“Come here, my son” said his mother in the sweet tones of her silvern voice “You don't have to do this all by yourself. Let me help you.”

Aarvo heard a rumble under his feet, then the mantle of the plateau in front of him rose and erupted into a peak that soared to the skies. As the column of earth unfolded upward, its base widened, swelling into an enormous wave toward him, until it slipped under his feet and lifted him to dizzying heights. Aarvo looked up and saw the peak leaping through the void of space in an endless arc, as if it were a moonstone he had just thrown.

“Behold, my son" said his mother Lissa "Now walk this bridge across the worlds, and be happy!”

Aarvo saw the peak tearing through the clouds of Eera in an arc of orange fire, then plunge into the green of his lands. The star bridge stopped rising, then the recoil of the impact reverberated all the way down to him. The summit must have reached Eera! Aarvo thought. And that meant he could now walk to all the way to her distant shores without any obstacles in his way. He was about to step forward, when all of a sudden he realized that the recoil had pushed him out of balance. He tried to pull himself up straight, but there was no more ground under his feet. He was falling back! He tried to grab hold of something, but the bridge had become a sheer column of stone that dropped trough the void. He was falling! The ground was rushing towards him! He was going to crash!

Aarvo woke up with a jerk and sat up straight. He checked that his legs were not broken, then calmed down. He felt the reverberation of the shock wave still flowing through him, then caught sight of some movement out of the corner of his eye.

He turned around and saw a huge pillar of dust ending its ascent into the sky and beginning to fall back to the ground, towards the hazy profile of the impact crater below, in the center of which, half hidden by the debris, lay the great boulder of deep space that had just dug that colossal hole and that, still glowing, crackled and screeched angrily. Was that the thing that startled him awake?

All of a sudden, the vivid recollection the star bridge flashed back into his mind. He turned, and glanced towards Eera, but instead of the bridge he saw only the mere extension of the plateau that he had built with so much effort. Then, another and much bitter realization made its way into his mind: why hadn't his mother built that bridge for him while she was still alive? Why hadn't she helped him in some way instead of just telling him to be happy? Why? Unless... A shiver ran down his spine. No, it couldn't be, it was too awful. How could she? Yet... Was she perhaps convinced he had no way out, and hadn’t had the courage to tell him? But why give birth to him then, if he was already doomed?

The thought was so monstrous that sank into the depths of his soul and sapped all his strength. Although he was as black as coal, a sick pallor spread all over his face.

He sat motionless for some moonhours, unable to lift a finger, then, slowly, he pulled himself out of that black pit of despair and discovered anger fueling his thoughts. He was furious with his mother and with fate. He had no intention of sticking around on a dead planet. Even if life and space itself had decided he had no way out, he was going to show them wrong!

He turned around and examined all the peaks, the plains and the grounds nearby, then went further with his mind, all around the moon. He was standing on a titanic mass of rock, he thought. All the materials he needed to build a taller jump-off platform—and even more—were right under his feet. Her mother hadn't abandoned him after all: she had left herself behind. She had left the very rock that made her up, and that was all he needed to rise to the sky and launch himself to Eera. The thought gave him comfort—he didn’t want to hate his mother—and filled him with a tender melancholy.

He looked up at the plateau and wondered if he really needed an even higher platform. Perhaps those three hundred steps were enough to launch him into space. The spark of hope rekindled inside him. He climbed up the platform, sprinted forward lifting a trail of dust, and threw himself into the sky. The blue flames of his jets exploded from the back of his hands once, twice, three times, pushing him higher and higher.

For a few delightful moments, Aarvo felt sure this time he had made it, but soon he came to a stall once again, and started the inexorable descent. He looked down and saw that the sluggish descent was turning quickly into a precipitous fall that was carrying him too far beyond the edge of the plateau!

He wanted to correct the trajectory, but didn’t feel he had enough pressure for his jets. He missed the summit of Tromm Kor, and started rushing of control alongside the steep ridge of the mountain. If he didn't stop quickly, he was going to crash!

He exploded his jets as best he could, and the two small blue flames that came out the back of his hands pushed him slowly towards the mountain.

Frantic, he exploded his jets anyay, and the two small blue flames that came out of the back of his hands pushed him slowly on a collision course with the side of the mountain.

Aarvo stared unblinkingly at the steep pavement charging towards him, then pierced through it like a splinter through dust. The impact reverberated through his whole body with appalling sharpness, making his brain ring with an unbearably high tone. Two waves of earth and debris rose at his flanks, discharging a storm of electromagnetic lightning bolts all around. Aarvo lost control and started rolling down the mountain in a whirlwind of pure chaos and magnetic flashes.

All of a sudden, he slammed against something harder than him. A crushing pressure ran through his knee, then a snap lit a flash of agony behind his eyes. He opened his mouth to scream, but only a choking sound came out of it. He was tossed high up into the air, tumbled down along the ridge of the mountain, then slid against a sand bank that finally stopped him.

All of a sudden, his voice came back, and he started screaming in pain. He pulled himself up with his back against a rock and looked down: his right leg below the knee was gone. In its place, a stream of boiling lava oozed out of the wound, congealing into a shapeless mass.

Aarvo gritted his teeth and passed out.

****

Have you ever overreached and hurt yourself?

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