The high pitched chirp and the rapid beat of tiny wings awakens Storm, He shakes himself out of his deep sleep and rises into the air, hovering in place. When Wind, the clan watcher, comes over and calls a greeting.

"¡Mañana dormilón! You're on nectar duty!" Wind immediately has Storm's attention, nectar duty was the best job that a clan hummingbird could get, it meant first pick of nectar and the ability to stretch ones wings. Storm zipped off to grab the nectar packs, made from the stolen cups that the humans would forget to bring in after a long day of work.

Most hummingbirds were not like Storm, or Wind or any of the clan that they lived in. After years of the humans burning away the forests to make room for large greenhouses, and causing the air to become toxic in certain regions, the hummingbirds sought shelter together. They formed clans and retreated to areas deep within the Andes mountain range, learning to use the tools that humans made and assigning jobs so the clan could survive. Nectar collecting involved going out and getting nectar for the clan, as a reward the collector would get to pick the best nectar.

Storm knew just where to go. He had been collecting from a nice ledge overlooking one of the toxic zones since he was first assigned to nectar duty. The whole clan loved when he brought back nectar from the ledge, and he was able to monitor the zones. Even though nothing more than specialized fungus was able to live in the waste filled, burnt down, rotting areas. Storm dodged around trees and avoided the black round objects that always seemed to be watching him. Following his every move, he didn't like those. They seriously creeped him out

When he got to the ledge and looked down, Storm was shocked to see that the metal towers that would purify the air and stop the zone from spreading were starting to rust from the bottom where the humans dumped all their crinkly clear stuff and food scraps. Never in his life had he seen them even gather dust. Nonetheless it might not be something to worry about, after all the humans might replace them. before they were able to do any damage. After he gathered enough nectar Storm decided it would be good to head back, he wouldn't report this to Wind, probably nothing.

After the nectar collector the females would eat, then the young ones, the king of the clan, watcher, fighters, workers, and finally, the librarian. Unlike most hummingbirds the librarian preferred to document everything, from every new law to a trickle of nectar being fed to a baby. She ate last, as a testament to the dedication of recording the living world and making sure that it's stories didn't die out. She spoke to a special metal that would dip and rise to the way the librarian moved her beak. When a beak was run across the indentations it would play back the speech and tell a story.

One of the other clan members came over, it was Cloud. She was a fighter, a fierce one too, and Storm puffed up his chest. "Are you excited for the sun dance, Storm?" The sun dance was a ritual that involved flying with a partner in the blue clearing, which was dominated by flowers that produced no pollen or nectar and swayed without a breeze. "Uh, yeah. Have you picked someone to dance with yet?" Storm felt like an idiot asking. "No, I was hoping to go with you." Cloud felt the same way. "Yes! I mean yeah, I haven't picked a partner yet." Cloud gave a happy chirp and zipped away.

The librarian watched from a distance, glad for such excitement in the upcoming celebration. She dashed away to the blue clearing, the flowers in full bloom and open to the sunlight. Yet She felt worried about this year, it was the sixth year of her life and she still wasn't nearing the end. She would have to look into that. 

Storm meanwhile flew through the air, practicing for the sun dance. It is said that the ritual is the most important of a hummingbirds life, it signified strength and happiness in the coming years. The king was certainly an example of that.

Though nobody saw the king regularly, when they did see him he certainly seemed happy. He was the oldest in the clan, nearing 7 years of age, this was a celebration. For he didn't seem to be aging as much as the hummingbirds of the wild. Storm thought that this just proved that he needed to do well in the sun dance if he wanted to live a long happy life. After practicing for what seemed like only minutes Storm saw that midday was approaching and he flew over to the edge of the blue clearing, Cloud joined him too. "Are you excited?" She casually asks. "I'm terrified."

Cloud giggled at the comment. tumbling over and having to flap to keep herself on the branch they were standing on. Storm inwardly gave a happy chirrup. The librarian meanwhile flew to the center of the clearing and glanced around at the onlookers. "The sun dance is an important ritual that signifies long life and happiness in life. I trust you will all do very well here." After a long pause. "Let the sun dance begin!" She flew off and Storm and Cloud jumped into the air, Storm went first with a series of dives and spins.

