One Lifetime Is Never Enough

1.47 Oblivion

The inability to tell the passing of time was slightly vexing, but deep down he knew it should have been the norm for him.

After all, did he not use to just roam the sky in limbo?

Always waiting for his reincarnations, his tribulations, the tempering of his immortal soul.

Rinse and repeat.

But nevertheless, at the moment he felt anxious. He needed to be somewhere;

He needed to be by someone's side.

And he did not know how long he had been trapped here in darkness. His soul was murky.

But he knew one thing: he could not keep that person waiting.

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The memory was a blur. A jumble of images that he was not sure if they were of his past or present.

Or perhaps just figments of his lonely soul's imagination.

The flower spirit - not quite forming her defined form yet - had always been watching. From where she took roots on the ground, aiming and constantly reaching for him in the sky.

Because when she needed water, he commanded the rolling clouds to bring forth rain. When she needed the sun, he commanded the sky - that was his domain - to be clear, to let her bask in the blessing of the sun deity.

For him, it was always merely an obligation.

Because immortals that had become the gods, had their own roles to play to keep nature in balance.

Such as the moon deity. Such as the seer.

Such as himself.

For beings that lived and thrived in the immortals' realm, more-so, these responsibilities were never doubted or questioned. It was their role.

For him, she used to be just another entity that was awaiting sentience. Nothing out of ordinary.

Still, every now and then, the white tree bloomed. Whenever the rain fell, the juvenile spirit opened her petals to soak all that the sky had bestowed. Years and decades passed, every time she started blooming, she sent her petals to the sky - there was no doubt it was her way of showing appreciation, or affection... towards him.

A fluttering dance of whites.

He would be lying if he said he was not moved.

In the bleakness that was his eternity, she was the only thing that vivified his existence.

Then, after his first reincarnation after a few millenniums - part of all immortals' tribulation to sustain their soul strength - he became imbalanced.

And as a result of the disturbance to his soul, caused by all mortal despairs he carried along with his death in the mortal realm, chaos befell the sky.

The seer's endless water was also disturbed, while the moon deity silently observed as always.

It was much too early for her spirit to take form. But still she reached out to him. And still, he hurt her. It almost destroyed her spirit.

She - who had always been waiting for him.

For the first time, he felt the dread of losing something. Perhaps it was an illusion of emotion carried over from his last incarnation. But as he embraced her fading figure and imparted a part of his immortality to her spirit, he made a promise to himself;

This time, numerous times, all the time that could ever be granted to him --

-- he would follow her;