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Mihail of Thanasi may well have lived in fear of water - afraid to fall into those massive waves which threw themselves endlessly back and forth and fearful of being dragged down into that dark and bottomless pit inhabited by only the most horrendous of beasts - but this did not prevent him from making the journey down to the beach behind the temples every so often. It was not a trip for entertainment purposes; instead, the tranquillity of the location and the abundance of stray animals made it ideal for sport without the worry of interruption. Solitude was best at times like this.
After his meeting with Nethis, he had needed the time to himself. It was something the man had anticipated before he had even entered the room, and the next morning he had been quick to request that someone prepare him a horse lest he need hurriedly escape the Thanasi household and leave out that set of bow and arrows that he so favoured. It had been a well-planned move, for her revelations had left him in a state of shock which he had hidden with snide remarks and hostility, the thought that she might reject his union with the servant girl because he too possessed peasant blood flowing fresh through his mind. The steed had rushed him to that not-so-far-off cliffside he so favoured, and Mihail had dismounted, stood silent a moment.
It had been a long moment. The wine-red fabric of his chiton fluttered in the soft wind, lightened in colour only by the few pale-white streams of sun which forced their way through the clouds, darkening his skin in a manner so contrary to the way it had paled him only a few short hours before. Those black curls, no longer as Thanasi as he had once thought them, fell almost tragically before his face. And was this not a tragedy? A travesty, perhaps.
It was the sound of a hound barking in the sand below him which brought him back from his dark musings and caused him to turn his gaze downwards. It was a large dog, almost bronzed in colour, which had run from one of the caves in the cliff face, bounding through the sand without the slightest of cares. Had he cared to observe further, he might have noticed it was too plump to be any stray, too carefree to have been abandoned, but he did not. It was a lack of perception that Mihail would have been ashamed ever to admit, always so careful to analyse his environment to his most significant advantage, but here his mask had slipped, that cocky indifference and perpetual perception gone.
Watching the beast out of the corner of his eyes as it rolled in the grit, he loaded a barbed, black-feathered, red-wooded arrow into his bow, raising the weapon to face height. He took another step to adjust his aim, the tip of his foot almost protruding over the top of the precipice, a few grains falling to the ground below, though he maintained his balance, used as he was to the location.
Shsh-thunk.
The shot would have flown through the air in a perfect line and buried itself so flawlessly and fatally in the hound's neck had it not been for the shout which had caused Mihail to shift his attention, called the canine away and forced his arrow to bury its bronze head into the dampened sand where the assumed stray had once stood. Babis of Eliades
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
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Mihail of Thanasi may well have lived in fear of water - afraid to fall into those massive waves which threw themselves endlessly back and forth and fearful of being dragged down into that dark and bottomless pit inhabited by only the most horrendous of beasts - but this did not prevent him from making the journey down to the beach behind the temples every so often. It was not a trip for entertainment purposes; instead, the tranquillity of the location and the abundance of stray animals made it ideal for sport without the worry of interruption. Solitude was best at times like this.
After his meeting with Nethis, he had needed the time to himself. It was something the man had anticipated before he had even entered the room, and the next morning he had been quick to request that someone prepare him a horse lest he need hurriedly escape the Thanasi household and leave out that set of bow and arrows that he so favoured. It had been a well-planned move, for her revelations had left him in a state of shock which he had hidden with snide remarks and hostility, the thought that she might reject his union with the servant girl because he too possessed peasant blood flowing fresh through his mind. The steed had rushed him to that not-so-far-off cliffside he so favoured, and Mihail had dismounted, stood silent a moment.
It had been a long moment. The wine-red fabric of his chiton fluttered in the soft wind, lightened in colour only by the few pale-white streams of sun which forced their way through the clouds, darkening his skin in a manner so contrary to the way it had paled him only a few short hours before. Those black curls, no longer as Thanasi as he had once thought them, fell almost tragically before his face. And was this not a tragedy? A travesty, perhaps.
It was the sound of a hound barking in the sand below him which brought him back from his dark musings and caused him to turn his gaze downwards. It was a large dog, almost bronzed in colour, which had run from one of the caves in the cliff face, bounding through the sand without the slightest of cares. Had he cared to observe further, he might have noticed it was too plump to be any stray, too carefree to have been abandoned, but he did not. It was a lack of perception that Mihail would have been ashamed ever to admit, always so careful to analyse his environment to his most significant advantage, but here his mask had slipped, that cocky indifference and perpetual perception gone.
Watching the beast out of the corner of his eyes as it rolled in the grit, he loaded a barbed, black-feathered, red-wooded arrow into his bow, raising the weapon to face height. He took another step to adjust his aim, the tip of his foot almost protruding over the top of the precipice, a few grains falling to the ground below, though he maintained his balance, used as he was to the location.
Shsh-thunk.
The shot would have flown through the air in a perfect line and buried itself so flawlessly and fatally in the hound's neck had it not been for the shout which had caused Mihail to shift his attention, called the canine away and forced his arrow to bury its bronze head into the dampened sand where the assumed stray had once stood. Babis of Eliades
Mihail of Thanasi may well have lived in fear of water - afraid to fall into those massive waves which threw themselves endlessly back and forth and fearful of being dragged down into that dark and bottomless pit inhabited by only the most horrendous of beasts - but this did not prevent him from making the journey down to the beach behind the temples every so often. It was not a trip for entertainment purposes; instead, the tranquillity of the location and the abundance of stray animals made it ideal for sport without the worry of interruption. Solitude was best at times like this.
