Vision of a Disciple

The ground beneath them had begun to tremble, with every instinct telling Emi that the young man defending her was a force of nature made flesh, and whatever was inside him had woken up.

"You dare," Orion said, his voice a low, resonant thunder that seemed to press against her chest.

He didn’t raise his voice – as he did not need to.

The imposter writhed, kicking at the ground, mouth agape and gasping. But even as his throat closed under the weight of Orion’s power, he managed a smile. Still that same devilish smile of a trickster god.

And in an instant – his body crumbled into shadow.

Black smoke devoured his form, leaving behind only the crumpled uniform he was wearing. The smoke slithered and crawled across the grass before reforming some distance away, coalescing into the shape of a new figure.

He was tall and lean, with slick yellow hair combed back too perfectly, giving him the look of a man who could shed his skin at will. His complexion was pale, unnaturally smooth, like wax that never aged, and his eyes were slitted with cold amusement. The way he stood, the way he smiled – there was something… slippery about him, something wrong in how he moved. He looked like someone pretending to be human, his soul just a fraction of a step out of sync with the world.

A snake in a school uniform.

"Ah, Master," he said with a subtly mocking tone, his voice serpentine and smooth as silk left to rot. "What a touching reunion."

Orion said nothing at first. The wind picked up faintly, the tips of his scarf lifting. Purple lightning pulsed behind his eyes with each breath, and smoke danced from his back like the exhaust of a burning engine. Emi could sense his fury, tightly coiled – but this time it was personal, containing history, much like how it was between him and Terran.

“Vizio.”

A smirk appeared on his face.

“You didn’t like my little trick, my King? You taught me the best illusions. But I still could not get by you. Your eyes see everything, don’t they?”

Orion stared straight forward, not blinking. To which Vizio simply shrugged as a response.

“I see you’ve made yourself comfortable here, milord. It’s amazing how you are stripped of your powers here. Maybe this planet sees you as too much of a threat. And maybe – maybe that’s why I still have my powers.”

With a snap of his fingers, Vizio summoned forth a fire right above his fingers, no larger than a mouse. But it flickered bright enough to blind a person if they were to stare up close. Orion, of course, instantly recognized this fire.

Using his heavy gravity, Orion pulled the fire straight out of Vizio’s fingers and back into Orion’s own palm – instantly leaving Vizio’s whole forearm frozen, like a rotting winter wasteland.

“You got here through my Starheart,” Orion growled, instantly crushing the fire back into his chest. “You dare step into my domain uninvited? You’ve grown quite bold – and stupid.”

Vizio began to cackle as he clapped his hands together, shattering the ice covering his hand.

“Can you blame me, my Lord? Your Starheart is larger than the multiverse combined. What a thrill, what an adventure inside. I just couldn’t help it. I was sure that if I could somehow sneak inside, I would be able to track you down. And I was right.”

“You stole my fire, put it on your face – my crown! Deceived those who did not know otherwise. Pray that I have enough mercy left to let you meet a quick death, that’s far more than you deserve.”

Black smoke oozed more violently from Orion’s body. Emi could not exactly tell what it was he was thinking, but he seemed somehow rattled by someone who should be much weaker than he was.

But they were on Earth after all, so the power balance now was unclear.

“But let’s get serious – when will you return to Soluna, my King? Your Kingdom misses you.”

And there, buried beneath the mockery and rebellion, was something strange. A flicker of real longing, real emotion. It wasn’t just a taunt. For a second, the man standing there wasn’t a villain or a monster, but a former student asking his master a question he didn’t know how else to phrase.

The silence between them dragged on, the wind rustling the grass like whispers from another world. Vizio’s smirk lingered, but something behind his eyes began to fade – something once loyal, maybe even reverent.

Orion’s voice cut through the stillness like a blade.

“You sent them.” There was no question in his tone. Only judgment. “Two demons. Wearing the skins of policemen. You sent them after her. After me.”

Vizio didn’t answer right away. His head tilted, theatrically casual, as if stalling would somehow undo what he’d done.

“Yes,” he admitted finally, rolling the word on his tongue. “And you made short work of them. Of course you did.”

He raised his hands in mock surrender, but his eyes were hard now, glittering with bitterness.

“But let’s not pretend you didn’t let it get this far, Master. I wonder… when exactly did you forget what we are? When did you trade Giants for bugs? You were never meant to stay here. These little Earthlings – why are you here? For so long? You should’ve been back by now.”

His gaze drifted to Emi, still standing behind Orion, trembling but watching closely.

“You are a god. My god! And now look at you. Protecting this… thing.”

Orion didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. His presence alone was suffocating. But Vizio continued:

“What I fear is true. You’ve gone soft. I cannot… no, I will not allow your immortality to die. Even if I have to lie about the people’s memory of you – in your death.”

Pointing his finger, Orion said:

“You are treading dangerous ground, boy.”

Vizio shot back without hesitation:

“No – you are.”

Clasping his hands together, Vizio’s body began vibrating with a bizarre frozen rhythm, letting his energy bleed out from beneath his feet, withering the grass and the sand into nothing but cold pebbles.

Orion recognized this – it was his ability:

His own universe inside his heart.

“Forever Wasteland.”