Dimitri has tracked the godforsaken this far... where was he now? Boreas, the continent. There was something very strange in his bones, in his blood, in his veins. The bastard prince, the bastard king. The very feeling, the title itself, that lives in his bones. That rides high in his head, burns brightly in his system. Everything is very strange, and everything... burns. Dimitri would burn them all. Everything. He would burn the entirety of this existence to the ground if that was what it took. Burning bright and hot, he moves across the ground of the redbud nook. Posture elegant and strong, moving brilliantly. Yes. Burning brilliantly. He's arrived at the nook with something ever so strange running through his mind. It was hunger, but not for food. Dimitri is not accustomed to being alone, not used to being entirely on his own. Sleeping alone, that was enough to drive a man mad. That was something he couldn't fight. The madness... ha. That was a fun one. Madness begets madness. Night was falling, and he was pleased. At least he had the night. At least he had his own thoughts. Despite everything, Dimitri was thriving. DiMiTRi FEAR NO FALL fear no brawl fear no scars

He had been hanging around the burning mountain for some time now, getting to know it's surroundings. It reminded him so much of home, so very much of his roots. His roots were as deeply seeded in him as the veins of molten rock that moved beneath the ground he walked upon even now, and something about Mount Volkan was calling to him.

He knew what it was, but... would he answer it to find out? 'Elias,' a booming echo hit his mind like a shock of thunder, tunneling his vision and putting him in a blurry phase. He stumbled at the first few lines of budding trees that made up the nook, where the ground was still covered in burnt soil from the carnage of years prior. He stumbled as his ears became almost deafened by that powerful voice. It was the voice of his deceased father, the one that seemed to move him the most out of all of them- and it had been nearly three years since he had been blessed enough to hear it.

He shook his head as if it would deter the dizziness that he was experiencing... trying to clear his senses. 'Elias, you know you must.' His ears were ringing now as he raced forward, trying to find cover so that he wasn't so vulnerable and out in the open while his senses failed him.

He sprawled out in the newgrowth, fresh grass that has grown at the base of a larger, charred tree. The nook provided little cover, but it would do as he chose to let go of his senses and truly listen. "Do you think I can?" His voice was quiet, nearly shy like that of a child. His vision began to clear, but he was not paying it any attention. His focus was internal, and he was listening and watching through his mind rather than his sensory organs.

'You were made for this, Elias. We have been sleeping for too long. Bring us back, fight for us- blood of my blood.' The booming sound slowly grew fainter in its echo, and the ringing in his ears gently subsided. He clung to it for as long as possible as he laid there next to the charred tree, remembering fondly the one-eyed, black face of his father. Much like Kane, Dominus had been a being seemingly formed from the shadows- not an ounce of color breaching his fur. A phantom. A phantom much like the one that ran by him so elegantly just now.

The way the wolf moved seemed so otherworldly on the long legs of a demon, he nearly believed it to be the spirit of his father waltzing among the natural plane right before him. Elias immediately got to his feet, his attention solely on the being nearly thirty feet ahead of him.

His eyes widened as he remembered one of such angular features in his past, one that had fled from his assault like an absolute coward. A wicked grin overcame his lips as he moves to invade the man's path, his legs nearly a blur as he crawled to just ten feet of him and deeply beckoned out, "Poser!"

A wraith, a demon. A sinner. Dimitri feels something stirring in his ribs, something strange. It roars within his system and burns hot in his blood. There is nothing that can be held back, nothing that can be chained. Not Dimitri. Not tonight. He pushes himself harder and faster, brain spinning, rushing, thoughts tumbling through his head in the worst way. Dimitri exists only in the worst way. There was nothing that could be argued, nothing that could be held back. No, he's something else. Sinful demon. Sinnerman. Can't be chained, can't be tamed. Can only be trained. Can only be honed, like a knife. A mind like his is a weapon. There was someone else here, but they didn't matter. No one else mattered. There was only the things going on in his head that kept him unhinged, and the things going on that gave him purpose. Nothing. There was no purpose. No gods, only monsters. Only monsters. Dimitri was that monster, and he'd arrived. It was when the stranger said his father's name that he stopped dead in his tracks. Very little skid, only the practiced grace of a creature that was unmatched in grace and strength. Dimitri's hackles rose all the way down his back, head snapping to the creature that had said his father's name. How fucking dare he. The creature's teeth glimmer for a moment, but his brain remains in control. Put those away. "You're confused." The words are short, but he needs to take a breath. It's best not to bite strangers first. "My father." Dimitri's eyes glimmer a brilliant emerald, set in his skull more elegantly than Poser's. His gait is more practiced, and he's far stronger as he closes the gap between himself and the strange man. Confidence radiates from the sinner. He's good at that. "Dimitri, to disappoint you." There's something wry, dry, sarcastic in his tone. In moments like these, he knows he's far better than the bastard that bore him. DiMiTRi FEAR NO FALL fear no brawl fear no scars

