Cloud Shifters
Chapter 19: Earth

Cadin didn’t get a chance to talk with Master Emilio on Badge Day. Master Emilio did however, leave an envelope with Instructor Kade. Cadin ripped into it and found two forms on official Town Hall letterhead. The first stated that one signature of release was needed from the Janitorial Department. Bruce’s messy writing indicated that he needed to stop by his office no later than Friday to complete the form.

The second letter made Cadin smile as he read the headline “Notice of Community Service Completion.” A small note was tucked behind the form and Cadin recognized Master Emilio’s beautiful calligraphy. Congratulations on your Badge Day success. I’m sorry to have left in a rush, but we will celebrate at our normal meeting time this week. As you can see, the paper pushers finally completed your official release of community service. Your apprenticeship for school credit remains intact for as long as you would like. —Sincerely, Master Emilio.

Cadin was on a high since Badge Day and happily pushed through the spring mist on his way to Town Hall. Instructor Kade gave him permission to leave school early so he would have time to swing by the Janitorial Department. What should only take a minute to sign a release form would likely take much longer, due to Bruce’s chatty nature.

The last time Cadin saw Bruce was months ago. Master Emilio had lectured Cadin on punctuality due to being fifteen minutes late after the scrawny janitor had made a “tracker interrupter” for him, claiming that it would stop both the Core and the Poppler aliens from getting a beat on him. He missed Bruce’s zany conspiracy theories and was happy he got to see him.

“Hello,” Cadin called as he knocked on the only grubby door in Town Hall. Then he remembered he needed to identify himself before Bruce would unlock the door. “It’s Cadin.”

“Right, hang on!” Bruce yelled. Cadin heard a bunch of rustling papers and a loud thump before Bruce starting on unlocking the many locks and peek from behind the crack. He nodded to Cadin and then released the final chain to allow the door to fully open.

“Added a few more locks?” Cadin asked. Bruce had a thing for locks—he even had one on his old beat up refrigerator in the corner.

“Never be too careful,” Bruce replied, same as always.

Cadin plopped down in the worn-down chair next to the desk as Gur raced down his arm to play with the new locks at the base of the door.

Bruce jumped at the quick movement, but recovered quickly and took his seat behind the messy desk.

“So, where’s this paper I need to sign?” Cadin asked as he stood up to peer at the top of a huge stack of folders that looked ready to topple.

“We need to talk first.” Bruce motioned for Cadin to sit back down, flexing his now shockingly large biceps.

Cadin sighed as he sat back down. “The workouts have been paying off,” he said with a wave towards Bruce’s arms.

“What? Oh, right. Yeah,” Bruce said, as his eyes twitched back and forth. He returned his gaze to Cadin. “A lot’s happened in the months since we worked together.”

Cadin had no idea where Bruce was going with this one. “I guess so.” Non-specific answers were usually the fastest way to allow Bruce to get to his convoluted points.

“You have a choice to make that will change your life.”

Cadin felt a smile creep up his face. He wondered if this was going to be another investment offer. The last one was for a cloud-gator farm that was projected to return three times his initial money by the end of the year.

“Did I ever tell you where I grew up?” Bruce asked. Cadin was taken back by the quick change in direction.

“Uh, no. I just thought you grew up on Glade.”

“I was born on Glade and then taken to be raised by my uncle on a fringe-land. It was hard work to mine the clouds for energy, water, necessities that most take for granted.”

“Why did you not stay here, where you have everything you need?” Cadin didn’t understand moving from an established cloud-land to a fringe-cloud.

“Not everything in the Calvarian System is as perfect as they would have you believe, Cadin. My uncle refused to live in a System where the Core has ultimate and flawed power. The Core has failed us in many ways and you now have a chance to right these wrongs. To help people.”

Cadin felt his body ring into panic mode. He glanced at Bruce and really took in his appearance. His left eye twitched as he stared back at Cadin. Bruce’s physique had transformed from a scrawny janitor to a bulging threat. Even his Aura had changed. It was still white; however, dark purple specks danced within.

“Cadin, my uncle is a great man. He has taken in many that were refused help by the Core. You—we all have a chance to change all of that. My uncle would very much like to meet you and show you his vision for the new, United Cloud System.”

“And how does your uncle plan to unite the Cloud System?” Cadin asked in a voice that he hoped sounded interested. He wanted to keep Bruce talking long enough that he could figure a way to attract someone’s attention in Town Hall. Unfortunately, the Janitorial Department was tucked back out sight from the main hall, and Cadin knew that Bruce had worked hard to sound-proof his office.

