In front of his dead parent's farm, a teenage boy mumble, his once lively eyes clouded with grief and hatred, while he throws a lighted torch on the building. The only unnecessary thing that he keeps is nothing, just a little ball that he always carried on him since the discovery of his powers.
— I hate you, traitorous bitch.
He then goes out, in the woods, as he sees a crowd with torches coming. When the villagers' wives come later, they find everything burnt down and every animal dead, seemingly executed by dogs' claws and bites. One of them then spat on the ground.
— Thank god, we won't have to do it ourselves. They shouldn't have treaded with the witch.
Unbeknownst to them, Dorian is still there, engraving each face in his mind for later use. Only after this does he really get out of the vicinity, his pace resolute. While his first goal is Belle's last home, he is not really surprised to see it destroyed so he quickly turns his back to the ruin.
— Come out.
A horse shadow emerges from his own, which he rides, before taking him deep in the forest. Dorian doesn't stop for the night and makes a halt only when dawn comes. Now, he is far enough. The sky is low, now, and the sun hides behind dark clouds announcing impending rain. Without missing a beat, the young man seeks shelter from it, not wanting to be drenched so soon in his journey.
A cavern is easily found, but already in use by a solitary bear. The beast, aggressive in its territory defense, charges the intruder as soon as it wakes, surprising our teenager who fumbles and falls while trying to evade. With a thunderous bark, Gibbs lunges from Dorian's shadow and bite the animal, before being thrown against a wall and dissipating.
— No ! Gibbs !
Without thinking, Dorian concentrates on his friend and immediately feels that it's still here, in his shadow. However, he won't call him back to fight, knowing that the dog won't be helpful here and not wanting to see it suffer more, even if a shadow shouldn't feel pain. His distraction, even if less than a second long, gives the bear enough time to attack once again. Dorian can't do anything more than roll, escaping death by a hair's margin.
— Every…
Just before calling everyone of his shadow to help, he shuts up as the cave isn't large enough to house this much cattle. Rolling continuously, Dorian has to think about who to call. Gibbs isn't strong enough, as well as much of his hen and other small animals. The horse, while big and strong, is a good bet but there is a risk of it not being enough either.
— Now.
As the beast lunges once again, three shadows come out, the horse and two oxen. With those additions, the battle becomes one sided and ends in less than a minute, the beast unable to confront the coordinated assault of the three shadows. During this time, Dorian stays out of reach, sited and vainly trying to catch his panicked breath. Once calmed down, his panic subsided, Dorian stands up and approaches the beast corpse.
*With it, I'll be way stronger.*
— Come.
As expected, he feels his power surging, taxing a little bit of his stamina. When, however, it continues to decrease without movement from the corpse, something feels wrong, until the power stops and leaves Dorian more tired than before without results.
— I. Said. Come !
Once again, he feels the tug on his stamina. Once again, the process is longer than it should. This time, however, the drain is even stronger before failing. All that's left in the boy's mind is a feeling of disgust, of contempt, which isn't his.
— Come to me, beast !
For the third time, he feels his power activating, his stamina falling. At the same time, he feels once again the disgust and contempt, with this time rage added in the mix, all of this coming from the bear. This ends once more by a failure, leaving the boy so utterly drained that he falls on his arse, panting.
— Why ?
Gibbs comes out and, in his exhausted state, Dorian feels that this simple act drains a bit, really nothing in truth, of his stamina. The dog takes the posture it usually took, once alive, when whimpering, then gently pushes its muzzle against the boy's hip. Mechanically, Dorian's arm goes to Gibbs' head and pats it, before closing his eyes and sleeping like this.
When he wakes up, his stomach grumbling as he slept all morning, Dorian frowns as he smells the bear corpse's stench. He looks around and, seeing Gibbs laying here with its head on his arm, smiles faintly. His hunger, however, pushes the boy to stand and sigh. He can't eat the bear, he has nothing to begin a fire nor to prepare the meat.
— Come, guys… I need you.
With his call, all the small animals' shadows get out and turn their heads to him.
— Search some food for me, or a fireplace, anything that is edible for me.
