The pain had eased, but the anger had not retreated an inch. It still burned, simmering and seething inside him as his mind cycled through horrible, hate-filled thoughts on how to kill them. But amidst this bloody sea of malevolent delusions was a single, solitary question that he could not rid from his mind.
So, what stopped you?
Orion jumped. He looked round wildly, finding nothing.
Ash?
It was inside his head. He breathed in and out to calm himself, before answering.
"Who are you?"
Do you really not know?
"No. Why are you inside my head?"
I fear my suspicions have proven true.
"What suspicions?"
You wouldn't know. What is important is that my name is Dust – the sword strapped to your leg - and you are not yourself at the moment.
Orion looked to his thigh, and indeed the sword glowed anew and trailed a thin, wispy smoke as he walked.
"Well, Dust, would you mind telling me why I'm suddenly recognised by everyone I don't know?"
I could, but telling you would prove too much for your mind in its current state. I will tell you when I feel that you've returned to your normal self.
"My normal self? What are you talking about? What's going on here?!"
Orion shouted into the silent air, receiving no answer, before breathing out and running his bloodied hand through his hair.
"Shit, maybe I am going crazy."
The warframe meant to offer him protection against all but the worst blizzards, but it offered no protection against the cold feeling of dread that came over him. He felt the hairs on his back and arms rise as he breathed in a smell entirely different. It was no longer the unnaturally pure smell like before, but a strange combination of metal and wet earth. He stopped before a corner, and looked down from where he came. Darkness shrouded the hallway.
Sighing, Orion slumped into the wall and sat down slowly. He brought up a built-in map of his immediate area to show him at least some hint of where he was. All it showed him was more winding corridors and staircases. Air hissed through his teeth as he cursed. He closed his eyes and let his head rest on the cold marble wall.
What stopped me?
The question still rung like an iron bell in his head. It blocked out any other thoughts, apart from that one, damned toiled over the memory with his mind, trying to pick apart anything he might have missed. But it all ended the same: that sadistic, blood-curdling smile before everything went black. He sighed again.
Well, I won't find any answers sitting here, he thought.
A small click sounded from above him, breaking the shallow silence. Orion looked up in half-interest, but what made him freeze was the lone, snow-white eye that stared back at him.
His heart seemed to explode as he jumped up, adrenaline pulsing hard through his body and igniting his muscles into action. His arm on his good side instantly went to Dust, the other quickly reaching for the Kunai strapped to his thigh. The eye moved, but just a little. Studying. Planning. Orion could vaguely see the rest of the figure behind the eye, which had cocked its head slightly in curiosity.
The foul-smelling air hung between them before the thing spoke.
"Interesting. An Ash warframe. Don't see many of you around anymore."
Orion kept his silence under the helmet.
"What's that you have? A Pangolin Sword?" The figure seemed to know enough about the Tenno, and he spoke the Common Tongue. Orion looked at him carefully before speaking evenly but firmly.
"How do you know about the Tenno? State your name."
"Getting all official, are we? I'll bite. Oculus. That's my name. I am Tenno, if you haven't guessed."
He snorted.
"Why are you here? What warframe do you carry?"
"Hold on a second, too many questions at once."
Why am I wasting time with this fool?
"So many questions, so little time to answer them!" He chuckled. "Never mind. There isn't much to do anyway. All empty space and time. Oh, and those creatures you see sometimes." The stranger continued his monologue.
"Stop fooling around. Why are you here?" Orion's voice was returning to its cold, raspy tone; he was losing his patience.
"Anyway, as I was saying, I'm Oculus. I've got this funny warframe, but see here, it's special. None other like it. I got sent here to see how I would do. Things didn't go as planned. People died. Bad things happened."
"What happened?" Orion demanded.
"The kitty died, the braniac too. Then there's that weird guy, Tosh. That's it. He's still alive. Have you seen him around lately?"
"Tosh?"
"Tosh. Grey warframe. Dodgy eyes." The Oculus looked quizzically at Orion.
"I don-", Orion began.
The Oculus chuckled rather too loudly to himself.
"Trick question. Of course you don't! I saw him with those ladies about an hour ago. There was a blonde one, real pretty. Antheia, I think her name was.
Orion's grip softened. His eyes narrowed to slits.
"How do know she's here?
The Oculus scowled and buried his face in his hands. "Take a clue, genius. My name is Oculus. I have an eye in the middle of my helmet. This means that I can see things. Very, very far. And I can also see a lot more things than you can. A lot more."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"You're being awfully rude, you know? Didn't your mother teach you any manners?"
Orion gritted his teeth and exhaled through his flaring nostrils.
"You know nothing."
"Do I, now?"
"I advise you leave me alone, before you regret your arrogance."
"Sticks and stones, my friend."
