Wind streaks past my wings, stinging like needles. But I ignore it as I soar higher into the rosy sky, toward clouds gilded by the rising sun.
A powerful flap drives me up through a cloud. Though icy mist engulfs me, I plunge forward. I've flown long and far - my muscles aching, my heart throbbing, my lungs burning - and I'm not going to stop for anything now.
There's something else too, beyond just blood and breath and muscle, somewhere deep inside my core. It pulses with a gentle warmth, as if I've swallowed a piece of the sun, and gives me the strength to keep going.
The cloud thins, allowing patches of dawn light to shine through. Finally I burst free, my wings shedding furls of mist. Beneath me, the clouds roll like a golden ocean; above me stretches the dizzying expanse of the heavens; and ahead of me -
An island looms from the ocean of clouds. Crystalline structures crown it like stacked chess pieces, reflecting the sunrise in a dazzling array of colors. Medusids drift around the island, trailing ghostly tentacles after their massive bells. But nothing is as remarkable as the people flitting between the crystal spires, gliding on wings just like mine.
The warmth inside me swells, spreading through my veins until I feel like I'm going to burst. Yes, this it. This is the place I've struggled so hard to reach.
I raise my wings, prepared for one final burst of speed, to finally bring this journey to a close -
~*~
"Theo! Hey, Theo! Earth to Theo! Theeee-ohhhh! Anyone hooooome?"
If the voice shrieking in his ear wasn't enough, next came a thud to the side of the head, sending stars in Theo's vision. And not the kind that might fill a romantic sky above a floating city. He jumped upright, yelling indignantly.
"What the hell was that for, Sam?"
"Oh, come on," Sam said breezily. "It was just a tap. No way it hurt that much."
"Easy for you to say." Theo glared at Sam through watering eyes, rubbing his head and messing up his screaming-pink fringe. Not that his hair stayed neat at the best of times, but there was a fine line between artfully disheveled and raging bedhead.
"I had to pull out the big guns. You weren't getting up." Sam hopped into her desk chair, chipper as ever. Her long, lanky body always seemed to burst with an energy it couldn't contain. "Now look at the time. We haven't even gotten around to naming the world yet."
"I thought we were supposed to decide on the theme song today." Theo felt around the bed for his phone, wanting to check the time. The sheets were pastel lavender and printed with pictures of Mashuparo, Sam's favorite cartoon mascot sheep. Sam's entire room was like that - if it was pastel, cute, and collectible, she was all over it. Meanwhile Theo would rather paint his walls black and paste them with emo band posters.
Yet they were supposed to be collaborating on a video game together. Theo would take care of the world design and theme song; Sam would do the programming and soundtrack. A fantasy-themed puzzle RPG with a screamo theme song and chiptune soundtrack; Theo couldn't begin to imagine how that would translate into reality.
Though he wouldn't have to worry about it for a while, what with how far this thing was from getting off the ground. Theo supposed falling asleep during what was supposed to be a planning meeting didn't help things.
He found his phone under the blanket, its black cat case standing out starkly amidst the prancing Mashuparos. His sketchbook lay open beside it, revealing a drawing of a city floating in the clouds.
A jolt ran through Theo's chest. For a flash, the rough pencil lines transformed into gleaming crystal and shimmering dawn colors. He shook his head to clear it.
Not only had he fallen asleep at Sam's house, but he'd had one of those dreams while at it. Well, it was bound to happen when he'd spent all day looking at his drawings and talking about them....
"Theo?" Sam leaned toward him, blinking round brown eyes. "You okay there?"
"I'm fine," Theo said quickly, glancing at his phone. Past six PM. The last thing he remembered, he'd been showing Sam his sketches some time around four.
"I dunno...it's not like you to just take a nap in the middle of the day." Sam crinkled her brow. "You sure you've been sleeping okay?"
"I - " Theo paused. "I don't know."
"You need to take care of your health, y'know!" Sam put her hands on her hips. "Dedication's one thing, but try not to pull all-nighters working on designs, okay?"
"Come on, Sam." Theo rolled his eyes. "Believe it or not, I have a life outside of drawing things for you."
"Suuure you do. But seriously!" Grinning, Sam picked up the sketchbook and rifled through the pages. "These are so gorgeous, it must take so much work. You're putting me to shame!"
Sam's praise was nothing new, but it always left Theo a little disquieted. After all, it didn't actually take much effort to make these drawings. He only had to put his pencil to the page and out would spill familiar lines and shapes, like some subconscious will was guiding his hand. Maybe the person he became in his dreams, the one with wings.
"It's so elaborate!" Sam flipped to a page covered with circular diagrams made up of intricate lines and arcane symbols. "I mean, we'll have to simplify them for the game's graphics, but I definitely want to preserve as much detail as I can. These are gonna be the ultimate final spells, right?"
'No, that's not it,' some quiet voice inside Theo insisted. They had their own meaning, a meaning that had nothing to do with Sam's game.
But he didn't know how to voice it and it would just come across as rude. While he didn't outright dream about the diagrams, he'd been drawing them since he was a kid. The only change was his lines got more refined over time. It was like he hoped that repeating them constantly would unlock their secrets. Yet all these years later, Theo looked at the pages and just saw a bunch of pretty patterns. At least if he used them for a game, they'd serve some kind of purpose.
"Sam! Dinner!" A shout came through the door - Sam's mom. No points for guessing where she'd inherited her loudness.
"I know, coming!" Sam yelled over her shoulder. Turning back to Theo, she said, "Yeah, sorry, you were looking pretty comfy so I didn't want to wake you, but it's dinnertime now so...." She shrugged.
Normally Theo enjoyed having dinner with Sam's family. There was always someone new to run into, whether a grown sibling dropping by to visit, cousins or family friends staying over, even random folks Sam's mom met at the community center where she worked. These past few days, Sam's trucker cousin had talked their ears off about every single one of his totally real close encounters of the third kind. Nothing like dinners at Theo's house, which he almost always spent alone.
But the disquiet was still swimming inside him, and more than that, a headache was beginning to pulse in his skull. Sam was right; he hadn't been sleeping well.
And tonight of all nights, he didn't know if he could bear to be around Sam's happy family. It embarrassed him to even think this way, but he couldn't help it.
"Sorry," he said, feeling like a complete jerk. "I'm kind of...I mean, I think I'd like to get some rest. Catch up on the Z's and stuff."
Sam blinked, then grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "I getcha. You've been working yourself too hard! Besides, nobody needs to hear Cousin Pat go on about aliens probing his butt for the thirtieth time already. You ask me, he should try to switch up his sleep meds."
Theo watched as Sam skipped to the room door, her mint-green bob cut bouncing with every step. Something painful had swelled in his chest, clenching his heart tight. Really, he couldn't believe he'd managed to make friends with someone like Sam. It was more than he deserved.
As he gathered his things, he tried not to think about floating cities, or remember what it had felt like to soar through the endless dawn sky.