Lefty stood on the ledge, breathing heavy as he looked out over the sparkling waters of Lake Allende. From this high up the entire thing appeared smooth and solid, like one giant sheet of polished metal. The thought of jumping from this height made him shudder. He knew the water wasn’t as solid as it looked, but he also knew that it wouldn’t matter. From this high up the fall would be dangerous regardless… especially since he still didn’t know how to swim. There was a good chance he would die if I leapt from this height… but somehow the alternative seemed worse. He had to jump.

Lefty took a deep breath and tried to calm his nerves. He reminded himself that he had done something like this before. Once. When he leapt from the top of the Food Tabernacle. True he had only survived that by being incredibly lucky… but he had survived.

He took a step towards the edge and looked down. He wasn’t near the top of the God Dam; not even close. He stood on the roof of the second terrace, which was only about a third of the way up. Even then, it was still the second highest place he had ever been. The beast’s lair in the Food Tabernacle had been taller. Not by much, but it was enough to give him some hope. “I’ve fallen from higher,” he said in his head. The thought didn’t do much to calm his rapidly beating heart but he kept repeating that phrase regardless.

By now people down on the shore had noticed him. The already short deepens looked even smaller from up here, like tiny little insects. No doubt they were pointing at him, wondering if he was going to jump. Some were shouting. He could hear their voices, but from this distance the words were as indecipherable as their faces. He didn’t know exactly who was down there, but he was certain that some of them were his new friends. He had made so many in the previous weeks, while living and working at the God Dam.

Lefty and Ol Blu hadn’t intended to take up residence, but the deepuns had been so inviting that it had been hard to resist. Like all visitors they were offered food and shelter free of charge… with the ability to earn better accommodations, and even some cash, if they were willing to do some work. Lefty, ever eager for new experiences and hoping to buy some better supplies, offered to help however he could, and quickly found himself assigned to a junior maintenance crew. He thought it would only be a temporary position… but before long he was enjoying himself so much that he wished it would never end.

Not that the work itself was all that exciting. In fact it was pretty dull. It mostly consisted of tedious routine maintenance. What made it great was his co-workers; his comrades. You see the junior maintenance crews were mostly staffed with young men and women around Lefty’s age; deepuns who were taking on their first real jobs. And they worked in fairly large teams, around twenty or so. Their tasks didn’t require that many people, but having some redundant hands on board ensured that everything got done … and gave the workers time to socialize… which is exactly what the elder deepuns wanted. They figured that having some friendly company would not only make these necessary chores a little less boring, but it would help to instill a sense of teamwork and community into the young laborers.

And if that was the goal… well it worked perfectly on Lefty.

Despite being a different species, or perhaps because of it, he made fast friends with his crewmates. After all, it wasn’t every day that a human showed up at the dam to work. The young deepuns were just as curious about him as he was about them, which made conversation quite easy. Before long he had a small group of friends to spend time with outside of work, and as they introduced him to exciting new experiences, he made even more friends. Soon the young man found himself at the center of a rather large social circle, with dozens of deepuns competing for his increasingly limited time.

For Lefty it was a transformative experience. This wasn’t like Ash Tab or The Capital or even Opprobrium. He truly felt like he fit in here. The deepuns didn’t talk down to him or try to manipulate him for their own gain. They accepted him, quirks and all, as if he were just a tall deepun who talked a little funny. He went to parties. He played sports and games. He even got to drink alcohol and eat fish! Swimming was still a work in progress of course. He and water had a history… but he had been working on it. And his friends accepted that as well. They were patient and friendly; teasing him a little bit about his fear of liquids, but otherwise letting him learn at his own pace. Truly the God Dam was a paradise for Lefty… which is why it was so unfortunate that he had to jump off it.

He looked down again at all the floors below him. If he hit the side of the dam during his descent it would all be over. The life he was just beginning to truly enjoy… would come to a sudden and painful end. The thought of losing his new friends almost brought a tear to his eye.

He backed away from the edge and closed his eyes, breathing deep once more. He shouldn't be up here. Not only was it dangerous, it was illegal as well. Even if he survived this he would be in trouble with the Deepun council. Surely there was some other way to resolve this? Maybe he could ask Ol Blu for help? The two of them hadn’t talked for more than a week by this point. They led separate lives now. But they were still on friendly terms. He could go visit him in the library and…

No. This couldn’t wait. He had to jump and he had to do it… NOW!

