[Flashback]The South is Warm, Right?(Solo)

[Orion]

25th Day of the Season of Summer, 504. AV

OOC: For further explanation, please read [Flashback] Humble beginnings that is if the extra explanation is needed. I thought it could be required, and i really am sorry if i wrote this thread in a bad way.




Somewhere in the wilderness, somewhere in the hills, somewhere in the south, somewhere... yep, they were lost, and there was no way in hell Orion could bring himself to saying it. After all he was the one to blame, he smirked slightly while growling to himself and thinking about bumping his head on something, he was just sitting there in the grass looking around at the changeless landscape trying to think a way out of this, when he heard a laugh coming from behind him. Sudden blunt sound as someone hit the ground and now she was laying next to him giggling a bit while speaking: "You got us lost again, didn`t you?" her laugh kept telling Orion it`s not that big of a deal, but he messed up again, how could it be alright, just like that. He shrugged a bit, maybe it really all was well, but he still did not like the fact that he failed her again. Still, her happiness was so entoxicating, there was no way to be in a bad mood around her, for she either would not allow it or the one in question wouldn`t have the heart to show weakness in the face of someone so strong.

Laying down himself, Orion found his head close to her`s as she kept smiling at him and saying: "You really have no idea where we are going, do you? her voice stopped so she could take in a deep breath before speaking again: "Well that makes two of us. And it`s probbably more interesting that way" she kept smiling as she was now resting her head on his shoulder. It truly was a happy morning, but then again, with her, every moment so far was a happy one. It was hard to explain her both heart and mind mending laugh, yet he was somehow bound to her. They laughed together, they sleeped together, they shared everything in every sence of the word, but, still it was never anything official, no one ever said anything to make it official, yet they kept being together as much as they could every day. Orion finally spoke in a soft and silent tone of voice: "A really beautyful morning" it was all he could come up with, for as soon as he would gaze upon her face, his mind was thrown of course, making him unable to think too much. What he really wanted to say? After getting lost in his thoughts again, not even he could answer that question. It was all so awkward, around her he just kept melting, unable to even.... well speak properly, and he could not help himself but to wonder again and again. What was someone so great, so beautyful, so happy doing next to someone so weak as him, he had to be better, if not for himself, then it was cause she deserves better.

His mind trailed off once again as he could hear his stomach growling back at him in despair, but she smelled so good, it was hard to move, it was against his wishes, food could always wait, right? He made a sudden move as he felt the preassure on his shoulder disappearing and hearing footsteps moving away from him for a moment, and just as he was about to stand up completely after sitting up, he heard them coming back again, so he just kept calm, not moving much. Another blunt sound and she was sitting back to back with him, holding a bowl full of something that looked like berries in front of him and saying: "You are an idiot, and maybe you can pretend you don`t hear the call of hunger, but i on the other hand can`t. Come on, eat up, they are really tasty, i stole them from some man yesterday" she just kept smiling as she was waiting for him to eat, and he on the other hand could not understand anything. She was stealing? Why? They had enough food, didn`t they? Still, even after knowing about that, he found himself unable to judge her. Maybe it was her playful voice, maybe it was her good nature, and maybe it was something else, but something kept his thougts from ever looking at her in a bad way.

He took a few of them, throwing them in his before widenning his grin, for they truly were magnificent when it came to taste. Throwing the bowl to the side slowly, he tackled her on the ground while sitting next to her smiling. "So what now?" she kept teasing until he kissed her softly in hope of getting her to stop talking. it worked, but then Orion found himself thinking, do they have like an anyversary or something, after all, it will soon be a year since he met her. Did she know that? Silly question, of course she did, now where were they... He was back to kissing her when they heard a sound in the distance. Orion suddenly jumped to his feet look around for the source of the noise but found nothing, still he was afraid of the unknown, so he just rounded up their stuff while walking away slowly and pulling her arm gently. "We have to get away from here" "Cause i`m scared" the last part kept ringing in Orion`s mind, maybe it was not so much the fear of death that kept moving him further ahead, but it sure as hell was some sort of a fear.

They walked for what felt on their feet like a few bells, but since they were a bit tired from before, it could also be less than one bell. It was a few bells after all, maybe their feet could be lying, but the sun was not as it was now high above their heads shining down in all of it`s might, making Orion turn to the nearest tree in search of shade. Even when they were sitting again, he could not this uneasy feeling from his head, it was pressing against his mind keeping him away from being calm. There was something relaxing in being lost, yet there were so many fears that kept jumping up and down around his thoughts. he finally layed down sighsing out loud before closing his head in a deseprate try of relaxation. He could hear her laugh as it rang around him until he could feel her laying next to him. She fell asleep quickly, so she was tired after all, stubborn fool, kept pushing herself. He smiled a bit unsure wether he should join her in the realm of dreams. He tried, but the disturbance he felt, could not be undone so he just could not sleep, he just layed there twitching slightly even to the sligthest of sounds before relaxing a bit again. And so almost an entire day passed in running away from an unknown fear, Orion could not think of anything but disgrace, for he was unable to keep calm even for a moment of that time.

