Cerebus || Book 2

Chapter 4: Anima

Niklaus found it challenging to silence his mind as he wandered through the forest to collect more provisions. Attaining mental stillness was a task that he usually never struggled with, but for some reason, in this moment, it was immensely difficult.

He would certainly prefer if it was actually 'some reason' that he was troubled. But he knew exactly why his thoughts were loud and his mind was restless.

He didn't want to admit it back there, but he couldn't hide from what was real and tangible.

Because when this foreigner touched his markings, he didn't feel the pain, or repulsion that he'd now grown accustomed to. Instead, for the very first time, he felt bliss.

And this feeling, while euphoric, struck him with turmoil because he knew that only the touch of his anima would make his body react with such a response.

He sighed and paused mid stride, deciding to put an end to his torment by grounding himself through his connection with geíosi.

Lowering himself to the earthy floor, he exhaled and closed his eyes, allowing his senses to overtake everything else.

It was only at times like these when he was able to achieve complete and utter stillness. When he was able to hear the finely tuned whistles that the wind blew into the air around him and the subtlest thumps beneath the green dirt that reassured him that his planet was indeed alive.

"Anima mea occurrit mihi geíosi, sed angit me"

I've met my soul, geíosi, but it troubles me.

Niklaus ran his fingers along the blades of grass, his near clairvoyant state allowing him to momentarily see life through the plant that only stood a few centimeters off the ground.

It was a short life—relatively so, and with that, uneventful. Although there was a prevalent theme that geíosimust've wanted him to see.

Loneliness.

Even though this blade had his colony, it didn't fill the void left by the absence of a pairing only nature could provide. But even nature sometimes failed to do its job, and Niklaus had seen as such. His people called them the unavoured; they were the ones unlucky enough to never meet their anima.

Everyone of their kind dreaded this possibility, but it was a game of chance. They believed that only the most unfavoured would be cursed with a lifetime of solitude that eventually grew and festered into a fatal madness. Very few survived the torture, and those who did were banished.

Niklaus knew then that despite his pairing being unexpected, he shouldn't run from a gift many would die to have.

Especially when he couldn't deny the instant attraction and intrigue that struck him every time he laid his eyes on Iris or simply watched her gesture or listened to her speak.

Yes, she was a human, and was perhaps one of the most fragile beings to ever walk on this land, but that didn't make her any less his.

Opening his eyes, Niklaus felt the comforting feeling that had once encompassed him flee, but enough of it remained so that he was no longer in a tightly wound-up state of distress.

He felt better now, and more reassured.

He would accept the human, and he hoped that she could come to accept him too.

~

It didn't take him too long after that to package some more fruit and sharpen his weapons before heading back to where he hid his hunting prize so they could get going.