Sonia
Late in the day, the cast of abyssal light had dulled--as it always did in the abyss--and Sonia paused outside of the simple clay cottage at the foot of Academy hill.
Opening her lungs, she drew a deep breath of air and checked for the second time the address scrawled on the piece of paper. This was the place. She reached out and gripped the knocker.
Minutes later, Sonia sat opposite Dr. Helstone, sipping a full glass of Helstone's carefully rationed water. Sonia wasn’t sure why she’d come, and she couldn’t seem to collect the right words, so she kept drinking--water and guilt.
“You made an impression in the city recently.”
“I thought the Spirit Run was just a glorified fun run. No one bothered to tell me the truth.”
Helstone’s eyes softened. “What is the truth?”
Sonia released a slow breath. “It’s a death rite.”
“How do you feel about the other runners competing with you in the race?”
“Great athletes," Sonia admitted. "Some of them. But it's also possible that at least a few of them need therapy even more than I do.”
“And the people cheering on the sidelines?”
Sonia’s gaze dropped. “They scared me—that they would cheer people filing up along a chalk line to risk death.”
Helstone’s face was grim. “The event had a dark side. But it's useful to confront the dark side of things. Remember that most of the people who finish only manage it through a level of cooperative effort you don’t often see. They find their will to live in the process of that risk. So there’s actually some hope in it, from a certain angle.”
It didn't seem like much hope.
“It’s easy to be overwhelmed by the dark parts of life.”
They lapsed in to silence. Helstone wasn't going to do anything--she seemed to be putting the burden back on Sonia to metabolize her own stress.
“Every year it’s the same. I only ever see the runners. None of the audience ever to come to consult me—but as for the Spirit Run--life in the abyss is stressful. The Spirit Run is just one of its dark consequences.”
“Do you think getting out of the abyss will release the tension and make people happier?" Sonia thought of Nexius.
“We live under a constant grind," Helstone said. "I don’t know that we would be happier if the pressure lifted.”
Sonia peered into her half drained glass of water--her amber eyes stared at their reflection, hovering across the surface of the liquid. Suddenly she blurted, "I didn't ask to be an entire city's symbol of hope!"
Helstone nodded. "You're not their salvation. I saw that when you first visited."
Sonia gasped.
"You're human--it's not a crime. We all look inside ourselves and find a void--an enemy."
Sonia held her breath. How much did Helstone know?
"It is the human condition. And to see the emptiness within is the beginning of the search for the soul, the recognition that what you become is a choice, not an automatic event."
Sonia breathed. Helstone meant it figuratively. She didn't know Sonia was a literal enemy.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Helstone's eyes gleamed.
Or did she?
*
Crowds parted for Sonia, wherever she went. Traffic stopped. Artists called, asking for permission to paint her picture. So politely declined to sit for a painting, but she agreed to sit for Nessa, who was very good with pastels. The Grater Barren newspaper had printed and disseminated a lot of press about what Sonia had done at the Spirit Run. Much of it was rumor. Someone claimed to have seen her in flight. Wings and all. And everywhere she went, the rumor of her flight seemed to follow her.
But Sonia hadn’t flown. At best, she’d glided. She couldn’t even be sure how she’d done it or whether she could do it again. But the gliding had meant she’d been able to cover a tremendous amount of ground in a very short time. And she’d found the injured. She’d helped get them to medical care. As a consequence, this had been the Spirit Run with the fewest casualties in the history of the event.
General Travertine gave Sonia a medal, which she accepted. He'd also awarded her with the Spirit Run Trophy, which she declined. She hadn’t even been registered for the race. Evra and Asp had never approved. Besides, Sonia didn’t want a symbol of her defiance hanging around the cottage—nor did she quite like to be reminded of the ordeal.
No trophy; no matter. Everywhere she went, people called her the Spirit Run Champion. They called her other names as well. The Avem Child. The Winged Warrior. She couldn’t get away from it.
A crowd of lower class men mobbed her at the Academy Gates. They didn’t really mob her. They stood back a few paces, letting her through, but they called her as she walked through their ranks. “Avem Child. You saved the runners. When will you save the city? Do you have a plan for us? What are you going to do? Can we see your talon marks? Will you show us your wings?”
Rezza walked beside her and leaned close. “Don’t let it bother you, Sonia. They’re just kids. What you need is a good security detail.”
“What I need is some space,” she muttered and pushed her way through the gate and took off running down the hill. No one followed. How could they? She ran as only she could, swift and unhesitating. She sped over the grounds, out the gate and down the hill. She sped through the streets of the city, though strangers stared after her, eyes wide and wondering. She tore through the crowds and then beyond them into the market square and past it, and then far beyond the edge of the city, toward the abyss. And when she reached the edge, she halted at once, lungs heaving she stared down into its depths. Dark. Cold. Endless for all she knew.
The people of Grater Barren had erected a four-foot-tall safety barrier around much of the edge, but it was crumbling in parts, and in the distance, she could see the barrier didn’t reach around the entirety of the hole.
She stared up toward the sky, which was only a tiny pin of light high above. The surface was so distant—it almost might not exist for her anymore. How could she ever hope to find her way out? What was up there worth caring about anyway?
A voice broke through her focus. “Jump, if you’re the daughter of the Magnus Avem. You can fly.”
Sonia’s eyes flashed wide and she spun around to see who had spoken, and unconsciously retreated a step from the edge of the abyss. A white-haired girl about her age stood watching her in the near distance—intently.
“I don’t know who I am.”
“Then you’re an imposter. That’s what my father says.”
Sonia’s eyes narrowed. “Who’s your father to know?”
“My father is the innovator of the balloon that is going to carry us out of here. It’s going to save the city and everyone in it.”
“The balloon?”
“Of course. A balloon buoyed by helium gas. It’s lighter than air. And though it sounds incredible to you, I promise you, it's the best way back to the surface.”
Sonia exhaled a breath, almost relieved. “Of course. She’d heard of helium balloons. In Arrow, they were just beginning to use them,” she shook her head. “But then what’s taken so long? We could be at the surface now.” Her gaze darted around, searching for the tower in question.
The girl frowned and Sonia tried to wrap her head around this show of hostility.
“It’s not as simple as that. There are problems with fuel shortage, but my father will fix it. It’s only a matter of time.”
“Oh.” Sonia blinked. “I’m sure.” A balloon made so much more sense than a girl who could grow wings. “I’m glad someone is working on a logical solution.”
“You are?” The girl smirked. “Not disappointed you don’t have a monopoly grip on our future survival?”
Sonia stiffened. “I’d like to help, but…”
The girl strode toward her. “..but you can’t fly? I’m not surprised.”
Indeed, not surprised. She seemed amused. Sonia took one more defensive step backward. “The Magnus Avem told me I would die if I plunged myself into the abyss. I don't think much has changed.”
The girl smiled, unhappily. “Now and always, bird girl, because the whole idea is ridiculous.”
“I’m not bird girl. I’m Sonia.”
“A pleasure. I’m Ophilla. My father is Mavril Standfrith. You should realize, you’re trespassing on his property. You should leave.”
Sonia looked at the ground. His property? Could anyone really have claimed the edge of the abyss their private property?’
Sonia swallowed. “Excuse me. I didn’t know it was private.”
“Well it is. Something to keep in mind.”
Sonia traced her steps backward, at which point she heard a voice she recognized. It was calling her name.