I shall guide you

…Until he heard a voice. A familiar one.

Orion opened his eyes, tears streaming down his face, as if rivers ran from his eyes, and looked up at his company. Kanra had her hand outstretched, and was looking down at him. He wanted to grasp it, he wanted to feel someone could protect him from the recollection, to comfort him, but as he uncovered one of his ears, he screwed his eyes shut and clasped his hand back. The voices seemed to have gotten louder.

He was still shaking, and his voice was hoarse, but he managed to get out a small “…H-hello…”. This was soon followed by a small plead.

      "Orion... I cannot quite say I understand how you are suffering right now, and it would be unpleasant of me to even try... However, please know that no one here will blame you for your past, or treat you any differently because of it..." she paused, sighing softly, "... What happened back there is truly none of our business, and I will make sure to protect you as much as I can. I promise you, I will not let you come to harm..." She stopped there. It was a strong promise to live up to, but she'd try. Seeing all of these creatures in a place where they didn't belong was cruel and plain wrong.

The nightmares hadn’t bothered him much. So, they were like projections of memories, huh? No big deal, he didn’t feel much pity for them, after all, it was all in the past.

Then his came.

Orion awoke with a start. He found himself on a path, on his hands and knees, with tears running down his face. He was twitching and trembling, and the scene he had just relived for the umpteenth time had whipped him into a sense of disbelief. No, it was in the past, it didn’t matter, he told himself…

But it didn’t work. He thought back to the event. For months after, he didn’t sleep. He only collapsed, and that was the only rest he got. That, still, was plagued with the repetitive scene of everything he knew going up in flames. The new forests pixie healers had diagnosed him with something humans called PTSD.

It was Orion. 

In a daze, as Kanra woke up from the memory, she took it upon herself to run and look for Orion. She had to find him before he went and done something stupid. It was possible, since there had been extreme reactions from certain creatures that she had seen briefly on her travels who had been so unfortunately expose like this. 

Spotting the boy sitting upon a bench, Kanra used her remaining strength to sprint towards him, before skidding to a halt. Anything from hugs to calling his name could act as a trigger. She was treading on thin ice. Breathlessly, she walked round the bench so she was standing in front of Orion. She reached out her hand to him, to grab his attention.

He snapped back as he heard her again. “Ah.” He looked at the floor and then back to Kanra. He sighed and patted her on the head. “Yeah. Don’t worry princess.” As soon as he could he turned the conversation back around to the coke float. “It’s a glass of coke with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it.” He smiled at Kanra trying to think about what else to say. “It all foams up and you can scoop it out with a spoon. Its really sweet.”

       "...! Forgive me, that wasn't pleasant... But oh my... That sounds like a delightful treat...! And you mean we can consume them here!? Oh I would love to try one, Nathaniel!" but then she paused at what he said next. Best enjoyed in a school girl uniform? That was a new thing that Kanra wasn't aware of. Treats can have their taste even more enjoyable by wearing a certain outfit? 

"You should never approach a stranger, lest you know who they are or what they can do." She began, shying her face away, in fear of scaring the girl even more so than already while keeping a steady tone in her voice, almost as if she was uninterested in the whole situation, so much for first impressions.

      "O.. Of course miss.. You are right... Forgive me, I was not thinking... I was simply hoping.. T... That everyone here would have some form of... notion inside of them, th... that everyone should try their best to make sure everyone is okay... So there would be..." she paused. She was going to say no one getting hurt, however, that wasn't the case now. Something clicked in her, and it wasn't a nice feeling. However, her thoughts were cut off briefly as the girl addressed her once again.

What she said next puzzled him. Most of the people he had met were good people to him (he thought most as his mind flicked to Rho) and didn’t really deserve to be locked up here in a gloomy dead metal cage of darkness, and if they wanted to make life a little better, they’d all have to make it, y’know, bearable.

      "That could be awfully dangerous... If the other areas are anything like what we have just escaped from, then we will not get any more information than if we were to simply look at it from a distance." She paused, tapping at her lip in thought, "And... As much as I do not wish to give up looking for an escape from this place... I do not think whoever is behind this will lay out their clues so obviously for us... This may take the entire group to figure this out..." She sighed, thinking about all the people she would have to meet. What if some of them were plotting to kill already. What if someone had already died. With a whimper, Kanra found herself wrapping her arms around Orion, stifling a few sobs.

He looked up at the girl without a word as she approached, and as she crouched, he was about to speak, but was cut off by…her feeling his head? It wasn’t hurt…what the hell was she doing?

Swearing under his breath, his wings catching him, he made for a dive. He caught her staff as it fell beside him, and chased after his company in mid-fall. He landed ungracefully, flipping over onto his butt in an attempt to land on his feet, and fell back.

