There were few things in the new reality that Leon understood, which given his situation was perfectly understandable. Tears involuntarily streamed down his flushed face, seeming to inch down agonizingly slowly. His chest struggled to rise even as his heart and lungs worked overtime to ensure that his body didn't just give up from lack of oxygen.
To put it bluntly, Leon was dying. 'I'm lighting up this world like a fucking disco ball and yet this god damn pressure still won't let me off!' Leon screamed in his mind, as the pressure on him increased once again. Mirage patterns seemed to shimmer into existence around Leon lending an ethereal grace to the scene.
Enchanting as the sight seemed, with Richard even pulling out a camera to snap a picture, the suppression was reaching a level where Leon feared his willpower simply wouldn't matter and he'd become a baby pancake.
To make matters worse, a pounding the likes of which Leon had never experienced before seemed to explode into life in his mind. Bright flashes hit his vision as Leon was briefly struck blind by the waves of pain hitting him.
Of course, up until now, even with everything Leon's eyes had remained firmly closed. What these flashes represent won't become relevant for a very long time, but what they caused in the moment was monumental enough all on its own.
As the flashes of light Leon imagined represented the ebb and flow of his headache began to increase in intensity Leon screamed for the second time. Unlike his first scream, this was a purely infantile sound, wailing and an outpouring of emotion that begged to be released.
By this point, Leon was long reduced to a semiconscious state that barely clung to his final sense of awareness. Every time he seemed to be about to faint entirely an intense dread would shake his soul. An instinctive response told him he couldn't faint no matter what.
It must be remembered that though he lived a unique life, Leon was still from modern day Earth and as a relatively lucky person had never had to face excessive harm or torture. For Leon a bullet grazing his arm would have left him in tears, now his body and soul were being squeezed and grinded down in a way that made him briefly consider ending it all right there.
At that moment, 'Hiya! I know this isn't the best time, but you really should know if you die here your soul will be destroyed.' A voice broke through the haze of pain invading Leon. The sound was as enchanting as it was childish though it seemed to carry an undeniable trace of majesty.
As worn out as he was, Leon knew instantly who was talking to him. More than that, he could sense foreign feelings, obviously not from him but equally important to him. 'Mew, can you please help me I don't know how to make this damn pressure stop!?!' Leon spoke into his mind with a trembling voice.
Even though his mental facilities were starting to fail him, Leon knew he had been under this steadily increasing pressure for no more than 15 minutes. But at the current rate the pressure was increasing, he would probably be dead before another 15 minutes passed.
'It's really quite simple for someone of our combined status.' Mew spoke into his mind with that same playfully indifferent tone, seeming to find amusement in the fact that her soul-bound human was about to die right after being born.
Leon would have jumped up and started cursing, because of course he got the psychotic murder kitten who didn't care about anyone. He really should have known better than to trust those damn gods, they just wanted to see how his mental state collapsed after being given hope.
It was so infuriating to Leon that the pain of his entire body and soul seemed to not matter to him anymore. Sensing his growing hysteria, Mew decided to stop playing around for now.
'Oh, come on, don't get so hysterical over such a small matter, and honestly you should know instinctively that we were literally made for each other just like I do.' Leon refused to honor that with a thought response. Mentally shaking her head, mew spoke up as a new spike of pressure forced Leon to remember the situation, he was still stuck in.
'All you really need to do is open your eyes silly, not even this world would dare to try anything else after you put eyes on it.' The words she spoke made no sense to Leon, but he was long past the stage where he would think about reasons now.
With all the remaining power in his body Leon forced his eyes open for the very first time in his life. And with that.... Reality trembled...
***Check Notes at the end for info***