Sense Of Freedom

> “It’s really interesting why they called it the Jump. I mean, it’s so obvious in hindsight. I just thought it couldn’t possibly be that, you know?” ~Frein Nivan, the Visitor

“Ten…nine…eight…”

The countdown helped Frein prepare himself and set aside any other distractions. Whatever that monstrous presence was far to the east had long since decided to ignore him. At least, that was his assumption. The fact that the nagging sensation of being stared at was gone left him no choice but set the issue aside.

“Five…four…”

“Hold on,” Katherine said, holding out a hand. Frein and everyone else in the group stared back at her. “Something feels odd.”

Frein expected her to turn east, afraid that she had also attracted that monster’s attention. She had nine-meiyal after all. But when she looked the other way, he felt relieved. Only for a moment. It quickly dawned on him that if a Lady of the Void acted cautious about something, he was in no position to relax regardless of how less of a threat it was compared to the other one.

He turned west and saw some people already jumping off the platform. Only then did the countdown finished registering for him. That didn’t matter for now. What mattered was that he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. At least, not anything that would cause alarm.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“Should we call off the Jump?” Kristel asked, unwavering in her trust with the Lady. “We can send the airships now and get them back.”

“No need,” Katherine said, walking ahead of everyone to get a closer look. Wherever it was, Frein didn’t think a few steps would’ve changed anything.

“What do we do, then?” Frill asked this time.

“We can take care of this,” the Lady replied. “Look at the clouds.”

Frein scanned the clouds, the ones up close, the ones above and below them, and the ones far away. When his eyes turned to look at the clouds farther away, he blinked twice before squinting.

The clouds themselves looked different. Still white, still fluffy, but they looked stiff at the same time, like branches of a huge tree made out of white cotton balls. Only, this tree was upside down and floating in the sky with no roots to speak of.

“That’s a cloudbark!” Kristel exclaimed. “Why is there a cloudbark here?”

“That looks amazing!” Frein matched the Princess’s enthusiasm. He just didn’t expect to receive weird looks because of it. “What?”

“I need to keep reminding myself that you’re not from this planet, Bro,” Xiv said. “Won’t get used to that anytime soon.”

“So that cloudbark’s a bad thing then, is it?”

“Most of the time,” Kristel said. “We don’t often see cloudbarks in this region, though. The volcanic area nearby should’ve swayed it away.”

“So what’s so bad about it? Wait, are you saying a cloudbark can move?” Frein realized how weird his question was. It was still a cloud after all. Or at least, it looked like one. When no one laughed at his question, he realized he could’ve been on to something.

“Look closer,” Katherine said. “On the branches.” She was observing the people who had already jumped. “Looks like they haven’t noticed anything.”

Frein observed the white branches of the inverted, floating tree. It was almost camouflaged by the clouds and the distance, but he spotted something move. Judging by how far they were from the cloudbark, he surmised that the wing slipping out of the cloud was massive. And when it poked its beak, followed by a lot more, he started to see the entirety of the inverted tree.

He had to look up to see the length of the bark arcing over them.

“Birds,” he said. “Gigantic birds.”

“That’s a lot,” Frill commented. She didn’t seem alarmed, however.

“Where you see a cloudbark, you can guarantee Cloud-Nesting Rocs,” Katherine explained. “Our ancestors used to keep some of them as guardians against dragons, since they come in flocks. I’m pretty sure we still have a cloudbark nest in the Order, but this isn’t it.”

“Are they hostile?” Frein asked.

“Yes,” Kristel answered.

“They’re man-eating birds, Bro,” Xiv followed.

“Cloud-Nesting Rocs see us as nothing but food,” Katherine continued explaining. “They mainly hunt sea serpents or krakens, but it’s a mutual predation. Giant things eating other giants, you know how it is. Since we look so tiny, they think we’re free snacks.”

“We should warn the other Jumpers,” Kristel said, preparing a red flare Meiyal Art. “If we issue a retreat now, we can probably find another jumping spot.”

“Have you had roc meat, Kristel?” Katherine asked. “They’re heavenly.”

“That’s a lot of them, Kat. I don’t think we can fight all of them.”

“We don’t have to deal with all of them. Look, they’re hesitating. I think they see the Atlas Sid as a rival cloudbark. They’re waiting for our Jumpers to get busy with the sea serpents so they can prepare an ambush.”

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“If we hunt they’re first wave, we can force them to retreat,” Frein concluded for Katherine. But he couldn’t put all his trust behind this way of thinking. “You think they’ll do that?”

“They’re not exactly intelligent creatures, Frein. Their ambush strategies are all driven by instinct, and the survival of the flock matters to them the most. They’ll probably send their oldest and most dispensable Rocs first, which means it’ll be a challenge. But if we can get rid of them without sustaining any casualties on our side, they won’t have any choice but to see us as the better predators. They’ll fly their cloudbark nest out of here.”

“We can’t even fight them in the air,” Kristel complained.

“You three can jump and get us some serpents,” Frein started. “Kat and I can handle the rocs.”

“Are you sure?” Kristel and Katherine asked at the same time. The Lady of the Void continued, “You can’t even fly.”

“Oh, let me worry about that.”

“That’s too dangerous for Enza as well.”

“Enza’s task doesn’t change. Elli and I can do something about it.”

Katherine stared at him intensely. He could see the words of caution forming in her head, but she ultimately decided to keep them.

“Alright, I trust you,” she said before giving Kristel and her group the signal. “When we jump, I’ll Open my core and use I, Alone, Am the Center. It’ll let me keep track of all of you and monitor your conditions. It’ll also help you feel if you’re still within my reach. Don’t stray too far, understand?”

