The mountain stretched high above him, seeming to issue a dim challenge. Climb me, it whispered from somewhere within the deep recesses of the stone. Climb me…
The boy glanced around himself at the dirty valley floor. Grey dust settled over the gravel and rocks that lined the wide passage between these mountains. The air stank of fire and ash and the sun barely shone behind the high peaks as it cast shadows against the cold granite. This was all he’d ever known, but heaven only knew that there was no reason to stay. Anything was better than this dismal valley.
Looking up again, he ran his eyes along the smooth lines of the high snowy peaks. The tops cut jaggedly into a clear blue sky. That blue seemed so solid, so tangible. For a moment, he swore that if he reached up he could touch it.
He spread his wings nervously as he stared ahead at the steep mountain slopes. They were magnificent things, these wings; rows upon rows of brilliant silver feathers with black flecks scattered throughout the fibers. Full-spread they stretched nearly seven feet from tip to tip.
Climb me… the mountains murmured again and now mingled in with it was a call from the sky: Learn to fly.
He’d heard their call so many times. Three times before he’d started and turned back, afraid of what would happen if he climbed to high. Today he’d made his choice. He couldn’t stay here any longer and so he chose to climb.
Swallowing, he stepped forward and grasped the first stone in the steep sides of the mountains. The rock was cold and hard against his palm, coated with a small layer of dust. He ran his fingers over it gently, wiping away the dirt and sand and pulled himself up. The next handhold was just above it his left hand and he barely had to reach for it before it his palm was pressed tightly against and he was rising just that little bit higher.
He grinned suddenly at the ease of it all. True the stone was cold and sharp in places, and the peaks seemed to grow farther away with every move, but so did the valley floor. Every move brought him higher and soon he could barely smell the ash. The very stone in front of him seemed transformed and all it took was a single glance down to show him just how far he’d come.
He laughed aloud, his voice echoing off the cliffs around him as he grasped another ledge, his wings spread out for balance. The fresh clean air filled his lungs and the breeze danced around him, tugging gently at his clothes and wings, lightly brushing through his hair. Silently, he dared someone to tell him he wasn’t invincible.
Without warning his foot slipped. His fingers grasped desperately at the stones before him as he began to fall, scraping against the rocks. He caught hold of a small ledge in the mountain’s side. His body jerked and the air was knocked from his lungs as he collided with the stone, flattened against the slope.
Glancing at the empty air beneath his feet, he shut his eyes tightly. The blood seeped from the scrapes on his arms and hands, trickling slowly down his skin and mingling with his own sweat. The wind grabbed at his clothes and wings, trying to lift him off the mountain. Struggling to keep hold, he shifted his hands, trying to get a better grasp.
The ledge had grown slick under his fingers, stained crimson with his blood. He shifted his hold, trying to pull himself up. One hand slipped and he crashed against the side of the mountain again. He scrambled to grab hold again, but it was too late.
He plummeted. Crying out, he collided with the mountain, continuing down. He tumbled through the stone and gravel, rocks striking his back and limbs, slashing through the skin. The torture seemed to last an eternity. The stones bruising and cutting into his flesh. One wing snapped, sending shooting pain up his spine. Dust filled his eyes and mouth and finally, he rolled to a stop.
He lay for a long time, nestled against the cold, hard valley floor, hardly daring to breathe as he stared blankly at the sky. One crumpled wing rested under him, while the other splayed off to one side, unharmed. The dust stung the scrapes and wounds that ran along his arms and legs and his head throbbed.
Learn to fly, the sky whispered over and over to him a he laid motionless on the ground, it’s message unchanged.
Slowly, he closed his eyes, wrapping his uninjured wing around himself. He had fallen. He had broken. Invincibility would never be his, and flying was simply impossible.
Climb, the mountain pressed, no longer giving a simple encouragement, but blatantly ordering him.
He covered his ears. “No,” he whispered, clenching his jaw against hot tears.
The daylight faded, the sun casting long shadows along the valley as it set behind the high peaks of the mountains. Somewhere deep in the valley, a fire blazed and the smell of ash permeated the air more fully. The cool evening breeze swept through the passage, sliding around rocks and stirring the dust as the moon shone from somewhere high above.
She stepped slowly across the valley, the heels of her boots tapping lightly against the hard stone floor and her head held high. Kneeling beside him, she placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.
“Gustave?” she whispered. There was something soothing about her voice, something altogether lovely.
He turned over slowly, wincing as he stretched the newly formed scabs with his movements. She looked down at him in pity, a soft smile playing over her lips.
“Get up,” she told him.
He glanced at her proffered hand in confusion before looking up at her again. Soft brown curls framed a round, smiling face with long-lashed dark eyes. Large, feathered wings stretched out behind her head, black where they met her shoulders and slowly fading to white at the tips.
