The trio could only stare at the young girl as she stood in front of them, slightly tilting her head as her purple irises locked onto them.
Long white hair flowed down her back as she stood before the group; the area around her quickly deteriorated, mirroring the effects of Rot, though her power was superior, and the surroundings perished rather than decayed.
Oreon clenched his daggers tightly. "It's just a girl...But." Oreon quickly glanced around the dead landscape that was once a clearing. "But something feels wrong, really wrong. Hey," Oreon looked over at Celestia. "What the hell is going on? This kind of thing is right up your alley, right?"
Celestia was in disbelief. Her blue eyes grew larger as she stared, unable to believe the little girl standing in front of them. Her small-sized horns sticking out of her forehead were a dead giveaway of what the little girl was.
She stood up gradually, making sure not to frighten the child facing them. "No...Don't." She gulped. "Don't...Make any sudden movements. That girl is dangerous." Speaking softly to Oreon, she kept her gaze directed forward. "That's...That's...She's...A Voidborne." Celestia admitted. "Don't attack her...you'll be dust before your feet even leave the ground."
The small girl's expression shifted into something that resembled curiosity mixed with amusement. "Dangerous?" She echoed, her voice carrying that same unsettling tone. "That's...an interesting word choice." She took a step forward, her white nightgown swaying slightly despite the complete absence of wind. "Interesting, you would say that, when I'm not the one who's armed right now." She then slowly lifted her arm, lightly pointing at Oreon.
Oreon's breath caught in his throat as he stared at the small child. "Come again?" He managed to ask, though his grip on his daggers remained firm despite them trembling. "She's a what now?"
"A Voidborne," Sylvanie said, her teeth clenched. "Creatures born from the void itself—beings of pure nothingness that exist outside the natural order." She took slow, measured breaths. "They're...They don't follow how our reality works and have their own set of rules."
"My sister is right," Celestia added. "They're both unpredictable, powerful abominations that shouldn't be able to exist in our world."
The small girl giggled softly at Celestia's words, a sound that somehow felt wrong—like hearing laughter underwater.
"Abominations? That's...Harsh." She lowered her arm slowly, her eyes never leaving them. "Though, I guess it's the only way for mortals like you to describe us." She brought her arms together slowly and put a finger on her chin, as if she were considering the word. "Monsters. Demons. Spirits. Things that shouldn't exist." Her purple eyes gleamed with an emotion that was difficult to read. "However, none of those terms quite fit what we exactly are. I'm actually surprised that one would know who we are, but I suppose elves would remember. Your kind has such...long memories." She tilted her head at them. "It's always the elves who speak about us with such colorful words; it seems like time hasn't changed at all when it comes to you creatures."
She took another step forward, the grass turning to ash beneath her step. The trees behind her collapsed silently, turning to dust before they even hit the ground. "You're right, though—partially." She tilted her head again. "We don't follow your rules. Your laws of nature, your magic, or your gods..." A small smile played on her lips. "None of it applies to us."
Oreon's mind raced. Every instinct screamed at him to run, but his legs wouldn't move. "So...What do you want then?" He asked, trying to keep his voice steady. "Why are you here?"
The girl's expression shifted to confusion. "Want?" She echoed. "I don't...want' anything." Her gaze drifted past them, toward the corrupt stream. "You're the ones who entered my domain. So, I think I should be asking you that question. Why are you here?She quickly glanced back at them, her purple eyes squinting a little.
Celestia immediately raised her hands in a placating gesture, though her body remained tense from fear. "Please, forgive my words. We meant no disrespect. We thought that this was just a regular clearing. We didn't know it was—"
"Mine?" The girl finished, taking another small step forward. "Everything here is mine. I made it." She spread her small arms wide, gesturing at the dead clearing around them. "Isn't it pretty? I tried to make it look like the forest outside, but..." She frowned slightly, her expression almost pouty. "I can never get it quite right. Living things are so...Complicated."
Oreon swallowed hard. "Look, kid...We didn't mean to trespass or whatever. We'll just—"
"Kid?" The girl's eyes snapped to him, and for a moment, something ancient and terrible flickered behind those purple irises. "I'm older than your bloodline, human. Older than the trees that watched your ancestors crawl from caves." Her voice remained childlike, but the weight behind it pressed down on all three of them like a physical force.
