Thirsting Agony walked up to Orion's laid-down body, his approach silent and deliberate, each step a measured event in the profound stillness of the soul sea. The sheer presence of the Monarch was an oppressive weight, a gravity that seemed to warp the very space around them. He rested his hand on Orion's face. "Curious form," the man stated, his voice a dry rasp that held no real curiosity, only a detached, analytical interest. He slid his hand across Orion's skin, and the sensation was instantly, profoundly revolting.
It felt disgusting. It felt like sin itself given physical form, as if he were being touched by the most vile, decaying, and rotten pile of flesh imaginable. A deep, instinctual revulsion shuddered through Orion's entire being. How many atrocities, how many unspeakable sins had this man committed for their essence to linger so potently in his mere touch?
Orion looked at him, the Monarch's words cutting through his nausea. "Curious form?" he thought, the phrase echoing in his mind. Just then, prompted by the observation, Orion stopped to actually look at his own body. The revelation was staggering. He wasn't human! Instead, his form was that of a massive, serpentine creature, a great scaly snake. His body seemed to stretch for dozens of meters, a powerful, coiled length of muscle and scale. His arms were no more, and so were his legs, replaced by this immense, limbless torso. Scales covered his entire body, each one a beautiful, shimmering gradient of the lightest, most ethereal cyan fading into a pure, stark white. His body felt immeasurably stronger than before, thick cords of muscle rippling beneath the scaled surface. Close to his head and along the length of his tail, he bore flowing tufts of fine white hair, like a mane. In his nose, he felt the strange sensation of a few long, moving whiskers, and from his chin, a similar beard of white tendrils flowed.
"Some kind of Reptile?" Thirsting Agony wondered, his mind struggling to categorize this magnificent, alien form.
Finally, the man's exploring hand reached the front of Orion's massive face, tracing the line of his elongated snout. "A Long dragon? Yes... I think that name is well fitting. Long Dragon," he declared, as if bestowing a title. He finally let go of Orion's massive snout, and the moment the contact ceased, Orion felt as if a massive, suffocating burden had been lifted from his shoulders. Suddenly, he could breathe again, the oppressive aura of sin retreating, he wanted to get away, but he dared not move.
"I won't consume much time, let's go straight to the point," Thirsting Agony stated, his tone shifting from analytical to businesslike. With a casual wave of his hand, the entire soul sea around them rumbled, the placid energy churning in response to his will. Another tear in space appeared, a rift of pure blackness against the luminous blue. From this void, Thirsting Agony pulled forth a small speck of light and threw it with a flick of his wrist towards Orion.
The spec of light was soft and amorphous, looking like a little, fluffy cotton ball, but it was slightly transparent, shimmering with an internal energy. It moved with a gentle, bouncy motion, floating through the air until it touched him on the snout. A jolt of recognition, of pure, undeniable rightness, shot through Orion. This was exactly what he was looking for! "A familiar!" He thought, elation cutting through his repulsion and fear.
The small cotton ball started to slide off his smooth, scaled snout, and a sudden, protective instinct surged in Orion. He didn't want to let it get wet or fall; he needed to grab it. The moment he reached for it, his intent triggered another transformation. His massive, serpentine body started to change, shrinking and reshaping itself in an instant. He was back in his human form, his familiar hands darting out and managing to catch the ethereal cotton ball just in time. "Woah!! I am back!!" Orion exclaimed, surprised and relieved to be back in a shape he understood, looking down at his own human hands with a sense of normalcy.
He looked at his palms. The little cotton ball seemed etherial, not quite solid. As it laid there, a few particles of its energy broke away, dissipating into the air like glowing dust. The Monarch continued watching Orion without any reaction, his expression unreadable, letting the boy figure himself out. After a moment of silence, he said without a trace of emotion, "So, do you have any interest in serving under me, boy?"
