Balls of withered weeds tumbled as the desert wind whistled in Airo's ears. He scanned his surroundings to feel a poignant squeeze in his heart. The only thing wet at that time were his cheeks. They were damped with the tears he couldn't stop from falling.
"Why did this happen?" he asked as he stepped towards the entrance of their barren village. He was only gone for a week in search of the forest nymph to help them with their dried basins and river, but their land had been drier while he was away.
Visible huge crevices divided the farmlands. The cracks were so enormous that a five-year-old child could fit in.
But his confusion intensified when his eyes landed on the lumps of soil floating mid-air. What made the sight even more baffling was each 'flying' piece of land was cut perfectly in squares.
One house stood at every lot.
Moments later, screams echoed.
At first, he thought those were cries for help, but then jovial waves of laughter permeated in the air.
"Careful on those ropes! You might fall," a man's voice said.
"I'm careful!" came the response of a young boy.
Airo recognized them. They were his father, Meno, and brother, Wallo.
"Dad!" he called, hoping they would hear him. "Dad! I'm down here!"
He walked closer to the nearest piece of land and looked up, waiting for someone to peek. And someone did.
"Hey, Airo! You're back!" Meno called. "Here, catch this!"
The old man threw a long thick rope to Airo. It was a rope used to anchor ships. He climbed on the rope with ease. He was used to holding ropes because of manually plowing their ' then' lush fields with a buffalo.
When he was already at the top, his jaws dropped. He was right! All the houses in their village were separated into what seemed to be floating islets.
"What happened here?" he asked.
"Drought has done this. While you were away one night, an earthquake shook the whole village. And when we went out of our houses, it has been like this."
Airo walked to the window and observed their neighbors. They did their daily routine, but it wasn't too difficult.
Ropes tied to the strongest tree in each garden connected the neighborhood. To move from one place to another, the citizens needed to hang on the ropes and slide like they were riding a zipline.
At the center of the floating lots lay the vast farmland where people plowed their fields and raised their animals as usual.
"This the crying lady's doing," Airo mumbled.
"What did you say? Speaking if which, why don't you tell us about your journey?"
"I will. But I need everyone to know. Where can I meet all the villagers?"
That night, when everyone had called it a day, they took their ziplines to gather back to the farmlands, the biggest chunk of land at the center of all the houses.
Each household chose where they would sit and light a bonfire, so they could see under the moonless night.
"We have been cursed," Airo began. "Someone from our village has offended the forest nymph."
The attendees exchanged querying glances at each other.
"Who could've done that?" a villager asked.
"While I was searching for the nymph, I accidentally heard her cry of agony. She said whoever unalive her pet raven must pay," Airo added.
"Haven't we been suffering even before you left?" Matthias, a goon-like villager protested. "That nymph has already made us suffer with drought. And now, she went too far by making our village float. What's even worse? She separated the houses!"
Airo glared at him. "You dare to complain when you are the reason for the drought!"
Murmurs filled the bleak and somber night, overpowering the singing crickets.
"How dare you accuse me!"
"I'm not accusing you. I'm telling the truth!" Airo drew a lungful of air before he spoke again. "Can you tell us where you got that golden raven skull hanging on your neck?"
Matthias was speechless.
"You resembled the man the nymph was describing to her favorite oak tree when I heard her. Shoulder length dry and frizzy hair. Lots of ink marking on the body... your tattoos. Two large front teeth like that of a squirrel--"
"Stop! I admit it. I shot a raven, but I didn't know it was hers until I saw the skull."
"You've seen the skull, but you didn't do anything to appease the nymph. Do you think your crime would pass unnoticed?"
Matthias kept quiet, contemplating Airo's words.
"If the drought was because of Matthias, then why is our village floating?"
"Another villager broke her heart by stealing from her," Airo answered. "She loved the man, but he stole her necklace."
"It's just a necklace. What could go wrong with losing it?" a young man asked.
Airo's eyes squinted at a hint of guilt at the man's tone. "You don't really know?" he asked the man without blinking.
"How on Earth would I know?"
"The stolen necklace was no ordinary necklace." He walked slowly toward the man whose face went pale as he got closer.
The path Airo walked on trembled and crushed under his feet. The villagers' eyes bulged in shock. They were baffled at what they were seeing.
"How is he doing that?" buzzed the villagers.
Airo kept walking and when he snapped his fingers, a sparkle of thousands of fireflies glimmered. The insects surrounded him as he walked, following him like he was their leader.
"The necklace that was stolen from me controls the gravity in this place!" Airo's voice was gone. It was replaced by a female's furious voice. "If you don't return it to me, everything here will lose its balance!"
Slashes of lightning lit the night sky, along with the rumbling thunder.
The neighborhood was petrified at the sight of Airo's transformation. A female's soft and beautiful face replaced his strong masculine facial features. Two mounds grew from his flat chest. His body changed into a woman's physique too.
"Give back my necklace!"
Trees were uprooted as the angry voice of the nymph broke the stillness of the night. They levitate several meters from the ground, upside down.
The young man's knees buckled at the sight of the nymph he fooled.
"Where's my necklace?! Give it back if you still want to live! That necklace is my life!"
The Earth tremored insanely. The foundation of houses slowly moved as if they were being pulled from the ground. After the horrifying scene, the houses, together with the trees and farm animals, floated.
The nymph stepped closer to the young man who kept denying his crime.
"Return my necklace if you want everything here to be back to normal!"
The young man's tears flooded his cheeks. "I'm sorry. Please, forgive me." He pulled a round necklace from under his shirt. The jewelry resembled the Earth being pulled by gravity. "I'm sorry."
The nymph took the necklace and wore it. Upon doing that, everything slowly went back to the way it was. When everything was back in its proper place, as if nothing happened, Airo passed out.
It was too late for him to realize that the nymph used his body to retrieve something she owned.
Since then, the villagers made a promise not to mess with supernatural beings like the nymph.
NOTE:
All photos are created/ edited using AI and Canva.