After his meeting with Nethis, he had needed the time to himself. It was something the man had anticipated before he had even entered the room, and the next morning he had been quick to request that someone prepare him a horse lest he need hurriedly escape the Thanasi household and leave out that set of bow and arrows that he so favoured. It had been a well-planned move, for her revelations had left him in a state of shock which he had hidden with snide remarks and hostility, the thought that she might reject his union with the servant girl because he too possessed peasant blood flowing fresh through his mind. The steed had rushed him to that not-so-far-off cliffside he so favoured, and Mihail had dismounted, stood silent a moment.
It had been a long moment. The wine-red fabric of his chiton fluttered in the soft wind, lightened in colour only by the few pale-white streams of sun which forced their way through the clouds, darkening his skin in a manner so contrary to the way it had paled him only a few short hours before. Those black curls, no longer as Thanasi as he had once thought them, fell almost tragically before his face. And was this not a tragedy? A travesty, perhaps.
It was the sound of a hound barking in the sand below him which brought him back from his dark musings and caused him to turn his gaze downwards. It was a large dog, almost bronzed in colour, which had run from one of the caves in the cliff face, bounding through the sand without the slightest of cares. Had he cared to observe further, he might have noticed it was too plump to be any stray, too carefree to have been abandoned, but he did not. It was a lack of perception that Mihail would have been ashamed ever to admit, always so careful to analyse his environment to his most significant advantage, but here his mask had slipped, that cocky indifference and perpetual perception gone.
Watching the beast out of the corner of his eyes as it rolled in the grit, he loaded a barbed, black-feathered, red-wooded arrow into his bow, raising the weapon to face height. He took another step to adjust his aim, the tip of his foot almost protruding over the top of the precipice, a few grains falling to the ground below, though he maintained his balance, used as he was to the location.
Shsh-thunk.
The shot would have flown through the air in a perfect line and buried itself so flawlessly and fatally in the hound's neck had it not been for the shout which had caused Mihail to shift his attention, called the canine away and forced his arrow to bury its bronze head into the dampened sand where the assumed stray had once stood. Babis of Eliades
If there was one thing Babis hated more than his lessons was when Aras had ones that he was not invited to. It was his own fault really. Over the years, the little lord had made it plainly obvious that he had absolutely no interest in the books and scrolls that would happily fill his brother’s days. So, it only made sense that as time wore on and Aras quickly outpaced Babis in their studies that he would be given more attention. Plus it didn’t hurt that Aras was the heir, not Babis. As much as he hated it, it made sense why some afternoons Grandpa Harith would call the elder boy to the library and leave the younger own to his own devices.
Normally, Babis would have been bored out his mind as he lacked an audience for his mischief when Aras wasn’t around; but his loneliness was soon placated by another playmate that both the boys loved dearly. Their fiercely named hound, Vang. Having been named after the scariest thing the boys knew when they had been gifted the brown mastiff-like hound, it had been trained specifically to provide protection for the boys in addition to being their companion. It put the boy’s family at ease knowing that this young brute that was happily trotting behind the rambunctious twins would turn from gentle giant to vicious beast if someone so much as laid a hand on either lad. Truly, Vang, the hound was far more efficient than any other guard that the parents could assign to the twins and he quite possibly the only one that the boys didn’t immediately try to sneak away from.
Perhaps this is why Babis had a bit of leeway that day when he managed to slip out of the safety of the manor. His family knew that no matter what mischief he got into, he had the dog by his side so he wasn’t in any real danger. Had his family had known where Babis was going as well, this illusion of safety that Vang provided would only increase. After all, what kind of danger could he face in the cove tucked behind Naos Caverns?
The closed-in beach was deserted like it always was when Babis and Vang bounded down the rocky pathway that leads from the cliffs high above to rocky coast down below. It was an unknown spot to most of the city, but it served as a place of countless hours of entertainment for Babis as he raced the dog around the beach and jumped off the nearby pier into the shallow water. It was a fun way for the lad to let loose the seemingly boundless limits of energy within him, but as fun, as this was, it was nothing in comparison to explore the caves nearby.
He could spend hours in the little rooms, exploring what each space had to offer as Vang ran in and out of them, not too entirely comfortable in the darkness. By all means, there was no reason to not have the smile plastered onto his face that afternoon.
Little did he know that this day was about to go from a joyful romp on the beach to something far, far different.
As the sun crawled higher and higher into the sky, the dog had spent more time outside of the caves that Babis was in. “Vang!” Babis called out, climbing to the entrance to call the dog back to him after the dog had been running around outside for just a tad too long.
By sheer dumb luck, he somehow remained just out of the sight of the stranger who was now watching the dog from the cliff.
Shsh-thunk.
Babis heard the slight whoosh made by the arrow as it cut through the air before he saw it embed itself in the sand just a few meters away from where the boy stood. For a solid moment, the young lord just stared at the bronze-tipped projectile with a mixture of shock and confusion, seemingly unable to comprehend how it had appeared and the danger it now presented. To him, it had just appeared out of nowhere and as he glanced around the beach, there wasn’t anyone else nearby that could have fired it either. He was the only one down here on the sand.
However, it was Vang’s growling that alerted him to where this threat now stood. Being pulled out of his stunned silence by the low grumbling, Babis followed his dog’s upward gaze to the top of the cliff, somewhere the boy didn’t think to look. There, right on the edge, stood the silhouette of a man who seemed to be just as perplexed by the boy’s arrival as Babis was with his. Though even though a sense of confusion hung heavily in the air, there was no mistaking the slight curve of the bow in his hand.
It was then that the pieces of what happened began to click into place and Babis finally understood what had happened just a moment prior. As he glanced between the arrow located where his dog had been standing a moment ago to the stranger on the cliff, it became painstakingly obvious that he had been aiming for Vang when he shot down into the sand.
