[Trade] The Glory of Eclipse Flight

When the sky was this clear Scythe liked to fly without a purpose. After all, her dark body was more useful during the dark hours of night and under the heavy storm clouds. When the sun shined so bright, and the birds chirped so happily, she wasn’t really of use, not to herself and not to others. 

That day she wasn’t alone. There was a whole flock of tropeos around her, flying around, hunting for birds and trying to catch fishes in the river below. Most of them had lighter bodies that allowed them to disappear nicely, like Moss and her siblings, all in shades of green, or Candy, whose golden freckles shone in the sun. It’s not exactly that it made her feel useless… But it kind of did. 

After some time of her directionless flying it was Moss who spotted that Scythe wasn’t actually doing anything besides looking gloomy. The green tropeo flew closer, shining a smile at her friend. 

“You know, you don’t have to pretend that you’re hunting with us,” said Moss. 

Scythe sighed. “I’m not pretending. I’m not planning on hunting. I just like flying.” 

Moss looked skeptical. “Suuuure, whatever you say. But if you want to share a meal later you can visit our nest! I’m sure my siblings won’t have anything against it.” 

Scythe smiled lightly and nodded. Moss understood the conversation was over and flew away, going back to hunting. Scythe was actually happy for the invitation but she doubted she would actually use it. She could go without food for another day or two, and it’s not like she wasn’t used to hunting during the nights. As she said - she just liked flying with the flock during such weather. 

 But when the sun suddenly felt different a shiver went through Scythe’s spine. 

At first she thought it was just clouds, but when she looked the sky was clear, the same it was the whole day. And yet the sun felt different. Moment after moment it was getting darker, as if something was eating the sun, taking away their light, turning the middle of the day into the night itself. Soon more and more of the flock started to realize what was happening. The chaos that happened was sudden and scary, leaving Scythe no choice but to find a place to land. 

When she found a tree branch to land on, the sun was half-way gone. The world turned not only dark but the sudden cold sent more shivers through Scythe’s body. A moment later Moss landed on the same tree, and after she spotted Scythe she moved to sit on the same branch. The two tropes sat next to each other in silence, stunned, as the birds in the sky and the rest of the flock tried to make sense of what was happening. Someone was screaming to keep calm, someone else was talking about the end of the world, someone yet another was explaining that it was clearly because a volcano erupted somewhere and it was nothing to panic about. 

“Look!” Moss suddenly pointed to the ground. 

Scythe looked and for a moment didn’t know what she was supposed to look at. Then she understood - the shadows of the leaves were forming a weird, repeating pattern of half-moons. Scythe was mesmerized by it, opening her beak several times to try to say something. In the end she didn’t say a word but Moss saw how happy this made her friend. 

It didn’t take long for the sun to be fully eaten. Suddenly all Scythe saw was a thin ring of golden fire covered by a dark disc that had the same patterns on it as the moon. And… Could it be? 

“Is it… The moon?” Scythe asked. 

“I… I think so?” answered Moss. 

The two of them watched and heard all the screams and cursings and gasps that the flock was making. Scythe didn’t care about any of it. This amazing event felt like something that wouldn’t happen again. Like something she should celebrate, like something she should be in the air about it. 

And so she did it. She flapped her wings and went into the sky, suddenly full of energy and happiness. 

“Hey, what are you doing?!” screamed Moss. 

“I’m celebrating!” Scythe laughed happily. The night during the day felt like a blessing and she could not stop herself. She had to fly as high as she could! Oh she felt like she could touch the firmament itself! 

She flew as fast as she could, as high as she could, laughing for as long as she could, until she had to start worrying about her breath. She was so close yet the sun was so far away and finally… The moon moved again. The first bits of the coming soon blinded Scythe, who lost her focus and started falling. On the edge of her mind she heard someone scream from below, but she couldn’t understand what was happening. She was dropping, and dropping and dropping, lower and lower, and the sky was so far and the earth so close and she couldn’t…

Breath. She caught her breath again and unfolded her wings. At the last moment she caught the wind and suddenly she was no longer falling. The moon moved past the sun, the day was returning and Scythe was flying through the air, breathing harshly, still feeling a little light-headed. 

She went back to the tree where Moss was still sitting, worried to death. Some other tropeos saw what happened too and everyone wanted to know if Scythe was okay. She told them she was alright and there was no need to worry. She was just a little bit stunned and her eyes hurt, that’s all. 

That night she went to Moss’ nest and had a big meal with all the other tropeos nesting in that place. She was still hurting, she knew her eyes wouldn’t recover quickly, but she felt at peace. That experience was weird and like a dream but she knew it would stay with her forever.