Mizalin-on-Sky: Boulder Trouble
#24 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
Jarzyl escalates the adventure.
Glecion and Caden continued up the hiking trail. By now they had climbed a considerable height away from the flat plateau of this floating mountain. Atlas and Jarzyl had moved ahead, but their chatter was still occasionally audible from further up the trail. Eventually Caden and Glecion walked around one sharp turn in the trail, and they found themselves in a higher, but smaller sort of plateau that had a wide, flat stone area with only sparse vegetation growing in cracks in the rock. At one side of the flat area there was a cliff that overlooked the visitor centre and the larger meadow they had first arrived in, and in the other direction there was a sharper incline as the mountain continued even higher in a slope that no longer appeared traversable.
The hiking path ended here in this small lookout area. Jarzyl and Atlas were sitting together side by side, looking out over the scenic view of the meadow and visitor centre. As Caden and Glecion walked over however, they soon found out that the two other fledglings weren't just admiring the scenery.
"...no. No, no, no, no. Bad idea," Atlas had been saying.
"It'll be so easy! It's perfectly doable," Jarzyl retorted.
Caden and Glecion walked over, and Caden briefly described the landscape so Glecion understood what they were looking at, before ending with, "... and Atlas and Jarzyl are arguing over something while they both stare out over the cliff."
"Oh. What's the topic of contention?" Glecion asked.
Atlas turned to acknowledge them with a nod. "Jarzyl's getting overly adventurous again..."
"We came here to have an adventure! You can't be overly adventurous when the whole objective was to have an adventure," Jarzyl countered.
"But what are you even discussing?" Glecion pressed further.
Jarzyl raised a paw and pointed. "There. You see it?"
Caden did see it, and she readily described it for the blind fledgling. "Ok, so now we're in sort of a flat area, but that leads right to a cliff overlooking the visitor centre and that wide meadow we first arrived in. And since this is Mizalin-on-Sky, there's also a huge floating boulder just suspended in the air next to the cliff, barely touching it, almost like it is part of the cliff. It's about as big in diameter as... an adult dragon from nose to tail?"
"Ok. And why is this boulder discussion worthy?" Glecion inquired.
Caden couldn't keep the amused smile off her face. "Because this boulder is floating just at the level of the cliff, and right on top of it there is a great, big, shiny needlemir crystal, glinting the sun with a rainbow of colours!"
Jarzyl shifted her weight between her paws. "I could just walk out onto that boulder and grab the crystal. It would be easy..."
Atlas shook his head. His eyes were hidden behind his dark goggles, but Jarzyl could distinctly sense her friend's judgemental look, the one he gave her when he thought she was making a bad decision. It was a look she was well familiar with. "The signs back at the visitor centre specifically said it wasn't safe to fly and land on floating boulders. They aren't as stable as the main, massive floating mountains. The tour guide even said it to us."
"But that's not a floating boulder. It's just an extension of the floating mountain--it still attached to the ground," Jarzyl countered.
Atlas wasn't persuaded. "It's touching the ground, but it's not attached. The moment you step out and walk on that floating boulder, you'll destabilize it."
"And if that somehow happens, the boulder will just float off into the sky. But I can snatch the crystal and fly back here, no problem!"
Caden swept the ground clean with her tail to make sure there weren't any tiny crystal fragments, so that she could sit down and watch her two friends. "I'll just let you two talk this out."
With her wing still on Caden's shoulder, Glecion carefully sat down too. "So this is how an adventure works, yes? I've read about adventures in books, but never been in one myself. How exciting."
"Life is only exciting if you make it exciting," Jarzyl replied. She adjusted her helmet and neck guard, and then she turned and focused her gaze on the floating boulder. "I'm grabbing that crystal. It's too big to just leave there."
"When you destabilize that rock, I'm going to say I told you so," Atlas said, but he followed Jarzyl as she trotted forward towards the cliff edge.
Even as she was approaching the boulder, Jarzyl could hear Caden mutter, "Off those two go. Hey, Glecion, want me to sharpen your claws?"
"Ooh! Um... I... Yes!" Glecion replied.
Jarzyl paused and glanced back over her shoulder, back at Glecion and Caden. "Really? There's a huge needlemir crystal right there! It's got to be worth as much as all the crystals we've scavenged so far combined. Are you two not interested in the least?"
Caden had slipped off the wooden sandals from her forepaws, and she was casually holding one of Glecion's forepaws to file her claws. "No, I'm not interested, but thank you for asking."
"I'm interested, but purely as a spectator for adventure. I'm not courageous enough to participate," Glecion replied.
