Noone continued to fall helplessly. At this point he had completely lost track of time and had no idea how much longer until he broke through the cloud layer.

His consciousness was fuzzy after having the full weight of the bird slam into him. They had tumbled through the air and Noone used every ounce of willpower he had to grip onto the creature’s feathers before it could fall past him.

He stayed like that for a while, using the creatures body warmth to help him ward off the cold.

Eventually Noone’s body temperature stabilized thanks to the large birds’ feathers. Carefully, Noone gripped a rope which had been dangling from his pack hanging mysteriously into the clouds below. Attached to the other end of the rope was the pike.

The first thing Noone had done when he thought of the plan was to secure the pike to himself. There was much more to the trials, and he knew losing one tool so early on would not bode well for his overall survival.

Noone carefully maneuvered himself to safely dangle from the feet of the giant bird. Once he had recovered some strength, he tied his body to it using the rope he recovered. He didn't know if or when the other birds would attack, but he wanted his hands free to deal with them when they did.

What Noone could not see were the hundreds of pure white terrors which had been circling him, eyeing him greedily but remaining at a distance. They were apprehensive.

A few years ago another human had fallen through the cloud layer. At the time the large bird Noone had encountered was out to sea. Thus, all of the birds in range swarmed the human in hopes of being lucky enough to devour her before one of the others could.

The fight lasted a few hours. However, despite their overwhelming advantage in numbers and stealth in the clouds - they did not manage to harm the girl with even a scratch. In fact, the girl had managed to kill a few of them. She burned through their feathers and caused them to plummet helplessly to their deaths below.

How could they fight that? When the girl released her fire energy the clouds within the area all dispersed and the birds lost their stealth advantage. They begrudgingly retreated.

They faced a similar dilemma at this moment. To these creatures, it seemed this human not only had the strength to kill one of them in a single strike - but also to claim the corpse. Would they dare to mess with such a human? If they waited a few more years another less dangerous human would eventually fall down, and they would have their chance. But it meant nothing to them if they were dead.

If these birds had been slightly smarter, they may have noticed how exhausted Noone was and how tough the battle had been for him - even if it only lasted a short time.

As things stood though, they kept their distance and just observed.

Noone was on edge, a deep frown painted on his face. He watched any movement in the clouds, but he saw nothing. Noone quickly discovered a disconcerting fact he had not been prepared for. After tying himself to the bird’s legs, the change in center of gravity caused the wind to catch the bird’s wings. They opened up to their full length and turned Noone and the bird into something of a glider.

When he noticed this happening - his face blanched in fear. To Noone, any extra time in the clouds could only mean trouble. Having the bird to slow his descent would be helpful as he approached the ocean down below - but right now it only made him into an easier target.

Had Noone not read through the accounts of past coming of age ceremonies, he may have never tried to fight the bird in the first place. However, on a whim he decided to read through Adria's account of what she went through.

He was shocked as Liter’s vivid writing painted her accounting in exquisite detail. She hadn't told him half of all the amazing things she had done during her ceremony!

Specifically, she had killed and fought off dozens of the birds Noone had! In his heart he was a little embarrassed. She was able to take care of so many, and he had almost lost his life to one.

Noone had the idea to fight and kill some of these birds when he read this. But he knew it might not be possible. So, it was a tentative thought at most.

It wasn't until he had experienced their overwhelming speed and power that he knew he no longer had a choice in the matter.

"At least with this, I will be able to save some of the food I got from Porose for a bit longer." Noone mumbled to himself, eyeing the large bird above him hungrily.

During the trial, one of the hardest things was finding food to eat. There were smaller creatures that lived along the wall of the cliffs and in the caves. However, they were scarce, too scarce too survive from.

Noone secured the pike onto his back and climbed up to the body of the bird. Even with Noone’s weight on it, the flight of the creature was steady. Its massive wingspan had no problem compensating for him.

I need to fall faster, if I don't, who knows when the rest of the birds will come.

Noone grabbed one of the wings and curled it into the bird’s chest, sending the creature into a spin as it began to nosedive. He grit his teeth and grabbed the bird’s other wing, curling that one around him.

"So warm…" Noone thought silently. The creature’s feathers naturally protected the birds from the cold of the cloud layer. Noone took advantage of this, wrapping the wings tighter around himself.

The body of the bird stopped spinning and began to dive down. It sliced through the air like an arrow. Their falling speed was almost double what it had been when Noone was free diving.

The rest of the birds looked on. Finally, they decided to just let the human go. They were too perplexed by the behavior of this human, and they knew there would be more chances in the future.