A furious rage coursed through Babis’s slight body, only previously seen whenever the local boys made fun of Aras’s lack of physical prowess. With his hands balled up into fists, Babis crawled out of the cave and came to stand behind Vang. He glared up at the man and shouted with all the power he could summon, “THAT’S MY DOG.” It was unlikely though that Mihail heard him up on his perch and even though Babis knew this, it still felt good to yell at the man all the same.
This was confirmed when the elder boy responded not be walking away or making his way down the cliffside to apologize… but by loading his bow again and aiming right for where the dog and Babis stood.
With his heart hammering away in his chest, Babis’s fight or flight instincts kicked in. Instantly, without any thought, he dived towards the other arrow and snatched it up before turning on his heels to dash back to the cave to get out of harm’s way. Before he disappeared into the safety of the darkness, Babis latched a hand onto the back of Vang’s collar and pulled him roughly towards the cave. The dog yelped in response, but it may have also been from the noise of the second arrow landing too close for comfort near them.
“Come on, Vang! Let’s go!” Babis yelled at his dog as he literally had to drag the canine into the cave entrance. Having been trained to protect the twins in moments of danger like this, Vang pulled back against Babis, not realizing that he would never be able to scare the arrows away… not while he was the target. However, the boy’s love for the beast temporarily overpowered the animal and he was able to safely pull him to a darkened part of the cave. Babis huddled against the wall and kept one hand firmly on the dog’s collar, who had now positioned himself in front of the frightened and confused boy, growling with his hackles raised.
His whole body trembled with a mortal fear he had never known before. How could someone just shoot at Vang? Why would he do that? Questions like this raced through the Eliades’s mind as he tried to process what on earth had just happened. He didn’t understand what had led the Thanasi to do such a thing and a part of him didn’t want to know… after all, wouldn’t that mean having to talk with the man who just tried to shoot his dog? No. Even though Babis was reckless, he was not stupid. There was no way in hell he’d want to do that… not unless he wanted to risk his own neck.
Unsure of what to do and being otherwise utterly trapped, Babis followed his dog’s gaze and kept his eyes locked on the cave entrance. All the while, silently praying that the man would lose interest in the boy and his dog and leave them alone. Little did he know that this stranger was not known to leave well-enough alone.
This wasn’t over yet for Babis.
Not by a long shot.
Mihail of Thanasi ,
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
Badges
Deleted
Deleted
If there was one thing Babis hated more than his lessons was when Aras had ones that he was not invited to. It was his own fault really. Over the years, the little lord had made it plainly obvious that he had absolutely no interest in the books and scrolls that would happily fill his brother’s days. So, it only made sense that as time wore on and Aras quickly outpaced Babis in their studies that he would be given more attention. Plus it didn’t hurt that Aras was the heir, not Babis. As much as he hated it, it made sense why some afternoons Grandpa Harith would call the elder boy to the library and leave the younger own to his own devices.
Normally, Babis would have been bored out his mind as he lacked an audience for his mischief when Aras wasn’t around; but his loneliness was soon placated by another playmate that both the boys loved dearly. Their fiercely named hound, Vang. Having been named after the scariest thing the boys knew when they had been gifted the brown mastiff-like hound, it had been trained specifically to provide protection for the boys in addition to being their companion. It put the boy’s family at ease knowing that this young brute that was happily trotting behind the rambunctious twins would turn from gentle giant to vicious beast if someone so much as laid a hand on either lad. Truly, Vang, the hound was far more efficient than any other guard that the parents could assign to the twins and he quite possibly the only one that the boys didn’t immediately try to sneak away from.
Perhaps this is why Babis had a bit of leeway that day when he managed to slip out of the safety of the manor. His family knew that no matter what mischief he got into, he had the dog by his side so he wasn’t in any real danger. Had his family had known where Babis was going as well, this illusion of safety that Vang provided would only increase. After all, what kind of danger could he face in the cove tucked behind Naos Caverns?
The closed-in beach was deserted like it always was when Babis and Vang bounded down the rocky pathway that leads from the cliffs high above to rocky coast down below. It was an unknown spot to most of the city, but it served as a place of countless hours of entertainment for Babis as he raced the dog around the beach and jumped off the nearby pier into the shallow water. It was a fun way for the lad to let loose the seemingly boundless limits of energy within him, but as fun, as this was, it was nothing in comparison to explore the caves nearby.
He could spend hours in the little rooms, exploring what each space had to offer as Vang ran in and out of them, not too entirely comfortable in the darkness. By all means, there was no reason to not have the smile plastered onto his face that afternoon.
Little did he know that this day was about to go from a joyful romp on the beach to something far, far different.
As the sun crawled higher and higher into the sky, the dog had spent more time outside of the caves that Babis was in. “Vang!” Babis called out, climbing to the entrance to call the dog back to him after the dog had been running around outside for just a tad too long.
By sheer dumb luck, he somehow remained just out of the sight of the stranger who was now watching the dog from the cliff.
Shsh-thunk.
Babis heard the slight whoosh made by the arrow as it cut through the air before he saw it embed itself in the sand just a few meters away from where the boy stood. For a solid moment, the young lord just stared at the bronze-tipped projectile with a mixture of shock and confusion, seemingly unable to comprehend how it had appeared and the danger it now presented. To him, it had just appeared out of nowhere and as he glanced around the beach, there wasn’t anyone else nearby that could have fired it either. He was the only one down here on the sand.
However, it was Vang’s growling that alerted him to where this threat now stood. Being pulled out of his stunned silence by the low grumbling, Babis followed his dog’s upward gaze to the top of the cliff, somewhere the boy didn’t think to look. There, right on the edge, stood the silhouette of a man who seemed to be just as perplexed by the boy’s arrival as Babis was with his. Though even though a sense of confusion hung heavily in the air, there was no mistaking the slight curve of the bow in his hand.
