Journey

Maria glanced over the rocks in front of her, looking for a good place to stand as she perched herself precariously on two small outcroppings of stone. She was well over a thousand feet in the air, and could hardly see the small town in which she had grown if she glanced down and behind her - though she would never dare, or risk falling. It had taken her many years of practice and scoping out the landscape of the floating mountains to make this journey, several multi-day ventures into the rocky formations just to make a few dozen feet of progress. This was the furthest she had ever progressed...

And she wasn't turning back this time.

She made a well practiced leap across a gap in the mountain, landing on a flat surface just wide enough for her to stand with her feet shoulder-length apart - a convenient stance for landing. The heavy bag on her back shifted as she landed, and she took a moment to tighten her core and adjust her hips, changing her center of gravity to accommodate for the shift in weight until she could safely recenter herself. She carried supplies that would last her far more than a week. She planned to be able to make a new life in the mountains.

That was something she had learned a while ago. Despite the unique terrain, and the way it was separated from the rest of the earth, there was a surprising amount of life in the mountains. She had learned to hunt, to cook, and to use their hides, furs, and bones to make clothing and supplies. The clothes she was wearing was some of her favorites that she had made, from the quick footed and highly reactive deers in the nearby forests. They were a sign of how skilled she had become, and she had taken extra care to make them beautiful. They hung loose off of her shoulders, keeping her warm in the cold, and cool in the heat.

Standing in a safe spot, she glanced back at her old home. It was far away in the distance, barely visible, but she knew that no one there would be questioning her disappearance. They had long since accepted that she would disappear for long stretches at a time. She always came back with a collection of meats and furs to pay back any loses that may have been made by her disappearance, and so the people had learned not to question her actions. It would be quite a while before they began to wonder about her location. But there was a good chance she would never see any of them again.

It was ok. She had learned to live without them, and they without her. She had long wanted to start anew. The floating mountains were the place to do that. So strange, like they were a different world only barely in tandem with their own. She had no idea if there would be any other humans in that world. But she accepted that there was a chance she would be alone. And if not, perhaps she would find people like her, and be able to start anew with them.

Regardless of what happened, she would make do. This was the choice she had made. There was a tenseness and a soreness to her body as she pushed forward. It felt good.