1st World: The Chef x The Celebrity
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~ Date: 26 June 2422 Interstellar Year ~
~ Location: World 1 – Luna Bellflower Moon ~ Terra Anka PXD2422 ~ The Golden Dragon Star Nexus Intergalactic Empire ~
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🐦🔥 [ Phoenix ☯ POV ] 🐦🔥
'Solaris, tell me now. Am I a beta or not?' Phoenix asked through their bond. Solaris went quiet, and that silence did more to raise Phoenix's stress than any direct answer could have. Solaris could feel his Mama teetering at the edge of an anxiety spiral, so he chose his next words carefully.
Solaris understood why Phoenix was upset. Omegaverse worlds were not neutral territory for either of them. One of the last A/B/O worlds after Phoenix escaped the Jailer System's direct control had left scars that neither of them liked to touch. That world had been manageable for a while—until the day Phoenix found a child in danger and lost himself in the aftermath.
Even remembering it made Solaris shiver. Phoenix had grown stronger after that incident, yes, and it had pushed him to create protections and charities for abused, orphaned, and underprivileged children in later worlds. But the cost had been brutal, and Solaris did not want Phoenix dragged back into that darkness before he even understood this world's rules.
-Solaris - 'Mama Phoenix, breathe for me first. Deep breath in, hold it, then release it slowly. I will answer you, I promise, but I need you steady enough to hear the whole explanation.'
Phoenix rolled his eyes because he knew Solaris was stalling, but he also knew the little phoenix dragon was worried. So he closed his eyes, inhaled, held the breath until the pressure in his chest eased, and released it slowly over the count of ten.
Once he was steady, Phoenix opened his eyes. 'Answer me, Solaris. I have a right to know what this body is, and I need to know before I can plan anything.'
Solaris hesitated, then made a small request. He needed to explain how this world differed from the other Omegaverse worlds first. If Phoenix heard only the classification without context, he might assume the worst.
Phoenix's face stayed impassive, but his temple throbbed. 'Fine. Explain. But do not bury the answer for too long.'
-Solaris - 'In this world, humanity was forced to evolve after fleeing its original home planet. The long voyage through space exposed them to radiation their ships could not fully block, and over time many people—men and women alike—lost the ability to have children. While scientists searched for answers, they began noticing changes in the babies who could still be conceived, carried, born, and survive. Some children were born with what scientists eventually classified as the omega chromosome: XYK or XXK. That mutation became the foundation of this world's secondary-sex system.'
In this world, bonding is treated as sacred rather than casual. An alpha can bond with an omega by biting the omega's neck gland and mixing their essence, but the bond cannot be forced into completion. The act must happen with true acceptance between compatible partners, otherwise it fails or causes severe backlash. Once formed, the bond changes the omega's scent, links the pair physically and mentally, and is considered permanent.
A bonded pair is expected to cherish and protect one another. Most believe the bond lasts even after death, especially when true soul compatibility is involved. Once bonded, an omega can better control their heat cycle and their pheromones no longer affect anyone the same way they affect their mate.
Betas cannot form the same kind of permanent gland bond with alphas or omegas, though they can still marry, have children, and form lifelong partnerships. Alphas can also scent-mark a beta partner, but that is not considered the same as a sacred alpha-omega bond.
This world also has rare elevated classifications known as Dominant Alphas and Dominant Omegas. They are elite in strength, pheromone pressure, genetics, social value, and instinctive influence. Because they are so rare, they are highly coveted by alphas, omegas, betas, noble families, research groups, and even criminals.
A Dominant Alpha can make ordinary alphas instinctively lower their heads. A Dominant Omega can also pressure normal alphas, betas, and omegas into stillness or submission if their pheromones are strong enough. There is even one official case where a Dominant Omega made several typical alphas and omegas bow through pheromone pressure alone.
Scientists believe only a Dominant Alpha might be able to force a Dominant Omega to submit through pheromone pressure, but even that is theoretical. Dominant Omegas are not considered naturally submissive in this world. They are rare, powerful, and politically dangerous.
Dominant Alphas and Dominant Omegas can mate and reproduce with any compatible partner they choose, but most prefer another Dominant. True Dominant pairs are extremely rare; only a handful of cases are recorded in modern imperial history.
