Two Familiar Strangers

Emi sat cross-legged on her bed, eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. It was only now, hours later, that her brain began catching up to what her eyes had witnessed. A two-headed dog. A book and a blade held in its mouths like chew toys. A… thing that somehow knew how to speak as well.

And it bowed to Orion, a slave to its king.

She clutched her pillow to her chest, cheeks puffed out, then shaking her head. Her mind swirled with questions.

None of which had answers she could stomach just yet.

"He’s not just from another world. He’s… something more. Something ancient. Cosmic.”

Then mulling over the biggest question of all:

“Who are you, Orion?”

She barely had time to finish the thought when the doorbell rang. Which was bizarre to have visitors at this late hour. Perhaps it was just a drunk salaryman who got the wrong house?

A second later, there was a knock, a firm deliberate thudding on the door. Too impatient to even wait for her to walk down the stairs.

Emi’s thoughts then halt into a freeze, her whole body stiffened, as she suddenly realized the disaster that awaited downstairs if she did not bolt herself down to reach whoever was outside.

Because she knew if she let him answer…

Panic shot through her – practically jumping down from heaven down to earth. And looking toward the front – Orion had already somehow opened the door, fully dressed, standing in front of the people outside and already in the middle of a conversation.

“WHAT? HOW DID YOU GET THERE SO FAST?” she fell face-first to the floor.

Stoic, Orion continued talking:

“You there, knights, what broughtest thou-est to mine abode? ‘Tis a fine night for k’nechts such as thyselveseses.”

“Shut up, you goblin!” Emi rushed in front of him. “You’ve never spoken like that before!”

To her surprise, two uniformed police officers stood in front of them, wearing the standard blue jackets of the local patrol. One was older, his expression calm and courteous, while the younger officer beside him looked mildly curious and alert.

The senior officer gave a stern look. Removing his cap, he said:

“Young man, we have received reports of a disturbance from the local community. We simply came by to check and make sure everything is alright.”

The other officer added:

“What’s this I hear about a… two-headed dog running around?”

To Emi’s shock, Orion responded:

“That’s my dinner. You have a problem with that?”

“Orion! Come on,” Emi cried, shoving him back into the house, “stop talking, you’re gonna get us into trouble.”

But Orion’s expression darkened. He wasn’t the joking type, something Emi had somehow forgotten until now. His stone-cold gaze locked onto the two policemen, staring up at them despite their looming presence towering over the two of them.

Hiding beneath the shadow of their caps – were two pairs of eyes shining with a strange shade of red Emi had never seen before.

Tapping her shoulder, Orion told her firmly:

“Get behind me, maiden. These men are not your world’s authority.”

A chill crept down Emi’s spine, her instincts shoving herself behind him before her brain could catch up. She knew he had been stripped of his powers, but even as lean and short as he was, his shadow commanded an aura that could even ward off the hungriest of predators.

But something told her that these two – were not predators.

But assassins.

“GET BACK!” Orion shouted.

Orion’s shout was like a thunderclap, no longer theatrical, no longer strange. Just raw command. And for a split second, the world listened.

These officers, however, did not flinch, did not obey.

Instead, the younger one stepped forward, too fast, too smooth. Like a machine in human skin. The senior officer followed, his smile cracking wider than any face should allow. Their red eyes gleamed, and their movements turned unnatural.

Orion pushed Emi back as the first assailant slammed into him, fists driving forward like hammers. He deflected the blow with his forearm, sliding back into a low stance. A shimmer of something – old reflex or old power – flickered across his body as he moved. He twisted, sweeping a leg to trip the younger officer, sending him crashing into the hallway wall.

But the other was already inside.

Emi screamed as fingers like iron clamps wrapped around her throat, hoisting her effortlessly into the air. Her back struck the wall with a dull thud, toes kicking at nothing.

Orion roared, commanding:

“Let her go! Now!”

The second officer didn’t even glance at him. He simply turned his head, almost like a curious animal.

“Orion, what’s going on?” Emi gasped. “Who are you people?”

In that moment, Orion moved faster than human. A single stride to close the gap, his hand striking out in a blow that shimmered with a trace of the impossible. The air rippled, barely seen, but felt, and the attacker holding Emi staggered, reeling back.

Pouncing on him like a tiger, Orion’s hand clasped around the officer’s throat – the instinct of a Dark Lord. He was still too weak to deter him completely, but his gaze locked on, staring down the officer into a duel of willpower.

A duel between a master – and his slaves.

“You demon rebels are sloppy,” Orion gritted his teeth, staring unblinking.

