Chapter Text
Map by me :)
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"Have you heard the call of the portal?
It makes my skin sing, my lungs vibrate, and my soul dissolve
It is everywhere around me
I step inside and I fear that it will swallow me whole,
will take my soul
and feed it to the hungry Nothingness
in the space between you and me."
–Azrael, title unknown
•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•
The Nothingness, Eons Ago
It is the day before the moon will touch the Isoliae Lake when he hears a muffled scream from the other end of the narrow tunnels that he lives in.
The unexpectedness of it is the reason he immediately scrambles up from the floor, all of his Starlight stones abandoned without a second thought, and runs towards the origin of the sound. He hears water splashing. Then, a desperate cry. The echo of it travels through the entire underground cave and vibrates through the walls.
He touches one of the silvery Starlight walls with his hands, his body flinching on reflex.
Power rattles through him, new and foreign, something he's never felt before.
He inhales the air deeply and a strange feeling spreads in his chest. What is this? What fell through the cracks and landed here? He doesn’t recognize this smell. It is…innately different.
He feels another wave of alluring power shake the walls, the stone rumbling in anger. Everything is threatening to fall apart over his head.
With a wildly beating heart, he dashes forward, ready to confront whatever invaded his cave.
Curiosity is his worst trait, as his brother always said, usually scoldingly. He is irresponsible and immature, prone to disobedience. Hence his brother only comes once the moon touches the lake. Which is…not often. But it will be happening again. Tomorrow, in fact.
As he jolts through the narrow tunnel, ducking his head every now and then, he grows more and more concerned.
What is happening? This has never happened before. He's been here since he can remember and never did he register such a weird pull of power. When his brother visits, it's different. He arrives silently, never making that much sound.
He wonders distantly if it is even smart to check for the source of his curiosity, but boredom wins—as it always does with him.
He's been bored for eons now, although his brother said he isn't even as old as the youngest star that has touched the lake—he didn't know what that meant, but he decided not to dwell on it. Not that he could ever find an answer to the questions he has. That just…isn't destined for him. Not many things are destined for him, his brother said one time. This cave is his destiny, the lake is, and he should just be grateful for that.
The hair on his arms begin to stand up from the source of power that lights up the Starlight crystals hanging from the ceiling.
Only one more corner–
He comes to a stop with a quiet gasp.
There is a huge black hole in the air. Just like that. It seems to be emptying itself into the small pool of water below, as though it is throwing away everything it doesn't want anymore.
He watches in awe. It looks beautiful. So out of reach, so obviously dangerous, but he can’t keep his eyes away. He never learned what fear felt like anyway. What is danger even? What is this emotion he’s tasting on his tongue?
Suddenly—in the span of a heartbeat, a stolen breath—the hole disappears.
And the cave falls silent. Once again. Like it usually is.
He looks around, almost disappointed that this new, brilliant thing didn't stay longer. He doesn’t know what it was, but does it matter? He is just so bored. And this thing, that looked like the obsidian he found underneath the stone he broke out of the wall the other day, cured his boredom for a split moment.
His brother said he always expects too much, that he should expect less because he was meant for less.
Again, he didn't know what that meant.
He doesn’t know much at all, he realizes with embarrassment.
With a sigh that goes through his whole body, he turns around. It is time to find something to eat, the spectacle is over. Should he go fishing? He spotted fish earlier while he was observing the sinking moon. Yeah, fish sounds good for today.
He is about to walk back to the entrance of the tunnel, when he hears and feels it.
That power.
He whirls around quicker than he ever has before and falls to his knees, crawling to the spot on the cold, wet floor where he can look down into the shadow-filled water.
At first, he only sees his own reflection on the surface. It surprises him every time to see that he is actually living and that he isn’t just a translucent ball of sentience. His hair is black, like the sky he looks up to every day. His eyes are silver, like the walls he walks through every day. His skin is alabaster, like the crystals that grow on the ceiling.
He blinks twice, squinting to catch what was causing this eruption of power. His own reflection begins to fade away from his focus.
It looks like there is something in the water after all.
He squints harder and then he finally–
Someone is drowning in the water.
The innate shock that someone is actually here makes him hesitate for a second. Who or what is this? Did they fall through the black hole? How is that possible?
