The Frontier: Light Among Darkness Ch. 3: Dreams of the Dreamless

Hello and welcome back to The Frontier! I have returned after a week long absence, and with new ideas. In this chapter the source of Orion’s conflict in this story comes to light. It happened in the last chapter of the Frontier: Death and Vengeance, but it still haunts him. Enjoy! Orion slept on the hard seat of his ship, in the cockpit. Even though he was not a human, he (and other exos) could put himself into a sleep-like trance, and experience dreams in the same way that humans did. It was far from necessary, but it was pleasant to rest, and sometimes dream. Although of late his dreams had been… difficult. [i]The hunter picked up a rifle from the large, flat rock. “It's a scout rifle.” He explained. “Long range primary weapon, good for precision. Not so good up close, though.” The awoken boy - well, he was more of a man, around 20 years of age, but compared to Orion’s centuries of life he was only a boy - tilted his head, a questioning expression in his eyes. “All scout rifles? There are variations, right?” Orion nodded, pride in his eyes. “Good lad. Yes, some scouts are good up close, while others are better far away. However, scouts tend to serve you better from long range, usually. As a rule, I like to use hand cannons up close and scouts further away.” The boy’s glowing face turned to regard the other weapons on the rock. “Can I fire some of them?” Orion immediately grabbed a few weapons from the pile. “Of course. Which one do you want to try first? Actually, let's do this: talk to your ghost.” The boy’s little blue and white buddy appeared in his hand, floating slightly. “I'm ready.” Both said. “Alright. Ghost, you know how to transmat, correct?” Orion asked. “Of course. What do you want me to transmat?” The inorganic life form responded. “Put Henry’s weapons where he can get to them easily. Let's do some shooting.” The primary weapons dematerialized, and both the hunter and the boy walked a few steps towards a firing range. The large mask of a fallen captain hung on a tree, swinging in the wind, and numerous other targets sat in a variety of positions. “Shall we begin?” Orion asked the young guardian. He nodded. “Good. What weapon do you want to use?” Immediately the Titan perked up, and said “Hand cannon.” Orion smiled. “A man after my own heart. Alright, first equip your weapon.” The young guardian’s ghost materialized the cannon into the gauntlets hands for use. “Firing position.” Orion said. The young Titan held the hand cannon with two hands and squinted down the sights in a decent imitation of the position he had seen Orion use multiple times. “Almost.” The hunter said, and moved to correct the firing stance. He moved Henry’s non-firing hand further up the handle of the weapon, and let it go. “Now. Get ready to shoot.” Henry squinted into the scope, and selected a target: the captain. “Breathe deep. Imagine putting the bullet exactly where you want it to go.” Orion advised, one hand on his shoulder. The Titan squeezed the trigger with his lower hand, and the shot pierced the center of the Captain’s helmet, making it spin wildly around. Orion smiled slightly, and it grew as his young protégée eliminated the targets, only missing one. As he let the hand cannon droop at his side, a big, happy smile stretched across his face. “Nice shooting!” Orion said happily. “Come on, let's go try out some more.” The two started to set up, and-[/i] Orion woke with a start, and sat up in the pilot seat of his ship cockpit. “Still a few hours until we are going to the Prison, Orion. Get some more sleep.” Spark said. Due to his empathic/neural link with Orion that all ghosts and guardians had, he had a vague impression of what had just gone on in Orion’s dreams, but not a definite one. “Yes. Right.” Orion said, and he activated his sleep-like trance again. Back into the strange networks of memories and subconscious he went. [i]Orion stood, hands clasped together, watching Henry warming up to do some fighting. With a quick jab, the young Titan tore some bark off of the dead trunk of a tree, and with another he fractured it. “Good!” Orion implored. “But for breaking an object or a heavily armored enemy, your blows must be fast AND strong.” Henry nodded. He centered himself, and then moved his fists to protect his face. This time Henry struck the tree with a slower, more powerful blow that struck the tree head on. The tree splintered and cracked under the force, and creaked from the stress. “Come on! Keep going!” Orion cheered, and Henry did just that, hammering and swinging and grunting under the exertion of destroying a tree with his bare hands. With a final powerful blow, Henry toppled the tree. He pumped his fist, and said “Did you see that! I did that!”, very prideful and excited indeed. “Yes, I did. Good work. Now, me.” The Titan blinked. “Me, fight you?” Orion nodded. “Sure.” Henry got more excited, and the embers of pride within him became more intense as he did. If he could destroy that tree, why couldn't he beat Orion too? Both of them got into a sparring position, and prepared to fight. “Remember, switching between offense and defense when necessary is integral to winning.” Orion advised. “Yeah yeah yeah. Let's go!” Henry said impatiently. “Very well!” Orion shouted, and he jumped in a motion that transformed into a spinning kick as he landed. Henry did his best to block the blow and recover, but it made him tumble on to the ground. The fire of Sol surrounded his fist, and without him really knowing what he was doing, he set Orion aflame with a punch from it. Orion stumbled back, allowing Henry to get up again. The hunter, more wary this time, stayed in a defensive stance, waiting for a move from the Titan, knowing he loved offense. He was right - Henry charged at Orion, thundering towards him, and trying to nail him with another devastating punch. Orion easily dodged the move and grabbed Henry by his legs, swinging him around and slamming him into a tree. Dazed, Henry got up, and jumped directly over Orion with his Light. He managed to high kick Orion in the head, but he took it like a champion, and only staggered a little bit from a full force kick to the helmet. Orion struck Henry in the helmet, the stomach, and the side, all only in one second. Orion held out his hand to help Henry up. “Sorry Henry, I didn't mean to go hard on you.” Orion said. “But you fought exceptionally well!” An angry look came over Henry’s face, but before it could intensify Orion stamped the fire out. “Henry. You need to learn to lose.” He said coldly. “Fine.” Henry grumbled, and he took Orion’s hand and stood up. “Come on, let's keep training!” Orion said, and he-[/i] Orion woke up again. Spark was waiting for him. “Orion… do you want to talk?” The ghost asked concernedly. “No, I- ok. I am having dreams.” Spark nodded in the way that something without a head nodded. “About Henry. I know.” Orion slammed his fist against the armrest of his ship, nearly denting it. “Everyone that comes near me, I push away. Anibus went to go figure out his life. Lyla is off doing stuff for the vanguard. And Henry…” Orion clenched the side of the jump ship again. “Orion, that's not true. And Henry wasn't your fault, he did it to himself. It was an accident.” Spark said, trying to comfort his guardian. “It doesn't matter, Spark.” Orion snapped coldly. “I did it. That is what matters. I could have kept them, I could have saved Henry, but I didn't.” If Spark could have cried, he would have. “No, Orion! Stop! Thinking like that is… its destroying you!” Orion sighed. “I'm sorry, Spark. I just can't forgive myself for what I did.” The two of them sat (well, Spark floated) for a while, silently, until the Ghost spoke. “I have the coordinates for the warehouse under the prison of elders. If we go now, we can get there in a few minutes, when (presumably) the security will be the weakest.” Orion nodded distractedly. “Yeah.” He said, and with a pump he pushed the acceleration stick of his ship forwards, while Spark set the course. “Time to go interrogate a space-black-market dealer!” Spark joked, trying to sound cheerful. That was chapter three of The Frontier: Light Among Darkness! I hope you enjoyed it! This gave some backstory into Orion and Henry’s relationship, and as I said earlier the main conflict of this chapter of Orion’s story was revealed. Did you enjoy it? If you did, awesome! If you didn't, tell me why! This is Overlord, signing off for now.