Apollo

Welcome to the world of Arlick, a fantastic and mystical place filled with all kinds creatures and people and a rich history. Our story starts with one of the floating kingdoms, Apollo. A thick heavy chain kept it anchored to the land below but hovered high in the air. It cast a great shadow across the land below and if you were on the ground and tried to look up you would not be able to make out where the chain met Apollo. However as to the reason anyone would stand at the bottom of a chain and look up was beyond the understanding of the residents of Apollo who lived in the sky.

Icarus, a young man of barely 20 didn't come to icarus often. He preferred some of the lower floating island but Apollo was always the center of trade. The island was lush and green and somewhere from the inner rings water came from an endless springs and spilled over the edge to disipate into the wind. Icarus was nowhere near the inner rings nor was he on a popular side.

Icarus, like many passing through floated in ships crafted for the sky. Some used steam, fuel, other used magic and special stones. Icarus's own engine room had a salamander**1 tucked away in it's coals. He didn't even know what it was like to stand on the ground. He only ever traded with other islands and lived his life in the sky. When he was younger he was told sky people could not make it on the land. The air there was impure and would choke the sky folk. He never thought about this much.

Rather the lanky male attention was upon the sky. His hands tightened about the wheel as as slowly drifted towards the lower docks. There where a few b class ships above him, they where twice the size of his Petal, as was the name. He hadn't named the ship, nor had he chooses it, he had simply inherited the cruiser. Petal was a C class as far as any inspector was concerned. He wasn't one to wave around that his ship was heated by a salamander. There wasn't anything wrong with the petal, it was perfect for his line of work which was transportation, however there where times he wondered what it would be like to stand at the helm of a B or even an A class.

Most likely slow. That was one thing the petal had was speed. Since Icarus made his living on transportation speed was key.

The male turned his attention back to the wooden dock before him. It jutted from the rocks, it seemed a slow day only one other ship docked. He reached for a gear shifter, it jutted up on his left from a metal box. It was oriental in appearance, trimmed in copper. He tugged the lever and folded the side fins of the ship in.

"Lorinzo, were docking!" Icarus hollared.

There was a noise from above down swept a small creature. The size of a large cat, It was a dragon. It was a dragon for only a moment, it's scales rippled shifting until no longer was there a dragon but a hawk that swept down to capture the end of ropes gathered by the railing. It dragged the rope to the docks dropping the eyelet of the twine down upon the hooks. The docks hook twisted, wrapping the rope around, slowly pulling the ship in.

The dragon, now hawk landed on the railing of the ship. Once more there was a shimmer as the hawk became a cat. Icarus sighed and peered at the creature. It simply stared back at him. "one form. you can have one form and no more, we've talked about this. Some one is gonna see you and then I'm not gonna have you anymore," he sighed.

It wasn't just the salamander who was his only illegal companion. The little creature was referred to a changeling, honestly Icarus had never seen another and he only knew what the species was called because of his other ship partner.

Suddenly from below deck came out another man. He was much older then Icarus, stout and tanned from the heat of the broiler below. He tugged a dirty rag from his pocket and wiped his sweaty face as he looked at Icarus. "Oh no, Lorinzo iz not goin' with you. No, no not hear thiz ain' a lower islan'. Iz Apollo, royal islan', why we pick up thiz job," he groaned in dismay.

Icarus sighed, he patted the head of the now feline. "Alright you heard the old man, Keag says you got to stay. I'll be quick," he glanced towards the ship on the end of the dock. A large steam stack resting on the back and puffing away. The ship seemed ready to go any moment. It's hull was dark but you could see the freshly painted patches. It has seen combat recently. Icarus didn't want to stay long.

The man stepped away from the wheel locked in place. "so keep the system warm," he informed glancing back at the values showing the pressure on the gear box. "keep the pressure up, in case we got to go."

Keag huffed and grumbled before turning to head below deck. "Lorinzo!"

The changing hopped down looking disappointed as it trotted after the man. Icarus glanced once more at the ship near by before stepping off the ship and hoping onto the dock. He had a meeting to attend.

**1 Salamander

The smallest member of the drake family. They are illegal in the engine of unapproved ships due to their moody nature and tendency to overheat with upset and releasing the heat in an explosive manner.