As the silence between us continues, I realize just how much this is going to change canon. And now that I think about it Fate is a whole thing here too and my existence is going to be doing very weird things to that. Just when I thought that maybe I went too far and broke him, his innate curiosity won out. "Were you sent here?" Lindon's question would have surprised me more had I not noticed his human left hand going into his pocket, presumably grabbing onto Suriel's marble. That was a reasonable conclusion, considering the circumstances and the fact that literal godlike entities exist.

Again I answer honestly, since there's not much to tell anyway. "I don't know, but that is the most likely cause of my current situation. But now I'm just sort of stuck in this form, although I can do this." Like I remember Dross doing in the book, I try to will myself to move in a certain direction and my form drifts out of the sphere.

I look like a purple cloud with violet sparks and lines forming patterns, making me appear to be made out of sparking spectral logs. Immediately, I notice that I feel less substantial in this form. As if I am less real. It makes me feel vulnerable. I give Lindon a moment to stare at me in surprise once again before I return to my cracked, rusty vessel. I hope I can get that replaced soon since I know that Lindon has the perfect new vessel for me.

In a bid to try to direct the conversation towards a new vessel for me, I continue. "I know you have an 'Eye of the Deep' on you, I can feel it. I also know it's damaged. If I could merge with it, then I would be less useless and the Eye can maintain its integrity longer. But since I will be the Eye from then on, that will hopefully be a temporary situation until we can find something even better, since I will slowly be losing pieces of myself. That is if you're willing to take me with you?"

I see a flicker of hesitation, consideration, deliberation, and then finally acceptance in his stern expression, as his hunger for knowledge and power overcomes any reservations he may have. "Do you have a name?"

Once again I have to make a choice that is going to shape my future, especially since I know that names have power here. I don't know my previous name, I'm not even entirely sure of my gender, though I do feel as though I'm probably a male. So I can either try to come up with my own name or ask Lindon to try to come up with one for me, hopefully not 'Dross'. Considering Lindon's track record with Little Blue, I'm not sure how trusting I am of his naming capabilities. But I should at the very least ask for his input, shouldn't I? "Well, I don't remember what I used to be called and haven't been given a name in this current form, I would be open to suggestions."

Almost predictably the first thing out of Lindon's mouth is "Big Purple." I would sigh if I was capable of doing so. I don't think I'm particularly big, somewhere between the size of a basketball and a beachball, but when your frame of reference is Little Blue, then I suppose that's reasonable. I guess all the best names for his creations and techniques later on in the series were mostly thought up by Dross and Lindon together, rather than Lindon alone since apparently his creativity with names is severely lacking.

I just give Lindon my best 'blank stare' which considering I'm just a floating purple cloud probably didn't look any different from anything else I do, but I feel like my silence managed to convey my feelings well enough. I decide to voice out my thoughts as if I didn't hear him. "I would like a gender-neutral name, or a masculine name so that rules out Amethyst or Violet. Indigo would be better, but still not great. Lilac is even worse. What if instead of the color I focus on my dream aspect? Dream wouldn't be a bad name, but could be confusing. Hypnos? That would be fitting as he's the Greek god of sleep, as well as it being a shortened version of hypnosis which is possible with dream madra. Morpheus, as the god of dreams, would be more fitting though, but Hypnos definitely sounds better. What about a sort of combination of both to make my own name instead of copying another? Morphos? Yes, I like that." I can go by Morph for short which is perfect since that's exactly what I intend to do to myself, Lindon, and this whole world. I intend to cause many changes, most subtle, at least at first. I turn to Lindon to get his opinion only to find him staring at me as blankly as I myself was trying to earlier.

"You didn't even need my help, why even ask?" He gives me a look as if I just kicked a puppy in front of him.

I again decided to ignore him and reply by introducing myself properly. "Hey, I'm Morphos but you can call me Morph."

