Cloud Son

"Windows. There's blue behind the windows. And through the cloud the wind blows. And takes them far away.

Tip toe. The lion was a bit slow. The mouse jumped out the window. And to the blue beyond.

People. So many little people. I watch them through my window. In paradise above."

"Silvia." The king came down the narrow steps with his white cape flailing behind him. She looked at him from the singular garden patch in all the castle grounds, though it was not much of a garden. A single tree with white blossoms, and its petals -- ever falling and ever growing -- landing over its roots where Silvia sat. 

"Is that a new song you're singing? I don't recall its tune."

"Not new. My mother used to sing it to me and my brother when we were little. We'd sit down on the lawn watching the sun set over the hill and rest our heads on her chest as she'd recite it. I think it's a lullaby. Simple. But it's the memory that comes with it that makes it worthwhile."

"Memories can be painful," said the king as he sat down beside her. "Do you not ache when you resurface old memories?"

"I do. Even though I miss my mom, my brother, my dad, I find that letting go of their memory is still more painful. Though I know I should let go."

The king took her hand. She looked him in the eyes, shimmering blue. Her hazel eyes seemed heavy with solemnity. "I physically took you away from those who betrayed your heart, but only you can choose to cast them out of your spirit."

She looked down, and fidgeted with a petal that had landed on her knee. As she rubbed it, it ripped like cotton and dissolved like wet paper.

"You know how today there will be another cloud castle converging with our own," said the king.

"Yes, and we will greet its king and queen and welcome them into our halls."

"Indeed. Perhaps this meeting will assist you in moving on." He got up, then extended his hand towards her. "Let's go into inside and dress ourselves in something more refined."

She took hold of him and rose to her feet, shaking her legs to make the petals vanish. As he stepped towards the stairs again, she caught one last look at the blue horizon over the edge of the courtyard.

o o o

When the three next opened their eyes, they saw far above them a castle, radiating in the glow of the sun. Around its towers wisped clouds like scarves, and though stainless in every way, it seemed to have sharp corners and angles, as if it were carved from one gargantuan piece of marvel.

"It's impossible I'm seeing what I'm seeing," said Jer.

"I promise I'm sober, and I also see what you're seeing" said Dom. "In fact, I feel different."

"The altitude must be getting to our heads!" said Dan.

"No," said Dom. "My body feels free."

"In order for you to ascend to this place," began the boy, who was standing by, "your bodily restraints had to be removed. Any physical weakness that you retained on the earth is gone by the power of the bands that circle your heads, and only the weight of your spirits remain."

"My spirit? So we are dead?" asked Dom.

"When you're on the earth, you feel as if your body is at the front of you, and your spirit is hidden behind your skin. In this place, it is the inverse. Your spirit holds more weight than your body does, and your body is placed under a state of stasis. However, your body -- though now within -- will not allow you to do things beings like myself are able to do. Only after death is the perfect union of body and soul possible."

"What kind of things can beings like you--"

All three were shocked when the boy in front of them shrunk to the size of a parakeet, and his voice became as soft as a whisper.

"Let us not delay any longer with idle queries," said the boy. "Do you wish to find Silvia or not?"

"Yes," all three affirmed in unison.

"So then, we must ascend to the castle gate, through which we shall enter the castle and begin our search."

He jumped into Jer's coat pocket, saying, "I cannot be seen, for I am not welcome -- banished by the king himself."

"For what?" asked Dan.

"Do you know why I went down to earth to bring you here? The Cloud king wants to make Silvia his queen, and I am the only one in the whole Cloud kingdom opposed to it. But I have no power to change that outcome. Only you, the entrusted guardians of her heart, have the ability to prevent the inevitable."

All three were baffled by the boy's words, but they said nothing, except:

"Why are you opposed to it? Who is Silvia to you?"

The boy posed a melancholy smile. "It is better I tell you later."

They grumbled at his reply, but they made a silent consensus not to press him. He was their only guide in this strange domain.

"You must know," he added, "that every hour the sun travels down the heavenly vault, is an hour closer to the dissolution of the cloud kingdom as a place for mortal men. If you desire to bring yourselves and Silvia back to the earth, body and spirit, you must reach her before light leaves the sky."

"What strange logic! How do you explain that?" asked Dom.

"In the mortal realm, creatures like yourselves can coexist in both darkness and light. But in the spirit realm, only light is an inhabitable domain. If ever pure spirits were to inhabit darkness, they would cease to exist."

"Which means you would cease to exist."

"That is right," said the boy.

Without further ado, they started up the hill. As described by the boy, they were currently on the approach ramp, which was connected to the lower courtyard, upper courtyard, and the rest of the castle beyond, without the use of gates. Though strange to consider, many of the defense towers and towering walls were merely aesthetic, with no defensive capability at all. "It's a place of utter peace," described the boy. "You were never supposed to be here, and I was never supposed to leave." After passing under a great archway, which on an earthly castle would have been an impenetrable gatehouse, they proceeded to a much steeper ramp which was bordered by spiraling towers and a house-tall wall, that if seen from the other side, would appear as a steep wall with many levels where people could reside. 

"Hey Jer," whispered Dan. "Does this not seem eerily quiet to you?"

He looked around and indeed saw and heard nothing but wind whistling through the narrow windows in the nearby towers.

"They must have been summoned away," said the boy. "Though strategically useless, these building do serve a purpose."

"Then do you know what is taking place?" asked Jer.

"See, I do not know. I was on the earth looking for you."

"Cloud boy," called out Dom from behind. "Could that corelate to what you're talking about?"

