Chapter Two - Cloaked Man and Wayfaring Girl (Part 1)
Running, that's what a girl was doing. Not just a leisurely run one would enjoy around a park, no, a blindingly fast sprint. Vaulting over the tallest of walls, jumping down the steepest drops, darting through the tightest of alleys.
This place a Bordertown resting beside a forest, and a short walk more, the edge of Sky-Island 68 lays. Known commonly as the 2nd commercial district, officially part of the Gewita plains colony, proves to be a challenging maze for all to navigate. Be it poor construction or a wicked design thought up by an even more wicked urban planner, gives hell to all those hoping to traverse it.
Winding throughout the market the girl dashes. 'For what reason?' an observer would question. One would have to ask her.
"Faster..." She muttered inwards to herself. Maintaining her unbelievable pace across the cobble paths and buildings. Employing the assistance of unwilling shopkeeper's tarps to launch herself atop roofs whenever she gets too low. Them, shaking fists and tossing utensils at the morning's disturbance.
The girl donned clothes too great of make to be owned by the residents of this area. Some combination of skirt and dress. Suggesting she'd not be a local of the area, perhaps even from the inner islands. Though her sprinting and problem making certainly isn't becoming of the more regal demeaner of centre islanders.
"I said... faster!!" She focused straight ahead at her next targets - ledges, stair landings, clotheslines. Her heavy footing darting between surfaces dislodges long undisturbed dust and bricks, leaving a wake of mess in her stead. Such a strange spectacle rushing through the market draws the attention of many: the rough-bodied Varanesian tending to his smithery, a stubby Goblin working a trinket store, an Elf waltzing the streets and selling various fruits.
As if the town disappeared, the open fields of a forest burst into view.
"1 minute and 27 seconds..." She slides to a halt, having topped her previous record. As she kipped closer to the edge depositing her momentum, the wooden support brace holding the platform she stood proudly upon buckled.
Before she had time to bask in her glory and congratulate herself, her feet find themselves lacking the presence of stable ground. Or, any ground at all.
Wind flew through her hair, the scenery of a town and forest rapidly blurring together. Too focused on proving to herself she had improved, she'd forgotten to watch where she finished her race, ending on a poorly supported and deprecated balconette.
"Ah-"
Above her, or, below her maybe? She doesn't know, but she does know the sky's place is above her, not in front of her. Speaking relatively in her direction of travel, she's headed down towards the fast approaching flagstone thoroughfare. To complicate matters more, she had developed a spin due to her process of falling, throwing her perception off by miles.
With her fleeting views of identifying objects, like trees of the forest, windows, and fluffy clouds (If you call them objects), she gathered a six story fall - allowing for 2 seconds to react on a good day. With what little time she had remaining, and not wanting her newest record to go to waste simply because a fall, she conjures up the incarnation to activate a skill to catch her fall.
'Skills' are things stemming from the appearance of Fōrdners, at least that is what's said, discovered by geniuses and scholars of the ancient human race. Through a long, arduous, and difficult to explain process, the races gained the ability to wield skills. Presently however, the girl's wavering focus on actually activating something that could save her is causing her time to rapidly dwindle.
Her body desperately trying to right itself while her mind scowls through her memories on what to do. Tensed muscles eager for the flow of ether lose their patience, loosening again. She hadn't the time to shout, let alone grab a hold of something. Finding the correct skill and more so the correct mental incarnation proved far to difficult for the girl, helplessly trying to win against gravity.
