The sky had never looked so beautiful in the end.
So said the thoughts ringing beneath the skull of the blue jay, who chased the shadows of his mentors. The ones who believed in him, that is, who considered his choice to follow a mere desire of encouragement. They never considered anything more than themselves... they never bothered.
Look Down...
The dear bird struggled to push on, to rise, to crawl his way toward the setting star. Oh, how he longed to equal the ones he chased. To lay his sights upon that beautiful stretch of sapphire that he was promised, and the immense pink skies waiting just above the clouds. A dream, as it would seem; the more he fought, the further he sank. And oh so close did the sea approach. He'd squawk and moan, beckoning a sign to hold onto. A tree limb to catch, a wing to hold – they were there, just a slither out of reach. Nothing listened... nothing seemed to care.
Look Down.
The mysterious voice seemed louder now, raging against his ignorance. And the weariness beneath that became a burden too heavy to bear. His thrashing wings soon turned rigid, his pleads flustering into a mocking roar of pity. It came from everywhere and nowhere all together. From the east, shallow breaths of the mystic earth began to blow; faster, louder, stronger. He never wanted that sinking feeling to cave in, the one he was warned so much about. He wanted to soar... to make them proud. But the dread reached his heart like poison in the flesh; he felt it before he could warn himself. And his mind knew there was no escaping the abyss.
Look.
When his worn eyes finally faced down to the darkness, his wings sheltered inward in fright. And he fell.
Tumbling into the hungry maw of the night. Its white crested fangs salivate for the taste of false promise. Of love. Of pain.
A Disappointment, whispered his mind.
And the sky became no more.
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A LONELY WORLD OF WONDER: An Anthology ✓
FantasyA monster with a past. A boy driven by grief. A dragon lost in time. And a stranger beneath the sea. Stories, Lessons, and Poems aplenty surge together in a massive anthology meant to twist your very reality, or break it.
