Reborn in sapphire

Orion struggled to comprehend the disparity of the situation. Except for some experiences far and few between, he never found himself in great danger. Before the day of his death, the most critical crisis was the options on a multiple-choice test. Although, if one was very creative, the current situation resembled one. And Orion didn't study for it.

"You mentioned something about god realm, just how many realms are there?" He wanted time to think, but not by sitting idle.

"Too many to count. Realms are like stars in the night sky. The old die and new ones take their place, forming an ever-repeating cycle."

"And where do I come from?" Their world lacked the concept of realms, only calling the three different places they knew: hell, heaven, and earth. Of course, not every race shared those names.

"I don't know. I met you in the netherworld." Lux's words caused a frown to appear on Orion's face. He just discovered something interesting, but couldn't get any information about it.

"Does that mean I won't return home?" If Lux didn't know, how would it bring him there? Somehow, part of him wasn't opposed to that. Ages passed since he last met his family and he didn't know if he would like their reaction to his sudden reappearance. What if they already moved on and his coming back would only hurt them again?

Fear of rejection plagued his mind. Even though he could barely remember his family's faces, his closure never faded. "I miss them," Orion said, old memories surfacing. A strange expression formed on his face. "Why is it always missing but never mistering?" Orion's pondering look made it seem like he actually thought about it, although Lux hoped to be mistaken.

"If you side with me, I can bring you back. We don't need to know," Lux interrupted Orion's lament. But he didn't know if he should be joyous about it. "Your family won't have forgotten you, Orion." His facial expression revealed all of his fears.

"How would you know?"

"Because they don't even know you're gone." Lux's answer only confused him more. How would they not have noticed their only son's disappearance after so long? "I can see what you're thinking, but you won't figure it out."

"Well, enlighten me then."

"Time flows faster here than in other realms." One minute outside roughly equaled two months in the abyss. A helpful scale, if one could tell time in the void. Since Orion had long lost track of it, he could only guess. But whatever the guess was, it would be far too little for his family to forget him.

"That is both disturbing and relieving." Orion didn't know which side won, but the information let him rest his worries. "With that sorted out, I have one last requirement."

"Go on."

"I assume there's a contract, right?"

"Bonding with a magic artifact entails one, yes."

"Ensuring my revenge should be listed as a clause," Orion spoke with a blaze in his eyes. Whatever Lux replied would either make or break their deal.

"Already done. Ready?"

Orion gave a steadfast nod. He made his decision. If it would help him, he would do so too.

"Let us sign the contract, then."

A bamboo scroll appeared between the two, drawing Orion's attention. The coal-like caps connecting the two ends appeared boring against the lavish parchment they held. Like magic, it slowly unraveled itself.

"And you're sure that you didn't add anything bad?" Orion couldn't help but raise his question. The wall of text covering the parchment was written with the same archaic letterings as the ones in the temple. The problem was, he still couldn't read it.

Lux assured him that the contents matched their discussion, not that he could disprove it. Orion needed to have faith in its words. "How do I sign it?" Orion asked, having decided.

"Since you can't bleed, touch it with the intent to sign it."

"Wait, that works too?" With this newfound knowledge, Orion thought about the poor souls in his realm. If only they knew.

He put his finger on the course paper, imagining his signature appearing. With a light sting, Orion felt as though a needle threaded a string through his finger. It traveled up his arm and arrived at his heart, tying a knot around it. His body shivered, remembering the unpleasant sensation. "Is it supposed to feel this odd? It felt like a fish swam in my arm."

"It's your first time, so that is to be expected."

"So it gets better over time?"

"No. But I can't feel it. I'm just a book, after all." Lux thought of itself as very humorous. Evident by the bellowing laughter. But only one person in the abyss felt that way.

"What nest? Sorry, next." The contract signed, there shouldn't be anything left for them in the void. Or so Orion thought.

"The last major hurdle, you." Although the words sounded offensive, Orion could tell they meant otherwise.

"What abo- Ahh… my body, right?" Orion once again hit the bullseye with his assumption. He currently possessed no physical body, making it difficult for him to return to his realm.

To Lux, who knew about that since the beginning, this didn't pose an issue. "We'll just make you a new one," it said, in a lax tone.

"I'm sorry, what?" If Orion could hear his thoughts, it would have been the sound of static. The subject matter didn't fit Lux's way of expressing itself, but that wasn't anything new by now. "You know what? Let's just do it. I can't be bothered to think too deeply."

Right after Orion agreed, a translucent net formed around him. Like a Snowglobe without the snow, it encased him, rotating with sporadic changes. The web converged, filling the holes, and turning into one continuous fabric.

After one last look at Lux, Orion closed his eyes, letting the magic wrap around his body. It stuck to his skin and displayed every little detail with absolute precision. Like a heartbeat, his body trembled.

On instinct, he raised his right hand to his chest. He couldn't believe it when he felt wave after wave hitting it, resembling a feeling he had long forgotten. "Am I alive again?" He asked both himself and Lux.

"Like before, you are still something in-between. I just put you more on the alive side of the spectrum."

That didn't help him, so he decided not to bother with it. Instead, relishing in the fact that he had an at least somewhat normal body again.

The only difference an outsider could tell would be the blueish hue it had. Not very striking, but still noticeable. There was no blood flowing through his veins. In its place, a viscous sapphire liquid. Visible because the sudden change gave him a nosebleed.

Its appearance reminded him of threads of energy that coursed through his body, only now in liquid form. "Could it be?" If the energy from before was like mana, and now it comprised his body, wouldn't that mean he melded with it?

"No. You did not." Orion's expression gave him away again. Lux also thought that at first, but dismissed it because of a key difference.

At the elemental recreation stage, the entire body would merge with one or multiple elements. Not overwriting the previous constitution, but rather turning two into one.

His body didn't share the two-to-one ratio. Since he didn't have a physical body to begin with, it was more like one-to-one. Instead of fusing with an element, his constitution was the element.

"What am I then? What are these blue threads?"

"Flux, the element of passage. I can't tell you more than that since you are the first to wield it."

"Sounds amazing. Do you know what doesn't? You just implied that you had no idea if this would work." Orion connected the dots and reached a conclusion he wasn't fond of. If he really was the first, Lux's magic had never been tested before. Rather, never successfully been tested before.

"Come on now, I did my research. I knew it would turn out fine." Lux cursed silently at its poor choice of words. It just got Orion to rely on it, and now this. "As you said, let's not think too deeply about it." If Lux could, a grin would grow on its face. Orion couldn't see it, but he knew that, too.

"We'll just observe your body for now and hope nothing goes awry."

"It's my body we're talking about. Could you not be a bit more considerate?"

"I gave it to you, so it's mine."

"…"

Orion vowed to never let anyone know of what happened in the abyss. If anyone knew he couldn't win an argument against an immoral tome, his reputation would be ruined.

"So we leave now?"

"First of all, I won. And to answer your question, yes."

Orion couldn't wait to be out of this forsaken place. Unknown dangers awaited him outside, but he wasn't afraid. Together with Lux, no one could stop him on his path to revenge.