[Orion]

The night was about to come, something needed to be done, well actually, a lot of things. Shaking her slightly, he tried to wake her up, and it worked. Unsure what to do next, he looked around, the first logical considerations he made were heat and shelter. Shaking his head slightly, he stood up slowly and spoke gently: "That tent you are always carrying around, do you have an idea how to set it up?" he wanted an answer, cause he had no idea what so ever. A simple nod was all he could get from her sleepy presence, so he spoke quietly again: "We are going to need some firewood. I shall go and collect some, you should be able to set up the tent by yourself" he started moving away praying she knows how to do it, cause he made a fool out of himself too many times today already. Running from one tree towards another one was a tiresome business, but it needed to be done, as he had no fire axe, he needed to go around and collect fallen off twigs and branches, along with breaking off the smaller branches he could reach. It took longer than expected, but there was some fun in it, which made Orion smile as wide as he could.

As he was dragging his tired feet back to the camp, it was dark already, his change took place, so he was a bit sad, but even more so, he was anxious to see Loriniel in her celestial form, for there was indeed some happiness in it for him. He kept imagining how will she look this night while making his way through the trees and the bushes, that were aligned as if they were trying to hold him back, or at least get him lost. At long last, he was out of the trees and was now looking at a relatively bad set up of a tent. Smiling a bit, he kept closing in, while holding all the firewood he could carry in his hands. Dropping the firewood next to the entrance to tent, he was now peering in, trying to capture her within his gaze, but... the tent was... empty!? Quickly jumping to his feet again he was now looking around trying to understand what just happened, and then he saw them, many footprints all around leading towards a distant fire. Orion feared what this might be as he kept moving towards the fire, until he tripped on something, there was a small dagger of sorts stuck in the ground there. And now he was teriffied as he pulled the dagger out of the ground, there was still blood on it, up until now, he was just worried, but now, he was freaking out. He crouched down as silently as possible while moving in that same silence and following the footprints when he could, and when he could not, he would simply navigate by the fire.

Dementia and fears overtook him, for even if the madness was disappearing slowly, he was still young from the fall, and it could not be completely denied, expect when around her. But now she was gone. "For now, for now, we shall see eachother again, yea, we will, for sure, we must" he kept screaming meaningless prayers inside his head. A sudden inch of slippery ground made him lose his footing and fall back into the short grass, praying no one heard his fall, he wiped the scratch made by the fall using one of his sleeves and went on, lurking, sneaking. What he did not know at the time was that the scratch was a bit bigger than he thought, and it was caused by the dagger he was now hidding within his robe. His left forearm screamed in pain, but he could not bring himself to litsen while fear and adrenaline were running his brain slowly, but surely turning it towards the edges of darkness. The madness stood there calling, the thought of spilling blood tempting, they needed to pay, and pay they shall.

Sneaking slowly, still making a bit noise, he was now looking at the fire from a close distance. He could not see very clearly, cause of all the grass he was laying in was partially blocking his view, but still he could make out two tents and at least that many people out there. Screams pounded to his ears, many screams, was it her? Was it? He was unsure as he never heard her screaming before. Looking down his robe, he realised it is no longer white, but some strange shade of brown, which surprisingly made him fit in well with the surrounding landscape. They had no right to do this, they had to pay, the had to.... die? His arm gripped firm onto the hilt of the dagger, his gaze locked on it, he was wondering. Wondering will he be able to do anything with a thing like this, after all, it was nothing but an overgrown kitchen knife to him, no, even less than that. One of the men went into the tent, and the screams got louder, the man in the tent was shouting something, but Orion could not bring himself to hear anything besides his own voice of rage guiding him. The other man leaned to the entrance to the tent and while laughing said: "Don`t forget i`m next.... whoa, mind if i watch?" the rage in Orion kept rising far above normal as he was sure, if he was ever to do anything, it was now.

