10/ Preparing for the first trial

When the first rays of the new sun hit the tiny droplets of water that sprayed from the waterfalls of Kush they reflected the frail morning light into a prisma of luminescent reawakening.

She stopped for a second, lured into a moment of melancholic weakness she could not afford. Falling down, gliding between the prismatic light, and finally vanishing into the water had to be the most relieving and wonderful experience fate could grant a misfit like her. She felt the abyss beneath her toes again, the way her mind felt light and without a care, when she had finally been ready to pay the ultimate price for that reckless race she had been calling life for the past years.

The sensation of soothing fingertips hidden in soft leather gloves that suddenly and carefully touched her wrist ever so cautiously, without prejudice or judgement, crept up on her. She took a step back from the ledge, sighed heavily, and began to fasten the coil of rope she had brought with her to a tree.