Crossing Divides

 “You said you were an ant when you arrived here. How did you change into...that?”

“No clue. I’m an ant, buddy, think I did it on purpose?”

“He was likely corrupted and-”

“WOAH, WHERE’S THAT VOICE COMING FROM?!”

“Oh, sorry, I forgot to mention that I’ve got a goddess with me. Inside me. Goddess of punishment and...uh…”

“I am Venia, goddess of punishment, guilt, and redemption. Feel honored to be in the presence of myself and my chosen champion!”

“Inside? Like a parasite? What’s a goddess anyway? Do you have food?”

“To compare me to a parasite! And no, I don’t have food you-”

“Che, don’t care then.”

“James! I command you punish this fool for his insolence and disrespect!”

“Calm down please. He’s an ant, I don’t think he’s learned anything like that. Just forgive him for now, please? I’d rather not fight someone who could be of help to us.”

“I am not a goddess of forgiveness, but one of punishment! However, I will...delay his punishment for the time being. I would encourage you to rectify his attitude until then.”

“Yeah, I’ll work on it. Maybe.”

As we drew closer to the city, the distant sound of rumbling, rushing water could be heard.

“Ah, right, I forgot to mention somethin’.”

“Could it be that the city isn’t connected to the ocean?”

“Woah, how did you know? Did that goddess of no-food tell you?”

“I’ve added yet another punishment owed to him.”

“No, I...that doesn’t matter, is there any kind of bridge or anything?”

“Nope, just gotta fly over.”

“Well that’ll be hard for me.”

“Ooooooh right right, you humans can’t fly without your thingies. Uhhhh, wulp, I’m sure you’ll figure it out! I’ll meet you on the other side!”

     Without letting me get another word in, perhaps asking for his help, Andre spread his wings and took off towards the city.

“Goddess, please add another punishment.”

“It has been noted.”

     I concentrated on what I could tell about the situation. The city was thoroughly enveloped with the Flow, allowing for my senses to clearly outline its shape and distance from myself. However, the oncoming fall I could only gauge by the roar of fluids pouring over the edge.

     My mind raced with ideas, but no good solutions came to mind immediately, I needed more time to think. The boat was now caught in the current that was pulling me closer and closer to the fall, so I began creating more and more boats further away from the fall, something to give me running room and more time to think.

     An anchor? I don’t know how deep the ocean is. A grappling hook? I don’t know if I could reach it. A glider? I’d need to be higher for that. Wings? That might work, if I could increase the surface area and control them properly, but they might become too heavy. Wait, wings?

“Goddess! You could create angels that fly right? Can you make those?! Better yet, can you just give me wings?!”

“Production of angels requires time and stability, of which there is neither here. Nor can I give you any means of flight.”

     There goes that idea. Seems like metal wings are my only choice. My feet stopped upon the furthest boat as I began to form metal, creating a harness on my torso, then the wings. Thin sheets of aluminum, like foil, and as long as possible, wide enough that they wouldn’t hit one another. Without thinking about it, they’d ended up looking like the wings of a dragonfly, but I could hardly think of a better flier! As I tried to move them, the wings crumpled immediately, but I wasn’t going to give up. I just needed to keep them straight, overcoming their fragility with my metal manipulation, and flap them as quickly as I could.

     Before my boat could reach the falloff, I leapt into the air with all of my strength and gave my full concentration to those wings. I could feel the airflow, the lift given off by those four flapping wings, but it was hard to keep stable. Any time I focused on one or two wings, I’d go off balance and begin tumbling in the opposite direction. Tumbling over would spell certain death, there’s no way I could correct myself if I started rolling mid-air, so I had to keep myself at least upright!

     With all my struggling and tumbling, I was at least getting closer to the edge of the city. Closer, closer, swerving and swaying side to side and slowly descending, and the more I thought about how close I was, the more my concentration faltered. I reached out towards the edge, but that just made my balance even worse as I began to fall.

     But I was close enough now, using the finger-extension power that I’d almost forgotten, while forming a crab claw at the very end, I managed to hook myself on the edge of the city platform. I quickly formed metal hooks around the crab claw that dug into the ground and gave me as much grip as I could as my body swung down below in the darkness. When I’d finally stabilized, I let out a deep sigh. I could feel my heart pounding.

     I retracted those long fingers, pulling the rest of my body up until I could grip the edge with both hands and pull myself up, then laid on the floor. I never thought I’d be so happy just to have solid ground, but here I was, hugging it as if it was a long-lost friend.

     I rose to a sit, just taking a moment to calm myself and observe my surroundings. I could actually see in this place, not with my senses, but with my eyes as that dull blue light illuminated the dark-gray stone buildings to the left and right of the road I sat upon. I could also see Andre as he came running down the street, stopping in front of me and offering a hand to help me up.

“I saw the show, buddy! You sure suck at flying!”

I remained silent, simply thinking in my mind, “Goddess, what would be an appropriate punishment for him?”

“Binding his wings and hanging him over the abyss may be an appropriate place to start.”