Relaxing herself, Kanra stood up, pacing towards the young boy who had a hold of her weapon. She tilted her head and gave the slightest of giggles as she crouched down beside him, running a gentle hand through his hair.

His legs buckled underneath him and was caught by his wings, He has to cross his legs to avoid the mist, and the sensation began to subside. However, he was barely able to carry this new found girl and fly with her weight as well as his.

It was all of a sudden, her slight meditation techniques were disrupted, as the boy had managed to lose his footing somehow. The pace was all so suddenly quickened, and Kanra found herself clinging onto the boy for what seemed like dear life. As she noticed the other becoming slightly fatigued by all the running, Kanra couldn't help but feel bad that he was trying to support herself and his own collapsing body at the same time. With a frown, Kanra tilted her head to look at the other before addressing him.

“Thank you Kanra.” They mused, nodding to express their gratitude. “It is nothing personal, but I do feel that with time we may be able to fully share our tales if you still wish to.” It was true. They hadn’t sensed a single glimmer of evil from this small girl, and that was relieving. Usually their intuitions about people were correct, so for now they’d stand by that judgement. “However I must disagree. I have very much enjoyed our conversation thus far. Speaking to you is of great interest. But do not feel forced into speaking about your own life.” One thing they didn’t want was for the girl to feel pressured as they talked…

      "You do not need to thank me, Esa. I respect your privacy, and although you have already stated so, I do wish we can learn more about each other as time goes by." She gave a small giggle and tilted her head to one side before continuing with what she had to say, "... I would never feel forced to speak about myself.. Whilst I may not be the most exciting person in the world, I do hope it makes for good conversation... I would be delighted to share my tales with you, after all, I have a few adventurous tales....-"

Before she continued, she noticed that Esa had dropped to one knee in what looked as a bow of respect. Kanra's gaze shifted from left to right, as her eyes widened in shock. She had never been shown this deal of respect before. She covered her mouth, the slightest of shrieks escaping her small form, as a light pink blush tainted her cheeks. Taking a step back, she shook her head frantically as the other stood up, she soon answer their questions with due haste in her fluster.

       "Oh... Oh my... My status... Is not one you should feel the need to bow down to... I am really quite the unimportant one in my role...! I.. I have indeed met a number of different people... Good people, bad people alike... And I do enjoy it a lot..! I get to listen to different people's stories about their life, how they died, and whether they wish to repent before they get judged, if they haven't already..." She paused there, as Esa soon answered her own question. Just as they explained how they helped people and how the protected them, Kanra found herself repeating the other's actions from only just earlier. She dropped herself to one knee and bowed her head.

Watching quietly as Kanra jumped up, they shook their head. “It is… fine, however… there are some things I would rather not discuss currently, in this situation.” With a nervous tug at their glasses, they sighed. “That is not to say that I will avoid the topic, but I would like to hear your tale too, if you do not mind. Although I understand if you wish to keep quiet on this, even if you brought up the topic in the first place…” They looked down, realising they were blathering. It wasn’t often that they stumbled so badly over their words, but then again it wasn’t often that anyone was interested in their life. All in all, it was quite overwhelming. “My apologies Kanra. It does indeed prove that we are all different, so sharing stories sounds wonderful.”

"... Very well, Esa, it is quite alright if you have things you would rather not share among company, and new company at that. Although, I would be happy to share my stories, if you really wish to listen to them... I am not the most interesting person to speak to.. However, if you wish for me to share something about myself, I shall be happy to oblige." She tilted her head and her smile grew a little wider, as the conversation picked up a little more. Rocking back and forth on her heels, she looked up towards the sky, thinking about how to describe her area of work. Of course, the wording mattered. She was speaking to someone very respectable in her eyes, after all.

"Hold on, I’m gonna get you out of here!" He called down to her, and flew straight down, and landed on both feet. Wincing as the tingling ran up his ankles, and bend over to her side.

"My work?" Nathaniel paused. He hadn’t done anything in a couple of centuries. Kain normally did it for him. He always seemed to have satisfied customers however including that one woman. "Ah, well I specialise in  old style funeral work organising the funeral with the family. I have a lot of practice in mending and dressing up occasions as a person asks. If they want a horse and carriage they get one." He smiled sadly at Kanra.

So it turned out he worked alongside the families and organised funerals. That sounded quite sad. Imagine having to help out a broken family, with a recently deceased relative. At least with Kanra's job, she'd actually be talking to the dead themselves. It seemed odd that the alive were less happy than the dead. She never really understood that. In mid-thought, she realised she was frowning, and that was when the other asked something, but soon changed the topic. Kanra tilted her head to one side in confusion,