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Clouds aren’t supposed to come to life. That’s a given everywhere, even in Dreamland, where there are living trees and moving rocks. Of course, there’s Kracko, but they’re less of a cloud and more of a sky deity. It’s not really comparable.
How could one even come to life? It’s just a bunch of water. There’s nothing special about that. It carries out a cycle; water goes up into the sky, and then it comes down with the rain. That is a cloud’s only purpose.
What would one even do if it came to life? Nothing. It can’t move, it can’t talk. If that were to happen, it could only drift along to wherever the wind takes it and think.
Think. And what then?
Such question usually shouldn’t have to be answered. In fact, they wouldn’t even cross the mind of most people. And yet…
And yet one day, it happened.
It was an otherwise normal, peaceful day, as most were in Dreamland. A day so calm everything seemed to be going in slow motion, engrossed by the soothing warmth of the sun. A few clouds were drifting in the sky. And one of these clouds…
Well, no one knows how it happened, aside from maybe the Fountain of Dreams itself. But a bit of its water found itself into the sky, and into a cloud that had drifted a bit too close. And somehow, that water was enough to give it life.
Now normally, this wouldn’t make much of a difference. It was just a coincidence that could quickly and naturally be dealt with. It only needed to rain. But fate. Was it fate? Maybe. I don’t know. Fate had other plans.
And so, for a while, this newly created life simply drifted along in the sky, enjoying their new sentience. And how thrilled they were! The world was big, and wide, and full of sights to see. But soon the excitement dulled and turned into longing. Because in the world below, there weren’t just pretty sights. There were people, too. People that the cloud would soon wish they could meet. They all looked like they had so much fun down there! They wanted to meet them. To have fun with them.
But as much as they wanted to, there was nothing they could do about it. They were just a cloud, after all. They couldn’t talk, or move, forced to follow along to wherever the wind wanted to take them. They couldn’t do anything but watch and think.
The joy of discovery and the longing of loneliness were the first things this cloud had to learn.
So, they kept watching, trying to learn as much as they could. See as much as they could.
Once, they saw two little orange creatures play together. And even though they didn’t understand what they were or what they were doing, they wished they could join them.
But they couldn’t. So, they drifted away and continued to watch the world instead.
Until one day, the wind lifted them, really, really high, into a part of the sky where you couldn’t even see the ground anymore. And they continued drifting, wondering which part of the world they would see next.
Or maybe they wouldn’t see anything else. Maybe they would end, soon. They knew they could. Instinctively, they knew. They knew it was supposed to happen.
But it saddened them, so they tried not to think about it.
Eventually, as they went further and further up, they noticed something. Ruins, rested atop the clouds. Ruins that looked nothing like the usual sky infrastructure. So, naturally, they wished they could see it. They wished the wind would bring them closer.
For once, the wind complied.
And so, the cloud was brought closer, and closer, until they were floating just above the stone floor, just above the ground. It was fun. They could pretend they were walking like anybody else.
Eventually, the wind brought them to a pedestal. These ruins used to have a roof, but time had worn it down, like the rest of this place. It didn’t really matter, since no one was supposed to find that place anyway.
No one was supposed to find the artefact resting atop the stone anyway.
It was a simple wand, dark and clearly old, as old as the rest of this place, if not older. On top of it rested something akin to a crystal ball, water staying still inside of it, having been forgotten for so long.
The trained eye might’ve noticed the magic resting in the water. The trained eye might’ve noticed the magic resembling a seal that surrounded the wand. But they didn’t. They were just a cloud, after all.
…Or were they? No matter how many times I repeat it, it never feels exactly right. Even if it’s what they themselves think.
And as they were examining the artefact, the wind picked up, and brought them closer, closer to the wand. Until they finally touched it.
And when they did, something happened. The dormant magic was awakened, perhaps by their pure heart? And it all began swirling, dancing around them, in a show of light water and bubbles.
What happened next was strange. It wasn’t exactly painful, just weird. It felt like their light, airy body was being pulled together, compressed, into… something. A new form, that wasn’t quite as light as before. By the time they got used to it, it all suddenly stopped, and it all went from light to dark.
And standing on the ground wasn’t a cloud anymore. Because they had taken on a new form, similar to the creatures they had once seen, except for the blue fur and the cloud shaped markings on their cheeks. They were sleeping peacefully, the artefact that transformed them held tightly in their newly gained hands. The wand looked much nicer now, the dark coating gained from the ages having disappeared, revealing the glimmering silver underneath it. The water seemed to have gotten brighter and still sparkled due to the recently casted spell.
On this day, a cloud got their first and dearest wish granted. On this day, a new life begun.
And on this day, I swore that I would protect them.