Chapter 2
In the moments after accepting his fate, Wes found an extreme flood of pressure. He closed his eyes and felt like he could hear his sister’s voice over the rushing air whooshing past his ears. It felt like all those times she hugged him goodbye when he was younger as she sent him off to school. He felt the air buckle around him as he opened his eyes. A wave of light blue energy rippled out from under him toward the horizon on either side of him. Every wave slowed his descent. The wind that had been howling moments ago was no more than a soft breeze whirling past his ears now.
Fear did not grasp him even though it very well should have. With every roll of energy that washed over him he could feel his sister embracing him. Pushing him just as she always had. The Mana in the atmosphere had grown thick. It had grown so saturated that Wes felt he could grasp it in his hands.
As his descent slowed he eventually found himself riding on waves of mana. With his first good look at the world below him he could see that he had fallen a little more than halfway from where that crazy bastard dropped him. One of those splotches he made out before were definitely villages. He assumed the closest to him was the one he belonged to. He looked around and saw the world changing color, starting first with the hazy red sky. He could see a small tinge of yellow in the outermost atmosphere making its way down past him. Eventually that yellow was getting replaced by a blue a couple dozen shades brighter than the mana in the air.
When Wes finally brought his eyes back from the air he looked back under him and saw the ground under him turning green. From so high up it looked as if the dirt was turning green all over. Before long dark green dots littered the landscape in every direction. The mana began condensing all around him as more and more bucked out from the ground under him. In waves in the distance he could see some of the rare clouds of the cold seasons. Which should not be possible with it being the start of the summer season. The Mana condensed off in the distance, forming massive tubes that wiggled out over the land. If he didn’t know any better he would say that they were moving around and brushing with outerspace.
With the tubes sweeping across the distance the red dust that tinged the air began to clear. Leaving behind nothing but a blue sky. He looked down again and finally out to the horizon. The planet had been transformed as far as the eye could see. It was green everywhere he looked. Not a speck of red aside from the edges of mountains he could see in the distance.
The tubes began to tug violently back and forth for a few moments at a time until they ceased movement all together.
Wes thought to himself, I wish you could have seen this Marny.
As soon as that thought passed. Those massive blue tubes condensed to a tenth the size they had been and started to descend toward the land. Before he knew it the tubes were sawing through the hard rock and soil. Burrowing themselves into the ground. He could see the line of mana closest to him start to seize up and change into a dark blue.
By the time the lands below became still once more. Doing his best to keep tears from cresting down his cheeks, he fought back the beauty he percieved. He would not shed tears twice in one day. That was beyond wasteful. Or Wes thought, was wasteful.
He began laughing at his thought as he no longer was held up by the waves of mana he fell like a stone once more.
***
Argyros watched the planet change around him from where he stood. A smile splayed across his face just as it had been the last time he saw his old departed friend. His two young great grand nephews were awestruck at witnessing a terraforming. They had never witnessed something like it. They grew up in far too opulent of environments to be able to hold any real appreciation for the amount of mana that was saturating the air.
He looked back down at his old friend’s grave and saw it still bore the red soil that it had before. “This is overboard dont you think? He meant that much? I won’t say that I am the right person you were willing to leave him to, but I will endeavor to not let you down.”
***
As the speed increased and he found the horizon’s blue washed out by the now green planet, Wes saw that his end was approaching fast. So he spread his arms and embraced a swift death. Those moments before he met the ground were some of the best of his life. The village was now in clear view and he could see that those dark green things that littered the land were the trees he read about in his studies. In the last few seconds he could see the crappy man standing by Marny’s grave. A grave he was heading directly to. He tried his best to move himself over in those split seconds before impact. Closing his eyes instinctually in the process just as he was going to meet dirt.
Wes’ body was still tense from bracing for impact when Argyros spoke. “Don’t be so dramatic boy. You use your time wisely?”
He opened his eyes at that old bastard’s words. He was looking down so he could see he was floating over Marny’s grave. A circle of the old red soil that had been pushed out several meters in every direction. The crotchety old man looked at him sternly and waited for his answer.
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“How wise do you suppose one could be when falling to their death?”
He looked down at Marny’s grave and pointed. “She would say that if you still breathe, you can still fight. So did you fight?”
Shame washed over him. Wes had accepted his fate rather quickly. He was right his sister would have fought until the end. “No, I guess you could say I did not.”
“I know, you didn’t even curse me. I thought you would have had more spunk than just quitting after threatening to kill me once. You found out that I was far above your level and quit like some common scoundrel. A man must never resign himself to death's embrace, he must hold back the tide of fate while running into the very fire of all the god’s hells if it meant that he got to choose how he greeted death. You are a disgrace to her memory.” Argyros finished.
