Tiere's first flight

They could barely see their hands, the moonlight hidden mostly behind a slow moving cloud. The gentle blue glow alighting the sky before them, but not the land they stand upon. They were nervous, this was their first time walking. Their first time test running the prototype legs.

"I'm having second thoughts, Myst," they said out to the air before them. A familiar bird coming into the moonlight from the darkness to reach them. A hand extended, their mother perching upon their finger. They listen carefully to the chirps coming from her body, if only for comfort alongside the words spoken in their head. There was a pause once the chirp stopped, Tiere barely managing to whisper "And you're sure this'll work?"

The bird answered this but fluttering off, returning to the sky. Lost to Tiere's eye until she once more entered the beam of moonlight. They were left alone to figure it out for themselves, as they have been many times before. They look down at their legs, the thick prosthetics sounding out with quiet whirr. The quiet jets in their shin priming itself for ignition. They take a few steps back, their gaze turning up to the edge of the floating island. If this failed, they wouldn't be dead until the ten minutes to reach the land below had passed.

They can't fail here. They bloodied their hands for this, and they dared not sully this chance. The thought of death having renewed their courage and will, Tiere began running toward the edge. Their steps slamming into the dirt, displacing them as they kick up the pebbles. When their last step placed them on the edge, the foot before begins roaring as they take a leap forward, the jets kicking on within both feet. Unrefined, and Raw. They struggled to stay in the air, finding themselves without balance. Spinning, Twirling, even flipping. They fell further and further toward the land below.

There was no help. There was no voice. Myst refused to speak to them. They live, or they die.

They chose life.

Tiere righted themselves, the jet being their only light to remind them where their feet were. The moonlight their only symbol of "up." They focused first on stopping the descent. The wind whipping their hair up as they fell, their head looking down as they began to fuel the jets. Putting more power behind it, desperately trying to stop the descent. They closed their eyes, assuming that if this didn't work...

They felt their hair fall, before being lifted up again. This time by the wind blowing behind them. A gentle, yet chilling wind. It coaxed them forward, but they remained still. Uncertain. They looked down at their legs again, to no avail. The darkness still blinded him, warded off only by the dim light provided by the flame. They exhale a heavy sigh of relief, looking forward again. They see Myst now, keeping herself in place of the moonglow for their destination.

They lean forward, their feet carefully shifting. They were sloppy movement, causing Tiere to spin. They caused them to move at angles, lean too far left or right, and in one case almost kneed them in the face. Trials and errors, with death to deter them from giving up. Minutes had passed by, before Tiere settled into a comfortable posture. Their left leg bent at the knee only partially, with the goal of keeping them up. Their right leg bent, to give them their forward momentum, angled to assist in keeping them up. Not too unlike 'floating,' they began to move forward to Myst.

Their began to swell with pride, the moonlight washing over them as they enter the beam. They hold a hand out, Myst landing upon their palm to settle down as they carefully turn to look up at the moon. The bird chirps only once, and the words they hear from her gives them hope.

The cloud fell away to release the moonlight upon all of the land, Tiere turning to return back to the floating city they called home. After all, a beautiful night like this should be spent with their father.