Celestia swiftly sent a sharp glance at Oreon, who immediately understood his mistake. "Please, forgive him...We were seeking shelter. We were—"
"Shelter?' The girl's expression shifted to confusion again. "From what? The men in shiny armor?" She giggled—a sound that sent chills down all three of their spines. "They're so loud when they die. All that praying and screaming...It's annoying, they don't even know who they're praying to." She trailed off, looking past them toward the darkened tree line. "I watched them earlier. They were looking for something...or someone." A sudden understanding dawned on her, and her face shifted into something that looked like joy. "Oh, was that you, harbinger?" Her eyes focused on Oreon.
"Why do you keep calling me..." Oreon felt his stomach drop. "You...You watched them...Wait...They...You killed the Order's soldiers?"
"Killed?" The Voidborn blinked slowly. "No, no, no. That's such a violent word. I just...made them quiet." She brought her small hands together in front of her chest. "They were disturbing my garden, you see. All that noise, all those heavy footsteps crushing my pretty flowers..." Her voice took on a petulant tone. "So, I made them part of it instead."
"You made them part of...it?" Oreon repeated, almost like he was fearing the words that he heard.
Sylvanie's red eyes grew wider as she understood. "The clearing," She breathed out as she quickly looked around. "Those trees, that grass...They weren't constructs. They were—"
"People!" The girl finished excitedly, bouncing on her heels like any normal child might when sharing good news. "I turned them into my garden! Isn't that clever?" She clapped her hands together, the sound echoing unnaturally through the dead clearing. "Their armor made such pretty flowers—all that shiny gold and silver they were wearing. And their bones..." She giggled again, that wrong tone of hers. "Their bones made the best trees! See how straight and tall they are!"
Oreon felt bile rise in his throat. He looked around the clearing with new horror, seeing it for what it truly was—a graveyard.
Celestia's face, along with her sister's, had gone pale, her usual composure cracking. "By the ancients...How...How many...?" She asked quietly, though part of her didn't want to know the answer.
"Hmm..." The girl tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Ten? Twenty? I don't know, it was a large group, so I didn't keep count." She shrugged, as if it didn't matter to her. "They kept screaming about a thief and escaped elves. At least, that's what I remember before I made them quiet."
The Voidborne took another step closer, and all three of them instinctively backed up a step in response.
"I guess we now know why Rot didn't have a lot of soldiers with him when he found us." Oreon breathed cautiously."
"They probably split up searching for us and...Found her." Sylvanie clarified, never letting her guard down.
The Voidborne tilted her head, studying their reactions with childlike curiosity. "You don't like it?" She seemed genuinely confused. "But they were bad people, weren't they? They hurt others—I could smell blood on their weapons." Her purple eyes dimmed slightly. "I thought I was being...helpful? Making something pretty out of something ugly." She let out a small sigh. "Trying to understand your basic sense of mortality is hard..." She lightly whined. "Did I do a bad thing?"
"That's not—" Oreon started, but Celestia quickly grabbed his arm, stopping him mid-sentence.
"It's...unique," Celestia managed, forcing her voice to remain steady despite being in the presence of death itself. "But we really should be going now. We've intruded long enough—"
"No." The word came out flat, emotionless. The girl's expression shifted back to being blank and unreadable. "You still haven't answered my question properly." This time, without taking a step at all, the grass beneath all of them turned into ash as if her sudden demeanor change was the cause of this. "Why are you here, Harbinger? It's too soon, Mother said so."
The temperature in the clearing plummeted. Frost began to form on the dead trees, something that shouldn't have been possible given the already corrupted nature of the space.
Oreon's breath came out in visible puffs. "You keep calling me that, but I think you've got me confused with someone else! I'm just a human! I have no clue on what you're talking about!" He exclaimed as the harsh weather began to pick up, but seemingly unbothered the Voidborne girl.
Her expression changed to reflect a blend of bewilderment and annoyance. For a second, the furrow in her brow made her seem almost... typical. As if it were a child trying to figure out a puzzle that made no sense.
"Confused?" She repeated slowly, suddenly appearing closer than she once was. "No, no, no. I'm never confused about these things. Mother taught me well." She appeared directly in front of Oreon this time, her eyes focused on him.
"I'm serious! I don't even know what this 'harbinger' you're looking for is!" Oreon retaliated as her violet eyes studied Oreon more closely.
"Hmmm..." After a long, uncomfortable moment, recognition flickered across her features, followed by disappointment.
