10 July 2026,daily writing prompt:strange dough!

At the very top of Adiyan's century-old zamindar house was a dark attic room where no one but pigeons ever went. One cloudy, rainy afternoon, Adiyan went to that room to alleviate his boredom and while rummaging through an old wooden chest, he found a strange glass bottle amidst the dust. The bottle had ancient inscriptions carved in Latin, and inside, some shimmering blue smoke glowed mysteriously. Unable to contain his curiosity, as soon as Adiyan loosened the wooden cap, there was a sweet popping sound and a beautiful fragrance spread throughout the entire room like chewing gum. The blue smoke rushed out of the bottle, gathered in the corner of the room, and soon took the shape of a fluffy, small blue cloud with two large eyes and a broad enchanting smile.

The cloud looked at Adiyan and, fluttering like wings in the air, softly said that after almost a hundred years, it had felt the fresh air and addressed Adiyan as its friend. Initially, Adiyan curled up in the corner of the bed in fear, but upon hearing the sweet words of the cloud, all his fear vanished, and he lovingly named it Neelu.

Very quickly, a deep and strange friendship blossomed between Neelu and Adiyan, and Adiyan realized that Neelu was no ordinary cloud; it was actually a magical cloud. Whenever Neelu felt great joy, drops of magical vanilla and strawberry ice cream would plop from the ceiling, which Adiyan would enjoy with utmost satisfaction. Neelu's emotions were easily understood by the color of its body; for instance, when Adiyan laughed, Neelu would turn pink with happiness, and when Adiyan felt sad, Neelu would take on a light gray hue and drip water on the floor. The most delightful thing was that Neelu could float Adiyan's ordinary bedding into the air with its magical breeze, and Adiyan would then joyfully fly around the room sitting on that bedding like a prince.

But one night, while Adiyan was deep in sleep, a fearsome storm suddenly began, and the old window panes of the attic shattered as fierce winds rushed into the room. Unable to withstand the strong and chaotic gusts, Neelu was swept out into the dark night through the window. Outside, fierce clouds roared, and lightning flashed, while Adiyan looked out to see that the vast and fierce black clouds were encircling Neelu to pull it into their midst. Neelu trembled in fear, its beautiful blue color turning pitch black, as it reached out towards Adiyan, screaming for help.

Without wasting a moment, Adiyan grabbed his magical bottle and stood by the window against the storm, shouting for Neelu to not be afraid and to trust its friend. Adiyan aimed the opening of the magical bottle towards the sky and opened it wide, while Neelu, avoiding the violent thrusts of the black clouds, came rushing towards Adiyan’s window with all its magical strength like an arrow. Just as a massive lightning bolt was about to strike Neelu, it somehow entered the room and went directly to the safety of the bottle, and as soon as Adiyan quickly capped the bottle, the outside storm gradually calmed down.

The next morning, when the sky had cleared and was sunny again, Adiyan gently opened the mouth of the bottle, and Neelu joyfully emerged once more, but this time its color shone in a bright golden-blue due to happiness. It expressed gratitude by giving Adiyan a soft and old magical touch on his cheek, and from then on, they became more cautious by repairing the broken glass of the window, resulting in no more fears in that little attic room, where only the endless joyful story of a simple boy and a small magical cloud remained.