A small boy woke up and found himself sitting alone on a cloud high in the sky. Around his wrist, he noticed a tattoo in the shape of a vine. He got up and began to walk around this strange new place he had found himself in. Beyond a hill resting on the cloud, the boy heard the sound of rustling leaves and footsteps. Curious, he climbed up the hill and what he saw at the top took his breath away. At the bottom of the cloudy hill laid a small town that rested entirely on clouds. Trees of green blew in the gentle breeze as peaceful animals frolicked around.
As he walked around, he noticed a small stream. In the clear stream, swam golden koi fish towards the light shining at the heart of the city. He continued to walk on delicate clouds closer and closer to the light. He noticed his wrist begin to faintly glow a light blue as he got closer and closer to the center. At the center, he saw a fountain to which all the rivers flowed into. In the center of the fountain rested a single crystal that shone the same bright color as the little boy’s wrist.
Slowly, he stepped in the shallows, feeling the refreshing, crisp water between his toes. The light grew stronger and stronger drawing the boy closer to the fountain. Finally, he stood face to face with the crystal. A sign next to the fountain read “DO NOT TOUCH THE CRYSTAL.” His mind raced back and forth as he fought the urge to touch the crystal. Unable to contain his desires for long he reached out and touched the crystal. Immediately, the crystal turned a deep red and he felt pain in his wrist. The city began to shake and the water stopped flowing from the stream. The boy turned to run away from the fountain, but as he took a step on the cloud, his foot did not rest on the cloud but he immediately fell through.
The boy fell down and down further from the floating oasis. As he grew closer and closer to the ground below, he began to panic when suddenly he noticed that the pain had gone away in his wrist. The red markings were replaced with a soft purple color and almost immediately he noticed a purple vine quickly descending from the city. The vine wrapped around the boy and gently placed him on the ground.
After taking a while to recover, the boy noticed his new surroundings. Where he now found himself was not as beautiful as where he had awakened, but there was still life and beauty. One day he looked down at his wrist and noticed that whenever he tapped his wrist, a map appeared and a path on the ground shone in the same color leading far off into the distance. The path led through vast deserts and deep forests but ultimately led to the place where the boy had begun his journey. The boy got up off the ground, dusted himself off, and took a new step towards a new beginning.
Photo Credit: Willian Justen de Vasconcellos on Unsplash
