Rose Blumen ~ Exogignesthai

(Rose)

And we saw more, so much more.

The ground turned to frozen rocks in the heights, surrounded mostly by deep transparent skies by then.

The clouds or most of them are flowing below our level. And above, the sky is a perfect and almost scary blue hole.

I hold onto my sister or the ground when I look above into the void, to avoid vertigos. It’s absolute bright blinding light and depth is doing its number on me.

The winds are also more sudden up here and icy cold.

But the sunrise from out there is a splendour unlike any other. We wake up early every day, if only to enjoy that show. The sun rises every day, on average. But it’s aspect can vary a lot.

Seen from the summit of Eldorado, it’s not the same as anywhere else I’ve been to in the world. It has a lot more to show. It’s art. It’s so much more. It engulfs the world in its infinite layers of colours, light, warmth and beauty.

A morning out here is worth a thousand elsewhere. It’s even beyond comparison. It’s more, it’s just more.

Even Blume can appreciate the morning sights quietly. Still sheltered from the wind by the huge wings they created far below, we sit there enjoying the sun rise quietly.

We see the distant globe rise and grow in colours and brightness all softly. The sky is cream as it regains warmth, and morning spreads. The blue shine of our atmosphere rises and reaches after a hundred shades its peak sky blue.

And then, sis’ and I nod, and pack.

Today, we’re reaching the summit.

~

Nightmare is wheezing a little as the air is scarce at this altitude, but she won’t give up. I endure better, although I can tell my heart is going a little faster and stronger than is usually enjoys. Still, Nightmare doesn’t seem willing to cheat with her human body anyway. I’m impressed.

Sweat quickly evaporates as the air is very dry up here and the sun warms us a lot quicker as well. It’s mostly the wind and the nights that are dead freezing cold now. Walking becomes tiring faster.

Also rock climbing is exhausting.

But we eventually reach the last cliffs. Blume’s wings gives us the rope toward that highest dead end.

We climb so slowly. Moving one arm, then resting a few seconds, then a leg, and resting again a few seconds.

We definitely can tell that for organisms like ours, altitude slows us down a lot. It makes it surreal to think anything could survive at higher altitudes. And I’m not even considering the radiations from the sun, just the lack of oxygen.

Although she’s in my blood, even Blume is slowed down and muffled while I’m doing my efforts to progress.

After hours spent to climb twelve metres of sculptured boulders, we reach the last claw of rock. The tip of a needle from an immense sculpture of segmented barbwires. Us ants crawl on it, and reach the tip of a cliff at the end of the world.

There’s nothing left to hold on, just an edge, a small tip of an invisible and hollow ship.

A few steps on any side, and it’s the fall, into the sea of distant jungles and mists.

Nightmare and I hold onto each other, slowly catching our breath back and letting our heartbeat slow down.

Blume says we’re between five and six kilometres high in altitude against sea level. Looking below, it sure looks plausible. I don’t think I’ve ever been this high in the sky before.

The landscape reached and went higher than all the other mountains of the Andes we can distinguish. Although not that much higher on the southern side we came from.

We look and point at places we think we recognise.

We spend a night, a last night, out there. It’s hard to breathe so it’s hard to sleep, but we rest a little while.

Nightmare’s wings are more cosy than they seem when they make their tent around us.

Although for a short while, we pull our heads out and above the edge in the middle of the night.

To look at the whimsical night show of Eldorado’s turquoise gleam as seen from the sky.

It’s eerie and beautiful.

None of us regret this long journey into beauty.

~

Nightmare and I enjoyed the sunrise from this tip of the world. We ate what was left to eat. Not much to be fussy about really. And we drank our last drops of water.

And as the sky was becoming full day bright, we stood nearer to the edge.

Nightmare wore her coat and largest wings; I wore Blume’s second body and her two pairs of wings.

I waited for her to properly anchor herself into the pores of my skin, and goodness knows what else of me.

She stretched herself greatly, like I would my arms and shoulders. She’s a part of me. And then she whispered to me.

B – I’m ready.

I looked at Nightmare. She nodded, with the bud of a smile.

We looked to the northern side of our position.

Eldorado stretched for many more kilometres ahead. And then, the Andes as far as we could see.

It was most likely we would land by the border between these two environments, or along the first slopes of these mountains.

I’m shivering.

R – Oh...

~

I looked at the skies all around me, all over me. I lost myself in the hole of a sky above me for a moment. I felt nostalgic.

I ran, and jumped.

I saw briefly Nightmare letting herself fall backward at the same time.

The thrill. The stronger heartbeats. Blume and I opened our wings, and softly began to sail on the layers of air. The fall progressively felt more and more like sailing over an invisible lake or sea. Catching the wind.

The more wings surface opened to friction, the more we diverted ourselves from falling and into gliding.

We shared our sensations and choices of movements. Blume thought at first I would be a little uneasy with that flight, but I quickly made it as natural as breathing or running.

Using these wings to glide felt oddly natural, intuitive.

We sailed. I was overjoyed and amazed. I was in the sky. It was a nice time.

In the middle of the sky, giving me enjoyable shivers.

I’m flying in the prettiest of worlds.

I had a hiccup when I saw the gigantic raven bolting below us. My sister is obviously a natural at this as well.

And as we headed softly toward the next unreal ribcage of Eldorado, Nightmare began tilting her flight slowly on a side.

She invited me to follow.

Sweet shivers and wind in my hair. My skin is freezing cold on my face, but I couldn’t care less right now, it feels amazing.

I shift and dive after Nightmare. We begin a slightly acrobatic flight as we enter the wide hollowness of the next wires of rocks.

We fly at a speed we barely notice, until an arch or a bridge passes, as fast as a tree on the side when you’re in a train. It’s hard to evaluate, but we’re going fast.

We fly joyfully. The sensation truly is something else.

I’m reminded of different experiences of flight. This is the most enjoyable and bright.

I also have a memory of Bleue coming to mind.

Something she said to me with a radiant smile. I laugh again. Goodness...

I laugh and bolt after Nightmare, to catch up and go even faster than her.

Of course she has some competitive spirit. So we begin a race through the queerly structured skies of Eldorado.

I laugh a lot along the way, nervously sometimes, but merrily truly.

It’s so nice.

The dragons we noticed before are so far below. They look like giant bats. They must hear and see us, but they’re not curious about us and we don’t care right now. We’re having too much fun racing through the welkin of Eldorado.

I love it. We’re going fast and I need to squint my eye, but I love this. Oh boy, I do.

~