His Vantha eyes shaded to a bloodthirsty crimson shade, there was no longer a reason to hold back, no longer a chance to do so even if he wanted. He simply stood up walking towards the man at the entrance to the tent silently. The fool did not even react, he just kept smiling as death was coming. If he only knew, maybe he would have turned around in panic. Orion kept thinking in a calm maniacal way as he kept a hand over the man`s mouth thursting the dagger as fast as he could between his neck and his right shoulder, it was a relatively clumsy way to murdder someone but it seemed effective as he kept doing it again and again. The only though of regret in him was "I wish i saw his eyes" and indeed that was the only thing his killer instinct lacked, satisfaction caused by plaguing the hearts of others with fear. As he came back to his senses a bit, he realised he felt really tired, it was too much work killing a man, men oughta go down faster, it would be more fun. The man in the tent was now staring at Orion`s face as it kept smiling in extasy, wierd laugh like sounds escaping him. He kept glaring at the other man that was freaked out as if he was a piece of meat as he licked some off the blood from the blade.

[Orion]

Orion kept staring at the unarmed man thinking of all the things he could do to make him squeel and scream in agonizing pain. He raised the small blade next to the man`s throat with one hand, while using the other one to smeer his face in blood, until it was completely crimson, matching his lustfull eyes. The man had more than one chance to take the dagger away from Orion, but it would seem that he was tainted with fear, maybe even more than the Ethaefal was enveloped in madness. Grabbing the man`s neck with his bloodied hand, it was not nearly as strong as it could be in his daylight form, but it had to be sufficent as he had managed to drag the man out of the tent. It seemed like she was crying back in the tent, but he had no time for that, not until the torture is over. He turned towards the man grasping his full figure for the first time as the light of the fire engulfed them both. Unlike the first one, this man was taller, and even tho both of them were human, this one seemed a lot older. Deep scars, both old and new covering his face and both of his arms, all this insight gave Orion a small reason to panic, for even if he was in control of the situation for now, there was no easy way to handle a man that expirienced.

Gripping his hand harder around the neck of the stranger, he felt extatic as his nails were piercing the skin, warm, and sticky blood pouring down in five small streams around his fingers. Looking a bit better at the man, what he saw is that his pants were pulled down, and after seing that, no longer was there remorse or regret in his mind as his new found friend, the dagger slashed the inner side of his opponent`s left thigh. By the amount of blood that started pouring out, it was evident that the man was going to die soon, but by his barely twitching posture, someone watching from the side would think that he got but a small scratch. As Orion was laughing out loud at the thought of breaking him eventually, he felt a strong punch to his right kidney and flew to the side. It was not the strongest hit Orion ever took, but since it was a kidney shoot, it made him heavy all of a sudden, and it was painfull even to walk. The human was walking around like a dog, his long black hair blown by the wind and eneveloping his arms, that were used more like front legs at the moment. Grabbing a flame engulfed stick from the fire and pointing it towards Orion, the man stood to his feet carefully as he swung the torch around him, which made him more sure of himself. He tried to get closer to Orion, but even the slightest step presented an unsurpassable challenge, he looked around a bit until he realised how to give himself a chance. Picking up a small sword from the ground, he threw the torch at the tent while laughing, now they were even, they both had little time left to finish this fight, after all, he did thie that bitch well, there was no way she could get out in time. Not alone.

He smiled rapidly at Orion as he was skillfully waving his sword around in circular motion. Orion was thinking of a best way to get around the man, but the sword was just too long, it was all happening too fast, "Think, Leth dammit, think" there has to be something he did not consider. Many voices of anger kept smashing what little he had left of common sense. That`s it, that could work, it had to work. Orion quickly jumped towards the camp fire and started throwing burning branches at the human, trying to get him to lose his balance. The man knocked down a few of the branches seemingly hard, and than Orion once again had an idea, dropping the dagger and grabbing it between his teeth, he quickly started throwing as many branches as he could at the man, hoping to see an opening. His left hand got slightly burned in the process, but it was worth it, as he could see an opening now, the man held his sword too high, which should give him enough time to kill the beast, right? There was no time to hessitate, and so Orion rushed in blindly yelling, screaming, crying. The man indeed set a trap for one as careless and desperate as Orion, but he overestimated his own agility as he was now falling away to the side with the dagger sticking out of his throat. The swing of the man was weakened by his dying moments but it still pulled through as the sword slashed Orion`s shoulder, slowly scratching his collar bone.

And then everything went pitch black as the last moment of rememberance was a hot searing pain at the back of his head. Did he fall? Did the dying man manage to get a good swing and knock him out? That question remains a mistery to him to this day, and to this day he wonders... "What If?" What if he was stronger? What if he was quicker? What if he was smarter?

