Orion heard the words and felt a profound chill run through his entire body, a shiver that was part awe, part terror, and part undeniable recognition. Yes, that… that seemed fitting. More than fitting; it felt like a key sliding into a lock he never knew existed within his soul.
The All-Consuming Sky. That was the name of Orion's "Aspect," a term he now understood to mean the manifestation of his deepest desires, the core expression of his will given form and function. It was a name that encapsulated both his latent power, his boundless ambitions, and his most fundamental feelings, something that defined his very existence in the world. It wasn't just a title; it was a destiny, a declaration of what he was and what he was meant to become.
That sounded… Imposing. The All-Consuming Sky. A sky that ruled everything? The phrasing was ambiguous, leaving room for interpretation. Or was it a sky that consumed everything, making its rule absolute by leaving no other sky to challenge it? The possibilities swirled in his mind, grand and terrifying.
"A-Am I actually a huge genius?!" Orion's face brightened up with pure, unadulterated excitement, a grin spreading from ear to ear. The sheer scale of the name suggested an inherent, monumental power, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of pride. Maybe his life of struggle had been building to this all along, to a birthright of incredible strength!
Looking at his expression, Thirsting Agony recognized a critical misunderstanding in the boy's thinking. He decided to correct it immediately, his voice cutting through Orion's elation like a cold blade. "Don't misunderstand it," he started, his tone flat and instructional. "Yes, your Aspect sounds imposing, but that doesn't always directly translate into immediate or easy power. A name is a description of function, not a measure of strength." He offered himself as the prime example. "My Aspect is 'The Thirsting Agony'. Not very strong sounding on the surface, is it? It lacks the grandeur of yours. What you should look for is not the sound, but the meaning of the name. 'The Thirsting Agony' means a Creature of Agony that thirsts for more Agony. So, the more agony I feed on, the stronger my Aspect becomes. It is a power that grows from suffering."
He then turned his analytical gaze back to Orion. "Your Aspect, 'The All-Consuming Sky,' suggests a sky that consumes all other skies. If I had to guess, your power should be intrinsically related to that draconic body of yours. It seemed pretty big... immense, even. Big enough to block a person's entire vision of the sky, to become the only sky they can see. Therefore, your power probably grows in tandem with the size and dominance of your Draconic form. The larger you become, the more you 'consume' the concept of the sky itself."
Orion nodded his head slowly, the initial burst of pride cooling into thoughtful consideration. It did make some sense, a logical progression he could follow. A bigger body meant more power. But there was something bugging him, a nagging detail, a sliver of information that seemed to be lacking or glossed over in the Monarch's clinical explanation. Orion felt its absence like a faint itch in his mind... but he couldn't point out what it was. The natural reaction in such a situation, born from a lifetime of having to piece together information from hints and half-truths in the back alleys, would be to inquire, to press for that missing detail. Orion was more than experienced in carefully, persistently bugging people stronger than him for information.
But the Thirsting Agony's presence was so extreme, so utterly oppressive, that Orion's instinct for self-preservation overrode his curiosity. He went back on his decision to ask, his courage wilting. He couldn't even muster the will to subtly defy his words or seek clarification. The Monarch's aura was a wall against which all questions shattered.
The man continued, delivering the catch with brutal simplicity. "But a body of that proposed size, would require absurd, unimaginable amounts of nourishment. The energy needed to sustain it, let alone to make it grow... it would be colossal. So... I am afraid, unless you keep hunting monsters at an unheavenly, relentless pace, you will not be able to advance very fast. Your growth will be tethered directly to your ability to constantly feed the beast you are becoming."
"ah!" Orion's excitement vanished in an instant, replaced by the cold splash of reality. His shoulders slumped. "So that's how it is, huh? Haha..." he spoke slowly, a hollow laugh escaping him. The grand name suddenly felt like a chain, a promise of power with an impossible price tag.
To be very honest, Orion's aspect didn't sound bad at all on paper. A power that allowed his strength to grow as his form grew with it was amazing! A perfect, self-reinforcing cycle. In reality, however, there was no reliable way he could achieve that growth. Unless he kept hunting like a madman, he could never gather enough nutrients, or enough Spiritual Essence, to support the metabolic demands of his own Aspect. It was a cruel joke.
"...Wait," a new, more terrifying thought striking him. "Doesn't that mean at some point, if I can't find enough food... I'll starve to death?!" The Aspect wasn't just a path to power; it was a gluttonous parasite that could consume him from the inside out if not constantly fed.
AH! Maybe accepting Thirsting Agony's pact wasn't such a bad idea after all! The support of a Monarch would solve this problem instantly. Resources, guidance, a steady supply of... nourishment. Panic began to set in.
"L-Lord Monarch, Actually—" Before Orion could desperately ask if the offer was still standing, another rift tore open in the fabric of his soul sea, its edges crackling with silent energy. The Monarch had clearly considered their business concluded.
