ORIGIN

The rain continued to drip onto the cub’s already sodden, muddy and unattractive pelt. The only redemptive feature regarding his meagre presence was beside him, in the form of a pile of food on the roughly crafted metal tray. The boy called out, then settled back onto an even stance, limbs shoulder-width apart and tail hung low in a great reverence as he waited for the creature of his first waking day to appear. Usui was thrilled and nervous at one go. He knew that a beast such as Aquarian had no need to answer his call and if he did, the audience that the fallen would grant would likely be a short one. Aquarian need not answer to the gembounds, he was much more powerful than that.

The boy kept his pale green eyes peeled onto the surface of the water and saw the ripple began. He flicked his tail in anticipation and fear. Then, a gliding movement not unlike that in his memory. Usui gulped and tried to put on his brave face. Aquarian emerged then, frill first followed by head and the lion instinctively bowed to the powerful creature in greeting as its gigantic mouth latched onto the entire tray with food, flinging mud and water all over Usui’s pelt, although at that stage it didn’t bother him anymore. The aquatic animal then reared back, and then breached itself, and towered over the cub was by now shivering slightly from fear, eyeing Aquarian’s powerful jaws which could have easily crunched him. He gulped again and mewled out bravely once the creature addressed him.

“I seek to understand the source of this never-ending rain.” He paused then, not wanting to ask is it you? for fear of offending the large creature and also he believed it not to be Aquarian. "Do you know which powerful being did this? I’m afraid for Cetus…” and then, the naturalist conservationist in him started rambling. "The ground would be saturated and mud would overflow into your home and…” he paused, and shuffled his paws. "I…I’d like to try help the gembounds…” he trailed off, and waited for Aquarian to reply, feeling extremely small and vulnerable at the moment.

The giant beast seemed rather nonchalant about the current situation. Happy, in fact, with the current state of events happening in the cave from the purring tone it gave as it swung its giant head and looked about the room in a sort of satisfaction. It spoke then and one phrase stuck in Usui’s mind. ”No creature controls this garden.” That meant that…whatever was happening here was not done by Aquarian nor any other creature. But how, and why, was this weird weather phenomenon happening then? A dozen possibilities ran through Usui’s mind. Could it be that this was an after-effect of a massive event happening in Origin then? He shook his head a little then, clearing the rain from his eyes, and Aquarian pressed him with questions. The boy looked at Aquarian and gulped, nervous by the sheer size of that creature. “While it is raining heavily here, water elsewhere is drying up. This imbalance would not benefit you, nor the other gembounds…in the long run.” Usui flicked his tail and gazed into the other’s eyes stoicly. “But I see you have no answers for this. I wonder if there’s another powerful creature causing such changes.” He fell silent again, features falling in disappointment at the lack of any clues or information, but Usui knew that he could not be so disrespectful in front of this giant fish. He thus lifted his head with a grim smile, and continued on. “Is there anything that you know, any form of guidance that may aid me as I seek the source of this rain? Otherwise, I’d like to thank you and bid you farewell.” The cub waited for Aquarian’s response, hoping that there he could provide any inkling of knowledge which he knew at all, before returning to his underwater den.