"Mmm hmm, hm hmm hm…"
A lovely tone echoed beneath the stars as Madeline skipped across the clouds, small puffs of mist escaping into the air with each step.
The stars above sparkled, shining their lonely light on the skyward side of the clouds, as they always had, again and again. They shone without reason, without fault, flickering the night away with every pulse of light. Even as the sun rose and their presence vanished in the blinding dawn, they still remained, shining, indifferent, perhaps oblivious to the radiance that erased them.
Madeline walked with her hands behind her back, gazing up at the towering clouds above.
She glanced at the clouds in front as they reached up in the air as if trying to reach for the stars, only to be met with failure.
Each skip was deliberate, elegant.
Madeline grabbed the hem of her starwhite dress, bent her knees slightly, and launched into a leap. A streak of clouds followed in her wake as she soared toward the towering formations ahead.
Her dress flickered in the wind like a flame clinging to life in a relentless storm. Her silken white hair danced in the rushing air, as if trying to mimic the movement of her dress.
The cloud beneath her feet made no sound as she landed, only a wave of smoke stretched outward from it before fading, vanishing into the cloud as if it had never existed.
She hunched forward with the momentum, her feet moving quickly in one after another until she found a pace she was comfortable with And then, she began to skip once more.
The clouds around her were majestic and unforgettable, perhaps they had formed only moments ago, yet they felt ancient, like they'd seen the world change around them with each passing moment. But they hadn't.
To Madeline they were children. Each one Unique, yet still indistinguishable to an untrained eye.
well…
Maybe for the untrained eye.
But not for Madeline.
She bent down, letting her hand trail the cloud beneath her, its soft texture barely substantial enough for her to feel it.
She lifted her hand up and pointed towards a nearby cloud.
"Elara."
Then another.
"Syleena. Athena. Rielle. Vael…"
As her finger moved past the countless clouds, she called out their names, maybe not their real names, because clouds didn't have those. But the name's she had given them after noticing each of their unique traits.
She continued to point to cloud after clouds, calling out their names as she skipped along the endless ocean of mist.
Time lost its meaning until she finally reached it.
Ahead, the clouds which once had seemed infinite came to a sudden halt. Like a mountain split by a god, the sea of clouds ended in a sheer edge.
A lone figure sat at the brink, staring into the void.
Madeline grabbed the hem of her dress and slowed her pace, walking gracefully to the edge before sitting down besides the figure.
"How have you been, Caelum?"
She let her gaze drift toward a cloud far, far into the distance as she spoke.
Caelum turned his head to look at her.
"Has life treated you well Madeline?"
None of them spoke after that, they simply sat, staring out at the open.
Far away, a lone cloud drifted lazily through the sky.
And far below, an ocean stretched endlessly in every direction, only this time, it wasn't made of cloud.
It was made of water.
Endless. And dark.
Madeline shifted her pose, letting her chin rest within her hands as she looked down on her dangling feet.
"Do you think there's anything interesting down there Caelum?"
He let the words hang in the air for a moment before responding.
"How should I know?"
Madeline only sighed at his response unsure of how to make the conversation going.
Then Caelum continued.
"While the heavens grant us what any mortal could only dream of, I can't help but envy them."
He tilted his head slightly, watching a pale cloud curl in on itself.
"They struggle, stumble, grow. Every joy they feel is earned. Every loss, deeply felt. And they still keep going."
He paused.
"They pray to us, worship us, but they live more fully in a single fleeting moment than we do in eternity."
His voice dropped, almost bitter.
"They love without guarantees. They hope in spite of everything. And somehow, that makes them… more than we are."
Madeline's gaze moved up towards the starlit night sky, before she raised her hand, three fingers extended towards the sky.
"Three," she said. her eyes burned not with defiance, but with certainty.
"Three days I'll make the heavens acknowledge us, give us a chance to walk among mortals. To feel as they do."
She lowered her hand, her voice soft but firm.
"And maybe then… we'll finally understand what we've been missing."
Caelum remained silent, but a faint smile began to form on his lips.
Not out of amusement, but of recognition, of something long hoped for, finally spoken aloud,
He turned his haze back towards the horizon, where the clouds met the endless sea.
"Then let it begin," He said softly. "Let the heavens see what they've chosen to forget."