Crimson Wind

Crimson Wind

Captain Ellie Thorn had always dreamed of reaching the End of the Sky. Not the edge of the world—no, that was child's talk—but the place where the sky itself was said to shimmer and crack open, revealing secrets meant for only the bravest of travelers. All she needed was her ship: a balloon so massive and brilliant red it seemed a second sun rising over the hills.

The Crimson Wind, as she named it, was no ordinary balloon. It was stitched together from the hides of stormbeasts—massive, invisible creatures that roamed the upper skies. The burners ran on star-fuel, siphoned from meteors that had fallen during the Great Rain. The basket was a small ship’s deck, complete with a wheel and anchor, crafted by her own calloused hands.

One crackling dawn, Ellie set off. The townsfolk of Breaker's Hollow watched from the cliffs, squinting against the fierce sunlight as the Crimson Wind tore itself free from the earth and surged skyward with a roar.

At first, the journey was smooth. The currents carried Ellie high over glittering lakes and tangled jungles, where birds as large as horses shrieked at her passage. She feasted on dried fruits and laughed into the endless blue, her heart lighter than air.

But by the second night, the real journey began.

The first trial was the **Storm Maze**—a labyrinth of black clouds shot through with green lightning. As Ellie entered, the winds howled with the voices of lost sailors. Thunder rolled like drums, and twisted figures seemed to move in the mist. Steering was impossible. Instead, Ellie tied herself to the mast, closed her eyes, and sang songs from her childhood to keep the fear at bay.

Hours—or perhaps days—later, she burst through the final wall of cloud, hair wild, clothes singed, and laughter bursting from her lips. She was alive. The Crimson Wind bobbed along, battered but proud.

The second trial came soon after: the **Isle of Sighs**.

Floating high in the sky was an island made entirely of glass and bone, tethered to the earth below by shimmering chains of light. It was said to be the home of the Dreamsmiths—beings who could craft illusions so real they could trap a soul forever.

Curious and reckless, Ellie anchored the Crimson Wind and ventured onto the island.

At first, it was a paradise. The trees were spun crystal, humming with warmth. Pools of molten gold reflected her every happy memory. Voices of lost friends called to her, offering comfort and home.

But Ellie, clever as ever, noticed the flaw: the reflections showed her smiling too often, laughing a little too loudly. They had no edge, no sorrow—no truth.

Drawing her iron knife (the one her mother had given her before vanishing into the Mistwood), Ellie slashed through the nearest pool. Instantly, the island screamed. The glass trees shattered, and the chains of light snapped, sending the Isle of Sighs plummeting earthward in a storm of broken dreams.

Ellie sprinted back to the Crimson Wind, cut the anchor rope with a savage swipe, and soared higher, laughing at the furious Dreamsmiths who tried—and failed—to follow.

Now, at the edge of breathable air, Ellie faced the third and final trial: the **Sky Serpent**.

It rose from a cloudbank like a mountain of scales and smoke, eyes the size of moons. Its body wound around the very fabric of the sky, squeezing it so tight that stars bled between its coils. Legends said it was born when the world was young and had devoured countless would-be travelers.

It spoke in a voice that rattled her bones.

*"Mortal, you fly too high. Turn back, or be swallowed and forgotten."*

Ellie, who had braved storm, illusion, and her own fear, only grinned. "Not today, you overgrown wind sock."

With that, she yanked the Crimson Wind's throttle wide open, unleashing a surge of star-fuel. The balloon blazed forward, the fabric humming with the energy of a hundred captured comets. The Sky Serpent lunged, jaws snapping shut just inches behind her.

For hours they danced—a deadly waltz between predator and prey. Ellie swung the balloon around columns of vapor, dove through spirals of smoke, and even clipped one of the Serpent’s fangs with the tip of her ship.

Finally, when the creature tired, Ellie pulled a trick she had learned from the Old Mariners: she turned off the burners entirely.

The Crimson Wind plummeted like a stone.

The Serpent roared, diving after her, thinking she had surrendered.

At the last possible moment, Ellie reignited the burners with a thunderous blast. The balloon shot sideways, dodging the beast's final strike. The Serpent, moving too fast to change course, hurtled downward and disappeared into the Lower Mists, never to be seen again.

And then—silence.

Ahead of her stretched the End of the Sky: a shimmering curtain of light, rippling like silk in an endless breeze. Beyond it, she glimpsed impossible wonders—floating cities, rivers of stars, mountains that moved.

With a deep breath, Ellie guided the Crimson Wind forward. As she passed through the curtain, the balloon's fabric glowed gold, and she felt herself change—not in body, but in spirit. She had conquered the impossible, outwitted the unknowable, and earned her place among the stars.

Captain Ellie Thorn and the Crimson Wind were never seen in Breaker's Hollow again, but on certain nights, when the sky shimmers strangely and a warm wind blows from nowhere, old sailors smile knowingly.

They say she's still up there, charting new worlds, laughing in the face of every new adventure.