It was then that the pieces of what happened began to click into place and Babis finally understood what had happened just a moment prior. As he glanced between the arrow located where his dog had been standing a moment ago to the stranger on the cliff, it became painstakingly obvious that he had been aiming for Vang when he shot down into the sand.
A furious rage coursed through Babis’s slight body, only previously seen whenever the local boys made fun of Aras’s lack of physical prowess. With his hands balled up into fists, Babis crawled out of the cave and came to stand behind Vang. He glared up at the man and shouted with all the power he could summon, “THAT’S MY DOG.” It was unlikely though that Mihail heard him up on his perch and even though Babis knew this, it still felt good to yell at the man all the same.
This was confirmed when the elder boy responded not be walking away or making his way down the cliffside to apologize… but by loading his bow again and aiming right for where the dog and Babis stood.
With his heart hammering away in his chest, Babis’s fight or flight instincts kicked in. Instantly, without any thought, he dived towards the other arrow and snatched it up before turning on his heels to dash back to the cave to get out of harm’s way. Before he disappeared into the safety of the darkness, Babis latched a hand onto the back of Vang’s collar and pulled him roughly towards the cave. The dog yelped in response, but it may have also been from the noise of the second arrow landing too close for comfort near them.
“Come on, Vang! Let’s go!” Babis yelled at his dog as he literally had to drag the canine into the cave entrance. Having been trained to protect the twins in moments of danger like this, Vang pulled back against Babis, not realizing that he would never be able to scare the arrows away… not while he was the target. However, the boy’s love for the beast temporarily overpowered the animal and he was able to safely pull him to a darkened part of the cave. Babis huddled against the wall and kept one hand firmly on the dog’s collar, who had now positioned himself in front of the frightened and confused boy, growling with his hackles raised.
His whole body trembled with a mortal fear he had never known before. How could someone just shoot at Vang? Why would he do that? Questions like this raced through the Eliades’s mind as he tried to process what on earth had just happened. He didn’t understand what had led the Thanasi to do such a thing and a part of him didn’t want to know… after all, wouldn’t that mean having to talk with the man who just tried to shoot his dog? No. Even though Babis was reckless, he was not stupid. There was no way in hell he’d want to do that… not unless he wanted to risk his own neck.
Unsure of what to do and being otherwise utterly trapped, Babis followed his dog’s gaze and kept his eyes locked on the cave entrance. All the while, silently praying that the man would lose interest in the boy and his dog and leave them alone. Little did he know that this stranger was not known to leave well-enough alone.
This wasn’t over yet for Babis.
Not by a long shot.
Mihail of Thanasi ,
If there was one thing Babis hated more than his lessons was when Aras had ones that he was not invited to. It was his own fault really. Over the years, the little lord had made it plainly obvious that he had absolutely no interest in the books and scrolls that would happily fill his brother’s days. So, it only made sense that as time wore on and Aras quickly outpaced Babis in their studies that he would be given more attention. Plus it didn’t hurt that Aras was the heir, not Babis. As much as he hated it, it made sense why some afternoons Grandpa Harith would call the elder boy to the library and leave the younger own to his own devices.
Normally, Babis would have been bored out his mind as he lacked an audience for his mischief when Aras wasn’t around; but his loneliness was soon placated by another playmate that both the boys loved dearly. Their fiercely named hound, Vang. Having been named after the scariest thing the boys knew when they had been gifted the brown mastiff-like hound, it had been trained specifically to provide protection for the boys in addition to being their companion. It put the boy’s family at ease knowing that this young brute that was happily trotting behind the rambunctious twins would turn from gentle giant to vicious beast if someone so much as laid a hand on either lad. Truly, Vang, the hound was far more efficient than any other guard that the parents could assign to the twins and he quite possibly the only one that the boys didn’t immediately try to sneak away from.
Perhaps this is why Babis had a bit of leeway that day when he managed to slip out of the safety of the manor. His family knew that no matter what mischief he got into, he had the dog by his side so he wasn’t in any real danger. Had his family had known where Babis was going as well, this illusion of safety that Vang provided would only increase. After all, what kind of danger could he face in the cove tucked behind Naos Caverns?
The closed-in beach was deserted like it always was when Babis and Vang bounded down the rocky pathway that leads from the cliffs high above to rocky coast down below. It was an unknown spot to most of the city, but it served as a place of countless hours of entertainment for Babis as he raced the dog around the beach and jumped off the nearby pier into the shallow water. It was a fun way for the lad to let loose the seemingly boundless limits of energy within him, but as fun, as this was, it was nothing in comparison to explore the caves nearby.
He could spend hours in the little rooms, exploring what each space had to offer as Vang ran in and out of them, not too entirely comfortable in the darkness. By all means, there was no reason to not have the smile plastered onto his face that afternoon.
Little did he know that this day was about to go from a joyful romp on the beach to something far, far different.
As the sun crawled higher and higher into the sky, the dog had spent more time outside of the caves that Babis was in. “Vang!” Babis called out, climbing to the entrance to call the dog back to him after the dog had been running around outside for just a tad too long.
By sheer dumb luck, he somehow remained just out of the sight of the stranger who was now watching the dog from the cliff.
Shsh-thunk.
Babis heard the slight whoosh made by the arrow as it cut through the air before he saw it embed itself in the sand just a few meters away from where the boy stood. For a solid moment, the young lord just stared at the bronze-tipped projectile with a mixture of shock and confusion, seemingly unable to comprehend how it had appeared and the danger it now presented. To him, it had just appeared out of nowhere and as he glanced around the beach, there wasn’t anyone else nearby that could have fired it either. He was the only one down here on the sand.
