[Flashback] Humble beginnings

[Orion]

Timestamp: 11th day of the season of fall, 503 AV

Falling, the stars looking down onto his uncomposed figure which was wigling as if he was trying to climb back into Ukalas gripping onto nothing but pure and invisible nothingness. His fall continues as he is crying. No you could not call it a cry, it was rather a weep of a thousand dying infants. It indeed was a rather horrible motion to lay one`s eyes onto. The roars, cries, moans, sobbs and above all hyterical laugh filled the air, it felt as if the world itself was in ruins all around him, if there was any world to begin with. His mind now questioning his very existance, where was he falling anyway? Was he even alive to begin with? So many memories filled his head, but none of them gave a straight answer to his shadowed mind. None gave any hints of all this being anything more than a mere dream.

Like breathing without air, like a breathless whisper, a cold sense of madness started spreading through him as it began to lay it`s roots into his subconsiuosness. His long white fingers scrathcing his divine skin, it all felt so real to touch, but all so unimaginable to a mind. He just calmed down as he was speeding down the stairway to heaven, as he was quickly getting near to where he will fall.....the Suvan sea. It was all a dream after all, so he will wake up once he hits the surface, right? There will be no pain? Everything he just lost was a dream as well? All these questions plagued his mind as he saw three more distant flashes following his example and crushing down the sunrising horyzon.

He narrowed his eyes in order to fight the wind that was carelessly scratching his face and filling his eyes with tears. His trembling body was feeling some deep otherworldy fear, and a deep sensation of purity he once had was now lost. As he was now not that high anymore, he could smell the sea, this was no dream, and alas, that meant all those memories that hold no key to this will indeed haunt his mind in these last moments of his life. What a poor way to banish yourself off the face of existance, or so he thought.

He reached his left hand towards the Sun, towards Syna, longing so much for an ilussion of her embrace, longing for a place to call home again, simply longing for all those things he can never have again. Looking down his body he realized he was naked, wow, he may have been out of it before, but this made him totaly flip out. They threw him out like a dog, just like that? And they couldn`t even leave him some clothes? He screamed at the cruel cold heavens as he sensed a numbing pain on his back, he knew, he had hit the surface of the water.

Quickly swinging his arms around he was not sure how to swim anymore, he was not even sure can he do it after everything that has happened. A selfish driven desire took over him as he realised they took everything from him, well they can not have his life, not yet, he was too afraid to die now, it was too soon. As he finally reached the surface of the water while flapping his arms around still disoriented, he looked around realising the shore was not so far away, but it was still no easy task for one such as himself. Salt in his eyes, water on his lips and in his nose, a bunch of terrible tastes in his mouth.....if this was reality, than he wanted to dream, to just dream and never wake up.

His arms gripped onto something soft, it was sand, and right now, that was the most beautyfull thing on this world, he got both of his hands out of the water as he was using them to drag his worn out body out of the water. Finally it was over, his thoughts were starting to calm, as he picked up a piece of broken wood, probbably from a sunk ship or something, and started to make holes in the white grainy sand. It was not much, but those were all shiny stars to him, those were all new homes, new beginnings and new friends.

Despair that was present up to that moment was now fading away slowly as he was sarting to get shaken up by both curiosity and a need for sleep. He wanted to go and look for them, for his fallen brothers and sisters, he wanted to end his solace, he wanted friends. He tried to stand up, only to fall onto that same beautyfull white sand that he was clinging onto a moment ago. His eyes closed as he was dreaming of many things that have happened to him, of many prayers he held into his heart for his loved ones, and above all many fears for the unsure future.

[Orion]

His head half buried in the sand, he slept for the whole day and a good part of the night. As one of his eyes was burried in the sand, as was half of his face, he slowly opened his other eye and looked around not moving an inch. It was night, he felt different somehow. Looking down at his hands he thought of a possibility he was still dreaming, but after he pinched his cheek slowly, he was now sure it was reality, but if it was real, than whose hands are these? Looking down his body, he noticed he was more fragile, smaller, darker, it indeed was an amusing transformation to look at himself and wonder like this. His head rose up slowly as he was still not able to move his whole body at once. Numbness filling his every muscle, he was standing up slowly moving first his arms, than his legs to complete a new four legged lifeform that was him.

