The World of Clooh

It was summer in the land of Clooh, the population was quite worried and agitated. It’s been the second summer that the lake Ilite stayed dry with still no news from the city of Skaldea. It ascended like every winter but never rained back down when spring came.

Despite the  the Royal Reserve reserve being long emptied, Clooheans could still  survive and sustain themselves by tapping into the regular streams and rivers of the land but soon enough they would need their dose of Ilite sky water to keep their body healthy and their pearls charged.

In truth the Ilite water had nothing special and Clooheans could live just fine without it but centuries of stories, traditions and religion deeply cemented the idea that they are nothing without it. Fear and placebo-types effects only keep this belief strong as through these past two years many citizen saw their health decline faster and in greater numbers than ever before.

Everybody tries their best to keep living a normal life, hoping that next summer things will go back to how it always have been.

---

Jin was in the bedroom folding some clothes when the heard mumbling from the balcony. He turned around and walked toward the terrace door. Nic was gazing at the lake which as as empty as his stare. “It’s been gone for too long” he said, his grip on the railing tightening “I need to take it back down”. Jin was confused, he looked at his husband trying to somehow find the meaning behind Nic’s word written on his partner’s face. 

“Wh-what do you mean YOU have to take it back?” Jin asked, “You can’t go to Skaldea and just, bring the entire body of water down with you! The Skaldeans magic is far stronger than any of what we’re capable! Even for a skilled Maji like you!”

Nicolae turned toward the taller man, his eyes still blank as he raised his staff toward the permacloud. “I need to take it back… I need to take it back” he repeated. Daejin was still as confused as before but fear started to raise up in him. Nic slowly marched toward the edge of the balcony, getting ready as if he was about to take off and sail through the sky toward the floating city.

“Wait what are you doing!” Jin scream but it was too late, Nic jumped and did not rise toward the sky  but dove straight toward the bottom of the dried up lake. Before Daejin could witness the impact he found himself in his bed drenched in sweat, his husband Nicolae sleeping next to him.

“Hmmm… Did you have a nightmare?” Nic mumbled, still halfway in dreams of his own.

“Y-yeah...”

“The one on the balcony again?”

“Yeah…”

“Hon..I'm not ever gonna go coocoo and jump off like that.. Stop worrying like this okay?” The younger cloohean said reassuringly, stroking his partner’s cheek gently, “I mean why would I do that.. It really sound like a stupid plan… Unless I somehow learned fly magic…”

“I know it’s dumb but… I can’t help it you know? I can’t control my dreams...” He sighed. Jin was getting a bit irritated. This painful recurring dream was weighing on him more and more every night he had to go through it.

Nicolae looked over at the clock. 4am. It was late into the night but still had plenty of time to go back to sleep before tomorrows day of work. Nic considered doing just that but he glanced at his lover who clearly was still doo disturbed to get any rest. The trans man kissed his partner on the cheek, snuggling him tenderly. “Wanna do something to get your mind off of this?” Jin felt guilty, it wasn’t the first time his significant other would force himself to stay up like this. He knew even if he refused Nic’s offer his soulmate would stay up too keep him company anyway, even if it was to just sit in bed silently doing nothing for hours on end. In moment like these Daejin felt like Nic was truly too good to him.

Nic sat up and picked a book from his side table. “I can talk to you about that book I’ve started reading… It’s a futuristic fiction story” And without his partner’s reply he continued “There are motorized vehicles, flying machines, electrical pocket mirrors people can use to communicate with one another! Isn’t that fascinating? It’s really fun to imagine what the people could invent to compensate the lack of magic in their world… I gotta admit we could some of these fictional techy doheckies.” The younger man then proceeded to read the first chapter of his novel. Jin progressively relaxed, the words of his spouse lulling him, eventually he felt back asleep almost as if the previous stressful events didn’t happen. Nicolae smiled and caressed Daejin’s forehead before joining him into slumber.

The sun eventually rose, bathing the sleeping couple in golden rays. Like every morning Nic got up first, going through his routine: he brushed his hair, polished his, pearl, put on his jacket and headed to the kitchen in order to make the same breakfast he’d share with his partner who would get up about 15 minutes after him.

