The skies were clear. Colossal snow-covered mountains were a dozen. Forests and greenery were blanketed in snow. Waterfalls flowed in abundance. Various birds soared in the sky.
One among them was a white-feathered hawk. A letter was tightly tied to its leg.
The hawk flew gliding through the clear and magnificent sky of the poles among clouds and mountains. Afterwards, it flew through trees and waterfalls and landed on a hand raised for it.
The hand belonged to a young man with medium-length, sky-blue colored hair and eyes. He wore a winter coat and a furry scarf wrapping his neck. A thin scar marred from the left side of his chin underwards to the right side of his face.
He took the letter and smiled warmly at the bird, stroking its head.
"Thank you buddy. Bless your wings."
He released the hawk and tossed it a piece of meat from his pocket. The hawk caught it mid-air. It soared away into freedom…
While reading the front of the letter,
"Suiydu Inezeya."
He smiled.
Walking between pine trees, he sat on the edge of a snowy cliff.
The letter was in his right hand.
"So, we meet again… Time really does fly."
He pocketed the letter and watched the magnificent view.
The purity of the sky, the majestic structure of the mountains, the rivers, the waterfalls…
Everything was peaceful.
A gentle breeze passed.
The cold was biting.
The sun began to set.
Instead of darkening, the sky crimsoned.
Stars sparkled and the moon emerged…
And still visible through the gathering clouds.
From every direction of the sky, burning feathers glid down.
One landed in Inezeya's hand and was extinguished.
He let it go over the cliff and stood up.
"The sky's going insane again…"
Afterwards flaming birds rained down. The peaks of the snowy mountains vaporized and lava spewed from them as strips into the sky.
"Whooshh!!"
The entire surface of the land…
The mountains, the trees, rivers, lakes…
All began to fold inward.
Inezeya smiled with steam coiling from between his teeth…
"Time to break my record."
Warm winds swept across the cold air.
The entire land continued bending inward.
Inezeya reached into a small waist bag with his left hand and pulled out a cassette labeled "Wave Phonk Mix 2." Spinning it expertly, he removed another cassette from the music player with his right hand, placing the left-hand cassette into the player while putting the other one in the bag. He zipped the bag up.
Attaching the thin earphones from the player around his neck to his ears, he pressed play.
"4"
He wrapped his feathered scarf snugly around his torso.
"3"
He rolled up his sleeves.
"2"
He stretched his arms.
"1"
He stretched his legs.
"0"
He leapt from the cliff.
A smile spread across his face as he glided through the air. Volcanoes in the landscape still spewed molten lava.
When his right foot finally touched the ground, he leapt forward and ran at incredible speed. The music intensified. His pupils dilated. His smile widened.
Shortly after, trees began to appear. He calmly weaved through them in zigzags, avoiding the trees. His speed kept climbing. The path narrowed further by the trees. Still, he stood upright calmly. To dodge them, he spun one leg and then his whole body. Extending his reach, he placed the other leg far enough. Spin after spin he continued to spin.
The earth bent so drastically that bent trees spun horizontally, and bent rivers surged like tsunamis. The music grew aggressive. His pupils dilated further, teeth visible in a wide grin.
"Hell yeahh!"
He planted his foot on the ground forcefully and launched himself into the air, doing a horizontal flip. To avoid hitting the tree in front, he did a blackflip before touching the ground. Afterwards he did a reversed backflip to avoid the next tree, landing safely and spinning past the next one. With spins, backflips, horizontal somersaults, he flowed through the forest.
Ahead lay a vast river. Its depth and size was unknown. Still gliding in the air, he thought.
"Lean forward. Accelerate your feet at full. Touch the water gently, just fingertips. This time I'll make it."
His heart pounded wildly in his chest. A wider smile appeared on his lips. His pupils dilated wider. Smoke from his mouth clouded the air around him.
The Surface folded inward further. Moving his feet at high speed, he finally reached the surface of the river. To avoid sinking, he leaned forward. Running and moving very fast, his fingertips touched the river surface for a very brief moment. Milliseconds passed, and he accelerated even more. The inward-folded river waters crashed from sides and above, approaching the core.
The end of the river appeared.
Foldment of the surface let the exit shrink every millisecond. It started to become impossible to pass.
Inezeya's smile did not falter. He increased his speed.
The river waters left no space to run.
"Am I too late?"
He cut contact with the ground.
He extended his feet and then legs forward, straightening his body.
He crossed his arms, pressing them to his chest.
With a wide smile, surrendering himself to the gravitational pull of the speed he was running at,
"NAHAHAHAHA!!"
He flew from the exit that was about to close at high speed.