“Just how far exactly, Sis?” Xiv asked. “Not that I need the protection, but just in case.”

“I can push my detection in an eight-kilometer radius. The terrain doesn’t matter as long as nothing’s blocking my influence. If that’s the case, you’ll feel it right away. I’ll position myself in the middle of the sea and the sky, but I’ll be constantly moving about, so make sure you pay attention. That should still give you a large area to cover. Once the chaos starts, I might start to miss things. So in case of emergencies, just push your meiyal output to the limit. I’ll come find you. Understand that if Frein comes into danger, I’ll prioritize him before any of you, alright?”

“What if something there prevents them—us—from using meiyal?” Frein asked. He didn’t like how Katherine had to point him out specifically, but he kept his words to himself.

“That one, I’ll know right away.”

The fact that Katherine didn’t outright dispute the possibility made Frein a little anxious. Losing the ability to use Meiyal Arts while plummeting to the ocean surface at terminal velocity wasn’t something he wanted to imagine.

“Alright, we should move or we’ll lose out on our catch!” Kristel commanded, prompting everyone to take their positions.

Frein, however, got confused. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“We’re not doing this for free, Frein,” Frill replied, finishing her warm-up stretches. “We sell the best ones we can catch, then the rest we serve for the feast tonight.”

“Everyone ready?” Katherine cued and received four stern confirmations. “Three, two, one, jump!”

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The feeling of falling had taken all of Frein’s thoughts and worries away. The jump was an instance of commitment, the airtime was a moment of regret, and the fall was the acceptance of consequences. In these aspects, he felt Elizzel resonating with them deeply.

Despite his willingness to participate, the decision to leave the safety of the Atlas Sid rested ultimately in his hands. Frein had eagerly discarded it, using his freedom to make his own decision, and now he faced the consequence.

The thrill of falling through the skies.

He eagerly transferred every second of the experience through the Tether. Elizzel cherished it, enjoying the sensation of freefalling.

Frein opened his arms and legs wide, and his eyes closed, letting his body glide through the air and allowing himself to immerse in the entire experience. He was tempted to remove his Siffera just to feel how it would be if he had been just an ordinary human from Earth. This time, he chose not to risk it.

It was an absurd feeling. An absolute sense of freedom, to reach out far and wide and touch nothing but air. Exhilarating. The sound of the wind whizzing past his ears, grazing on his skin, flapping what little clothes he had, whipping on his hair. It was everything he ever imagined and more.

Frein couldn’t help but give voice to the excitement, yelling at the top of his lungs. His Siffera helped him hear the faint reciprocation from Xiv, followed by Frill and Kristel. He expected Katherine to follow last, but when he didn’t hear her voice, he opened his eyes to look around.

Everywhere he looked, he couldn’t find her, so he twisted his body to turn around. It didn’t take a lot of effort like he anticipated. With his sense of balance and direction enhanced by Siffera, he managed to guide his momentum just enough so he could turn upright.

A pair of hands met his face and a smiling Katherine filled his view. Her cap was amazingly intact despite all logic, but her hair furiously flapped about behind her. Even the small straps of cloth lingering on her swimsuit dangerously flailed about, but the two of them ignored all of those.

Their attention was stuck on each other. The adrenaline, the sense of danger and freedom, they all accumulated to one conclusion.

It was so direct and powerful that it convinced Elizzel to manifest. They were the last batch to jump after all, and no one was around to see her. Frein immediately took hold of the faunel, making sure her weightlessness didn’t affect her fall. Katherine was quick to grab her as well.

Together, they held hands and formed a circle, creating a larger surface area to increase their drag. Frein looked down. It had been only a few seconds, but from what he could see, they still had a long way to go. He had only read in some random article that freefalling messed with one’s depth perception. The altitude and curve of the planet would be disorienting to an inexperienced skydiver. It was the reason they kept altimeters with them rather than eyeballing their fall.

He quickly threw away those analytical thoughts and looked at the two in front of him. He etched their loving smiles in his Mind Palace, utilizing the largest canvas he could afford.

Elizzel felt what he was doing and thoughts of her affection filled the Tether. She couldn’t restrain herself. With a strong pull, she moved closer to Frein and pecked him on the cheek. Before he could even react, the faunel moved to Katherine next and did the same.

“Thank you!” she yelled before returning to the Mind Palace.

Frein and Katherine stared at each other, both of them holding their cheeks. Then Katherine smiled. Then she laughed. Frein followed quickly, pulling her close in a spiraling embrace as they continued to fall.

“I love you!” he declared to the heavens.

“I love you too!” Katherine declared the same.

Their kiss made their fall seem like slow-motion. Frein felt like it lasted forever. And when they parted lips, both of them knew that their time enjoying the dive had come to an end.

Frein held out a hand and Enza came into view, catching him with such precision that arresting his momentum didn’t hurt either of them at all. Katherine, at the same time, slowed down using Rivasia.

Now suspended in the air, both of them looked up towards the cloudbark to find the first of the Cloud-Nesting Rocs emerging from the safety of their cloudy lair.

Massive avian beasts, sporting wings as white as clouds, filled with an abundance of meiyal. One by one, they folded those wings and began their descent. Birds of prey through and through.

“Enza, I need you to maintain your Nature’s Favor, but make sure to always keep your presence known to me. I need to know where you are right away in case I need to return to you.”

“What are you planning?” Katherine asked.

“You’ll see.” Frein smiled and Displayed his Exhibit.

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