Prologue 

Have you ever been on a family day trip on a skyship ? In summer , you would have probably flown over a forest , soaring high above the trees and across the cold waterfalls . When you flew , there would have been baby blue skies , a gentle breeze and that wonderful sense of freedom . When you flew , there would have been lakes far below , mermaids with their brightly coloured tails and even a school of axolotl’s . You probably got taken to one of the nearby lakes and landed the ship so that you can have a peaceful picnic . travelling by skyship in the summer is like that .

But travelling on an expedition to unknown forests is another matter . You should try a skyship adventure when the winds blow aggressively , the thunder rumbles around you and the sky is ripped into shreds by jagged lightning . You should try being there when dragons attack , scrambling across the hull ready to hypnotise you with their roars and growls – tear the sky-ships inflatable apart . You should try being there when all of the food runs out and there is not even a singular drop of water left in the barrels . Few people would wish that on anyone . Even experienced flyers think twice about travelling eat over the distant , magical forests . No one knows what creatures might live there . Rumour has it that there are thought-bears , mysterious-mermaids and lake-dragons . Few would wish for an encounter with one of the mysterious-mermaids… and most say , that rumours are for a good reason.

Chapter 1

The crowds cheered as the Vaibhavi skyship set off and rose high up into the sky , as Captain Ovid stood by the steering wheel , their smiles lit up with joy as they lifted higher and higher . They were up in the air !

Uki and Leizu peered over the edge of the ship as the exited human beings got smaller and smaller until they were eventually a mass of tiny dots . The Vaibhavi soared over the desperately exited people and their small towns . 

Uki and Leizu could feel the gentle breeze blow in their faces as they waved to the crowd , the Vaibhavi continued going forward and elevating higher . Uki smiled softly as he finally has freedom . Inside , his heart was beating heavily and skipping a few beats once in a while . Is this safe ? What if the flight fails ? 

After a few hours , The Vaibhavi was now soaring over a ocean . Far below ,  Leizu saw many boats and pointed at them gesturing Uki to look at them . As Uki walked to the edge to see the boats , Leizu gripped onto the edge of the skyship . ‘’I wonder if we will discover the magical-mermaids’ he mumbled as he fiddled with his fingers . 

After a couple minutes of admiring the gleaming sun and the blue of the sky started to dim . The moon began taking shape and shone down at the Vaibhavi as icy rain started to pour out of the clouds . Suddenly , the golfball sized hail started to shift the skyship downwards .