He pointed to the direction they came from, and approaching steadily, they witnessed another cloud as large as this one, with yet another castle on top of it. But it was not like this castle. This castle was something from a fairy tale. That other castle seemed to be other worldly. "Look at the large disk atop its largest tower. It's almost as if from a sci-fi movie."

"It looks like its going to collide with us!" shouted Jer.

"Easy. It's coming at us, but not crashing into us. It's docking," said Dan.

"Good observation," said the boy. "That must be why everyone's missing. They must be preparing for the arrival of guests."

"What kind of guests are we to expect? Dangerous guests?" asked Dan.

"I can promise you that you are in the most danger as you can possibly be already, for if the king finds you out, he alone has the power to bring about your demise." 

All looked at him at once.

"But you are the queen-to-be's family. He would not touch a hair on your head unless she willed it. No, the ones that are coming are another king and queen from another cloud kingdom. And their situation is not unlike Silvia's."

Dan pondered on his words. "Another missing girl..."

"Again," said the boy, "very insightful."

"Then we must rescue both," said Jer.

The boy smiled with flat lips. "You can't. You are not that other queen's guardian. You have no authority to speak into her heart."

"Then let's get a move on," said Dom, "and not let Silvia end up the same as her."

As he said those words, all three of them noticed that the world beyond the walls and towers closest to them was moving. And although they could not feel it, they soon realized it was not the world that was moving.

"We're drifting away from the castle!" shout Dom. "Run!"

Up the slope they ran, each of them noticing a fleetness to their step. And quickly they reached the pinnacle of the ramp when they saw that the road connecting them to the upper courtyard was completely detached.

Dan preemptively turned around and saw that behind them, they had not yet disconnected. "We can run back to the lower end."

"But we won't be able to reach Silvia by the time needed if we go that way," said Jer, turning his head every which way to determine a different route.

"Do you see that?" said Dom. "The roofs of these buildings are close enough together that we can climb between them, and the towers reach high up enough that we can use them to leap up to that main castle area up above us, skipping the courtyards altogether."

"Yeah, but what happens if we fall? All these surfaces look way too smooth to be safe."

"Dom is right," said the boy. "You won't reach Silvia in time any other way, and you're lucky in that since you are mostly spirit here, you will be stronger and lighter to climb these roofs without a great chance of slipping. And even if you do, the fall would not be fatal."

"But if we do slip, we'll drift off with this piece of castle, then there really won't be anywhere to go," said Dan.

"You heard pocket-boy, there's no other way to get to Silvia," said Dom.

Jer looked at Dan, whose eyes were darting for a thought. "Danny, we need to do this."

Before he could make up his mind, Dom already climbed the lowest roof he could reach, and from there offered his hand to Jer, who was right behind.

"Wait," said Jer. He turned his back to the wall and crouched down. "Step on my hands, Dan, and I'll give you a boost."

Though still reluctant, Dan obeyed, and with ease, Jer lifted him up to Dom who grabbed him. Afterwards, both Dan and Dom lifted him onto the shillings.

"Alright, let's get a move on."

The three ran across the rooftops, back the way they came. They kicked up a mist with each stride, and with surprising stability, made haste towards the tallest pinnacle they could find. One leap across one slanted rooftop to another, and they continued. Then, when they reached the steep roof of the tower, Dom jumped and clasped onto the edge. He shuffled himself up and from a prone position, where the shillings curved upward, he waited for Jer to make the leap. When Jer jumped, he also clasped onto the edge, and successfully raised himself with hardly more difficulty than Dom, only that Dom tried to assist by lifting him from under the arm, and almost slid off in the process. 

"Don't do that again," his father scorned him.

 Dom then took off his denim pants and began to climb to the pinnacle of the roof with them on hand. 

"What are you doing?" they asked him. 

"I'm going to use it as a hook." 

Dom wrapped his pants around the pinnacle, and grabbled onto each of the pant legs. "Now, Jer, grab onto my legs, and Dan, try to grab onto his."

"Are you mad? How can this be a good idea?" said Dan.

"Believe me, this is far from ideal, but if I know something, it's how to run. This is me running, and if you want to make it out of this one, you're gonna have to run with me. Now jump!"

Dan winded up his run, and for a second looked behind him as this section of the castle began merging into the clouds. He bolted forward, but on the last of the shillings -- having not focused well enough on his footing before starting -- stumbled and nearly slipped. He made a half jump that barely got him off the roof, and when he reached out his hand, he was still a hand's length away from grabbing Jer's foot. But the cloud boy caught him. He had made his way down Jer's leg and onto his shoe, from which he extended his small figure, now big enough to catch Dan, and saved him from falling.

After Dan had climbed up to the pinnacle, then the boy, then Jer, then Dom, they each made the jump from the tower to a paneless window of the overall complex, climbing inside. Relieved, they watched as that section of castle they had just managed to get away from, slowly drifted away into the clouds.

Dan looked at the boy, who was sitting on the window sill. "Thank you for catching me. I thought I was done for."

"You're welcome," he answered.

"And you," Dan punched Dom on the shoulder, causing him to flinch. "You're crazy, but you got us out of that one and one step closer to Silvia."

Dom's expression grew grave. "I know. I'd never turn my back on her." - {THIS CHANGE is too drastic. Build it up more.}

Dan furrowed his brows and scoffed. "No, I guess you wouldn't. You'd get all up in her business, even if it wasn't your own."

"All her business is my business, because otherwise people like you will creep in and tear her life down."

"Check yourself. If it wasn't for you harassing us all the time we were dating, there wouldn't have been so much pressure on us working out."