It took him a fair hour to stand up completely, but he eventually did. It was not so much out of numbness, it was the lazyness going crazy inside him that made the whole process so slow. His first objective was clothes, or something that could cover his naked body. Looking around he found nothing, so he continued to walk forward ignoring the fact that he was naked, ignoring the shame. His slow steps took him further and further into the unknown, thorns ocassionaly getting into his feet. Pain did not mean much to him, for there was some pleasure in the simple gesture of moving on. His blood started boiling as he saw a hand sticking out of the sand, a male hand by the looks of it. Quickly kneeling by the hand, he started digging, until it was done. Once done, it truly was a horrible sight, it looked as if the man was burried alive by the looks of it, barely alive yes, but still alive.

He got dressed, after all, the dead guy will not need it anymore, it was not much, a simple linen shirt coloured with a muddy shade of brown and some partly thorn black pants, it was indeed funny to see someone as gracious as him in clothes as messed up as these, that thought haunted his mind. Raising his head to the stars he searced for the moon so he can pray to Leth, for even if they did cast him out, at least they kept him alive, and at least they gave him an asylum for a while. But there was nothing,no glimmering behind a few soft blue and grey veils of night, everything was dead, no stars, no moon, he wandered will there even be any sun? He kneeled down in shame for being angry at them before as he was still enveloped in madness, prayers, many of them fled his mouth as the dawn was getting near.

Looking down his frail broken body, he was still not sure what was the first thing he needed to do, maybe food? maybe his unwilling companions in the fate they all shared. He limped slowly as he was just starting to move across the rocky courtyard of the nearby cliff, as the pain of the impact got worse, and as many needles in his feet were thrusting themselves deeper and deeper. It lasted only a few moments till he reached the first of the fallen, the first of his kind. He seemed to be fainted and completely naked with multiple bruises and scars on his skin, especially around his neck. Not sure should he wake the guy up or not, he stared at him surprised, as his madness felt small compared to the feeling that was spreading out of the sleeping one. He sat there waiting for something to happen, waiting for the fallen to give some sign of life other than breathing heavy.

The waiting did not last long, but to one as impatient as him it was much more than he could bare. He started bitting of pieces of his fingernails as he awaited nervousness still shaking down his hands. By the looks of it, the man he found was also in earthbound form cause he was....blue. His mind was working much slower than usual, he finally understood that when he noticed the amount of time it was needed to remember the Akalak race. The man opened his eyes slowly only to jump onto him the next moment, forcing him down into the ground and shouting: "It`s all your fault...... you.... you did this" the man screamed as he threw strong punches into the face of the one who found him. Getting sick of this, grabbing the nearest stone that could fit in his fist and smacking the Akalak in the face, it sure was a hard thing to hit as he was constantly moving, but once it did, he fell down breaking as if he was made out of glass.

Blood, everywhere, even on his hands, psychotic rage got into him as he was now kicking the fallen man still not aware how much it hurt his already bruised right leg. Finally calming down and looking down at the Akalak, he paniced, what if he, what if he killed him? What if he killed one of his own? A panic got into him as he was checking is the fallen one breathing, but as far as he could tell, he was as dead as they come. Falling down on his knees, cursing the gods, cursing himself, cursing this miserable existance, if he did not have to struggle so hard to stay alive in the first place, that would have been a perfect moment for a suicide. He ran to the sea as he was litteraly scratching off the blood of of him in a maniacal rage. The pain was not dulling it was even getting worse and so he started to scream back at the dead sky.

[Orion]

The silent response of the sky made him shut up and litsen even harder on the lasting silence that covered everything as far as an eye can see. He got a grip back on some bitts of his sanity as he was now trying to imagine what would his next encounter with the fallen be. He was starting to get worried until he saw a small rock a lot like the one he used to beat the Akalak, than it flashed to him, if they will not be peacefull, than he can always use this on them. As his thought was now over he stood up continuing his search towards the east while he was laughing histerical and dark. Spinning his two index fingers around eachother, it made him laugh so much that he forgot to look out for the things in front of him, as he was now cursing at a nearby stone while holding his foot in hands.