“Isn’t it obvious? We need to stand up for equality. Remove the Core from power over angels and the guardianship of humans.” A strange smile spread across Bruce’s face.

“What do humans have to do with anything?” Cadin asked, perplexed.

“Nothing. That is the point. Humans are one example of many that the Core wastes a huge amount of angels, time, resources and even lives on. Resources that could be used for improving the lives of all angels—on cloud-lands and fringe-lands. There would be freedom.”

Cadin risked a quick glance at the door and was disappointed to see that several of the locks were latched.

“You are young, and the Core is all you have known, so you can be forgiven for your ignorance of the wider world. You don’t know the Truth, only the twisted version that they would have you believe. Have you never asked questions that have been brushed under the rug? Have you never wondered why certain time periods are skipped in history books?”

Bruce twitched and leaned forward. “I see in your face that the truth is dawning on you, but you still trust those who have raised you. That’s fair—even a noble quality. You have questions, and we don’t have time for all the answers here. In any case, I’m not the one to answer them. You need to meet my uncle. He has all the answers.”

“One more question?”

Bruce flexed his bulging shoulders before nodding

“What is your uncle’s name?”

“My uncle, Tiberius is the founder of the Tlalocs—ambassadors of freedom!” Bruce was starting to become manic, the purple flecks dancing quickly in his Aura. “Cadin, you must meet him and learn the truth behind the Core!”

“And then what?” Cadin asked, his voice shaking a bit. He tensed his muscles, ready to stand. He desperately hoped that Master Emilio would come looking for him.

“And then what, what?” Bruce asked, looking confused. He rose from his chair and slowly made his way around the desk

“What happens after I meet your uncle? Will he just let me go and return to Glade if that is what I choose?” Cadin let his thought slip out and instantly regretted it when he saw Bruce’s eye stop twitching as his brows furrowed.

“You will not choose the Core once you know the truth! But, yes—you will be free. Free to go, free to stay—free of the lies that have held you your entire life.”

“But they will replace us soon. We must leave now. I’m sorry, but in this you have no choice. You can’t begin to realize what is at stake.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you!”

Cadin made a leap for the door and undid two locks before he heard a sickening thump as pain radiated through his head and everything went dark.

Cadin woke as he was unceremoniously dropped to the ground. He wanted to groan as the pain in his head pulsed, but he held back to evaluate his surroundings. He opened his eyes a crack and noticed that they were in a roughly carved out tunnel of dense cloud-land. Cadin heard a warning horn far off in the distance. A diversion? Cadin wondered. Either way, he doubted he could count on anyone replaceing him in time.

Bruce didn’t seem to notice that Cadin was awake as he pushed a large boulder to the side. Light streamed in through a layer of mist. Deciding to take a chance, he ignored his pounding headache as he tensed his muscles to jump up and run back through the dark tunnel. He made it two steps before he turned and saw Bruce lunge for him. Cadin dodged and switched directions, bolting for the newly opened exit.

“Stop!” Bruce growled as Cadin shot through the hole.

Cadin was surprised to see that the tunnel opened to edge of the cloud-land, and he turned to crawl up the side of Glade. He heard Bruce take flight below him, just as he pulled himself up on flat land. Bruce swooped toward him, but he ducked just out of his reach.

Cadin reached for the clouds but was tackled before he could connect. He heard a screech as Gur raced through the mist, hissing and scratching viciously at Bruce’s face. Bruce pulled Gur off, grunting in pain as Gur’s embedded claws raked his cheek and eye. Bruce threw Gur across the field where Cadin heard a thump.

“Gur!” Cadin started to shout, but Bruce quickly grabbed Cadin to his chest and folded one of his massive arms over his mouth.

“You must come!” Bruce whispered madly. Cadin struggled and almost got free before Bruce grabbed at the back of his neck. Cadin felt the chain of his medallion cut into his muscles before finally breaking free; chain, medallion and blood flew across Cadin’s sightline. Red tinted his vision just as Bruce tightened his grip and pulled Cadin hard against his chest. Cadin felt his right shoulder crush and heard the sickening sound of tearing muscle. Bruce unfurled his wings and squatted to take off. Cadin kicked and punched before being inundated with crippling pain.

Lightning, Cadin thought as he tried to connect to the cloud. The ground shook with thunder as Bruce took to the sky, crushing Cadin to his chest. A streak of lightning burst through the cloud and to Cadin’s dismay, struck his own hand rather than fry his attacker. The lightning shook him for a second as his body absorbed the blow. Soon they were in the air flying away from the cloud-land of Glade, not a single patrol angel to be seen.

