The sounds of a distant clash woke him from his slumber. It was not a loud sound, but persistent. Swords against shields, spears against armors, axes against helms. But it was not the most horrible of sounds. He had heard much worse. He had heard the everlasting cries for help, and the never-ending praises for him. Oh, So many praises.

Yet this battle upset him beyond belief. The reason for it remained a mystery. It was yet another war, in yet another age. Just like the ones before it, it was for wealth, or power, or both. He was certain of it, and one thing he was equality certain of, was that the wealth or the power was given to the fighters. They were all but little puppets, from the foot soldiers to the commanders. They would receive a very small portion of said wealth or power, but only if they lived. Which was very much unlikely. The ones that did live, however, would…

Wait, what was that sound? Why could he hear the sound of rain? It was in the middle of a sunny noon where the fighting…

Oh, now he knew why this fight felt off. His sisters were involved.

With great difficulty, he woke up. He just stayed there in his nonexistent state and prepared himself for a lot of shouting. A lot of that was involved when it came to his many siblings.

He gave himself form. Yes, this time, he would give himself the shape of a peaceful cloud. No, he had to be seen angry, so that they would stop with their world-tearing fight. So, he instead gave himself the shape of a very dark and stormy cloud. He was in the mood for a cloud They were vast, comfortable, and most importantly: menacing.

“Why did you wake me, sisters?” He said, in the most terrifying voice he could muster. Now that he was atop the battlefield, the sheer number of the dead send shivers down his nonexistent spine.

His siblings seemed to be in pure terror. His voice had worked, then. In fact, they seemed absolutely horrified to see him.

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“B—Brother?” Iara whispered with teary eyes, “When did you wake up?” Their expressions were strange. Sure, he wanted to show them he is angry, and he was, to some extent, very angry. But their expressions were… off.

“Not long.” He said. The world around him seemed different. So, he had slept longer this time. He wondered how long he had actually slept. Perhaps ten years? Maybe even twenty or even fifty? “Why are you fighting again? You are gods, I think it’s time you finally act like it.”

His younger sister, Zheni, burst into tears. She looked to be experiencing the most joyful thing in the world. He liked Zheni, she was sweet and kind, but he had no idea what her sudden strong emotion was for.

“Zheni, what’s wrong?” He said with a touch of sympathy, “Is everything all right?”

“Y-Yes, brother. Yes, it is. At least now it is. Are you truly awake at last? Please change your shape, I want to see you –the real you– with my own eyes.”

The delight in her eyes was enough for him to accept her request. He shooed away the ugly dark cloud, and gave himself the shape of a strong muscular young man, with hair the color of gold and eyes the color of the sky.

“No, no. I want to see the real you.” Zheni said.

He had worked so hard on this form. And now it was ignored in a mere second? Preposterous! Well, nothing could be done about it, and Zheni seemed to be begging him to give himself his real form. So he removed the gigantic muscles and the golden hair and the blue eyes and replaced them with a skinny body, grey locks, and deep brown eyes.

“Oh, brother,” Zheni said, “It is you!” She embraced him before he could do anything. Even Iara seemed shocked. What was going on? Why were they so lovely all of a sudden? They acted as if he had come back from a very long trip!

“What are all of these tears for? Is something wrong?” He grimaced, “Have you done something wrong again?”

“Brother, we prayed night and day for you. Hoping you could hear it and wake up. An entire continent did so. But you didn’t want to wake up. We’re sorry brother. We are truly sorry. You left us with peace and harmony, and now…” Iara’s voice cracked, “Now we give it back in war, chaos, and death.”

Her words slowly started to sink in. And before he could say anything, Zheni pulled out of his embrace and said, “Brother, you’ve been asleep for three thousand years.”