[ WP ] Your whole life you had an ability that seemed normal to you . Now you realized you 're the only one with this ability .

Kiril ’ s long sandy hair hung in his eyes unless he tied it back. He never went anywhere without his bow strapped over his shoulders or his handmade pair of leather shoes. The sun had turned his skin dark, his hair bright. He smelt salty like the ocean. 
 
 When he showed up at the far shore of the broken land, dripping wet, his chest heaving, a child, no more than ten years old, walked up to his limp form and stood over him, eclipsing the sun. 
 
 Kiril did nothing at first other than enjoy the warm sand beneath him and the small waves that lapped at his feet. He had never tried to span the gap between the two big islands before. No one had. He wasn ’ t even sure why he attempted it. The ripping currents nearly tore him out to sea. He nearly drowned on his journey. The currents sometimes propelled him and other times pushed against him, as if great weights were bearing down on him, trying to suck him under. Every muscle in his body burned, his lungs screaming for air. He kept pushing, rowing his arms, and suddenly he grabbed a fistful of sand and found himself practically beached without even realizing. After that he managed to throw himself a few feet farther before he collapsed. 
 
 The child did not move. He just kept staring at him. Kiril didn ’ t want to move yet either. A deep trembling had settled into his shoulders and legs, a flame burning deep in his gut. His breathing had only just started to return to normality. The sun and felt so good and the kid was blocking it. 
 
 But Kiril heard other voices now, approaching from farther along the beach. The voices of grown men. Soon two other shapes were eclipsing the beautiful, life-affirming sun. Kiril groaned and hauled himself up. He would deal with these nuisances, but first he checked for his bow and his shoes. The bow was there, and the leather shoes were soaked, but they had survived along with him. 
 
 “ Where did you come from? Are you a wizard? A demon? Half-fish? Has someone cursed you? ” 
 
 Both men leaned on pronged spears – the kind by people of the islands for shallow-water fishing. Kiril had seen others like it. His own people had used them as the main means of gathering food. At present they didn ’ t have any intention of using it against him so he relaxed for a moment. 
 
 “ I ’ m from over there, ” Kiril said, pointing at the distance hump of green across the water. “ Wizard? I don ’ t think so. Do you have wizards on this island? ” 
 
 “ But that ’ s impossible, ” one of them said. “ No one lives on that island. Impossible. How did you… glide in the water, as the fish do? ” 
 
 Kiril was puzzled. “ But there are… or were. A sickness killed everyone in my village.'' Most had died during his adolescence. He had been alone over since, hunting to provide for himself, fishing at the reefs with his spear, shooting the wild pigs with his bow. He would swim to and from the smaller and closer islands. `` What do you mean, glide in the water? Swim?'' Everyone in his village swam as a child. 
 
 `` Yes. What's your name, traveler?'' 
 
 `` Kiril.'' 
 
 `` You must teach us. We've been stranded here for weeks.'' 
 
 `` You do n't live here?'' 
 
 `` No, we live farther away, on another island. Our people we tried to build something to carry us over the water. We crashed here. We have too many people there. Not enough water and supplies. Here, take a look.'' 
 
 The men showed Kiril a flat square of wood, bound together with fraying rope, broken into pieces. He could see how they fit together, minus a few missing pieces. Interesting idea, Kiril thought. 
 
 `` You must teach us how to do what you did. It's our only hope of getting back.'' 
 
 Odd. Swimming had never seemed so important or difficult. It had come naturally to him, and everyone in his village had done it. He supposed that's how they had come to the island in the first place, generations ago. 
 
 `` So no one in your village swims?'' 
 
 `` No. We live off the ocean, but it washes things up to us. We've never had a reason to live before. There are many fish in the shallow water. Many pigs and fruits on the island There are a few drownings every season when the tide takes people out to sea. But we've been trying to master the ocean for a year now, and this is the best idea we've had yet.'' 
 
 Up until now Kiril had no real purpose. Survival had been a struggle at first, but after a year it became an easy reality. He picked fruit when he wanted, caught his dinner every day, and slept on whatever island or secret spot he pleased. He never realized how much he missed human contact. It had been three winters since the sickness. 
 
 He smiled. `` Yes, I can teach you. But I think you have something going with this whole floating wood idea.'' 
 
 He could teach this people to swim. And then he would learn there floating wood technique. For his whole life there had been a mountain always looming in the distance, just over the horizon of the sea. He would never be able to swim there, but perhaps if he could make the wood work... 
 
 `` Yes, I'll teach you, but first I need to rest.'' He collapsed back into the sand. 

