Chương 19: 10B. The Endless Cycle

"First, we need to establish what you'll provide in this deal and what I'll need to do to satiate and nurture our relationship," Sam said, somehow managing to keep his voice from shaking. Now that he had calmed, Oroboros's presence unnerved him. The cosmos seemed to gleam through the black blood, and he saw flashes of something bigger and far more terrifyingly incomprehensible before him. The serpent's body didn't seem fake so much as an incomplete picture. What's real? What's a projection?

How much of everything is my brain concocting to make sense of it?

"Shrewd. Smart. Only fools accept deals and gifts without discovering the consequences."

"Flattery won't work." Despite the possible cosmic horror before him, Sam clung to his resolve.

"I need a clear answer if this is going to work."

"Was I mistaken?" The giant serpent hissed, shaking the platform. Fragments of the ceiling fell around Sam and Iris, but none landed on them. Broken, bouncing pieces disintegrated before contact.

"Are you a fool?" The world seemed to fade altogether for a moment, and Sam saw Oroboros looping in what he could only describe as a four-dimensional space, twisting forward and backward simultaneously but still maintaining the loop. Countless versions of the serpent did the same all around him, floating in nothing and everything, and once. It all disappeared as he forced himself to hold on to consciousness.

"Only death awaits you outside. Your companion will certainly perish. My strength is your only hope for survival."

"If I leave without your gift and die, what happens to you?" Sam asked, refusing to let his voice tremble. Oroboros's form was intimidating, but no malice radiated from the giant body. He was almost sure the Great Spirit didn't have any ill will toward him; at the same time, he wasn't foolish enough to think it wouldn't extinguish him for being a pest or threat.

"The Inhumans' corruption will eventually make it down here. It will get you, too. This isn't about you doing me a favor or saving me. This is about us helping each other. Hence, we need an equitable deal." Oroboros ceased moving but didn't release its tail. Giant eyes focused on Sam, Iris's glowing with the lights of all the stars and nebulae he had glimpsed.

"You shall have the power to restore balance and survive."

"How?"

"My domains. Genesis and Terminus. Terminus will dismantle and decay all it touches. Essences and corruption included. Genesis will rebuild and restore. Use one to gather materials and the latter to construct and strengthen your Vessels." A ripple spread from Oroboros. Everything decayed as the wave approached, then regenerated, looking as good and new as when it passed.

"Sufficient?"

"No," Sam replied, feeling more confident.

"Your domains are unique. No manuals or tomes will help me build my Vessels. I'll have to adapt others and eventually develop my own. Give me a familiar or guide."

"Anything else?" Amusement and annoyance radiated from the ancient spirit at once. They were far less unnerving than Oroboros's confusion. Sam worried he was pushing his luck, but he understood the importance of negotiation in such exchanges. He was lucky to have encountered an interested Great Spirit, but only a fool would walk away without an equitable deal.

"An exit," Sam answered after a moment to think. His vision had started to blur, and he felt lightheaded. Thinking clearly had become a challenge. Sights that made no sense surrounded him. It was clear that the Oroboros he saw was a form his brain had put together. Sam didn't doubt that the Great Spirit's true form would prove maddening to his mortal mind.

"You'll leave after our contract is established, and I'll be left dealing with the Inhuman and its horde. Do you have a way to get me far from here?"

"It shall be done. What do you offer in return?" Sam dug into his pockets and fished out the talent seeds and essences.

"I wanted the barrier seed for my future," He said.

"It felt perfect for the type of awakened I wanted to be. Your anomaly also attracted a compatible spirit. This is the path I wanted, but yours is the one I'll accept." Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"Insufficient. But they will do." The serpent ceased moving and opened its jaw. Oroboros's tail rapidly regenerated as it delicately accepted the offering. The talent seeds and essences were gone when the looping resumed. Sam's heart dropped. He had hoped the serpent would leave him with one to trade later, or have him use either, but his suspicions that Greater Spirits grant their own talent proved true.

"You will feed me corruption and essences to retain access to my power. Building blocks and growth will come slower until you complete your first star. But that is the cost of deferred payment."

"How do I feed you? Will breaking things down with Terminus suffice?" A fleshy mass rose from the blood trail Oroboros's tail had left while retrieving the offering. It solidified into a rough-scaled serpent with scales similar to its progenitor's, but it lacked the whiskers and dorsal growth. The serpent coiled into a tight circle, then leaped. Sam threw up his arms in surprise, but the creature slithered past his meager defense and disappeared into his chest. A warm wave spread from the point of entry.

It washed away Sam's aches and pains. All exhaustion went with it. He felt all his wounds knit themselves closed, and the tightness in his shoulder from the past half a decade also faded. Sam felt stronger than he ever had before. It felt as if someone had lit a fire inside his body, but instead of burning him from the inside, it was reinforcing every bone, muscle fiber, and organ. The sensation began at the point of entry and pulsed outward, accelerating as it reached his limbs and worked toward his extremities.

One moment, Sam was weak, in pain, and light-headed; the next, he was whole. He felt awake, repaired, and good as new. Awareness came with awakening. Sam became aware of his empty soulspace and caught a glimpse of the unexpected pair of Vessel foundations waiting for him to build upon. His familiar slithered around and between them, moving in the same looping path like Ouroboros, drawing the infinity symbol into the white sand.

When he held up his right hand, the same snake emerged, slithering up his sleeve as if from nowhere.

"Are you—" Correct. I'm Oros. All the distant whispers calling to Sam had disappeared. Only the serpent's soft words now echoed within his head.

"What do you do?" Assist. Protect. Guide. Consume essence. Consume corruption. Convert to power. The explanation was brief but sufficient for now. His domains involved the phenomena of decay and regeneration that continued to loop around him. What Sam was witnessing was them in their crudest form, but he was sure that, with the proper application and Vessels, he could turn them into something much more.

A deep, rumbling growl radiated from Oroboros, shaking the station and momentarily halting the cycle of decay and regeneration. A section of the wall to Sam's right cracked and crumbled, forming a rough opening. A curtain of the Great Spirit's 'blood' hung over it.

"Are we really done here?" Sam asked.

"I have questions. I'm not sure I completely understand what you need—" Oroboros sank into the floor through the bloody trail its movements had left behind, and the cycle of decay and regeneration slowed. You have me. I am your companion. I am your guide. Now is not the time. The domains were open to interpretation, which granted flexibility but also a challenge. Meanwhile, breaking down essence and corruption to feed Oroboros and build Vessels confused Sam.

In all his studies, he had never encountered anything like it. The Awakened were supposed to construct their Vessels using energy drawn in from the new world and the domains granted by their spirits. They only used essences to augment and build upon the structures in their soulspace. Sam's new talent would either make the process easier and more versatile. Alternatively, his growth would go at a snail's pace, forcing him to purchase essences or fight beasts in hopes of finding them. Then there was also Oros.

Sam believed the familiar's function went beyond consuming essences and corruption, and producing building materials for Vessels.

"Assist. Protect. Guide." Little was known about Great Spirits because of their supposed rarity and extreme pickiness. Few mortals likely got the opportunity to encounter the entities when they appeared. Not many unawakened individuals willingly marched deep into the wilds, after all. Oroboros came with great power, but also limitations. He was sure there would be limitations when the time came to bond new spirits.

"Just give me the tools to survive for now, Oros. We'll see about the rest later." Even though the Great Spirit had disappeared, its presence lingered. Sam felt it and Oros within himself. It was not the time to marvel at his new strength or the serpent that retreated back up his arm and into his chest. He scooped up Iris again and hesitantly marched through the fluid curtain.