Bramora awoke early for his shift. Having been raised on a ranch, rising before the sun was a custom that he grew up on. Even here, millions of years in the past and one of only eight of his species in existence, still he could not break that habit. An hour before sunrise he sent Clovis to rest and resumed the guard duty.
The night had gone by quickly, as how all of the Rheigns were overcome with exhaustion after their Blesmahj reentered their bodies. Apparently, the wounds and fatigue of their partners carried over to a sense of weariness in the Rheigns’ own bodies.
After the battle of the previous night, the humans had comforted their partners as best they could before becoming one with them again. The Rheigns spoke very little, and chose to walk the remainder of the way out. Slowly, they drug themselves away from the dead forms of their enemies and farther down the path, putting as much distance between themselves and the defeated Nephilim.
While the scene had been terribly violent to watch for both Joseph and Clovis to witness, the others could not help but listen to the sickly gurgle that had come from the dying Naphal. Then, shortly after, they had heard Orwit take his last ragged breath, then go silent aside his brother. Never would they have thought that the mere sound of something would haunt them the way it did, but after this, they knew it would.
Everyone could see that Joseph was grim, constantly wiping away tears and occasionally breaking down in a full-out sob. Summer held Joseph during these times, letting him cry into her shoulder. A couple of times, the other three would turn to Joseph to speak, but think otherwise and stay silent. They knew he was reliving the last bloody moments over and over again in his head, but none of them could think of the right words to comfort him.
The sun had already set by the time they exited the cavern, and it was agreed upon immediately that sleep was the best course of action right then. They divided the night into seven shifts, and the two groups took rounds standing guard over the other sleepers, while it was agreed that Summer and Elato would take their shift together.
Now, standing here and seeing the light begin to shine over the mountain, he felt a sense of peace that he had not sensed since before his arrival the day before. Small creatures scurried about, including the occasional dinosaur-looking beast, thought they were none that he recognized from any book. Or Jurassic Park.
Perhaps these are their ancestors, Bramora thought.
“You know,” a voice behind him said, startling Bramora, who turned to see Majecki standing to his feet. “If I were any sort of scientist or paleontologist, I would just about wet myself with excitement. This whole scenario is just amazing.”
“Aye,” Bramora agreed. “You know, I’ve been thinking about something. Have you ever read A Sound of Thunder? It’s by Ray Bradbury.”
“No,” Majecki responded. “But I know the gist: man travels back in time, kills a butterfly, changes the future.”
“More or less,” Bramora nodded. “He changes the past in a small way, but over the course of millions of years, the effects of that one death alter history.”
Beside them, Summer began to stir.
“So, what are you saying?” Majecki inquired, eyeing the Irishman. “Are you afraid that we are going to somehow change things by being here?”
Bramora shrugged and looked out at the vast field that stretched out before them.
“It’s possible isn’t it? I mean, I know it was just a book, but the concept behind it seems pretty sound. What if we do manage to kill the bug, that carries the pollen to the tree, that was supposed to grow and feed some animals, that now die without that tree’s fruit, or leaves?”
“Whoa now,” Summer interjected, sitting up and stretching as she spoke. “Really? You think that God brought us millions of years into the past and just hopes that we don’t mess things up? I think that He thought it through a little bit more than you’re giving Him credit for.”
Bramora laughed out loud.
“I guess you’re right. It was just a thought, anyways.”
Within a few minutes, everyone was awake and munching on some fruit that Bramora had found for them during the morning’s twilight. Its orange, leathery skin provided some resistance, but the juice inside tasted remarkably sweet. The Blesmahj lay aside, watching them and licking their fur slowly, obviously bored.
“Do you guys want some fruit?” Majecki asked the cats. “Or are you going to hunt or something?”
{We require no sustenance,} Zeth replied. {As I explained, I gather my strength when I rest in you.}
“Okay,” he shrugged.
As the Rheigns ate, Joseph looked up at the others and grinned.
“So,” he started, peering around. “Are we even going to talk about how incredibly awesome it is that we can fly?”
“Oh, yeah,” Majecki laughed. “Man, with all that’s been going on, I just kind of accepted it, you know? I haven’t really thought about it.”
“I know what you mean,” Summer agreed. “Though it was amazing, it also felt, well, natural. It’s like whenever God bestowed it on us, He also gave us a sense of comfort that came along with it. Like, so that we wouldn’t get really high and freak out.”
“Probably,” Bramora concurred. “I know that when I got seventy stories up or whatever, I didn’t even think about it, when normally, I would have been terrified.”
“Did you guys also notice how we know how to control it? Like, going up and down and left and right? Without it even being explained.”
“Yeah. It’s almost the same way you move your eyes or arms: you don’t tell them to move, you just will it.”
“One thing we have to keep in mind, though,” Joseph said. “Is that we can’t try and will ourselves to stop on a dime from a forty or fifty mile-an-hour shot. It’d be like hitting a wall, I’d presume. Our brains would probably shoot out of our eyes or something.”
“That’s gross,” Summer laughed. “But are you sure? Maybe it’s another failsafe. Maybe whatever the force field that wraps around our body to keep us safe, also intertwines through our entire body.”
“We’ll have to test it at some point,” Bramora concluded.
“Okay,” Majecki agreed, sitting back against a strange-looking tree. “But let’s focus on what we’re going to do here.”
“I agree. So what’s the plan?” Joseph asked the rest of the group. “This is day two, which means we need to locate these guys today and bring them back to Brone by tomorrow. How are we even supposed to find them?”
