Guardian Angel
If you’ve ever felt truly invincible, you know how I felt in
that moment. If not, then you can’t imagine how I felt as I flew beneath the
storm –laden clouds that shrouded my city in a gloomy half-light.
It was like I had to be gentle with the world, like if I
squeezed too hard it would crumble in my fingers. In that moment I held the
world together and though it was terrifying it was also… exhilarating. I will
never forget it – that long, perfect moment in which the world rested on my shoulders
and I bore the weight. I will always remember, regardless of how much I want to
forget.
It was the most painful moment of my life. My mind
encompassed the world and everything in it. The revolving planet, the gravity
holding humanity down, the lakes and rivers and seas, the molten core of the
earth – all of it under my control.
Then it was gone and I was falling. Frozen, gaping,
realising how small my mind was. It’s the kind of thing that takes your breath
away. The air whipped past me, the metres between me and the pavement melted
away as I wrestled for control.
I grasped my mind and forced my body to stop. I halted in
mid-air and hung helpless, holding on by a thread. Then, slowly, I began to
ascend.
That was when I noticed the oddly shaped form floating above
me, waiting for me, and I wasn’t sure that I wanted to face it. I wanted to run
away and hide from the pain reverberating like the tolling of a giant bell
through my skull. I wanted to hide from the fact that I’d have to spend my life
living and reliving that moment. The moment I’ll never forget.
I didn’t run, partly because I was curious and partly
because I knew that running wouldn’t help.
As I drew level with it, I saw the runes etched into its
metal surface. It shimmered and floated, its undulating body caressing my
battered frame, bathing me in soft yellow light.
I could feel the energy draining from my limbs and I
realised that it was sucking the life out of me. It was tempting to embrace the
light, because it promised warmth and safety and an escape from the terrible
sense of responsibility that comes with holding the world together in a shaking
grip. It was killing me, and I wanted to let it.
I knew that if I died, the world would too. Without someone
to hold the world together it would fall apart. I knew that this was more than
just what I wanted; this was the fate of the world.
So, with all the strength left in my limbs, I pushed it away
and watched as it spun through the night, veering towards an apartment
building. Then it stopped dead in mid-air.
Before I could draw in a ragged breath it slammed into me
and I was the one spinning, still defying gravity but only just. I absorbed the
kinetic energy from my own momentum and felt the energy buzz like a thousand
wasps in my veins.
In one fluid movement I drew my curved hand and a half sword
and smashed it into the hardened metal surface of the machine that was now
trying to kill me in a more conventional manner – by breaking every bone in my
body.
With a defending pop, the sword gouged a jagged hole and I,
thrown back by the strength of my strike, watched as the machine exploded into
a million shimmering shards of metal.
It rained down onto the city like confetti and I revelled in
my own strength. It was then that I remembered why I held the world together.
If I didn’t, who else would?
Ends
Copyright: Emma Tobin 2012
