Cyber Mortality

Chapter 53:

Tears leak from my eyes and stream back into my hairline as I fall. My stomach floats into my brain and my spine feels like it will leap out of my body. I close my eyes, force a breath of air into my lungs and then push hard with my feet. When that doesn't slow me down enough, I thrust my hands forward and imagine jets of air shooting downward. After a moment my fall slows and I glance down at the tree line one hundred feet below me.

"Well that wasn't too bad for my first freefall," I grin and propel myself back upward. I rocket toward the clouds, maintaining a wind barrier around myself, and thrusting myself higher than before. I slow once the air gets hazy and the clouds look like a sea of white far below. Up here, the pressure butts in on all sides but it is much easier to maintain a smaller wind barrier and propel a smaller body. The sky above darkens and I feel cold biting at my flesh even through my wind barrier. With the pressure all around I am afraid to even speak for fear of losing control of the wind.

Just as I am about to drop back down, I notice something shining in the distance. A pale speck that could certainly be an airplane, if airplanes existed in CM. I glide downward in a graceful swan dive to gain speed and gaze at the growing dot before me. As I approach, the first things I notice are the towering spires. They must be several hundred feet tall sticking out like horns from what appears to be a castle floating in the sky. A large gate dominates the front of the castle with a symbol that looks similar to a 'V' carved into its stone face.

"That must be it," I whisper against the wind whirling around me. "The dungeon. Yes!" I twirl and spin through the air. I dip closer until I am three hundred meters away from the castle to scout as much as I can before heading back to find the others. As I cross the approximate three hundred meter mark the air shudders around me. A whistling sound pecks at my right ear and I turn toward it. Five shadows dance across the clouds as something circles around the castle in my direction.

My jaw drops as the first beast emerges. Its wings must span a twenty foot length and its beak juts out to around the size of my body. Emerald green scales and feathers litter its flank and golden eyes bigger than my head gleam as they catch sight of me. To it I must look like an M&M that someone tossed for it to catch in its mouth. The air whooshes out of my lungs as I drop my magic and plummet downward. The clouds encase me, and once through, I use magic to slow my fall. One hundred feet to my right I spy a large mountain with a snow tipped peak. If I had plummeted down any further over I would have probably impaled myself on it and died.

I glance around trying to see if the creatures had followed, but so far I appear to be alright. Perhaps they gave up, or perhaps they only venture so far away from the dungeon.

"Oh dear," I mutter as I realize I have no clue where the heck on Hallwyn I am. "If I am at the mountains, then I've gotta be on the east side of the map cause I watched the sun rise over them this morning. So if I go back west I should eventually come across Avenlie and Pappy's bar." I nod, agreeing with my thoughts, before kicking the air behind me. I rocket forward and scan the trees ahead for the town. After a moment I spy the neon lights glittering on the sign welcoming people to Pappy's.

I flip myself over and land in the dirt with my legs wobbling. Gotta work on my landings. I glance back to notice the ten foot skid from my boots scraping on the ground before I stopped myself.

"Well damn," a chipper voice chuckles. "Haven't had someone come crash landing in front of my bar for a while." The large woman who owns Pappy's smiles at me from her front porch. "You look like you need a drink."