"Oh." The single word carried weight. "Oh, I see now." She brought a small hand to her mouth, covering it as if she'd made an embarrassing mistake. "You're not a Harbinger yet. You're..." A giggle escaped her, though this one sounded more genuine, returning to her previous childlike gestures. "How silly of me! Mother would be so upset if she knew I almost ruined the surprise."
The girl took a step back, and the oppressive cold immediately lessened—though it didn't disappear entirely. She clasped her hands behind her back, swaying slightly from side to side like a child caught doing something they weren't supposed to.
"My apologies," she said, though her tone suggested she didn't fully understand what she was apologizing for. "I got ahead of myself. Mother always says I'm too eager." She looked up at the darkened sky, as if looking for guidance. "She told me to wait, to be patient...But I've been waiting for so long already." She sighed. "We all have...But if mother says we must be patient, then we must be patient."
"Mother?" Sylvanie repeated. "That's like the second time you mentioned that word. Who is this 'Mother' you keep going on about?" she asked carefully.
The Voidborne's expression lit up with genuine joy. "Mother! Oh, she's wonderful! She's the one who made me, who taught me everything!" She spun in a small circle, her white nightgown flowing around her. "She told me about the Harbingers, about how they'll come when the time is right, when the world is ready to—" She stopped mid-spin, her eyes suddenly focusing on the group with an intensity that made their blood run cold. "But I'm not supposed to talk about that yet."
Oreon, still confused, looked over at the two elves and then down at the little girl. "Sorry, but I'm not getting any of this..." He sighed. "I'm not this 'Harbinger' you keep telling me I am."
The Voidborne stared at him for a long moment, her eyes unblinking. Then, unexpectedly, like before, she burst into child delight. "Oh, but you are! I can see the thread deep down in that little mortal soul of yours." She giggles, causing Oreon to squint his eyes at her for a moment. "Yep, clear as day. The threads are already wrapping around you, little human." She traced invisible patterns in the air with her finger, as if following something only she could see. "Red threads, black threads, golden threads, they're soooo many colors...And they all tangle up around you. How...Interesting."
Sylvanie took a slight, non-threatening step forward. "What are you talking about? What threads?"
The girl's eyes excitedly flicked to Sylvanie, then to Celestia, and a knowing smile continued to spread across her features. "Oh, especially these two." She pointed at both sisters. "Their threads are wrapped so tightly around you, little human." She said excitedly as she began to twirl again. "You should be excited! So many threads wrapped around a human's little soul!" She exclaimed.
"Hey, my soul isn't little." Oreon tried to protest as the little girl began skipping in a small circle around him.
"Little, big, it doesn't matter—" She sang as she continued her skipping circle. "But compared to what it will become." She stopped in front of him. "It's going to be massive!' She used her hands to showcase what little emotions she had in her body. "Mother is going to be so happy; she always said the harbingers were special."
Celestia, trying her best to gather herself. "I'm sorry, but if I may...What exactly is a harbinger?" She questioned, hoping not to offend the Voidborne.
The child paused, turning to face Celestia. Her eyes returned to their blank previous state. For a moment, she seemed to consider the question, her small gray finger tapping against her chin in an oddly human gesture.
"A harbinger?" She repeated, her voice carrying that strange echo again. "Hmmm...How do I explain this to someone like you?" She looked up at the dead sky, searching for the right words. "Mother says harbingers are—" Suddenly, a loud ring sounded, causing the little girl to narrow her eyes at the sky." –Mother's calling." She turns her head back towards the trio. "I guess it's time for you to go." She tilted her head at them, her eyes beginning to glow as her childlike persona dropped instantly. "Now get out..." She said coldly as her eyes shot up, hitting the three with an immense invisible force, knocking them out of the clearing and into the woods once more, sending them tumbling down a hill.
The world spun violently as they were hurled through the air like rag dolls. Oreon felt branches whipped against his face and body, roots catching at his legs as gravity took over. The three of them tumbled down a steep embankment, dirt and leaves flying up around them in a chaotic storm.
Thud. Thud. Crack.
Oreon hit the ground hard, rolling several more times before finally coming to a stop at the base of the hill. His entire body screamed in pain as he groaned, trying to push himself up on shaky arms. His vision swam for a moment—black spots dancing at the edges, but after a few deep, ragged breaths, things started to come back into focus.
"Ugh..." Sylvanie was the first to move, pushing herself up onto her hands and knees. Her violet hair was tangled with twigs and dirt, and a thin line of blood ran down from a cut above her eyebrow. "What the—That little...!" She spat out dirt, her eyes red with anger. "Did she just...Throw us?"
