Gale-Force Winds

Fly, you idiots!

-charter intern instructor

The Winds are arguably the single most dangerous thing in the sky. Instead of storms or volcanic ash, the Winds are just...wind. But they travel at over 200mph, wandering the sky in no predictable pattern at all. Weather forecasters have found no way to predict them, and they're incredibly hard to spot on the horizon - they just slam into you, and you find yourself being dragged through the air by your wings until you're inevitably free falling, with no way to stop yourself before you hit the ground.
Some weather workers speculate that the winds are a result of a massive group of wind sprites, barreling through the air, but it's impossible to tell. No one's gotten close enough to them to know for certain. They're incredibly dangerous to dragons in the air - a flying dragon will find themselves at the mercy of pummeling air currents, unable to stabilize themselves before they die - but, on a cloud, most dragons are heavy enough that they can dig to the soft fluff and sort of hang on until the Winds pass, which should take less than a minute. Humans, however, are screwed because they are too light (imagine) and will get yeeted into obli - I digress.
The Winds generally stick to the Outer Realm and the outer rim of the Inner Realm (try saying that five times fast), which means that the Cities are usually safe from them. Only once have they ever been recorded to venture close to the Cities. It was an incredibly tense afternoon, filled with panic, evacuations to pocket dimensions, and a few stupidly reckless souls who decided to get a closer look. Some of them returned home that night, others did not.
Because of how suddenly the Winds can appear and how dangerously fast they are, they can be incredibly deadly. It's estimated that around a third of all charter deaths are related to the appearance of the Winds. Luckily, if you manage to spot them coming, you can usually find a place to hole down until they pass. If not...well, the monitors are going to have to do some covering up when the ground dwellers find your body.

Type

Natural

Sourced from:
A high school essay written with only half an effort by a semi-morbid student. Student name is redacted for their privacy.