Lightning Is the Only Way

Mortis found himself in the body of a mortal bird. The mortal bird was simply sitting on a tree, looking at five different eggs on the ground in the middle of a forest.

For a bit, Mortis had to get used to these new sensations. Not being able to control his own perception felt strange and alien. It was like he was only a spectator to someone else's actions. He had no control over anything.

After a while, Mortis saw a grey snake come out of one of the eggs, and Mortis saw the snake how the bird saw it.

Not food.

Possible danger.

These were the only two things the bird thought of the snake.

After a while, the newborn snake simply moved away and crawled into the thicket of the forest.

That's when Mortis' perspective changed to another animal.

Mortis had already known what would wait for him thanks to Gravis' experiences in Samsara, but it felt different than Mortis had expected.

For some reason, Mortis felt more nervous than he had believed.

Time passed, and the snake eventually grew up and became a Spirit Forming beast.

By now, Mortis had gotten used to his new situation. He focused on keeping his emotions isolated with the Law of Emotions so that he wouldn't get invested. Because of that, he felt quite relaxed in all of this.

However, there was one problem.

There was nothing Mortis could do.

He couldn't fight, comprehend Laws, or talk with anyone.

He couldn't even close his eyes.

In essence, he was forced to simply watch.

Some years passed, and Mortis managed to dissociate from what was happening in front of him. Now, whatever happened to the snake didn't concern Mortis. To him, it made no difference if something was happening around him or not. It had nothing to do with him.

Mortis only focused on himself.

However, Mortis couldn't lose himself like Gravis.

to, but something was stopping him, and he

time, he had been focused on comprehending something. So, in a sense, 100%

Mortis couldn't immerse

also couldn't just deactivate his

time, but then, he

about his past, about his future, about his present, about the things he had done, about the things he wanted to

spurts of thoughts. 'Is this what Orthar meant?' Mortis asked himself in his

been distracted my entire life. If I hadn't been distracted by Laws, I was distracted

time to think

never been forced to just wait around like

now. There have been no distractions, and nothing interesting

no distractions wasn't exactly correct. After all, Mortis was watching the life of someone unfold right

to the emotions, any other person in Mortis'

entire thing might as

Why?

the Law of Emotions, which allowed him to isolate himself. Additionally, Mortis was more coldhearted than Gravis anyway, which meant that he generally cared less about the lives of beings

the isolation wasn't perfect. If it were perfect, Mortis wouldn't know

some emotions pass, and they might accumulate into something dangerous. However, that would

perfect, it was still good enough to make everything Mortis saw

on, which

Samsara, and now, Mortis was forced to do the same

of things to think

only had

thought about his time with

It was absolutely wonderful.

he could be with Azure every

appeared in

to journey more with Gravis, and he wanted to become powerful. Even

Mortis also felt like he spent way too little

to spend more time with Azure,

between his father and Orthar. Both of them had helped him, and Mortis wanted to repay

part felt more like a responsibility instead of something he actually wanted. It felt like it was

did Mortis actually want to

wanted to spend more time with

Why couldn't he?

that by betraying his friends and family. Of course, they might not