#floating mountain

The Secret Passage

We were falling. Both of us. To save myself, I had jumped off of the mountain and there was no way I could get back. I was left to the open sky and unless my cybernetic leg had another lifesaving secret it in it, I was doomed to fall forever. And fell I did.

I spread myself out to slow myself down, but I doubted it did much good. Eventually, the Pterodactyl regained consciousness, said, "Piss off, mate!", and soared away presumably back to his mountain. I, however, continued to fall.

As I fell (and fell and fell), I began to notice other floating mountains off in the distance. It seemed the Pterodactyl's nest wasn't unique. There were other land masses that could stop my endless fall. Of course, while that could be a good thing, it could also be a bad one. Land meant I could stop falling, that I wouldn't fall for all eternity, that I wouldn't starve to death or die of thirst, but it also meant I would stop falling and as they said it wasn't the falling that killed you, it was the sudden stop.

But in the end, I decided, land meant the possibility of being saved. And a small possibility was better than none, so I angled myself toward an approaching mountain. As it got close, I began to scan it for anyone or anything that could save me. There was nothing I could see, nothing that could stop my fall. But I did notice something, something that seemed off. With a quick calculation in my head, I could verify it. My terminal velocity was much slower than usual. And with slower terminal velocity that made I would hit the ground with less forse, maybe even gentle enough that I could survive it. Now all I needed was to find somewhere to land, somewhere that wasn't sharp and hard and deadly.

to be continued next week

My hand came loose and I began to fall. But it wasn't a plummet - I was still too close to the mountain for that. It was more like a tumble. I bounced back and forth as my body ricocheted off of the various outcroppings. It hurt quite a bit. It looked like this was going to be the end, that I was either going to break my neck falling down this mountain or I was going to tumble off this mountain and be back where I started, plummeting into the abyss forever. And then suddenly I felt a tug on my hip and I came to a stop.

I looked up toward my prosthetic leg. I was just hanging from it. Had it gotten stuck, wedged into a crevice? I pulled myself up to get a better look. Hanging onto the calve, there didn't seem to be anything for it to have gotten stuck to. And then I saw something, a glint of metal. I wasn't wedged into something. Something had come out of my cybernetic leg, some kind of metal...thing.

Meaning, my prosthetic leg had just saved me! I don't know how or why, but it did! It had hurt like hell when it had, pulling on the joint, but that was better than splatting on the ground, assuming there was a ground in this dimension, or falling forever if there wasn't. Now, all I had to do was get my leg free from the cliff and not fall in the attempt.

I went searching for handholds, something I could use to prop myself, something that would be able to support my weight. The mountain was far from flat, but there weren't any convenient ledges nearby. I did the best that I could and started to pull myself up. I thought I had a good hold and I starting feeling around my leg for a button to extract the blade. I found no button, but surprisingly the blade extracted itself. But as my leg free, I large shadow fell over me.

It was the Pterodactyl and he was not happy.

to be continued next week