Fate - First Reply A Body in The Woods

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Orion

Orion

Remains of a Man
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Lore Maker I Seriously Likeable I Can't Stop!
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Character Biography
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"There is no place on this world for a being like me"​


Wild amusement. That's what danced and trotted its way through his mind every time that little thought shot up to his brain for a fraction of a second. Why was that something he constantly felt a need to remind what was left of himself? It wasn't as though it were anything he wasn't acutely aware of already. The laugh that the sudden thought brought to his mind caused him to laugh aloud, bringing pain with it as the arrow buried in his shoulder moved along with him as he limped onshore, water dripping from his body as his heavy boots crunched against the sand beneath his feet.

Once again it had been proven that he had no place amongst other life; he'd been shot and tossed to sea. It would have killed any other man, and the one who called himself Orion wished he was of that caliber. Intead, the pain only brought more twisted, corrupt thoughts to his mind, screaming voices from every corner calling for his attention, yearning for his love.

"He who turns himself into a monster faces not what he's done.
Turn away from the sun, and stare only at the shadow.
You could have anything you want, with a snap of your fingers.
Can you feel it in your palms? Like stakes to a martyr?
I understand, and someday you will too."​

But now, he was something less than man; merely a shell that had once been human, withering and dying with every moment that passed. Even as the salty air of the ocean filled his nostrils, he felt it returning; that ethereal metronome ticking softly in the back of his ill mind, the invisible demons that constantly threatened to rip apart his humanity speaking evil words into his ears...

"Chase away the butterflies and never let them in.
It only takes one pest to start an infestation, and the heart is such a roomy space.
The spider in your mind doesn't have a brother.
Except for the fly in his parlor."​

He was once human, and now the remnant of such a being. His power, His magic, tore at every fiber of his being constantly. He felt it like his skin was being peeled away slowly, and with every step, his sense of self faded. For when Janus Carrux was consumed by the tremendous potential that had once made him loved, he became somebody else. Just like a troubled spirit finds solace in the bottom of an ale, he would allow himself to sink into the deepest recesses of his mind. Now, he was Orion, with a mind twisted and tainted with darkness.

He loved this world, Arethil, that had condemned him and left him behind.

He loved this world so much that he wanted to watch it suffer and feel his pain. That, or end his own pain. If somebody would silence his haunted head, he'd be ever so grateful. He'd lost count of all the thoughts and emotions that kept him awake, never quite fitting.

"Born of evil and begetting evil.
Can we make our pasts a lighter shade with a few extra coats?
When I turn around to look behind me, all that I see is gray.
Little black scorch marks on the floor, each for a soul.
I paint them on my skin to keep them alive."​

It was the same thoughts that were keeping him on his feet, distracted from the throbbing pain in his shoulder as he left the rocky shore, heading into one of the many small forests that littered Arethil. He believed he'd washed up on the southern tip of Falwood, but he couldn't be sure; he didn't know how long he'd been adrift or where the boat had been when the arrow had sent him overboard. All he knew was the cruelty that the gods saw fit to make him live on, not granting him his death then and there.

The cool breeze that ran through the trees was like ice against his soaked skin, his teeth clenching as his body shivered, which of course only made the pain in his shoulder that much worse. He was so close; a small village just a short walk away, he could see it now.... But he was weak, his body collapsing in a heap in the dirt, laid on his back as he drifted to unconsciousness once more. Perhaps until his death.
 
Tap tap tap.

The outside world was numb to him, and his eyes were obviously heavy. But he could feel something knock on his head despite his dark hair being thick enough to obstruct any light touch.

Tap tap tap.
It happened again.


After a few seconds, she got up and clasped her hands in front of her robe, intertwining her fingers together.

"What a shame."
 
Orion was hardly in any condition to process the world around him anymore. Even barring his injuries, his mind had long since surrendered trying to make sense of his thoughts, and there was nothing to see through his glassy, dulled eyes but a collage of nonsensical shapes and colors swirling around him like a maelstrom had picked up the entire world, twisting it into some abstract art imperceptible to the eye.

Surely, he was dying this time? Surely, this was his rest, and his repentance for his actions?

When the woman would knock upon his head, she might see the damndest thing on his face; a peaceful smile, one that spoke of a man truly happy. He was dimly aware of the pressure against his skull, and a voice blurry and unrecognizable in the darkness that covered his world.

His eyes open, white and glazed to meet those of the woman above him. Still far too dazed to speak and hear clearly, with even his vision blurry and doubled, he said nothing as he shifted in silent agony, the arrow buried in his shoulder radiating through his body.
 
