Chapter 1: I Also Have One
A Name...
A name serves as an identity, distinguishing one from a sea of beings. I also have a name.
I was given the name "Cyan," the color of the clear sky, by someone I cannot remember.
With this name came consciousness. In most cases, when a soul receives a calling, they are given both a name and a body. However, I was given neither a calling nor a body, as if I were intentionally excluded by the goddess of birth—or perhaps it was by design; I do not know.
It has been a long time since I gained consciousness. I've always been here, floating as an astral soul—drifting or still, with no clear distinction or direction.
Yet, I was not bored. I have observed countless worlds for millions of years. I witnessed battles, tragedies, love, betrayal, sins, efforts, and schemes. I experienced everything a world has to offer—yet I was only a spectator. With nothing but time on my hands, I analyzed these events repeatedly, running simulations in my mind about how to escape various situations, how to control, create, and conquer everything I saw. I engraved everything I observed and learned into my very core.
Survival of the fittest, the rule of the strong, the power of words.
There were even some gods among the worlds I observed, and some of them could sense my presence. I would help them with my knowledge, offering stories and new information.
For millions of years, I observed worlds and scenarios over and over again, and at one point, they became boring. There was no thrill in being a spectator anymore.
I longed for a body...
As an astral soul, I do not get tired nor do I need sleep. However, watching beings sleep with blissful expressions made me wish to experience it myself. I struggled for years to achieve a state similar to sleep, trying various approaches until I finally succeeded in tuning the world out.
I do not know how long I slept, but while I rested, a part of my soul kept observing and learning.
One day, the space where my astral soul resided shifted. The awakened part of me notified me, and I woke up to find myself in a new realm, very different from the astral space I had known until then.
Unlike the essentially empty astral space, I was now in a white space that kept changing. The area below me became solid and smooth, like the marble I had seen in other worlds. Light filled the space, and stairs formed, along with pillars. A white throne, also made of marble but slightly different from the one on the ground, appeared. The space was vast, much of it occupied by something akin to clouds.
"Oh, you've already arrived. Welcome, Cyan," an enchanting voice resonated in my mind. Even in my billion years of existence as an astral soul, I had never encountered a voice this captivating—not even those of the gods.
Clouds gathered before the throne, slowly taking the shape of a woman. As time passed, the figure became clearer and more defined, until she came into full view.
The woman was of incomparable beauty; her form was so close to perfection that there was nothing to critique. She had pale golden hair and dull golden eyes, a face that would make the very moon envious, and lips softer and redder than roses. She wore white garments adorned with golden embellishments that enhanced her curvaceous figure.
"Before anything else, I'd like to apologize for my neglect over the past several hundred thousand billion years. As the goddess of creation, the responsibility lies solely with me for not finding you sooner," said the goddess. Her voice, while enchanting, carried an air of authority that rivaled that of a thousand gods I had encountered before, surpassing them to the point where comparison seemed futile.
"I'm sure you have many questions, but before that…" She waved her hand, and clouds began to emerge around me, enveloping me and forming a body of my own.
"How does it feel to finally have a body?" she asked, sitting on her throne as if mocking Cyan or perhaps genuinely curious.
"It feels suffocating, as if I'm in a cage," Cyan replied.
"Good. For astral souls who first get a body, most go insane. The feeling of suffocation is akin to cutting off the wings of a bird; it's painful, and then it's imprisoned in the body. That aside, are you satisfied with the body? I took extra care while making it, not as an apology but as a token of goodwill."
As she finished speaking, clouds gathered, and in the blink of an eye, a mirror was formed.
Cyan observed the reflection in the mirror.
He saw a slender, well-proportioned body of a boy who looked no older than 18. He had short, pale golden hair and dull silver eyes, with a physique that was close to perfection. It was clear that the Goddess of Creation had worked quite hard on it.
"Ah... Ahgh... it feels strange, and the resemblance to you is uncanny," Cyan finally managed to speak, after a little effort.
"Preposterous! How dare you speak to the goddess so casually?" a loud female voice echoed, bringing down a pressure on the newly formed body that threatened to crush it.
"Enough, Almiera. I allowed it," the Goddess of Creation waved her hand, revealing a woman in light armor while dispersing the pressure on Cyan.
"You are excused, Almiera. Make sure no one else intrudes on us again."
"As you command, Goddess," Almiera bowed, disappearing as soon as she appeared.
"She's certainly like a storm," Cyan commented, stretching his body.
"She certainly is... she's the daught of a lesser storm deity, and you my dear are adapting quite quickly to the body," the Goddess praised, noting how well Cyan was getting used to his new form.
"Now that it's done, let me start again. I am Inofieus, the Goddess of Creation, and again I apologize for the mishap and delay in finding you, even after discovering that the one created by the Goddess of Life had gone missing." Her voice conveyed her feelings of guilt clearly.