Lilac (1) Sons of the Deveaux

Chapter ten - Orian

Orian.

The Life Tree was situated within its own realm. In the height of it's power, the realms had all converged at the base of the mega giant to celebrate the gifts and joy it brought.

Now, the bark had faded from vibrant and rich brown to an ash grey. It no longer flourished with colour, no longer pulsed with energy that strengthened everybody and anything.

Inside the realm was like stepping into a perpetual night's sky where the stars were slowly going out one by one. Once it had been lit by galaxies and solar systems of pure raw power. Nobody knew what had caused the break, nobody knew where the rot was coming from, but as Orian stepped forward slowly, his foot sank into mulch and decayed ground.

Hell might be considered full of monsters, but this felt like a nightmare realm. Any moment, a gruesome hand could reach out to touch his shoulder. Any minute, a malformed creature would drag its disfigured body and launch itself at them.

Ghouls moved without conscious thought, their limbs were always messy and disgusting. Skin that would drip from bones, faces contorted in both pain and confusion.

They were messy to deal with, but remarkably difficult to kill. Their bones were dense, their hits hard. Only a handful of them would go deeply into the Tree's territory and Orian was one of them.
He'd done the perimeter check like Brimstone had asked and found nothing. Nothing to itch the scratch for violence, nothing to let him go wild a little and let loose. He'd came through the portal with two others for a touch of surveillance - and partly looking for a fight.

His mind was on Lillith. Those pretty eyes that watched him turning so wonderfully glittery. The flush on her cheeks over the simplest thing, the way adorable petals fell from her hair when she wasn't thinking about it.

This was also, seriously not the time to think about whatever happened with Lennox last night when he'd been dragged out to deal with their pets.

Orian wanted to be there. Orian wanted to cosy up to the fairy and see just what happened. If anything sparked for her about him. He wasn't handsome like Lennox, wasn't .. well, experienced or really very good with females.

There was little gentleness within him, he was to the point about things he wanted and did his best to come across as civil. Even if half the time he spent trying to tamper down the unexplainable anger that burned in him.

Wading through the ankle deep debris on the dead forest floor, Orian stayed low, quiet, willing his senses to stretch and watch for something.

Anything.

Any sign of life was a sign of the enemy. There were no birds here. No bugs or animals. He could catch the movement of cloth against armour behind him, the steady breathing of his soldiers as they followed his every move. Stepped where he stepped.

They knew better than to go off half cocked at this point. Too many lives had been lost in the battle to get things under control in the first place.

A stick cracked off to his left, the scales slithering over his body coming to a stand still. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.

A faint shuffle of sound, feet moving lazily against the sludge ground. Ghoul.

Glancing around in the dim light, Orian took a deep breath and reached inward. His power connected to his anger, tendrils of thick black fog emanating from his body beneath the armour he wore and taking shape. Manipulated by his learned control, the shadowed item twisted and solidified itself into what he liked to use best.

A shadowed scythe , the blade a wispy smoke on the sharp end , nicely balanced in his grip and easily used. While Lennox had to imbue his weapons with fire, Orian could make anything he wanted to as long as he put his mind to it.