"More or less..." Oreon spoke from the ground a few feet away from her. "She wasn't gentle about it either." He groaned.
Celestia sat up more slowly, wincing as she pressed a hand to her ribs. What was left of her elegant appearance was now completely disheveled, her pale blonde hair matted with debris. "Are you both...alright?" She managed.
"Define, alright," Oreon muttered, rolling onto his back and staring up at the canopy above. "I feel like I just got kicked by a horse...several times." He answered back. "And I think I twisted my ankle somewhere during that fall...I don't know, everything hurts."
"From being slaves to the damn Order to being tossed out like garbage," Sylvanie hissed as she finally stood up on her own feet, pulling twigs from her hair. "I should go back up there and—"
"You will do no such thing," Celestia's big sister voice cut in. "We should consider ourselves fortunate that it didn't decide to kill us." Surveying the woods, she sighed and quickly recognized the trail that connected their past and present positions. "And it seems that she did us a favor when she ejected us." She pointed at the trail that they had once come from. "Look."
Oreon pushed himself up onto his elbows, following Celestia's gesture. His eyes widened slightly as recognition dawned on him. The path that led to the town that he mentioned earlier was right in front of them, just a dozen or so feet away from where they'd landed.
"Well...That's convenient," He uttered, letting himself fall back onto the ground with a soft thud. "She could've just pointed us in the right direction instead of launching us like a catapult, but sure...This works, I guess."
Sylvanie crossed her arms, her eyes still burning with annoyance as she stared back up the hill toward where the clearing must have been. "Convenient or not, that little monster—"
"—Saved us from the Order's soldiers, whether intentionally or not," Celestia interrupted gently as she slowly got to her feet, brushing dirt from what remained of her tattered clothing. "And she let us go. That counts for something."
"Let us go?" Sylvanie scoffed. "She threw us down a hill!"
"Better than being turned into a tree," Oreon pointed out dryly, still lying on his back. "Or whatever the hell she did to those soldiers...I'm just saying, we got off easy."
Sylvanie shot him a glare but didn't argue. She knew he was right, as much as she hated to admit it. "Fine," She muttered, turning away from the hill. "But if I ever see that thing again..." She left the threat hanging in the air.
Celestia made her way over to Oreon, extending her hand to help him up. "Can you walk?"
"Probably," Oreon grunted, taking her hand. As she pulled him to his feet, he tested his weight on his injured ankle and winced. "Yeah...It's not bad, I can manage."
"Sister, let the 'harbinger.' Help himself up. I'm pretty sure this human can walk on his own." Sylvanie spat.
Celestia shot her sister with a warning look. "Sylvanie, please—not now."
"Not now? Sister, you can't be serious." Sylvanie's voice rose slightly. "Did you not hear what that thing called him? A harbinger! Har-Bin-Ger!" She pointed at him, her finger emphasizing with every syllable. "And you're acting like it's nothing!" She gestured wildly toward the hill. "For all we know, he could be—"
"Could be what?" Celestia's tone remained calm, but a slight edge to it now.
Frustrated, Sylvanie ruffled her own hair. "I don't know, some walking disaster or something." She pointed at Oreon again.
"I'm standing right here, you know," Oreon interjected, still favoring his good leg. "And for the record, I have no idea what she was talking about. Harbingers? Threads? None of that makes sense to me either." Oreon shrugged.
"Of course it doesn't make sense to you," Sylvanie shot back, turning her eyes to Oreon. 'But that doesn't change the fact that some Voidborne—a literal child of the void—singled you out specifically." She took a step closer, her voice dropping to something more serious as she got in his face. "Things like that don't just mistake people for something they're not. They can see things we can't!"
Oreon met her gaze, unflinching before letting out a sigh. "Then what do you want me to do about it? I'm just as lost in the dark as you...Look, I'm tired, ok. I broke into one of the thousand-strongholds the Order has, which, by the way, turns out to be one of my father's. Stole a Dragon Shard, freed two elves, who were apparently of royalty, fought soldiers, ran down corridors for god knows how long. Got threatened by paladins, jumped through a window, fought a corrupted elf, and then met something that humans don't normally meet...I just want to eat, is that alright with you, or are you going to jab a knife in my throat the second I reach for some food?" Oreon stared at her tiredly.
Sylvanie's eyes narrowed dangerously, and for a moment, it seemed like she might actually hit him. Her jaw clenched, her fists balling at her sides—but before she could say or do anything, Celestia stepped between them.
