The Boy From the Castle in the Sky (Septiplier)

Chapter 2

Seán passed out during the drop, falling headfirst towards the land below. Suddenly, his pendant began to glow. Soon after, it burst into brilliant blue light; illuminating his unconscious face and making his hair appear luminescent. The pendant began floating, and Seán began floating softly closer to the ground, no longer head first, but as though he were lying down in the air. His dress fluttered and his hair waved gently in the cool night air; descending towards the tiny specs of light coming from the village.

People were bustling about their business, dogs sniffed the ground for discarded scraps, and old drunks slumped against brick walls with half empty bottles grasped tightly in their hands. Mark himself was on an errand at the local bakery. He walked up and set a thermos-like pot on the counter.

"I need some meatballs for the boss, please!"

"Alright. Yer sure working late, Mark." The storekeeper commented while filling the pot with a soup-like concoction containing meatballs.

"You're not kidding, things are finally gettin' busy for a change." Mark set some coins on the counter to pay for the meatballs. Once he got the pot back he made his way through the small crowd and outside.

"Still working?" One of the customers waiting outside asked him.

"Yup, bye!" Mark waved, sprinting out of town and up the hill towards the mines. "Better hurry, the boss is gonna be," he took a gulp of air before continuing, "hungry." Nearing the top he suddenly spotted a tiny blue light floating down from the sky. "Huh?" He tilted his head in confusion. "What is that?" He continued running up the hill, his shoes thrumming on the grass. He passed over old train tracks and rubble that littered the hill. "Looks like a body, woah." He tripped but kept running. 

Mark finally crested the hill, nearly tumbling down the steep drop. He proceeded to run down and around the edge until he reached the metal that was holding up a large wheel used in a pulley system. Sprinting all the way to the edge of an overhanging board and coming dangerously close to falling. The light had been a young boy, in a purple dress, slowly floating down to earth. Mark watched as he slowly floated down to arms reach and held out his arms. Realizing he was still holding the pot, he set it down, reaching back up to catch the boy. When he landed in Mark's arms he floated up slightly, lighter than air in Mark's hands.

"Huh?" 

He reached his hands back up to grip his back and his legs. Then watched as his necklace slowly floated back down to his chest, darkening. Less than a moment after the pendant stopped glowing gravity seemed to kick in, and the full weight of the young boy suddenly pulled Mark down. Barely standing on the edge of the board and hanging precariously over the edge, he grunted and strained to pull the young boy back up. Then edging his way carefully over to a platform where Mark lay him down. Letting out a breath of relief, he knelt down to rest for a moment.

"Mark!" A man's voice called.

"Huh?!" Mark jumped in surprise.

"What are you doing up there?!" Mark crawled over to the edge and looked down and saw his boss shoveling coal into a furnace. "Did you bring my dinner?!"

"Yeah, I-I did but th-this boy came down from the sky!" Mark stood up and leaned over the railing, shouting as his boss looked at him in confusion. A scream of steam interrupted them. Mark's boss rushed over to the pipe steam was coming out of and hurriedly twisted a wheel attached to the bottom of it. Grunting, as it took much of the buff, mustachioed, man's strength to turn the rusted wheel.

"Oh..." Mark looked back at the unconscious young boy, who was wearing a dress for some reason.

"Blast these old pipes!" His boss shouted in irritation.