His foot numb, his mind clouded, and his arms scarred, he continued to thread the pavement of chaos that was the world, but only this time, he was going back towards the Akalak, he needed something to eat after all. His stomach growling, he arrived back to the scene of a treacherous crime. He kneeled next to the akalak, grabbing two nearest stones and smashing them off of eachother a few times, until he had a bunch of stone shards next to his knees. Picking up each and every one of them, he estimated the sharpness of them all, until finally picking up the sharpest one. He stopped for a moment laughing as it was looking a lot like a tip of an arrow, the laugh was brief as in the very next moment he was using it to tear open the skin on the arm of the Akalak. He was crying as he was pulling out chunks of meat, both big and small out of the large gap inside one of the man`s forearms.

He ate chewing sorrowfully on the raw flesh of his once companion, and tears, they were still pouring out his eyes like a never ending rain. His hands started to shake as he was barely able to see his skin covered in so much blood. His stomach full, his mind too full, but his heart empty and gazing into the distant and gaping path that would eventually lead him to hell for what he has just done. He entered the water again in orded to rub the blood off, and when he did, a smile of relief rallied his face. His precious moment of peace was broken by a touch of an Ethaefal, a divine touch, but how? When? So many questions filled him as he was still too afraid to turn around and see nothing. But this was no dream, no ilussion, for the figure spoke: "I can sense the Ukalas around you, so why would one of us slay another, please tell me that" it was a female voice, and it was so endearing to him, but the thing that stopped his enjoyment of the moment was this wicked question.

"You have to believe me, there was no other way. He attacked me first, there was no other way....he would have killed me, and i am too afraid to die" he said those words softly and sobbing as he was now turning back to face her.
"It is ok, i do believe you, i saw it all, i only wanted to know how far taken by the madness are you" her voice soft and strong was whispering to him.
As he turned to her he realised a lot about her, for the standards of their kind, she was a midget, only a bit taller than an average human, her face soft and sad. Small freckles that were on her face seemed to be glowing under the moonlight on her opalescent skin. Her eyes were two distant beacons that were starting to narrow a bit as she was looking at him, they were indigo. Her appearance was completed with her pale yellow hair in the frame of yellow horns. She was unlike any Ethaefal he has ever seen, she was beautyfull.

His eyes absorbing her very essence, he was not ashamed to stare, after all, it would be a shame to look away when facing such godlike beauty. His eyes that were grey up to that moment were now filling with that same shade of blue that his Vantha form was always wearing with him. And she was not naked, a bit disappointed, the perverted side of his mind sighsed as he was looking down a simple light blue robe that was mostly covered in mud. He was about to speak when light enveloped them both, he was not sure what kind of light was he spreading, but she was enveloped in silver flames that were stripping her very essence apart, and before he could see anything, she was now Human and even smaller than before, or so it would seem. Looking down his grandious body, he saw he was much taller than usual, the day has arrived, and with it so did their new forms. She looked the same as before, only the horns were gone, and that made him wonder, did she transform at all.

[Orion]

12th day of the season of fall, 503 AV

A small source of light lit up in her, in her very soul as she was looking up onto the majestic outline of one`s growing body. The shirt thorn, pants barely holding out through the transformation, where once there was one of the divine, now there were two, or at least it all looked all so harmonic in his mind. His mind was quick, even if he did fall through the many invisible layers of madness, his line of thought was still decent. Not wasting a single moment, a single breath, or a single word, he hugged her static figure whispering: "Please, don`t be a dream, please i beg you..." he shut his face quickly as he wondered was he really talking to himself all along. But a light touch of her human shell broke his doubts, well it put him at ease at the very least. Either he was too far away drifting into the seas of madness or he was with her, right here, right now.

"A dream?" she chuckled a bit before speaking again: "I have been here for a bit longer than you, and so i have seen, heard and sensed things i have not thought of possible, but enough of all that, i stand here, therefore i exist, you need to learn to believe, otherwise you will succumb to madness sooner or later. But first things first, i call myself Loriniel, my real name being long lost, but not yet forgotten. So now, how do i call you?" her words echoed into the surrounding area losing both themselves and his mind somwhere in the darkness. A name, it was the first time he could not pronounce his name, and now he finally understood her wierd greeting, it was all thanks to the fall, it took too much from them. Loss of friends he could handle, family the same, but a name? How the hell was he suppost to be alive if he could not even say his name? Looking up at the stars and hoping for constellations to show up and give him a name, but alas there were none. His voice started trembling as he spoke first celestial word he could ever think of: "Orion, please, call me Orion" an extatic feeling of joy spread across his face as he was now finally able to use a name, no matter how true or false it all was.

