Chapter 2 - Einsoleon

Despite being surrounded by it, light was disappearing from his range of perception. The last effort caused him a sensation of torture and the next moment he felt nothing... The light went out.

Suddenly, an intense nuclear reaction occurred near him. A particularly vigorous collision released a wave of energy. By absorbing small fragments of the energy released by these collisions, he felt a faint increase in his own intensity. It wasn't enough, but it was a start. He had managed to awaken.

"I need more," he told himself, feeling a spark of hope. But he was still far from being safe. Every second counted, and the energy he managed to absorb was quickly depleted.

He approached another reaction, this time with greater determination. Upon absorbing the released energy, he felt a wave of vitality coursing through his being. His perception began to clear, and his consciousness expanded slightly.

He began to move with more purpose, seeking the most vigorous reactions, the most energetic collisions. Each time he absorbed the released energy, his intensity increased a little more, and with it, his capacity for perception and thought.

But not all reactions were equal. Some released little energy, and in those moments, fear and desperation invaded him once more.

"What if I don't find enough energy? What will happen if my consciousness fades completely?" The uncertainty was terrifying, but he had to keep going.

Finally, after titanic effort and a series of absorptions, he felt a relative stability. His energy still fluctuated, but he no longer felt on the verge of disappearance. He had learned something vital about his nature: he needed to absorb the surrounding energy to remain conscious and expand.

♢♢♢♢

The conscious ray felt an imperative need to grow, to strengthen himself. Now that he understood how to absorb the energy released by nuclear fusion reactions, he devoted himself entirely to this task with a scorching intensity.

Every moment that passed, every thought, consumed his energy and he did not want to disappear.

He moved frantically through the dense solar plasma, zigzagging at full speed in search of the most vigorous atomic collisions. Along the way, he experienced countless collisions with charged particles like electrons and ions, which caused him to deflect and constantly change direction.

But far from discouraging him, these "dispersions" became part of his hunting strategy. He took advantage of the deflection angles to approach the most active regions, where the nuclear reactions burst with the greatest ferocity.

At times, his energetic form was momentarily absorbed by a chain of reactions, only to be re-emitted instants later. These brief intervals of "captivity" allowed him to rest fleetingly before returning to his incessant hunt.

Despite the dangers and obstacles, the conscious ray pursued his mission with an unbreakable tenacity. He absorbed every flash of energy, every infinitesimal amount of power released by the nuclear collisions. With each absorption, he felt his strength slowly but steadily increase.

The vast immensity of the solar core became his playground, his endless hunting ground. He tracked the most powerful fusion reactions with increasing skill, moving from one to the next with grace, feeding on their energetic exhalations.

As time passed, or at least what his dilated perception considered such, the conscious ray noticed changes in his own nature. His energetic form became denser, more compact, as if strengthening on a fundamental level.

Slowly, he began to discern the intricate patterns that underlay the apparent chaos of the solar plasma. What had once seemed like random collisions now revealed a dance carefully choreographed by invisible but immutable forces.

He understood that the hydrogen atoms did not move randomly, but rather followed predetermined trajectories in the apparent chaos, orbiting and colliding according to a vast tapestry of fundamental laws that orchestrated the behavior of all matter and energy.

With this new understanding, the conscious ray learned to anticipate nuclear reactions, to read the subtle signals that presaged an imminent collision. He positioned himself strategically, avidly drinking in the bursts of power released in each fusion.

♢♢♢♢

Age: 8 days (Approximately 55 years in human perception).

Years passed, at least from his dilated perspective. The conscious ray continuously strengthened, expanding his perception and understanding of the subatomic cosmos with each new acquisition of energy.

However, as he grew larger, a feeling of emptiness, of loneliness, also grew within him. He had spent a small eternity immersed in the same dense layer of the solar plasma, feeding on the same nuclear reactions over and over again.

Despite the vast complexity he now unraveled, the patterns he discovered in every nook of the blazing core, a part of his being began to feel... lost. Confined to a small crevice of the cosmos.

Amidst this inner storm, the conscious ray realized he needed a way to express his identity, a concept of self that would help anchor his volatile essence amid the cosmic chaos.

Reflecting deeply, he chose for himself a name that captured his nature and his birthplace.

A name that, had a language existed in that remote corner of the cosmos, would encompass the meanings of loneliness, one, sun and aeon, from the Greek "aion", meaning "age" or "eternity".

His name would have sounded something like:

"Einsoleon".