A Colorful, Colorless Crystal

Long, almost too long. Yes, it ends somewhere, it is not infinite and it does not go on for all eternity, but Ren would have assumed so if he had not known any better. Seemingly endless strings of white—a bright, blinding, alluring, sparkling white—goes on for ages before disappearing into a liquid glow of periwinkle splashes and cyan ombres.

Blinking once, twice, thrice, Ren, with his curiosity and persistence of the truth or what might be the truth or simply something to put an end to his confusion, soaked in what was in front of him with the enthusiasm of a sponge.

Light seeps in through cracks in the ceiling of the near black earth and past the sturdy stalactites that look as though there's a near impossible chance of them crashing down. Sheen from the pool of purples and blues only seems to make the otherwise dark space even brighter. Turquoise flora and lime botany, which Ren can only assume grew out of the earthy walls in a natural process, appeared in only sparse patterns here and there. The surrounding environment was spectacular, but made Ren even more curious than before. Caves and ditches exist on this giant floating rock in the middle of space, that much isn't much of a surprise, and it's not unheard of for a pond of water to have streaks of different colors—but is it natural? Or was it made by man?

All of that could come later though. Despite him taking in and absorbing the dark earth and the sediment and the colors, all of it was currently in his peripherals and not his main focus. Attention, all of it, was on what was in front of him. The source, or better yet, origin, of the long, mystical cascade of only white. One would assume that he was looking at a human, what with the soft tone of olive skin snuggly wrapped around the bulging muscles, the tendons, and the bones, the pectorals placed neatly over where the heart should be, even the pink nubs on either one, the nose that was inches away from Ren's own, not too small, but not too big either. All fitting the description of what people perceive as 'human.'

But was it really human?

The lengthy locks of snow white are contradicting what is normally seen on humans. Stress can cause gray hairs, and in some cases, the gray hairs slowly take on a brighter shade before turning white. But the young features of their eyes, cheeks, and jaw completely ignore the aforementioned notion.

Ren thinks: it could be dyed. This thought might be a little unnecessary, and maybe even petty, but out of everyone who dyes hair, for their job or just at home, who ever does it perfectly? Roots and all, it is pure white, pure white, with no wreckage in the flawless streams of bright snow. Perfect enough to twinkle, to sparkle in the gleam surrounding it. There is no way that it could have been dyed.

No, no, that wasn't even the most unbelievable part, that wasn't the part that shook Ren to his core. Not the mystically beautiful scenery that was stolen from a fantasy artist's archives. It wasn't the fact that the water was multicolored and looked blessed enough to solve everyone's problems. Spotless skin that glowed, and only seemed to rival the light of the rays leaking in from above their heads, it wasn't that either. And it wasn't even the fact that this humanoid in front of him had their bottom half disappearing into the blue and purple mixture below them.

As a matter of fact, the part that Ren couldn't believe was what was right in front of his chocolate eyes. A colorless crystal with a multicolored shine. Big, and large, and wide, and unbelievably, magnificently, perfect in every aspect. Every blink, after every millisecond of pure darkness, Ren could see the colors shift, and then it would shift again, and again, and again. Shifting into an endless amount of patterns, the colors arranging themselves infinitely.

What Ren was so bemused by was this person's—if they can even be called that—eyes. Their gray, almost white, eyes that were somehow chromatic at the same time.

Racking through all of the information he had attained over the years, and his knowledge of everything he was ever taught, he can't see the possibility of this person in front of him being just that—a person. Rare people exist in this world—freakishly long tongues, extra limbs, exotic colored eyes, talents that people would need to see an x number of times in order to fully believe that what they had just seen wasn't their imagination—but Ren can't find it in himself to believe that this person—what would he even call them? A creature?—was made naturally. Something else had to be the cause or source of their creation, they couldn't have been the result of a sperm cell and an egg dancing with each other.

When Ren blinked, they blinked too. Ren hadn't even noticed until now, because his mind was so boggled by everything, but the other person—which, now that he thinks about, looks like and has the features of a male, a very buff and fit male from the parts of them that Ren can see—seemed to be copying his movements. He could be exaggerating and jumping to conclusions, because really all he has been doing for the past few minutes was lose his mind and blink several times, he hasn't really moved at all. There was only one solution, and that was to test this 'monkey-see-monkey-do' theory. Ren raised a hand to his chin and used the other hand to cradle his elbow, raising a brow in a manner of speculation while keeping his eyes on the ethereal being. Lo and behold, 'he' copied his movements down to each last specific, from the placement of his hands to the position of his eyebrows.

Ren lowered his hand slightly and put on a face of surprise; the 'man' did the same. When he leaned in closer with wide eyes, the 'man' did the same almost instantly, and when he did, Ren jerked back in amazement with a sprinkle of fear, simultaneously the 'man' did the same.

Stumped couldn't even come close to what Ren was feeling right about now. Obviously, from the audience-less show they both had just put on, the 'man' is capable of understanding movements. Speech and comprehension, on the other hand, were a complete mystery to Ren. It's not as though he can ask him a math question and expect him to answer like they do math every moment of every day, that would just be ridiculous and a little cruel depending on how Ren looks at it.

Simplicity is key, because Ren doesn't know much and he can't afford, or doesn't want, to jump the gun. So he starts with something simple. Without a smile, yet without an expression that exerted hostile or negative energy, Ren said, "hi," plain and simple, and waited for a response. Seconds later, the 'man' responded with a smile of his own—gentle, kind, and benevolent all the same, and made Ren somewhat guilty for labeling him as a 'creature'—and an enthusiastic wave. Thankfully, Ren foresaw the possibility of receiving a wave rather than actual words. With his next approach, a sentence, or at least a single word, is inevitable—unless sign language is at play here.

"Uh, my name is Ren, what is yours?"

One, two… "my name is Taurus."

Ren was stunned into silence, so stunned that he didn't bother to blink, move, nor change his expression. English, and perfect too. Soft, deep, and smooth like silk, his voice, something Ren could listen to for longer than he would like to admit to anybody. The name is a little unusual, but that's not the crazy part.

Before Ren could stop himself, words fell from his mouth. "Are you human?"

Taurus made a face that presented thoughtfulness before ultimately shaking his head no. "Are you… a human?" Taurus then asked him 

Taken aback, Ren responded automatically, "yes, yes I am."

"I have never seen a real human before, besides the ones in books. Are they all as beautiful as you, Ren?"

Not one, but two sentences. Two full, well articulated, grammatically correct sentences from someone that wasn't even human. The random compliment didn't register until a few seconds later, and a rosy shade filled Ren's otherwise light cheeks. So, it's clear that this creature—that seems a little bit more appropriate now—this being, is natural, but not at the same time. Ren wanted to know more, he wanted to know so much more.

He couldn't have predicted staying there long enough for Taurus to feel comfortable enough to invite him into the bottomless sea of aquamarine and lavender. And as Ren was pulled down into the warm, almost comforting, depths, Ren could clearly remember the color of Taurus', this being that he had met by chance without meaning to at all, eyes. A gray crystal littered with color.