Lost among the clouds
Where was it? He couldn’t see the road anymore, it was just trees and grass and clouds all around. His head swiveling back and forth while his movement was smooth and strait. In theory it was just a matter of gliding forward until he spotted something, but looking far ahead in the direction that driver went didn’t appear to be anything. There were mountains and trees, and … what was that? Splash of color?
Just an open patch of grass with some flowers growing wild. Brown where the dirt was too barren or the land too steep for a plant to cling to, and grey in the areas where stone was thick and round and solid, often with moss growing on them. Nervously watching for any clear sign of civilization, he wasn’t paying much attention to the skies.
Suddenly white. Cool and damp and white, he drifted into a cloud and then out just moments later. He’s left to wipe the moisture from his face with fuzzy paws that might as well be wet towels. The fierce winds blasting into his face served at once as a hair drier, if a bit chilled and unwelcome at its task, while simultaneously acting as the driving force behind throwing clouds at his head.
He tries to swipe his paws at the misty fog, feeling the cold jolts of ice along his padded fingertips. The breathless frost beneath his claws. Naturally this has far less effect at moving the cloud out of the way than simply diving forward until he’s free. Each time he looks down to see how the landscape changed, how the trees grew less sparse or the rocks more frequent. Then a cloud would overtake him and the world was a white fog. When he dives beneath and finds freedom again, all of the far away topography has shifted.
Daniel grumbles, but at least this flight was fast, and it was easy. Wings spread wide all he had to do was lazily sail downward, losing altitude every moment but going forward at a wonderful pace. Certainly faster than walking, and now that he’s managed the climb it was a heck of a lot easier. This felt to him like putting in all of the painful effort to climb up and up to the top of a hill, then sitting atop a bicycle and using the downward slope to just ride without having to pedal. Soft, easy, pleasant, it gave his sore wings a badly needed rest.
But then again they were rested now, how many minutes has it been since reached this height? Five minutes? Ten? He did not wish to lose too much of that hard earned altitude but at the same time getting a face full of clouds over and over did not make for the most pleasant experience. He flaps. The wings beat hard against the fast flowing air, he can see swirls and spirals as the feathered limbs to a very effective job of shoving the cloud cover aside. The smoky mist spun into little circles all around him and the chilled moisture making his wings heavy. He flaps, he paddles, up and up with that same effort he’d forced upon himself before. Only this time when he reached an all new height it wasn’t a landscape of green for him to look down on.
White. The white and the blue and the yellow, the bright sunlight glinting across an ocean of clouds and letting everything sparkle. He was above them, above all of it, his claws grasping at nothing while his wings caused the puffs and swirls to deform away from him. The entire area looked like lands of cotton, fluffy and white and gold, while through the broken patches where clouds did not cover he could see the caps of small mountains and the green of the land.
He breathes. Deeply and joyfully filling his lungs and letting his chest be still, the wings leveling out for a smooth flight. This was strait up wonderful.
This had to be the absolute best part of being a sphinx. More than the size, more than the paws so thick shoes aren’t even required, more than the muscle and power that came with these new limbs and these new claws. Wings! If he ever had the chance to change back, Daniel knew he would give anything just to keep this freedom of flight. To keep this amazing chance to see the world from an angle such as this, flying so high he could not see the ground for the clouds.
He did not know how long he drifted with that goofy smile on his face, the feminine body hanging strait behind and his fur and feathers being ruffled by the wind. The sphinx wasn’t really keeping count, she was simply enjoying the rest. It wasn’t quite like going to sleep, but it was smooth and effortless he might as well have been laying down for the entire trip. When he looses enough height to feel his feet, no his face dipping into the puffs of mist beneath, he’s left with the choice of flapping again to keep above, keeping strait and suffering through the moisture, or tilting forward and diving.
Daniel chooses to dive.
Nose pointed down, he angled his body almost directly toward where he thought land was, and dropped. The wings fold back, the wind grows stronger, faster, no stronger still! It was like suddenly jumping into a wind tunnel and having the immense force pounding against his face. Like sticking his head out of a car window as it’s speeding along a highway, only in this case it’s his whole body that feels the wind. An entire body that also happens to be naked at the moment.
It isn’t even half a minute before he’s broken the clouds, leaving the puffs of mist distorted behind him, and once more free to gaze at the entire landscape bellow.
Searching.
Searching for ….
Written by Arbon on 15 July 2016