It Never Ends ...

[Illidan Stormrage]

Orion fell to his knees, sweat staining his face, chest heaving. He stared incredulously at his splayed fingers on the ground. Anxiety strangled his chest and stomach, barely allowing his lungs purchase to breathe. His mind swirled in a typhoon of confusion and misremembered moments, all congealing and whirling in one indistinguishable mass. He was a phantom, a mistake. He shouldn't exist.

He shouldn't exist.

Orion grabbed that ominous belief and hurled himself upon it like a piece of timber in the middle of the ocean. Slowly, lest he upheave the contents of his stomach, he climbed to one knee, breathed, then pushed himself the rest of the way to his feet.

He turned his hands in front of him, watching them shake. His single eye bore a hole in them, wet and stinging, but he did not blink. The shaking crawled into his wrists and scaled his arms, until balling his fists was all he could do to stem it.

An unseen wind rose from the white and pulsing ground. Clenching his teeth, the winds picked up, flapping the edges of his robe. A transparent blue aura kicked up around him, the edges flaring upwards like a fire.

Orion looked up and saw a macabre sight. A fountain of blood flowed freely before him, the bowl comprised of skulls joined together.

Where was he? Was he dead? He wanted to be, he yearned for it. The second that his life had been stolen from him, all he wanted to do was to die. It was what he deserved. What he was owed.

Instead, Orion was almost certain that he wasn't in Hell, despite the fountain of blood. Omni was no demon, and his speech didn't touch on the subject of eternal punishment and damnation. It was like this mischievous divine plucked him from his world and sucked him into this white nothingness. But why? To delay his end? To lengthen his suffering?

Orion looked at his clenched fist, shaking with rage and indignation. This cannot be his fate! He will not let it!

No! He wouldn't end like this! He was a saiyan, a warrior! The blood of his ancestors pulsed through his veins, the blood of a people who rose up and conquered a whole planet by themselves! Whoever this Omni was, whatever his sick and twisted game may be, Orion would hunt the gleeful sprite down and smear the contents of his skull across the ground!

He couldn't think straight. He didn't know where Omni was. He didn't know where he was. The anger filled his mind, pressed against the sides of his brain, engulfing everything.

Orion dropped to his knees, roared at the top of his lungs, and punched the glowing earth.

He froze, fist pressing against the ground, breath ragged. Enough sense penetrated his grief to make him realise he couldn't just moan and wail for eternity, but he knew he was in no condition to think rationally.

And so he waited on one knee, propped up on a fist, bleeding the excess fury from his mind. It wouldn't vanish entirely, but he needed a head clear enough to plot his next move.

But he already knew what that move would be.

Hunting Omni.

[Illidan Stormrage]

Time stood still. Slowly, the coil that wrapped around his lungs loosened, every now and then tightening for a split second. The fog in his mind enveloped his thoughts, but he struggled through it, clawing free of it inch by inch.The pulsing, flaring white of the Nexus ground stung his eye, and Orion slammed it shut.

And a whole new terror burst behind his eyelid.

There was nothing he could've done. The enemy was routed years ago, their forces decimated, the remainder fleeing in half broken warships. He saw it. He presided over their last battle, watching the capital ship wreathed in flames as it crashed into the planet, sending a wave of soil skyward. The booming roar of his ally pierced the sounds of explosions, crackling of fire and thrum of cheers. It was over. They had won.

But they hadn't. The enemy returned, and in greater numbers than ever before. Somehow, they hadn't been warned of their presence. The alarms failed to activate, or the sensors were faulty, or ... gods, what did it matter? They snuck onto the planet in the dark of night and laid waste to everything.

Orion awoke to screams and the shaking of the earth. He shot out of bed, heart slamming in his chest. Flashes of light poured through the window. The sound of gunfire was interrupted by the muffling boom of explosions.

He spun back to bed. Empty.

He charged through the house, another earthquake stealing his balance and throwing him into the wall. Orion climbed back to his feet and found the door, kicking it down.

Fire choked the room.

All fell silent, and a single scream rung in his ears.

Orion's eye snapped open. The sight of the burning white ground was preferable to the unbridled nightmare that he just lived through.

Enough! It was beyond ridiculous to be paralysed by anger and fear. He needed to find Omni, kill him, and then find the eternal rest he so richly deserved. Omni mentioned that death was an illusion in this universe when he introduced himself to Orion, so his immortality must be linked to the bald, smiling one.

Something told Orion that Omni wouldn't simply present himself for execution, though. He needed more information, something to go on. Hopefully, the saiyan wasn't the only unfortunate person to be stolen from his home.

Taking a deep breath, Orion rose to his feet. He walked up to the fountain, gave it a sideways glance, and glared at the rippling, cascading blood.

The blood of everyone I've ever killed? Or the blood of everyone I've ever lost?

The question had no answer, but the presence of the fountain tightened his chest. Orion cursed, spat, and levitated into the air. A navy blue aura engulfed his body, buffeting his gold trimmed robe, and took off along the snow white flats.