"It's not as close as it seems. Do not be misled. No one has ever reached it. Many have tried." Xeri kept on talking. "The distance between you and the island won't change despite all the miles you're going to walk. It's as if it were located in another dimension. Look around. It does not project any shadows to the ground.
They did not even have the time to look back down: that hiss caught their attention. They saw Xeri fall to the ground. Xam ran towards him to help him out but understood that it was too late.
"Everybody take cover." he yelled.
"To the weapons." yelled the commander warrior.
The people were again scattered all around like pool balls, but this time they were seeking shelter in holes they had dug in the jungle undergrowth.
The battle was raging. Mastigo soldiers had reached them sooner than expected. Some kids stayed in the middle of the village, frozen by the fear.
"We gotta do something." said Xam but did not even have the time to finish his sentence that Oria warrior had already plummeted to protect them with her shield.
Xam covered her by setting the surroundings on fire, whilst Ulica, who had quickly climbed on a tree thanks to her silky wings, plummeted silently on Mastigo's soldiers, who had been hiding in the bushes. And she hit them to death, like a falcon hits its prey.
Soon after that, the women ran to catch their children that had been sheltered by ZГ ira's hug, who was lying on the ground wounded. Xam and Ulica rushed towards her.
The square was empty, and a strong wind began blowing like a whirl proceeding to the centre of the village, yet without destroying its path. ZГ ira, Xam and Ulica felt their bodies become stiff. As per magic, something was holding them back preventing them to run away. They spun around for several seconds before being dropped off on the edge of the floating island.
For a second Ulica felt as if she was floating in the air. Her head was still spinning like when she was a kid and she would play ring around the rosie with her friends. She quickly came to her senses and went looking for her companions.
Xam had already found ZГ ira, who had fainted and was kneeled down next to her: his dark eyes were full of sadness and were showing his weakness for that Orian girl that had always accompanied him in his adventures.
Ulica walked toward them and being rational as always, she began checking on ZГ ira. She checked her pulse and said:
"Her pulse is low, but nothing too serious. Her body is trying to reduce the effort, so that she can recover.
She carefully turned over to identify where she had been wounded. She gently took off the backless dress down to her waist that she had tied behind her neck and allowed her to move freely.
"She's got a wound on her left hip on her back. Luckily it is just a graze. The armour protected her."
She had not lost a lot of blood as the laser had cauterized the superficial wound.
"It doesn't look like vital organs were damaged, otherwise she would already be dead." Ulica continued.
Xam was astonishingly staring at her. That untamed man that during a battle would not feel any fear or compassion for his enemies, that man that was used to the horrors and the blood of the battlefield, could not utter a word.
He nodded as sign of approval.
"We have to find a place where to cure the wound." suggested Ulica.
Xam had already picked ZГ ira up and was proceeding towards what looked like a temple on the top of a green, luxuriant hill.
Its proximity and its smell reminded him of that time during childhood when ZГ ira took him out of the Crystal Canyon on Oria. It had happened in one of the few moments where he had left the academy, which was his only known family.
During school holidays, most of his friends would go back home to their families. However, not all kids were lucky enough: some of them were orphans like Xam, some others would stay to the academy because their parents were too busy climbing up the career ladder; some others would really come to families that were actually loaded with work. Usually a summer camp was organized and very often the destination was Oria.
On that planet, the air was rarefied because of its small dimensions that caused a low gravitational force. All those who did not come from Oria had to carry along a small air compensator in order to guarantee an optimal oxygenation. Without it, they would have felt out of breath as if on top of a mountain.
The summer camp stay in Oria was articulated in a series of tasks, but at the end of the daily activities, Xam would find himself causing trouble around the campus. Nearby there was a farm: it belonged to ZГ ira's father and that is how he met her.
That summer their friendship got even stronger. Like all teens, they loved getting into more and less serious trouble. That night ZГ ira, in fact, told Xam about an enchanted place to her. However, she kept a part of the story secret so that she did not ruin the surprise, but most of all, she omitted that grown-ups would forbid going there because of its dangers.
That is how she dragged her friend in their desert adventure. She asked Xam to wear his thickest boots and forbade him to bring along any friends: it was going to be their thing.
They walked for a long time and Xam could not understand ZГ ira had made him wear those damn boots in that scorching hot day.
ZГ ira had never been extremely talkative, so they walked a long way in silence until Xam, who was worn out, asked:
"How many miles before we get there?"
"Don't be a wuss. We're almost there." replied ZГ ira.
"I really hope it's worth it!"
"Yes, do not lose faith. All we need to do is climb up that hill."
"Let's see who gets there first." yelled Xam as he was beginning to run.
ZГ ira chased him, trying to stop him in any way, but Xam, who was caught up in the speed, did not hear her coming.
She managed to tackle him at the top of the hill.
Xam, who was lying face down and was amazed, turned toward her:
"Why did he jump on me?"
"Did you notice anything?" said ZГ ira, pointing at something over the hill with her finger. "Do you want to dive in?"
"Wow, you were right. It is amazing!"
An enchanted landscape was stretching in front of Xam's eyes: a big canyon before them.
It was not very wide, but they could see the bottom nonetheless. The sides were decorated with bright, horizontal shades. The colour was fair and golden the closer to the tip of the canyon, whilst it was redder the closer to the bottom. It was split into two parts: the first one, which was farther away from them, was covered in amethyst crystals that would reflect the colour of the rock. The second was full of huge, bell-shaped flowers in which two people could have easily been sitting down. The bells were tirelessly moving like a bellow. In this way they would allow the plant to store more oxygen and would initiate a scenographic choreography.
Weirdly, Xam felt that his body was lighter than usual. He was looking around amazed, and all that walking had made him hungry.
