Work Text:
By design, the desert tends to not be very lively. The rolling dunes and harsh temperature shifts don’t provide much of a pull factor for everyday visitors. With the most eventful occurrences being that of a rogue sandstorm, even plants and animals shy away when they can. And the ones that take residence in these parts prefer to be undisturbed. But today, for precisely these reasons, the lifeless quiet finds itself broken.
“Is Izel a genius or what?!” shouts Maya cheerfully as reinforced wood slams back down upon previously undisturbed sand. “Check this out! I bet I can go for three loops on this next one!”
“I believe you, but I don’t think that’ll stop you from trying!” Alto responds back, his playful exasperation cutting through the flowing breeze.
Today the pair are exploring new parts of the majestic desert recently discovered by the intrepid Maya. And they are doing so in the way they know best. Cutting rifts into the brittle sea through jovial sandboarding. Though today the aforementioned genius Izel, another close friend of theirs, has supplied them with a change in their approach for this excursion. She had spent the greater part of last night recalibrating her wingsuits to be more appropriate for the new desert climate. Compared to the snowy mountains they were built for, they now had to be less insulated, but still protective against the harsh UV exposure.
At least that was about the only part the rest of the gang could understand. The deeper subtleties of snow-based wingsuit and sand-based wingsuit tech was lost on them when Izel explained in detail. The important part was that they were now fully functional. She’d burst into the cabin early that morning announcing their completion, presented Alto, Maya, and Paz with their sizes, and promptly went to sleep after demanding they let her know how they perform when she awoke later. Paz decided to sleep in this morning, so it was only Maya and Alto testing them out. And at this point in time, they were passing with flying colours. With the press of a button, the suits opened up allowing them to glide through the skies. Another well timed click and they were shot back down a slope, tearing through the terrain like a slingshot.
“It feels like these go higher than back home, right? Like the insulation weighed it down or something?” Maya asked after her most recent return to ground level. The two were now boarding side by side at a more casual pace, relatively speaking.
“It definitely looks like it. Maybe we need more Llamas on the ground for scale.” Alto joked.
Maya snorted. “Yeah, or a crusty Elder yelling about how having fun is evil actually”.
They went back and forth like this for a while. Skidding, hopping, and flipping into the air as if no concern could ever reach them. Looping through the sky and touching back down with new remarks to trade. After a while they settled into a relaxed quiet more akin to their surroundings; happy to enjoy each other’s company as they entered their individual flow states becoming one with their craft. But as they reached the top of the next dune, a new development halted their momentum and brought them back into a discussion.
As they stood atop their vantage point, they could see a steady drop sliding dozens of meters down. As it evened out at the bottom, it once again curved upward into a slope of hardened rock. And it was there that the ground split into a massive chasm. Looking down at it from the hill, it appeared to sink into forever. It was a deep void fissuring the ground ready to catch anyone attempting to make it to the other side. At least that’s what Alto was thinking. Maya had different plans. Plans that were wordlessly communicated fully by a single smirk she gave to her friend.
“You’re insane.” Alto replied, bringing the conversation into the audible world.
“We’ve been testing the wingsuits all day, and we’ve definitely flown way further than the width of that chasm. It can’t be more than 30 meters across”.
“We’re also seeing it from up here. 30 probably stretches way further up close. And it’s more the depth I’m worried about than the width if we’re being honest”.
“I mean we’ve also got these.” Maya shook her hip to jingle the chasm rescue hooks hanging at her waist. Another piece of Izel’s handiwork. A light tap and they shot out into a chasm wall, surrounded the wearer in netting, and propelled them to safety.
“AND we’ve tested them out under way worse conditions than this” she continued.
“I don’t know, Maya.” Alto was picking up his sandboard at this point. “This is a new environment. What if it’s too deep, or the walls don’t support the hooks the same? And if these wingsuits could ever fail I can’t think of a worse time.”
Maya just stared at him blankly. The corners of her mouth started curling up into a smile as she slowly tilted ever so slightly forward and began shifting towards the decline.
“Maya…Maya!” Alto reached out but she was already picking up speed and he ultimately grabbed at nothing. He watched as she zoomed down the hill, turning her head towards the gap and leaning in to go even faster. Before he knew it she was reaching the slope. He tried in vain to will himself into facing away from her, but his body wouldn’t oblige. His eyes stayed laser focused on her descent. In an instant she was lifting off of the nature-made ramp. The second she reached open air she activated her wingsuit and shot up into the sky. Ever the performer, she went for a loop-de-loop before evening out into a perfect plank formation and eventually touching down on the other side. She turned around to face Alto, hands out in a victory pose.She then cupped them to her mouth and shouted.
“That! Was! Ama-zing!” She started waving him on to make his attempt.
