"Takers of the Emptiness"

A Graphic Novel (Working Title)

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by Adam Holwerda and Bruce Holwerda

"First Flight"

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As the new sun rose beyond the eastern horizon, bands of soft green and violet
fell across the stoic form perched atop a towering mound of red rock. His dark eyes
scanned the expanse below. The many suns setting and rising sprayed their colors over the
landscape.

He set his jaw and bent forward. The contraption on his shoulders rested heavily
above him and he clenched a single thick muscle in his breast, pulling a part of the complex
machine into him and fully extending the two wings it housed. The earlier test flaps he'd
taken on the canyon floor had been successful; the best of them pulling him off the ground
a full body-length. And while he'd felt a great pull in his chest there seemed to have been
no lasting ill effects. The hazy gray sun had been up then, and the ground had been cool.
He'd had to wait till the midday suns rose and the atmosphere was layered with steamy
updrafts to make his real attempt, and the climbing of the mound with the wings on his back
had taken him nearly all morning. But now he was ready and determined to take advantage
of the opportunity he'd made.

He crouched lower in his position on the mound, forced his chest muscles to
contract and felt the contraption's inner mechanism pulse; a low hum sounded from within
it followed by a clicking and locking sound like rocks tumbling down a cliff face. He took a
deep breath and arched his back, grunting as the mechanism locked into his torso.
Without a thought of how strange this was, he crouched even lower - hands like hooks on
the edge of the mound, legs coiled beneath him. His focus was total now; through the haze
he located the faded gray silhouette of the neighboring mound. He clenched once more,
blinking the moisture out of his eyes, and with one final breath he leapt from the mound.

He woke as if from a dream, his eyes open and staring up into the clear red sky.
There was no sound except for the sucking of the cool air over the rocks, then a clink, a
pop, and a long hiss of vapor expelling from the left wing. He rolled to his stomach, forced
his knees up under, and pushed his large frame up to a standing position. Slowly he rotated
his body around and scanned his surroundings. A single gray mound towered above him,
and he looked back to the west. He threw his head back and let out a howling laugh.

He'd flown.