Young Writers Society

I am met in the air by an icy tempest of white. Frozen flakes spin around me, blending together into a blank background. The snow seems much heavier than it was before I jumped.

Of course, falling through something at high speeds can do that.

As I plummet, what had before been gentle flakes now become piercing spears of ice assaulting my face, agents of confusion blocking my vision. Presumably I am falling through the air past the cliff off which I jumped, but I have no indication that is true.

Until I hit the first tree.

The branch breaks below me with a sharp snap that jars me, as does the next. I crash through the treetops, sending snow flying in all directions. The canopy is high but not thick, and I am through it in a few moments. Enough of the snow is blocked by the canopy for me to see the white forest floor toward which I plunge.

I watch the ground come up at me, feeling the distance of my fall so far and the landscape around me, judging the distance of each tree. After a moment I am satisfied and, several yards from the ground, I Shift.

There's a flash of darkness and then I appear in the forest, about a hundred yards from where I was before. I am jolted forward with enough force to knock me down, and I hit the ground hard, barely having enough time to throw my arms out and break my fall.

After lying for a moment in the snow I get to my feet, looking back over my shoulder, towards the cliff, towards the city, Kar, which lies several hundred meters away. Shifting, in principle, is only redirecting my fall - I can only Shift to a location the same distance as I fell from the location at which I started my fall. For instance, I fell about 500 meters. Thus, the distance from where I am now is 500 meters from the top of the cliff off which I jumped; the land here is elevated, so I was able to move horizontally and still end up on solid ground.

I sigh, lost in terms of what to do next. By now, everyone I’ve known is most likely dead. The Lavaeran do not make a habit of taking prisoners. It is set, then, I suppose. It seems Destiny, as it is very fond of doing, has chosen for me. I can no longer go back.

The only way to go, then, is forward.

The Canyon of Eternal Heroes, then. There, I will find the Watchers. That is where I must go.Not because Destiny has willed it. Not because I have given in to my fate; not because I have accepted my duty.

Because I have no other choice.

*

Around me, the snow has stopped.

I pull myself over the ledge, lying for a moment on the cold, snow-draped rock. I peer over the edge; after half an hour of climbing, I’m about a hundred meters up. If I jump now, I’ll be able to make it to the small marsh where there begins something that at least resembles a road.

I turn and leap off, waiting until the last few yards above the ground to Shift, landing in rough, tall grass, this time with less of a jolt. A low hill arrayed less thickly with trees than the land at the base of the cliff leads to what was once a well-used road. I scrape away a small circle in the snow with my foot. Made of dirt, the road is torn up by large gauges in the ground, a few inches deep and wide. Farther on, in the direction from which I came, it becomes too overgrown to be used, but up ahead the path is mostly clear. I set off along the dirt road, north, towards the Evershaft.Towards the place that will allow me to Shift to the Canyon.

The road bends around the partially-frozen marsh and then curves up, plunging back into dark forest. As I walk further the scars in the road slowly lessen until they are gone, leaving only a barren, beat-up, overgrown path. The woods are empty of life other than the tall, thick trees, the low shrubbery, and the vines that crawl in every empty space. No squirrels stir the leaves that sparkle with ice; no birds break the silence with song; no deer stare back at me from between the trees.

This forest has not seen these things for a long, long time.

The road stretches on for miles of similar forest with few clearings. After a few hours my legs begin to ache from walking; the cold creeps into my feet soaked from sloshing through snow; the chill of the air comes to rest on my shoulders. I begin to be able to make out the setting sun behind the wall of trees.

My sense of distance tells me I am only a mile or two away, so I push on. If I have visited a place, I am able to judge the distance to an almost exact degree—a side effect of my Shifting. I’ve only been to the Evershaft once. Leik and I had heard stories of the Evershaft, and we wanted to see it for ourselves, so we snuck away from Kar in the night, taking two of the few horses the city had.

Up ahead the trees clear and the road curves as the ground rises and turns to rock. I scale the low wall of rock, getting my second glimpse of the Evershaft as I pull myself up.

A few hundred yards in diameter, the Evershaft is a circular shaft that extends down into darkness as far as the eye can see. I step up to the edge tentatively, looking down into the black depths of the hole. No one knows how far it goes down, or what is at the other end; it’s possible I could die before I have a chance to Shift.

You have left me little choice, Destiny. I leap off the edge, letting the darkness of the Evershaft swallow me up. All my life you’ve meddled, forcing me along this path.

If you’re going to bend the world to your will to make me the Sentinel...this would be a good time as any.