Orion

It was getting darker, much darker. He assumed that it was already dinner time. Well, actually, he mostly based his predictions of the time on his stomach.

As he walked with the mysterious girl, his thoughts were occupied by his family. What would their fate be? He had escaped the Sacrifice, and surely the Reginalds had stormed their home already. He hoped they had the sense to go into hiding. And Devorantem! What would he do to them? He wouldn't be pleased with the lack of his yearly sacrifice. The last time they had missed one of them... Orion shivered. It was taught in all history classes, and everyday the teachers would remind their charges of the horrors that would take place if they didn't satisfy the god above them.

There were many horrors.

Despite all of the ruckus in his mind, he couldn't help but appreciate the beauty of the forest around him. He remembered village stories around the fire in the centre of the town, where their festivals were held. He remembered the tales of the evils that festered in the woods and how even the mighty god Devorantem could not contain them for the people of Instopia. Personally, he thought the stories were as good as cow manure. Any story that described the god as 'mighty' or 'good' in any way was definitely not one to take note of.

And now, as his feet trod on the emerald green grass, he was more sure than ever that cow manure was better than those stories. The trees towered over his head majestically, like eternal guardians of life itself. The rapidly fading light filtered through the tree tops down to the floor, giving a nearly ethereal look to the woods. Flowers grew around the path the pair was taking, and their shadows grew long as the sun set.

His companion was silent as they walked. Her cloak drifted just above the floor, shimmering as if a thousand stars were sewn within the material itself. He must've been imagining it, but as she walked, the flowers seemed to stretch towards her, as if she was a beacon of light.

"So," he said, after several stretched minutes of silence. "Where are we off to?"

"The more questions you-"

"-ask, the more confused I'll be, yeah," he said as he rolled his eyes, rubbing his arms as a cold wind blew past. He thought he saw a flicker of a smile on the girl's face, but he must've definitely been imagining things now. The girl seemed like a cold marble statue, cold, emotionless and untouchable. Well, not really. He remembered how she had laughed cheerfully into the Master's face, like a child laughing at something funny and amusing. So maybe she did have some emotion in her.

"I'm still expecting an answer," he informed Alcyone. Her pale hand shifted from beneath her cloak, bringing the dark material closer around her.

"You won't be getting one," she said, and picked up the pace. Sighing through his nose, he followed her.

-

By the time Alcyone had stopped walking, the moon had risen, bringing the light of the stars with it. Orion's legs were burning with exhaustion, and he leant against one of the many trees that surrounded the now almost unnoticeable path the pair was on.

The place where they had stopped looked ordinary to Orion, no different from the other parts of the forest they had walked through. Despite the darkness, the woods still seemed welcoming. The trees glowed in the silvery light, and the fireflies flickered around the path and the flowers. Orion rubbed his eyes, blinking. He could have sworn he saw something much larger than a firefly among the flickering lights, but it had disappeared in a flash.

Alcyone paid no attention. The area they had stopped at was overrun with vines and dropping willow tree like leaves. She brushed her hand through the leafy green curtain they formed, expression thoughtful.

"Why did we stop?" Orion asked after he had caught his breath properly. Alcyone did not answer immediately, merely continuing to observe the leaves.

"You ask too many questions," she said instead of answering his question. He huffed and straightened as she sifted her hand through the vines.

"Yeah, because you won't answer them," he said, irritated. He made up excuses for his bad mood, which included his hunger and Alcyone's persistence in behaving like some mystical entity. "Why are you even doing that to the vines?" He ran a hand though his stringy hair and used the other to pull at his filthy tunic.

He was shocked out of his irateness by the sound of a soft laugh. He looked back at his companion, and she pulled back her hood, revealing porcelain skin that made bright blue-purple eyes pop, and dark hair that ran down her back in curls. She shifted her eyes to focus on him, and found himself intimidated by them. They looked like the very galaxies themselves, sprinkled with bright silver flecks that looked like stars. He had heard many of the village people comment about how he wasn't the most attractive, but how his eyes, when angry, could burn even the hardest and frostiest of warriors. Clearly, they hadn't met anyone with eyes like Alcyone's. She looked intimidating despite whatever her expression was.

"I suppose you have waited long enough," she said, a hint of a smile on her pink lips. She flicked her wrist, and an invisible wind picked the vines up, drawing them away, revealing a flower strewn path. Sunlight flooded through, making Orion disoriented. He blinked a few time as his eyes adjusted, and saw a golden and blue sky shimmering above beyond the vine curtains, and grass even more vibrant in colour than the woods he was standing in, even in day. The trees were few and wide spread, but each had branches that spread towards each other, creating canopies thousands of metres in the sky. But most breathtaking of all was what was in the distance.

A freestanding structure or arcs and spires stood, glowing a pearly white, periwinkle blue and white gold. It looked like it had come straight out of the legends of Devorantem's parallel kingdoms.

Orion looked back out at his side of the forest, where the silver moon shone with the stars against the velvety darkness of the night and the shadowy forms of the trees. Then he looked back into the almost dream like world beyond the vines and leaves. It was impossible, even though his life was no stranger to myths and magic.

"How...?" The words stuck in his throat as amazement took hold of his body and mind. Alcyone's face was bathed in the heavenly light of the place she had just revealed to him.

"Welcome to Alondoron, the Land of Light," her voice said. "One of the famed and legendary parallel kingdoms of Devorantem, and more importantly, your place of solace and freedom."

Orion was still bedazzled by the stunning difference in the night of Instopia, and the brightness of Alondoron. It took a few moments for her words to register.

"W-wait," he said, tearing his eyes with great difficulty from the scene. "You mean... You mean the legends are true? Alondoron and Ohanzeella exist?"

"Indeed," Alcyone replied, calmly meeting his gaze. "They exist on similar planes of existence as Instopia, but that story is for later." She turned back to Alondoron. "Now, it is time for your audience with the people I work for."

"The people you work for?"

"Yes, Orion DeFay," she said. "It is time to meet the Elite Blade Society."