Heat, he thought, had something to do with the excitement of energy, or was it supposed to be the movement of matter? Whatever. The transference of energy. Theoretically, he was a being made entirely of energy at the moment. Also theoretically this whole place was imagined, if he was understanding god correctly. But that didn’t matter right now. Essentially it meant that he could transfer infinite energy in his soul because it was his soul sending more energy into itself. No external input or output is involved. At least that’s what he thought. So he glared at the snow with all his might. A twinge throughout his whole body and— he stumbled— and the entire area around him?

“Ugh,” he grunted as he fell inelegantly into the snow. That had been disorienting. It was like a messed-up form of proprioception. He paused, mentally adding the word ‘proprioception’ to his vocabulary.

The sense that lets us perceive the location, movement, and action of parts of the body. Go figure.

Anyway, it felt like that but mixed somehow with the abstract concept of cold. A million words for cold and the feeling. The smell and the taste amalgamated with a million more images of cold things.

As weird as it all felt, it felt like he was on the right track. The evidence being the approvingly interested look plastered all over Arx’s face.

The spirit dusted himself off and scooped up a new handful of snow. He’d managed to drop the old one when he fell.

He sat down. Sure it made his butt cold, but it already was. He tried to find the sensation again. An awareness of everything in and around himself. When he believed he felt the sensation of cold tickling at the back of his mind, he poured warm thoughts into it.

The snow sloughed off of his hand and landed in a growing puddle beneath him.

He yelped in a decidedly undignified manner when the icy water splashed him as a result. Arx was definitely looking a little too amused by this, though the spirit also thought he might have detected a bit of pride or contentment there too.

He flicked a bit of rapidly freezing water off of his hands and started again. Fire. Heat and the sun. He poured as much concentration into affecting his surroundings.

A wave of warmth hit the spirit like an engulfing wave that quickly doused him entirely. Compared to the cold suffusing his body, the new heat felt scorchingly hot. The sudden burn against his skin snapped his concentration and caused him to mourn his forgotten curse words.

But what was the difference this time? Why had this one burnt him? The last one hadn’t directly affected him with the heat. Was it because he had applied heat to just the cold before? He had forgotten to filter the sensation and limit it to only melting the snow, something he hadn’t been aware he was doing in the first place.

A series of shivers ran across his skin as the cold invaded it anew.

Again, he tapped into what he was beginning to suspect was a direct line to his soul, and focused on the cold. He fed it images of all the hot things he had brushed over in his scattered memories. A dozen and a half words for heat, warmth, fire. He glanced at the snow around him. Melting, but at such a slow pace that this simply had to be the wrong approach. What did the concept of cold have that his ideas of heat lacked? Depth? Emotion?

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Memories fell into place in his mind, like a falling star flashing across the sky.

A group of friends huddled around a fireplace. Loving and content to be with one another. He huddled under a blanket on the couch, shoulder to shoulder with the people he loved the most. He sipped on a cup of hot chocolate in his hands, only to almost spit it out immediately, laughing hard at a joke someone said.

Another memory. Hot tears traveled down his face, and his chest burned with rage at the unfairness of it all, that someone so kind and perfect could so easily be taken away by a chance encounter with the worst the world had to offer. He cursed the fact that the world could keep going like nothing had happened at all. That the sun could shine so cheerily after he had lost the most important part of his heart. Cursed the fact that he had to keep going when it hurt so much.

Burning resentment, simmering passion, hot shame, and a dozen other emotions swept over him, ending with a cold and hollow feeling of longing and loss. Missing what he could never see again.

“It will be okay, Cael.”

The spirit somehow knew ‘Cael’ was the name Arx had given him. He didn’t notice the odd feeling of resonance in his soul associated with the name. Not familiarity of a name remembered but of a title or concept of himself recognized by his very being.

Had he noticed, he would have been sufficiently impressed by Arx’s naming abilities. Instead, he was too occupied pouring heart-wrenching sobs into the plated chest of a relative stranger.

For his part, Arx wrapped Cael in a tight hug and held him patiently while he waited for the boy to calm down. The pair sat together for some time while the little spirit cried his heart out, Arx muttering comfortingly to him all the while. They stayed like that even after the tears had stopped.

Arx rubbed gentle circles over Cael’s back, cradling the spirit silently while he slept.

“I’m sorry,” Cael whispered hoarsely when he finally awoke.

Arx turned away from the stars he had been studying. “Don’t be.”

“Can we stay like this for a bit longer?” he asked awkwardly.

He received a small nod before Arx turned his attention back to the stars as if he was contemplating something rather interesting.

:(:):(:):(:):

Cael sat upright, leaning away from the armored giant.

“Okay, I think I’m ready to continue. Sorry.” His voice was quieter and much more subdued than when he had first spoken with Arx. He was completely drained.

“It’s alright,” Arx reassured him, “Would you like me to answer your last question or move on with the reincarnating process?”

Cael couldn’t even remember what he had asked last. Something to do with the ‘why’ of the destruction of his universe? Honestly, he didn’t care anymore. He was exhausted.

“Let’s move on.”

Arx nodded seriously. “In that case, the last thing I believe is important to tell you is about what to expect when you enter the world. You have already touched on it a bit. The energy that you connected to in order to melt the snow,” at this, he gestured to the soggy forest of broken trees that surrounded them. “That is mana, or magic if that makes more sense. Always present in the universe is what we refer to as the ‘System’. Its purpose is to help individuals access mana more easily and to grow more powerful. If you must use it, simply think so. It functions based upon intent, so there is no universal activation phrase.”

He stopped for a moment and seemed to think to himself.

“I believe that to be everything. Our next step is to assimilate you into the System.”

Arx held out his hand.

Cael just stared at it. He took a deep, shaky breath. “Is this goodbye?”

“For now.”

Cael nodded and took Arx’s hand as best as he was able.

“Thank you.” He spoke quietly, barely even a whisper to his own ears. Arx seemed to hear it anyway, his eyes softening noticeably.

“Good luck.”

Cael blinked and found himself in another place.