Wes wanted to curse at this old man for his words but he really wanted to kill him for how right his words are. He had shamed her memory by how he acted. She always told him to push for more. Achieve the impossible but he gave up at the mere vision of the impossible. After wrestling with himself for a few short moments he asked, “what should I have done then?”
Argyros replied, “Anything is better than nothing.”
Nodding back, Wes said, “you are right.”
“That's alright boy, I can work with stupid. What I won’t work with is a quitter.”
Wes was confused enough at Argyros’ words. He turned his head and really took in the man for the first time. “What the hell do you mean?”
“You will really want to kill me by the next time you are able to stand on this very ground again.” Argyros pointed at his feet. “Now embrace the pain. BE GONE.”
The last thing he saw was Argyros slowly moving his hand across his body. He could not even tell that he was moved high up into the air again. Wes felt like he was hypnotized. He didn’t even register that the land had changed around him until he felt the pull of 29744C once more.
Plummeting toward the ground again from what looked like the same height he could not help but feel at peace at seeing the land again. He quite enjoyed what he was seeing. He did not want to fight. He wasted the whole fall down looking over the horizon. With it being his second descent he had greater control over his freefall. He was able to orient himself a bit better than he had the first time. The time passed by rather quickly this time with no intermission like the last time. When he was only a kilometer above the ground Argyros appeared right beside him. He looked like he was standing the same as last time but he was keeping the same pace toward the ground as Wes.
“Still no fight I see. Let’s step it up then.” He pointed down to the ground again. “See you down there. Let me know if you are ready when you get there.”
Wes was moved through the air again without it registering to his senses. The only indication that he had shifted his spot in the air was that the ground was now parallel and shooting by him. It was also drawing closer. He began to panic. The ground pulled within 20 meters before he could think of anything. Finally he thought, that bastard is just going to teleport me again. He relaxed again as the ground drew closer, feeling that this was a test of wills with Argyros.
Wes could not have been more wrong, the first indication that this was not a test was his foot catching on the ground. It ripped his foot off his body so cleanly it pulled most of his lower leg muscles with it. The pain had not yet shot up to his brain, his arm had been ground into red dust by the time it crossed his consciousness . His hips and the rest of his lower legs were next. His screams echoed throught the landscape. His body did not tumble or rotate. No, something or more likely someone was making him wear through his tissue.
His torso and head were all that were left by the time the last of his momentum placed him directly beside the foot of his sister's grave. He somehow was not going into shock.
Argyros raised what remained of his head and body to eye level. “Still no fight I see. Oh well, let's go again.”
Wes tried to say something but all he could get out was the blood and saliva that had congealed in his throat.
Argyros raised his eyebrows to mock Wes. “I told you don’t be disrespectful boy, I appreciate full words when you speak to me.”
Wes gurgled out. “Kill me.”
Argyros clicked his tongue. “What, you can’t fight through a little pain? Pathetic. I can’t believe Marny wasted her life raising someone as worthless as you. A true fool.”
Wes felt rage work its way past the pain. He looked at Argyros with rage in his eyes.
“Yes boy that is better, if you want to kill me then you must have a little spunk to you. I will be generous.”
Wes’ body began to rebuild itself centimeter by centimeter. The pain of his bones growing while the muscle and skin lagged behind was excruciating. He felt like he should black out but something in his mind wouldn’t let him. His body shook in agony as every muscle and tendon attached the way it always had been. He could feel every nerve ending coming alive. The blood he had lost reinflated his arteries with every burble of his heart. In a few short minutes his body had been rebuilt. Just as it was, but this time it was uncovered from clothes. He was completely naked from the waste down.
With the subsidding pain Wes finally regathered his wit. He was still floating but just off to the side of where he had been. He could see the trail of blood behind him that led to just under him. The pool of blood below him saturated the soil where Marny’s feet resided. He quickly tried reaching down to pull the blood away but found a barrier of some kind holding him back. His hand came back as a stub of flesh before reforming as it had before. The agony of pain made him yell out once more. He saw Argyros pull a chair out of thin air.
“A bit dramatic boy. I have been gracious and sought to heal your injuries.” Argyros said.
With that Wes saw Argyros sit down on a small round chair. It was not made of any material he had ever seen.
Argyros broke him from his observation. “I have been generous so far. But I will no longer protect your body. If all that remains of you by the time you come back is your head that is fine. I will keep bringing you back. You will learn what it means to be bold. You will fight or be a tool for me when your mind goes. The choice is yours.”
Once again Wes found himself up in the air feeling the wind quite a bit more with him being near completely naked. His descent through the air once more kicked his brain into overdrive. How the fuck do you fight gravity you dumb fuck.
