I dream of flying, of rushing through the air with the wind against my face. The pure freedom that been up and in the air, able to do anything with the world below my feet and all the possibilities just beyond my fingertips. I'll never be able to fly, it's not my power, not my ability. The wind against my face is different, it's not even wind, rather water flowing easily over my skin as I dive deeper into the lake.
I have no problem breathing, it's easy to flow through the water. I'm able to feel and see almost everything around me, the fish and the small otter that's peering in curiosity down at me. I'm at home in the water as on land, even more so, but I long to fly, long to feel the air against my face and see the landscape beneath me as I soar overhead.
Instead I fly through the water and easily shift my body down and up, collecting the oysters and pearls off the sandy base of the lake. It's my job, my job is to find the treasures that lay below the surface of the lake. Below the sparkling surface that often gave off the illusion of safety and calm to the youngest children around the area. The illusion that had drawn me in once when I was much younger, that had led to the discovery of my ability.
It had been a sunny day, rather warm and generally all around pleasant. I had been much younger, maybe around seven and had been with my older sister. We'd been told to avoid the lake front, we weren't allowed anywhere near the water. There was a monster in the lake the adults had told us, but we didn't care back then. The day had been warm, the water cool and soothing as we played bare footed at the edge in the wet sand.
I had seen something glittering in the water and ignoring the others around me and my sister's calling I had dived for it. At first I hadn't even registered that I was beneath the water, instead curiously examining the strange silver object that had caught my eye, that had drawn me in. I'd never been swimming before, but it came to me as easily as breathing did. I could easily twist around in the water and drift, it was the most amazing thing that I'd ever felt before.
Of course, there had been a reason that we'd been told to avoid the water. The creature had caught me by surprise and yanked me further into the lake deeper, until I couldn't see the light from the surface any more. I was still able to breath and the pressure hardly bothered me, but the surprise caused me to freeze and offer absolutely no trouble to the creature. I wouldn't even know how to explain it now, looking back I recall it been much more amazing than anything else, a huge canine like creature with many mobile tentacles that it could use to grab things and the fact that it simply seemed curious to my childish mind.
“Who are you?” I had asked curiously, surprising it due more to my ability to speak under the water rather than my fearlessness. I don't recall whether it actually answered me, but it did end up releasing me and allowed me to explore it's world. I found out that it was simply curious and it soon after became one of the main defenders of our home. I still visit it some times, but mostly I ignore it's presence unless it wants me for something.
I still look up at the sky and wish to fly though, it's always been my dream. As a young child before I discovered my ability in the water I would often tell stories of what I would do once in the air, how I would swoop down and steal the hat from our leader. How my sister would finally see me as something more than her annoying younger sibling. I still dream that, I still want to be able to rush through the air and soar above the heads of everyone else. Like Mike could...
Mike was my twin. He was the greatest twin or brother that anyone could have. He was always able to make me smile and cheer up the rest of the community. He was so carefree and light hearted. Able to fly since we were little, we were both around three probably when he discovered his ability, we'd wandered a bit close to the cliffs edge and Mike had fallen. Our sister had come running over so fast that I was almost certain that she'd teleported. She'd grabbed me and dragged me back from the edge while shouting for Mike, I'd seen him fly up and he laughed gleefully at us waving happily.
Mother had scolded him for worrying her so much. She'd smiled and praised him for finding his ability before taking our sister outside of the room. “One day I'll fly too!” I had told Mike and he'd grinned at me before laughing. He'd practice flying almost daily after that, our father watching him with a careful and worried eye. It was horrible when the land dragon had attacked.
We were five and our sister was watching us that day, father had been called to the fields due to an anomaly. Mother was sick at home but me and Mike had simply wanted to play. The ground had shaken as we played around the cliffs edge, our sister making sure that we didn't cross the line. We'd stopped when a scream had come from our home and ran there as fast as we could, Mike in the air because he'd jumped up startled.
I had been the last one to arrive having tripped and landed in a hole. Half of the community was gone, smashed under giant rocks that hid our homes from view. The other half was in confusion with people dragging others from the rubble. My sister had spotted me and grabbed me by the arm dragging me down under an overhang of rock. Mike had been screaming, I couldn't understand what was going on and clung to my sister with my eyes closed.
When everything calmed down I asked “Where's Mike? Mother? Father?” My sister had remained quiet and we'd eventually met up with the leader who had apologised. The leader had handed us twin pieces of red cloth and my sister had knelt down beside me.
“They're in a better place... they'll always be watching us though” she'd told me as she tied the cloth around my forehead. I don't think that I ever fully understood the meaning of what she'd said until recently. I had never seen the creature that had destroyed our home, our community. We'd left shortly afterwards and ended up at the lake's edge.
I still dream of flying, even as I glide easily through the water. I still dream of flying, because maybe if I am able to fly, then I can fly high enough to see them again.
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