Back up top, Alto shook his head in faux indignation as he adjusted his goggles back over his eyes. “I guess we’re both crazy..” he whispered to himself as he pushed off down the dune. He gained speed much quicker with his earlier start, but stayed perfectly in form as he aimed towards the ramp. As he lifted off of it, some of the brittle rock cracked off and fell into the pit, further startling a large flock of birds taking refuge in the cliff side. They were already awoken by Maya’s yelling from moments ago, but the sudden debris passing by their den sent them into full panic mode. As one group lifted off, others around them followed suit in a chaotic mob mentality. The next few moments passed by quickly, but felt like an eternity.
Alto had successfully activated his wingsuit and was at the apex of a loop as Maya cheered on. Her grin disappeared into abject anxiety as she noticed the massive swarm of birds lifting out of the darkness.
“Uh, okay! Time to land now!” She shakily yelled, furiously waving her arms towards herself.
“Oh now you’re–wha-” Alto instinctively turned towards the rumbling chorus of screeches just in time to be surrounded by it. In an instant he was being pelted by blurs of feathers and talons as the vortex streamed around him. The repeated contact of their claws on him was a result of distress as opposed to intentional malice, but it didn’t lessen the consequences. He tried in vain to separate from the herd, but his wingsuit had suffered multiple lacerations. He was losing altitude. And nowhere near either cliff edge. Still, he kept one arm steady in flying formation and reached the other down to his chasm hooks. His palm felt their absence. His entire belt was gone. Probably torn off from the first cluster of avian impacts. At that realization, his mind became free of everything but dread. His descent increased in speed as more of his wingsuit was torn asunder. There were increasingly no more options besides the fall.
A matter of seconds earlier, when Alto first became overrun by the swarm, Maya attempted to jump into action. She quickly activated her wingsuit and ran for the cliff edge, hoping her instincts would craft an immediate plan to get both of them out of this once she reached the air. But that proved to be futile. She’d barely made it half a meter off the ground before the erratic flow knocked her back to earth. She hit the ground hard, accidentally sending off every chasm hook from her belt at the same time. As they zipped into the air catching nothing, their bases deployed their netting systems, binding Maya’s arms at her sides. She could barely manage to get up on her knees. Kneeling in the sand, all she could do was call for Alto. It was the only thing left her body would allow as she watched him fall into the chasm.
Alto fell out of Maya’s sight, yelling out in fear. She froze, helpless. Her mind was racing but with no logic or reason to ground it to a solution. As the birds subsided all she could hear was her friend’s screams getting further away. The slow fade of their last one sided conversation. Then it started getting louder again. Undoubtedly a cruel trick being played by her guilt, she thought. Reminding her of-wait no it actually was getting louder, what was happening?
She wasn’t crazy, his voice was indeed getting closer. And soon enough Alto reemerged, shooting up out of the canyon as if he were a bird himself. His wingsuit was still torn to shreds, but somehow here he was, rising into the air. Gravity eventually won out, and he began falling back down once again. But this time as he and Maya locked eyes, the terror was more so replaced with shocked confusion. A couple beats passed, and once more his voice grew louder again. This time he flew up out of the darkness in a curve that resulted in him flopping onto the ground a body’s length away from where Maya kneeled, tears already drying on her cheeks from the desert wind. He grunted in pain as he rolled onto his back, turning his head to meet her gaze. They both sat silently like that for a second, everything needing to catch up to them. Once it did, Maya re-broke into tears and shuffled over to where Alto lay.
“Alto…Alto! What are you..how did? I can’t believe you’re okay!” She rested her head on his chest, her arms still bound by the hook netting. He patted a hand on the back of her head.
“Yeah…”, he responded mutely. “Feeling a little sore but…definitely could have been worse” he said as he managed to form a slight smirk. Him and Maya shared a short laugh. “Here, lemme get that for ya.” Alto reset each of her chasm hooks with a few quick clicks and she was freed. The first thing she did when regaining her full autonomy was hug him properly. She pulled back and grabbed each of his shoulders.
“How are you here right now?? That was insane- where did you come from??” Her questions came out frantically.
Alto just turned to face the chasm again. “They should probably be showing up soon. I bounced right off of em. You’re not gonna believe this”.
“They? What am I…what…”
Maya’s words were stopped in their tracks as a giant sheet of some kind of fabric slowly started peeking out of the inky blackness. Then another. Then another. As they rose up, they revealed themselves to be an impossible crowd of enormous hot air balloons. They floated majestically into the sky like a pod of jellyfish looking for the sunlight. No operator was present in any of their baskets. They moved impossibly of their own accord. The pair just stayed in awe watching them rise, sitting side by side. They couldn’t remember the last time they saw something so unexpectedly beautiful. After several minutes passed, and the balloons drifted into tiny specks, they averted their stares back to the chasm in front of them. Alto let out a big sigh and turned to face Maya. After a moment of silence, he spoke.
“Wanna head back home?”
She let out another suppressed chuckle.
“Sounds good”.