It's been a minute: lore post /spiritual connections/ (Patreon)

in part for an upcoming story I have wanted to do for a few years (and even talked abt with a friend irl) I needed to finalize a few details of the drake world and decide finally /commit to whether or not drakes have "souls" 

this was rather difficult for me, as I am neither spiritual nor religious and do not believe in any magical essence in us other than chemicals and neurons firing in sync to make consciousness and life.

without further ado:

Bonding additional information and the study/discussion of the twin-flame theory.

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Drakes can bond at any point in their life, though it is exceedingly rare as bonds are unbreakable. During a natural bond, two drakes whom imprinted on one another will complete a ritual that binds their life essences to each other. Blood is mixed and they remain interconnected through some method of contact for up to 12 hours. (sexual contact is not necessary for bonding.) After a bond each of the 2 will begin to slowly display personality traits of the other. There is no way of knowing which traits will become visible and for this reason, bonds are highly, HIGHLY frowned upon. However, it's important to note that drakes with psychosis such as Ezrael can only be rehabilitated to some semblance of sanity by bonding with a stable individual and hoping they pass that stability onto the broken/fragmented mind.

Drakes are never born bonded. however, a very rare phenomenon known as [Elsker anima] happens when a drake pup is born 'half empty'. They exist in a sort of half-life state, going about life normally but always feeling an emptiness or void, and certain emotions may seem "inaccessible" to them entirely. (The often emotion they lack is deep connections, empathy, longing, happiness)

The phenomenon is caused when life energy being recycled in the great cosmic wheel is 'broken', part of it being born in one body and part into another. As there is only 'so much' energy to go around, sometimes there simply isn't enough and it splits down the middle when a life is created. These beings will never truly feel whole in their lives until/if they meet the other half of their 'self'. ANY creature any size is made of this essence and so shortages are rare as creatures are constantly born and die. During the Chaos wars on Emain when soldiers were being mass produced in bioengineered tubs, there was a shortage of essence due to the sheer magnitude of large sentient beings being created, and while they also died in droves, the balance wasn't reached for quite some time. It is during this time that an extremely rare phenomenon temporarily became more common, before nearly vanishing entirely once more.

Larger and more complex life forms have more of this essence in their being, while tiny beings like insects have significantly smaller essences. The essence of any being from Emain can be visually seen leaving the body after death in the form of a hazy, illuminated fog.

Essences have no good nor evil to them and are inherently all part of a collective of energy. A "force" if you will. Bonding is the sole ritual that allows two beings to come in contact with another beings life-force and the results can be terrifying or astounding alike.

For an Asiq (one of a pair of Elsker): Upon meeting their missing half, there will be an instant connection, and when they touch it will be like an electrical current flowing, the slightest touch can cause intense emotions and feelings. This is the drake equivalent of "soulmates" though the term is inaccurate, as they aren't the mate of someone's soul, they ARE the same soul, trapped in two different bodies upon reincarnation or as they call it, recycling. If one half dies, the other almost always kills itself whether it's consciously or not, to hopefully rejoin its other half. Suicide of Elsker's are so common that most don't know when two are born, and chalk the death up to something else.

There are stories from the home-world of the first drakes to be born as Elsker Anima and how the two for hundreds of years were never born in the right age bracket, or continent, or even planet, and so they'd keep 'resetting' their lives [dying] trying to become one again. It's a drake tragedy [the story] of two, who were once one, who no matter how many resets, would never become one again and the despair of their numerous lives.

[this narrative is based on ancient greek lore that humans were once a 4 armed 4 legged being that Zeus split in half so we would be less of a threat to his power.]

The pair are referred to Elsker/Elskers with the proper "medical" term being Elsker Anima(Animaea)

A single part of the half is known as an Asiq Anima or "half life"

Elsker are never born the same gender as each other. Regardless of species or location in their galaxy, an Elsker will always be a male/female pair.

If bonded, the emotions they experience are said to be a thousand times what bonded drakes feel, and while a bonded drake will die without their bonded mate, Elskers feel the moods, emotions, pain and whole array of sensations as their partner. If mated, Elsker pairs feel what they feel and what their partner feels simultaneously. While that's a pleasurable experience, being apart for even a day can send them into a "grey state" where they stop moving and slump down wherever they are--irregardless if it's a store, a field, a space ship, their own home, and become a lifeless shell. If bonded Elskers remain apart for more than a few days, they begin to wither and die as life without the other half of their "soul" is simply not worth living.

If an Asiq is killed, whether or not the two have ever met, the other will be compelled to death feeling what scientists quoted as "an oppressive and crushing emptiness"