"D.O, wake up. D.O, it's time to get ready. D.O!" a thundering voice boomed throughout the heavens. D.O was curled in on himself, sleeping soundly on a soft orange-pink cloud. It wasn't until a force nudged him gently that he finally opened his eyes and stretched. D.O enjoyed being in his human form more so than his hybrid form. Bakus were not the prettiest creatures and were always picked on. However, their humble and shy nature simply made bakus push themselves away from society and into the clouds. 

D.O propped himself on his elbow as he rubbed his face, trying to get rid of the sleep clinging onto him. He looked around the sky groggily, watching the dawn paint the clouds brilliant yellows and oranges. His cloud was one of the last to have the brilliant pink tinge to it. It must mean that the other bakus are awake and intergrating themselves into human society for the day. 

He groaned and laid back down on his cloud. He grabbed some of the fluffy material and wrapped it around him, creating a blanket of cloud. "Do I have to go down there?" he muttered, closing his eyes and sighing. It's what he disliked to do the most: finding the right person to protect for the night. It was difficult to find someone whose dreams were worth protecting. Many of them were greedy or ill-willed. The true dreams of people were hard to catch, like how a cat can feels it is almost impossible to catch that flying red dot. 

The thundering voice chuckled all around him. Bakus were the only creatures that still had the grace to speak to the Creator directly. Humans were the first to leave His guidance because the Creator loved them all too much. Then, slowly, other creatures began to follow down the same path. Many of the other creatures jeer at bakus for still being so close to Him, as if it was mature not to listen to Him. However, they never stopped talking to the Creator and He rather enjoyed it. After all, bakus were the only creatures that could travel from dream to dream while they slept – similar to the way the Creator and the other Gods jumped from Earth to the spirt/dream world. 

"Only if you do something for me, D.O. Then, you can stay up here for today."

The baku's huge eyes brightened as he shook off the cloud blanket. He got on his knees and nodded, his eyes shifting everywhere. D.O had a bad habit of doing that, even though he knew that he'd never be able to see Him. He waited for the instructions on his task. 

"Show me the chart of the creatures." 

Instantly, his eyes furrowed. That was an all-too-simple task. All the bakus, and most of the creatures, were taught the chart at a very young age. The only ones who weren't taught the chart were the humans, the vampires, the werewolves and the mercreatures. Nonetheless, D.O nodded and grabbed a strand of cloud to illustrate. 

He strung the fluffy pink cloud into a circle. Then, taking some of the cloud above him, which happened to be orange-tinted, he placed 12 small circular clouds evenly on the circle. Similar to the face of a clock.

D.O traced the first design into the first circle away from the very top. It resembled a snowflake. "The Wendigo. First creature with a frozen heart and a desire to rid the world of greed." 

In the second circle, he drew a figure that had a central dot with waves resonating out from it. "The Elf. Second creature with the ability to manipulate the forest, testing the illusion of control."

One by one, the symbols of each creature were drawn in, each supposedly representing an ideal that the creature was supposed to carry. D.O spoke each one out loud, the words rolling off his tongue easily. It was a simple chart. However, once he came to the 12th creature at the top of the circle, the baku stretched the pink cloud down towards the empty middle. He proceeded to do the same to each orange circle, stringing a piece of cloud to connect to the centre. He placed a small orange circle but left no symbol. 

"Human. The thirteenth creature. Once filled with love and curiosity... now, no one knows what holds the human race together anymore." 

"I made a terrible mistake thousands of years ago. The human is the perfect being... but my love and my favouritism created the perfect monster, also. Now, I am powerless to undo the mistake. Soon, the world will go out of balance... and the chart..." The chart D.O had made began to warp and bend until it suddenly burst into small strings and clumps of orange and pink cloud. "Will become obsolete. There is a darkness coming. Perhaps even, a 14th creature that I have no power to influence." 

"14th? What do you mean?" D.O muttered. 

The clumps of cloud hanging idle in the air trembled before they came back together, becoming dark gray in color. D.O watched closely, not wanting to miss a single detail. "Humans are not the only creatures who have changed their values. Every time a creature does some sort of wrong, darkness is created somewhere in the shadows. Darkness I am unable to control. It was here long before I came to be and gave the world light. If enough darkness is created, it will form a conscience and a physical entity." The dark gray cloud transfomed into a hideous being, with a skeleton-like figure and blazing red eyes. It gave off a smoky haze around it, making it look all the more ghastly. "Darkness has magic that even I do not fully understand and can become a creature by using other creatures' wrongdoings. We must achieve balance between all the creatures before the 14th is created."

"This is my task, isn't it?" He was right, it did seem all too simple at first. There was always something more. 

"Yes, D.O. You must help bring balance to the 13 creatures. But not just any. I have whispered revelations to a certain creature of each race. There are the 13 original creatures incarnate. You must help them live together in harmony and the world shall follow in example."

The baku gulped, unsure of himself. "And if I don't succeed?"

A rumble of low thunder shook D.O's resting cloud. "Then the world will be shrouded in darkness, all souls overrun by the creatures they helped to create. We will never see light again. My powers are only so great, little baku. I don't think my might is enough to light up the world a second time. You have three full moons, until the solar eclipse. The shadows' magic are the most strongest then and the 14th creature shall emerge." 

The dark gray cloud dissipated into the original clumps of orange and pink cloud. Slowly, they joined together to recreate the chart of creatures. Instead of the original symbols D.O had drawn in, wispy holograms of different people appeared. They were all scaled, standing straight and staring ahead. Names appeared in front of them. D.O recognized his own. 

"I have to find them all. Convince them to live with one another. And show the world what balance is," he muttered to himself. After a pause, D.O nodded. "I'll do it. This is now my dream. The world depends on my success."

"Good, D.O. I knew I could count on you. Now, rest. You did what I told you to do. It shall begin tomorrow. Dream, little baku." 

Aren't I smart? Jk. But I'm glad these awesome symbols exist because they make my fanfic writing that much easier. :'D