Look up. Way up.
The sky is stitched with flying koi fish. You’re riding one – somehow.
The cliffs below are sharp and far. The sky is dark, the storm is near.
Do you:
- Paint in indigo, yellows, and orange
- Name your koi (you must)
- Glimpse something far ahead – a floating city?
The floating isles trade only by air. The sky carp know the routes by heart and sing softly as they glide.
I hope they make it home ok before the rain and thunder the sky carp sing low and steady, their tails flicking through the heavy clouds like ribbons of light. I watch until they vanish into the mist, then pull my hood tighter and start toward a dark opening in the cliffs ahead, where an echoing glow flickers deep inside.
Link to the full story: Enchanted Bristles: A Painter’s Quest