“Sera?” he asked quietly.
Her smile widened at his recognition. “Come on.”
Slowly, he accepted her hand and she pulled him to his feet. His eyes widened a little in surprise at her strength and even more as he found that he could stand. She gently inspected his arms and hands, running her fingertips over the scabs and dried blood.
“How’s your head?” she murmured. She ran her thumb across a bruise on his forehead.
“I feel like I just got run over by a train,” he told her darkly.
She laughed quietly, slipping around behind him to feel along his wings. He jumped as she pressed against the point where the wing had cracked and bent out of shape.
“Hold still,” she murmured, touching his shoulder to calm him. Swiftly, she took hold of the wing and snapped it back into place. He stumbled back, gasping as he turned wildly to face her.
She laughed again. “Calm down, Gustave.”
“What did you do?” he demanded, staring at her as he put one hand over his wing, feeling along the bone.
“It wasn’t broken,” she told him simply. “It was just disjointed.” He took a few steps further back, flexing the wing experimentally. It hurt, but not much.
Slowly, she sat down, her back against the mountain as she watched him. “Where are you going?” she asked humorously from the shadows, a tiny hint of the moonlight shimmering in her eyes.
He stopped, eyeing her suspiciously. “It is Sera, isn’t it?” he asked.
She looked down, biting back a smile. “Who else would I be?” she questioned. She stood again, turning around slowly to display her full wings and black, wrap-around dress.
He stepped closer, touching her sleeve as he looked her over. There was something different about her. Her smile seemed more genuine, and there was more behind her eyes then there ever had been before.
“Trying to see if I’m real?” she chided. “Is that how you greet old friends?”
He broke into a smile suddenly as well, wrapping her in a hug. Sera laughed, sliding her arms around his neck as he picked her up and spun her around. When he finally put her down, she took his hand and led him further into the valley, stepping past small fires as they burned and into a cave set deep in the rock.
They made their way all the way to the back before Sera stopped, lighting a candle and setting it on a ledge. The dim, flickering light delicately illuminated the cave, reflecting off the wax of other candles spread throughout the rocks.
“Light them,” she told him quietly, handing him a small box of matches.
He paused, looking at her skeptically.
“Please,” she added, smiling. He took the matches from her and did as he was told, slowly lighting every candle in the room until the entire cavern and the flame flickered along the uneven stone walls.
“Done,” he said, turning back toward her. He froze. She was gone. “Sera?” A hint of urgency had crept into her voice. “Sera?” Running back toward the front of the cave, he glanced from side to side.
“I’m right here,” she told him good-naturedly, coming out from another room behind him holding a jar filled with a pale yellow cream. She took his hand, leading him back into the candlelight and seating him on the floor. Dipping her fingers into the cream she spread it over her hands and she knelt and began rubbing it into the scrapes and cuts on his arms.
He watched her for a moment, shaken by her brief disappearance before relaxing under her touch. He settling back, enjoying the coolness of the cream, the warmth of her hands and the lack of pain after she had applied them to his wounds.
“Where did you go?” he asked quietly.
Sera glanced up at him. “Just into the other room, silly.”
“No…” He stopped her, taking hold of her hands. “I mean, before. I haven’t seen you in…” He paused, trying to remember just how long it had been. “Forever,” he continued thoughtfully. “Where did you go?”
Sera sat back on her heels, looking at him. “To the top,” she answered simply. She brushed his hands aside and resumed her work, gently massaging the cream into his skin.
“All the way?” he asked, dumbstruck. “How?” He tried to block out the images falling off the cliff, of his fingers slipping slowly off the rock. How could she have done it when he couldn’t?
“The same way you will,” Sera told him calmly. “By climbing.”
He opened his mouth to respond, but she stopped him with a quiet smile. “Get some sleep.” Tossing blanket at him, she left, going into the other room to get some rest of her own.
The next morning she shook him awake, that radiant smile still playing across her lips. “Wake up, Gustave,” she whispered.
He sat up slowly, looking at her. For just a moment he could have sworn it had all been a dream: her coming, the candles, the cave and the soothing cream. Yet, here she was.
“Come on,” she told him, taking his hand and pull him upright. Once again, he was surprised at her strength. She seemed so small as he looked down at her. Even with her heeled boots she was a good four inches shorter than he was.
Sera held his eyes only for a moment before pulling him out into the daylight. Here and there, small fire still burned, lacing the air with smoke and spreading ash over the ground. She ignored them, striding away quickly as she made her way toward the place she had found him.
He eyed the fires nervously, watching as the air from their wings made them flicker and then moving away as they came back higher than before. Holding tight to her hand, he hardly noticed where they were until she stopped and pointed to the mountain, to the same place where he had begun to climb before.
“Climb,” she told him, turning to give him her full attention. The mountain seemed to echo the word behind her. Climb.
