a tall cliff, she left us with no successor.” Void listened to his mother’s words as they flew through the cloudless night. There was something calming about it, despite the tragic tale in Airborne history Cobalt was recounting. “Thankfully, Airborne did not fall to chaos that the veils did when they lost their Alpha thousands of years prior. They were quick to appoint a temporary ruler from one of the council members, until the gods had chosen another. The Empire was at peace, but many began to worry that if a flightless Airborne was chosen again, history would repeat. So, the temporary Alpha ordered the purge of all flightless Airbornes from the empire, and made a rule passed unanimously by all the current members of the council that any Falline who cannot fly during or after the events of their flight test, will be banished from the Empire.” Cobalt finished her story as they landed in front of their home, and Void was set down. She sighed, folding her wings at her sides and shaking her head. “During times of fear, Fallines will do anything to feel safe Void. Even if what is done is not right.” Cobalt disappeared though the entrance of their home, while Void sat outside in the place that Cobalt had set him down. His feathers swayed in the gentle breeze that whisked by the cliffs, and he stared out into the horizon of rocky peaks Society was so broken, and yet no one saw it. No one did anything at all to fix it Void curled his claws into the rocks below him ‘I guess I’ll just have to be the first’