Finally he rolls into a ball and comes back up moments before crashing into the swaying blue flowers. He hovers for a moment and Cloud is silent before doing her own dance. Storm is stunned at the elegant swoops and flaps and almost forgets to hover. Near the end he joins in the dance, as is tradition. They swoop and dive and spin together chirping a song as they do. Storm feels a surge of power, he breaks off and rises into the air, he hears a crackle all around him and a boom of thunder. Startled he looks up to see a miniature rain cloud has formed above his head. 

Everyone is silent for a moment, staring up at the crackling cloud and Storm, who appears to be glowing electric blue. Until another bird shouts and Storm looks down to see two other birds with a strange energy. One has leaves swirling around him and another is enveloped in a strange mist. It takes Storm a moment to recognize the latter as Cloud! He descends to the ground to meet her, the librarian watches, and then speaks. "The time has come, this was foretold in the ancient discs." All the birds turn to look at her, she motions for Cloud Storm, and the other bird, Wind!

"The old writing of the librarians before me said that under the sun above the blue three would form powers unlike any other. To save us from an evil unknown to the clan." Murmuring can be heard from the crowd and Storm tries to hide himself with a wing. old writing? powers? an unknown evil? He wasn't prepared for this. Nobody said this would happen. The librarian speaks again "I believe that these are the three spoken of. They are destined for greatness." Too much pressure, Storm thinks. "But what are we going up against?" He doesn't realize he says it out loud until the librarian turns to him.

"I don't know, the discs don't describe this evil." Cloud speaks next. "So we just have to live with this... power? what even is it?" The librarian sighs "You will learn all this later, come to the library tomorrow and I will do what I can to explain." And just like that she zips off, leaving the three to flit off to a secluded tree away from the rest of the clan, who would certainly ask questions when there was no known answer. "Too much information..." Wind speaks after a moment of silence. He looks the most freaked out of the three. "I mean what are we going to do, I can supposedly... control the wind?"

"And I can create Storms and Cloud can make clouds. It's almost like we were named for this moment." Storm lifts his wings and waits, nothing happens so he concentrates on making a storm, still nothing happens. Looking up at the sky he sees a patch of dark gray. Some deep buried instinct takes over and he uses it to pull a patch of it down to the ground, feeling the electricity in the cloud he spikes it outward and makes a small glow of slightly warm lightning. Cloud follows his lead and spreads the patch out across the ground, making a mist. Finally Wind raises up the mist...

"Wow..." Cloud breathes, before them a picture of a hummingbird, in flight with its body pointed towards them. Around it is lightning, clouds, and leaves swirling. "How- How did we do that." Storm flies up and inspects the picture. after a moment it dissipates and the clouds start to rise up back into the air. He goes back to Cloud and Wind. alighting on the branch again. "It's like I always knew how to do that." Wind shakes his head. "We should wait until the librarian can tell us more before we experiment with these powers any longer." He flies off and Cloud and Storm follow.

The next morning Storm heads to the nectar stump, He shuffles uncomfortably at all the whispering and nervous looks the clan give him. The librarian finds him before the collector can get back. "Go to the library, i'll bring you food." Storm heads to the cave and finds Cloud. "Hi..." He says quietly, Cloud shuffles too and responds "Hey... Pretty crazy day yesterday." Storm gives a small chuckle. "Yeah, it was... Something. You were a great dancer." "So were you." She responds with a happy chirp. Before either of them can say another word. Wind turns up. And they all become silent.

Soon the librarian shows up, carrying a tiny cup of nectar, she sets it down and lets the friends drink. Wind still drinks first, then Cloud, and then Storm. The librarian takes a drink while they all awkwardly stand there. "You're probably wondering why you have these powers." They all nod at the same time. "Long ago when we moved here the ancient librarian discovered this cave, when he went deeper he found a large underground lake full of a strange liquid, later that day the librarian developed the ability to record on the discs, instead of sketching pictures on limestone."