Scratching his head, Teras looked down at the earth. Specs of green and blankets of shimmering blue made him long for the ability to touch and feel them. He rolled onto his back, feeling the cloud beneath him.
His mind wrapped around the myths of humans passed down to him from the elders. He couldn’t imagine how humans wanted to be here. Constantly, his kind were fearful. With no wings, no sort of defense—except for the scales on his back, their kingdom was built on clouds.
He sat up and thought of the faces of his family. So many faces faded into the abyss between clouds. Falling from the sky was worse a threat than the opposite kingdom rising or humans using their rockets to cloudburst.
“Teras!” shouted Campi from a cloud adjacent, “What’re you doing? Shouldn’t you be at the ceremony?”
Teras sighed, “I don’t want to be initiated, Campi. Leave me be.”
Campi paused for a moment and cloudjumped to his side, “You’re not thinking about jumping, are you, Teras?”
“That’d just be too easy, wouldn’t it?”