He swallowed and took a step back, looking back and forth between Sera and the mountain. “I can’t, Sera,” he murmured.
She laughed uneasily. “Why not?”
He looked at the high peaks, his stomach turning as he remembered the stones and the way they hurt.
“You were gifted wings,” she pressed. “Why won’t you use them?”
Learn to fly.
He shot a look at the sky, taking another step back as he turned back toward her. “I fell,” he said, agitated.
Sera followed after him slowly, holding his gaze steadily. “You tried,” she corrected. “Try again.”
He stopped, hitting the mountain behind him. “No. I failed.”
“Who’s to say?” she questioned.
“Did I make it to the top?” He nodded toward the snowy peaks, but she didn’t turn to look.
“No,” she replied.
“Then I failed,” he spat.
“No, you didn’t. You tried, you fell and now it’s time to get back up again.” She took his hand and tried to lead him back to the first handhold.
Violently, he shook free. “No!”
Sera froze, her eyes widening.
“I fell! I can’t do it!” he told her. “Don’t you get that?”
“But you can,” she insisted, her voice level.
“No!” He gripped her by the shoulders, turning to press her up against the stone wall. Her eyes grew larger and every shred of her smile slipped from her face.
“I can’t, Sera!” he shouted, his voice shattering the silence of the valley. “I fell. I can’t make it all the way to the top! It’s impossible for me! You can’t ask me to! I fell. You don’t know what it’s like to fall, do you? It hurts, Sera! And you can’t understand just how much it hurts!” Gustave stopped, biting his lip as he noticed the look on her face and the tone of his own voice “I fell…” he finished fiercely.
She took a deep breath, eyeing him fearfully. “So did I,” she whispered, near to tears.
In the bright sunshine, he noticed the scars that criss-crossed the skin on her arms and shoulders for the first time. Now faded with age, they scratched a malevolent pattern across most of her skin, stopping as they peaked out from under the neckline of her dress. He swallowed. There were more than he could count. How many times had she fallen?
Releasing her suddenly, he backed away.
Sera looked down, crying silently. “You can say that I don’t understand, Gustave. But I do. You fell once. I can’t even count how many times I’ve fallen. You fell from there.” She pointed to a place barely fifty feet above their heads. “You can’t even see the places I’ve fallen from at this distance.” She paused and the tried to laugh. “I really did break. You should be thankful you only knocked a wing out of joint. I came back for you because I wished that someone had come back for me.”
“Sera…” he whispered, unsure of what else to say. “I can’t… I just can’t.”
“Do you want to stay here?” she asked venomously.
“Sera, please,” he said pleadingly. “Please, understand…”
“Be my guest.” She spread her wings and then she was gone, shooting off into the sky toward the peaks. He stared after her, eyes wide. She’d flown.
The fires in the valley raged that night, filling the air with their smog. He struggled to find his way back to the cave, but even that didn’t shield him from the stink and the smoke that flooded his lungs. Lighting the candles, in hopes that the light would sooth him, he only found that it clarified the edges and the thickness of the smoke.
He huddled on the floor, his back to cold stone wall. She had made it to the top.
The breeze swept through the cave, whistling through a crack in the wall and adding to the howl of the wind in the valley. He wrapped his blanket closer around his shoulders, bending his wings around him to try to block out the wind. It was still cold.
She had flown.
Slowly, he stepped out of the cave, turning to put his back to the freezing wind. He made his way along the valley floor, stopping as he came to the spot where he had failed before.
“You tried,” Sera corrected in his memory.
He coughed as the smoke caught in his lungs and then closed his eyes and grabbed hold of the rock. Without even thinking, he pulled himself up, opening his eyes only to find the next handhold and rise further. He didn’t laugh. He didn’t look down. He simply pulled himself further and further into the cliffs, his wings tucked tightly against his back so that they wouldn’t catch in the wind.
It seemed like hours before he found a place to rest: a large outcropping in the rock with a level platform. He lay down on the rock, breathing heavily. Slowly he sat up as the realization flooded over him. He could breathe. There was no smoke here, no ash.
Gripping the ledge tightly, he peeked over the edge, staring in shock at how far he’d come. He couldn’t even see the valley floor through the smog, though the fires glinted, tiny stars embedded in the earth that had seemed pillars of fire from where he had been before. There he had heard them crackling and roaring to the point it was almost deafening. Here, there was pure silence.
Well, almost pure silence.
He turned, watching her as she came to sit beside him, looking down at the fires as well. “I hoped that you would come,” she said quietly, tears still shining in her eyes.
“It’s so far,” he said, staring down below him.
Sera glanced down over the path, remembering climbing it herself not too long ago. “But it’s not too far.” She got up, grasping his hand. “Let’s go.”
