"You'll never be a genius, Kit."

Those words briefly pulled me out of my slumber as my gaze locked onto his own, requesting clarification. Before he continued I found the sides of my vision turning dark and his face becoming blurry. His mouth was moving but the words came out as gibberish I couldn't comprehend, my mind did its best to form them into coherent sentences but sleep was pulling me deeper into her embrace.

"… only geniuses can move mountains alone. The sooner you accept that, the better…"

Oh, this conversation again. I already understand that I am not one of those people, I know.

"…the rest of the world needs each other to push past the barriers geniuses created. For the normal person, a collective is the only way to truly go forward..."

I understand old man, why are you saying this again… and he's flicking water on me to keep my attention. If you'll be that stubborn, then I'll show you I won't wake up, it is already working since your words are getting more and more muddled.

"….sir… neighbors that both owned a large farm… sir…"  

What was that?

"Wake up sir, Luna is waiting for you at the house."

I reluctantly open my eyes to see a random person slightly covered in dirt staring at me. We were both standing in the middle of a crop field as light rain drizzled onto us.

"Sir? Are you okay?"

My head snapped back onto him and I nod. Without saying a word I start walking back to the house, the path was lengthy so the farm hand on my left starts talking.

"Sir, I know you are still upset about that thief the other month…"

Oh yeah, the old man warned me about this, how if you blindly accept people some of them will backstab you, not only the thief stole my stuff, but our neighbor's things as well.

"… too much of the storages are locked away, it'll be hard for the rest of us to do our jobs, sir…"

The thing that annoys me the most is the fact I was betrayed like this multiple times in the past, yet I still haven't learned. How did this happen, it's not like me to…

The surroundings shifted, appearing unfocused briefly. I knew something was amiss but I couldn't understand what exactly was wrong. Maybe I overworked myself and I needed to rest. But first I need to see my sister.

"…thank you for listening sir, it's just been something that’s been on the rest of the folks' minds for a while now."

I look back at the farmhand and nod before getting into a jog, the house was in sight and I can see the silhouette of my sister on the front porch. She meets me halfway and hugs me back. I broke the comfortable silence after a few moments.

"Why aren't you inside, it's drizzling outside and getting colder."

"Because nobody has a key to your house remember?" she had a serious look of concern "After that thief stole some of your goods you took away all the spares to everything that wasn't strictly animal feed."

"They can do their jobs with the stuff I left out, trust needs to be earned."

"Can't gain something they have no chance of earning. Your neighbor went through the same thing, but you don't see him throwing everyone under the bus."

"When he gets hit again, I'll be the one laughing."

My sister rose an eyebrow before shrugging, "Well anyway the reason I'm here is because we settled the wedding for next Tuesday, I'll see you there alright?"

"Yeah, of course." After my confirmation, we shared a bit of small talk before she left the house. I relaxed in my favorite chair and allowed myself to drift to sleep. 

Thunder snapped as the windows rattled in their frames. The wind and rain battered the sides of the house. The melodic chime of the clock became louder as if to drown out the storm itself, within moments it tolled loudly jostling me from my deep slumber. 

"Wake up sir, you are going to be late." I stared at one of the farmhands who had a concerned look on their face, at second glance most of them seemed a bit tense. One of the timid ones spoke up in a small voice.

"Sir, since you'll be off the farm for most of the day maybe you should entrust the keys to Dave, he served you the longest after all."

It's too risky, Dave is pretty old and he might be overpowered or convinced to give the keys up by the other hands and I'm not stupid enough to be betrayed again.

"I've already prepared all of the supplies you need in the community shed, Dave still has the barn shed key so it'll be fine." I turned away from their faces not wanting to see their reactions, and left out the door. The trip to the ceremony was uneventful and the wedding itself was so forgetful that I couldn't recall anything on my way back home. After I got off the train I leisurely walked back to my farm with a slight sense of foreboding. 

