Chapter 11: Crows and Cloudfolk
They got back to the farm by sundown.
Jun was covered in soot. Meilin had a limp. Yun'er was half-asleep on a goat.Alex? He was already makin tea. Priorities.
"System," he muttered, stirrin the pot, "how many more shards out there?"
"Unknown. Celestial signatures fragmented across multiple continents. Current estimate: seven remaining."
Alex blinked. "...Of course it's the evil Dragonball situation."
The next mornin, things felt... weirdly calm.
No whispers in the wind. No twitchin shadows. Not even a moody crow.
Then one did land on the fence.
It was huge. Like, "rideable if desperate" huge.
It tilted its head and stared at Alex like it was judgin his life decisions.
"System?" he asked.
"Avian species: Wind-Backed Crow. Messenger class. Origin: Cloudfolk."
"...Cloudfolk?"
Yun'er nearly dropped her tea. "They still exist??"
Jun looked confused. "They a band?"
"No," Alex said. "They're sky nomads. Literal cultivators who live in floating islands and throw parties in lightning storms."
Meilin narrowed her eyes. "Why's one of their birds here?"
The crow cawed once.
Then dropped a scroll and exploded.
Like—poof. Smoke, feathers, a very tiny shockwave. Totally normal.
Jun stared. "...I liked that crow."
The scroll was sealed in wind-thread and gold ink.
Alex opened it, wincin.
The writing inside shifted like clouds.
"To the Earth-Rooted Disciple of Still Wind Hill:
We have observed the rupture. The sky burns, and the shards stir.
_You are formally invited to the Summit Above Storms.Come quickly, or not at all.
Bring turnips._"
There was also a sketch of a flying pig at the bottom.
Alex blinked. "...What the actual—"
Yun'er snatched the scroll. "It's legit."
"Are they always this cryptic?"
"They once declared war on a thunder god using only fruit. So yes."
That night, the memory tree shimmered again.
It whispered upward.
Toward the clouds.
Alex sat under it, starin at the sky.
The stars didn't twinkle tonight.
They watched.
He muttered, "I just wanted to grow melons."
The tree rustled.
Almost like it was laughin.
Preparations began the next day.
Yun'er enchanted a bucket to fly. Jun tried to pack snacks but ate most of them first. Meilin sharpened all four of her swords, even the invisible one.
Alex asked the system, "What's the safest way to reach the Cloudfolk?"
"Option 1: Climb floating mountain.Option 2: Borrow flying beast.Option 3: Custom method: Build a flying barn."
Alex paused. "...We're doin option 3."
Two days later, a fully spiritual, herb-powered, mildly-unstable flying farmhouse lifted from Still Wind Hill.
The goats screamed the entire way.
So did Jun.
As the clouds swallowed them, the sky cracked open with gold light.
A whole city floated above the world—pillars of crystal, birds the size of carriages, staircases made of storm.
And in the middle of it all…
The Cloudfolk waited.
Tall, wild-haired cultivators in robes of mist and lightning, standin like a storm was about to be born.
One of them smiled.
"You brought turnips," she said. "You may enter."
Alex looked around at the other three.
"This is officially the weirdest quest I've ever been forced into."
Jun raised a hand. "Do we get snacks at least?"
A golden pig flew past them.
Yun'er nodded.
"Oh yeah. It's about to get weirder."