ORIGIN

Often, time rarely granted him an hour that he could fill with pleasant thoughts. There was no husk anymore, he had filled out but still he felt empty inside. What good did it make to wander the caves as an autonomous machine? When the walls only stretched so far and the encounters were limited to a set few gembounds who had been granted the right to be birthed. Louie's left side brushed gently against the wall, he didn't feel like getting lost or hitting something that his right eye had missed. Back in Monoceros, there were two gembounds infused with his own spirit, one in the matter of rock and the other in a matter of his Will. Leaving them alone for extended periods of time was commonplace, Magdalena seemed to understand that and during his absence she watched fondly over both, despite her connection to one.

The segment of smooth wall fell away into the ridges and bumps of the carvings. Lifting his head, he tried to make out what he could out of the corner of his eye but was forced to step back a few paces to absorb the whole thing with his impaired vision. To say there was any sense in this madness would be... Crazy. Scribbles and etchings of words from a forgotten language and pictures that he couldn't make heads or tails of. Inhaling the musty stench of dust and dirt that had found its way to perch on the edges of the sills, he wrinkled his nose and place his paw pad on the wall. Running it down, the ridges and bumps sent pleasant shivers up his spine. "What secrets are you holding?" It was breathed silently, as he made to step back once again sitting down.

Did this hold everything that would give his life meaning? That he would feel as though he was no longer required to murder others to give himself a sense of purpose? Anyone who crossed his path, was likely to either end up dead or corrupt. Whether that was his intent in the beginning, it had become his intent now. The fox had accepted his role in Origin Cave. No one had respect for him, no one could be called his friend. Merry Men were already as angry as they had ever been at him, he could understand it despite the reason being petty. Perhaps the world was just better off without him here. Take a step back and end it all for the good of others who he held no feelings for.

End the cycle of derailing trains wherever he went. Let them implode by themselves when they all came to understand that life had no purpose. Perhaps birthing children would make him seem different, and that was probably the only tie he still felt to this world. Ending it now, would be selfish to them. So he withheld from doing so. For the sake of the kids.

Rarely did it bother to venture forth from its abode within Orion. The deer man was making for excellent company as its houseguest, watching it torture what it considered a danger. Carnivorous itself it had never dared to get too close to the pronged horns, but it would always linger and wait wherever there was a lingering possibility that light would be extinguished. Only now did it go forth, to try and complete the rounds of the caves in order to determine that there was nothing he was missing. Many gembounds had passed on, but he hadn't deemed it necessary to be present. Most merely gave up the will, their gem was compliant and eventually it would be reborn as something new.

Interestingly enough, a lump of larimar had come into its own possession. Though it had no use for it, as it had no intentions of reproducing at this stage, it kept it tucked into its lamp which it still carried eerily with him throughout the darkened tunnels. Temere passed through the tunnel silently, the only sign of its presence was the light that illuminated the walls in a glow. Presently, it came upon Louie and it doused itself in whatever magic it could muster... Nothing happened, and in this realization it merely perched on a precipice and spoke.

"There is no understanding those markings and runes. They will forever lay shrouded in mystery." Calmly, it set the lamp aside and peered down over its curved beak towards the vulpes. Blackened feathers ruffled slightly, it indicated with a wing to the pictures, "Only those really stand a chance. But I doubt you will be able to." This creature... Louie's gem light felt weakened and the Harpy clacked its beak together a few times to keep the attention on it. "Your gem tells a sad song." Whether it could actually have an understanding of this or not was unknown, it could easily be an illusion spoken by the injuries and overall position of the fox. A keen perception of the world around him was heralded by his vast knowledge of Origin cave, despite his brief time in its caverns.

Not having any understanding of the eagle's role in Origin, he felt no fear being under the presence of the eagle. Dwarfed in size, that was probably the only thing he had to fear, being carried off and eaten by the lengthened talons on each foot. Alerted by the presence of a foreign light, his head follow Temere as he came in for a landing, perching with expertise on a surface impossible for a quadruped. It began as small talk, a comment about how the markings were impossible to understand and bemused, Louie responded, "I never said I was trying to understand them. But one forgets the majesty of the world when they let things like this pass by on their journeys." Studying him with one eye, he didn't have the privilege of being able to sweep his gaze between the two areas of interest.

Only following his indication, he shrugged at the various pictures of little stick figure animals. Would he really show that he cared about the extensive mystery and lore surrounding their cave was? No, he was the heartless beast of the caves. Though tiny, he made up for it with his ability to poison even the largest of animals. Conqueror of dragons. "If you wanted to waste time doing it go ahead." Just as it had predicted, Louie had no intention of sticking around talking to a feathered demon. There were better things to do, he was heading to Eridanus to see if he could scout out the dragon and actually get some questions answered about what the fuck had happened to Booker. Whether he really had damaged and ruined everyone he had come across.

A sad song. This infuriated him more than anything and he growled and snapped back, "You don't know anything about me. I have never been sad. It is a weakness and I have outgrown all weaknesses. If anything my victims have ended up more sad than me." Whenever he was angry, he always explained himself in way too many words. Louie wasn't good at just leaving things as they were. But he couldn't back down from a challenge. He didn't even know its name but already it acted as though it knew the story he had lived. "How could you. I haven't met you before in my fucking life." Stupid birds. Just like that poison chick and Dark. They were all stupid feather brains. Just like herbivores were stupid slow grass munchers. No one understood him because he just to separate himself from everyone else. That's just how he was. "So why don't you just fly off and go bother someone else." Rather than bring this to a fight, he decided to just wave him off and continue on.

Down the length of the tunnel, something moves. It looks as though a piece of armor has come to life, a rusted steel gauntlet that suddenly begins to shift in the dust. The sound echoes through the tunnel, jerking left and right, then falls still.