When Orion woke up, it was already morning, and he could feel smoke and smell of burning flesh. It filled the air around him. Standing up slowly as he could feel numbness in both his arms and legs, he realized he must have been lying for quite a while. His head throbbing like it was being stepped on, but there was no blood on his neck, all was well, he was alright. And than it hit him: "No, it is not alright" as sudden shout made him realize, he still didn`t untie Loriniel. She was going to be mad about it, he was sure of it. When he got through the debris that were left, he gazed upon a terrible sight, there was nothing there but a bunch of burned flesh. His madness kicking in, he started talking to what was left of the body that Loriniel once was: "I really am sorry, i oughta untie you quicker next time" he started shaking his head as he continued: "I know, i know, im sorry.... really" his voice than trailed off a bit as he broke off a part of her right hand while trying to get what was left of the rope off the burned body. Carrying her away towards their encampment he kept speaking to her: "You smell really bad, do you know that?" a smale smile grazed his skin as he said those words.

It was a long walk to his tired legs, and hard work for his burned hands, but he was sure it will all be worth it once she wakes up. Yes, when she wakes up, they can have their story all over again, forgetting all of the sad chapters. He went to take a bath since he was covered in dried up blood, and his robe could have used some cleaning as well. He had to be good looking when she wakes up, yes, he could not possibly let her wake up and see his face for what it is now. No, it needed to be cleaned up properly, as well as the hair. It took a while, but once he was done scratching the blood off his skin and getting the blood clogs out of his hair, he headed up the hill, picking up firewood along the way. He was going to make her a meal, well if you could call it a meal, his cooking skills were equal to none. Reaching the tent, he found a bit of blood inside but her body was not to be found. Quickly raising his head head he realized she was playing with a dog like creature a few dozen feet away from the tent. Rushing towards her he started shouting: "I am going to make us some breakfast, and i promise i won`t burn anything this time, what would you..." his voice trailed off as he saw what the dog was doing. It was chewing onto her thie. Not even thinking a bit, Orion quickly grabbed the neares rock and tackled the dog while swinging the stone. The first time the stone hit the dogs head, there was a loud crack, every time after that, the air was filling itself with some sort of squishy noise as the dog`s brain was being turned into a puddle.

When he finally finished making the dog look like a bloody pulp, he turned back to the body of his former companion as his madness gave him yet another "good" idea. Yes, the dog was not so foolish at all, if he could eat her flesh, they would be reunited as one.... again. Now wouldn`t that be something, she would be resting in his body, like she was resting inside his soul, for a long time now. It took his madness long to accept her death, but when it did, it did not let him make it a tragic thing, but found a logical solution to his problem. He quickly got a chunk of flesh from the chewed up leg. He took it closer to his mouth smelling the meat, even in death, she looked tasty. He laughed a bit to himself as he bit off a small amount of meat. His face quickly turned to a gaze desperation. That one bite brought it all back, the blood, the death, the sorrow, and the memories of the tasty Akalak flesh. Quickly spitting out what was left of the meat he had in his mouth, he quickly shoved it all back into the wound.

He was an idiot, she was the one fighting madness for him all this time, it was his turn, it was his battle now, it needed to be done properly. Madness did not let him regain complete control as her body still looked tasty and his mouth drooled with desire, but his movements were directed towards making a grave. He used that same bloody rock that killed the dog to move layers of earth around until the hole had enough room to put her body into it. After he layed the body down, he quickly kissed her forehead as a goodbye, well what was left of it anyway. The next thing to do was to put the ground back over her and let her be swallowed by the Mizahar, so she can be taken to Ukalas. Once she was completely covered by earth, he took a bunch of smaller rocks to outline the grave while putting a large rock on top of the grave to make sure nothing diggs her up before she has time to pass on.

For the first time in a long time, he was alone again, and it was not as bad as it seemed, it was worse. Using some of the dogs blood, he wrote onto the large stone. The letters said: "May we meet once more" salty, warm and non stopping tears were pouring down his face as he was moving further and further away.

His madness already killed someone, and this was not the first time either, it was time for a change. He was not yet strong enough to meld into society, but some day... His thought trailed off as he found himself sucking the dogs blood off of his finger. It was going to be another warm summer day, but not even all of the warmth in the world was not enough to cure the sence of treachery, loneliness and hate he had inside him. Even with all this happening the south was always warm after all.

Thread End

[Kelpie]

Orion: +1 Tracking, +1 Stealth, +1 Dagger, +1 Unarmed Combat Lore: The Disadvantages and Advantages of being Madly in Love, Being Cautious to keep a Loved One safe, The Horrors of Doubt and Fear, The Treacheries of Men, Enveloped by Madness Mod Note: Great job, Orion, although there were several typos, you might want to reread or proofread your work before posting it, it might help you out a lot! As for the contents, it was very bittersweet and sad. Orion's madness was played out very well. Damn those humans! You beat them up good!