Magic Madness™️

Chapter Twenty Three: Wander

Word count: 1,943

"Elijah, why are you walking like that?" Amber asked as Eli stumbled behind everyone else, grimacing and wobbling on unstable feet. Penny no longer sat on his shoulder, instead flying beside him.
"Joan made me do the thing where I see and feel everything and I couldn't fully turn it off and now every movement of every little thing is throwing me off. Do you have any idea how many worms we're stepping over? Too many, if you ask me," Eli complained, practically tip-toeing at this point, as if he expected that to help (t did, a little bit).
"Wow. That must feel so weird, huh?" Evalyn mused, "Do you see everything at once or- no wait, do you see things at all? Like how does that work?"
"I don't see, but I can feel the exact size of the things that are moving, and I feel where they're moving, so it's pretty easy to tell what's what," Eli explained, "There's a rabbit's den right over there." He pointed.
"That's crazy. So how far do you feel? Like is it just a radius around you or...?" Eva asked.
"Um. Everything. Like everything. That's when I'm just tuning in, though. When I really focus, I can pick a specific spot. Except I'm not focusing anymore and I'm not even tuning in, so I can just feel motion like an earthquake but just for me. Like how there's cartoons and stuff where people have that tiny storm cloud over their head? It's that, but instead of a storm cloud, I have my own personal earthquake. It sucks," Eli said, and immediately after, he stumbled and nearly fell on his face.
"That does sound...um...difficult," Evalyn said, falling back a bit to hold Eli's arm to help keep him steady.
"And actually," Eli said, puzzled, "It feels like there's gonna be a clearing. Like a huge clearing. Soon."
"That would be correct. We are approaching Campis, which is essentially just plains and fields until they reach cliffs. Though large, there are few obstacles, and we should cross it relatively quickly," Joan affirmed.
"Thank God, a change in scenery! We've been in this forest forever," Alex sighed of relief.
"We have. I say we step up our pace," Joan agreed.
"Are you good on your own?" Eva asked Eli.
"Yeah," Eli nodded. Eva let go of his arm, and he promptly tripped and faceplanted.

Alex began to sprint as they approached the end of the forest. After days, weeks, of looking up to only see leaves, Alex could see large patches of clear skies. There were birds. Or maybe dragons that were really far away. It didn't matter much to him. Either way, he was the first to reach the last of the trees, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes as the sunlight hit his face. He held his arms out, smiling and basking in the clean, open air.
"What is he doing?" Amber snickered from well behind Alex.
"Being a dramatic nerd. He's been complaining about the stuffy air for forever," Elijah rolled his eyes.
"So pretentious," Amber grinned.
But as everyone else reached the last of the trees beside Alex, they, too, realized just how clean the air smelled and felt to breathe in.
"Be careful, everyone. These plains are covered in tall grass, where things like snakes make their homes," Joan said.
"Way to ruin the moment," Amber droned.

When the sun set, the group just dropped where they were and began to get comfortable. There was no shelter or clearings in the grass, so they made camp where they were.
Alex continued standing for the duration of the sunset just to watch the colors change over the horizon of the distant cliffs. Eventually, Joan dragged him down and told him to rest.

Alejandro did not find any rest. He was too overcome with excitement at the feeling of freedom and hope being out in the open gave him. How was he expected to sleep when he could see the stars? This world didn't have the same constellations that the Earth did, but there were patterns and shapes all the same, so Alex created and named new constellations in his head. Though that didn't last long; Alex's antsiness was becoming too much to remedy with only making up fake constellations.
Quietly, he stood up, stepping away from the rest of the group. The more he walked, the shorter the grass and grains got, until he was able to walk normally. He closed his eyes and put his arms out again, taking deep breaths and finding relief in the breeze that hit his face. Entertaining his thoughts, he imagined the light breeze lifting him off the ground. He imagined floating up to the clouds. He knew clouds were water vapor and couldn't be laid on, but if he could fly, then maybe he could just hover and make it look like he was laying on the clouds. Wouldn't that be neat?
Maybe he didn't even have to fly, he'd just be happy to hover. How much better would this long trek be if he could hover instead of walking? What if he could float above everything and give his team directions? Plus it would just look cool.
And really, who has never thought of flying before? Alex had dreamed of flying many times: he wanted to feel the air surround him, like swimming but cooler. For once in his life, he wanted to feel feather light. He wanted to be weightless and free.