"No, you see, I knew you weren't gonna work out. It's the type of guy you are. Eccentric and self-centered. Ever since elementary, you needed alone time. Time to "figure things out", to "adapt to your new life" after what your mom did. And you took that and brought it into my family."

Dan slugged him across the face. Dom looked at him. "Wow, that didn't hurt at all."

"Then let me try again." Dan threw his fist at Dom in the same way, but Dom caught it. In turn, he gut-punched Dan, and tackled him onto a counter.

"Stop! Let go!" shouted Jer, grabbing at Dom who had Dan pinned. Dom threw Dan to the ground next to him.

"How did you ever figure you could protect Silvia, weak as you are?" mocked Dom.

Dan got up on his hands and legs, growling. He clenched his fists until his knuckles were white, but then relented.

"Come on, is that all you can take?"

Dan unclenched his fists and closed his mouth. Soon Dom noticed that behind him, still on the window sill, the boy was watching them, crying.

"What's the matter?" asked Dom.

Jer crouched down next to the boy. "Don't you see you idiots frightened him?"

Dan and Dom reset themselves and walked over in a truce.

"Sorry, kid, we didn't mean to make you scared. We've just had a very stressful morning," said Dan.

"Yes, and see? Neither of us is hurt. Right, Dan?"

"Yeah, all fine."

The boy continued to sob, but stifled to speak. "I'm scared for Silvia. You three are meant to save her, but now that I see you behaving this way, I have doubts. Maybe the king was right."

"No, no, no," said Jer. "These two are morons, but that does not mean they love Silvia any less."

"That's right. We fight because we love Silvia and want to preserve her honor," said Dan.

"It's not true," said the boy. "You fight for yourselves, because you cannot accept that you are failing to love Silvia as you should."

Dom scoffed. "As I should? I am loving Silvia as I should. I'm here, looking for her, jumping rooftops to bring her back home. Tell me, cloud-boy, how am I not loving Silvia "as I should"?"

The boy cried more intensely. Jer pushed Dom out of the way. "You have to be a brute about everything. He's just a child."

"That's not a child. A child doesn't talk back to an adult about how he should or should not love. I have no relationship to him, anyways, so what should I care about what he thinks or doesn't think?"

Dan and Jer both looked at Dom begrudgingly. 

"Whatever, I'll just go find Silvia by myself, because I do love her as best as I can."

Through beaded curtains, he stepped out of the room, and into an antechamber.

The boy spoke again. "You need to save Silvia together, all three of you. If even one of you fails to love her as you should, she may not return."

Jer wore a pained smile. "I'll get these knuckleheads in check. Don't you worry."

"Yes, but now let's get after Dom, and find Silvia if we can," said Dan uneasily.

o o o 

• Scene with Silvia and/or scene with Dom. (Prob put Dom's first, then Silvia's)

• The maids are perpetually giddy and optimistic. They can feel shock, but no sadness or fright or rage. Until later, at least.

"How about this one, your grace?" The elder maid, Drepa, held up a gown with crystal droplets running down from the neckline to the seams of the bell-shaped skirt.

"I'll say! In that dress you would look like a mountain embraced by Spring!" Dreni squealed in excitement.

Silvia looked at the company she was surrounded by in the reflection of the silver mirror. Although Drea was the elder, she hardly looked the age of forty, but her voice was deeper than those of the other fays. Drepa looked as if to be twenty, but in either case, neither was the approximate age, for they were not human. The easiest distinction of this was the glow their skin would emit if directly struck by sunlight, as if it was made of purest color. Drepa's skin shines a sun drop yellow, and her hair is a burgundy shade. Dreni, on the other hand, has a pale pink gleam, and deep blue locks tucked behind her ears. There were other fays in the room, each having a distinct coloration and an assortment of flower heads and buds and petals cast over their eyes. These would move as they contortioned their face, and some would even open and shut as if they were blinking eyelids. As for their figure, they were all similar to Silvia, though none quite like she. Taller or shorter, but mostly lean and cute.

"Fairies," she said. Each of their small, narrow ears perked up. "Why is there no male fays, or any men besides the king in the castle?"

"Does a flower need more than one stem to blossom, or a tree more than one trunk to grow flourishing branches?" said Dreni. "Imagine the trouble it would bring for more than one tree to claim the same bundle of branches! One man is sufficient. More than that is a bother."

The fays giggled and laughed.

"And wasn't it," furthered Drepa, "that you had more than one man in your life when you were on earth?"

"More than one?" the others said in surprise. 

"If I heard it right," Drepa looked at her, "it was cause of their quarreling that the king went down to rescue you."

"How heroic! How wonderful is he!" the fays derived.

Silvia caressed the back of her neck, feeling the silk-like ribbon that had been given to her.

"Why then do I miss them so much?" she said.

The fays were suddenly silent, staring at Silvia as if she were a strange thing. Drepa then approached her. She was easily a head taller, and her hair framed her face like a hot hearth.

"My lady," she fell before Silvia and gazed up. "You are the treasure of this kingdom. The most sublime jewel, and all of us revere you. Your new home may be unlike the last one you had, but it is no less designed for you to feel at peace. Your rapture was sudden, it's true, but that does not mean it was wrong."

The other fays mimicked Drepa and fell down before Silvia. "Be our queen, ruling hand-in-hand with the king, and we will accommodate you for all days."

They bowed their heads. Silvia's chest rose and fell. Then she looked at the dress Drepa showed her earlier, and placed her hands on her bosom.

"Perhaps adapting the dress to fit the bodice would be nice."