Jarzyl shifted her gaze to Atlas, who shrugged awkwardly under her glare. "It is... it is definitely a huge crystal," he admitted, "but it's on a floating boulder and the information signs at the visitor centre where quite clear that floating boulders aren't stable. I don't think it's worth the risk."
"Risks were meant to be taken." Jarzyl kicked off her wooden sandals as well, but not to do something as boringly mundane as sharpening claws, but because she was going to need her claws exposed to climb. Turning back forward, she strolled up to the edge of the cliff. Here the ground was made from flat grey stone, and she carefully planned her steps to avoid stepping on any tiny needlemir shards that might poke her exposed paws.
As it turned out, the boulder was specifically not a floating boulder, as it was contacting the cliff--admittedly though, there surely must have been some energized needlemir contained inside that large spherical rock, otherwise it wouldn't be able to hang almost entirely off the cliff without succumbing to the pull of gravity. Balanced right atop the boulder was a gorgeously large, multi-coloured, semi-translucent needlemir crystal. It was shaped as a cluster of thick, squared spikes all pointing roughly in the same direction upwards, and it was easily as large as a clenched paw.
Jarzyl fixed her gaze on that crystal, and then she took a slow step forward, placing her forepaw on the boulder's top surface. The boulder was roughly spherical, but with rough edges and cracks that lent grip to her claws. First one paw, then another, and then a bit more of her weight, until finally she dared to fully jump off the cliff and stand atop the boulder.
From behind, Jarzyl could hear Caden providing a running commentary to Glecion, describing the situation since the blind fledgling couldn't see what was going on. "...standing on the boulder fully. Hasn't gone wrong yet, for which I'm truly very surprised. Atlas looks surprised too. Actually, I can't tell what Atlas is feeling--he's hard to read. You know how he is. But Jarzyl is overly ambitious as always..."
Atlas was still standing at the cliff edge, watching the boulder with concern, and watching the fledgling standing atop the boulder with even more concern. "Is it stable?" he asked.
Jarzyl nodded to her friend. "It's totally stable! I told you it was connected with the cliff. See?" To demonstrate, she reared up on her hindlegs and then used her forelegs to stomp down on the large rock. Jarzyl had assumed her own weight was completely insignificant compared to the immense mass of all that stone, but now she learned otherwise.
In a decidedly unpleasant surprise, the whole boulder shifted. "Oh, oh! Ok. I might have been wrong!" Jarzyl exclaimed, her neck frill perking up in concern. She clung on tight to the boulder, but it only rolled slightly along the cliff before going still again. "No problem. No problem. I think it was just... it was just settling into a more stable position. Now as long as I take this nice and slow, I should be fine."
Atlas looked very doubtful. He walked sideways and stuck his head over the cliff edge to peer at the contact point between the boulder and the cliff. But then he didn't say anything more, and Jarzyl took this as encouragement to proceed.
With all claws fully extended, she careful moved her way across the boulder to approach the huge crystal embedded in its top. The boulder really wasn't that big--its diameter was only about one adult dragon's full length--and soon that crystal was within her grasp. Jarzyl grinned, and then she reached her paw forward to try and tug at the base of that huge, spikey, multi-coloured crystal. "Hmm. It's a bit stuck."
"You know, it occurs to me that clearly there must be needlemir deposits inside that boulder because it's partially floating," Atlas said. "And maybe that crystal is internally connected with that needlemir. So if you dislodge that crystal, you will most likely disturb the delicate balance of forces that's keeping the boulder in that position."
Jarzyl could hear the steady, powerful humming of the crystal, whispering about its size and how nice it would be if she could grab it. "It'll be fine!" she assured Atlas. "I'll grab the crystal and then just leap from the boulder and fly off. No risk--it'll be easy."
"I don't know... I hope so, but I don't know," Atlas replied.
Meanwhile, Caden was still providing commentary for Glecion, while alternatingly using her claw file to polish Glecion's claws. "...reached the crystal and is touching it, but she hasn't gotten it free from the rock yet. And as far as things have gone, I'm actually surprised how well this has progressed so far."
"Mm hhm!" Glecion agreed, nodding curiously.
Jarzyl ignored her friends and focused her attention back on the task. She tried to give a firmer tug to dislodge the crystal, but it remained resolutely embedded inside the solid rock of the boulder. "Come on..." she muttered. To try and get a better grip using both paws, Jarzyl shifted a bit further forward on the boulder. Just to get the best grip, she turned herself around so that she was standing sideways--with her right side facing towards the cliff and her friends.
But then before she could even try to pull at the crystal, the whole boulder began to move again, shifted by the off-centre addition of a single fledgling's weight. Slowly the boulder rolled sideways, rolling towards the left as it slid along the cliff. A series of dull grinding noises emanated from the contact point between boulder and cliff. "Cgggrrk!"