However, it was Vang’s growling that alerted him to where this threat now stood. Being pulled out of his stunned silence by the low grumbling, Babis followed his dog’s upward gaze to the top of the cliff, somewhere the boy didn’t think to look. There, right on the edge, stood the silhouette of a man who seemed to be just as perplexed by the boy’s arrival as Babis was with his. Though even though a sense of confusion hung heavily in the air, there was no mistaking the slight curve of the bow in his hand.
It was then that the pieces of what happened began to click into place and Babis finally understood what had happened just a moment prior. As he glanced between the arrow located where his dog had been standing a moment ago to the stranger on the cliff, it became painstakingly obvious that he had been aiming for Vang when he shot down into the sand.
A furious rage coursed through Babis’s slight body, only previously seen whenever the local boys made fun of Aras’s lack of physical prowess. With his hands balled up into fists, Babis crawled out of the cave and came to stand behind Vang. He glared up at the man and shouted with all the power he could summon, “THAT’S MY DOG.” It was unlikely though that Mihail heard him up on his perch and even though Babis knew this, it still felt good to yell at the man all the same.
This was confirmed when the elder boy responded not be walking away or making his way down the cliffside to apologize… but by loading his bow again and aiming right for where the dog and Babis stood.
With his heart hammering away in his chest, Babis’s fight or flight instincts kicked in. Instantly, without any thought, he dived towards the other arrow and snatched it up before turning on his heels to dash back to the cave to get out of harm’s way. Before he disappeared into the safety of the darkness, Babis latched a hand onto the back of Vang’s collar and pulled him roughly towards the cave. The dog yelped in response, but it may have also been from the noise of the second arrow landing too close for comfort near them.
“Come on, Vang! Let’s go!” Babis yelled at his dog as he literally had to drag the canine into the cave entrance. Having been trained to protect the twins in moments of danger like this, Vang pulled back against Babis, not realizing that he would never be able to scare the arrows away… not while he was the target. However, the boy’s love for the beast temporarily overpowered the animal and he was able to safely pull him to a darkened part of the cave. Babis huddled against the wall and kept one hand firmly on the dog’s collar, who had now positioned himself in front of the frightened and confused boy, growling with his hackles raised.
His whole body trembled with a mortal fear he had never known before. How could someone just shoot at Vang? Why would he do that? Questions like this raced through the Eliades’s mind as he tried to process what on earth had just happened. He didn’t understand what had led the Thanasi to do such a thing and a part of him didn’t want to know… after all, wouldn’t that mean having to talk with the man who just tried to shoot his dog? No. Even though Babis was reckless, he was not stupid. There was no way in hell he’d want to do that… not unless he wanted to risk his own neck.
Unsure of what to do and being otherwise utterly trapped, Babis followed his dog’s gaze and kept his eyes locked on the cave entrance. All the while, silently praying that the man would lose interest in the boy and his dog and leave them alone. Little did he know that this stranger was not known to leave well-enough alone.
This wasn’t over yet for Babis.
Not by a long shot.
Mihail of Thanasi ,
His arrow had missed, and that was unacceptable. Mihail had spent his entire life practising the sport, and he had not missed a shot in years (and if he had, the shame of the misfire had been erased from his memory long ago). He did not accept failure, and he most certainly did not accept it when it was the fault of another, unseen figure. Lucky then, that the culprit was stupid enough to run from his hiding place and stand in full view of Mihail.
'That's my dog.'
Hmph. Protecting the dog. It was pathetic, akin to something Dysius would do for that horrid hound of his. The youngest of the Thanasi brood could never understand how anyone could care for those animals. They were disgusting, disloyal, vile creatures, ready to attack at any given moment. He preferred snakes. Lethal as his bite could be, Draco had never hurt him; Draco would never hurt him. As far as Mihail was concerned, the only use for dogs was as moving targets for his archery and, if he'd had his way, his father's hunting dogs - those horrible beasts who'd hurt him so in his early childhood - and his brother's filthy pet, would have just that fate.
The shout had not bothered him. The dog was his to shoot, and if the boy would not move, then Mihail would take him too. He did not care. If some child was foolish enough to stay in the direct path of his arrows, then what did it matter if they lost their life for it? He had only one lost child to worry about, and that was himself.
He took his time reloading the bow, as though the panic of the boy on the beach did not matter to him - it did not. With another red and black arrow set in the weapon, he raised it, let it go. And, yet, again, his arrow did not land where he willed it. The child lept away, seized the dog, and practically threw himself into the same cave from which he had earlier emerged. Oh. Was this to be a challenge?
Mihail made his way down the cliff's steep pathway, his gaze sweeping over the rest of the shore as though in confirmation that there were no others to witness the day's events. There was silence, a certain smug satisfaction as he reached the cavern's entrance and hovered outside for a moment, peeking inside with hooded eyes and his customary almost-inebriated looking smile. His sandals slapped against the rocks on the cave floor, the sound echoing in a manner which was made more threatening only through the lack of any other noise.
"Children," he called out, glancing through the darkness in search of his victim, "should be seen and not heard. And right now, I can hear you but I can't...quite...see you." His eyes adjusted finally to the light, the shadowed form of the boy starting to form further into the cave. It was not his shape, however, which so alerted Mihail to his location, but the soft growling of the canine at his side. He raised the bow at his side once more, starting to load another arrow into it, quiet and fluid in his movements. He was blocking the exit now, not allowing the boy even the attempt to rush out.