The fays giggled and smiled.

o o o

In the main hall, closest to the room through which the three men and the boy had entered, stood Dom. He was idling beneath the rib-vault ceiling, whose ribs seemed as if to flow down from the apex like clouds down a mountain steppe, then rolling inward upon reaching the consoles. But Dom was not mesmerized by this surreal spectacle. His eyes were seized, instead, by a mural on the long wall caught between a portal to his left that led to the rest of the castle, and another behind him which returned to the rooms through which he and the others entered. On the mural was a photo-realistic depiction of a scene from one of Silvia's favourite movies, Labyrinth. He'd have no choice but to watch it repeatedly day after day until she finally tired of it, because they had to share the same television. Fortunately, Dom grew a crush for Sarah's character, and was reminded of it being the sole motivation for him enduring the movie the fifth time watching it in one week. Regardless, the mural depicted the ballroom scene, where the Goblin King, Jareth, took the entranced Sarah by the hand, as they waltzed across the dancefloor.

"Why is this here?" he murmured.

He pressed his hand against the mural and looked at his palm after taking it back.

Suddenly, the sensation of someone else's presence grew behind him. A hand touched his shoulder.

As he spun sporadically, he saw Dan standing before him.

"Calm!" he said. "Fight's over."

Dan nodded to the mural. "Pretty odd painting. Doesn't match at all with the white look of everything else here."

"Do you not recognize it?" asked Dom.

Dan looked at it more closely. "Beauty and the Beast?"

Dom shook his head. "You don't know my sister's favourite movie?"

"What? Of course I know it, it's Labyrinth. Just haven't seen it in a while. Is that what this painting is referencing?"

"Mural. Yes it is. But why is it here? And for how long? I checked, and noticed that the paint was dry. Something like this must have taken weeks or months to complete with such detail. And even though Silvia's only been gone a few weeks, it's as if this mural's been here for years."

Dan tapped the band on his head. "We floated here. Why couldn't it be that this mural came to be here by extraordinary means as well?"

"Sure." He looked up at Jareth. A dark red mask like a demon's, with long, ringed horns extending out its temples, lifted up to his face by a bone arm.

"Dom," Dan tapped him on the shoulder.

"Yes, let's move."

They looked to either end of the hall. There were two marvel portals they hadn't explored both to the left and right of the mural.

"Let's go--"

"Let's split up," said Dom.

"No, let's not split up. We've still not come across anyone and I don't plan on being the first to bump into an armed knight or minotaur."

"If we haven't found anyone so far, odds are we're not going to."

"But didn't you listen to what the kid said? Everyone's coming up here today."

"The kid's just a kid. Let him say what he wants. We're grown men. We can deal with whatever comes."

Before Dan could speak another word, Dom turned to the portal on the right.

"I guess I'll go left," said Dan.

o o o

As soon as Dan turned the pier of the righthand portal, he exasperated, and grudgingly walked forwards towards a silver door at the end of the otherwise empty passage. Once he reached it, he placed his hand on the handle to open it, but suddenly ceased all movement. Instead of pulling on the handle, he let go, and allowed himself to fall backwards against the wall on his side, sliding onto the floor after.

He struck the floor with his hand, hissing through his teeth. "What am I doing in this strange place?" he muttered under his breath. 

He pulled at his hairs, but found this act interrupted when the band he was wearing got in the way. In turn, he began to feel its edge, perfectly round and smooth. But whilst he could feel its texture, his mind tricked him, as its weight was entirely absent. He then slid his fingers beneath the band and thought to lift it off his head. Just then, the door swung open against him. All at once, a train of silver carts and crystal platters were carried out past him by strangers that rattled him senseless, as they were colorfully toned women in draping dresses, but their legs did not appear beneath their skirts. Over the air they travelled, and around the portal pier they disappeared. As they went, they sang a working song -- melodious and harmonic -- the lyrics of which Dan had no time to interpret before he had come to his senses.

Wide eyed and breathless, Dan sat struggling to arrange his thoughts. It was then that one of the flying maidens returned, and she was headed straight towards him. Petrified, Dan tucked himself against the corner and covered his eyes from the sure punishment he was about to receive. But the maiden didn't go to him. Instead, she went back through the door, leaving Dan alone.

Through the open door, he could hear chatting from those delicate voices of the floating maidens. He could not make it out what they said, however, and filled with curiosity, decided to crawl around the door, and peer an ear into the room. 

"As if the men on earth were any good, you know?" said one voice. "Always thinking about how to satisfy their own needs, but always leaving poor Silvia out in the mud. The very thought of it makes me ill."

"The girl is young, Dreni. It is only logical that she second guess her departure from earth. It's all she's ever known. And to come to a place like this, so perfect, and yet so unfamiliar to her."

"But surely when she sees that the king is the only one left who cares for her, she will decide to stay forever!" said Dreni merrily.

"Isn't that a shame," said the other, with a much deeper voice.

"A shame? What are you saying, Drepa?"

"There is a bond between humans that is unbreakable. Just as we have a direct bond to the Creator, they bond to each other as creators and creations of each other. The damage wrought by that bond being tarnished is -- well let's just say I'd much rather stop existing altogether. And that is because it can never be severed, you understand?"

"So the perspective of the cloud king to keep her to himself forever is... near sighted?"

"Overly optimistic, I would say."

"Oh," said Dreni. "Then, why are we here?"

"Oh, Dreni. It is not for us to know what destiny we're wreathing, but to partake in the wreathing of destiny."

Dreni sat on the counter with one finger to her lips. "Is it possible for things to go differently than we expect?"