Opening his eyes he sprinted across the ledge, forcing his feet to move before his brain could react. He swore he heard screaming. Was it the people below? Or him? It didn’t matter anymore. He reached the edge… and kept on going… leaping out into the open air more than a hundred hands off the ground.

For a split second there was a sense of boundless joy. He had done it! He was flying once again! Soaring out into the free blue sky. One way or another this day would be legendary. He smiled wide and closed his eyes, enjoying the moment.

Then he began to fall.

Terror gripped him all at once. A pit formed in his stomach and then dropped into the abyss beyond time. Every one of his limbs and organs screamed at him that this was wrong, that he wasn't meant to be this high up. His brain told him, rather sardonically, that he was going to die… and Lefty was too busy panicking to disagree.

All he could do was extend his arms… and hold onto the metal feathers as tightly as possible. Of course he had brought them up here; he brought them everywhere he went. He felt the strain on his shoulder as they caught the wind. Felt his decent lag ever so slightly. He drifted a little farther out, away from the dam. For the briefest of moments he was gliding like a majestic bird of prey... and then he began to spin… just like last time.

It was in fate's hands now.

Everything was a blur as he rotated rapidly. There was no way of knowing where or when he would land. All he could do was hold on for dear life and hope. It would take a supreme stroke of luck to land in the water unharmed, and even then, there would be consequences. This had been extremely risky, extremely foolish, and frankly insane… but in the young man’s mind this would all be worth it… if he impressed Amor.

Who was Amor, you may ask?

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

She was a deepun girl that Lefty had met only a few days prior.

I don’t know why he was infatuated with her in particular. Lefty tried to explain it to me once, but the lad was never great with words to begin with, and when it came to Amor he was especially awful. Something about the slimy deepun just turned his brains to mush. You could tell he was thinking about her because his vocabulary would suddenly become significantly worse. I’m not even sure he understood why he was attracted to Amor. All he knew was that he liked her. Really liked her. Liked her so much that he would do almost anything for her approval. Which resulted in him jumping from the twentieth floor of the God Dam.

You see, the previous evening he had been sitting around a fire with some friends, and decided to recount his journey to the Food Tabernacle. He told them about the chefs he fought. How he saved a real kicken. He recounted how he had climbed so many stairs to face The Beast… only to find it dead. He left out the part about wanting to be king of course. He knew enough about deepun society to know that aspect wouldn't be received well. Instead he claimed it had all been done for the sake of adventure. And then he got to the part where he jumped from top of the tabernacle. The young man stood up onto the log he had been sitting on, and acted out his legendary fall, spinning around and shouting obscenities before the dizziness caused him to tumble into the sand. His friends laughed along with the story, helping Lefty to his feet… and that was when Amor first spoke to him.

She told him that was a funny story… and she wished she could have been there to see it.

Most people would not have taken this literally. Most people would have accepted the compliment as an opening for conversation. But for Lefty, her wish might as well have been a command. In his mind he needed to do this, needed for Amor to see him fly through the air… or else she would never return his affection.

And you want to know the worst part? He wasn’t even sure if she was one of those deepuns watching from the shore. He really hoped that she was, because he didn’t want to have to do this again, but he had been too fixated on the jump itself to actually consider her whereabouts.

Overall… it was an incredibly stupid thing to do. (sigh) But if we’re being honest, I can’t really say I blame the lad. People have been doing stupid things to gain affection since the dawn of time. And.. in classic Lefty fashion… his incredibly stupid actions worked out far better than they had any right to.

He didn’t die for starters.

Not only did he manage to avoid the dam and land in the deeper part of the water, but just like Opprobrium, a group of locals quickly dove in after him. A half dozen deepuns reached him seconds after he plunged into the abyss and dragged the young fool out of the lake before he could drown.

Unlike Opprobrium, Lefty did not stumble out of the water under his own power. He was dragged, limping and bleeding, onto the shore. He collapsed onto his back, groaning and cringing as someone ran to find a doctor. He may have survived the trip, but this time he had taken some damage, sustaining a sprained ankle, a broken collarbone, and a rather large gash across the left side of his head. The latter had come from one of his feathers, which spun out of his hand as he hit the water and just barely missed carving out his eye.

