1 Rejected by the sky

Part 1

A large lake located in the deepest part of the forest was glowing as it received the brightness of the moonlight from the sky above.

I was being dragged by a weird creature who asked me to go and meet with the boss of the forest. It seems like this was the standard procedure for newcomers.

"We're here..." said the creature as it stopped moving once he reached the border of the lake. He looked at me and gestured me to go ahead as if he wanted me to jump on it.

"Huh... I'm not sure it's safe for me to get near so much water... I might lose my structure..." I mentioned.

"You just need to come a little closer... The boss will do the rest."

I gave up and decided to approach the lake. My reflection started to appear inside of it. A small girl wearing a white dress with a skin made entirely of clouds. My big rounded head made me think a second moon had appeared for a second.

My friend signaled to me. He was a huge yellow hedgehog walking on two legs and wearing two belt pockets on his chest. He was big for a regular hedgehog but I was still taller than him by a few fingers. Oh wait... No, I'm not... I forgot I was floating. Never mind, that guy was taller than me, dang it!

"He's coming..." he said.

The water of the lake started to rise, and from inside of it a huge serpent drenched in a beautiful color of blue-green emerged from it. His back was covered in some red-ish hair and one purple gill one each side of his head. He also had some hair under his chin which made it look like he had a beard. He looked kinda funny overall but I couldn't find in me to laugh since his body was so immense he could squash me by accident.

"... Hi...?" I tried to speak to the huge water-serpent. He looked at me as if trying to figure out what my business was. Honestly it was kinda terrifying. This guy was really intimidating when you take a good look at him.

"A newcomer...!" The serpent said "Greetings child!! What is your name?"

"I'm Chloe... Nice to meet you..."

"..." the serpent got all quiet for some reason.

"What...?"

"You are a cloud girl... And your name is Chloe...?"

"Yeah... My dad was kinda lazy... Please don't mind it..." I said. I had seen that reaction many times... I was used to it by now.

"Very well..." The serpent continued "What brings you to our modest little island?"

"Yeah... My kind hedgehog friend over there told me you could help me with my problem..." I pointed to the hedgehog as he was taking some kind of snack from one of his pockets and began to bit it.

"And that would be...?"

"Well... It's a long story..."

"I'm a very patient snake... I have time..."

"Ok then... It all began when I was called over by my superiors..."

"Your superiors...?"

"My mom and dad..."

Part 2

"It's the seventh time this week Chloe..." said an adult female cloud that was glaring at me with her arms crossed.

"They started it..." I said, trying to explain myself.

"I know..."

"I was just minding my own business not bothering anyone..."

"I know..."

"I was literally just standing still and they decided to come to me..."

"I know honey..."

"Then why am I in the wrong??"

I was having a discussion with my mom while my dad was trying to apologize to the neighbors. He finished his conversation with them and joined my debate with mom.

"Because Chloe... And I say that with all the love in the world... You are not like other kids!"

"But even that is not my fault! I didn't ask to be born like this!"

I was not like other nimbuses... Every nimbus has the ability to control the weather to some degree. My mother was really good at controlling the wind while my father was really good at controlling water. They were considered geniuses from their generation.

Usually, when a nimbus is born it inherits the skills of either the father or the mother. But for some reason, I came out with both sides influencing me quite a lot. I'm basically an anomaly who can control water and wind to absurd degrees.

I was so powerful that my parents were prohibited from our leaders to ever have another child. On top of not having any siblings, I also had the worst time trying to make friends. My power is so hard to control that I often hurt anyone who would come close to me.

Parents would often come to our house to call me a monster to complain of any possible damage I could have caused. It was not a fun time...

I tried my best to avoid bothering anyone but for some bizarre reason, kids just love to come after me and try to piss me off.

I could literally spend the entire day doing nothing and someone would come to me to take a piece of my mind.

Why? Because I was the freak of the town. I was the anomaly. I was the thing out of ordinary in a very ordinary sky.

So people wanted me to leave them alone, and I wanted them to leave me alone, but for some reason, I just would not be left alone.

Every day a new brat would show up to try and mock me and I would do my best to ignore it. But they would just not go away... And sometimes... I would lose both my patience and control of my powers.

One day I ended up going a little too far and accidentally attacked a trio of stupid boys and gravely injured them. My parents got really upset with me despite never being my fault.

I finally got fed up with all of it and decided to run away from home.

I tried to descend from the sky but everything below me was nothing but water. I kept flying and flying, trying to find a place to stay when suddenly I realized someone was following me.

She was a weird nimbus girl who looked like she was about to pass out from fear. I didn't know if she was scared from talking to me or because we were so far away from our homes.

"What do you want...?" I said.