He continued speaking as he lifted the bow once more, aiming it in the direction of the figures. "If you leave me your dog, then perhaps I might let you go," he suggested, taking a few steps further into the cave, though with no intentions of shooting just yet. There was no thrill in a still target. "Don't you want me to let you go?" But the proposal was falling on deaf or terrified ears - or those of a boy who was far too obsessed with his pitiful pet to let it be - and, pouting in the dim sunlight that had made it into the grotto, head slightly tilted, he changed his tactic. The child had taken one of his arrows when he had run to safety and, were it any other, Mihail would not have cared, he had left many to rot in the sandied corpses of the other strays he'd shot, and dozens to be washed away by the tide. He had others; he could buy others. But these were special, custom-designed, and he'd rather his sisters did not discover just how much those arrows were costing. It would have to be returned to him.
"Do you know who I am? Because I do believe you have something of mine, and I shall not tolerate theft."
Babis of Eliades
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This character is currently a work in progress.
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His arrow had missed, and that was unacceptable. Mihail had spent his entire life practising the sport, and he had not missed a shot in years (and if he had, the shame of the misfire had been erased from his memory long ago). He did not accept failure, and he most certainly did not accept it when it was the fault of another, unseen figure. Lucky then, that the culprit was stupid enough to run from his hiding place and stand in full view of Mihail.
'That's my dog.'
Hmph. Protecting the dog. It was pathetic, akin to something Dysius would do for that horrid hound of his. The youngest of the Thanasi brood could never understand how anyone could care for those animals. They were disgusting, disloyal, vile creatures, ready to attack at any given moment. He preferred snakes. Lethal as his bite could be, Draco had never hurt him; Draco would never hurt him. As far as Mihail was concerned, the only use for dogs was as moving targets for his archery and, if he'd had his way, his father's hunting dogs - those horrible beasts who'd hurt him so in his early childhood - and his brother's filthy pet, would have just that fate.
The shout had not bothered him. The dog was his to shoot, and if the boy would not move, then Mihail would take him too. He did not care. If some child was foolish enough to stay in the direct path of his arrows, then what did it matter if they lost their life for it? He had only one lost child to worry about, and that was himself.
He took his time reloading the bow, as though the panic of the boy on the beach did not matter to him - it did not. With another red and black arrow set in the weapon, he raised it, let it go. And, yet, again, his arrow did not land where he willed it. The child lept away, seized the dog, and practically threw himself into the same cave from which he had earlier emerged. Oh. Was this to be a challenge?
Mihail made his way down the cliff's steep pathway, his gaze sweeping over the rest of the shore as though in confirmation that there were no others to witness the day's events. There was silence, a certain smug satisfaction as he reached the cavern's entrance and hovered outside for a moment, peeking inside with hooded eyes and his customary almost-inebriated looking smile. His sandals slapped against the rocks on the cave floor, the sound echoing in a manner which was made more threatening only through the lack of any other noise.
"Children," he called out, glancing through the darkness in search of his victim, "should be seen and not heard. And right now, I can hear you but I can't...quite...see you." His eyes adjusted finally to the light, the shadowed form of the boy starting to form further into the cave. It was not his shape, however, which so alerted Mihail to his location, but the soft growling of the canine at his side. He raised the bow at his side once more, starting to load another arrow into it, quiet and fluid in his movements. He was blocking the exit now, not allowing the boy even the attempt to rush out.
He continued speaking as he lifted the bow once more, aiming it in the direction of the figures. "If you leave me your dog, then perhaps I might let you go," he suggested, taking a few steps further into the cave, though with no intentions of shooting just yet. There was no thrill in a still target. "Don't you want me to let you go?" But the proposal was falling on deaf or terrified ears - or those of a boy who was far too obsessed with his pitiful pet to let it be - and, pouting in the dim sunlight that had made it into the grotto, head slightly tilted, he changed his tactic. The child had taken one of his arrows when he had run to safety and, were it any other, Mihail would not have cared, he had left many to rot in the sandied corpses of the other strays he'd shot, and dozens to be washed away by the tide. He had others; he could buy others. But these were special, custom-designed, and he'd rather his sisters did not discover just how much those arrows were costing. It would have to be returned to him.
"Do you know who I am? Because I do believe you have something of mine, and I shall not tolerate theft."
Babis of Eliades
His arrow had missed, and that was unacceptable. Mihail had spent his entire life practising the sport, and he had not missed a shot in years (and if he had, the shame of the misfire had been erased from his memory long ago). He did not accept failure, and he most certainly did not accept it when it was the fault of another, unseen figure. Lucky then, that the culprit was stupid enough to run from his hiding place and stand in full view of Mihail.
'That's my dog.'
Hmph. Protecting the dog. It was pathetic, akin to something Dysius would do for that horrid hound of his. The youngest of the Thanasi brood could never understand how anyone could care for those animals. They were disgusting, disloyal, vile creatures, ready to attack at any given moment. He preferred snakes. Lethal as his bite could be, Draco had never hurt him; Draco would never hurt him. As far as Mihail was concerned, the only use for dogs was as moving targets for his archery and, if he'd had his way, his father's hunting dogs - those horrible beasts who'd hurt him so in his early childhood - and his brother's filthy pet, would have just that fate.
The shout had not bothered him. The dog was his to shoot, and if the boy would not move, then Mihail would take him too. He did not care. If some child was foolish enough to stay in the direct path of his arrows, then what did it matter if they lost their life for it? He had only one lost child to worry about, and that was himself.
He took his time reloading the bow, as though the panic of the boy on the beach did not matter to him - it did not. With another red and black arrow set in the weapon, he raised it, let it go. And, yet, again, his arrow did not land where he willed it. The child lept away, seized the dog, and practically threw himself into the same cave from which he had earlier emerged. Oh. Was this to be a challenge?