Orion looked up at the man in sheer surprise. He was offering him a pact? Right now? But he had just AWakened. Why? His mind raced. Thirsting Agony... This was one of the few humans who had attained Illumination throughout the entire span of human history. A living legend, a man who stood above anything and anyone, a true king in every sense of the word. It mattered not what he had done to achieve that power; the sheer fact of his divinity commanded respect, and for most, unquestioning loyalty. Not to mention, the perks of serving under a Monarch were undeniable. The support, the resources, the protection—it was a path to guaranteed power and comfort. Very few people, in very specific and foolish circumstances, would ever refuse such an offer. If Orion managed to prove himself a useful pawn, he could live comfortably for the rest of his days, all wants and needs catered to.
But, stupidly, instinctively, Orion found that he didn't want to serve under anyone. He already had his objective in life set in his mind, a burning desire for a freedom he couldn't yet define. The path to Monarchy, as he dimly perceived it, had no room for servitude, he wasn't going to serve under anyone! The thought was absolute.
In his human form, feeling small and vulnerable before this god-like being, Orion shrank into himself, trying to look as insignificant as possible, and rested his head against the wet, smooth ground of the Soul Sea in a gesture of deep supplication. "Lord Monarch... I am sorry for my boldness... but I do not..." He trailed off, unsure how to finish the refusal, bracing for a wrath he was certain would come.
But he wasn't expecting THE Thirsting Agony to just shrug off his refusal. Yet, that was exactly what he did. The Monarch simply accepted it. But to be honest, it made sense. Who was Orion, anyway? An unproven Sparkling with a strange form. Why would THE Thirsting Agony want him for himself beyond a passing curiosity? "Very well," the Monarch said, his voice still devoid of disappointment or anger. "Your form seems intriguing. A shame I won't be able to study it further..." As he said this, his empty, depthless eyes wandered over Orion's massive, scaly body that had just moments ago dominated the space.
"Ah, yeah" Orion thought with a internal shudder. That was also a BIG reason to absolutely NOT follow Thirsting Agony. The man was fucking crazy. A scholar who saw living beings as specimens to be studied and taken apart.
The man then raised his hands again and started moving them in the air as if he were picking up invisible pieces of a complex puzzle and trying to fit them together. "So, let's move on. Kid," he said, his focus shifting. After messing with the invisible constructs for a while, he turned his gaze back to Orion. "What is your name?"
"Name?" Orion was doubtful about what to say. "...Orion."
"Not that, you fool," the Monarch replied, a flicker of impatience in his hollow tone, like he was asking something obvious that was being deliberately misunderstood. "Your actual name. Who are you?" He gestured vaguely at Orion's essence. "Search it inside yourself. You know what it is."
Orion was confused, but he felt compelled to obey. He closed his eyes, pushing past the fear and the strangeness of the situation. He tried to think about his name—no, not the label he was given at birth, but his identity, the core truth of what he was in this world. Who was he, truly? And simply, effortlessly, as if it had been waiting there all along, he found the answer. It was not a word he knew, but a concept he understood intrinsically. Then, he opened his mouth and muttered a couple of words that sounded impossible to be uttered, a sequence of syllables that felt alien on his tongue yet perfectly right. The fact he managed to even say them was a surprise to even himself.
But the man didn't seem surprised. He just nodded his head, a small, satisfied motion, and started assembling the invisible puzzle pieces again with renewed purpose. "What would this be?" he mused to himself. "Up, High? The Sky. And... Gone, right? Disappearing? Making disappear...." He muttered, piecing together the metaphysical meaning behind the sounds Orion had produced. After a few moments, he stopped, the invisible puzzle complete in his mind. "Ah, I understand now."
Thirsting Agony then walked to Orion, who was still kneeling on the marble-smooth ground, and pointed a thin, pale finger at his head. "You, child, are made to roam the skies. Your fate is to take the path you fly to yourself." At his words, Orion again started to feel a powerful sense of familiarity, a resonance that shook him to his very core. It was a feeling of boundless potential, of absolute... LIBERATION!!!
"The All-Consuming Sky," the Monarch stated, giving name and purpose to the form and the concept in one definitive phrase. It was not a question, but a declaration of fact, an identity forged in the soul sea and now spoken into existence.