Crimson Hail and the Secrets of Valour — Chapter 9.b: First flight

Wind racing from his back, ruffling his hair and whistling past his ears, he didn’t know what to do. There was nothing he could do. The air beneath him moved faster and faster, he felt less and less in control of his body as it rushed towards the ground until it stopped. He stopped mid-air.

Motionless, shocked, he moved his eyes to see the dark sky above him, and the block of apartments on his right. Maybe he was on some sort of force field? Maybe somebody was holding him up? He wriggled the fingers on his left hand then moved his arm. He did the same with his right hand, then moved both arms as if swimming to almost standing upright. He couldn’t believe what was happening. Looking down he saw a handful of shocked people looking back at him. Since he fell from the side that was away from the centre of the three towers, Nisbah and Marx had no idea what was going on. In fact, they probably thought he was still on the roof.

In an effort to move, he motioned his feet as if walking on the spot but had no luck. Then he moved his hands as if doing a breaststroke which propelled him upwards. He did the same again with more power and he went up further. He gained more confidence after a few minutes and aimed to get back to the roof since he was closer to that than the ground. Placing both hands above his head as high as they could go, he pushed the back of his palms together and swept his hands down as fast as he could. This shot him upwards at speed. He did that again, and again…