Elias watched the wolfhound carefully as it came to a halt, taking note of how effortlessly he seemed to do so. His grace did not go unnoticed. It was, in fact, admired as Elias tilted his head slightly to the left and watched him as he approached. Everything about this man's demeanor was different than the night Elias had come across Poser. Poser had been so forward, so vocal.. this one seemed to lack the same wordy entrance and overbearing sense of confidence that later turned into... cowardice as he ran from Elias' attempt to dominate him.

This one was taller, too.. and his eyes glimmering as if one with the earth around him.. like a true hunter. Elias lifted his skull finally now that he finished assessing Dimitri, radiating an air of nobility as his ears pulled forward in the demon's direction. "Hardly a disappointment, Poser would be running to the ends of the earth as soon as he'd heard it was me. Now that I look at you closer, you're very different. I should not have assumed." Would he be upset that he insulted Poser's honor? His teeth were flashed in a wicked grin as he suppressed the desire to release a grim chuckle. No, stay.. connected with your heart, Elias.

He soothed his own inner demon as he forced himself to remain in a harmless mindset, though.. it wasn't hard for him as he looked at the man in front of him yet again. Elias was planning something big, planning a claim for lands of his own and a kingdom to bring his bastard children some sort of honor. He would need soldiers, and.. something about the stranger before him called to him. Perhaps it was how elegantly he moved, like something not of this plane. But, how brave was his heart in comparison to Poser? He came from him, after all. Elias chose to be cautious and not get overly hopeful of this one, but the thought of running with him was there.. chewing on his mind without room for doubt.

Maybe catlike as he takes the stranger in, confident and competent. His gaze is razor sharp, as if searing into the stranger's soul. Not trying to intimidate, of course-- Dimitri knows his limits. No, it was more of an information gathering. Scanning everything that would or could come of simply looking at the stranger. "Once a coward, always a coward," Dimitri snorts, head tossing softly. There was a bit of a raised lip in reference to the man as well. Something that he'd always hated about that damned waif. He was such a damn pussy about pretty much everything. Thankfully, the soft hadn't raised Dimitri. It was the cold steel and a pack of red and black demons that had taken him in, made him who he was. He thought momentarily of Iromar, and how Elias bore resemblance to their people. Dimitri had loved and lost on their lands, and then he'd turned his back. He'd done what was right, but he still... he still dreamed of the man that had taken his breath for just a few moments. It wasn't important now. None of it was. He'd tracked his father this far. "Who're you?" The question is casual, still scanning his new stranger for anything of note. Some scarring, built like a tank. Stacked, honestly. There was a bit of a tug at his heart strings, but Dimitri would quiet it for now. Couldn't be longing for home in moments like this. Couldn't be longing for home, now that home was gone. He'd find a new one sooner or later. Not that it mattered too much anyway. Everything was... everything was weird, but it wasn't the end of the world. Another road. Another horizon. Another job. Dimitri had landed here, and he was going to learn as much as he could before he finished his task. DiMiTRi FEAR NO FALL fear no brawl fear no scars

'Once a coward, always a coward.' The words hit the fiend's ears with an unexpected feeling, causing them to flick momentarily as he assessed the young man that stood before him. He was around the same age as his sons from what Elias could tell, and the way he looked at him with his shimmering emerald stare to match Elias' own glistening rubies made Elias' skin along his spine come alive with an eerie feeling. The look in this one's eyes almost seemed expectant after he finished looking over Elias, assessing him in the very same manner that Elias did to everyone else. Was this a fighter? A hunter? Much like Elias' own self?