The wind rushed past Cadin’s face as he wondered where they could be going. Blood dripped onto Cadin from Bruce’s gouged eye. He knew there was only one place that Bruce would take him now, and he had no desire to see Tiberius face to face. He knew if he did it would probably be the last face he saw. His mind raced with questions, but his gut told him to fight back. Cadin slowly wiggled one hand free and grabbed for Bruce’s little finger and jerked back hard. He felt a snap as Bruce roared in pain and loosened his grip, the blood from his neck and Bruce’s eye made him slippery. Cadin focused and called forth his energy. He felt an unfamiliar edge that he thought was due to the lightning. An idea struck him, and he sent the lightning that he had absorbed across his body like a current. Bruce shook violently and Cadin thrashed fiercely until he was free—falling towards Earth. In his haste to get free, he hadn’t considered how he would escape in the open clouds.

He looked up once to see Bruce’s face covered in shock and fear as he hovered for a moment and then dove after Cadin. The clouds were thick and Cadin lost sight of the dark angel as he plummeted down.

Clouds! Cadin thought as he twisted his body to see what was below him. The next cloud he passed through he made a deliberate attempt to cloud-shift, solidifying the cloud and grabbing onto what he could with his good arm. It worked a little bit to slow him down, but he continued to fall. Cadin vision flashed red as he searched and saw only one cloud left between him and Earth.

This time, Cadin spread out his body and his cloud-shifting efforts. As he felt droplets surround him, he concentrated on weaving the fabric of the cloud together to catch and support his body like a net. And just like that, the falling sensation ceased and was replaced by wetness from the surrounding cloud.

I did it! Cadin thought as he pulled himself to the surface. He quickly retreated into the thin cloud as he saw Bruce’s speckled Aura shine through the clouds above him.

“Crap!” Cadin heard Bruce exclaim, followed by the sound of retreating wings. He hoped it looked like he had fallen into the ocean.

Cadin cautiously pulled himself up to the surface and cloud-shifted a nest that he hoped would not let him fall through to Earth. He felt unsure if he should call for help. Bruce was most likely the closest angel as they were far below Glade and no patrol angel had seen what happened. The red subsided and Cadin felt mentally and physically exhausted as he peered down at the water below.

Cadin woke up and felt disoriented. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep but was brought sharply awake by the sounds of angels talking. He was about to shout out for help when he noticed their Auras and the dark specks that danced within them. He sank into his little cloud, hoping his Aura would not give him away.

“Bruce said he fell around here.”

“The kid’s a goner—we should just head back to the Fringe.”

“How do you know?”

“He doesn’t even have wings yet. He fell to Earth and probably died on impact. And even if he didn’t die, he can’t return to the cloud-lands once he has fallen—you know that. Only fully realized Guardians can travel to the Earth and freely return. Even being this close, I feel weaker. We must be close to the barrier. I don’t see any sign of him. Tiberius will be disappointed, but we have no reason to stay. Let’s get outta here.”

“Fine, but you get to break the bad news.”

Cadin stayed in his cold cloud until he was sure they were gone. He slowly pulled himself to the surface, shivering when he got to the top. He saw no signs of other angels the rest of the evening. With the last of his energy, he cloud-shifted as strong of a nest as he could muster and once again fell back into a restless sleep.

The next morning Cadin woke with a start from a terrible dream. Then he realized that he was about to fall through his cloud-nest and the events came screaming back to him. He pulled himself up and reached his hands into his dwindling cloud. It was a stratus cloud, and not at all what he was used to on Glade. It was relatively flat and not as dense as his cumulonimbus. He was discouraged with how difficult it was to pull everything he needed from it to make it feel solid underneath him.

He searched the sky and saw a small cumulus cloud floating off in the distance at about the same altitude. He tried to summon it, but it was too far away and he was too weak. He didn’t know how long he could even keep passively cloud-shifting to keep his nest, but he had to try as long as he could to give the angels of Glade a chance to replace him.

As he tried a few things to coax his little stratus towards the cumulus cloud, Cadin started to watch over the edge of the cloud. He had never been this close to Earth before, and from this distance he could clearly pick out the humans below. He was in a bit of a shock over recent events, and he watched Earth to keep himself distracted and his spirits up.

