Sparrow started with stoneskin.

The ability had saved his life in a hundred different ways but he’d not yet perfected it.

His biggest issue was speed. The damn stoneskin wouldn’t cover his body fast enough. If someone was coming at him with a crossbow bolt, or he fell from a height he needed to be able to go stony instantly.

Three leagues across the lake was a sharp spine of rock. From far away it looked like a sewing needle stitching blue cloth.

But as Sparrow flew closer to the rock, it resembled a tower, and there were faint rune-like markings carved into its side.

The water on either side of the tower was deep and dark, perfect for leaping into.

Sparrow scaled the tower, arms straining at the worn runes which gave him just the slightest of holds.

He reached a rune that was shaped like two crossed boar’s tusks and peered up. Above him was a set of rabbit’s teeth runes more than an arm's length away. Sparrow bit his lip.

Sure… I could fly cross this gap… but where would the challenge be in that?

Instead, he dug the ball of his foot into the top curve of a glyph and propelled himself upward towards the rabbit’s tooth rune.

His finger grazed the bottom of the rabbit’s tooth and for a painful moment, the fingertips of his left hand clung to the rock.

Then gravity grabbed a hold of Sparrow’s legs, it jerked them straight towards the lake below. Sparrow’s right arm flailed out, missed the rock, and he went toppling backwards, spinning, twisting, brushing against the rock until he splashed into the middle of the dark blue chasm of water.

Sparrow opened his eyes.

Everything was blue around him, he dived deeper and deeper. Then a large gaping black hole opened up next to him.

He peered into the hole. And paused for a moment to check his heart rate. It was still steady, and the edges of his vision were still coloured so he wasn’t about to pass out just yet.

Stuff it, I’m going exploring.

Sparrow swam towards the hole, the gaping blackness wobbled and bent as the water moved around him.

After only a few strokes the darkness became solid stone coated in shellfish and little crabs.

Sparrow peered back towards the gaping blue hole he’d come through… it’s not too late to…

But he was already swimming upwards, swimming past that thought and towards the tiny pinprick of light that had emerged above him.

The edges of his vision were clouding over, his hands were going numb.

Sparrow gritted his teeth, blew out the tiniest of air bubbles and kept circling his arms.

The ball of air he’d blown out was leaving him behind and the pinprick of light didn’t seem to be getting any bigger. Sparrow’s lungs started screaming out for air.

And then all of a sudden it occurred to him.

Trees don’t need air.

Well, maybe a little, but certainly not as much air as a human body.

And even as he thought this Sparrow’s body was lengthening, browning and flaking as bark replaced skin and fingers turned to branches.

A few minutes later a tree broke the surface of the water. Slowly its branches returned to skin. There were cracking sounds as its spine settled into a curve and a smile played out across Sparrow’s face as he swam to a stone staircase that had curved up the inside of the tower.

Walking took a moment to adjust to, but when his feet touched down on the stone steps he found them to be solid.

‘Now that’s an ability I won’t forget in a hurry.’

He ran up the stairs, at the top was a solid marble trapdoor that squeaked and grated as he opened it.

Sparrow stepped out into the top of the tower. The water below seemed darker from where he was standing.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

What would Zoe think of this?

She’d probably be yelling at you for trying to drown yourself last night. Why are you wallowing in self pity? She’d say… Don’t be lame.

Sparrow shook his head, No more thinking of her. Focus on the task at hand.

Sparrow’s toes hugged the cold rock. The smooth stones massaged the undersides of his feet as he shifted from foot to foot.

You ready?

He slowed his heartrate, closed his eyes and dove headfirst towards the water.

The moment his feet left the tower he activated stoneskin, he felt the stoneskin start as his fingertips, crawl up his arms, pass his shoulders and-

Splash!

His head hit the water, the impact stung his forehead, water trickled into his nose. He opened his eyes and saw the dark cave appearing before him.

He swam towards it, slowly removing the stoneskin as he went.

Okay… I got it to my shoulders that time, not great, but it’s a start I guess.