He lifted his chin as he questioned who he was, and a devilish smirk stretched his inky lips across those thick teeth, the yellow of them flashing to the beast slayer before him just for a moment before Elias veiled them once more. "Elias Praetor," there was a time when he wouldn't answer with his own name. When he would tell people he was nothing or a stranger they would soon forget. Something changed because with all the new faces Elias had been running into recently- he spoke his name with a sense of pride and well-articulated emphasis. Yes, he was Elias Praetor- a Praetor, which meant he was a soul with meaning.. with purpose. And something about the young man before him made Elias want to take him under his wing and bring him along for this purpose.

"Dimitri, what do you know of demons?" Perhaps a bit forward, and the risk of facing rejection itself brought his short hackles to life as he prepared himself to discover whether or not Dimitri would run like his father did. Elias' talons of his right paw grazed against the top of the burnt soil before it rose and took a daring step closer to the wolfhound, his red eyes narrowing as his chin tucked close to his chest as he looked down to him. He had no intentions of attacking Dimitri, but there was a madness that he wasn't quite ready to reveal his intentions of just yet. He was testing him, assessing him and figuring out where the man's boundaries were- how much he would let Elias push him before he showed any of the same signs as his sire. "And do you think you have the heart to face one?" A simple question, but the answer was all Elias really saught.

Dimitri had been many things when he had lived among Iromar's best. He lived among the best as one of the best. The illusionist, as he'd been then. That part of him was still alive and well, taking souls for the reaping. Taking them, keeping them, ensuring that there were enough to go around. Things like that were important to remain within the balance of power. A fighter and a navigator, Dimitri would learn everything about these lands. He'd develop into a creature that would be able to find any creature that had walked upon the ground here, and if it hadn't, he'd find it anyway. A ranger. A tracker. A hunter of those that lived and thought as they did. There was so much brewing beneath the surface. Elias Praetor. Dimitri had forsaken his surname, but he understood. There was a certain power to holding your own name, to being a male of lineage. Supposedly there was. Things are different when you're the black sheep of your family. Things had changed inside him, within him, and in the way that he thought and existed. It was okay. He wasn't required to give a fuck, after all. Of demons. A rakish smile crosses his features, glimmer residing in his eyes. "I was raised by demons, trained by demons. I ate at their table and warmed their beds, and in turn they made me their own. I walked by their sides in this life and saw them off into the next. I know enough." His jaw sets, and Dimitri can see the man gearing up for a fight. Each movement was carefully matched. On this night, he would defend himself and push no further, should he need to. Nails digging into the dirt beneath him, head dropping, hackles up, ears pinned to his skull. There was no fear here, there never was. "I'm a wolf hound. I was bred for nothing less." Matched. Dimitri would match every step of the way. That was all he needed in a moment like this. DiMiTRi FEAR NO FALL fear no brawl fear no scars

As Dimitri prepared himself for a fight as well, Elias' eyes glistened with interest. He took in every movement through a sucked in breath, his world stilling as he watched the young man move into a fighting stance. He showed more courage than his sire, which was all Elias wanted to test. The titan flashed him a wicked grin before loosening his stance, lifting his head and flagging his tail high behind him.

"I have no time to linger tonight, as much as I would enjoy getting to know more about you, wolf hound. I would like to invite you to meet with me in the eastern mountains, where I plan on claiming territory for the kingdom of Ruina. If you were raised by demons you should know.. you never truly live your life without them. I am calling together all wolves who are in tune with the demons in their life, or at the very least.. a curiosity to find out more about themselves."

He let his haunting gaze finally leave the borzoi, his wide toes carrying him around to Dimitri's left as he sought to move past him. He had more plans to set in motion before he could recruit the man here and now, but his tail flagged out in pride at the mere thought of it. "I do hope you show, I would enjoy hearing more about these.. hounds you were born of."

-exit Elias-