I raise my head.
It is dusk, the wind is whistling, and the clouds are blowing toward the west at a surprising speed. Pink, orange, yellow, red, the warm colors reflect on the puffy white clouds, conforming to their ever-changing shapes, creating beautiful visions in the lavender sky.
I stand alone on the edge of the precipice, feeling the cold, harsh winds rip through the thin fabric of my shirt. I love this fleeting illusion that all is well and nothing matters. There is nothing that can worry me, nothing to stress me out, nothing to bring me down.
The dragon I spot in the patterns of the dynamic clouds seems to be enjoying itself. It flips and turns and chases after the crimson fireball it is destined to pursue forever, seemingly unconfined yet so constricted, the fireball always the same length away from its snout, regardless of the speed the dragon moves. I feel like that legendary Chinese symbol of royalty. Free, it seems, but tethered by fate. Bound, by a little something nobody really believes in: destiny.
Just then, I see a bird shape at the other end of the sky. Slowly, those clouds form themselves into the graceful bird of the legends, the symbol of the empress, the phoenix. It swoops and soars toward the dragon, still appearing to be content, still chasing the crimson ball of flames, still bound by fate. The dragon appears to notice the large bird, whose wingspan is nearly half the dragon's entire length. They acknowledged each other, howling gusts of wind, and soon were flying side by side at the strange angle in which they are always rendered in the paintings they are imprisoned within. The legendary lovers glide through the sky toward the sun, the blood-colored ball long cast aside in a world apart from theirs.
Forcefully, I drag myself back into reality. A young girl calls me from a treetop just a few yards lower than what I had claimed long ago as "my" cliff. Her bright red qipao contrasts considerably with the dark green leaves of the massive conifer. I become puzzled. Why did she climb a tree wearing a tight dress? How is that even possible?
"Hey you!" She yells loudly, "Don't ignore me! I asked what your name is!"
I thought for a second. "Sho. My name is Sho."
"Eh?" The girl looked puzzled. "That's an odd name. Well, anyways Sho, I'm Rain. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you too."
I smile as I look to the sky again. The dragon and the phoenix fly together, deviating from their fate to be eternal enemies, which the Emperor of Heaven decreed, away from others' expectations, toward their eternal happiness. Together.