LONG & LONGING

The voice that reached Leto was not a voice and it was not a whisper. It was a feeling. It was time suspended dripping into a star as the universe ground itself into dust beneath an open eye. It didn't hurt, Leto had half expected it to hurt since most things in this place seemed to eventually lead to pain, but even still his mind tried to recoil away from the sensation. There was a pregnant pause as Leto watched the yellow eye slowly observing him from different angles and then he summoned up his courage and pushed his mind to those sharp angles again to communicate.

- Hello. I am Leto. -

It was the only thing he knew how to say. A simple greeting and the sum of his person. In truth he was not saying Leto, not in a way this thing would really know. He was breaking down his entire self, a small creature that ages and then dies, someone who had friends and lost them, someone who tried very hard to learn and stained himself with the knowledge to get this far. Someone insignificant. He compressed all of that down to a thought and sent it out into the universe... into this thing. It was just nicer to say that he was pushing out his own name. The eye blinked again and then pushed its own self at Leto.

- I -

- I AM -

The weight of it pushed Leto to his knees. Just its greeting was a collection of abstract ideas and concepts that must have connected but which Leto couldn't fit together. Its concept of being was even more than that. Leto tried to find a comparison and all he could think of was water swallowing up the sky. It wasn't right and too shallow to even encompass the edges of this thing but it was the first thought that came to his mind. Then came a second thought, this one was difficult as well. Leto covered his ears as he felt something hot and wet run down his fingers and got the impression that if he could die in this place then he would have from his brain turning to mush.

- LIMIT -

- GIVE NAME -

Leto scrunched up his eyes to digest the idea. The words seemed to imply to make something small or bind it but when it asked for a name it was actually asking for many things. The eye watching it seemed to almost wait in predatory anticipation. A crescendo of actions leading to a tipping point and a growing sense of dread filled Leto as he realized this was more a demand than a request. He swallowed once in nervousness as he tried to think. A name that could match this creature... this presence that even the sky seemed to have trouble containing.

"I... I've..."

- Ivok -

Leto thought, sending out a... word. It had only the tinges of what this thing was as seen through the eyes of an ant, figuratively speaking. That was what this seemed like, and ant trying to describe the concept of religion. It had not the words nor the frame of reference to truly name these things and yet it gave a name all the same. It saw the shapes from its vantage on the ground and called them something to make it more malleable to its own understanding. And so it became. The pressure on Leto's mind lessened significantly and he was able to release a long slow breath that he hadn't even realized he'd taken. He couldn't remember the last time he had taken a breath, or maybe it was the same one he had taken in before dropping down into the water. The eye seemed to shift shape a color for a second, the yellow turning a touch amber and the pupil stretching wide at the sides like that of a goat.

- I...VOK. -

- IVOK. Ivok. Acceptable. -

The sense of this creature lessened as it seemed to fit itself into its new name like a pair of clothes, growing comfortable. Leto looked at the eye and it looked back at him in interest. He mustered up his will and sent out once more. - Hello. I am Leto. - He felt like a child and didn't particularly care for it.

- Hello Leto. I am Ivok. Why are you here? - Came the reply in not a voice but a feeling that left the imprint of the words on Leto's brain.

- Hello. I am Leto. - Leto said once more.

- Just speak. I am Ivok. You made me Ivok. I will understand now. - It replied with the barest hint of irritation. A feeling that raised the hair on Leto's back as it was the same level of annoyance this thing might display when squashing a bug or ripping up a mountain.

"Ah... I. I found a book. Melbore's book. It brought me here?" He said with uncertainty.

- Melbore... yes. Knew him but lost. He is beyond now. - Ivok replied. The emotions of the statement were strange and foreign. Leto didn't know what they meant or what could have caused them.

"Did... Did Melbore come here often Ivok?" Leto asked.

