He had traveled through the whole day, never slowing, far too excited and driven to stop to rest, even when his paws began to burn. He scaled the cliffs of the maw with the ease of a ram, bounding from sheer rock to sheer rock until he reached his own den. His son was not there, but even if he had cared it wouldn’t have surprised him. The boy had no love for Ruina and spent most of his time gallivanting outside his borders, but Rain was the last person on his mind now. He set the boy down by a small spring that flowed down the wall of his den and licked his forehead lovingly. With the boy safely deposited he stepped toward the mouth of his cave and tipped his head back to call his father. For the first time doubt crept into his heart, what if Elias only saw Astraios for what he was now, and not what he could be? He shook his head to himself. No. His father was wise. He would see the love he already held and teach him the ways of Ruina as an Imp… And if he didn’t, the lightning king was willing to let his oldest son take his place. speaking Thinking You

He had not expected the man to lift him in his maw, the Woman of the Sands had always left him to his own strength, as he trailed behind her like a lost lamb. His body curled instinctively into a ball as he hung limpy from the mouth of the other. If the man had asked him to walk, he would have done, he would have moved himself, one step after another until he was where he needed to be. He was obstinate like that, too busy drowning in his own world to have the common sense to stop when his body told him it had no strength left to give. He had been walking in a dream-world ever since the death of his mother, and it wasn’t until this day that he awoke from it.

The pain of losing her was stronger in reality, but he was soothed by the hatred that had began to blossom in his veins. He would live and strengthen, learn and grow, all in the name of revenge. As they turned from the desert, he thought he caught a glimpse of white, and the flicker of blue-grey eyes, darkened with sorrow, a last goodbye. He blinked, and the visage of his mother was gone.

They made quicktime from there, the ground eaten by the long strides of his new guardian. The terrain changed from sand to stone, and he was glad that the lands he was being taken to was not a forest. This bleak and open landscape was more welcome than the claustropic one of trees and foliage.

He was set down at last, and his head spun a little from the sudden lack of movement. He was parched from the heat of the desert, and his belly ached from hunger. He had not eaten his full in a while, the idea of food had always settled uneasily in his stomach after the scent of his mother’s dead flesh. He caught the scent of fresh-water, and was just lifting his head when his forehead was suddenly licked. The loving gesture seemed alien to him now, and he tried to mold his expressions into a smile. He wasn’t certain if he succeeded. He got shakily to his feet and stumbled towards the water that ran down the wall, licking the moisture with renewed vigor. He had reason to live now, a purpose to strengthen his body to.

Dominus had set off on his own hunt this morning, and even though it was inspired due to an argument between them, Elias was proud. It was the first time his son was trying to catch his own meal for the day, as.. it had become harder and harder for Elias to manage time providing for five hungry mouths and feeding his own seemingly always needy appetite. Dominus was still too small to leave the mountains and Elias limited him to the pack's own territory, but there was still plenty of dense forest area on the mountainside. Perfect for finding personal, smaller meals.

Elias was coming back with his own catch, a small snowshoe hare, when he heard Tyranis call for him. He hadn't been able to tend to any other pack matters for the last few days, as.. food was relatively important. It was food that was on his mind when he caught the scent of the pup while he answered the call of Tyranis. Pups had a strong scent to them, it was rather had to miss. With the hare blocking his mouth, Elias said nothing on his approach though he was quick to arrive.

Brilliant eyes were wide as he surveyed the face of Tyranis, trying to read for any signs of what was going on while he impatiently waited for an explanation. Imps were the future of Ruina, and fresh Imps from the outside crossed their bloodlines and increased versatility within the pack. He hoped this was one to stay, one that could be trained.. but where did he come from? If Tyranis was kidnapping children.. that could potentially bring unwanted attention. He tried not to assume the worst, though the paranoid schizophrenic couldn't help but prepare himself for it.. even he wanted to trust Tyranis. It was in his nature.