He crouched down and looked at her eyes from a whole new angle, and indeed, she was beautyfull, as if all the light missing in the sky was stolen away and locked up inside her body, inside her soul. There were days he was jaleous of people among who he lived, but this was the first time he actually wanted some of the light that was held by another, that`s how appealing she was to him. Madness almost gone from him, except the voice of lust inside of him telling him: "Get her, pull her closer, quickly, before it all ends" he pointed back at the dead Akalak only to say slowly: "Mad or not, he deserves a funeral, it`s just i have never done that sort of a thing before, well none that i can think of anyway" he finished his sentance laughing at his idiotic statement and kneeling next to the akalak, as his shovel like hands were now struggling to dig a hole, a hole deep enough to house that once divine body. His face was showing a bit of his overwhelming surprise as he was now staring at her helping him dig.

It took them quite a while, but once it was completed, there was still a rather big question of how to make a grave stone fitting of all the things he once was. Looking around, Orion spotted the most fitting stone around and layed it over the headline of the grave, using another stone to mark these words while saying them silently: "Here lies he who lost, may Syna grace him with a beautiful sunrise, and may Leth end his nether missery before it`s too late" these words flowing out of him, did not make much sense, well inside his head they did, but he was not a great writer like some, so it was pretty much the best he could do. Somehow the very smell of the Akalak`s flesh, it made him want to vomit, it made him sick beyond imagining, so he stood up, looking away from the grave and facing the dead sea at hand.

"The others, i want to know where are the others, will you acompany me in my search?" such a simple question, but yet it was so hard for him to say, after all, it could mean the end of her pressence. He was not sure should he cry, yell, or maybe kick some stones around for the mere frustration of this silent, awkward moment. His eyes opened wide as he heard a divine sound from behind his back, it was weak and unsure, but there it was: "Yes, i will. So in wich direction did they fall?" she was coming along, but her tone of voice was so grim, that it made him wonder, if she knew something about the fate of the other fallen. As they treaded the broken and soulless ground below them, they could hear nothing, sense nothing, see nothing. It indeed was a too long journey for his weak and weary mind, even if he was in his divine form. The sky gave them no light, but even without it, they could see two human like figures standing somwhere in the distance, around what seemed to be a fire, and even without them noticing, they quickened their movements.

[Orion]

His smile became as wide as the sea as he heard that she had accepted to acompany him on his wild goose chase. Looking back at her he nodded and pointed to what he thought was west, and which was now to his right. His feet shaking from the edgy coast which they were now passing through as he led the way, almost sensing the lights, or maybe it indeed was all madness. His celestial body did not know how it felt to be tired before this moment, it did not know pain, it did not know sorrow, yet it was now all slowly advancing through his blood as it made it boil somewhat. His feet continued to shake with insecurity as he had the need to turn back every few seconds in order to check up on her advance, at least that is what he kept repeating to himself. What he was really doing is checking up was she still there and he smiled each and every time he found her still behind him.

A sudden glimpse of movement in the distance made him take a momental stop. Looking left and right he was unsure where to move or wether he was spotted since they were on a somewhat large pile of rocks. His hand moved behind him to show Loriniel a sign to stop, but as his hand touched something, he turned his head around almost petrified. What he gazed upon was his hand on her breast, he jumped up yelling in panic: "It was an accident i swear i did not mea....." but than his words were changed into not understandable yelling as he was tumbling down the unknown side of the pile. Looking up towards her, still afraid of her reaction, he opened his mouth to say something, but he was interupted by her words that were followed by ocassional laughing: "Geez, you seriously need to lighten up, i know it was an accident, if i thought you were that kind of man, i would have left your pressence long ago" her smile continued to spread as she was slowly climbing down the rocks.

