A childhood bond rekindles a traumatized pilot's courage to explore and make a difference, as their friend helps them confront their fears and rediscover their purpose.
(If you want a more condensed version of the events : Story Beats )
TODO: Move this to The Call, and add a bit of intro.
During a routine Cloudskim training session on Trimont’s auxiliary island, gusty winds disrupt the students’ maneuvers. The protagonist shouts adjustments and demonstrates techniques to compensate for sudden turbulence. Families and fellow instructors watch from nearby shelters.
Amid the disrupted training, a fragmented island is spotted drifting in the distance, its irregular movements causing abnormal weather patterns. The Geonomer arrives with instruments, confirming the fragment is a source of localized weather disturbances, but the fragment itself not on a collision course with Trimont - but is at a high risk of collision with Veridell, which Trimont is approaching in the coming weeks.
The Geonomer suggests investigating the fragment to understand what is at the source of the turbulence - as a last resort, they can always extract some of the floating crystal to force the fragment to crash to the sea. It is something Trimont has done in the past.
The protagonist disagrees - he argues there is very little to be gained in doing a survey of the fragment. In truth, he thinks the risks of flying in the unstable weather are too high. They are not, but his past trauma is influencing his judgment.
A young Cloudskimmer volunteers and the Protagonist is outvoted.
The younger pilot returns with sketches and mineral samples, describing ruins and markings resembling those on Trimont.
The Geonomer immediately links these findings to Trimont’s ruins, theorizing that they might explain previously unresolved questions about their own island.
Back from their expedition to the ruins, the weather grows a lot more unstable. The Fragment is still far away, so while curiosity is starting to shift the protagonist's perspective, he deems the situation too risky and demand that they wait for the weather to improve (surely this can't all be due to the fragment? the storm will pass).
This time, the Geonomer agrees and a second survey is grounded.
Despite this, the younger pilot takes off on a second survey to investigate deeper into the ruins on the fragmented island. When he fails to return, the Geonomer persuades the reluctant protagonist to rescue the pilot.
The protagonist sets out with their owl gryphon companion, navigating erratic winds to reach the fragment.
TODO: Expand the action on the fragment. Difficult flight in, Searching for the missing pilot, spotting the damaged skim, entering to ruins, finding the pilot, figuring out the mechanism
TODO: expand repairing/towing the skim (from lesson on his traumatic voyage), setting the fragment falling and escaping. Maybe not use the same mechanism?
Back on Trimont, the protagonist and Geonomer analyze the mechanism and mineral samples.
The findings confirm the ruins on the fragment were shared history with Trimont’s ruins. With the gryphon’s help, they activate a similar mechanism in Trimont’s ruins, uncovering a hidden chamber that eluded them all these years.
Inside, they discover proof (sketches, parts, etc) of an early flying vehicle prototype, designed with provisions for gryphons to assist pilots.
The Geonomer and protagonist realize their world was once far more connected than they imagined.
The protagonist, inspired by this connection and the gryphon’s role, decides to resume voyages to explore and uncover more of the past.
Closing Scene:
The protagonist prepares their Cloudskim for a new journey, the gryphon perched nearby. Villagers gather to wish them well, their excitement echoing the protagonist’s rekindled sense of purpose.