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 I found myself back home standing in front of the fieldhands, their clothes saturated with dirt. Their heads hung low refusing to meet my eyes. Confused I peered past them and saw a beautiful sunny sky looking down on devastation. The farm was in a horrid state, the fence was in shambles, and dirt, mud and debris were scattered about. One of the barns was completely demolished, and my heart grew paler with each sight. The more I surveyed the damage, the harder it was to breathe. I turned away, glancing back at the farmhands instead. 

"The storm was a lot worse than we expected. A runaway tree pierced the secure storage and the water flooded the insides. We tried to break down the door so we could move the food but it was too late. The cattle suffered as well, we were able to save some of the cattle by storing them with our neighbor. He says we can pick them up once we are in better shape… I'm sorry sir."

I knew it wasn't their fault, I should have prepared more. I could have made more backup plans, maybe built another shed or something. I shook my head and refocused myself as I dragged myself towards my neighbors and see similar devastation. However, the farmhands didn't share the same dejected look my own had. Soon after my arrival, a taller and broad-shouldered man comes out to meet me.

"Kit, dang son I heard what happened over there. But don't be worried, you are smart and you'll make a comeback in no time!" he clapped me on my shoulder. "If you are here to pick up your cattle, they are on the fields over there."

I raised an eyebrow. "Mixed with your animals? I can just grab and go?" I braced myself expecting a trap to spring on me.

"Yeah, the field knows you are coming and you can take some hands to help you if you want. Not too many because I still gotta clear my fields too!" he chuckled at the end of his sentence.

I stood there confused and waiting for the punchline, he stared back at me and seemed equally confused about why I'm still there. My head started pounding again.

"Didn't you get robbed too, why are you so carefree?"

His eyes studied me for a few seconds before replying. His words came out muddled, as the surroundings slowly dipped into darkness.

The void consumed my surroundings then finally me. All of my senses slowly merged into one, emptiness. It was comforting at first, but slowly I saw things moving in the darkness. Formless black lights in the distance whispered to me increasing with intensity. The whispers turned into yelling then into screams, the world shifted around me and I felt heat crawling everywhere on my skin as gravity pulled me downwards. A long boom nearly shattered my eardrums and a bright light chased away the darkness and the screams were replaced by me being consumed by a flaming ball. Moments later the flame died out and was replaced by the roar of wind rushing by me and I could finally see what was beyond… no below me.

I was extraordinarily high in the sky, the ground blurred into seas of colors well above the clouds staring down at Earth below. Above me was an innumerable amount of stars that littered the sky and a large red sun that scorched my eyes peaking from behind the Earth itself. Looking over my shoulder I took in the vertiginous height I was at. The clouds slowly swam in the sky below me, lush vivid greens divided by the sprawling mountain peaks surrounded by a bright blue sparkling ocean.

 Half of the world was dyed in the golden blaze of the sun, while the other half was still masked by the void of the night sky. My body was not my own, locked in position as the ground closed in and the sky closed off beneath the clouds. The air rushed past me but I felt no resistance. Something clicked and I was able to move again, flailing about as my body and mind caught up and realized I was going to die.

I had a mission, I couldn't die here no matter how ridiculous everything was. I struggled to steady myself like I've seen done countless times in movies. I never paraglided before but I've seen plenty of actors do it with ease. I swung around uncontrollably and gave up on steading myself instead trying to grab anything nearby. The tops of trees came in close and I quickly fell through them, the speed was manageable and I swung my limbs out as much as possible to grab onto anything. Multiple branches burst under my speed and weight but I slowed which each snap that rung against my ears. 

The impacts were negligible, each sharp and blunt edge alike shattering against my body until I got to an especially thick branch that creaked as it dented my stomach inwards, knocking the wind out of me and racking my head and limbs forward toward the ground. But held me regardless. The ground is still a few meters away. I survived.

I survived?

The pop of the branch echoed throughout the forest followed by the sensation of falling as I came with it, my head was going to hit the ground first and I had no chance to adjust.

Thanks, gravity.