Life was rather simple for the couple, each day was calm and slow. Jin would work at the market as a vigil, having to catch a young thief every now and then, though it was very rare, the only thing really worth stealing in this era or at least that people would care about stealing  would be Ilite water but at this stage no one had any or if they did they surely wouldn’t have it on display at the market. On his side Nic would go teach Maji arts to young Clooheans at the public school. To them life didn’t changed that much since the water left, people around them were a bit more tense but that was that, they didn’t had to deal with direct attacks because of the downsizing of the water rations like Eaulords did after last winter.

Today wasn’t exactly one of these days however, it was the weekend and both men were relatively free. They would usually spend their weekends home watching the news and various entertainment programs on their home-mirror, sadly today Nicolae was called to a special meeting. The reunion was gathering the majority of the high and elite ranked Majis.

“I will be out for a bit today” Nic said as Jin wobbled in the kitchen, still a half awake. “A Maji reunion, hopefully to get stuff done in order to get this whole water situation sorted out”. Jin looked at his spouse worried. “From what I heard some Maji will be sent up-there” Nic continued pointing at the roof “No idea how yet though…”

“T-they’re sending you up there?” Jin mumbled, thinking about his recurring dream.

“No not me!” he chuckled “Only elites, us high ranks will be replacing elites on their duty while they are gone up! The meeting is pretty much to assign us our temporary positions.. I not sure if only the elites will be briefed about the full Skaldea mission or if us high ranks will be put in the know too.. Ill have to see..”

Daejin was immensely relieved, he’d do anything to make sure his husband wasn’t leaving earth grounds. He usually wasn’t the most superstitious kind of guy but he couldn’t help but feel like his dream held so truth, that if Nic did leave to the perma cloud it would be his end. It didn’t entirely made sense to him but he just somehow knew that if his husband flew to the floating city or at least tried to, Nic would die. At this point the blue-haired man couldn’t even bear seeing his husband on the balcony. He knew his partner wouldn’t fly off but seeing him here just made his brain flash all these images from his nightmare and was really painful to go through. Nicolae knew that and always made sure to stay away from the balcony in his husband presence, he would only go water their plants when Jin was either out or asleep.

“Why now…” Jin hesitantly asked.. “It’s almost time for the Salmon-Snake Festival… would that mean you’ll be working during it?”

“The festival is exactly why the mission is being discussed now actually! Last year we still had leftover water for the ceremony but not this time, so basically they want to try to get at least a little amount of water back just for the festival” he explained, “As for the part about me working during the festival I don’t know yet, I know only a small fraction of the elites are on duty performing for the festival so yeah..nothing’s sure yet…”

Jin sighed. He really wanted to enjoy the festival with Nic this year in particular. 10 years ago during this very festival was the day Daejin asked Nicolae on a date and got married 3 years after around the same time of the year. This year’s festival was more than important to him and Nic could see his disappointment and worry on his face. “I'm sure even if I do have to work and perform for the festival that we’ll still enjoy the festival. Ill try my best to be available though” The white-haired man said with a gentle smile before getting back to eating his breakfast.

After an energizing breakfast and doing some house cleaning it was time for the light-haired man to go to his appointment. It took place in the castle which was at the other side of the capital. He’d have to go through the bulk of the residential area as him and his husband lives right against the outer wall, next he’d pass the cathedral and the main square and after that Nic would need to get past the second line wall to get into the more privileged areas where Elite Majis, Eaulords and the Highness reside. It would be the second time he would ever set foot in the Noble district, the first time being when he was certified as an high-rank maji 8 years ago. The second line wall was usually guarded by two elites but today four high-ranks were in their places, the former guards surely already in for the meeting. The four men easily recognised their peer by the staff he carried around, every high-rank had their own golden staff. They let him in without any hesitation.