He climbed the tower, counting all 212 steps, then threw himself off the top. This time he imagined the stoneskin was water, shooting up his arms, far more mobile that stone.

The stoneskin shot up his arms and wrapped around his neck before he hit the water.

Okay… that’s better but still, we need whole body coverage in the time it takes to fall.

So again and again Sparrow swam the gap, climbed the stairs and threw himself off the top of the tower.

By the time the sun had set he was kneeling, his entire body was exhausted. Yet he was still too slow.

He’d gone from stoneskin covering his arms to stoneskin covering his arms and head. Not a massive improvement - but then again he’d only spent a day practising.

Sparrow had no food so he flew slow and stumbling like a drunk bumblebee towards the shore. There he lay back on the shoreline and sent roots down into the earth to feed on the nutrient-rich soil of the bank.

On the second day he woke with a stiff back and sore eyes when he stood, it felt like his body had been punched several times by someone wearing iron gloves.

He flew back towards the tower, breathing in the cold air that rose from the surface and clicking his neck.

'All right, round two.' he said.

Round two was much slower than the first. He ran up the steps, jumped off the tower, and activated stone skin in the same way he had before, but his progress was tiny in comparison. After an entire day of leaping from the tower he managed to go from having stone skin coat his arms and head to having stone skin cover his arms head and a tiny part of his chest. He went to the shore, dug his roots in and he slept and then the next day, he did it all again.

Day after day he returned to the tower and threw himself off it, yet every time his improvements got smaller and smaller. By day 20 he couldn't tell whether his stone skin was getting slower or faster and on the 21st day Sparrow decided he wasn't ready for another beating. Instead, he lay back on the shore and took in the sun.

See your problem Sparrow, he thought, is that stoneskin just moves too slow, and the other trouble is, it starts in your hands, which is why it takes too long to reach the rest of your body.

And that got Sparrow thinking; why does it have to start in my hands? Why not my feet? Or my head? Or my right nipple?

And that made him laugh, he glanced around, made sure no one was looking and decided to try it. He thought about stone skin and his skin growing strong and he thought about it starting on his right nipple.

Instantly his chest hardened. All that work he had done increasing his speed had paid off. He just hadn't been using it correctly. Sparrow tapped his chest with his still fleshy hand and found that yes his right nipple and all the area around had turned to stone.

Now, this is something Sparrow thought, he tried it on different parts of his body, before he went for the real test - spreading stoneskin over six different areas at once.

He selected the elbow of each arm, the centre of his chest, the top of his head and both his knees.

Focussing on the six different areas wasn’t easy. He had to split his brain in six, with each piece of his cranium drilling down on the specific area.

But by the end of the day, he had it, with six instantaneous thoughts he could transform his body into stoneskin.

The next morning he flew over the lake so fast that a stream of water blew up behind him. Sparrow didn't even bother going through the underwater hole this time. He flew to the top of the tower and bounced to a stop on the stone surface.

Sparrow paused, peered down at the dark blue pool beneath him and jumped. The moment his foot left the ledge he closed his eyes and focused on the six spots.

The one on his chest - the most important spot took a few seconds longer than the others to activate.

When it did Sparrow felt the stone spreading across his chest reaching towards the twin lines of stone that were folding out from his arms.

Splash!

He hit the water, stone skin covered most of his body. But there were still a couple of slight gaps where skin peeked out from his shoulders.

'Damnit!' he said as he swum for the steps, 'This time... surely this time.'

Sparrow pulled himself up the stairs, peeling once again. He paused for a breath, then jumped. This time the stone coating his chest spread at the same time as the other spots around his body.

When he hit the water he didn't feel a single sting or slap. He swam a little deeper and checked from his head to his feet - they were all completely encase in stone.

Sparrow let out a yell that bubbled to the surface with him. He jumped up and down and spun around and clapped and laughed and glanced across the surface of the water.

'I did it!' he yelled, 'I did it!'

He felt like telling someone, like sharing this sweet little moment of victory, but he was left staring at the empty surface of the lake as his voice died away.

Sparrow sniffed, scratched his nose and decided that yeah people can let you down. But also some moments are best shared.