"Anything, Dreni, is possible."

She looked down, pondersome. "I do not know if I feel excited or afraid, Drepa."

Drepa lifted her chin, smiling down at her. "Neither. Both."

Drepa let go of Dreni's chin and lifted the plates off the counter, arranging them on one last cart.

"Take this upstairs?" she asked Dreni.

"Yes, Drepa," answered the youthful fay.

With haste, she flew the cart towards the door where Dan was listening from, only he was no longer there. As Dreni traversed the passage and turned left up the stairs, Dan hid behind the pier on the right, where she couldn't spot him.

"Dan," said the cloud boy, standing next to him.

Dan's heart bounced up in his chest, and he clasped his hand over his mouth so as to not yell.

"Weren't you with Jer?" whispered Dan.

"I was," answered the cloud boy normally. "But that's not important. What happened that you ran out from that room? Did you see anybody?"

"Hah! See anybody? I don't know what I saw."

"Explain?" insisted the cloud boy.

Dan gathered his thoughts, biting his lips from the effort. "There was this parade of flying girls. They were each different colors, but I don't mean races. Their skin-tones were pink, blue, yellow... and their legs--"

"Missing, no?" said the cloud boy.

"Yes, yes! You know them?"

"They're the fays of the castle. Facilitators of destiny."

"Yes, one with a deeper voice said something about that. Drepa, she was called. She sounded as if her affiliations were open, not just set on serving the cloud king. The other one, Dreni, did not sound so sure."

"They can be our priceless allies, or our fatal enemies. We must avoid them entirely," said the cloud boy.

Dan scrunched his eyebrows. "Avoid them? You just said they could be priceless allies. And Drepa sure seems to fit the part."

"And fatal enemies. She may or she may not. Same with any of them," the cloud boy repeated. "The risk is not worth the cost."

Dan pouted, glaring down as if through the floor, revisiting his visions. "I have to say, I've never seen a poster girl as captivating as anyone of them 'fays', as you call them. I mean wow," he chuckled. "They're really something."

The cloud boy said nothing in response to this, but instead continued: "Those fays scarcely missed seeing you, but Dom doesn't know they're hiving the castle yet. Wherever he is, we must find him and warn him about them, before they find him."

Dan proped himself up from the wall. "Last I saw him he went down that other way, opposite to me. But what if there's more of those fays there now?"

"We'll have to check," said the cloud boy. "And if there is, we may have to find another way around. Perhaps climbing the outside of the windows."

"Ha-ha-ha, you're joking!"

The cloud boy looked at him with a straight face. Then he cracked a smile.

"Almost had me going," said Dan.

"I wonder how you'll fare," said the cloud boy smugly.

Dan reevaluated his assumptions, a worried expression growing on his face as he followed the cloud boy, moving down the hallway.

o o o

Where Dom really was is not where he agreed to be. He had told Dan that he was going down the other portal, the one to the left of them when they stopped to see the mural. But where Dom really was, was at a stairwell, going up to the second floor. Though there were hardly any windows, and those that there were were very slim, the glow of the sun crashing on the castle from the exterior seemed to make the white walls glow, as if they were made out of something phosphorus. Watching the misty steps beneath him, Dom slowly rose the gigantic tower. Every now and then he would glance up to see his progress, and in doing so, got a strong shock of vertigo that would make him go down on all fours. High up above him, the staircase spiraled up to where there was an opening to the sky above. No clouds, just blue forever on after. Eventually, Dom decided he could look neither up or down if he wanted to make it to the next floor, which he eventually did. 

To his left was a threshold, at the other side of which was another great antechamber, only this one was more extravagant than the former. In each of its corners and before each of its pillar, it had the most bizarre statues of creatures. It took a moment for him to distinguish their figure, but certain shapes, they had. One of them was a large dog or small wolf, with hanging ears and a dropping snout. The next was a viper, with its body coiled in on itself like a ruined knot. Afterwards, he determined the creature to be a peacock, with its neck craned down and its tail flared up. Finally, he saw a fawn, rearing up on its hind legs as if it were a great stallion. 

"Elegant things, aren't they?"

Dom turned his head towards a man only slightly taller than himself. In his hand was a chalice, and hanging from his back a white cloak. Immediately Dom recognized him. It was the cloud king!

"Surely you understand what they represent, don't you? The rearing stallion, a symbol of potential. The bowing peacock, embodying grace. The knotted snake, acceptance of humility. And, of course, the doting hound, which represents loyalty."

It was hard for Dom to not think of grabbing him by the neck and interrogating him over the whereabout of Silvia. But the thought was interrupted by a subtle realization...

"It's a viper, no?" said Dom

The cloud king looked again at the second statue. "Hm, I suppose it must be. Things are different here than in my castle."

"Your castle?"

This was not the cloud king.

"Yes, my castle. Was I not announced this morning in the yard, or where you not there to witness my arrival?"

Dom thought very carefully about his next words. "I was towards the back. The others were all much taller than me so I could not see your face."

"You must be right, for I did not see you either," he remarked. "Well, it does me the pleasure to meet you now, lady fay."

He extended his hand towards Dom. Dom in turn took it and shook it gently.

The king looked at him intently, not retracting his hand. Instead, the king clenched his fist and held firmly to Dom. But a third hand landed between them.

"My lord," spoke a woman. Dom shuddered at what he saw. She was a ghost by all accounts. Her eyes where as pale as the moon, and her hair as puffy as the clouds in the sky. Her touch felt like wet cotton, and her voice was so absent and so present, like a whisp breathing in a snowfall. "My lord, what do you entertain yourself with? You left me alone. I did not like it."