The demon chuckled nervously, wearing the face of a human, its voice dropped into a rough screeching noise, like sandpaper rubbing against molten magma.

“Our King on a faraway planet,” the demon said, gasping for air, “and without his powers no less. I wouldn’t miss this for the world.”

At the snap of a finger, his partner lunged from behind, smashing Orion’s head with a brutal forearm strike. Finally forcing Orion’s grip off the other demon’s throat. The larger demon threw his full weight onto Orion, pinning his arms and legs with crushing force.

“Might makes right,” the demon said while on top of him, “you taught us that, Master.”

“You… you still have your demonic powers here,” Orion struggled to get free.

Laughing, the demon squawked:

“All thanks to your protégé, Master. Vizio was so kind, so strong.”

The name instantly lit a fire of recognition inside Orion’s eyes, stabbing at him like daggers. To him, it was obvious, this was the lieutenant Animal was talking about earlier.

The other demon leaned closer into Emi, growling as it sniffed the side of her head. Completely descending into an animalistic madness. Filled with an evil glint in his crimson eyes.

“Just a mortal girl,” he sneered. “Why not end her here and now? Introducing a little anarchy to this new world.”

Emi coughed, struggling in his grip. Her feet scraped against the wall, her fingers clawing at the demon’s arm – but he simply did not budge. Not even a little.

Below, Orion lay crushed against the splintered floorboards, still held down by the other cackling demon, his full weight anchoring him down. Blood dripped from his forehead, mixing with the dust and shadows. Every inch of his body pulsed with a mortal pain he had long forgotten, only now did it return, raw and blinding, in the absence of his powers. His limbs refused to move. His breath was shallow and ragged.

And yet… his eyes never left her.

The world around him faded. The pain, the weight, the smirking demon above him. It all became noise. Focusing on a sound deep inside his mind, slowly igniting, from cold air gathering into recognizable particles, into carbon, slowly morphing beyond any comprehension into a shape of coal.

Then with eyes looking upward – into the Sun.

A primal fire sparked forth.

This spark opened the demons’ eyes to Orion’s right hand being freed from his vicious grip. Holding it out forward like a blooming grim lotus aimed toward the one gripping Emi’s neck.

The demon’s claws eventually loosened, as he felt an inescapable grip slowly digging into his skull.

Eventually, the pain spiked, enough for him to drop Emi on the floor, so that his hands could resist the force that was surely crushing his brain. But no matter what he did, no matter how much he ran his hands through his hair and all over his head – he could not find the source of the pain.

Because this was the invisible force of divine gravity.

Emanating from Orion’s very own palm.

The fire ignited – another one of his powers had returned.

The demon rose into the air, limbs twitching, mouth gasping like a fish out of water. Panicking and letting his breath turn into screams of desperation. His feet dangled helplessly, kicking at nothing, claws scraping – but nothing broke the grip.

Orion stared on with a furious gaze, his eyes darkened and sparkled with purple lightning.

“Let me remind you,” he declared, “I am King of Soluna.”

With a simple closing of his hand, and instantly – the demon was crushed.

There was no blood, no flesh to speak of. It was as if his internal organs had vanished into thin air as the only thing that remained was a pile of leathery skin that dropped to the ground, deflated like a balloon. No heart beating, no intestine, the eyeballs were gone as well. Just a husk now.

It took a while for the remaining demon to even process what had happened. Slow to realization, like his mind had been put on pause, frozen.

Then he screamed.

Orion did not speak. He did not rise. He only lifted his hand, the same hand now humming faintly with heatless invisible fire, with a dense gravity that pulled reality inward like a dying star.

With a flick of his wrist, the demon on top of him was flung across the room, his body smashing into the far wall with a dull crack. He barely had time to fall before Orion flicked his hand again – and again the demon slammed into the wall. Wood splintered. Paint chipped. Plaster fractured. Bones then soon followed.

There was no rage in Orion’s expression. Only judgment. Cold. Unblinking. Almost surgical.

The demon coughed and shrieked, trying to crawl, sounds of wings flapping from beneath his stolen skin, but it was no use. Another flick – and the air itself obeyed.

The demon was pulled back, violently dragged, until his head landed straight into the palm of Orion’s hand, gripped tight, impossible to be freed.

As the judge had decided – letting the full force of his grip crush the demon’s skull.

The head crumpled inward like wet paper. No scream came, as there was no time. Just like before – no blood, no bone, no organ. Just a sharp, hollow pop, and the skin suit dropped beside its twin in silence.

Another deflated husk – the threat was over.