He raced away from Lydia’s still body as the rain started to pour over them. No one from Kesali had come to help him when he cried out for them, and his savior, twice, lay dead at his paws. All because she had been so selfless. She saved him twice, and paid the ultimate price for it in the end. Erys had tried to nudge her awake, but the crack had been sickening. Erys knew that she was gone, he was a predator, no stranger to death. This seemed so much different to the death of his dinner though. He.. loved Lydia like she had been his mother, even if she hadn’t lay claim to the title.

Even now weeks later Erys felt her loss deep in his heart. All he wanted was to give up after he’d run away, he’d gotten lost, and hadn’t been able to find his adoptive family. It was his fault. His fault Lydia was gone, and it was all his fault that he was lost with no idea how to get back to Kesali. The galaxy colored boy knew he needed to keep going, however difficult it was. Lydia gave her life for him, he couldn’t squander her precious gift. So he taught himself to hunt, and he had mostly taken care of himself. He lived off insects, and small animals, and occasionally someone else's leftovers.

He grew slowly, but his meager existence was apparent in his already thin form. His fur dulled, and his horns seemed to stall in their growth as well. He was a mess, but he was trying. He sighed heavily to himself, body stretched out on the beach as he waited for the tide to go out. Maybe he’d find something edible for dinner.

Pyrrhic was nothing if not nosy so when his eye got hung up on an anomaly on the beach of course he had to investigate. The sand was black as far as the eye could see so the mottled patch of white that marred its surface stood out sharply. Not even the plump rabbit hanging from his hungry jaws could stop him. Upon discovering that the patch in question was a wolf with what looked like vibrant spots and horns of course he had to investigate further. The closer he got to the stranger, who was facing away from him, the more intrigued he became. He'd never seen anyone so peculiar before and at any moment he expected to discover that his eyes were playing tricks on him. They weren't. That became apparent when he was down to the last dozen feet or so. The horned creature looked young and even from a distance Pyrrhic could see he was skinny. It occurred to him that he hadn't seen the wolf move. Was he dead? The godling paused and eyed the white lump suspiciously. Well, there was only one way to find out, wasn't there? He padded closer and then nudged Erystotle's hip with a paw. "Pyrrhic" "Benkos"

He wasn’t sure if he dozed off or if the sand just muffled the paw steps of the stranger. Erys was sure he’d only closed his eyes for a minute, but about jumped out of his skin when touched. Silvery eyes wide with surprise were turned on the brindled wolf, his heart hammered against his chest as he looked up at the stranger. Blue marked ears fell to his skull and he curled in on himself instinctively.

Though his breath was caught Erystotle stammered out a quick greeting. The wolf could have attacked him already if he had a mind to. ”H..hello.” Erys stuttered from his thin muzzle, the rabbit dangling in Pyrrhic’s jaws not going without notice. His stomach growled greedily, but Erys shrunk back slightly, he didn’t want to accept help again. Everyone he cared about.. gone again. Just like his brothers were gone. From fear of hard to fear of causing harm. Erys thought himself cursed.

The boy - who he'd been certain was a corpse - quickly proved Pyrrhic wrong by startling violently. Unperturbed by the boy's fright, Pyrrhic regarded him curiously. His expression was open and unabashed. He'd never seen anyone like the boy before. The coat alone was a novelty, but the horns? The horns took the cake in Pyrrhic's opinion. He was both intrigued and jealous. He made up his mind quite quickly. Pyrrhic wanted this little oddity. And to do that he had just the plan. First thing's first. He needed to put the boy at ease. It was pretty clear to him that, assuming someone was looking after him at all, the boy was being neglected. Pyrrhic could do better. He could make Erystotle better. Hoping to put the boy at ease, Pyrrhic laid down on his belly. He was a rather large wolf and while his size usually worked to his advantage, looming over the little wolf probably wouldn't win him over. He dropped the rabbit between his forepaws and then gave Erystotle a lopsided smile. "Hi - just wanted to make sure you were okay. I thought you were a goner." "Pyrrhic" "Benkos"

Tarnished silver eyes watched Pyrrhic as he lowered himself easily to the ground. He didn’t seem like he meant Erys any harm, not that the young boy could do anything about it if he did. If he wanted his life the golden heir could have taken it with ease. Instead he seemed welcoming and concerned and it didn't take much for the Atlas boy to start trusting him. It was himself he didn't trust, or his luck, or fate. Maybe it was the gods punishing him because he had been spared while his brothers were now gone.