The king let go of Dom hands to clasp the woman's. "My queen, I was simply speaking to this youthful fay. She has a unique charm, unlike the others. Perhaps we would like her to join us for dinner. Would you agree to that?"

"Sure," she said. "But do not leave me."

"My queen. Never." The king turned back to Dom. "Would you come with us?"

It was a foolish situation to find himself in, but there was little more for Dom to do but to comply. He obliged, and followed closely behind his new acquaintances like a third wheel to a fancy date. Passing the statues, they went to the forefront of the crowd, stepping first into the dinning hall.

o o o

CHANGES:

• He thinks Dom to be a fay, as he looks quite feminine. Dan teases him for this.

• What did you mean you "are" with Jer?

• This scene should happen after the introductions of the guest king and queen. Because the food always comes after the guests sit down.

• What are they talking about that triggers Dan to step in. What if he's overtaken by their beauty and decides to "help them out" with their tasks.

• He came for Silvia, he stayed for: the fays?

• Musical number of the fairies.

• "He is an emissary. Look at the band on his head." "An emissary? What's that for?" "A representative of the queen and king that are coming. How else could his band be explained?" "I see." "Forgive us, your regency. We had thought you were an intruder. We are at your service."

  • Dom is tempted to use his newfound power for himself. Meanwhile Dan is wandering the halls elsewhere in the building.

  • But  if the band works like that then when would we need the dresses?

• Dreni is not trustworthy. Drepa orders her to help the two men make their way around the castle in search of Silvia, but her distrust of men leads her to become a traitorous character. Regardless, for a while she is a trustworthy companion. That is unless, from the beginning, they wanted to mislead the men away from Silvia and into the hands of the king.

• Dom confronts Drepa and Dreni who attack him almost immediately, and he is only nearly saved by the quick appearance of Jer with the cloud boy. They in turn convince the fays to assist him in reaching Sarah without being caught, and finding Dan before he is captured.

o o o

At the other side of the castle, Dom peered careful through a door. From inside came an odor like strawberries and cream, but sweeter still. Pans could be heard simmering, and pots bubbling, and grates slicing, and ladles pouring liquid.

"These are ready!" said a woman's voice.

"Mm, the sweetness tickles my nose!" said another.

"Then you twelve can start taking these platters to the fourth floor and leave them in the lounge hall. Afterwards, head out to the courtyard to meet the king and queen, who will be arriving shortly. When they've made their way upstairs, six of you will return here to help me finish prepare the meal, and the other six, you will stay with our guests to ensure they are enjoying themselves. 

"And you, what about you?" one asked.

"I will join you outside momentarily. Now hastily, depart!"

The platters clattered onto carts that were then rolled outside the kitchen, one by one. At last, there was only the head woman in the room. Dom opened the door ever so gently.

What he saw next caused his brows to rise, for before him was a tall woman, with long burgundy hair draping to her lower back, and covering her was a loose purple dress that reached down to the floor. Clearly, it wasn't Silvia. But how bizarre to see someone so elegant, washing kitchenware.

Suddenly, she stopped, and turned around to face Dom. He jolted when he saw an array of flowers covering her eyes, and her complexion seem as buttermilk yellow.

"You do not belong in my kitchen," she said. "In fact, you do not belong in this castle."

"I'm looking for Silvia! Tell me where she is!"

"Who are you to make demands?" She paused a moment. "You must be human."

"Of course, as are you."

"No." 

She took hold of her long skirt and lifted it. Beneath it were no legs. She was hovering over the floor. Dom was amazed and failed to speak.

"How did you get here from the earth below? The king would not have brought you, and there's only one other who would defy the king to attain his own goals. The cloud boy."

"So it was him, and now I'm here for Silvia. So tell me where she is!"

"He did not tell you why he brought you here, did he?" she asked.

Dom reached for a mace he found hanging from the counter and raised it over his head.

"If you do not tell me where my sister is right now, I will make dye out of the petals on your face!"

"Sister? So you are Dominic."

Dom stopped. He lowered the mace to his side and reposed on a counter close to him.

"How do you know my name?"

"I am Drepa. A fay brought here to serve the king and Silvia, his soon to be queen. I am not, however, without free will, and I was not made for this place. I am, like all fay, a wandering spirit. And at this point in my existence I have wandered into your life, and that of your sister. Here, I have found purpose in the still-to-be resolved story you have partaken in crafting. The story of the girl who was taken to the cloud castle over the world to be free of the men who hurt her so.

"But there are two possible outcomes to this story, only possible if you, Daniel and Jerry, entered the picture. The first, that you three become the men you failed to be back on earth, each in your own way, according to what Silvia needs. The second, that you three fail to love Silvia in the only way she will believe you, and she remains here in this castle forever."

"The boy also said something about this "love", and I believe you now as much as I did him then. I've always loved Silvia. I have always been there to protect her. I have always defended her honor and person. If anyone of us loves Silvia, I know it is certainly me."

"Love is not singular. It can never be." Drepa began moving towards Dom. He in turn stood up straight. "In order to love someone, you must see how it is done in a balanced multiplicity. Have you ever read Frankenstein?"

Dom gave the fay a quizzical look.

"At the end of the book, the monster and the little girl loved one another deeply..."

Drepa came right up to Dom, towering over him. A sudden sense of peril fell upon him and he reached again for the mace, but in a flash she seized him, and lifted him up in her arms. 

"Let go of me!" he shouted.

"But when the townspeople saw the little girl with the monster, they cried death, and in his foolishness he clutched the girl tightly in his arms in an attempt to protect her from the hoes and axes, forks and spades they wielded." 