"Well, this is a real nice spot for a snack. I really hope that you brought some food in your backpack."
"You always think about food." smiled ZГ ira.
She pulled out of her backpack a rope. She took off her boots and tied it to some bushes. After that she got closer to the canyon.
Xam did not realise what his friend was up to.
He did not even have the time to ask that he saw ZГ ira jumping in the void. Fear got the very best of and they ran towards the edge to see where she had gone.
He overlooked the edge and saw ZГ ira laugh and float in the air.
In that instant he would have wanted to kill her considering how deep she had scared him, but at the same time he felt relieved and happy to see her.
ZГ ira quickly floated towards the edge and landed close to Xam.
"Are you insane? I thought you hit the rocks! You could've warned me!" he said angrily.
"And miss out on your face? You should've seen yourself." she said laughing very amused.
"Well done!" Xam replied ironically, who felt teased.
"Sorry, I did not mean to scare you." added ZГ ira realising that she maybe had gone over the top.
"Never mind. Instead, what are you doing with those air supplies?"
Asked Xam with a big smile on his face as he was thinking that he could not hold grudges with her.
They were usual supplies that were commonly used on Oria to clean out tractors radiators that would fill up with sand.
"They give the final push that I need to jump back in. The compressed air helped me accelerate and exceed the small increase in the gravitational pull by the edge."
"How are you flying?"
"It's magic..."
"Come on! Don't take the piss."
"Okay. Actually, right on this stop the combination between a low gravitational pull and the updraft created by the gigantic flowers is what allows us to fly. Come on. Take off your shoes and follow me."
"Are you insane?" he exclaimed, but he knew that he would not resist.
"Just stay away from the crystals." "You're not scared, are you?" ZГ ira teased him.
Xam sat down on the edge, took off his boots and tied them with together with ZГ ira's. Straight after that he realised that they were floating in the air and without them he was feeling even lighter. He could barely keep his feet on the ground.
"Keep this in the pocket." said the Orian while she was pulling out of her backpack two supplies. "The first time we'll dive in together."
They walked to the edge hand in hand and they dived into the void without hesitations, like only teens could.
They flew together for a while until Xam became more comfortable. Then ZГ ira releaved another surprise.
She dragged Xam by one of the flowers, which sucked them in. They fell onto a soft carpet of scented stamina. The flowers, which were deep blue on the outside, on the inside were either yellow or light pink with huge, orange stamina. Xam did not even have the time to get amazed that the both of them were delicately thrown out of the flower. The two friends began laughing non-stop.
ZГ ira tried to explain, among laughters, that the insides of the flowers would release a laughing liquid.
At that point, Xam was ready to fly on his own and he let go of ZГ ira, who up to the moment before was holding him tightly.
The fun had peaked and Xam kept going in and out of the flowers.
ZГ ira tried getting closer: she had forgotten not to overdose as the laughing liquid would end up making him lose touch with reality.
It was not long before that was going to happen. Xam had lost his mind and was getting dangerously close to the prohibited area.
ZГ ira thought she had to intervene before it was too late: the sharp crystal would kill him. Xam, however, was moving at the same speed as her. Hence, it would have been impossible to reach him. She pulled out from her pockets her air supplies and employed them to go faster. She reached her friend, who was laughing and had not realised about the imminent danger and dragged him away a second before he could hit the wall.
She carried him away from the flowers and did not let go of him until they were on the ground. As soon as they had reached the right updraft, she made him return the air supplies. She kept him tightly in her arms as she was taking him in shelter on the canyon edge.
They knew that they had almost risked their own life, but they could not stop laughing. They lied down on the ground, shoulder next to shoulder side by side, and happily waited for the effect of the laughter fluid to wear off before going back home.
Third Chapter
The creases on its skin were revealing the creature's eyes and mouth
Now it was ZГ ira who was in danger and the distance between them and the top of the hill seemed infinite. A white dome stood out against the landscape. It looked like a beehive covered in hexagonal mirrors that would reflect the blinding sunlight.
The closer they were getting to the monastery, the more peaceful they were feeling deep in their hearts.
Xam, who was utterly worn out by the weight of his friend, kept walking until they found themselves in front of an arch that led inside the temple.
As soon as they got inside, ZГ ira's body began floating away from Xam's arms, who did not oppose that force as he knew there was no danger.
She was being carried towards a long corridor until she disappeared.
Hundreds of thin columns were sustaining an immense transparent vault that was overlooking the entire Universe, as if the monastery were floating in the space. Ulica and Xam noticed a weird-shaped creature at the back of the aisle.
The cylindrical, grey-purple body was composed of a head and four other sections, each with two legs. What looked like a nose was shaped like a trumpet and took at least half of the face. It almost looked as if something and someone had pushed it outward. Finally, the creases on its skin were revealing the eyes and the mouth of the creature. The body was not taller than a bag full of flour.
"I can feel a positive energy. I apologise for dragging you in here, but what your companion did surprised me."
"What our companion did not surprise us. We are conscious of her generosity. We should have not involved those harmless creatures. We have wasted too much time wandering in the jungle, which allowed Mastigo to realise where we were headed. So, he led his guards to that mild and peaceful place. Such an unforgivable mistake of us." explained Ulica.
"It would have been impossible for the Tetramirs to get this far without dragging those poor creatures in a battle."
"How do you know who we are?"
Ulica Tried asking, but Xam stopped her abruptly as he instinctively reached for her forearm:
"Where is ZГ ira?" he asked to the monk, although he could feel that nothing bad was happening to his friend in that place.
"Do not worry. She's safe. She's recovering. She'll be reunited with us very soon."
That reply was vague, but he could still feel that feeling of peacefulness and well-being.