When his own eyes fell on the face of the youth, he forfeited the hardened look usually brought upon him due to the struggles of an alpha. Instead, his teeth flashed a flawlessly aligned smile from around the body of the hair, though only for a brief moment as curiosity set in. Thick neck lowered, his massive crown coming forward as he grasped for more information on the air around the child. There were no recognizable signs in the scent that could link him to the child's lineage, so he pulled back again to give him space. He assumed Tyranis would introduce him, so for now the Apollyon remained silent and observant. He wanted to drop the hare in his mouth so he could speak to the child, but not yet. He had a feeling he'd have to fight him for his meal. Heh. Not that he would, though it was a little more excitement than he wanted to deal with right now to tell this kid to wait.

“I found him wandering around the westward dunes.” He explained." He had a woman’s scent on him, but it didn’t seem like he’d been with her for some time, and it wasn’t his mother’s.” He looked over his shoulder at the boy fondly. “His name is Astraios, I plan to keep take him on as my own.” He said softly, unable to help but wag the end of his tail with pure joy. “He is strong of will and body to have survived in the wastelands for so long, and I don’t doubt that he will make an excellent addition to Ruina.” He continued. “He came with me of his own free will with the promise that we teach him to kill” He placed emphasis on the word excitedly, the boy didn’t want to learn to hunt or how to fight, he wanted to crush his enemies, and ensure they never rose again. At least that was how Tyranis saw it. He supposed privately it could have merely been a pup’s delusions of grandeur, but he had been much younger than the blue eyed boy when he declared before Bass and all of Abaven that he would be Primo, and he had ultimately become something much greater. speaking Thinking You

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It was hard to keep himself to reality. It was so easy to slip back into the fog his brain had drifted into since her death. He could feel it even now at the outskirts of his awareness. It was calling to him, whispering in sweet words that could have been the voice of his mother, but perhaps not. It seemed too… surreal and voiceless, emotions more than tones that sang to him. If he let himself drift back into it, would he see the shade of his mother once more? Even here where he was not alone? Revenge, that was his anchor to reality, that and the nameless man who had claimed him. With effort he tore himself away from the sweet siren call of oblivion, and turned back to the grey man , in time to see a scarred stranger appear like a dark shadow at the entrance of the den. His dark red eyes bleed into his expressions, through it was to his savior that this strangers attention would flow. The scent of rabbit brought Rai’s attention to the creature that flopped limpy in his jaws. The pup swallowed, and bit down on the hunger that awakon with his renewed desire to survive. This hunters attention was on the pup now, and as the wavy, drifting blue of Rai’s eyes set to the red glow of this man, he wondered if he looked into the face of a killer. Was that was his savior would turn him into? Was this the gift he had asked for? The pup found it in him to smile, a small and growing thing. He had a feeling this man feared no one and nothing, that nothing could stand against him. If that what Rai had to become, he would do so gladly. As the pup had studied the stranger, his savior has begun to speak, and his ears perked up curiously as he heard their meeting from his point of view. Of course, nothing was spoken about the shade of his mother, or of her death. This man knew none of that, he knew only of the pup wondering the desert, and apparently of the Sand Lady who had sheltered him. It became clear to him after a moment that the opinion of the recently-appeared stranger was important. His understanding of pack structures was limited, but who was in charge was clear. The boy straightened himself, head raised, eyes meeting the red of the leader without fear or hesitation, as once more his fate was decided by others around him. "Speech"

The child seemed interested in Elias, and Elias was likewise inquisitive about him. When those blue eyes curiously stared into his own, Elias stared back.. watching him as Tyranis explained what was going on and how he had found this Imp. Elias had this intimate little stare-down with Astraios for some time, even after Tyranis had gone quiet, as he decided on what action to take. His ears were sensitive to the sound of Tyranis' tail brushing along the dirt and stone of the den floor, though he remained looking to Astraios.

At first, Elias thought perhaps the boy was only interested in the smell of the hare, though he wasn't looking at the hare for long. It wasn't until he looked into the Elias' own eyes that the boy smiled, and that was all it took for Elias to feel the same as Tyranis. This child had to be taken in, had to be molded... he was strong.

Elias finally lowered the hare, feeling confident that the boy wasn't going to try and snatch it.. he seemed smart. He placed one heavy paw down upon it and finally switched his focus to Tyranis again.