Dom wriggled and squirmed with utter futility. 

"But he did not know that in his powerful arms, the girl was crushed and suffocated. And when he finally let go, she was gone."

Drepa let go of Dom. He collapsed onto the floor, and crawled away from the fay.

"Remember my words," she said to Dom. "And may you wisen up before it is too late."

With that she turned back to her washing, pretending as if nothing had happened. Dom's chest rose and fell heavily, and slowly he got up, and left down a door to the right.

o o o

• Now Dan and Dreni.

Dan leaned around the pier of the marvel portal, and lay his eyes upon a long hallway. Its ceiling, like in the antechamber before, shifted ever so slightly, as if a mist were pressed upon it, and light entering through four windows on the left wall, radiated a brilliant white glow. At the third farthest window, Dan saw a small woman in a blue dress, leaning out. Her feet could not be seen beneath her long skirt.

"Silvia?"

Seeing that no one else was around, he approached the windows slowly, and upon reaching the nearest one, he leaned outside. It was slim, but so was he, and leaning out he hung his head over the precipice below and amidst a breeze that brushed his hair. And when he looked to his right, he saw that the woman leaning out the window was not Silvia. Her hair was blue as dusk, her face bloomed a baby pink, but most bizarrely, her eyes seemed to be hidden in a mask of flowers.

At the shock of being mistaken, Dan quickly retracted back into the hallway, and departed the way he came.

"Hello?" said a girly voice.

Dan froze in place, and slowly turned around. His eyes fell upon the flowery-eyed maiden that stood by the window.

"Is that you, Lady Silvia?" she asked.

Dan's eyes widened, and involuntarily, he gave an affirming grunt.

"Oh! Forgive my tardiness. Indeed, I should be in the courtyard with the other fays. But how come you aren't?"

Dan said nothing.

"Is something wrong? Perhaps with your dress?"

Dan thought to split and run, but it would be impossible without altering the stranger. So he surrendered another grunt. Besides, if this maiden knew where Silvia was, it was in his best interest to follow her.

"How awful! Follow me quickly. I will take you to get it fixed, and we'll be set to go immediately after!"

Simply by leaning, the maiden began to glide across the floor, away from Dan, until she reached a veiled opening on the right-hand side of the hallway, and turned into it. As she did acted this out, her dress fluttered up, and exposed nothing, as she had no legs. Dan was stunned.

Noticing him idling, the creature stopped and turned around. She flew right up to Dan, causing him to jump backward.

"Oh! I've startled you. Forgive me, but we mustn't tarry. I have to get you ready as soon as possible!"

In one swift motion, the woman seized Dan's hand. And immediately, like her, he began to hover off the ground.

With a hand over his mouth, he chocked on a yelp, but swallowed it so as to not alert the stranger who now had him in her grip. Helplessly, he trailed through the air in a direction which he did not know. But he thought of Silvia and took a deep breath, then resolved to follow the stranger, regardless of where she led him. Together they passed through veiled openings and into the small lounges with glistening lamps and low glass tables, and through silver doors and storage rooms. In the velocity at which they traveled, seamlessly around each corner and corridor, the many rooms and their decorations seemed to appear briefly past Dan's vision, like shooting stars or rivers of light.

At last, they arrived at a room where they came to a standstill. The maiden freed Dan and allowed him to stand on his own, and to his surprise, Dan was able to do so without motion sickness throwing him off balance. As he raised his eyes, he observed that this was a ladies' room, where many closets with gilded doors and knobs, and pearly mirrors stood. And between them there also stood other maidens like the one that led him here, each having a different color of hair and skin-tone, and flowery masks too. They busied themselves with cleaning out dresses that had been laid about, until the blue haired maiden interrupted them.

"Dreni?" said one of them. "Shouldn't you be in the courtyard with the others?"

"I should, indeed. But I have to figure out what's wrong with Lady Silvia's dress first."

• Plot hole: How can they fix Silvia's dress if they cannot see?

As the woman turned to Dan, she grimaced and grimed.

"Who is that? It is not Silvia!"

• This doesn't work for two reasons: 1) It does not have any stakes. > If there was A) a time bomb or B) a danger in this event, then it would be worth telling.

• Dan goes into the hall at the other side and finds Dreni, who then leads him secretly to the ladies' quarters. Dom confronts Drepa and forces her to help him find Silvia.

• Use this below, but don't continue it.

"Is she not over her rapture?"

Dom gave her a quizzical look.

"It is my understanding that after the sun sets on a raptured woman, her will is totally aligned with the king's and is thereby destined to stay in lasting bliss within the cloud kingdoms. It strikes me as odd that that would not be the case."

Dom passed through the portal without any precaution, and was right. In the long hall where like before the ceiling seemed to shift ever so slightly, as if a blanketing mist was pressed against it, there was nobody. 

Dom passed through the portal and into a long hall. Again, everything seemed to shift ever so slightly, as if a blanket of mist was pressed against every surface except the floor. On the left there were narrow windows without panes. He could stick his arm outside easily, and felt a slight breeze in the air, but neither heat nor cold. He pulled it back quickly when he thought he heard nearby footsteps. He listened. But there seemed to be no one, as was the case so far.

Dom continued to a silver door on the right wall. But it wasn't solid silver. It seemed as if you could look inside of the door through a thin layer of glass. He tried to press the handle for it to open, but it would not. The handle would not even lower a millimeter.

• How can I make this someone's favorite scene?

