RETIRED TRANSMIGRATION: The Shadow Loss Chronicles

GRAVITATIONAL STREAM

Avery found himself in a perplexing and disorienting situation. Mere moments ago, he had been limping in a dimly lit alley, in the dead of night, but now, he was soaring amidst the brilliant radiance of daylight and clouds. This sudden change made absolutely no sense to him.

A significant discrepancy between the darkness of night and the brightness of day suggested the passage of hours, perhaps even twelve which was lost from Avery's memory, but to him, everything had happened in the blink of an eye. How such an inexplicable transformation could occur remained a baffling enigma.

Questions swirled in his mind, demanding answers that remained elusive. How had he ascended from the ground to the heavens above? More confounding was the realization that the gap between him and a particular cloud, the one he had first noticed upon his surreal shift in surroundings, was steadily widening.

The piercing cold continued to envelop his entire being, the relentless winds tugging at his limbs, back, and head which resulted in the tousling of his hair in front of his face.

Avery's heart raced as he watched the gap between him and the distant clouds grow and a cold, gut-wrenching realization dawned upon him: he was in free fall, plummeting through the sky.

The worst part of it all was that he was without a parachute.

("I falling?") Avery choked out, his voice portraying a profound sense of dread. Panic seized him as he recognized the grim reality that he was hurtling toward the earth with no means of slowing down or stopping.

Born into humble circumstances that worsened after his parents died, Avery had never experienced skydiving, however, this certainly bore no resemblance to the exhilarating, controlled descent of a parachutist. He wasn't skydiving; he was plummeting helplessly toward his doom and there was nothing he could do about it.

With each passing moment, the distance to the clouds grew more insurmountable, while the earth loomed closer and more ominous. Panic settled in deeper, gnawing at Avery's composure. He grappled with his body, attempting to orient himself so he could face the impending doom.

At first, Avery fought with himself and the decision he was about to make. One mind convinced him to continue falling without finding out how long he had until he touched the earth. Unfortunately, human curiosity was always the stronger emotion and he couldn't help but want to know how high up in the sky he was.

With that, Avery tried to turn around but while he had honed his body to an exceptional degree through his boxing training and natural athleticism, the disorienting tumble through the air presented an entirely different challenge. He struggled to maintain control, fighting against the relentless wind that buffeted him from all angles.

Each attempt he made at turning around was opposed by a wall of wind but Avery was a quick learner and more importantly he wasn't one to give up easily.

He possessed an innate understanding of his body's mechanics, a skill he had sharpened through years of training and fortunately, the intensified symptoms of the Shadow Loss Fever hadn't yet robbed him of this intrinsic knowledge.

After several more attempts, Avery managed to wrest control of the elements, turning his body to face the earth below. As he descended through the lower layers of clouds which once obstructed his view of the earth below, a sense of foreboding gripped him.

To his surprise, the fast-approaching terrain beneath him was alien and unrecognizable.

("This not Mayfair City,") Avery realized with growing disbelief.

Born and raised there, Avery had spent his entire life within the borders of Mayfair City. As such, he has prided himself in knowing its every street and corner like the back of his hand— a knowledge which sadly bolstered his reason for being bored of the city.

His knowledge was so in-depth that he could identify the city from a bird's-eye view if presented with a map. A truly surprising feat because he had never seen it from any sort of advantaged angle before.

His knowledge of every area from ground level allowed him to picture a precise imagery of what an elevated perspective would look like and sadly, the sprawling forest below bore no resemblance to his hometown.

("Where the devil am me?") Avery muttered in confusion, scanning the unfamiliar landscape unfolding beneath him. His geographical knowledge was no longer of any use in this bewildering and remote wilderness.

As the gravity of his predicament sank in even more, clearing his mind from the momentary distraction of not being anywhere near his hometown, Avery's heart raced faster— thumping relentlessly in his chest. It was evident that this time, he couldn't rely on luck to save him.

Unless a miracle intervenes and a parachute appears before him out of thin air— which might still be next to useless as he had never used one and as such had no idea how the mechanics worked— Avery was destined for a fatal impact with the earth below.

Despair and resignation began to set in and Avery's thoughts turned to his loved one.

('At least, sir and wife will call help. Sister will be proper even without shadow… shadow… shadow. Wait, my shadow?') Avery thought, at first accepting his fate, but then his mood changed and a flicker of hope ignited within him.

A sensation, a connection long severed, stirred within him again. His shadow, lost to him since that inexplicable encounter at the alley had returned for some reason and Avery's eyes widened with realization.

("My shadow, it be… back,") Avery whispered, his focus narrowing. The connection beckoned and guided him. He understood where it led him, and that knowledge emboldened him.

A glimmer of determination cut through the overwhelming dread of falling to his death and for a moment he was distracted from what fate had installed for him.

The connection to his shadow pointed behind him, toward the abyss from which he fell, and that inadvertently raised a serious question, but first, Avery had to see if this feeling led to anything real. To find out, he turned his attention to the space beyond.

Avery fought with the bombarding winds once more, this time having less difficulty because he had done it successfully before. Also, where he wanted to face was being promoted by the direction of the wind.

Avery turned to face the clouds then he did a quick search of the massive body of evaporated water, following the connection he felt to his shadow and that's where he saw it. Rotating like the blades of a fan was what could only be the hooded figure while descending right next to him was the partly damaged canister.

Avery's attention flicked between his rotating adversary and the falling canister. He grimaced with bewilderment as what he saw made no sense, again bringing back a question he had once thought of when he felt the connection with his shadow behind him.

For some strange reason, the canister was falling ahead of the hooded figure which made no sense as their differences in mass meant that it should be the other way around.

What was even more confusing was that the hooded figure was rotating at a constant altitude. He didn't seem to be falling under gravity like Avery and the canister were which brought back Avery's initial question.

Avery had theorized after appearing in his new environment that the same thing might have happened to the hooded figure which is why the connection he felt to his shadow in the ally seemed to have vanished.

The question now remains how he was closer to the ground than the hooded figure and the canister if the both of them appeared here seconds and maybe even a minute before he did.

What could have happened within that time? Nothing had made sense ever since the hooded figure appeared in his kitchen and Avery was lost for ideas when even more surprisingly he experienced something he never thought he would in his entire life.

Without knowing, Avery had shifted slightly from the original falling path and the next thing he knew was that his descent and terminal velocity toward earth started to slow down until it stopped completely.

("Huh?") Avery mumbled when he experienced the same feeling everyone feels whenever they jump and reach maximum height. It was a momentary pause in his current altitude and suddenly he started falling in the opposite direction— towards the clouds.

Avery couldn't believe it, he had entered what seemed to be a gravity stream that went counter to how gravity normally works and now he was going up, towards the rotating hooded figure and falling canister.

("What are t-th-this?") Avery asked as it seemed like his luck had once again saved him from death—at least for the moment.