"W- We are not supposed to be here..." she answered while shaking and holding her shoulders.

"Huh... No? YOU are not supposed to be here... Why are you following me?"

"I- I- I saw you..."

"What? You saw me running away and came here to stop me?"

"Ah! No... I saw you... By yourself..."

"...?"

"You were always by yourself right...? So- So I thought... We could be friends!!"

"Eh...?" I felt like I was being mocked. Why would anyone want to be my friend? Friend of the anomaly...

"B- Because... I'm always by myself too... So I was wondering if it would be ok..."

"Get lost..." I said, trying to make her stop her joke.

"Eh!!?"

"I'm done with this place... I'm leaving and never returning..."

"B- But... Where are you going??"

"Doesn't matter... Any place is better than there..."

"You can't!! We are forbidden from leaving the sky!"

"As if it even mattered... When did the sky ever do anything for me? If you get it then just leave me alone..."

"But...!"

"Are you deaf?? I said to leave me alone! Why can't anyone just leave me alone??"

"I just..."

"I. Don't. Care!!" I said as I tried to continue my path but the girl would not give up.

"Please, just listen! If you leave..." she tried to stop me again while grabbing my hand.

I finally lost my temper as usual and started to charge a lot of power inside of me.

"I SAID GET LOST!!!!" I screamed with all my strength and released a massive blast of wind pressure that sent the girl flying backwards opening a hole in the sky.

The last thing I remember was seeing her crying face as she finally gave up on me and returned to our home.

I ignored her and kept going my way until I found a huge island located in the middle of the sea.

I decided to approach it but felt some kind of weird force pushing me while I descended. I kept going not thinking too much about it and started to explore the island.

It was full of strange different creatures. There was a girl who was made out of vines. A baby dressed in a red cloak who had a fireball for a head and even some kind of girl who was hiding her face behind a bunch of blankets. I tried to came closer to see her face and was surprised to see she wasn't a girl at all, she was a black hole with eyes.

"What the...!!!??" I gasped.

She saw my shocked reaction and started to run away crying. I think I scared her a little bit. Seeing her sad made me think about the girl that I yelled at.

As I kept thinking about it, I started to remember more about the state she was left in. I probably released more wind power than necessary because she was looking like a mess. And she was just trying to say she wanted to be my friend.

I started to be overcome with guilt and decided to return to the sky to apologize to her, but as soon as I began to fly upwards some kind of barrier pushed me back. I kept trying again and again but nothing seemed to work. I used all my strength to push the barrier back, used wind and water with more power than I ever did before but I still couldn't return to the sky.

I decided to return to this island to see if anyone could help me but everyone would act as if they had never seen a nimbus before...

Mister hedgehog over there saw me in distress and told me the only one who had any chance of helping me would be you.

"So basically you want to go back to your old home..." said the sea-serpent after I finished my tale.

"Not really no..." I tried to correct him, "I just want to apologize to the crying girl... She must have been really sad by what I did..."

"Is that all?"

"That is all... As soon as I patch things up with her, I don't mind continuing my journey..."

"I see... I'm afraid I bear some bad news..."

"Bad news...?"

"Nimbuses... They are not supposed to leave the sky... Ever... If they leave... Their bodies will start to dissipate and they will die..."

"What?? I'm going to die??"

"No, no... If you were to die, you would have died the moment you left the sky... Your superior control over wind and water must be keeping you together... But any other nimbus will simply perish if they try to imitate you..."

"Then..."

"And to avoid letting any nimbus perish... A barrier was placed to stop anything from coming in or out..."

"Eh...? But I managed to get throught the barrier..."

"Indeed... Your anatomy must have made the barrier recognize you as non-nimbus... And decided that your place was down here on the ground..."

"Wow... Even the barrier wanted me gone... ... Wait..."

Suddenly I realized the situation I was in.

"So I can't go back... And no one can ever come down... That means..."

"That girl who wanted to be your friend and who you severely hurt... You will never see her again..." the serpent said.

"But... But I need to see her again!! I need to apologize to her!!!"

"I'm sorry... But there is nothing that can be done..."

"No... No, no, no, no!! I need to see her again!"

I started flying towards the sky giving another attempt but once again was repelled by the barrier.

"Come on!!! Just let me go through for a few minutes!! I just need to fix one small mistake!!"

I started to smack the barrier with all my power until my hands started to lose shape. After that, I tried to use my head, but meeting a similar result.

"I just want to apologize!! Just let me apologize!!!"

I finally lost all my strength after being reduced to a small ball of smoke after damaging my body from all my impacts.

I began to fall towards the island while staring at the world above the clouds that I would never be able to reach again. Using my last strength before passing out I whispered in my mind.

"I'm sorry..."

And proceeded to lose consciousness.