• Current idea: Dom walks through the hall, then finds the residence of the king locked (not knowing it is his residence). He continues down the hall, then is disrupted by someone coming. He hides, then listens in on a conversation the king is having with someone else. Upon learning he's the king, he's tempted to outburst, but does not. Instead, he goes for the maid who is with him, and questions her; afterwards enlisting her aid.

  • How can I change this up to make it original?

    • We need to show his impulsivity. How does he grow/how does he fail to grow?

She wore a veil so large that she seemed a ghost, and where her legs began and her veil ended was impossible to know.

• The Cloud king sees himself as Toby in the Labyrinth, and the men as the Goblin King. The men, on the contrary, see him as the Goblin King.

rib vault ceiling, console (type of bracket or corbel, particularly one with a scroll-shaped profile: usually an ogee (S or inverted S curve) or double-ogee terminating in volutes (spirals) above and below), arcade, portal, bower, apse (part of building that sticks out), cupola (cap shaped dome), columns (round vertical supports) or piers (squared vertical supports), colonnade (arcade but without arches), entablature (platform on top of colonnade or arcade), cornice (the decorated projection at the top of a wall).

_____

EDIT: Is Dom a runner? yes or no? If no, change line in previous section.

• There's more people in this world than just you, so learn to move on.

Right at that moment, as they turned their eyes up the road in the direction of the upper courtyard, the road, the towers, and all connected to it, began to drift off its place in a single piece and into the sky beside them. A gap half a mile long was formed between where they stood and the next ascend towards the castle. The three simultaneously looked at the boy in Jer's pocket for answers. He gave none.

"What luck that at the very start we should reach the end. How are we supposed to get up there now? It's at least one hundred meters up!" said Dom.

"More," said the boy.

"Thanks for the reassurance," he scoffed. 

___

• Balustrade

You stare at the blue beyond and sing earth songs. Why don't you come inside and rest a while?"

"Rest? I have plenty of rest in me as it is." 

"But we look don't look blue, or glowing. We look normal. Perhaps a bit more youthful than usual."

"That's your perception. And it decrees that you see yourself as if you were still flesh. But spend eras in your spirit form and things will begin to change."

____

At his instruction, they began their approach towards the castle facade. The courtyard which they crossed was riddled with shifting statues of bewildering creatures and indistinguishable people. Between them was no lawn or bush, but slivers like broken glass protruding from the ground. Still a distance away, they began to see walking in their midst, live beings; none of which were like the boy. To the left they spotted a shimmering white peacock as big as themselves. Its feathers were rosy at their tips, and its beak was seemed to be made of pearl. Additionally, it wore a cape that fluttered freely behind it. With discipline, it strut itself towards the castle gate. 

Before the three arrived, the giant gate, without a sound, slid shut. They stopped, and looked to Jer's pocket, expecting new word from the cloud boy.

Instead, they heard a voice speak from behind them.
"Wanderers!" They spun around. "I know all my subjects, and you are none of them. Who are you?"

Whilst Dan and Dom remained standing, Jer immediately fell on one knee. "Your highness, we are rulers of our own kingdoms. See our crowns. We have come to yours for the wedding of the king."

Dan saw from where he stood the boy in Jer's pocket, whispering to him without anyone hearing his voice. Dan also fell to his knees.

"Yes, we are together," Dan said. He looked at Dom, who looked baffled, and signaled him to kneel. He resisted.

"Are you not with them?" asked the Cloud king, looking at Dom.

"I have come seeking Silvia. She is my sister," he said.

No, but I was an idiot to feed this fantasy of us. You were with her, and we tricked ourselves into thinking there was something else."

Dan scrunched his eyebrows. " 

o o o

• In this next scene, Jer's at home when he maybe gets a visit from both Dan and Dom, and the two of them get into a fight, and soon after, the cloud son appears and invites them to find Silvia.

• Dad has dementia (forgets his being present, stuck in the past). Son is an addict (dreams of the perfect reality, does not allow himself to live in the present).

• No of denial vs Yes of acceptance

• Desolation and desperation consumes the hearts, minds and bodies of Jer, Dom and Dan. So the Cloud Man appears to them, and shows them that he has Silvia. And he tells them that only if they can bear the challenges of the Cloud Man's garden, they can try anew.

• Dan clung onto things that brought him pleasure. He rides a motorbike, and he still has it in the Cloud world.

"Hello, Mr. Tomaz. You hurt yourself?"

Anna, a friend of Silvia, was passing by. Jer scoffed.

"Clipped myself with the stapler," he said.

"I saw."

He tucked a small stack of papers between his knees and started examining his injury. Anna came up to him.

"You didn't break skin. Should pass right away," she said.

"I ain't blind. You can get on your way now. Don't know why you stopped."

She frowned. "No reason, I guess." She went on her way.

"Don't think you could ask Nick to come by the house later."

She turned around. "What do you need from him?"

He grabbed his papers out of his knees. "I have ask him a couple questions. It's important."

Anna crossed her arms. "There's nothing left to ask him. All's been said."

Look at her. All at ease with life, perfectly moved on. Friends aren't worth much.

"I need to see again, I think he--"

"Mr. Tomaz," said Anna. "We've done our part. We couldn't find anything to help before, and we won't now. It's been weeks now and nothing's changed. I understand you are her father, but we've got to move on. You got to let Nick move on."

Jer's face turned red. "Bet her disappearing made things easier for you. No more awkwardness around hiding your relationship with her boyfriend."

Anna slapped him. "You're a selfish asshole."

"Then we got that in common," he replied.

• Jer (short for Jeronimo/Jeremy)

• Dana or Silvia?