"Planetside - Too High" by Henrik ´Poet Hater´ K. Larsson

Naaras was short for his kind, even diminutive. They called him dwarf, or baaku, meaning short one. Though when most people used ‘baaku’ in the same sentence as his name they were usually referring to the word’s other meaning… foolish one. That’s what they considered him, a fool beyond belief. In fact, they had become so accustomed to calling him Baaku that the name Naaras was quickly fading into history, growing more and more hazy with each passing day.

  Naaras chuckled and scratched himself behind the ear with a fur clad hand, or paw perhaps, whatever you’d like to call the furry, claw adorned fingers. Naaras was very fond of them. His hands were his pride and joy. With them he would construct and build, creating weird and spectacular things alike. Not that many appreciated what he did, but it didn’t matter. He was not building his inventions for the pack. He was building them for himself.

  On this particular day he would finally test his newest invention. Naaras smiled to himself as he let his eyes gently brush over the smooth surface of the thin leather that formed the wings of his most wondrous contraption yet. She was a beauty to behold; no one could deny that. The taut leather was stretched perfectly over the hollow wooden frame. It was light, had to be, because this baby would soon soar through the open blue skies. Well, hopefully…

  “No,” Naaras corrected himself, “it will fly. Of course it will.” He nodded wistfully, it was time. Now he would finally prove everyone wrong. He, as well as everyone else, was made to achieve things. Not merely sit and wonder ‘what if’. He stood up and looked out from his small cavern. The weather was much as he had predicted. The sky was clear and a strong wind swept down from the mountains. Everything was set.

  “Time to go, my friend,” he said and grabbed his invention with both hands. It was a bit bulky to carry around, but it wasn’t heavy, so it didn’t matter much.

  Outside the cavern it was cold, but Naaras’ fur, as well as some extra thick clothing, would keep him warm enough, even high up in the air. At least along with his calculations, and he was certain they were correct.

  “Look, look!” came the excited voices of a couple of young pups that raced up towards him. “It’s Baaku! He’s off to test another of his crazy inventions! Hah hah, baaku, baaku!”

  Naaras only smiled in response and did not scold the children as he might have done otherwise. He was used to the taunting by now and it didn’t bother him anymore. It was kind of amusing actually. Besides, he wanted an audience this time, to spread the word of his accomplishments. So sure was he that he laughed along with the children. It was a good day.

The tail of pups behind Naaras grew quickly as he made his way through the small village of caverns. People standing in the doorways chuckled and put aside their chores for a while, this was something they wouldn’t miss for the world. Naaras had quickly become a source of entertainment around these parts and whenever he was to test another invention word would spread quickly. Maybe it was the strange winged contraption slung over Naaras back, or perhaps it was something else, but the tail of people seemed larger than ever this day.

  “What do you have there Baaku?” said a huge male, who stood leaning casually against a leafless old tree.

  Naaras grinned at the old familiar face. Katon was the strongest, most vicious male to have ever set foot in this desolate place. That he was the Alpha Male was obvious, no one would contest that. No one was that stupid.

  “Oh, you know me, just another invention.” Naaras’ wry grin faded quickly as soon as Katon turned away, obviously not giving a damn what Naaras was up to. Well, it was probably for the best, Katon didn’t like people who didn’t work for their share of the food and drink. And in his mind Naaras never did anything useful. This didn’t stop the crowd from happily trotting on in Naaras trails, however.

  They soon left the village behind them and began a tiring climb up the barren mountain side. Naaras wasn’t surprised to see the pups already standing waiting for him as he reached the top of their destination.

  Naaras had had some help from some of the villagers in preparing the dirt ramp that he would use to hurl himself into the air. The ramp itself stood near the edge of a steep cliff; that turned into a ravine further down.

  While Naaras gathered up his things and continued even higher up, the villagers remained; some inching cautiously over to the edge to stare down into the gaping maw of the depth below.

  “They must think me crazy,” he thought to himself as he continued to walk tirelessly up the mountain. He smiled. “And I suppose I am, a little anyway…”

  Finally he reached his destination and put down his things, along with the contraption, on the ground. Among his belongings was a pair of skis. Naaras turned them upside down and pulled out a lump of wax from his pocket. He then set to smear the stuff onto the surface of the skis. That should remove most of the friction and give him enough speed to send him gliding effortlessly over the snow.

  “There we go. That should get this ol‘ sucker running,” he said and grinned happily.

  Naaras threw what was left of the wax over his shoulder and let his eyes marvel over the beautiful wings a final time, before strapping them on to his back.

  Secure in the belief that his inventions always were that of a skilled craftsman, he tied the skis to his feet and positioned himself before the slope. It was now or never. Either he would fly… or he would plunge to his death. Oh well, we all have to make some sacrifices in life. His just happened to be that of a possible and very painful death.

  He stared down the snow-covered ramp and gathered up what courage he had left, and then he pushed away from the stone he was leaning against.

  The wind hit his face and he opened his mouth to taste the air with his long tongue. It was sweet and as the landscape became a blur he felt more alive than ever before. It would work, Naaras was sure of it; he felt it in his entire being. He would fly!

  And so he did. He left the solid ground behind him and kicked the skis off his feet. As they fell he pulled up his legs and let his feet rest against a leather strap by the end of the contraption’s tail-unit.

  As Naaras was propelled into the air the crowd gasped in amazement. This could not be! Baaku was actually flying! He who they had called fool for so long now gracefully glided through the air with a triumphant smile on his lips.

  With a sharp u-turn Naaras turned around and began to head back towards the dumbstruck pack. With a hearty laughter he dove down towards the crowd and sent the panicked lot scurrying in all directions. He was completely caught up in his wicked glee.

  Another sharp turn and the winds lifted him upwards again, carrying him far, far away from the caverns and the pack, until he was nothing more than a small speck on the horizon.

  The leather creaked ominously as the wings attached to his back bore him ever higher. They whined, but seemed to be holding up just fine. On the ground below Naaras could make out the ice of frozen lakes and glittering, snow-covered treetops. But no matter how hard he tried he could not think of any word that could ever possibly relate this amazing feeling inside of him.

  A sudden voice rasped painfully in Naaras’ ears. At first he could not understand what the voice was saying. But then it became all too clear as the words echoed through his mind. “Too high… furry one.”

  The air crackled around him and then the wings on his back turned to dust. The ground came rousing up to greet him, but it was not a fond embrace that they shared.

The creature stared with a calculating look at the tiny figure as it came carousing down towards the earth. Its hand blurred for a moment and the monitor grew dark.

  “Experiment terminated…”