He’d recover of course. All three of his injuries would be healed within the month. The only long term damage was a highly visible scar that ran across his forehead and onto his temple. Later on, when the scar became an iconic part of his appearance, he’d lie about how and where he got it. Of all his foolish acts, this particular one came to embarrass him later in life… although you’d never have known it at the time.

In the moment he seemed thrilled. Despite his injuries he was smiling wide and even laughing as he lay on the shore, staring up at the blue sky he had fallen out of. And why shouldn’t he be happy? He had done it. He was alive. He had rolled the dice and survived again… and he was certain that Amor would be impressed.

And you want to know the craziest thing? She was.

By pure coincidence, she had been looking out a window and seen Lefty’s leap with her own eyes. The next day, as he was recovering from his injuries in his apartment, she paid him a visit… and not long after that she and Lefty started a relationship that I suspect was his first. In that regard… his plan worked out perfectly.

There were negative repercussions of course. In addition to the physical damage he sustained, Lefty got a rather severe scolding from the deepun council, who threatened him with exile if he ever did something like this again. He was also assigned a counselor to monitor his behavior for the following month, and ensure he was mentally fit. And also he also had to publicly apologize to everyone on the beach that day for putting their lives in danger with his reckless behavior.

It was a bit embarrassing to be sure, but all of those consequences were nothing compared to the benefits he reaped. Not only was Amor impressed by Lefty’s leap, half the God Dam deepuns were. The elders dismissed him as a reckless show-off, but the younger generation found him quite fascinating. They flocked from around the dam to meet the fearless young human who had come to live among them, and the already popular lad quickly found himself invited to even more parties and barbecues than before.

In the weeks that followed Lefty became a celebrity of sorts among the deepuns, and the former sand miner loved the attention. He became so invested in these God Dam relationships… that he completely forgot about the Drink Tabernacle and his quest to become king.

More than a month passed by and life quickly settled into a new routine. Lefty would work with the maintenance crew on odd days, and spend his even days attending parties with Amor by his side. Eventually letters fromTitus reached the dam, trying to determine what had happened to his sponsored adventurers… and Lefty promptly ignored them.

“Let him think we’re dead.” he said when he bumped into Ol Blu at the library. “Killed by deepun bandits, oOoOo.” he added with a laugh.

Blu smiled despite himself. The longer they spent in the dam the more absurd Titus’s ramblings seemed. Still, the old man had funded their trip here.

“I think you at least owe him an explanation, lad. He may be a grumpster, but If not for him we’d both be begging on the streets of The Capital.”

“Eh. I’ll see if I can find time for it.” Lefty said.

We both knew he didn’t intend to find the time, but I didn’t push the subject. If he wanted to ignore his obligations that was his decision. He was an independent man now.

“How are things going for you, by the way? Still living in the library?” Lefty asked.

“Oh Yes! It’s been wonderful. The historical society has been very accommodating. They even built me a little alcove in the corner. It’s quite lovely actually.

Lefty smiled. He still cared for Blu, even if they didn’t speak much these days. They were still on friendly terms of course. He stopped by every once and a while to chat. But in the short time they had lived with the deepuns both of them had settled into very different lives. Lefty had a job, an apartment, and a busy social life that included a budding romantic relationship. Ol Blu meanwhile, had found a place among the God Dam academics. It was a very different crowd than the one Lefty enjoyed, but it suited the old kicken quite well. He spent his days among historians and scientists, telling stories about the past that fascinated the scholars.

He was happy. Lefty was happy. They had moved on, but it was fine. The one thing that had united them, Lefty’s quest to become king, was a thing of the past now; A silly little footnote in their new lives; a story to be told around the campfire and nothing more.

Yes, for a while there it really seemed like Lefty’s journey had led him to a destination he didn’t expect… but one which brought him immense satisfaction. He had found a place he belonged. A place where he felt a genuine sense of duty. And it allowed him to build a life he could be proud of. Lefty could live the rest of his days in the God Dam, and never feel regret at what might have been…

And then she ruined everything.