Lake Verity sparkled in vivid shades of early morning sunlight. Reflecting against shallow waters, the gleaming rays enveloped any living thing they , indeed, this was a 'living lake'. Of the four main lakes in Sinnoh, Verity seemed most…alive. It radiated a captivating aura of joy, on rainy days, an aura of sorrow. From time to time passers by claim to have seen the goddess Mesprit hovering above its quiet tides. Some even say they were almost able to stroke the deity's fur, but it quickly disappeared before
they could touch it.
Only those who hadn't read the ancient scriptures would attempt to lay a finger on …or the young ones.
Scattering a group of bidoof, someone walked along the bank. The man, who continues
inching foreword toward the shoreline, wore black pants along with a similarly-colored jacket. However, the jacket was adorned with artistically rendered Palkia wing embroidered directly onto the fabric.
He stopped before the cave which raised itself above the lake's surface. Staring at his own reflection in the water, he received back a pair of stone-cold, sunken eyes and an abnormally pale face.
"If I am to obtain a job at the Celestic Museum…this guise is unacceptable."
Despite the forlorn appearance, the man, Cyrus, possessed an unexplained elegance demonstrated in nearly every move he made. Even the motion of lifting his head to breathe in the lake's pure air had its own strange beauty."So, I come in need. I have come to seek your aid, Mesprit."
A mass of light appeared. It molded, materalizing into a small, fairy-like pokemon. The goddess had a magenta head, dangling from it were four appendages, each standing for one of the base human emotions; happiness, anger, sadness, and compassion.
She settled gently on his shoulder, curling her two long tails around his body.
"After so many years, my child has returned, my beautiful, divine child." Mesprit pressed her head against his skull as she caressed his hair and skin with tender, loving strokes. "For you, dear, there is no danger in 'feeling'."
"That is not what I came to discuss." He stated as if oblivious to Mesprit's touch.
"Then, come. Tell me why you have visited this dungeon of your past, where my child is bound to me forever." She let go of his body, unwrapping her tails, proceeding to hover over his head again, looking directly from above.
After a few moments of silence, with only the sound of flowing water to break it, Cyrus spoke:
"Mesprit…" He sighed. "I am going to dethrone Arceus. I am going to become God. For this to have the least bit of chance succeeding, I will need you. This creature is already a part of you…"
"Oh yes. Your emotions are quite a sensitive bunch…Very easily offended, and very easy to fall in love with." The goddess chuckled.
"-…it is time for you to become a part of me." He recited without feeling.
Mesprit drew back as if confused, but there was no confusion in the smile on her face. She rested upon Cyrus' head, slowly lowering her petite body until it hung over his forehead. Glaring upside-down into his dead eyes the goddess continued to listen. "You hold the blood, the living energy of the human spirit in those gems. As does Uxie, as does Azelf. Other gods do not have that life to call upon. They are immortal; death does not pose a threat to them. It is only in living where they can be destroyed. In other words…I cannot kill a god. However, I can shackle it and restrain it, make it my little toy if you will.
To do this I need the strength of life, And, in those gems, life is wholly embodied. If I can tear those crystals out of you (plus, of course, the other two), they can be concentrated into a solid substance. A substance in the shape of a chain…"
"…Which will bind us…together." Mesprit reached for him again, hugging her tiny arms around his neck while nuzzling his hollow cheek. "I understand you." Her golden eyes closed. "Your emotions are screaming. Those poor, excessively tender little feelings are whirling about inside my head like a tornado. I always have your emotions, my son, because they are so much more vibrant than the ones granted to me by Lord Arceus. My original soul embodied only the base emotions of human nature, of which the humans had to build upon themselves. This goddess aches to own it all. She wants the entire spectrum of emotions at her disposal."
The wind surrounding Lake Verity chilled. Pokemon who had been foraging and playing along the shoreline grasses fled. Quietness blanketed the air like a sea of falling snow, whispering through a grey, cold winter sky.
"I will give you everything."
With a natural grin of superiority spread across her face, Mesprit straightened her back, lifting her head as to look intimidating.
"I can indeed lift my spirit from my body and enter someone else's. That is one of my divine powers, you see. With me in your body, you would most certainly be able to display the basic emotions of happiness, anger, sadness, and compassion. It can also be assured, of course, that your appearance would change. In meaning, I'll make sure you don't have that sickly, pale complexion or that unnaturally thin build.
But, these eyes are a different story. In times of intense emotion, you must be careful, for the glow of my soul inside you might surface."
"That is a risk I am willing to take. Come, Mesprit. Join me…become me…"
She was ready. In a flash of luminescent magenta light, Mesprit charged like a raging tauros at Cyrus' forehead. Striking it dead-on with the red jewel on her own, he did not fall. Instead, he proceeded to enter a wide-eyed trance, a state where he appeared to have no control over his mind or body.
The gem was dissolving, sinking itself into his skin. Veins along the side of Cyrus' face bulged as the goddess entered his body.
"Because of my curse you are deprived of love and unable to recognize my deepest affection." She whispered soothingly through thought. "I have sucked the life out of you. Now, I will finally give it back."