I always knew it would catch up to me someday, it does with everyone. But our species ever so unique leaves behind more than we should upon death. Our world was one of cycles just as any other, however ours worked a little different.
Death was an end, and a beginning for us not in the way a species that is gone believes in to soothe themselves, but truly there is a beyond for us, in which sometimes we loose our connection to our proper placement in the cycle.
When one is lost, they do not come back. None ever have.
Our bodies rot, at least most of it does, some.nase material is left, and we reform. Strong wills keep us sane and tethered throughout the process. But for the unfortune souls who cannot keep their mind steady? Those who drift?
There are legends of great masters who wandered the world without form. Learned during the death cycle and returned wiser. But those are only in the legends. When we fade, we become stuck between our conscious waning, and waxing. Flickering.
It seems this cycle I could not keep a steady enough mind. As when I attempt to blink it is not my eyes that respond but only my mind. And then I see.
I see so much the vastness of the valleys and rivers. The mountain peaks and splatters of villages throughout the land. Then there is a stretching feeling, a tug, then a snap. I'm before myself. Young again, as most material was reclaimed by the world. This young one though looking like I would.
It blinks its eyes, struggling to awaken, then the sounds, the cries only a newborn make. It is rare our species procreate do to our eternal cycle. Much celebrated when one is made to replace one lost off world. Any would know the sounds so dearly.
Yet it reaches out for my formless self. I'd met a few who had once been someone else. They were a strange sort, not often looking directly at others. And I finally understood as light light up the small ones eyes.
It could see me. This wasn't a mistake, this was how the cycle was supposed to work. It all became clear as days became week, and weeks months. I tutored the small one so it could speak our language, taught it to hunt so it would not starve.
This child was not me, despite once being me. No it was something greater. It was new, a baby. My own child of flesh and blood, only mine. So I stayed by my child and helped it. My time was over but their's was just beginning so I wished to make it so they got to live properly.
Sometimes the others reacted strangly as my child started to travel, meeting many, even a few who I once knew. They did not like how my child would look past them at me, or the other specters of those who has gone on to help the cycle renew. They seemed so very unaware of how much they lost to the ages, their own sight and the truth of the cycle.
I was once as blind as they are. So I forgive minor transgressions of awkward encounters. And pray for them to learn as I had. I was stuck, eternal as always but far more free than I had ever felt, and far more joyous in death than I had been in life.
When my child was old enough to look after themselves a made space for them to grow. Still giving tips from my millennium of stockpiled knowledge, but allowing them to figure out how they wished to proceed. I did not interfere with their choices, only gave them insight to as many sides and options as I had been fortunate enough to make so I could pass it down one day. Sometimes there is slight pain and longing as I realize I'd never be able to embrace my child, but then, after they were well on their way through life I felt different more at ease and instead of centered in myself I felt like part of the world, the air the ground the ocean even. Once this feeling appeared it did not go away and I realized I could interact with the other specters now. It seems I was not as trapped as I thought, still in a cycle as I always had been. It seems after existing in this state long enough we grow stronger, so one day after my child raises another, we will be able to embrace eachother and watch the world go on. More children will grow, as more people fade, and maybe one day it will all be in balance again. Maybe folks will stop trying to hold onto one stage and accept the next.
And we will be here to watch it all, side by side.
(Oh and incase it isnt clear how this is following the prompts its because the faded, echos, specters, or even those who trancended their flesh whatever you wanna call em cannot leave their planet if they die there. They are stuck there for what they believe to be all eternity. Anyways yeah so these folks can reproduce asexuslly and sexually, both are rare in the current atate of society because to reproduce asexually is to give up their matter to form another, while excess goes back to the enviroment basically this species evolved to be very efficient in passing the torch to the next generation. Sexual reproduction for them is only in excess ceremoniey to keep their numbers at the right amount for the ecosystem, as some die in ways they cannot come back and others just chopse to live off world despite the species becoming aware that without their planet they cannot come back from grievious harm, sickness, or old age. Being ripped to shreds is an example of one way they wouldnt come back even on their planet, as they are only evolved to repair a certain amount with a dose of stem cells and a sort of wake up call from the energy on their planet. Anyways, I might have just created a fictional alien species that sort of can function in a cooperative hivemind after death if they want to, so they can protect their species. )
@parrot-waxcap I just wrote up a whole new alien species. Hope you enjoy when you get a chance.
@screaming-velociraptor Vel dude look I did something somewhat productive! Well sorta? I wrote for my own enjoyment so it might be productive in producing happiness at least