"Imps are not like Purgatorians. Ruina's demons, especially the old ones, go into a sort of.. frenzy.. over Imps. I can feel them even now.. and they are hungry over this child. We will need to oath him, quickly.. or they will start to cause.. problems. He needs to be oathed by blood, we can do it at dawn if this is what you wish to do." Elias' eyes shifted suddenly, flashing to the boy again. He moved his head closer, thick neck lowering slightly, hiding the scars of his chest from view though that thick skull came right before Astraios.

"You want to kill? We will teach you but in the ways of Ruina. Killing is a crafted art here, it is not a decision to be made lightly. Within you, within Tyranis, within myself, and within all of us.. are souls.. and these souls are everything in this life and the next." Elias always spoke to kids almost the same as he spoke to adults, no change of tone or seriousness in his words. He did it with his own and believed it helped them mature faster, which was crucial for their development here in Ruina. Astraios would be treated the same.

"You will never be allowed to leave after we strengthen you, Imp. You will, however, be strengthened. You will learn how to kill." His paw lifted from the hare, deciding then that the boy needed to eat. Elias was accustomed to providing for the pack, but the look on his face as he stared to Tyranis spoke volumes. Tyranis would need to help provide for this one, too. Elias was already drowning in responsibility.

He gave a brief nod of understanding as his father mentioned oathing the boy. “At dawn then.” He said adamantly. Blood oaths were yet another aspect of Ruina life he had yet to learn the full gravity of, but the man had pledged his life to Ruina; he would do anything and give anything for the pack, and for the father he had always longed to know. The longer he stayed in Ruina the more the hooks of the pack dug into him, the pack fit him as if he were a missing piece of a much greater puzzle even though he had only joined the pack less than a season ago. He smiled proudly as he watched the interaction between his father and the young boy, his eyes alight with pride that he had never felt for his naturally born son. He had determined that Aranea’s get was weak of body and spirit and more and more he clung to the memory of his disappointment when he first saw his two abhorrently small cubs after their witch of a mother had pushed them out of her. He remembered clearly how he felt relieved that the future of his pack would fall to a vote rather than his heir, because the two grunting worms had seemed far too weak to carry on his lineage. Now neither of them would have to. Now he had Astraios and the lightning king’s conscience was clear. speaking Thinking You

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- He understood little that was spoken about demons and oaths. He knew of demons as an idea, an impression of something evil. To him, the man that had killed his mother was a demon, and the thing growing inside of him was the seed of a demon, this desire to hurt and rip-asunder. The leaders who’s red gaze had so intrigued him was moving now, catching the young wolf’s eyes. He lowered the hare to the ground, and still Rai pushed aside his growing hunger, giving the dead only a parting glance, his attention for the titan who approached him. He had attention only for the younger boy, and it was clear that his questions were important, that the answer Astraios gave him meant everything. Words did not come easily to the boy anymore. He had spoken so little since... that night, that he was no longer certain how to put his string of thoughts together and create something even remotely close to the message he needed to get across. Words where only for important, monumental moments. He did not speak his idle thoughts, when once words and questions had flown easily through him. "I wish to stay. To learn." He paused here, these few words only carrying across part of what he wished to say. In that moment of silence, a whisper of a wind ruffling his coat and reminding him of other moments. He steeled himself, closing his eyes for the time it took to take in a breath, and opened them again. There was something fundamentally wrong with him. He was broken, fragmented. It was important that no one saw it. If they knew him to be broken would they give to him the secret of taking a life? He could not take that risk. "But if I can never leave, how will I find my nemesis? How will I take the life that's owed to me?" Because he would. He would find the man that his ripped away his world, and he would kill him. He would put his mother to rest with that kill, and he would sooth something in his soul by doing his grim duty slowly. This was another of those turning points in his life, where the words of another decided the course of his future. hHe didn't sound like a child when he spoke, and perhaps that was a part of what made him broken. these adult words in the soft tones of a young wolf, the look in his eyes that spoke of resolve and need, a desire that no young creature should ever feel so keenly. "Speech"