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It felt like he was constantly wearing the wrong pair of shoes.
His name is Orion, his parents are three people who look like the weirdest trio, consisting of two old men and a twenty-year-old, and his siblings (except for his twin) are way older than him.
This constant information is what keeps him going some days when he feels like he's about to give it all up to live as a hermit he was destined to be.
It was midday, during the hottest day of summer. something he loathed to admit had been his favorite season of most, especially when it led to him being teased for liking something so bright for being so dark and gloomy all the time.
At first, he'd been inside with Comet doing whatever. But eventually, the outside world comes to stab its slimy fingers into the cozy cavern of his home and takes Dad (and Comet, Parkour god forbid that guy ever not follow their Dad like a deformed duckling) away from the house. From there, it falls like a house of cards, with responsibilities seeming to start with Dad and then literally everyone else; coming for Father and then Papa next, heck even Cel and Starry had to go after that. Leaving him in an empty house, alone.
Now, one would think someone like him would love an empty house; he is, after all, so gloomy and edgy all the time, but it's really the opposite.
He hated being alone because being alone meant that he was left with the bad feeling of always standing two steps from his body. Like he's moving and breathing in a body that was never meant to do anything but rot.
He knows his birth was a miracle; he could see it from the way they treat him. Like fragile glass that could crack under immense pressure. But through it all, it feels like no matter what god's grace he receives, death doesn't seem so horrible sometimes.
especially not with this constant wrong he feels all the goddamn time.
And it's not like the world disagrees with him.
From birth, he always had complications according to his siblings, different from those of even Starry. It was like he was never meant to be born alive at all.
From the constant need for medical checkups to even having to wear way too many medical aids, the world is always out to get him.
His heart had been extremely weak, they said. Enough so that any small complications could send him careening towards a certain brain death, and even then, his heart hadn't been the only one to scream his morality for all to see.
His legs are weak, and his coordination is abysmal; two things that are fatal for a parkour-centered world.
That's why he stays at home all the time, but it's not a permanent solution.
Maybe whatever stubborn courage his family, Dad especially, tries to give him will give him that solution, or maybe not.
People call him weird, even weirder than his Dad whose literally a god. But he doesn't think the concept of death is that bad. Sure, the thought of never seeing his family again may send him careening towards doubt, but he thinks that eternal nothingness beats whatever complications of living right now.
Besides, the concept of immortality terrifies him so so much.
That endless life as he watches the world move on without him, as he stays and struggles with endless pain, resonates in the deepest parts of his nightmares.
He would rather be a ghost at Starry's side than breathe with a rattling lung.
The top of the Champions layer is a lonely space, but he makes do.
It helps that his Dad is obsessed with visiting and piling his shrine with too many gifts.
His favorite had been the books set out across the space.
There were storybooks, Novels, non-fiction, and even some books not in the Pakour or English language.
His dad always read them to him, sitting beside his shrine and talking aloud to nobody (except himself). But sometimes he makes Comet do them when Dad can't.
It was the only time during his unlife when he felt the closest to the waking world.
But it's not like the afterlife is bad. He replicated a bunch of parkour courses he'd seen, so he could practice a bunch while waiting.
And even besides that, it's fun creating and designing the world to his bidding; he even made a special place where he could live with his family forever!
He made it look like his parents' house, then added Nebby's and Cel's right beside them, which were separated from the rest of the vast space by being very high in the sky and accessible only to people he loves and trusts.
It was the most peaceful space in the entirety of the void after all, especially when people kept dying and materializing out of nowhere before him.
That's another thing about the void; when a player or mob dies, they appear in soul form in the afterlife. Often confused and a little frightened, he, as the apparent leader of the space, has the job of softening their landing.
But it's not too bad, having more people lessens his boredom, and it's nice to see his efforts appreciated after all.
He's just a little sad that physical objects from the living could not be carried to the dead that easily.
Well, he could somewhat interact with things placed at his shrine, like the food Dad brings everyday. He doesn't eat them in a literal sense, but he could taste them if he concentrated enough, yet another small blessing he's sure was given out of pity by the world.
Another is the ability to control wind, or the rare chance to touch objects. These abilities are hard to control and often refuse to be invoked, but he didn't need to use them very often, except for a select few situations.
Case in point, the inability to read books on his own.
He tried very hard. But no matter how much he tried to bend the wind precisely to his will, it's never just enough to turn a page.
Even now, when the wind felt more obedient than literally any other day for some reason, he still couldn't turn the damn page.
His parents hadn't come by this morning, probably too busy, but Dad had visited him late at night; dull eyes glistening with tears as he whispered something he couldn't hear.
Concerning, but he's too busy trying to read than actually go and bother people right now. So he'll leave that to future him.
The world seems to zero in as he focuses on gathering small bits of wind at his fingertips. The book thankfully opened wide and flat on top of the shrine, enough for him to attempt this hard trial and maybe succeed.
But fate isn't that nice to its inhabitants, dead or alive.
"Fuck!" The page that was being lifted suddenly decided to make his unlife miserable by lifting several more pages with it. He clutched his hair with the frustration of losing a war as he lamented in disappearing all together.
But alas, he must continue this unlife as he thinks about more solutions to this travesty.
"Ah, whatever. Hope my oh so beloved brother is not busy." He grinned, planning to drag his brother back here no matter what.
His form disappeared, off to wherever his family currently is.
And the lonely little nook on the top of the world went silent with content.