Lindon looks at me for another moment before responding with a slight bow as if by reflex, "I am Wei Shi Lindon Arelius." He hesitated a little before adding on the 'Arelius'. I knew it was because the whole Arelius thing is still somewhat new to him. However, I was barely paying attention to that because thinking about Arelius made me remember Eithan. Or should I say Ozriel? How am I going to deal with that whole thing? Do I try to confront him about it or do I just pretend that I don't know anything? What sort of consequences could confronting him have? Would that completely change fate? Though I suppose my mere existence is already doing plenty of that, so maybe it would actually be good to have some sort of outside perspective to perhaps help with the fate backlash caused by my existence. Especially since Ozriel is the best fate reader and manipulator on par with Makiel. Luckily I don't have to deal with any of that until we get out of Ghostwater, so I still have time to figure that out.

Interrupting my own thoughts, I decide to advance the conversation. "Before we do anything else, can you bring me to any of the other constructs here that are still functioning? I would like to absorb what's left of their memories so they don't go to waste and so I can improve the integrity of my form." Lindon looks at me a bit surprised as he was likely thinking something similar since that's one of the first things he tested with original Dross in canon. Unlike in canon, however, I want to make the most of this chance. Instead of allowing Lindon to destroy the constructs and having the remaining memories drift into the cracks in my vessel, I'm going to try to try a more direct approach.

Lindon carries me in both hands, but as soon as his skeletal, white right arm makes contact with the surface of my vessel briefly I feel a strange pulling sensation, only for it to abruptly stop leaving me feeling somewhat hollow. Followed by being overwhelmed with feelings of hunger, greed, ambition, desire, and even lust, only for it to stop as abruptly as it started, leaving me unsure of what I felt and if I was just imagining it.

Once Lindon places me near some of the still functioning constructs, I reluctantly leave my vessel, again feeling that sensation of vulnerability and intangibility. I slowly float over to one of the constructs and drift into it. Immediately I feel something, but still being new to my senses I don't know what I'm feeling. Is this madra? I must be feeling the dream madra remaining in the construct since I feel it pressing against my 'mind', which now that I think about it is pretty much what I am, a mind in the form of a sentient floating purple cloud. As I come to this realization I also realize that I must have some amount of dream madra inside me as well, despite not having a core or madra system, considering the current interaction with the madra in this construct.

Instinctively, in reaction to the pressure the opposing madra is putting on me, I push back and I feel a part of myself reach out to the madra in the construct and pull it into me, making it mine. Along with a flood of new memories, mostly useless or redundant, I feel myself becoming more real. I expected that for the most part, from what happens in the book.

What I didn't expect though is to feel a pang of hunger. Why am I so hungry? Hunger? That's weird. As I finish my feast I float back out of the now empty construct and face Lindon again, only for my focus to immediately go to his white right arm, which I notice is faintly twitching in my direction as if in reaction to something. Weirder than that, though, is that I now feel like I have some sort of connection to it.

This is getting very weird, the only thing I can think of is hunger madra. But why? Dross should have nothing to do with hunger, and I'm just Dross with some added memories. What could have caused this? And what does this mean? My presence must have changed more than I suspected.

It seems like Lindon has also realized that something is going on since he's now looking from his twitching arm to me, and back. "Why do you suddenly feel like my arm?" Predictably, Lindon once again asks something that I don't have an answer to, I feel like this is going to be a recurring theme.

"Again, I'm not sure. But, I would assume it has to have something to do with hunger madra, I'm just not sure how or why I have it." Although, now that I think about it, there was a weird moment when I first came into contact with Lindon's arm, but again I don't see how that would cause this, since the original Dross in canon was even absorbed into Lindon's arm to be able to enter his cores, and there was no mention of any such hunger interaction. Perhaps it has something to do with the reason for me currently inhabiting Dross' form. It could be that this hunger is the way that I took over this form, by consuming and replacing the original, and somehow my contact with Lindon's arm empowered that part of me. There are still a lot of gaps, and this is all just speculation, but it makes as much sense as anything else I can think of.

Deciding that I'm unlikely to get a definitive answer I turn back to the remaining constructs and begin going to each and draining them. With each construct that I consume, I feel an influx of memories as well as a slight increase in my power alongside the feeling of becoming more.