Dominant Omegas can also mark a bonded partner. If a Dominant Omega and Dominant Alpha mark each other willingly, the bond is rumored to become strong enough for limited mind-link communication. Some believe such a bond is proof of soulmates because it can echo beyond a single lifetime.
Phoenix listened quietly, but the more Solaris explained, the tighter his chest became. This world's laws sounded cleaner than the worst A/B/O worlds he had endured. Sacred bonding. Mutual acceptance. Backlash against forced bonds. Legal protections for omegas and public outrage toward coercion. On paper, it was almost civilized. Almost. Phoenix had lived long enough to know that laws were only as good as the people enforcing them, and people could be very creative when they wanted to dress cruelty in respectable clothes.
The word omega still crawled under his skin. It did not matter that this world treated Dominant Omegas as rare, powerful, and politically valuable instead of openly disposable. Value could become another kind of cage. A gilded cage, perhaps, guarded by polite smiles and official documents, but a cage all the same. Phoenix knew too well how quickly admiration could rot into ownership when someone decided a person was too useful, too beautiful, too rare, or too tempting to be allowed freedom.
He tried to remind himself that this was not the same as before. He was not trapped in the passenger seat anymore. Solaris was here. He could move, speak, decide, plan, fight. If someone reached for him, he could break their hand. If someone tried to own him, he could bury them beneath the consequences. Yet his body remembered what his mind wanted to deny. The old terror did not care about logic. It lived in his bones, in the way his breath shortened, in the way his jaw locked, in the way his fingers curled against his palm until his nails bit into skin.
Dominant Omega sounded better than ordinary omega, but better did not mean safe. If anything, it sounded like a brighter target painted across his back. Rare genetics. Pheromone pressure. Political value. Reproductive value. Social value. Every word Solaris used made Phoenix think of auctions, laboratories, noble houses, hidden contracts, obsessive alphas, and smiling predators who would call possession protection. Even if this empire outlawed trafficking, coercive bonding, and forced heat exploitation, Phoenix doubted criminals had suddenly developed morals out of respect for legislation.
His mind tried to calculate probabilities because calculation was easier than panic. If the body was beta, he could move quietly. If the body was alpha, he could deal with territorial nonsense and rut risks. If the body was a normal omega, he would need suppressants, blockers, escape routes, medical records, and backup plans. If the body was a Dominant Omega... then everything became more complicated. Not impossible. Never impossible. Just dangerous in a way that made the old scars inside him bare their teeth.
Phoenix forced his expression to remain calm. He would not let the word omega reduce him to trembling meat. Not again. He had survived thirty-two thousand years of other people's scripts, prisons, hands, expectations, and cruelty. He had clawed back choice piece by piece. He had learned to fight in worlds that wanted him helpless and learned to smile while sharpening knives behind his teeth. Whatever this body was, he would handle it. He would master it. He would not allow one secondary classification to make him forget that he was Phoenix.
Still, when he tried to picture Solaris saying alpha, his chest loosened. When he pictured Solaris saying beta, relief fluttered somewhere dangerous and fragile. When he pictured Solaris saying omega, something cold and old opened its eyes inside him. Phoenix hated that reaction. He hated that a single word could still reach so deeply into him. He hated that Solaris could feel the tremor under his silence even when Phoenix kept his face as still as carved jade.
Solaris did feel it. Of course he did. The little phoenix dragon had been beside him through too many lives not to recognize the shape of Phoenix's fear. That was probably why Solaris kept explaining, carefully layering context beneath the answer like padding around a blade. Phoenix appreciated it. He also wanted to shake him until the answer fell out. Both feelings existed at the same time, which was deeply inconvenient.
He drew in one more slow breath and locked his panic behind the same iron door where he kept grief, rage, and every memory that wanted to drag him under. He would hear the answer. He would process it. Then he would plan. That was how he survived. That was how he would continue to survive until the day he no longer had to.
Since male omegas evolved to carry children, they still resemble male betas externally, but their reproductive anatomy developed differently. Some details vary by genetics and classification, especially between normal omegas and dominant omegas, which is why this body may not match every old omegaverse rule Phoenix remembers.
-Phoenix - 'That is different... and honestly better than several A/B/O worlds I have seen. Still terrifying, but better. Now stop delaying and tell me the body's secondary classification.'
c
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