All shadows out there, except for gibbs' one, seemingly melt onto the ground before gliding to the forest. While they search, Dorian goes out of the cave and grabs Gibbs' ball, a soft smile on his face.
— It's not because we're out in nowhere that I have to forget your special time, right ?
The shadows wags its tail excitedly in answer.
Less than an hour after that, Dorian raises his head, looking in a specific direction moments before a shadow appears from here, then stands proud and begins to get back to where it came from, slowly and beckoning its master to follow. The boy nods and walks, while Gibbs returns to his own shadow. After more time that took his thrall to make the round trip, both of them get in sight of a light source other than the sun. A burnt smell and fire noise are all hints needed for Dorian to understand that he is on the way to find a campsite and, more stressful, people.
He takes a deep breath and, without any sound, summons his battle team which blends in trees' shadows for now. Only after that does the boy take a step out in the open, more anxious than ever.
— H… Hello…
Two faces turn to his direction, belonging to an old man and a little girl. They don't look alike, making Dorian believe that they aren't related. His tense posture begins to relax as he sees that the child seems to stay willingly and happily, even if she quickly hides behind her caretaker. This one, however, frowns quickly after a simple glance at our teen. Even the lack of apparent weaponry on Dorian makes the man more wary instead of less.
The old timer isn't the only one on his guard. While less tense, seeing the evident trust between them and taking into account that the scarred man still didn't make any move to grab the sword at his belt, Dorian isn't foolish enough to let himself be surprised again, not after the bear's incident. He stays near one tree, one whose shadow harbors one of his oxen'.
*I… I shouldn't be threatening, right ? I'm alone, unarmed, so… Why ?*
The teenager's stomach grumbles once again, making him blush. This makes the girl chuckle, peeking at this weird uncle from behind the old man, before hiding once again. As if this exchange broke a spell, the warrior extended a hand, heavily calloused, palms up to Dorian.
— Do you want a seat, young man ?
Despite the offer, an effort from them to diffuse the tension, Dorian hesitates. His eyes began to wander, darting from them to the fire, then the woods behind them. What if the man decided that he was a threat, what if they have allies hidden out of view ? What if…
*Stop. This can't be…*
Even as he tries to reassure himself, the teen can't help but feel out of depth. They are strangers, they are dangerous. Even his own townsfolk tried to end him. Even She killed his parents. If one can't trust his own friends, who can be trusted ? On the other hand, if he doesn't take this leap of faith now, he'll die from hunger before even taking his first step in his revenge. As such, with a heavy heart, Dorian approaches tensely.
— Y… Yes, please.
As he moves, both of them stare at him. While the man seems as tense as our teenager, the child is more curious than everything. Because her caretaker told him to sit, she thought he couldn't be too bad, though she didn't move as the man hadn't told her to.. Once Dorian is seated, the man's shoulders slump a little and his eyes lose some of their hardness. He even let a knowing smirk appear when he sees that the boy tries to keep his hands in view.
Before Dorian's stomach can make itself known again, a tense lull stays over the group, only broken by the fire's crackle and the wind noise in the leaves. After that, when the teen's cheeks are invaded by a pinkish hue, the girl laughs merrily.
— Eat, boy, we can talk during the meal.
It takes all of Dorian's willpower for him not to lunge on the food as a ravenous beast. Even if he was but a farmer's child, he never missed a meal before now. He missed only two meals, but for the boy it seemed the same as a week long fasting. Of course, his desperation isn't missed by the attentive eye of his elder, while the girl doesn't look like she sees anything amiss.
— You too, Isa, eat before it cools.
With a hearty shout the girl sits next to the warrior, far enough that he could use his sword if needed, and eats messily as only children know how to. Dorian, seeing the scene, smiles softly too, with some sadness in his eyes.
— So, boy. Care to tell your tale ?
Dorian, even knowing that the subject has to be breached, chokes on the soup then nods slowly. However, he still chooses to hide all magic subjects, weaving a tale of tragic death and bad villagers. At the end, the old man doesn't seem convinced, probably aware that all important parts were evicted, but he doesn't push further before smiling warmly for the first time.
— Want to come with us ?
His hand stands on the girl's head, patting it calmly in order for her to stop crying.