“Well,” Bramora said. “I’ve stared out across that field for a while earlier, and I couldn’t see any trees at all, not even in the distance. They were in the Forest, right? That’s what Raphael said.”
“Yeah,” Majecki agreed. “And I know we’re headed the right direction, so we’re not lost. That’s just means that we have a ways to go before we get to the Forest.”
“What if those people are headed the opposite direction?” Summer asked. “We might never catch them in time to bring them back by tomorrow.”
“We can only pray,” Bramora replied.
They sat in silence, eating their strange fruit and drinking down the juices, when Majecki suddenly sat up straight.
“I’ve got it,” he said, looking up at the mountain behind them. “Now this may sound crazy, but I want to give it a shot.”
“What?” the others demanded.
The singer grinned.
“I am going to fly straight up, maybe a mile or so, and see if I can spot them, or just see the forest. Get a bird’s-eye-view.”
“Sounds like a good idea,” Joseph said.
“Sounds dangerous,” Bramora countered. “What if there’s a limit as to how far we can get from our Blesmahj before we lose the shield and the flying ability?”
Majecki shrugged dismissively.
“Then I’ll fall back down until I have the powers again,” he answered.
That seemed to satisfy everyone, who nodded and wished Majecki good luck as he started to rise.
“Don’t die,” Summer called out, smiling.
“Okay,” he called back.
The wind whistled in his ears and whipped his silken clothes around as he booked it skyward. Inside, Majecki secretly imagined himself in a red cape with a large S on his chest. He was almost tempted to raise a fist in the air.
As he rushed up, Majecki noticed that the wind was not bothering his eyes, despite his mediocre speed. Apparently, he figured, the shielding also provided a buffer against the air as well.
It must work on a subconscious level, he thought.
About five minutes later and close to a mile up, Majecki slowed his ascent and looked back to the ground. There, far below, his comrades awaited his return, though now they were mere specks beside the massive mountain.
“See anything?” a voice suddenly said behind him, making Majecki yelp and turn around immediately.
Joseph floated there, laughing and wiping his eyes.
“You really need to pay more attention when you go off on your own like this,” he said through fits of laughter.
“You scared the tar out of me,” Majecki panted, holding his hand to his pounding heart. “I thought there was like, a talking pterodactyl or something.”
“Not hardly,” Joseph smiled, coming up beside him.
“Anyways,” Majecki said, turning away from the mountains and the rising sun, whose light they could see literally moving across the landscape in an amazing line. “There, in the distance. Do you see that?”
Joseph focused his eyes and stared out into the distance, scrutinizing a dark mass in the distance.
“It looks like some sort of structure,” Joseph observed. “But it’s gotta be at least ten miles away, considering the daylight hasn’t even hit it yet. You think the other people would hole up there for the night?”
“It’s probably our best bet right now,” Majecki said, nodding and looking back at his comrade.
“Let’s get back to the others so we can get going.”
“Yeah, about that,” Majecki said with a mischievous smile. “You know how we were comparing this flight thing to our arms and legs earlier?”
“Yeah,” Joseph said slowly.
“Well, you know how sometimes you can go limp and let’s your arms and legs just hang there? Wonder what happens when we-”
That was all Joseph heard because suddenly Majecki was falling to the ground, very fast.
“Majecki!” Joseph cried, shooting downward.
But his call was lost amidst the whipping wind and Majecki’s screams of delight.
“Just fall!” the singer-turned-hero called back, laughing and whooping. “Don’t try and force it!”
Majecki turned somersaults and flips as he shot blazingly fast back toward the oncoming earth. Above him, Joseph was now doing the same, skydiving without a parachute.
Each of the Rheigns had to answer to their Blesmahj, who were demanding the meaning of their foolish actions as they looked up from the ground to see their partners falling from the sky.
For sport, Joseph penciled his body to lessen the wind resistance and aimed for the other falling body, slowly closing the gap between them. Just as he reached him, Joseph reached out and slapped Majecki’s outstretched ankle.
“You’re it!” he cried, then laughed as Majecki twisted and reached, all the while plummeting at eighty miles an hour toward a very hard surface.
Forty-five seconds after their initial drop, Joseph avoided a tag by Majecki and looked to the ground, which was now less than a quarter-mile away.
“I think it’s time to pull up,” he called through the howling wind.
“If we can!” Majecki laughed maniacally. “I’m going to try a quick sudden stop, then let go. You know, see if I can handle it.”
“Just don’t hurt yourself,” Joseph warned.
Majecki nodded and braced himself mentally and physically. Quickly, he willed himself to come to a sudden stop.
In a matter of a split second, he went from falling near a hundred miles an hour to zero speed. And, to his surprise, he felt fine. His eyes clouded over momentarily, like having them closed tight and opening them to bright light. But other than that, he was fine.
Joseph saw this and went to stop, then changed his mind, deciding to have a little fun.
Keeping his eyes on the ground and his friends below, he fell like a rocket straight toward them, noting the terror in their eyes, even the Blesmahj.
{You’re cutting it close!} Clovis snapped in his mind as he watched with an intense glare.
{Just watch,} Joseph replied, fifty, forty, twenty feet from the ground.
At ten feet he dropped his speed down to almost nothing and covered the remaining distance in less than half-a-second, making it seem like he had never slowed at all before his feet touched the ground. Around him, the Blesmahj and Rheigns gawked at him, some of their jaws even hanging open in shock.
“Joseph!” Summer screamed, running up to him and getting right in his face. “You have got to show me how to do that!”