But then he plunges his arm into the thick, rebellious water. He leans forward, almost losing balance and feeling how the water stings his arm, reaching for him in ancient hunger. There is a reason he never dares to drink or fish in this part of the cave. Even though this water is connected to the lake outside, it isn't quite the same. Something is very wrong with it.
At this moment, however, he doesn’t care.
He twists his arm in the water, ignoring the slight pain and tries to find the person who is stuck beneath the surface, fighting against the water’s claim.
Finally, he feels how his hand touches something smooth. He wraps his hand around it, holding onto it as tightly as he can. And then he pulls.
He is sometimes surprised by his own strength, this time as well.
With ease, he yanks the person out of the water. He falls backwards, a yelp coming from him, and then a groan as the unknown person lands on top of him, crushing him.
He doesn't even have time to catch his breath, because it gets stolen from him again the moment he stares at the face of this someone that fell through the black hole.
He is bad at describing things. He wishes he had something to compare this person's appearance to, but all he knows is the silver and black of his daily surroundings and the vague descriptions his brother gave him of the universe beyond the cave.
And yet he somehow knows that there would never be anything good enough to compare this omega's beauty to.
He thought this person was an omega. He'd never seen anything other than alphas since he and his brother were both alphas supposedly. Even if his brother taught him the differences. Not that it actually mattered. Regardless of what he was, he is certain his eyes have never looked at anything more beautiful before.
Their bodies are perfectly aligned, his own hand still wrapped around this omega's slender wrist and he can't find it in himself to let go. Speaking was hard already, but now it is ten times harder.
He opens his mouth to apologize or maybe say something, but all that comes out is a shaky exhale.
The omega's blonde head tilts to the side and his full lips curve up at the corners. He has never seen anything like it. His brother never made these expressions and he isn't sure if he himself is capable of them either.
With a slight huff, the omega rolls off him, groaning when his body hits the cold floor. But he doesn't just lie there, he stands up quickly and with grace, and glances down at him still lying there like a dead fish.
"Thank you for saving me." His voice is like the moon, the gentlest sound he's ever had the pleasure of listening to.
He doesn't know how to respond. He isn't even able to think properly.
The omega's head is still tilted to the side, a sign of his bemusement. The omega’s clothes are strange, he notices now. His hair and eyes as well. They are so, so different from his own. Everything is different about him. His scent especially. It’s sweet and intense, and he catches himself wanting to lean in and breathe it in deeply.
"Can you not talk?" the omega asks him. It isn't mocking, just simple curiosity. Though, instead of waiting for an answer, he continues, "You know, I actually shouldn't be here. I don't even know where I am. This isn't Ariae, I can tell from the energy in this…cave. Is this a cave? The water was really weird. Like—I think it was trying to pull me down? Can you tell me if there are any portals nearby? Because I really don't want to use more energy by creating my own. I am kind of drained at the moment—"
He can only blink dumbly and listen.
None of the things make any sense to him, but for some strange reason, that doesn't matter. His elbows scrape over the stone as he tries to sit up.
The omega is making huge gestures with his hands and goes on and on about random things that he doesn’t understand in the slightest. Something about escaping from his father's escort and then falling into a wild portal and then coming out here.
At some point, he stops, peering down while a crease appears between his brows that are so perfectly shaped, he wants to touch them to run his fingers along them. "Can you really not talk?"
He opens his mouth again and this time he is able to answer. "I…can," he says slowly.
Relief spreads all over the omega's face. "That's good, that's so good. Do you have a name?"
He blinks again. A name?
"A name?" he asks and then, "No… I don't think so?"
"You don't have a name?"
"Is that something important?"
"I mean… not necessarily?"
He sounds like he didn't want to hurt him. So he asks, "Do you have a name?"
The answer surprises him. Mostly because he somehow knows that it was a lie.
"I don't actually. Yeah, I don't have one," the omega responds. His voice is rushed.
"Oh," he says.
"Do you live here?"
He lifts his gaze. Perhaps he should stand up. "Yes.”
Apparently that isn't what the omega wanted to hear. "You don't have a name and you live in a cave?"
"Yes? Do you not live in one?"
He thought everyone lived in their own cave. Or at least in something similar. His brother never mentioned where other people lived, so naturally he thought…
"Well," the omega laughs. "I… Do. I– yeah. I live in an underground cave as well. Mine is just a bit…different."
He finally manages to stand up. His legs feel shaky, wobbly, as he straightens his spine and looks into the foreign male's eyes. "How's it different?"
