Witches Moon - Kerry

Decision-Nov. 6th, 2014

I ride the northern lights by night like rollerblades at the roller disco.

We dance in the sky like ribbons in the oceans, ebbing and flowing, twisting and turning.

I returned home a few weeks ago from studying biodiversity at Trent University, in Ontario, and boy is it good to me back! But not for long.

I leap atop the aurora, stepping gingerly on the brightest spots of light. The Etheria is strongest where the light is brightest. When two ribbons of light come close enough I hop over and take the next one across the black sky, repeating this action until a new light comes around.

The sensation of running in the sky is elating. I love it so! It makes me want to…

Leap!

I launch myself off the aurora and free fall towards the earth. The wind whips my deep brown hair back from my face and I can’t inhale with the momentum of my fall.

I love it!

The lights of the earth at sleep zoom closer and closer. I can see the never ending forests and lakes of Northern Saskatchewan. The Aurora is far above me and the ground encroaching faster and faster!

It’s thrilling!

As I come 5000 feet, 4672 feet, 3026 feet my heart races and I smile. I feel for the vectors and currents of Etheria around me and determine the best time to spread my arms. Holding my cloak I bring them out and feel the sudden pull of wind as it’s filled, suspending me in a slower dive to earth.

I take a deep breath, laughing as I exhale.

Exhilarating! “Yahooo!” I shout into the night. I feel a twist in the currents and bank right, spinning over the boreal forest.

Magic is like the air I breath. I don’t think I could live without it. Like the moon needs the sun and the tides need the moon, I feel the tug and pull of forces seen and unseen. Etheria soaks the earth; it’s everywhere.

I spin like an otter in water, amongst the droplets of unformed clouds and wind currents until I see a familiar eye shaped lake that borders the property my parents manage. It's a fair piece of land. My pa runs an animal rescue reserve and my ma makes remedies and herbal salves ever since they retired from their jobs. Unlike them, though, I don't want to be tied to the land. I want to roam. I want to travel! I want to explore the magics of the world.

I’d told my parents this after returning home, and they were displeased. I thought they might be. When I’d seen the crestfallen looks on their faces I knew immediately what they were thinking. But it wasn’t going to stop me. I needed to see the world. I needed to do something with my life.

What I hadn’t told them was why I’d decided to go abroad.

In University, I’d met a man. We struck up a conversation and somehow it had become blatantly clear we were no longer discussing the various ancient beliefs of magic from different cultural backgrounds around the world but the very future of the world and what role magic had to play in it.

I had gotten the feeling this man, though a stranger to me, knew about my abilities and background. I couldn’t peg how I knew, or why, but I’d got this itchy feeling on the back of my neck when he spoke. He just seemed to know things. Things I knew. Things only other witches knew.

He had sparked an interest in me I hadn’t known had been there. He’d passed me a buisness card before he left and I left it on my dorm room counter for a month before I came to the decision that this calling, this… summons was something I wanted to do.

I needed to travel and see the magic of the world, not just to confirm theory but to learn, practice and aid my fellow witches; to go where the Etheria was pulling me.

I skimmed the edge of the field and softly landed. As I came to a stop a little black shadow came trotting up to me, purring.

“Why hello there Finnigan,” my black furry friend yowls as he jumps into my open arms.

Hello Kerry. How was the flight?

“Oh it was splenderful! So thrilling. Wanna go again with me?”

Not likely. I don’t mind flying with you but the lights, they are too high for my tastes.

“I see, Well, maybe another time.”

Hmm, perhaps.

Finnigan, my black cat companion perches himself on my shoulder. Black cats aren’t a necessary witches companion. Anything can do really, but after seeing Kiki’s Delivery Service when was 8 I had to have a black cat companion.

I jogged to the edge of the field, approaching the Victorian style farmhouse my parents had built. It was nestled just in the line of the forest, a small stream of smoke rising from the chimney. The frost of first winter's bite glistened on the garden and porch like the frost in a freezer.

This house held so many memories for me, growing up, learning about Etheria and helping my ma and pa manage their crafts. At one time I’d thought I’d never leave, but now was that time. Tonight was the beginning of a new adventure. It was now or never.

#Fantasy #Magic