119 The Sun and His Sunflower (1/2)

Alma FattyBai 35210K 2022-07-21

There was a particular feeling that emerged the day he had realized where he stood as an individual in the wider plane known as the World.

A feeling of immense weight.

It was as if someone had thrust upon him the heaviest object that could be conceived: The sum of all things that were.

He nearly drowned when the Divine Furnace had bonded with him.

An unbroken stream— no, a polyphonic flood of shapes, colors, and sounds had assaulted the remnants of his fleeting consciousness. The framework of reality come undone for the newly awoken transcendent being.

Everything that'd been hidden underneath the surface layer of reality — the beautiful patina of the corporal world — had become visible him in an instant.

Hundreds of trillions of thoughts, wishes, ideas, and memories had passed through him from the ancient past, the ever-changing present, and the distant future…

Stars pleaded to him for his protection in the past, while the ever-blossom trees from the future sang songs of worship across the gulf of time in the future.

It'd been too much for him to handle. He'd not been prepared for the sudden and overwhelming rush of sensory stimuli.

Had it not been for her timely intervention, he would have likely experienced a permanent and unrecoverable ego death, forever lost in an endless tide of unbound space and time…

Her voice had brought him back from the brink and given the clarity he desperately needed. She had become an immovable anchor in the midst of all the chaos around him — a static, unchanging presence that he could nestle himself against the unforgiving and unrelenting storm.

She had become a guidepost, a reference point that he could use to properly reconstitute his own identity — his own image of himself…

Still, it's so goddamn embarrassing to think that I had to become that… thing in order to finally see her for herself.

Reed sighed.

\”Hm? Why the long face? What ails you, dear?\” said Lu'um. She knew that his sigh was almost always indicative of an issue when it concerned Reed. Lu'um knew that he was no longer the type to sigh carelessly because of trivial problems, regrets, or frustrations.

In past, Reed might've been like that but it rarely ever happened after he'd grown out of his shell.

He really didn't want to tell the truth but knew that if he didn't, she'd have him dead to rights regarding the promise they'd made to one another.

But he if had to be honest, he disliked it. Not the contents of the promise, of course, but rather that they had to make a promise like that in the first place.

It shouldn't even have to be stated, let alone made into a promise — a rule, a law to be followed by the both of us.

It should have been the natural thing to do from the outset.

After all, who'd ever want to lie or hide secrets from their significant other?

Behavior like that… does not bode well for any relationship, be it romantic, platonic, or familial. It reeks of… insincerity and indifference to the feelings of others.

It was different for him. He, who had lived and grown up alone, had developed a unique perspective as some who'd once been an outsider.

For a majority of his life, he'd been a loner at heart; someone who had willingly cut himself off from the world.

\”…Hunger really is the best spice in the world. Normal people don't know how good they have it because they've never felt how it feels like to starve. If they knew much it hurts, they'd never act the way they often do,\” said Reed.

They lack the required perspective to see what they're actually doing. Sullying the most precious possession they own without even understanding its true worth…

\”Can there be anything more pitiful than this? I do not know… But I do know that's probably it's among the worst things one can do. And I know this because I, too, have been guilty of the same detestable crime at least once—\”

Lu'um covered Reed's mouth with one of her hands and said, \”Shh… Do you hear that, my love?\”

Reed's eyes darted around their living room in confusion and then let out a muffled, unintelligible grunt. He had no clue what she was talking about.

She straddled Reed, kissed his forehead and then whispered in a honeyed tone, \”…That was the sound of my forgiveness relieving you of your guilt. Did you hear it?\”

Her sweet, hushed voice felt like velvet on his ears, an extremely enjoyable sensation that perked Reed up in… various ways, so to speak.

Such was the unique privilege of youthful, passionate love not unlike theirs.