Just being in the inner court of the second inner wall filled him with excitation, when he was younger he dreamed of one day living here. Now that he’s old he knows that living here would be near impossible, but being able to simply visit this district was plenty enough. Even if the gigantic castle was eye-catching, Nic still spent a lot of time admiring all of the noble apartments. He imagined what each could be like inside, luxury paintings, fur rugs, silver mirrors, crystals chandeliers…

After enough daydreaming he went off toward the castle, excitement slowly fading to be replaced by nervousness. In a few minutes he’d be inside facing the Highness in person. He pushed the big heavy doors and was immediately blinded by thousands of lights. The halls of the castle had dozens of chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the wall were covered in mirrors making the inside of the castle look like an infinite glass labyrinth. Please follow me sir” said a guard, breaking Nicolae out of yet another waking fantasy. The man nodded and followed his guide toward the war room. This room was quite poorly named as Clooheans never ran into any actual war. It’s not to say that the population was conflict-free but it never reached such levels.

In the war room sat about 2 dozen of Elites and around 3 times more High ranks. Only half of the attendees could sit around the massive table. As big as this room was, it was clearly not made to receive this many people at once. Most of the high ranks were chatting with one another while elites sat silently waiting for the Highness’s arrival. Nic nervously inched inside the room, fitting himself into a corner and waited patiently with the rest. It didn't take long, a few more high rank arrived before two more elites rolled into the room, their uniforms indicating that they were the Highness’s escorts and that they were soon to arrive. Everybody went quiet. The escorts stepped aside leaving the passage wide open. All the eyes were glued to the open doors. Some soot in fear, other were excited, most were almost paralyzed by an overwhelming amount of emotions. They were here, The Highness.

The Highness walked slowly into the room, bathing everyone in their beauty: their skin was caramel and soft looking, their hair was a deep purple with red reflections, their eyes covered by delicate bangs, their hands were slender and fragile… The Highness’s clothes were just as magnificent, their ploth was covered in fine gold lace and gemstones and they had the robe to match. Every body were hypnotized by the Highness presence, however they weren’t the only person to enter the room. As always the Highness was accompanied by their favorite dancer, he short and large man who too was quite beautiful and dressed in fine fabric and gold ornaments.  Most people ignored him but Nicolae, he already knew him actually. The dancer was his brother Sergei. The chubby performer winked at his older brother before being dismissed by the Highness.

The highness glanced at everyone crammed in the war room and let out an annoyed sigh. The governors are usually the ones briefing elites troops but the situation called for the royal leader to speak instead. Getting orders straight from the Highness would motivate the troops much more as well as comfort the high ranks a bit. The Highness sat at the end of the table and crossed their legs. They glanced over the crowd one more time before starting their speech.

“Greetings gentlefolks. You were all summoned here today to discuss an important matter. A mission to the permacloud in order to retrieve water for the upcoming Salmon-Snake festival and possible for the following days to come. You elites were already partially briefed about the summary of the missions and I shall give you the details later once I'm done with the high-ranked as the do not need to be filled on this information.” All the elites nodded before the Highness continued. “You high ranks will be filling up the roles of the elites during their absence, some of you already are, you probably noticed the four guard at the gate replacing the usual elites. Since there is more of you than there are elites it means that of course not everyone will be on duty. I will need a group of 8 to train and rehearse for the Salmon Snake festival performance. Another group of 20 to take any and all guard duties. It goes without saying that I will mainly prioritizing high-ranks with no current jobs or non-important jobs for this so the ones of you with already necessary duties such as doctors and teacher will keep at it and not disturb the entire city’s life. Please take note that even if you have a job and weren’t picked to be in either group that you may be called as a replacement if ever necessary.”

Nic let out sigh of relief on behalf of his husband as he would indeed be free for the festival since his job as a teacher prevented him from being picked for replacement duty. Part of him however wanted to be part of the performing troops. “All of you high ranks with the following positions, please go stand in the hallway, if there aren’t enough persons left after this sorting I may call some of you back in.” said the Highness sharply “Teachers, medical workers and law enforcement, please stand back”. On that order Nicolae and around 30 people walked into the corridors leaving around 40 high ranks still inside, about a dozen more than needed. Next were called messengers and food shop owners with no replacement available, ten or so people joined the other waiting outside the room. A couple more people were later called out of the meeting before the Highness was satisfied with the amount of people left in the room. With that everybody that were out of the room were dismissed after being each handed a note that reminded them of the possibilities that they may be called back in the future to replace someone at any point.

