Prepping the Future

Scrape, scrape, scrape. I worked on sharpening the long piece of rock with long strokes of another rock. After a meal I’d switch to magic for a bit to rest my hands. I had been at it for hours now. While sweaty and laborious, there was the benefit of a small pond to bathe and cool myself in right nearby. Which I desperately needed after the last couple days or maybe it was weeks, but I still can’t believe that.

Perfect. That’s three of them. I dunked the long rod shaped rocks into the pot of brilawell. The thick goo dripped off slowly. Next I got to pounding all three into the trunk using magic at once before the brilawell hardens.

I had brought the pot to the large tree by rolling it on its side. It was much easier then carrying it on my back, other then the odd rock or two causing bumps.

I was now in the process of trying to inject the brilawell in the tree trunk. It’s much to tall to cover, so this was my current theory.

With a final echoing clang the rods fully penetrate the truck together. I smeared on a bit more brilawell over the openings as to deter infections. Now I waited.

Over the course of the next week I got a much needed rest, scavenged for food and built a small bit of shelter. I just had to keep eyes and ears out for when scavenging groups came around. While practicing some magic I glanced up at the tree, noticed it touching the clouds with branches so large you could easily build a small house on any one of them. A flock of birds flew by. I smacked my head and looked at the ground in shame. I only just came to realize I have no way to get up.

I studied the birds in the sky and how they took off from the pond. They moved forward at a fast pace with the wind and started flapping until they gained enough speed to ride the breeze with a glide.

I tried the same, I crouched a bit and started to run forward. Wind rushing past my face, arms straight out at my sides. I jumped and attempted to lift my body using magic midair. It was maybe a half second before I predictably ended up taking a face plant in the mud. My body was far heavier then any bird’s.

Next I started experimenting with commanding the wind around me and over the course of a few days gained height little by little. One day I saw a seneca bouncing about when it suddenly wound up it’s tail and shot up high onto a branch. This was the answer I had a been seeking.

Palms down my side, I called the wind’s energy underneath me and unleashed it all at once with an upward force. I soared up higher then ever before. A bird passed by me, I saw my hamlet off in the distance as the wind rushed around me. The rushing wind also meant I was falling fast. I tried in vain attempts to call the wind to slow myself down. I bounced off some branches and hit the ground head first.

Darkness was all I could see. I shook around in confusion, felt a pull on my neck and realized my head was stuck in the dirt. It pulled out with a pop and I wasn’t even mad. A dumb smile creeped up my cheeks. I had flown.

My control got better over the next few days and I started ascending the branches. I set up a group of tied up large leaves at various points to sleep on. Commanding the wind took a toll on my magical limits and I can only eat so much at once to refuel. It was a long way up, luckily the tree provided ample varieties of fruits to eat.

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Days later I finally reached the top. It was just as the evening sun was setting. The sky was cast in a dazzling mixture of pinks and oranges that surrounded the tree on all sides with planets that appeared so much closer. The mountains below looked almost like large cracks in the ground from up here. I was in so much awe I could barely bring myself to sleep that night as I sat on the highest branch and gazed out.

When morning came I set to work on building a permanent residence; using magic to break off branches and sanding them by hand. I tied branches together using vines brought from below, and before you knew it the first room was done. It was a humble size, enough to sleep and cook in.

I journeyed back to the bottom and it was finally time to test if the injected brilawell had worked. I tried stabbing the tree with an extra sharpened rod.

Clack, clack, clack. I tried smacking harder with a rock on the end. Still nothing. I tried a variety of other objects and nothing pierced it.

Hope this works, if not its all for nothing. I thought to myself as I spawned a fireball and threw it at the tree. It collided and spread out into sparks, then nothing. I jumped up and down in celebration.

With everything in place, there was only one task left before disappearing forever. I had been putting it off for so long. Just thinking about it made my heart ache.

I had to face my family.