"Sylvanie, that's enough," Celestia said firmly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Both of you, stop this excessive bickering at once."
The two stared at each other a bit longer, their eyes never leaving each other as exhaustion and frustration continued to kick in.
"Sylvanie!" Celestia called her name again.
Sylvanie's jaw tightened, her eyes boring into Oreon's for another long, tense moment. Then, with a sharp exhale through her nose. "Fine..." She jerked away from her sister's hand, walking away from them. "Whatever..."
"And you..." Celestia glanced at Oreon, who had already started to walk past her.
"Let's just go, if we don't move, some giant ancient worm from a volcano a thousand miles away somewhere is going to sing to us next." He said tiredly as he began to walk (with a limp) down the path they were originally on.
Celestia watched him limp away, a mixture of concern and exasperation crossing her features. She glanced back at Sylvanie, who had her arms crossed and was pointedly looking in the opposite direction, then let out a soft, weary sigh.
"This is going to be a long journey," She muttered under her breath as she turned her gaze towards the hill that they had just gotten thrown off of and then turned back around following after Oreon.
They walked in silence, the only noises they could hear were the leaves rustling beneath their feet and Oreon's occasional grimace as his sore ankle acted up.
The forest around them had shifted subtly—no longer carrying the oppressive weight they endured before. Owls could be heard in the distance, and the faint rustle of small creatures moving through the bushes returned.
Oreon led the way, his limp becoming more pronounced with each step. He tried to hide it, tried to walk normally, but the pain was starting to catch up with him now that the adrenaline had worn off. Behind him, Celestia followed quietly, her eyes occasionally flicking between him and her sister, who trailed at the back with her arms still crossed with a moody expression.
After what felt like an eternity of awkward silence, Sylvanie finally spoke up, though there was still a bit of attitude in her voice. "How much farther to this town of yours?"
Oreon didn't turn around. "Not far...Maybe another hour or so if we keep this pace." He paused, then added dryly. "Unless you feel like carrying me."
"Don't tempt me," Sylvanie muttered under her breath. "I might just leave you in a ditch, human."
"Sylvanie!" Celestia's voice was sharp this time."
"What?" Her sister shot back. "I'm joking!" though the way she said it suggested she wasn't entirely joking.
Celestia pinched the bridge of her nose, clearly reaching her limit. "Both of you need to stop this...This constant back-and-forth is exhausting."
Oreon finally glanced over his shoulder at them. "...She started it."
"And I'll finish it, human." Sylvanie snapped.
"I would like to see you trrrrryyy!" Oreon yelped as he indeed stepped and tripped into a shallow ditch, falling face-first into a bush below, the back of his shirt riding up, revealing something that both Celestia and Sylvanie saw that made both of their eyes widen in horror.
Meanwhile, Oreon's head popped out of the bush, spitting out a leaf. "Son of a...What the hell does this forest have against me! First the branch and now this!" He quickly glanced behind him and saw the stunned faces of both the elven sisters. Tilting his head slightly, not realizing they were looking at his back. "What?"
Showcased on Oreon's back were whip marks, cascading in different patterns, overlapping one another. Some only grazed him, while others left deep scars on his back.
Celestia's breath caught in her throat, her hand instinctively moving to cover her mouth. The marks on Oreon's back weren't fresh; they were old, healed over time. Some lines were thin, barely visible, while others were thick and jagged, the kind that came from repeated punishments.
Sylvanie's face changed completely. Her eyes were still wide with surprise as they took in the full view of Oreon's scared back.
"By the gods..." Celestia whispered, her voice barely audible. "You're back..."
Oreon blinked, confusion crossing his features. "My back?" He questioned. "What about my back? Is there something on—" Oreon's eyes widened in realization at what they were talking about as he slightly turned his head back towards them again, their gazes meeting over the discovery the elves had made.
A heavy silence fell over the three.
Oreon's expression shifted. First, he felt embarrassed, then his expression became guarded as he quickly pulled his shirt back down with more force than necessary.
"It's nothing," he said flatly, his voice taking a defensive tone as he pushed himself out of the ditch. "Just—forget you saw that."
Both sisters looked at him for a moment before turning their eyes towards each other as Oreon finally got himself out of the ditch and was about to continue walking, until.
"Whip marks," Sylvanie called out softly, though her voice remained serious.
Oreon froze mid-step, his shoulders tensing, but he didn't turn around.