While everybody else walked out chitchatting with one another about the whole meeting they barely attended, our younger man stayed for a moment. He looked around searching for his brother. The chubby man wasn’t that far, he was teasing a high rank who was already on replacing duty. 

Sergei always played around with guards whenever he wasn’t performing for the Highness and he wasn’t about to pass the occasion to play with new toys. Nic shook his head and walked over. He tapped on his sibling’s shoulder to get his attention, at the same time the flustered guard let out a sigh of relief.  “Why do you always gotta be like this uh?” Nicolae said half jokingly “Don’t you think the Highness will get mad at you for playing around with the guards like that?” The elder brother wasn’t even done talking yet that his younger sibling was already laughing loudly. 

“The Highness getting mad? AT ME? You’ve got to be kidding! They love me! I'm their favorite puddin’! Besides, they are fully aware of what I'm doing and are fine with it as long as I don’t get anyone pregnant.” As he explained himself he slapped the guard on his bum before the dark skinned man went back to him position. “I'm just teasing them homeboy, I'm not doing anything that would cross their line, if they don’t wanna play then I won’t play with then...” he said then turned toward the purple-haired guard “ain’t that right honey muffin?”  The guard blushed. He was lightly giggling, as much as he was embarrassed about being caught it was clear he was still enjoying the situation a little.  “Let’s be honest.. Who in their right mind would refuse to have fun with THE favorite dancer of the Highness? Who wouldn’t want a piece of my THICC ASS” he yelled, all the guard in the hallway laughing. He definitely was popular with the crowd.   

“Alright alright.. I didn’t stop by to get educated on your ‘sexcapades’” 

“Okay then, whad’ya want then?” 

“I just wanted to check on you, get some news.. We don’t get to see each other often nowadays so I might as well take advantage of the situation and chat with you while I had you around!” 

“Well ain’t cha a carin big brother huh? I’ve been doing just fine, same goes for mom and dad. I swear to the Salmon snake if they could they’d make us lil bros ahah!” 

~~~~~

Back home Jin was sitting on the sofa, lost in his thoughts. He was thinking about his dream again. While he was relieved Nic wouldn’t be sent up there he still couldn’t forget about the possibility that later on his husband might have to go… that he might have to die. Many times in the past did Jin saw his dream come true and not in a coincidence kind of way. He dreamed about Nic growing into a man long before his husband came to the realisation himself. He dreamed about Sergei becoming part of the court long before his brother introduced him to a professional dancer. He dreamed about his mother’s death long before her relationship with her husband started to deteriorate. He never really paid much mind to it before, thinking he was just translating small clues into full scenarios in his dreams and it was lucky coincidences, not all his dreams ended up becoming true after all. But once he dreamed about the water remaining over the permacloud, he didn’t fully believed it would happen but every Spring he couldn’t help but fear the water wouldn’t fall back and it’s when it did happen that he realized that maybe he should listen to his dreams more closely. 

Jin never talked about it with Nicloae, their world might be magic but this wasn’t exactly in their realm. In Clooh the only form of supernatural manifestation was the Maji, the ability to conjure objects out of hard light, future sight was nowhere near that. At this point in time he wasn’t sure if his dream really was a precognitive one or just a recurring nightmare. He wasn’t going to chance it if he could, this time he’d do something. Maybe He could prevent it from happening somehow. Making sure Nic wouldn't go might sound easy , he already promised Daejin that he wouldn’t? Jin knew better, his husband always had a heart for adventure. He also knew that if Nicolae ever decided to go he would drag him with him.

The 30-year-old sat that thinking about all the possible scenarios hoping that somehow he could trigger his future vision, hoping he would find a solution to all this… but nothing came to mind.