"Woah. Woah, woah, woah!" Jarzyl exclaimed, and she gave a panicked glance to her friends.
"Jarz!!" Atlas shouted. He hesitated once, then he kicked off his sandals too and leapt forward, flapping his wings as he did so. The three-legged fledgling landed on the boulder as well, using his mass to weigh it down from the other side and balance out Jarzyl's weight.
In comparison, Caden didn't react other than to stop filing Glecion's claws and speed up her frantic commentary of the situation. "Moving! She's moving! We've got movement from that boulder, and Jarzyl is right on top of it! It's rolling sideways across the cliff! And now Atlas has jumped on too?! I don't know what he's doing! Oh, he's on the other side to try and even out the weight, I think?"
"Atlas, be safe! Jarzyl, be safe too!" Glecion yelled. She excitedly grabbed Caden's paw and held it with her own. "Keep talking, please, I want to know what's happening!"
Atlas and Jarzyl both clung onto their opposing sides of the boulder, staring right at each other with that large needlemir crystal right between them. But to their shared relief, the boulder slid back to a stop after a few seconds.
Jarzyl breathed a faint sigh of relief. "Whew."
"Don't, move," Atlas said slowly, staring right at her.
"Agreed," Jarzyl replied. Her hearts were pounding in her chest, but this was what she lived for--excitement and danger, with friends to share it with. The two fledglings remained where they were, clinging to opposite sides of the boulder. "So... should we both try to jump off this boulder backwards?" Jarzyl suggested after a while.
Atlas glanced around, then he fixed his gaze back on her. "We haven't gotten the crystal yet, though. That was the whole point in the first place."
Jarzyl's neck frill perked up in surprise, then she broke into a wide grin. "Hehe. That's true! Can you get a better grip on the crystal and pull it free?"
"It's not easy," Atlas replied. As a three-legged dragon, he didn't have a free forepaw to try and pull at the crystal without losing his grip, but instead he tilted his head sideways towards the crystal and closed his teeth around the smooth base, just below the jagged spikes.
"Do it!" Jarzyl encouraged him, nodding her head eagerly. "I'll help too!" Reaching out, she grabbed the upper part of the crystal where there was a smooth portion free of spikes. "Together now. One, two..."
With Jarzyl tugging on the crystal, Atlas tried to jerk his head, but the crystal didn't budge. They tried again, to similar lack of effect. Atlas opened his jaws and let go of the needlemir crystal. "I don't know if--"
"hmmmMMMMMMM!!!" Suddenly the humming of the crystal got noticeably louder and shifted to a higher pitch, and it began to glow. First it was faint, but then tiny sparks of bright, pure white magic began shifting through the translucent crystal lattices, rising up from the base and then jumping between the tips of the spikes.
Atlas and Jarzyl both exchanged an intrigued, wide-eyed look. "Did we do that?" Atlas asked.
"I don't think we could have," Jarzyl replied. She frowned as she watched the magic flashing across that crystal. "I think the floating boulder just... when it moved sideways on the cliff, it must have picked up a flux line and is getting energized. You were right earlier--that crystal is just the protruding bit from whatever internal needlemir structure is keeping this boulder floating."
The two fledglings continued staring at the crystal as magic jumped across its surface, arcing between the pointy tips, and the high-pitched humming continued to get louder. "That's pretty to look at," Atlas decided, "but it's probably a bad sign."
"Could be," Jarzyl agreed.
The steady humming continued, but now there was also the sound of rock grinding against rock. With both fledglings still clinging on, the boulder rolled entirely away from the cliff and lifted away, following not the wind but the invisible, arcane magical forces that inundated Mizalin-on-Sky.
Caden blinked. "Yeah, there we go. Here comes the part where everything goes wrong."
Glecion gasped dramatically. "Huuh!" She clutched Caden's paw tightly with her own. "What's going on? What happened?"
"The whole rock has... it's free. It's flying. That big rock has completely dislodged from the cliff and it is floating freely. Jarzyl and Atlas are both still clinging on, but the rock is just... floating and spinning through the air. It's blowing in the wind--no, wait--it also must be following a flux line or whatever, because it's moving in a weird, zig-zag, whirly motion. I know I've said this before, but I sure wish you could see this, Glecion."
"Agreed..." Glecion's ears flicked about, and she could surely hear the steady hum of the energized needlemir coming from the boulder, especially once it started to approach.
Caden tilted her head as she watched the boulder continue to move. "It's lifted entirely away from the cliff... It's coming back towards us, in fact!"
"Should we move?" Glecion asked.
"The boulder is floating high enough that it will go over us... but maybe we shouldn't stay underneath." Caden kept her claw file back into her flight harness pouch, then she slipped the wooden sandals back onto Glecion's forepaws, then her own. "Let's just move to be safe."