“Humans don’t seem so different from us,” Cadin said aloud as he wove the cloud fibers under him a bit tighter. His cloud was getting skimpy, and he knew that he would probably not last another night on it. He leaned over the edge to see if he could replace the playground he had been watching. He was a little further away, but was still close enough to see a cute little red-headed girl that reminded him of Charlie. She was running around the playground trying to hide from a bigger boy with red hair that Cadin assumed was her brother. When he found her—which seemed easy enough as her hiding spots were terrible in Cadin’s opinion—he acted all shocked and she would squeal with delight and run off to another ridiculous hiding spot.

Cadin smiled as the little girl raced to the edge of the playground that butted up to a fence that enclosed a small, lush pasture. The girl must have forgotten about hiding as she approached the fence with a wondrous smile, reaching towards a momma and a baby ‘cow’—Cadin pulled the word for the large mammal from an Earth Studies lesson. The little girl started giggling madly as the baby cow, still wobbly on his legs started jumping with innocent abandon. When the baby cow tumbled to the ground, no doubt exhausted by his displays, the momma cow walked over to cuddle him.

Cadin let a bit of a smile escape at the antics of the humans and cows before he felt the weave give. He prepared to shift what little was left of his stratus cloud when he looked out to see the cumulus cloud much closer than before. The edges were still too far to physically reach out and touch. He reached into his cloud and sent the smallest tendrils out to try and snag the cumulus. He started slipping through his cloud as he extended the tendrils further from the main body until he felt contact with the cumulus. Like a fishing rod, he pulled it closer and closer until cloud met cloud.

He used the rest of his energy to fuse the clouds to form a nice, solid stratocumulus cloud that he felt much more secure on. The evening was looming and Cadin prepared to watch the nightlife of the humans. He had looked up throughout the day hoping to see any rescue angels, but the only glints were far too high in the sky to hear his calls.

Cadin was just as worn out as the previous night, but he found it much more difficult to sleep. His shoulder and head were throbbing and he kept thinking of his mom and dad and all his friends. He did not want to fall to Earth. He knew from the stories that his wings would never develop, his Aura would fade, and he would have to live out a human life, unable to return to the skies.

He was not sure why he could not return, but he knew now more than ever that he wanted to be an angel. He had watched the humans all day and night, and actually liked them a lot, but he was not a human. He was an angel, and it was as an angel that he wanted to make a difference—he was a Warrior Angel!

He felt his Aura flare up around him with his resolute decision. He was now too pumped to sleep, so he climbed to the top of his little cloud to wait for sunrise. As he looked to the east, he saw a small light in the distance headed straight for him.

Cadin held his breath as the light got closer. He was filled with relief as he saw the bright green Aura clear of any dark specks approach him.

“Help!” was all Cadin could think to call as he waved the angel over. As the angel approached, he paused at Cadin’s appearance.

“You are a only an adolescent,” the angel said with shock in his voice and quickly flew to Cadin’s side. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks to you. My name is Cadin of Glade and I was dropped to Earth.”

“You mean you fell?” The angel asked.

Cadin rubbed some of the dried blood from his neck and pulled his injured arm in closer. “No, I was attacked. Please, can you return me to Glade, I must tell Master Sanjen about Bruce!”

“Of course, Cadin. My name is Guardian Vega.”

“Wow, you’re a Guardian?”

“Yes. Perhaps on the flight back you can tell me how you got in this predicament and I can tell you about my last shift on Earth.”

Cadin smiled at the man that had found him in time to keep him from being a fallen angel. His features were so similar to Lep that Cadin started to tear up, realizing that he would get to see his friend again. He was dressed more like a human on a camping trip than an angel, sporting brown pants with endless pockets and a backpack obviously modified to fit between his strong wings.

“This should do.” Vega pulled a scrunched-up ball of fabric and cord out of his pack.

“What is that?” Cadin asked as the angel attempted to untangle the cords.

“A hammock. There are strict rules about what we can bring back with us from Earth. This was to be my one personal item this year. I was near a beach this journey and discovered the joy of falling asleep in a hammock while being serenaded by the song of the waves.”

Cadin had no idea what to make of that explanation and stayed silent as Vega unfurled his prize.

“For a harness,” Vega explained as he wrapped Cadin up, tying the ends to the backpack straps. “Do you feel secure?”

“Yes,” Cadin answered as he felt the fabric around him, his injured shoulder and arm wrapped tightly next to his body.

“If that changes at any time and you feel like you might fall, tell me right away.”

“Will do.” Cadin was anxious to get back.

“Then we are off.”

Cadin looked to the horizon as they began to fly just in time for the sun to peek over the curve of the Earth, splashing Cadin’s personal cloud-land with light.