Who Am I? (Book 1)

Chapter 24

This is it, I thought. I wasn't gonna save the world or anything, no I was gonna die like this ... pancaked on the ground. I curled up and waited for the painful impact ... but it never came. When I opened my eyes I was still falling, but it was painfully slow. After a while I kinda ... got bored and then time suddenly sped up again. In pure reflex, I stretched out my hands, as if to halt the impact. The air under my hands surged and formed a current underneath me, stopping my fall altogether. "Wuh ...?" I was quite flabbergasted as I had never experienced anything like this. I was curious if this really was my doing, so I carefully stood up and tried to "walk" on the air ... and it actually worked!

I walked higher and higher up until I reached Tash. "Take my hand". I tried to maintain control while grabbing her hand (and hoped that we wouldn't fall to our death). The weight shifted a little and I lost my balance, but after a couple of seconds managed to regain it. After some other ... struggles I got us to safely (albeit a little painfully) land on the ground. Once the adrenaline calmed down my knees buckled underneath me, I felt completely drained. "This is interesting, you control time itself and you command the air". Tash mumbled something more to herself, I didn't know if it was because my powers were rare or whatnot. "We need to keep moving, I think you're gonna love this cave". Without waiting for my answer, she walked away and disappeared in the dark cave. I hastily got up, but my legs gave out and I fell face-first onto the hard ground. "Tash! Wait up!" My shout fell for deaf ears, she was probably long gone ... but why? Why would she leave me here? I cautiously walked into the cave, it was supposed to be holy grounds, and so far everything holy had hated me. 

It felt as if 100 years had passed since I went into the cave, so of course, I felt exhausted and let my guard down. Someone took my hand, it was warm and rough but at the moment I did not connect the dots. I yelled in surprise and punched the owner of the hand. Fortunately, Tash had a quicker reaction than me, and easily parried my blow. "Hold on, Julie!" She seemed kinda surprised, but not in a negative way. "Sorry!" I tried to look a little apologetic, but I found the whole situation a little funny. "Sorry for leaving you behind, I wanted to walk with you. But ... the mountain itself seemed to call to me as if it wanted you to find the way on your own." The corridor we entered was beautiful, the walls ice-blue with a silvery glimmer. "So ... why is this sacred to the air element?" It was freezing cold, but at the same time not. "I don't know, but the temperature sinks the higher you get". 

In the deepest part of the cave stood a roman inspired fountain. It seemed to be made from some kind of silver, the engravings were in the strange language and its decorations depicted clouds and the wind. The fountain's content was milky white spotted with sparkling sky blue. It had to contain strong magic cause it was glowing like crazy and it didn't freeze. "Tash! Do you see this?" I didn't get any response and turned around ... no one was there. But she had just been with me ... Then I heard footsteps in the distance, but they didn't seem human. They were too light and approaching too quickly. And suddenly a woman stood face to face with me. "Oy! You're not Tash!" I should probably have better manners, but it just fell out of my mouth. Regardless, I looked her over with suspicion and curiosity. "I am Air".