The Woman took a step back, staring down at his state. Startled at his sudden smile.
Her long pearly robe flowing in the wind, she raised her hand and placed it under her chin as if she was in deep thought.

A debate began inside her head, on whether she ought to intervene. Her eyes darted around the area, literally looking for an easy answer, but none was to be found. In the end, she decided to speak again.
"Do you want to live?" she asked, with a certain softness to her voice.
 
For a moment, the completely ordinary woman glowed in the sunlight above their heads, illuminating her pristine white dress and giving her an angelic aura. Of course, the dying man knew that she was no such creature-- There was no place in the kingdom of the Gods for a tainted soul such as his own. When he finally died, he would not be greeted by seraphim, but by vassals of the deepest hell.

She asked him a simple question, one that should have been easily answered. Yet it was that very question that had ruled his addled mind ever since he'd made that decision for others. Yes, there was some sliver of humanity deep inside of him that remained, that strived to continue on. The longer he struggled, however, the further into the blackness that sliver sank.

"As I am? Or as I was to be?" The man coughs out painfully. "I may as well be dead, where I lay now. But there was a time when I made that choice for those who had no control. It is only right that you now make the choice for me. Leave me here, and I will die. Save me, and I must continue onwards."

Random Woman
 
She removed her curled finger from her chin, and moved her hand to cover her eyes and lower forehead...
The sides of her lips moved down, in a brief grimace - accompanied by a soft puff of air.
"Another one, just like the others."
She then instantly turned around, her hands assuming a more neutral position together behind her back. After a brief moment had passed, she brought them in front of her body and crossed them.
"You seem to be sorrowful about your past choices - judging by that nasty wound, it also seems like they caught up with you. Normally I'd prefer you make the choice of whether or not you should have the chance to redeem yourself, buuuut maybe... just - maybe I should make that choice to be a good example."
She turned around to face the man again, smiling.
"Right, yes, and under one condition! Well, two.. maybe. No, asking for the second one would be very very mean, especially in a life or death situation. Okay. Only the first."

"I will take care of that wound, and help you get back your strength, and you promise to try to change for the better - or change into something that doesn't leave you dying in the woods."
"Alone."
The woman, having finished her "think loudly" session, raised her right hand while her arm remained close to her body, her pointer finger extended outwards towards the man.
"How does that sound?"
 
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For a moment, Orion wondered if perhaps the strange woman had her own demons hidden away in the halls of her head, the argument she held with herself a sight to behold, and one he would have shown concern over if he were anybody to judge. Regardless, her words made some measure of sense, though Orion did shift his weight to his non-punctured shoulder and offer a minor correction.

"My current situation has no correlation to my past sins. That I lay bleeding before you is but chance, not karma." There was a bitterness to his voice, one that perhaps indicated he wished the opposite were true, that dying here in these woods would somehow allow him to atone. "Were I to die now, it would be a convenient way of escaping a much more gruesome fate in store for me in the future."

Still, despite knowing that this death would be a meaningless one, that she placed concessions on his life did cause him to consider rejecting her assistance outright. This woman did not know him, what he'd done, or why he'd done it. Orion had asked her to decide if he lived or died, not whether or not he deserved redemption, deserved to change.

"It sounds as though you're less concerned about my life and more concerned about my soul. You're fighting a losing battle, there..."

But she had only asked him to try.

"But fine."

Random Woman
 
Orion said:
For a moment, Orion wondered if perhaps the strange woman had her own demons hidden away in the halls of her head, the argument she held with herself a sight to behold, and one he would have shown concern over if he were anybody to judge. Regardless, her words made some measure of sense, though Orion did shift his weight to his non-punctured shoulder and offer a minor correction.

"My current situation has no correlation to my past sins. That I lay bleeding before you is but chance, not karma." There was a bitterness to his voice, one that perhaps indicated he wished the opposite were true, that dying here in these woods would somehow allow him to atone. "Were I to die now, it would be a convenient way of escaping a much more gruesome fate in store for me in the future."

Still, despite knowing that this death would be a meaningless one, that she placed concessions on his life did cause him to consider rejecting her assistance outright. This woman did not know him, what he'd done, or why he'd done it. Orion had asked her to decide if he lived or died, not whether or not he deserved redemption, deserved to change.

"It sounds as though you're less concerned about my life and more concerned about my soul. You're fighting a losing battle, there..."

But she had only asked him to try.

"But fine."

Random Woman
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She almost jumped up from excitement at his reply, but quickly calmed herself down.
"I'm very much concerned about your life, so, we should get going. Going... Going..."
She paused.
"You can't walk, can you?"
 
Even in his condition, Orion found the strange woman's observational skills to be breathtaking. For it was true, the arrow in his shoulder made it rather difficult to move without enduring pain most extreme.

