Chapter 16 - REFLECTION

Christopher had an illegitimate son with a woman on the streets when he was in high school.

it all happened so fast and unexpectedly.

He was one of the head honchos when it came to having it all right through high school.

With fame comes attention, he had all the beautiful ladies at his beck and call.

As well as the classy belles and influential students who controlled everything as regards school politics.

Being born with a silver spoon had always had its privileges and Christopher made sure to exploit these privileges as well as he deemed fit.

There was a certain red-haired bespectacled girl whom most people saw as a dork around the school but who was a genius who also was clear-sighted.

A lot of people saw this as an avenue to browbeat and intimidate him.

The girl's name was Hope a completely anti-social girl with so much intelligence that Christopher's clique was always intimidating to help them with certain sums as he was very good with science and calculations.

This particular day was a Friday and a very busy day at that, Christopher raced to school in his car, he was late already.

Miss Flora was already teaching the class, and she frowned at Christopher upon seeing him.

It got worse for him after that he became rude to the teacher and was thereafter put in detention.

Christopher, however, found a way and escaped from school to go see one of his friends from the streets.

In the process, he came across Hope and tricked her into following him to meet his friend.

A drug dealer called Zanders, during the transaction Christopher lost control of himself which led him into committing the amatory affair.

He did not even get to care about her and she was left bleeding.

The boys left her for dead thinking she has passed out, but she survived and got herself home

Later on, she got pregnant and insisted she would not get rid of it, Christopher's family got notified and took the child, taking care of all of Hope's affairs.

They made sure they apologized for all the pain their son had caused her and Hope left for another city so they never saw each other again.

Years after, the illegitimate child is taken care of by Christopher's family, the child does not who his mother is and also Christopher's wife and children have no idea of this son.

Simon, however, had been able to dig out the secret about that child.

He understands that using that card is going to affect Christopher's political reputation so he goes ahead and gets Christopher to step down without any form of explanation and this begets the race for Mayor.

Laura now knows what happened to Christopher and why he stepped down.

But she was still in the dark as regards many other things that pertain to this "Simon" and his innumerable shenanigans.

She also knows she has to be very close-mouthed and cautious.

Simon on the other hand is seen scolding his men angrily while they stand and watch looking deadpan

'You had only one job, Silver and you had to mess it up ' In a fit of anger

Simon had already shot two of the men assigned to kill Alexander, while Silver is being placed in a torture room.

A place Simon likes to call Reflection. He is seen bleeding profusely from his mouth with some of his teeth gone.

Simon not interested in what he had to say gives him yet a final stern warning 'I will let you live, and you will fix this, understand ?' to which an already weakened Silver just nods, shortly after he passes out.

We see Orion again, this time around he seems older and yet younger at the same time.

More like being blessed with the strength of the youth yet cursed with the growth of the old.

There is always a consequence for everything in the realm.

To maintain the balance between the powers that shines and the ones that faint. He can see centuries from afar, but he cannot stop what is to come, he has come to realize that time is ahead of everyone eventually.

He can't outrun it, and neither does anyone else.

Even with the power of immortality that he had been gifted.

Even though his strength remains like that of youth forever.

He has been rewarded by the High lords for conquering Vlada and his minions with the ability to swift through time.

Penetrating events and putting occasions on hold. Orion realized he keeps on aging very rapidly.

But he finds solace in his speed and youthful strength that never withers and his health that never falters.

Of recent, he has been seeing different species in his journey candles of the damned who go around seeking a host, a place they can call home.

They are tall, straight stature like the mortals and very skinny, and then they have no face, no eyes, no mouth or nose; it is all vacant.

These creatures have been following Orion on his journey of late because they can notice the darkness.

The ambition of doom that lurks within him, something he tries hard to suppress but just like 'deep calls out too deep.

The Candles of the Damned can tell the darkness and once it has fully matured,one which has been allowed to grow.

There comes their host, and once they have gotten in, they will never leave without a fierce fight.

Along the road lies therein several carcasses, it is not known if there were mortals or beasts.

At this point, they had become skeletons lying in the dirt, in different postures such that they are not recognizable.

Some bent their backs like they wanted to squat, and some can be seen with broken arm bones hanging like they were waving to the passersby.

While some gazed at the empty sky and seemed to be in their introspective.

We can see the ones with a myopathic gait, as they hung on the tree and still seem to swing from one side to the other while they hung.

Orion keeps trying to figure out a way to help Laura, he is determined to interfere and he intends to sacrifice whatever it will take regardless of what the High lords of the spirit of whispers say and what the Laws of the balance of the realms dictate.

'Before you throw caution to the winds traveler, remember the son of whom you are' his monster companion tries to counsel him.

Orion decides to sit down and tries to catch his breath, but then he changed his mind very rapidly and whizzed across the centuries to the time before he was born, a time in fact before humanity ever existed.

He understands what the Laws of the realm say about this.

But it comes at a price as he landed in this time, he could feel his strengths weaken and debilitating.

As well as his speed which had begun to wane, he expected this as he was in a time when he never existed and he could hear his monster whispering cautiously to him

"You are not supposed to be here traveler' Orion responds I know then goes ahead to sit down briefly on a small rock by the sea, a place that will later be known as the Crimson Legacies.

The Candles of the Damned are watching him intently, waiting patiently for his weak moment, for him to become vulnerable and unguarded.

They keep lurking in the corners, by the trees, and around the sea.

Some others are playing with themselves around the tree moving around and dancing under the sun.

Orion had already begun to feel sickly with his hair turning black and falling off.

He began to move slowly and sluggishly now taking note of every scene of the atmosphere.

From the ripples in the sea to the lilies of the field, he begins to see animals of various sizes, shapes, and forms.

But none of the creatures could see him.

When he realized his bones were rupturing, he goes ahead to use his last strength to whizz down to another period.

An era when there are new generations in charge of the world.

Looking ahead at how the mortals have made the world state of the art.

He could see that the mortals have made forth for themselves machinery in their image.

Designed with contrivance and the skillful brains of the men of honor.

The one Orion called spirits sound minds in his native tongue.

These refer to mortals who have been blessed by the High lords with the brains of the divine.

The star wits that stand mortals out in the intellectual and career world.

Orion could never forget Santaros the scholar, he was so gifted in wits that he help his schoolmates finish their alignments tasks and would still submit before them.

How he does it no one knew, Santaros grew up in the slums of Ziva.

His father had been diagnosed with the glue flu.

A deadly disease that is highly contagious by touch and kills in a matter of few days.

No one could heal him until five-year-old Santaros keep crying.

Demanding to see his father and that he can cure him.

His mum would not allow him access but his father told them to let him in even against the insistence of the women.

The men could not stop a father from seeing his son as they saw it as a dying father's wish.

Santaros had mixed a black liquid which he gave his dad to drink, and moments later his father fell deeply asleep for the next two days.

This was the first sign of relief for the people as no one having this sickness can bat an eye nor could they move their body parts because of the severe pain that follows.

Which often time makes the victims pass out multiple times before their death.

Upon close watch on Santaros father, however, the men realized he was sleeping peacefully and was still alive after being left for dead.

The men paid more attention till Fornaze woke up two days later feeling like a newborn baby.

He was back on his feet and even shared a drink with the men with his skin wounds all dried up and had begun to heal.

People began to wonder what happened, they were happy but they had questions, they were very curious.