The Midnight Spectacle

Every night at midnight, the purple clouds came out to dance with the blushing sky. They swirled and twirled in graceful patterns, creating a spectacle of light and color that only a few people could see. Most of them were asleep at this hour, unaware of the magic that unfolded above their heads. But not Elena. She was always awake at midnight, watching the clouds from her bedroom window.

She loved the clouds more than anything else in the world. Elena felt a connection to them as if they were her friends. She liked to imagine that they had personalities and stories of their own, and that they came to visit her every night to share them with her. She would talk to them softly, asking them questions and telling them about her day. Sometimes they would respond with a gentle breeze or a flash of lightning, but most of the time they just listened.

Luna Rosa was the name of the small town where she lived, nestled in the foothills of a mountain range. The town was known for its roses, which bloomed all year round in every color imaginable. The roses were said to have magical properties, such as healing wounds or granting wishes. Her mother owned a flower shop in the town square, where she sold bouquets and arrangements made from the roses.

Her father was an astronomer who worked at an observatory on top of one of the mountains. He studied the stars and planets with his telescope and wrote papers about his discoveries. He was fascinated by the mysteries of the universe and wanted to learn everything he could about it.

Both her parents' passions were inherited by Elena: she loved flowers and stars equally. She often helped her mother at the flower shop during the day and visited her father at the observatory at night. There, she learned how to identify different types of roses and how to care for them properly. She also learned how to use a telescope and how to recognize various constellations and celestial bodies.

But watching the purple clouds at midnight was Elena's favorite thing to do. She felt that they were somehow related to both flowers and stars: they had the same colors as some roses in her mother's shop, and they moved across the sky like some planets in her father's telescope.

She wondered where they came from and why they only appeared at night.

Elena wondered if anyone else could see them, or if they were just for her eyes only.

She had asked her parents about them once when she was younger,

but they didn't seem to know what she was talking about.

“Purple clouds?” her mother had said with a puzzled look on her face.

“I've never seen any purple clouds around here.”

“Maybe you're dreaming,” her father had suggested with a smile on his lips.

But she knew she wasn't dreaming: she could see them clearly every night from her window.

She decided not to mention them again: she didn't want anyone to think she was crazy or lying.

They were her secret: something special that only she could enjoy. Until one night, when everything changed.

That night, something strange appeared in the sky: a dark shape that seemed to be chasing the purple clouds.

It looked like a giant bird or bat with long wings and sharp claws.

It flew fast and agilely through the air, dodging lightning bolts and gusts of wind.

It emitted a low growl that echoed across the sky. Fear surged through Elena as she watched it approach closer and closer to her beloved clouds.

She didn't know what it was or why it was there, but she sensed that it meant harm. She grabbed her binoculars from her desk and tried to get a better look at it.

She gasped when she saw its face: it had red eyes that glowed with hunger, a mouth full of razor teeth that dripped with saliva, and horns that curved like sickles on its head.

It was unlike anything she had ever seen before: it was a monster.

A cloud hunter.