'Great you can hear, alright you are both lost, the Heavens need you before the Heavenly Empress completes her rebirth and the Heavenly Emperor returns,' Cloud said getting straight to business.
* * *
I was happy to see the light of excitement in Zhao Ren's eyes as he admired his little brother. I watched as Zhao Ren cooed to his brother and I heard him whisper "I'll teach you the art of the sword slowly so you can be a master while you are still young," Zhao Ren promised his baby brother.
When me and Kai Ren had a moment to talk about names we decided on Ye Zheng. Ye Zheng grew slightly faster than his brother which no longer worried me. As long as he grew happy and safe, I could rest assured.
After Ye Zheng turned three, I began to have flashes of events that were surreal and strange nightmares. Sometimes I would dream of sitting in a Pavillion with Kai Ren and we would drink tea, play go, and sometimes we would build plans of an unknown subject.
On the day of celebrating Zhao Ren's eighth birthday we ventured to the other side of the river and chose a spot to build a bamboo hut. We agreed that every year we would add pieces onto it and make it into a sturdy house by Zhao Ren's sixteenth birthday.
I had a strange feeling after one of the many nightmares occurred. I had seen a feather come from my head and wings extend from my back. Instinctively I woke myself up almost forgetting what I saw when I realized I clutched onto a large feather. The memories of the nightmare returned and I saw myself with wings. Not knowing what to do for me to have wings I decided to return to sleep.
In my dreams I dreamed of flying, in some parts I flew on my own, in other parts I flew with the aid of a winged mare. I told my dream to Kai Ren when we arose. He laughed at me and joked "You must be a bird my love,". He took me in his arms and swirled me around. "It could explain why you are so light, even the boys look heavy but they barely weigh anything," he joked.
"Maybe that's why we can live off fruits and grains," I joked back. I thought about how we ate meat about once a month. It didn't seem too odd to me, we just ate what we had. The small edible mammals were rare and we used everything from them.
When I went outside I was greeted by a horse. The horse was white with grey notes and gold tipped feathers in the massive wings she had protrudingfrom her back. I forgot about the feather that I currently had tucked in my hair. 'What a beautiful horse,' I thought as I walked towards it at an even steady pace. The horse snorted angrily and I began to retreat not wanting to provoke it any further.
'Who are you calling a horse!,' a thought entered my mind, confused I looked around only seeing the horse. The horse stamped and turned it's butt to me. 'Such an insult, you said it again, it's Pegasus' I heard.
I peered around wondering if I was hearing things. As I looked away from the mare, she walked up to me. When I turned my head back I jumped because the mare was standing right besides me. I stumbled backwards silently and almost fell over when I felt something warm catch me.
'I see you no longer remember who you are, who you were, or who you were meant to be,' The voice said.
'The mare is actually a pegasus and she talking is to me through telepathy,' I explained to myself. Well that is what I had managed to grasp so far.
'My name is Cloud, I will tell you what I can about you, and hopefully maybe send you back to the Heavens,' Cloud explained. As I was about to start asking the pegasus questions my boys came running out of the house.
Upon Kai Ren seeing Cloud he snatched Ye Sheng up into his arms and caught Zhao Ren's hand stopping them a few feet from me. He looked at me first worried and then curiously.
"This is Cloud, she's a pegasus," I explained first to my husband. "Cloud this is my family, We are the Bai family," I explained to Cloud proudly. Kai Ren came and stood behind me still unsure of Cloud. I wondered if they could hear her.
'Give him a jab with my feather, it allows me to speak to him,' Cloud explained. I pull her feather out of my hair and gently as possible jabbed my husband. Surprised he took a step back looking at me with confusion spelled across his face. 'Ah that should do it, can you hear niw?' Cloud asked.
"Who is that? Is the horse talking?" Kai Ren asked me confused. I assumed it would be Cloud talking so I shook my head 'yes' at him. "This is confusing," Kai Ren remarked. He turned to face Cloud, "You can talk?" he asked.
'Great you can hear, alright you are both lost, the Heavens need you before the Heavenly Empress completes her rebirth and the Heavenly Emperor returns,' Cloud said getting straight to business. I was confused about weed hat she was saying but deep down it made sense.
"What's going on?" Zhao Ren asked looking up at me and his father with a very confused faced. I reached out to his face and stroked his cheek. I smiled at him while trying to think of the vest explanation.
'I'm going to tell him truth,' I warned Cloud and Kai Ren. Before I answered him I decided I needed to simplify the truth. "This is a pegasus, her name is Cloud, your father and I can communicate with her, well Cloud can use telepathy, the art of mind to mind communication, and we're discussing what is happening right now," I answered.
I gathered Ye Zheng from my husband's arms and I gave him a kiss on his forehead prompting a smile to spread across his small face. I cuddled him to myself wishing he grew slower so I could still cuddle him for many years. Returning to the conversation I wondered if we should allow the boys in on the conversation.
'That is up to you, the lives you have built here are going to end as you return to the Heavens, they are both sons of the Heavens and the Gods. You are the undeclared Goddess, High Goddess I mean,' Cloud said to me.
'And you are also a High God, even here in the mortal realm as a half mortal half Immortal I can feel your power," Cloud said to Kai Ren.
'You both have your powers and you are both High Gods, your children are Immortals too, they have no mortal in them because unlike you both they were born into the mortal realm so there was no taxing realm effects,' Cloud explained to us.
'We are just a family, we lost our memories but surely we are not part of the Heavens,' I thought. I looked to see my husband's face looking at me puzzled and it seemed that he was on the cusp of believing Cloud.
'Cloud could be right my love,' Kai Ren thought. I looked at Cloud who looked at Kai Ren then me looking as though she was expecting an answer.
I was confused 'when did we get one to one telepathy?' I thought. I directed this to Kai Ren and observed that Cloud didn't seem to hear me as she continued looking expectantly at us.
'You two stop ogling at each other each other, take what I said into consideration so we can get moving,' Cloud demanded.