"Since everything is settled, I will be going," Thirsting Agony stated, already turning towards the void. He began to slowly enter the rift, his form being swallowed by the darkness. He offered a parting phrase, a common benediction among Radiants: "May you find light in the darkness, child." But his words were utterly empty, carrying no sense of inspiration, care, or worry. They were sounds without meaning, a void of emotion, as hollow as his eyes.
Orion couldn't even finish his words after Thirsting Agony spoke. The finality in his tone was absolute. He only stayed silent, scared to even breathe, watching as the source of his terror and revelation departed.
When the man finally stepped completely through the portal, it snapped shut without a sound. The effect was immediate and profound. It was like the entire Soul Sea had been relieved of a heavy, suffocating burden. The intense pressure lifted, the muted colors came back to vibrant life, the luminous water calmed from its agitated state into a gentle, rhythmic flow, and the already vivid blues and golds surged, coloring the world even more intensely, as if trying to cleanse every last trace of torment the visitor had left behind.
Orion sighed, a long, shaky exhalation. "Hah, well... I will manage somehow..." he muttered to himself, a statement of hope more than certainty. He had to believe that. He changed his focus, forcing his attention away from the daunting future and back to the immediate present, to the soft, etherial ball of cotton still resting in his hands. This was a tangible step forward.
He raised the cotton to his forehead, following an instinct he didn't fully understand but trusted implicitly. He tried to grasp at its presence, to feel its energy just as he had with the Runix Cores back in the real world. He focused his will, and the cotton ball dissolved into motes of light, flowing into his forehead and being absorbed deep inside his soul.
He felt strange, different. This action he just did, this assimilation, made him feel like there was something else inside his Soul Sea now. But it wasn't an invader, not a conscious, overwhelming individual like the Thirsting Agony had been. What he had taken in felt like a guest, a presence he had willingly invited inside himself, a part of his own ecosystem now.
"Are you there?" Orion asked, sending the thought out into the stillness of his Soul. He wasn't directing it at anyone specific, but someone did reply. The reply, however, was... corrupted, archaic, and complex. It was a series of clicks, whirrs, and modulated tones that somehow formed meaning without using any language he knew. And it was completely without any hint of emotion. It actually sounded exactly, precisely like the impossible words Orion had spoken to Thirsting Agony earlier to define his own essence.
"Hello? Are you malfunctioning by any chance?" Orion asked, concerned that his new Familiar was broken.
Another minute of silence followed, filled only with the soft hum of his Soul Sea. Then, it spoke again, the sounds smoothing out slightly, becoming more structured. "...I am here... I am... me... and you." The voice stopped, processing, or better, analyzing something, accessing a new datastream. "Are the All-Consuming Sky... A sparkling?" The voice seemed to be reading Orion's own memory, piecing together his identity and current state of being from the information now available to it.
"It's working!!" Orion screamed in happiness, his earlier worries momentarily forgotten in a burst of pure joy. He had done it! He had a Familiar!
"Yes.... A complex array of energy... Spiritual Essence?" The voice seemed surprised by its own discovery, but confused at the same time, as if analyzing a fascinating new dataset. It didn't take long before the voice spoke again, now in a more practiced, polite but still deeply respectful manner. "This one Greets the All-Consuming Sky."
Orion didn't know what to say. The Voice, the familiar he had just absorbed, was greeting him so respectfully! It was a bizarre and wonderful feeling.
Orion smiled. "Yeah! Uh, The All-Consuming Sky greets the voice! Haha!..." Orion laughed to himself, the formality feeling both silly and uplifting. But then he shook his head. "The voice? Nah... that sounds wrong, I can't be calling you Voice!" It was too impersonal for something now living inside his soul.
Orion went into deep thought. What would be a good name for a voice that lived inside his head? He ran through possibilities. There wasn't any name that didn't sound like an insult, was there? Inner demon? This wasn't an inner demon! If anything, a familiar was like a guiding angel! Fake person? I mean, they're not even a person, and calling him fake didn't sound very polite. He needed something that denoted utility, partnership, and its role.
"Hmm, what can I call you, voice?" he asked the presence directly.
"The All-Consuming Sky can call me whatever they may like; I am here to serve..." it replied, its tone neutral and accommodating.
"Hmm... Not very helpful, is that?" Orion mused. But he realized the Familiar was most likely working off his own memories and limited knowledge; it probably didn't have any good ideas for names itself. "Bah! Whatever, you're here to help, right? To be a tool, a piece in the great game? So, Pawn! I will call you Pawn!" It felt right—a simple, straightforward name that acknowledged its role without overcomplicating things.
And just like that, with a declaration of will, Orion had named his Familiar! The process was complete. Orion had successfully absorbed and bonded with a Familiar!