Mihail made his way down the cliff's steep pathway, his gaze sweeping over the rest of the shore as though in confirmation that there were no others to witness the day's events. There was silence, a certain smug satisfaction as he reached the cavern's entrance and hovered outside for a moment, peeking inside with hooded eyes and his customary almost-inebriated looking smile. His sandals slapped against the rocks on the cave floor, the sound echoing in a manner which was made more threatening only through the lack of any other noise.
"Children," he called out, glancing through the darkness in search of his victim, "should be seen and not heard. And right now, I can hear you but I can't...quite...see you." His eyes adjusted finally to the light, the shadowed form of the boy starting to form further into the cave. It was not his shape, however, which so alerted Mihail to his location, but the soft growling of the canine at his side. He raised the bow at his side once more, starting to load another arrow into it, quiet and fluid in his movements. He was blocking the exit now, not allowing the boy even the attempt to rush out.
He continued speaking as he lifted the bow once more, aiming it in the direction of the figures. "If you leave me your dog, then perhaps I might let you go," he suggested, taking a few steps further into the cave, though with no intentions of shooting just yet. There was no thrill in a still target. "Don't you want me to let you go?" But the proposal was falling on deaf or terrified ears - or those of a boy who was far too obsessed with his pitiful pet to let it be - and, pouting in the dim sunlight that had made it into the grotto, head slightly tilted, he changed his tactic. The child had taken one of his arrows when he had run to safety and, were it any other, Mihail would not have cared, he had left many to rot in the sandied corpses of the other strays he'd shot, and dozens to be washed away by the tide. He had others; he could buy others. But these were special, custom-designed, and he'd rather his sisters did not discover just how much those arrows were costing. It would have to be returned to him.
"Do you know who I am? Because I do believe you have something of mine, and I shall not tolerate theft."
Babis of Eliades
As soon as the madman’s shadow filled the cave, Babis became acutely aware that he had made a grave error when he sought shelter in the deep cave. He had made that split-second decision based on the assumption that Mihail wouldn’t want to make the trek down to the beaches. Babis had stupidly believed that if he was out of sight, he and Vang would be out of the snake’s mind. After all, wasn’t that what a normal person would do?
Little did he know that Mihail was not normal.
Not by any means.
He was hardly the kind of man to listen to his conscience and walk away once he realized that the dog was not alone. No, instead he was a boy who gave into the sick and twisted predatory desires that lurked beneath the surface of his false grin. Mihail was the type of animal that got off on his sick need to inflict pain upon others, especially those who couldn’t really fight back like Babis, who carried no weapons. That was why he was at the beach. That’s why he took aim at Vang. But most importantly that was why he had followed the boy. Mihail hadn’t been looking for target practice. He had been looking for a hunt where Mihail was promised to be the victor.
And now that he had decided that Babis would be his quarry, there was no chance that the young boy was going to escape.
Babis recognized this the moment he heard the man’s sandals slapping harshly against the sandy entrance to the cave, signaling that Mihail wasn’t intent on losing his prey just yet. Babis’s breath quickened as a mortal panic seized his chest, bringing his mind to a dream-like haze and causing his grip to tighten on Vang’s collar. His eyes locked onto the menacing shadow as his thoughts raced as to what he could to survive this. After all, there was no mistaking the sight of Mihail loading his next arrow and slowly lifting the taut bow in the direction of the growling Vang. Though, whether Mihail realized it or not, the weapon was not facing the dog, but instead, it was aimed at where Babis was huddled against the wall.
The crystal-clear image of this brought a new heightened fear into his chest and without meaning to, his racing breath began to hitch as a forcefully silent sob of fear racked Babis’s chest. He tried desperately to not let the noises be heard as he tried to shimmy his way out of the path of the arrow, but the little hiccups he made were deafening in the near-silence. There was no way that Mihail would not be able to miss the physical manifestation of Babis’s terror, even though he desperately tried to prevent any noise escaping his lips.
However, Babis knew that it was all in vain once Mihail spoke. The idiom was one that Babis knew very well. After all, how many times over the years had it been hissed at him by scholars in the family’s library? Normally, he’d just brush off the statement with a playful laugh and he’d dash off before the men could say anything more. Now, here in a cave, staring down a loaded bow being drawn back by a psychopath, he wished he had the ability to stay silent. If he was capable of that, perhaps he could shimmy deeper into the cave, away from this threat. But the time for that to happen had long since passed. Babis was trapped, cornered, and left to his fate by the gods.
Though, it seemed as if Mihail was now offering Babis a chance to escape. His sobs quieted for a moment as the snake teased the chance of letting him, but a shiver went down his spine when the Thanasi named his price.
Mihail would only let Babis go if he willingly gave Vang to him. The boy’s safety would only be promised if handed over his beloved canine to what would surely be a prolonged and cruel death.
Babis would be a liar if he said that he didn’t consider Mihail’s offer for a moment. His deeply-rooted drive for self-preservation told him to do it, that Vang wasn’t as important as he was. However, deep down he knew it to be a false promise of hope. Babis was an Eliades child, he may not enjoy the classroom, but that doesn’t change the fact that he, like all the others in his family were naturally gifted in intelligence. (It just so happened that like his Uncle Mikael, his mind demonstrated it’s brilliance in other ways.) This meant, that beneath the fear that left him trembling, there was still a rational part of him that was in control.