He couldn’t help but look at the rabbit again with sad eyes as his stomach grumbled beneath him. He didn’t want to die. He had to live on for Lydia, even if he was cursed. ”I..” he croaked, realizing he needed a bit to drink as well as a meal. He shifted enough to hang his head shamefully, his blue marked ears limp on his skull. His half grown horns flaking from his lack of care. ”Im not okay.” He said sadly. ”Lydia.. she died saving me. Then I couldn’t find Kesali.” He very nearly wept, but he was too dehydrated.

Erys did try to shift himself closer to the bigger wolf, starved for attention even the curse didn’t keep him from seeking comfort.

He studied the boy for a second, his expression a mask of forced sympathy. "It sounds like you've had a rough go of it." When the boy wiggled closer a spark of excitement filled the Abraxas youth's chest. It was working! Benkos had told him to get what he wanted in life he would need to find a balance between force and gentleness. It was easier said than done; in frustration he tended to throw his weight around and bully to get his way, but this exercise in gentle patience was giving him ideas. Pyrrhic lifted paw and sought to gently place it on top of one of Erystotle's. "You're gonna be okay. My name's Pyrrhic." Without a word Pyrrhic scooted the rabbit forward. Clearly the boy needed it more and if it earned him brownie points, so be it. He would get another with as much ease as he'd gotten the first. "Take it, it's yours." "Pyrrhic" "Benkos"

Erys felt a warmth go through him as Pyrrhic placed his paw lightly over the pup’s own. Erys felt his liquid silver gaze shift upwards to the older boy’s gaze. There was enough sympathy that Erystotle could believe it and he felt his lips twitch up in the ghost of a smile. He was given the name of his savior and the generous gift of the delicious smelling rabbit. He offered Pyrrhic a genuine grin as he was gifted a bigger meal than he’d seen since leaving Kesali.

”Thank you!” He croaked gratefully. ”I’m Erystotle.” He offered a name before losing his ability to control himself and he dug into the rabbit ravenously. He couldn’t refuse the gift or the help, curse or no curse.

The corners of Pyrrhic's mouth rose a little as Erystotle dove face first into the rabbit. It was working. "Erystotle, eh? That's a cool name. I'm Pyrrhic. Eat up, kid, if you want it there's more where that came from, okay?" He was just going to keep seeding this plot of land until it produced, so to speak. "You said Kesali, right? That's a pack in the south," he said thoughtfully to himself. "I take it they're gone?" That was information his father would want to know. "Pyrrhic" "Benkos"

His blue marked ears swiveled with interest as the much larger boy commented on Erystotle’s name and offered his own. The galaxy marked pup was much too fully involved with his meal to reply with anything coherent besides the wag of his tail. As he was addressed with a real question Erys swallowed his mouthful and looked back up to Pyrrhic’s pale features. ”I.. I don’t know where it was. I looked for a long time but couldn’t find them.” He hadn’t any clue where he and Lydia had been when the storm overcame them. Little did Erys know that he couldn’t find them because Kesali was indeed gone. ”Where.. where are you from?” He asked as a bit of curiosity found him while he licked his pale fur of the blood that stained them.

Pyrrhic mulled over the boy's words as he ate. What did that mean? He didn't know where it was. Perhaps he had misunderstood and the boy had been looking for Kesali, but not part of it. Perhaps the Lydia woman had directed him there before she died. At any rate, Pyrrhic decided it didn't matter in the long run. He had the boy now and it mattered not at all whether Kesali had simply moved or dissolved.

He decided not to pursue the topic of Kesali any further. At least for now. ”I'm from Risen, The Fallen God's Empire in Auster.” He studied Erystotle curiously. ”Have you ever heard of it?” They had been quiet for some time so he was curious to find out if stories of their notoriety still circulated.