He is taller than the omega. That sends a tingle down his spine, something he doesn't recognize as satisfaction at first, but would only later when the omega is gone again.
A flash goes through the omega’s light brown eyes. He seems to shiver. "It's lighter? A bit warmer as well."
"Are you cold?" he asks. He is never cold. His brother said that it's because he was bred in fire. He didn't understand that, but he didn't ask either.
"I am," the omega confirmed. "Cold, hungry, empty, stranded in a weird cave… the list is long."
He lets fire appear on his palms. Blue, silvery fire grows rapidly in size and heats up the space between them instantly.
The omega flinches. His eyelashes flutter as he takes in the flames.
Instantly, he thinks he did the wrong thing. He closes his palms again, the fire disappearing, apologizing quickly. "I shouldn’t have…"
"No! Sorry, I was just surprised." The omega comes closer, gently touching his hands, uncurling finger after finger. "Can you do it again?"
He nods. Of course he can do it again. This is easier than breathing for him. And so he does it again. Fire blooms in his hands. It lights up the cave, dunking it all in a blue light that makes the male's skin look like liquid moonlight. He can't stop staring. He doesn’t want to either.
"So I'm in the Dark Realm?" the male asks, nodding at the fire in his palms.
"What?"
"The Dark Realm," he repeats.
"What is that?"
His face falls. "You don't leave this cave much, do you?"
"Not really," he admits with a shrug. He's been here for as long as he can remember. "I swim in the lake sometimes. Or I go fishing. That's as far as I go."
"There's a lake nearby?" His eyes widen in excitement.
"Yes," he confirms, almost breathless. Why is it so hard to speak in this male's presence? When he talks to his brother he never feels so shy. "I was about to fish, but then you fell through the black hole."
"The black hole was a portal," the male explains to him. "It can bring you anywhere you want."
"I think my brother uses them," he realizes all of a sudden. "He just appears. But only when the moon touches the lake."
"You have a brother?" The omega frowns and his lips form a pout. Why does that make something in his chest itch?
"I do."
His frown deepens. "But you live in this cave and he doesn't?"
"He lives somewhere else."
"But why?"
He shrugs. "Because he says he is destined for something else."
The omega’s eyes darken. "Doesn't sound like a good brother."
"How would you know if he is a good brother or not?" he asks grimly, feeling a bit mad that the male called his brother a bad brother without ever having met him. His brother is destined for glorious things!
The omega responds, "I have a brother and he's lovely. He’s the person that knows me best. He makes food for me. And he brings me presents. And he takes me on adventures. I'm not allowed to go anywhere alone because—ah, because of many things, but they're boring so I'm not gonna tell you."
"I don't want to talk about brothers.”
"Fine."
For a moment, it is quiet between them. He steals a glance into the omega's direction. His lips are still in a pout.
"Do you like fish?" he asks tentatively.
•❅──────✧❅✦❅✧──────❅•
It turns out, the strange omega's abilities are vastly different from his own.
He shows him the Isoliae Lake outside the cave and a delighted cry leaves the omega's mouth. A second later, he lifts his palm and water explodes from the lake.
A dead fish lands before his feet.
"Can you fry it for me?" the omega asks innocently.
Grumbling, since he couldn't show the male how good he is at catching fish from the lake, he says, "Sure."
They eat mostly in silence. He never spent so much time with a person before. It is utterly strange. He’s not very interested in his food, rather he focuses on the omega sitting across from him, picking his fish apart carefully. Piece after piece wanders into his lovely mouth where he chews it thoroughly and as if he had all the time in the universe.
He himself just always eats the fish without putting much attention to the way he is eating it.
"Where do you come from?" he asks the omega after a while, his patience thinning.
"From far away."
"How far?"
"I can't even see the moon where I live. That far."
He frowns. "So the moon isn't everywhere?"
That makes the omega laugh. "There are many moons. This one you can see right now only appears in the Dark Realm, I’m assuming."
"I don't know what the Dark Realm is," he mutters under his breath. Why does he know so little? Why did his brother never tell him anything?
"There is the Light Realm and the Dark Realm and within those two realms there are millions of other realms. It's like…" He is searching for the right words. "Imagine this cave and then a million caves within this cave."
"That is hard to imagine," he confesses. Many things are hard to grasp for him. A pressure starts building in his chest. He wants to take a deep breath to get rid of it. He only ever feels like this when his brother leaves after his short visits.
