Inversion Point

I ready myself: deep breath, count, release.

I let my eyes open themselves as I picture her face in my mind's eye.

I smile and step into the abyss.

The wind rushes up to meet me eagerly, buffeting my tunic, jostling me, almost playfully. I maintain my rigid pose and focus on the distant horizon. A roaring in my ears builds gradually as I accelerate into the void. I slice through the air, and I'm reminded of being a boy on the tundra, sledging with Papa. The winds' playful nudges become more solid, more aggressive.

The darkness below me grows heavier in my periphery. I force myself not to look down, yet. The passing air is now a constant blast. I feel it becoming warmer the further I fall. It continues to play with me, trying to spin and shake me. I remain steadfast, my body an arrow.

I hear it then. It is very, very faint but unmistakable. After the previous jump, I tried to describe the sensation for an entry in the Oracle. The closest I could come was an inaudible echo, felt rather than heard. The echo grows stronger as I fall faster.

My retinal interface flashes up an alert as I reach terminal velocity. The echo is loud enough now to become unpleasant. I glance downwards and see the hazy shape of him directly below me. Perhaps 2000 metres, and moving rapidly closer. He is looking. We both look away at the same time.

I try and concentrate on the horizon, attempting to distract myself from the echo. It is, of course, useless. It amplifies, almost matching the volume of my own consciousness. I feel his thoughts begin to permeate my own, weaving together. A lurching nausea moves through me like a wave as my past becomes his future and his future my past. The waveforms of our being oscillate, moving in and out of one another.

I feel him now, so strong that I struggle to feel where I end and he begins. I look down then. He is only a few metres away. Time seems to slow as we rush towards one another. Our eyes meet, lock. I see the blood vessels at the edges of his eyes, I see my own eyes reflected in his. An infinity mirror.

I reach the inversion point and look again at the horizon. The echo reaches a crescendo as we collide. I survey this world I have built as we pass through one another - for a split second, I am whole. Or perhaps, for the first time, I realise I always was.

The moment passes, and I'm him, falling up. He is me, falling down. His echo becomes mine and mine his, growing quieter by the second. The air pummels me from above, becoming less and less forceful as I begin to slow. The air cools again. I glance down at him again as he drops away from me. He is looking back.

I glide to a stop as my feet land lightly back on the ledge.
I take a deep breath. Count. Release.

Her face appears in my mind's eye, her echo flickering faintly in his.
I let my eyes close themselves.