I am amazed at how easy it seems.How could it have possibly have taken me so long to stumble upon the secret? All I have to do is frame my thoughts in a certain way, exert my will, and the ground drops away!
At first it seems precarious. My thoughts stumble and slide and I seem on the edge of losing the special state of mind that holds me aloft. But with practice my skill and confidence grows, and soon I have time to take stock of my surroundings.
I am high above the Plain of Desolation. Behind me, the Western Country stretches green and fertile toward the Sea of Peace. Below me, the land is empty, barren, and devoid of life. Ahead, the Mountains of Shadow loom distant and threatening on the horizon.
The mountains are my destination.  They lay hundreds of leagues away, but the distance is no match for my newfound skill.  I exert my will, I hurtle through the air, and the land begins to unroll beneath me.
   Strange vistas shift and change like scenery in a dream. I see an oasis, a forest of dead trees, a barren valley flanked by poisoned ruins from some long-forgotten war.  I pass over a shattered plain that can only be an ancient battlefield.  It is covered with the wreckage of ruined machines of dire and unguessable purpose.  The ground itself seems burnt and melted -- in places it has been fused to glass by the passage of unimaginable energies.
   Finally, after an unguessable length of time, I leave the wasteland behind.  I have reached the foothills, and the land begins to climb beneath me -- dark, green, and somehow ominous.  There is life within that forest of shadows, but surely it takes no wholesome form.  Surely I do not want to encounter the creatures that live beneath those trees.
   Fortunately, there is no need to pass through the forest, for I can fly.  It seems easy now, and quite natural.  Surely this is the way things were always meant to be! I can adjust my flight at will with minute changes in perception and attitude.  With but a thought, I can turn, bank, climb, dive, hover, or accelerate.  I feel an immense sense of freedom. I revel in the sensation.
   Then, ahead of me, I see my destination.  On a ridge on the far side of a ruined valley, I see a castle.  This is no effeminate palace of some bored and idle aristocrat.  It is a dark fortress that has withstood ages of warfare.  Dim lights shine from the highest windows of the central keep.
   I veer right to cross a ridge, drop below the level of the crest, and approach the castle with caution.  The walls seem deserted, and no one contests my passage.  Emboldened, I climb, and circle the structure to examine it from the air.  There is a garden within the walls, and a figure moves within the garden.  Somehow I sense that this figure is benign, an ally, perhaps.  Certainly it is not a threat, so I descend to land beside it.
   The figure turns, and I see it is Princess Danielle.  Her golden hair shines in the sunlight, and the thin fabric of her dress does little to hide the slender figure inside.  She turns to smile, and ...

Ah yes, those old childhood dreams of flight! They sure were great, weren't they!

Paul Gazis
Sunnyvale, CA