_{This is a complementary series for the Steemit-exclusive, original novel A Day in the Clouds. Be sure to check out the latest chapter's Part 1 and Part 2 before you read this post to avoid spoilers.}

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<< #13

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Hey Cloudheads! In our childhood, a thing is either something filled with boundless curiosity or the scariest thing that ever existed. It's always extremes. There doesn't seem to be an in-between. Wonder comes first because of our preference for the unknown, but if we get hurt by it, that fascination quickly turns to fear. Any guesses about what that creature lurking in the shadows is?

I don't want to give it away, as it'll play a big part in the final arc. I just wanted to throw it out there because this chapter marks the second mention of it in the story. So, I'll cut the teaser here and move on to the other points in the chapter.

This chapter introduced the giants Jenmu and Molet (or, my uncle Jemmo and aunt Mollet in the "real world"), and the concept of the different purposes of the fortresses. Don't get too invested on them, as this story is more of a character study and I decided to shy away from a huge ensemble. There's so much social interaction I can fit in a day. And, for someone who is not that social, it's hard for Ledd to interact with them.

I'm not quite sure if I've mentioned this before, but the open area where Ledd and Ayesa parted ways a few chapters back is a lot owned by my father. If we had moved there instead of a home nearer where my mother's family lived, then that lot would've been where my house (or, fortress) would be standing. It's interesting to think of the alternate realities where that occured. Would I have been a writer or would I have pursued different interests? But, I digress.

The area had been turned into a car wash, which was operated by my uncle Jemmo, before some employees decided it was a good decision to take a car that a customer left overnight for a joy ride. The facility remained there, so they decided to rent it out to someone else. Years passed, and it had turned into a machine shop, auto body works, and anything car-related. As I said, the facility was there, so the new management was free to choose what they wanted to do with it. I guess this gives you an overview of the size of the lot.

I initially wanted this story to be a chiasmus, but became to tedious to do. So, I did the next best thing I could do and try to wrap things up neatly. Since we've passed the halfway point, prepare to see callbacks to chapters past here and there. The crater and the (mysterious) creature/critter (unexpected almost rhyme alert!) are two of the most notable ones. Nighttime is in full swing so expect a lot of twisty, turny stuff happening soon.

I was on the fence in using the fortress-less prisoners as characters. We know that they're fictional, but Ledd certainly thinks their real. This is a callback to my own childhood when my family thought I suffered from ADD. I really didn't want to rely on them too much, but I wanted them to factor in even a little bit to the story. It's hard to balance this considerations out, and unless you're writing a series, there's only so much room for characters. The risk that you're up against here is that the story might seem to crowded. I really hope that my choice proves to be the right one.

Also, in honor of @surpassinggoogle's latest initiative, I wanted to highlight a new Filipino word that I used. Frequent readers of this story may have noticed that I've used a mix of Filipino and Spanish words in the story (which I also explain in their respective SILVER LININGs). For this chapter, I used Bathala.

Surprise Tagalog Theology Lesson!!

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During the pre-colonial times, native Filipinos were animists who worshipped deities, nature spirits (diwatas and encantos) or even the kaluluwa (or spirits of the deceased who serve the deities). Chief among those deities is the god of creation, Bathala. If you look at the deities as a pantheon, Bathala is an equivalent of Zeus or Odin, sitting atop as the All-Father type. But, it's interesting to note that the name itself was derived from Sri Batara Guru, which is the supreme god in several Indonesian mythologies, and is also known as Shiva in Hinduism. Isn't that interesting?! Not only does it solidify the Indonesian influence in Filipino culture, but that also ties it in with Hinduism.

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Makes you think that religions can trace itself back into one unified history. That's something that, I think, would end a lot of conflicts. Considering that many conflicts are fueled by differences in belief, tracing all beliefs back into a universal truth would definitely remove a huge factor that sparks the disagreements. Imagine a world where insted of saying that this religion is better or this god is the only real one, we would instead be believing one truth, coming together under the same set of beliefs. Now that's a world where I want to live in! Kapayapaan at kasaganaan, or "peace and prosperity" in Filipino/Tagalog.

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When the Spanish came and converted the natives to Catholicism, the katalonan (or shamans) were condemned as witches, ancestral and nature spirits were demonized and anitos were considered as idols. For a religion that preaches about peace, Catholics really have a violent past, huh? I'm a Catholic Christian myself, even serving as an altar boy in my younger years, so yeah, I'm not throwing stones or anything, I'm just stating historical facts.

Anyway, so yeah, all the knowledge I imparted here was all gathered from years of study. If you found it fascinating and want to find out more about it, you can find tons of information elsewhere on the internet. I don't want to copy and paste information then earn from other people's hard work, even though I'll cite sources. It's not like I'm going to transfer all the earnings from this post to them after. (I transfer earnings from my story and the complementary series to its inspiration @zeppelin)

Now, back to your regularly scheduled programming. Who's that mysterious prisoner at the end? Have they been plotting this whole thing together this entire time? Ledd has always been an unreliable narrator, but I never thought he would be this unreliable! It somehow makes me mad thinking that he kept such pertinent information from us. How does this affect his renewed strategy? It doesn't seem like he consulted anybody before he made that decision. Or, did he? Why am I asking these questions to myself when I know full well what the answers are? Am I stuck in the story and have begun using the SILVER LINING series as a means to signal for a rescue? Tune in next week sports fans, for more thrills and more spills. Same cloud-time! Same cloud-channel!

Eddie-Batman!! Tenenenene! Vedder-Batman!!

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Thanks for reading! Follow me, @jedau, if you want to live.

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