Life

Azurious found himself floating in space. Far away, stars twinkled in the darkness, then a spark in the void, gasping first breath in the universe, then growing quickly, pulsing like a heart.

The presence was made up of tentacles and roots, leaves and scales, feathers and fur, shells and skin, bark and goo. Tunnels traveled through it, inviting like mouths of ravenous beasts. In places, it swelled and deflated. And every time Azorious blinked, it would change shape, size, color, and appearance.

At times he saw small cancers grow over it, devouring the rest of the body, only to be devoured in turn by new growths. Every cell constantly struggled to exist in the face of fierce competition, adapting to the challenges and continuously evolving.

The more he looked, the more he understood. Not everything was competing alone. Some symbiotic relationships existed between the organisms making up Life, everything was interconnected, and it took time to follow the connections to see it.

The Forma of Life was unpredictable, ever-changing, and constantly evolving, but it was also made of connections to the ambient outside and the organisms within.

It breathed even in the absence of air, absorbing light, radiation, and space debris, before converting it into spore seeds, breathing them out ready to propagate in the universe.

Azurious saw all of this and more, the rhythmic movements of the heart of Life pulled him in, and as he fused with the Forma, he was reborn a billion times, seeing life through the lens of every creature that ever existed.

He was reborn as a fish in an alien ocean, growing up alone until the day a shark-like beast ate him. Then he was reborn as that same shark and so on until he was abruptly thrown out of the Forma, back into reality, confused whether he was Azurious who had just had a dream of fusing with the Forma or whether he was the Forma dreaming of being Azurious.

He looked around; Azurious sat in a dark cave; he could feel the soft soil under him and barely outline the cave walls and stalagmites thanks to brightness coming from a crack in the wall that supposedly led outside.

Memories of the Forma began fading, and he grew convinced of being Azurious, the man that found the origin of mana to bring back-

Suddenly remembering the reason for his adventure, he looked around in a panic, not seeing the glass coffin containing his heart and soul. The feeling of deep discomfort reminiscent of reaching for your keys but having empty pockets struck hard.

"Good morning. Did you sleep well? Any interesting dreams?" The Stag appeared, glowing in dim white light, brightening the cave to an acceptable state.

"I..." He wanted to answer and tell of his dream but couldn't remember anything anymore, just a vague sense of emptiness in his heart. He turned increasingly frustrated. "Where is Eleria?" He demanded dryly.

"You are not a good conversation partner." The Stag replied, trotting around the cave, sniffing at the ground with its skull.

"You don't have to worry about her. She is under my care, and she will remain so until the day I deem it so." The Stag smirked, side-eyeing Azurious.

In turn, Azurious felt so angry he reached out to his mana, ready to teach the bag of bones a lesson. But just like the previous metaphor about keys and pockets, he felt his hand grasp nothing.

A memory of promising to give away all his powers resurfaced, and he grimly stared at the Stag, offended but unable to act upon it.

"Don't take it so hard. First of all, it's not like she will miss you if you remain separated for a while. Second, without your mana, her dear coffin would melt in a few hours, so if anything, I'm doing you a favor." Its bones clacked together in some macabre laugh, Azurious supposed.

While lashing out would be a great way to vent his frustrations, Azorious held it in.

The Stag was right. As he was now, he couldn't protect himself or Eleria, nor could he do anything to the Stag. Shaking his head, he calmed down.

"So what now?" he asked, curious about the cave and its purpose.

The Stag walked over without answering and placed something at his feet. A black worm, smaller than a bean, wriggled happily on the soil in front of Azurious.

"What's that?" Azurious asked, dumbfounded.

"Shh, don't think, feel."

Azurious looked at the little worm in silence, getting closer to have a better look. The little fella had no eyes or other features, just a long thin body.

As Azurious was about to give up, unable to find anything, he finally felt something, a faint connection between him and the worm, an invisible thread that not only connected the two of them but the many organisms in the cave.

He could tell there were over a hundred worms and bugs all over the cave, hiding in the soil, under the rocks, feeding on moss.

This web seemed to have him at the center of it all, and he could feel something else, a small but constant trickle of mana, so gentle in comparison to his previous ocean that he barely noticed it.

"Good, I didn't waste my afternoon after all." The Guardian nodded. "You came in contact with Life, so now you are Life, remember those words carefully." It said before turning around and walking towards the exit. "I will observe you, don't fail my expectations." He finally concluded with a sideglance full of meaning.

Azurious nodded half-mindedly, as his attention was still focused on the microscopic world he could feel around him. By focusing on a particular thread, Azurious could even share their senses. The bitter taste of dirt, the vibration of the soil, the wind currents under his wings.

Not only that, while not particularly complex, he could 'hear' their thoughts, which mainly compromised of 'hunger', 'cold', 'mate'.

Amazed, it took him a while to realize the Stag had left. As a habit, he turned around, looking for a coffin hat wasn't there. A sense of loneliness washed over him. Eleria was gone once again.

He sat down, trying to hold back tears when he felt warm feelings come in his direction through the web of mana. While not complex enough to have what humans would call feelings, the tiny organisms still reacted to his downtrotted mood and replied with the only happy feeling they had. 'Full'.

A slight smile broke down on his face, and he reached back with a thank you.