Orion held his blade for another moment before smirking and letting his arms fall. He simply looked away, and walked on. This fool was insane.
"I wouldn't be so hasty, if I were you." Orion could practically see the condescending wag of the finger behind him.
"And why would that be?" He asked with a smile, not breaking his stride.
"I may be in possession of something very important to you."
"Which is?"
"This."
The Oculus then moved - no, moving was not fast enough – blinked in front of him, dangling a long object from his fingertips. Orion couldn't make out what it was, but a brief spark from the tip of the object lit up the whole thing, and as it flashed, so did a small glimpse in Orion's mind.
My Nikana.
His senses seemed to defy him for a few moments; his ears picked up no sound, his eyes saw no colour, his hands could not feel the cold of his sword. But, to his horror, they all came back to him, with something infinitely worse in waiting.
He was back. The heat of hellish fire, the bitter smell of the nebulous clouds of ash that mixed with the sick stench of burning flesh, the terrible sight of total, bloody carnage to the furthest reaches of his vision. Everything rushed back as one, hitting Orion with unrelenting force. He wretched and coughed as smoke entered his lungs, making breathing nearly impossible. He stumbled through on weak legs, waving his hands franticly through the scorching air to dispel the black haze blocking his path. Tears streaked down his cheeks from blood-red eyes as his hands fell to his sides. He felt the strength drain from his legs as his head became heavier, and heavier, until he could scarcely keep himself upright, let alone walk. His ankles gave, letting him fall to the razed, smoke-blackened earth and onto his hands and knees. Orion's chest gave a pained heave, perhaps his last, before he fell to the ground. His eyes shut.
A pair of hands, large and unnaturally strong, scooped him up from the floor by his armpits and, as if he were nothing but a slab of meat, slung him over a broad shoulder. He stirred and tried to breathe, but he only got a few sips of precious oxygen before the smoke made him cough it all out again.
Orion was made to feel every painful jab into his ribs as he felt whoever was carrying him walk with long, heavy strides. After a minute or so, he felt the air get clearer and clearer as they moved, allowing the sweet, refreshing taste of oxygen to tingle his burned tongue.
Orion felt his back touch a wall as he was set down with gentle hands. His eyelids seemed to weigh a ton as he tried to open his eyes, never giving and driving him into blindness again. Only after a few moments could he open his eyes enough for them to focus on the scene around him.
It was not any better than the scene beforehand, but the deadly ash cloud was gone, and Orion could see once again.
Okay. I'm not going to die.
"I've found Orion."
He looked up. A gaunt man, clad in an Ash warframe like his, looked down at him. He showed no emotion in his eyes, a shadowy grey, but below that burned something brighter, a vengeful spirit that smouldered in a great suit of adamite armour. A large, unmistakable sword, a fierce dragon's head crowned at the hilt, was slung by a worn leather belt at his hip.
My Nikana.
The Tenno knelt down to his level. He looked straight at Orion with a gaze that was moist with longing, or even sorrow.
"Orion." He began. Orion parted his dry lips, but the man continued.
"Don't speak. I need you to listen to me, more than you ever have. We will not survive this. I will not survive this. They are simply too strong."
He paused, holding his gaze. Orion dared not speak.
"However, that does not mean we won't fight."
"I want to-"
"It does not matter what you want, Orion. I am telling you, I am ordering you, to stay here. You are in no condition to fight right now, so try and save your strength."
An explosion sounded off near, followed by an agonised scream that eventually blended into the hellish cacophony outside.
"I fear this is goodbye. I don't have much need for this anymore, and I believe you are ready. Take this sword. I trust you will take good care of it?"
The Tenno unstrapped the Nikana on his thigh and placed it on Orion's lap. He looked at Orion for another moment before burrowing his face in his shoulder, allowing his grief to gush out in muffled sobs. Orion looked down at the Tenno who had embraced him, and felt that same feeling of distant, unexplainable familiarity. It was in that moment, when the world was burning and it was just the two of them in the centre of it all, in which everything stilled.
Slivers of flame stopped their deadly dance in mid-air. Embers and sparks froze in flight, like tiny birds in the background of one of the many paintings Orion had often gazed yearningly for hours. A piece of a wooden support was suspended mere feet of the ground outside, set alight by the wild fires. Orion looked down at the lone Tenno that had his arms locked around him with such determination, such strength, that it seemed like he would never let go.
The support hit the floor. The shrill cries from outside, the heat, the unrelenting heat, rushed back to him. He nearly passed out. The unnamed Tenno had gotten up, drawing an ornate revolver from his hip straps with his right hand and unsheathing a Glaive with his left. It was only when the Tenno gave one final, tearful glance into Orion's shadowy grey eyes that the truth finally dawned. The one, single word, the one that hit him like a wall of bricks and sent his mind spiralling back into reality:
Father.