His head now cleared of fears, he was back onto his curiosity as he was nearing two other shadows that were moving as it seemed towards them as they became larger and larger. Fear rushed to his head, as the both figures were pretty gigantic, well not for him, but for human standards. Turning his head back to Loriniel, he spoke only as softly: "I believe they are of our kind, but just in case, keep a few steps behind me" he was not even sure why he said that, cause for what it seemed he would need more protecting than someone like her. Her response was a silent nod that made him question if she was indeed all that brave or just as confused and curious as him, but never the less, he was glad no further argument was needed. All of a sudden he stood his ground as if something kept him tied down there, as the two newcomers were slowly getting out of the shadows, and into the dusky exterior that was covering them.

His eyes almost popped out as they were spreading in excitement as his eyes gazed upon two statue like bodies, standing about seven feet tall, they were twins, he was sure of it. They both had fiery red hair with emerald green eyes and since the hair was pretty short on one of them, he had a couple of golden horns sticking out of his head in some twisted asimetrical manner that brought curiousness back to Orion`s face. Still curious, he looked at the man with the short hair, and for some reason it seemed as the hair was freshly cut off in order there would be a difference between them. The man with the shorter hair spoke as both of them were now sitting down onto nearby stones next to eachother: "I am...i am.... Leo, and this here is my brother, he lost his ability to speak after the fall, the reasons are unknown to us, oh and his name is Elum" he paused briefly before pointing back at Orion, while sending a curious glance at Loriniel.

Orion showed Loriniel to get closer using his hand but remaining silent, for even if they seemed rather normal, they were somehow not insane enough...or maybe....banishing the paranoic thoughts, he spoke softly: " Orion, you can call me Orion, and this here is.. but he was interupted by her hand that was now placed on his shoulder as her lips parted: "I am Loriniel, where you the ones that fell along with Orion and another one? And where in Leth`s name did you find those robes? her curiosity was well placedas she pointed at them dressed like they have been living here for quite a long time. Her suggestion made Orion embarassed as he was dressed in ragged down clothes that were falling apart. Leo spoke louder than before, while pointing behind them: "There is a large pile of corpses over those rocks there, they are all still dressed except for the two that we stripped for these robes" his sentance ended as he lowered his arm and let it rest back on his knee, and the other question that was still pressing the air around them was already answered bun never the less, Leo still spoke: " We indeed fell with two others, but somehow i get the impression you are not the fourth that fell with us" he pointed at Loriniel. A quick response cut the silence that was beginning to lay back onto them: "Indeed, i have fell about a year ago if my calculations are correct. So do the two of you care to join us?" it was a well placed question, and a good one, but still somewhere in Orion, a small flame of jaleously began to lit as he was awaiting for an answer.

"No...we shall not do such a thing" Leo`s voice broke the silence quickly, giving Orion something to be happy about, but still he waited for the rest of the sentance covering up his mad joy. Leo continued: "Somehow it does not feel right to me to burden you with our issues, and in addition to that, my brother seems to be somewhat afraid of you, therefore i decided it is best for us to leave, since all of us are on brink of madness. I can`t bring myself to be around many others when i succumb to madness, and i am sure i one day will, until then, may Syna guide you.....friends" he finished his sentance as both he and his brother just passed by Orion and Loriniel, as if not noticing anything, and disappearing into the nearby labrynth of rocks. Loriniel did not move an inch as she only whispered: "Goodbye" and even that was probbably not enough to reach them, Orion on the other hand felt a bit sad but did not react to their sudden departure.

"Now that your quest for our kin is over, will you travel this scarred land with me? Will you share some moments of sadness, happiness, loneliness with me? her eyes spread a bit as if they were stopping tears from coming out, as it seemed she was afraid to be alone much longer. And after all, Orion being not too different from them, he could leave too, at any given moment. His lips parted as he laughed to acompany his silent tone: "Of course i will silly, now let`s go back to that pile of bodies to get me some decent clothes. After that, let`s just get lost somewhere in these mortal plains" his lips closed as he stood up walking towards his new clothes, and gently pulling Loriniel along before letting her go.

And that is how it began, his story, his legacy, it all started in those days after the ruin of the world. Those days gave birth to his first friend on Mizahar, and even if he did not know it still at that time, it was also his first love.


Thread End

[Cayenne]

Interesting thread. It'll be interesting to see how his story progresses. Swimming - 1 XP Unarmed Combat - 1 XP Brawling - 1 XP Lore - Falling from the Ukalas Lore - Cannibalism