"To be honest, this doesn't even really feel like the Dark Realm, you know," the omega says thoughtfully.
"Why?"
"The air…is different. It's hard to explain, don't worry about it."
He doesn't dare to ask more questions. If the omega says not to worry about it then he has to accept that. Some things are just not meant for him, as he learned from his brother.
"I need to leave," the omega sighs. "I'm probably going to get in trouble. I bet people are searching for me already. I doubt they're going to find me here, though."
"Do you have to use a… portal?" The word is still foreign to him.
"Yes. I could conjure one, but I'm still drained."
"Why are you drained?"
A mischievous grin appears on the omega's face. That expression is interesting. Unfamiliar, but very, very interesting. "I ran away and had to fight off some people. My magic hasn't fully matured yet, so it gets drained easily."
"Magic…"
"Yes, magic. Like your fire," the omega nodded. "It's pretty. I like that it's so blue."
"Thank you?"
"You're pretty, too," the omega says casually.
He chokes on a piece of fish. "Wh- what?"
"You have pretty eyes, they're silver. Your hair is pretty too. So dark—like obsidian. It's a bit long, but pretty nonetheless."
He is…pretty? The reflection he saw earlier in the water—the omega thinks it’s pretty?
"What about me?" the omega asks with shiny eyes.
"You?" he retorts breathily.
"Am I pretty?"
That knocks the air out of his lungs because, truthfully, there are no words to really answer that. Everything about the omega reminds him of the moon that hangs low over the Isoliae Lake. His skin especially. But also his hair and his eyes. "You're like the moon. A-annihilating."
It’s a word his brother used to describe the moon. He doesn’t quite understand the enormity of the word, but it was branded into his memory.
"The moon is annihilating? I've never heard anyone say that before."
"How could it not be? It touches the lake and then a huge crater appears and all the water has to escape to the sides. It's frightening to look at."
It shocks him every time it happens. But he also looks forward to it because after that his brother always comes to visit.
"Does that mean I'm frightening to look at?"
Again, he is caught off guard. Communicating is harder than he ever imagined. "A little."
"But why?"
"Because you're so… bright."
A slight smile dances around the omega’s lips. "Well, that's because I'm from Ariae. People from my realm tend to look like this. Some have magic like you and I. Some don’t. It depends who the Nothingness chooses.”
"I didn't know that.” He needs to ask his brother about all of this the next time.
"I can teach you if you want me to."
"Teach me?" His throat feels tight. The fire underneath his skin seems to lurk.
"Sure I can, it's just knowledge after all," the omega says casually. "I can also take you with me through the portal if you want me to."
The thought is appealing. Yet terrifying. "I can't leave my cave."
A simple shrug is the answer. "Okay."
And that is it. The male doesn't suggest it again. After he finishes eating his fish and cleaning away the waste as well, he stands up abruptly, announcing that he has enough power to summon a portal again and that he has to leave.
"Are you just going to make it appear?"
The omega nods confidently. "I practiced this countless times with my brother. He told me how to do it. Not because he can do it as well but because he knows everything. Cool, right? I should be able to do it if I just…" He rotates his arms elegantly and puts them together in front of his stomach before pulling them apart roughly.
A black ball of nothing appears between his palms. A small gasp of excitement leaves the omega's mouth and then he stretches his hands away from himself and the ball of nothing floats through the air and gets gradually bigger and bigger.
He is watching the omega with his mouth wide open. The black ball of nothing—the portal—expands until it is big enough for a person to step through.
"Well," the omega says weakly. "I guess this is goodbye then."
"Goodbye," he retorts dryly.
"It was nice to meet you, nameless soul who lives in a cave under a lake," the omega says teasingly.
"It was nice to meet you, too.”
With a wild smile the blonde-haired omega steps into the black nothingness and disappears limb by limb.
The portal vanishes seconds after and leaves nothing behind.
Only the strange scent the omega omitted; something sweet and unknown to him.
Against his will, he breathes it in deeply. Earlier, he didn't dare do it, but now that he is alone again and his chest feels hollow—he couldn't resist.
It fills all his senses, heightens and lessens them at the same time, making his skin tingle and his cheeks feel hot.
When the effect—whatever it was—subsides, he feels disappointed.
He sighs heavily and decides it is time to sleep.