"Ok!"
Walking together, Glecion and Caden took several steps sideways until they would no longer be under the boulder as it whirled around. "That should be sufficient," Caden decided. Meanwhile, Atlas and Jarzyl were both yelling to each other as they tried to figure out what to do.
"This is not according to plan!" Jarzyl yelled. She shifted her position, clambering upwards to try and remain on top of the boulder as it slowly spun.
Atlas didn't move, but instead he kept holding tight even as the boulder rotated and he ended up in an inverted position. "Stop moving! You're spinning the boulder!" he yelled.
"It's already spinning in the wind!" Jarzyl yelled back. "Should we jump free?"
"Careful! Just don't jump directly down so there's no risk that the boulder somehow crushes you against the ground! Or against the cliff! Or against the slope, I mean! I don't want to get crushed! Watch the angle!" Atlas replied.
"So this is adventure," Glecion commented.
"Yep." Caden sat down again, and after a few seconds, Glecion did too. "This is the sort of thing that happens when you follow Jarzyl and Atlas about. Jarzyl always goes looking for excitement, and Atlas adds just enough stability and patience to encourage her even further."
Glecion chuckled. "Haha. I think it goes the other way too. I've always known Atlas as being a quiet and unobtrusive friend, but today with Jarzyl he is so much more chatty and playful with her. The two of them just need each other."
"They do. They really do," Caden agreed. "Ok, so now the big rock is still spinning around, and I don't know if it's the wind or the flux lines or whatever, but it seems to be moving faster and heading right towards the slope. And there are still two foolish, adventure-seeking fledglings holding on..."
Jarzyl was clinging on tightly to the boulder even as it continued to spin. Atlas was right beside her, and the two fledglings exchanged glances. Even as her perspective on the world continued to rotate constantly, Jarzyl could see that the boulder was approaching the ground.
Of the flat lookout area they were in, one side faced the cliff and gave a broad scenic view overlooking the visitor centre and the meadow, whereas the other side had a upwards inclining slope that lead towards the highest peak of the floating mountain. As it spiralled through the air, the boulder was getting ever closer towards the rock face, and an impact was imminent.
"We're out of time. We need to jump!" Jarzyl declared.
Atlas looked dizzy, but he nodded. "Ok let's jump."
"Together, then. Wait for it... wait..." Jarzyl had a moment of perfectly focused concentration, where it felt like time itself was slowing down--the boulder spiralled and spun chaotically through the air, but then there came the perfect moment where the two fledglings were at just the right angle. "Now!" Jarzyl yelled, and she kicked herself off the boulder and threw open her wings to take flight. As she did, she let out a brave roar. "Ryyah!"
Atlas reacted simultaneously, but with different intent. For a start, he didn't roar (to Jarzyl's disappointment). And whereas Jarzyl had aimed to throw herself into the air and fly away, Atlas had aimed to jump down from the boulder and land on the ground. He managed to do exactly that, dropping neatly on the steeply inclined slope and stumbling to a stop.
Jarzyl flapped her wings hard to switch course, and she landed right beside her friend. For a moment both young fledglings stared at each other, then they both turned their heads to watch as the floating boulder continued to spiral away, getting closer and closer to the slope until finally it collided a moderate distance uphill away from them.
With a tremendous _thump_sound of rock smacking against rock, the boulder smashed against the steep slope and threw up a spray of dust and dirt that showered down across a portion of the incline. Atlas unfurled his wing and spread it open to shield his head, and Jarzyl stepped closer and leaned in so she was covered as well. Dust rained down around the two fledglings, but nothing hit them except for a few tiny pebbles. "Wow!" she chirped.
"Good thing we're wearing helmets," Atlas muttered. He flicked his wing, waving off the dust that had landed atop his flight surfaces.
Before Jarzyl could breathe a sigh of relief, though, she realized that the boulder was moving again. The impact had shocked all the needlemir crystals out of alignment, and now it was no longer able to repulse the local flux lines and remain floating. Now completely beholden to gravity, the bolder started rolling downhill right towards them.
Jarzyl had never really learned how to swear. Of course she had picked up a few bad words from general school experience, but her parents never swore and neither did her close friends (though Caden sometimes muttered things under her breath), which meant Jarzyl had never gotten much practice with profanity. Nevertheless, this would definitely have been a good moment to swear. Instead she made a short, quiet, unhappy whimpering noise that could best be described as a mewl. "Eepp..."
"Oh. Not good," Atlas agreed.
Jarzyl and Atlas both spun around in unison and threw themselves into the air, flapping hard to get out of the way of the boulder as it rolled its way down the slope.
To be continued...