"They're old..." She kept her arms crossed but continued to speak as her red eyes never left him. "Probably from when you were a child." She pressed.
"I said forget it," Oreon's voice came out sharper this time, still not turning to face them. His hands clenched into fists at his sides. "It's not like it matters now anyway, so drop it."
"Those marks aren't nothing." With a voice mirroring her sister's gravity, Celestia's gaze focused intently on Oreon. "You were tortured..." She gently clasped her hands in front of her.
Oreon remained still, his back still facing them. Tension returned, but not the usual tension from earlier.
"They're old scars," He finally said, his voice quieter now. "From a long time ago. That's all you need to know."
"Who did it?" Sylvanie bluntly asked, arms crossed tighter now.
Oreon froze for a moment at the question. The straightforward question was asked with no hesitation. Slowly, he turned around to face the elves, all three slightly glaring at one another.
"What does it matter to you?" Oreon shot back coldly.
"It doesn't, human." Sylvanie's words mirrored his tone. "I'm just rather tired of how secretive you've been throughout this whole escapade of ours."
"Secretive?" Oreon repeated. "Like you two have told me anything about yourselves." Oreon retaliated. "Two royal elves sitting in a chamber, chained down for God knows how long before I came along. Then, on top of that, it's not a thank you I get for freeing you. You literally were about to snap my neck before the decaying elf came along, and what happens again, oh! I saved you again by kicking you out of the way!" Oreon gritted his teeth. "Face it, I know just as much about you as you do me."
"That's because your father destroyed our home!" Sylvanie screamed, stepping forward, getting in Oreon's face. "He took everything from us—Our kingdom, our people, our freedom! Chained us to the floor like animals! So, forgive me if I'm not exactly eager to pour my heart out to the son of the man who ruined our lives!"
Oreon didn't blink, his jaw clenching as he met her gaze. "And what do you want me to say, huh?" Oreon shouted back. "You want me to drop down on my hands and knees and beg for forgiveness! I'm sorry, your highness, please forgive my father for being such a jerk! Will that fix anything? Will that bring your kingdom back?"
"No! But it's a damn start, human!" Sylvanie barked back.
"Great, glad to know that deep down you're just some little girl who wants someone to make the world better for them!" Oreon retorted.
Sylvanie's eyes flashed dangerously, her fists clenched tightly together by her sides. "What did you just call me?!" She fought back.
"You heard me?!" Oreon didn't back down, his exhaustion giving way to his own frustration. "You want someone to blame! Someone to make the bad things go away! Someone to take responsibility for the cruel things that were done to you! Someone to fix everything for you, but guess what? Life doesn't work that way. You think that just because you keep throwing that royalty title around that it's going to change something, well, reality check, princess, it's not!" Oreon continued. "So, stop acting like you're the only one who's suffering right now, there are plenty of people who—"
Sylvanie's hand moved faster than anyone thought—her palm connecting with his cheek in a sharp, resounding slap that echoed through the forest.
Oreon's head snapped to the side, his cheek burning red from the impact. For a moment, everything went still as a thin trickle of blood ran from the corner of his mouth where her nails had caught him.
"Don't you dare— "Her voice cracked as her chest heaved as she glared at him. "—Don't you dare tell me how to feel about what was done to us." She growled hatefully, baring her teeth at him. "You have no idea what we've lost. What we've been through. What they put my sister through. Our family through!" She yelled. "You have no idea what it's like to watch your home burn, and there's nothing you can do to save it." She glared at him. "You don't have the slightest clue what it feels like to watch your sister being collared up like some damn mongrel! You don't! You—"
"At least you still have yours!" Oreon shouted back, this time anger showcasing in his voice." At least you still have your sister! She's standing right there!" He gestured toward Celestia while maintaining his intense gaze on Sylvanie. "You can still touch your sister. Argue with her. Hold her, protect her! You can still—" His voice cracked, the words catching in his throat as he stopped himself. He was visibly shaken, his fists quivering and his body trembling as he struggled to regain control.
"I don't..." Oreon's voice came out quieter, strained. "I don't have that anymore..."
Sylvanie's expression faltered, her anger wavering for just a second as she registered what he'd said. Celestia, who had been watching from the side, took a small step forward, her lips parting as if to speak, but no words came.
Breathing heavily, Oreon wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
"My mother...and my sister...both....are..." He shook his head for a moment before he took a deep breath. "I'll never forget that