Gustave rose to his feet, meeting her gaze. “You’re coming with me?”
Sera nodded. “I came back for you. I’m not leaving you behind.”
He smiled, tightening his grip on her hand. “Then let’s go.” Slowly, her smile returned and she wrapped him in a hug, burying her face in his shoulder. She withdrew quickly and then started up the cliff, setting her feet and hands firmly, as if she’d been there a million times before.
They climbed for hours, the sun rising slowly behind them as it faded into the early morning hours. Stopping frequently, they made their way up the mountainside, Sera only a step or two ahead of Gustave, with the heels of her boots always within his sight to remind him that he was not alone.
The sun beat on their backs, its heat competing with the cool mountain air. Before long, he could feel the sweat on his palms and fingers and his hands began to slip. Suddenly, his foot slid off the stone and he shot downward. Suddenly he jerked to a stop, barely a three feet down from where he had been.
He looked up where Sera’s fingers were wrapped around his wrist. She hung by one hand, her wings gently beating to keep herself upright, her eyes focused on him.
“Get your footing again,” she told him, bringing him nearer to the cliff face.
He swallowed. “Why can’t we just fly to the top?”
“No,” she told him, shaking her head sadly. “I can’t carry us both.”
He stared ahead and the jagged rocks, the unfeeling mountain. “What’s up there?” he demanded finally. “What are trying to get to?”
“You’ll see,” was all she would answer. “Take hold again.”
Taking a deep breath, he grabbed onto the rock and she released him. Slowly, resolutely, they continued on.
He slipped again, and again, and again before they made it to the top. Each time, she caught him, and each time he asked what they were aiming for. Each time, she refused to answer. The hours passed, and the sun began it’s descent through the sky.
The horizon was already turning a vibrant pink and violet, fading into navy blue as it crossed the sky when the finally reached the peak. Soft layer of snow padded their footsteps and clouds concealed the landscapes below. He gathered his wings about him for warmth, looking around at his pure white surroundings.
There was nothing. Just the snow that crunched under their heels, a mist that concealed almost everything and a jagged cliff that extended out over nothingness on the far side of the mountaintop.
“What did we come for?” he asked her slowly, turning to see if he’d missed something. He hadn’t.
Sera didn’t answer, walking slowly toward the cliff, gazing at the nothingness as if it were everything.
“What did we come for?” he demanded, his voice muffled by the snow. “What was so important?”
She looked at him over her shoulder, stepping close to the cliff edge.
“Sera?” Gustave asked sharply.
She turned back and smiled. “Are you coming?”
“Coming?” he asked, confusion filling his voice. “What are you—”
Suddenly, she stepped off, disappearing over the cliff.
“Sera!” He rushed over, looking down into the mist for any hint of her, but there was nothing. He combed the fog for anything. There had to be something there. There had to be.
“Jump off,” Sera said quietly from behind him.
He whirled around, staring at her as she floated in mid-air in front of him, gently flapping her wings.
“What?” he asked.
“Jump off,” she repeated calmly.
“We came all this way to jump off a cliff?” Gustave asked incredulously. “I could have done that down there!” He gestured down to the valley.
She laughed, shaking her head. “You won’t fall. Just jump off. You’ll fly.”
He looked down and then looked back at her frantically. “Why did I have to come here? Why did I have to come all this way?”
She rose a little higher, spinning slightly to survey the area. “What did you expect to find? A metropolis with a flight instructor standing by to show you what to do?”
“Sure,” he said desperately, glancing over the edge again.
Sera shook her head. “He’d tell you the same thing I’m telling you now.”
“But—”
She set down in front of him, stepping across the few feet that separated them. “Do you trust me?” she asked, meeting his gaze levelly.
He searched her eyes. “What?”
“If I’d wanted to watch you fall, I’d have done it before. I’ve chance after chance. I caught you every time. You trusted me while we were climbing. Now, all I’m asking is for you to trust me one more time. Jump off. Spread your wings, and fly.”
He glanced over the cliff.
“Do you trust me, Gustave?” she asked again.
He swallowed. “Yes.”
“Then jump off,” she told him calmly.
He searched her eyes for a moment. There was nothing there but hope and a little bit of that thing that he had seen earlier when she’d come down to him on the valley floor. Slowly, he stepped back.
And dropped.
The wind rushed past him as he fell, plummeting toward the earth.
“Spread your wings,” she whispered from just a few feet above him.
Without even thinking, he did. The air caught him and he seemed to shoot upwards again, rising into the mist, even higher than the peaks.
“Come higher,” Sera ordered and he obeyed, following her into a cloudbank. The clouds cleared and there before his eyes was a street with gates a hundred feet high made of pure gold. Winged creatures flew here and there, busily attending the city and going about their lives.
“Your metropolis, Gustave,” she whispered. He smiled.