- No. He came to a different name. Only you may come here to Ivok. -

The answer was not what he was expected but Leto thought he understood the shape of it. Melbore gave this entity a different name to help limit it in his own way... Leto couldn't talk to that same limited idea because it was another's. He could only talk to the idea of Ivok since that name was a form made to interact with him. This realization stalled Leto for a second because it was frankly very specific. In fact if he gave it some thought he could realize a lot of small details about Ivok now not because they were entirely true but because he made them so. The act of naming Ivok had formed a connection between this thing and himself and it wore the name like a mask to lessen the strain on both of them trying to communicate so far out of their mutual comforts. It was dizzying to grasp a concept to quickly simply because it was a part of your mind now.

- What do you want -

"W-want? I... I don't know. I was under attack when I came here."

- Then safety - Ivok said. It did not ask because that was not what it was. Even before the question didn't feel like a question. It felt like something else, a hand being extended but which must also be taken in kind. Leto wasn't sure what the image or feeling of it really meant.

"I- No. Not safety. I am, was, a soldier."

- What do you want - Ivok said again.

"I want..." Leto thought of Adlas dead in the tent. Raona's eyes lightless windows into an empty house. So many satyrs crying as their horns were cut from their heads. "I want to help my people."

- What are your people - Ivok said. Again not a question. This one felt like a blank canvas waiting to be painted.

Leto wanted to say the satyrs but that wasn't entirely right. It was true but it wasn't the answer to Ivok's statement. So Leto closed his eyes and focused pushing against the sharp angles once more and feeling his skin prickle as he tried to arrange the shards into a new shape. Similar to his but not him... The cultural identity of a people pushed to the brink by the humans, dwarves, and elves. The High races that decided his people were game for sport and unfit to the basic respect they showed even the least of one another. Leto wasn't sure he could manage the shape perfectly but he thought he was close. He opened his eyes and locked gazes with Ivok letting the entity feast on the image Leto had painted. The eye's pupil dilated for a second and then seemed to turn up almost as if an unseen mouth was smiling fiercely.

- Ivok wants Observance -

- Engagement -

The words were strange again as if they didn't fit the shell of language too well. Leto scrunched up his brow and thought about them with care, the more he dissected the words the more meaning he pulled from them but the more pain it started to cause his head. Observance... Ivok wanted to see something but also wanted something to happen. It wanted things done that needed to be watched and would allow it to be watched? That seemed close. The term engagement was also strange, on the surface Leto thought of the rites of union his people sometimes took part of but when he concentrated on the thought it was both accurate and far from what Ivok was saying. Ivok wanted to influence things but to do so it needed to be more with Leto than they were. So they needed to unite so that it could touch the world. Yes... something like that. Ivok wanted Leto to do things that would let the entity watch and touch the world. The idea scared Leto for a moment before he focused on the idea of Ivok on the world again and realized that the being did not want to set itself onto the world, which was good as the weight of the thing was likely more than reality could withstand... it just wanted enough to... touch. Nudge things... small. It... wasn't so bad right?

"Um... I... I don't understand why?" Leto said lamely, unsure how to phrase his questions.

Ivok for its part seemed to grasp the confusion and after considering for a moment the eye closed and vanished. Yet the dark ground Leto stood on, which was Ivok's body, began to shift and swirl. A small base rose up that formed at the top a simple wide basin. In the basin Ivok's eye opened and slow tears of grey water poured and filled the bowl. Once it was full the eye closed and reopened at Leto's feet. In the grey water Leto saw touches of ink wisp up and form simple shapes. Stick figures falling into... water maybe? Then walking up to a bowl and putting their hand in the bowl only to rise up out of the water and walk the ground again. Leto watched the images repeat a few times before he looked to Ivok's eye at his hooves.

"I can go back?" He asked in a voice of strangled hope.

- We can -

Leto paused and considered the new thought. If Leto made this engagement, this deal, with Ivok he could return to the world. "If we go together... can I help my people?" Leto asked uncertainly.

- We can - Ivok repeated, those the words took on slightly different meanings in the mindscape that held Ivok's half of the conversation.

This was the deal it offered. A return to the world and a purpose to pursue in exchange for bringing this entity enough into the world to watch and touch it. Yet the implication, no the truth of it for there were no lies in Ivok's words only meaning, was that Ivok would help in the pursuit of Leto's goal. Help his people... with something as powerful as Ivok on his side could he do it? Would he do it?

"... Okay."