If this woman could indeed help him, she was going to need to start right here and now.

"I can... sit up. If you remove the arrow and stem the bleeding I can walk with assistance."
 
"Oh right, well, yes, of course. Of cour..hmph. That's going to be a challenge."


"But I do have an idea."
She knelt forward, and reached down to the fabric draped over her legs. With one swift motion, she managed to rip off a modest amount of her lower robe, and promptly tie it around her left hand. She stared at it for a few seconds, and then looked up at him.​
"That arrow is going to be a problem."
"We don't have any fat on hand, nor... any instruments."
"Say, do you know what type of arrow pierced you?" "Knowing could help me decide... not knowing could make me rip your hand off on accident."​
 
Orion watched her with a steady eye as she repurposed some fabric from her robe and wrapped it around one of her hands. The man's brow raised rather curiously as she stared at it, himself unsure of what she intended to do with the ribbon of cloth. A tourniquet, perhaps? No, that would still require her to remove the arrow, something she seemed not entirely confident in doing, understandably.

"Nothing particularly spectacular." Orion replied, "Lanceolate, no stem or notch. They were aiming for my neck, but obviously, they should have gotten a bit more practice in." They were pirates that he'd been stowing away with, on a trip back to the mainland from an island far to the east. There was a... disagreement. Unfortunately, that ended with the entire ship rather tired of his company.

"I jumped from the ship I was on while they fired. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be here in front of you right now. At least, not breathing. So tell me, what's your plan?"

Random Woman
 
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Orion said:
Orion watched her with a steady eye as she repurposed some fabric from her robe and wrapped it around one of her hands. The man's brow raised rather curiously as she stared at it, himself unsure of what she intended to do with the ribbon of cloth. A tourniquet, perhaps? No, that would still require her to remove the arrow, something she seemed not entirely confident in doing, understandably.

"Nothing particularly spectacular." Orion replied, "Lanceolate, no stem or notch. They were aiming for my neck, but obviously, they should have gotten a bit more practice in." They were pirates that he'd been stowing away with, on a trip back to the mainland from an island far to the east. There was a... disagreement. Unfortunately, that ended with the entire ship rather tired of his company.

"I jumped from the ship I was on while they fired. Otherwise, I probably wouldn't be here in front of you right now. At least, not breathing. So tell me, what's your plan?"

Random Woman
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She smiled, and then covered her mouth; probably out of embarrassment.
"I'm going to pull it out, of course! It's not like we can do anything else. You'll bite down on this cloth here, and once it's out, we'll use the same cloth to stop the bleeding!"
...
"Then I can walk you to a nearby hamlet. Probably."
...
"I hope you don't faint at the sight of blood gushing everywhere."
She held back some more giggles, waiting for his reply.
 
"Thankfully, it takes far more than the sight of my own blood to make me fret." The ghost of a smirk played at the corner of his lips despite the dire situation. He'd been inflicted far worse wounds, but he had been sitting out in the elements for some time, and exposure was a foe no man or woman could stave off forever. "You get this thing out of me, and I will be able to move a bit more freely. I can use that cloth to apply pressure to stem the bleeding until we find proper care."

Proper care... there was no healer alive that could truly fix him. His body was wounded, but his mind was in tatters. Hopefully, wherever this Random Woman opted to take him wasn't somewhere with a penchant for prosecuting the mentally unwell. Either way, Orion shifted his weight, pointing the shaft of the arrow out towards her. Gathering what little fortitude he had remaining, he braced himself for the upcoming pain. "Alright, let's get it over with, then..."

Random Woman
 
Orion said:
"Thankfully, it takes far more than the sight of my own blood to make me fret." The ghost of a smirk played at the corner of his lips despite the dire situation. He'd been inflicted far worse wounds, but he had been sitting out in the elements for some time, and exposure was a foe no man or woman could stave off forever. "You get this thing out of me, and I will be able to move a bit more freely. I can use that cloth to apply pressure to stem the bleeding until we find proper care."

Proper care... there was no healer alive that could truly fix him. His body was wounded, but his mind was in tatters. Hopefully, wherever this Random Woman opted to take him wasn't somewhere with a penchant for prosecuting the mentally unwell. Either way, Orion shifted his weight, pointing the shaft of the arrow out towards her. Gathering what little fortitude he had remaining, he braced himself for the upcoming pain. "Alright, let's get it over with, then..."

Random Woman
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The woman took hold of the arrow with both of her hands - inhaling for a brief moment, before pulling it backwards - intentionally loosing her balance so as to let gravity do the rest of the work.

And so it was, the arrow was practically torn out of the man.
 
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