The first ever question he asked the mist woman pierced directly through her heart. Obviously he asked,
"What is your name?"
The woman suppressed the feeling of having her oldest wounds split open. Her smile slowly faded away,
"Seriously now, can't you ask something else?"
August stared at her in confusion,
"...but I thought I was being polite."
The woman shook her head,
"Absolutely not. You are very young so you don't understand it now. Names are connected directly with the soul of a creature. It signifies their position in the vast chasm of consciousness. There are many creatures in the world out there whose names are better left unknown."
After listening to her words carefully he decided not to probe the matter any further,
"So, are you some kind of saviour goddess?"
The woman let out a stifled chuckle,
"No, I am definitely not. I am just a soul creature, a lowly third order in the semi sentient class. What made you think I am a goddess though?"
August scratched the back of his head,
"I don't know, in the stories that mom reads to me, usually the goddesses are described just like you.
Majestic and beautiful. On second thought, you are not nearly as beautiful as my mom. So you are not a goddess after all."
The woman stared at him with an expression that screamed she wasn't amused by his words at all. However, being pissed off by the words of a five year old would only make her seem like an idiot.
At first August had all the questions lined up but now he was diverted by more interesting question,
"What is a soul creature?" He asked, holding his chin, "...are they all crazy powerful?"
The woman shook her head,
"It's not power that separates living beings of the same order but intelligence. In this world all the species are classified based on only one principle. That is consciousness. Every being in the world holds its own place in that vast chasm."
As the woman stopped speaking it was only now she realised that August was just staring at her in confusion. Which made sense, considering his age how could he understand sentience and consciousness right now.
She heaved a long sigh and tried to more simple with her explanation,
"...I mean living beings are classified into five different classes which contain corresponding orders within. Like for example, dirt, rocks, trees and soil all of the things that cannot think falls under non sentient class. There are no orders on the level, they are all just too dumb to understand anything."
Her inner voice was screaming that this child was not getting it at all. However, she decided to continue for a while,
"and then comes the second class, semi-sentience. There are five orders inside that I am at the third therefore called as soul creature. Beings who are capable naturally evolve into the next order and class. Although it's not as easy as it sounds."
Now she was feeling like a dumb rock who for some reason was blabbering her mouth against a wall,
"Then comes the sentient class, to which you humans belong. There are maybe four orders in it. Honestly as a lower class creature I don't have capability of understanding your system. So forgive me, that's all I know."
With that she turned to August only to find him sleeping with his mouth open.
A vein bulged on her forehead but before she could've said anything August's mother called for him.
At his mother's voice he woke up quickly only to see the woman standing before him. She carried an unreadable expression but something told August she was pissed about something.
He thought of throwing her off with another question before she could say anything. And he did by asking her another painful question,
"By the way, where is the rest of your body?"
The woman heaved a sigh and looked at herself. She had still not fully recovered from the incident when Sophia's rage befell her. It was a painful memory to recall.
Below the waist, her body was nothing but formless white mist but she couldn't tell the reason to August could she now?
August stood up quickly as his mother called him once more,
"Oh.. I am so dead."
He rushed trying not to be late for the breakfast but suddenly stopped at the door,
"You know what?" He turned to the woman who was perhaps still thinking about some of her painful memories, "I belong to the ambivalent order, the worst there is in the sentient class. But don't you worry I hope you will soon evolve into a calamity."
With his innocent tone he let out a toothy grin,
"Don't worry, I believe in you."
His words struck her with a shock. To think that he was listening to her actually. Then again August belonged to the ambivalent order which consisted of nothing but pain—she had seen his agony by herself, how the echoes assault him in order to claim him as a vessel.
It was only natural he would have learned a lot more about consciousness already.
Well, he knew about the next order she would evolve into. The order of calamity was a step higher than soul order.
Not to mention, there was something about the boy's carefree expressions that soothed her heart inside. Even if she was a creature of mist, who possessed neither a name nor past—she felt a change in the air, a hopeful one at that.
Maybe there was more to life than what she knew already. Within her unknown life, she had known nothing but hate, the kind words of the boy didn't miraculously change the direction of her life.
But they did manage to plant a seed in her formless heart. A seed of hope and kindness.
Which one day will definitely become a fruitful tree.
Only if the tree wasn't destroyed by the storms of her wrath and resentment till then.
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