It was long past time that this little voice that sounded remarkable more Aras than Babis took over. Babis’s eyelids fluttered shut for a moment as he quietly thought to himself, “Alright. Think. You need to think.” His mind starting whirring with the thousand things he could do in order to escape. He could run for the exit? No. That was a bad idea, Mihail would shoot him before he reached the entrance. He could set lose Vang on him? No, that would be the same outcome and even he could see that the dog was the only thing that would keep him safe. He couldn’t trade the dog or let any harm come to Vang. He was the only thing standing between him and basically certain death.
Babis could not let Mihail have Vang.
He pulled the dog closer to him as he called back out to the stranger in the entryway to the cave, “No. You ca-can’t. He’s my-y dog.” Even though Babis had managed to muster up some strength for his defiant stand, any forcefulness was undercut by the sobs that continued to rack through his chest. He sounded more like a petulant child rather than a noble lord almost grown in the eyes of the court. It carried no weight and Babis knew almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Mihail would ignore it. After all, clearly he wasn’t the type of person to care for other people or consider their own feelings on the matter. Plus it didn’t hurt that Mihail’s tone carried an obvious falseness to it. Even if he let Mihail have Vang, it was unlikely that he would let Babis go. Not when he so obviously fed on the boy’s fear and a target who could beg for their life would clearly be more interesting to him than a dog who could bark and growl at their attackers.
Despite knowing this, his fear took over for a moment and latched on to the question Mihail had poised. Without even realizing he was speaking, Babis’s next statement practically tumbled out of his mouth, “You ha-have to l-let me-e go. I a-am --” He was about to stupidly reveal his name to Mihail, but was quickly cut short by the man’s insistence that he return the arrow to him.
Instinctively, his eyes glanced over to where the arrow had been forgotten in the dirt, dropped as Babis needed to use both hands to hold back Vang who had been growling the whole time. A part of him wanted to be defiant in this aspect as well, but that just naturally did not seem like the wise thing to do. However, Babis wasn’t going to stand up and walk it over to him either. That would be suicide for him and murder for Vang.
However, his thoughts soon became clouded as he considered the phrase, “Don’t you know who I am?” continuously circled through his mind. There was something oddly familiar to the way he snarled his words. For a moment Babis racked his brain, trying to figure out where he had heard that name before… until it suddenly struck him with a small audible gasp as a memory came flooding back to him. A few years ago, the Eliades manor had invited the Thanasi family over for some reason that Babis was too young to understand at the time. He wasn’t too young though to not rig a trap for one of the younger boys in that family since everyone better much knew that he would try to sneak about. Babis had only wanted to protect the twins’ play area (as he was a child at the time) from any intruders…. So, he built his own version of the classic bucket of water just inside a doorway prank. The Thanasi boy had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. It had been hilarious how the dark-haired lad had ranted and raved, proclaiming he would kill whoever had done this to him in addition to general boasts of his greatness and how it was a crime to do such a thing to him. Aras and Babis could barely keep their laughter contained that evening at the antics of a brat who was far more childish than they were.
“Don’t you know who I am?” He had screamed that day… just like how he had repeated those words several years later, unknowing that he was now threatening the mastermind of that prank from all those years ago.
“You’re a Than-anasi.” Babis stated back to him, unsure of the first name of the man before him. Realizing that now maybe he had a bit of leverage, Babis forced his voice to become more steely as he discarded all conversation about the arrow. “You're a Thanasi. Let us go and I won’t tell anyone. I promise.” It was the closest Babis would come to begging for his life, but a small part of him already knew it would fall on deaf ears.
After all, Mihail of Thanasi was clearly not a man to give up the hunt easily, not while Babis was trapped and cornered like this.
Heavens help him if he was going to get out of this one.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
This character is currently a work in progress.
Check out their information page here.
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As soon as the madman’s shadow filled the cave, Babis became acutely aware that he had made a grave error when he sought shelter in the deep cave. He had made that split-second decision based on the assumption that Mihail wouldn’t want to make the trek down to the beaches. Babis had stupidly believed that if he was out of sight, he and Vang would be out of the snake’s mind. After all, wasn’t that what a normal person would do?
Little did he know that Mihail was not normal.
Not by any means.
He was hardly the kind of man to listen to his conscience and walk away once he realized that the dog was not alone. No, instead he was a boy who gave into the sick and twisted predatory desires that lurked beneath the surface of his false grin. Mihail was the type of animal that got off on his sick need to inflict pain upon others, especially those who couldn’t really fight back like Babis, who carried no weapons. That was why he was at the beach. That’s why he took aim at Vang. But most importantly that was why he had followed the boy. Mihail hadn’t been looking for target practice. He had been looking for a hunt where Mihail was promised to be the victor.
And now that he had decided that Babis would be his quarry, there was no chance that the young boy was going to escape.
Babis recognized this the moment he heard the man’s sandals slapping harshly against the sandy entrance to the cave, signaling that Mihail wasn’t intent on losing his prey just yet. Babis’s breath quickened as a mortal panic seized his chest, bringing his mind to a dream-like haze and causing his grip to tighten on Vang’s collar. His eyes locked onto the menacing shadow as his thoughts raced as to what he could to survive this. After all, there was no mistaking the sight of Mihail loading his next arrow and slowly lifting the taut bow in the direction of the growling Vang. Though, whether Mihail realized it or not, the weapon was not facing the dog, but instead, it was aimed at where Babis was huddled against the wall.
The crystal-clear image of this brought a new heightened fear into his chest and without meaning to, his racing breath began to hitch as a forcefully silent sob of fear racked Babis’s chest. He tried desperately to not let the noises be heard as he tried to shimmy his way out of the path of the arrow, but the little hiccups he made were deafening in the near-silence. There was no way that Mihail would not be able to miss the physical manifestation of Babis’s terror, even though he desperately tried to prevent any noise escaping his lips.
However, Babis knew that it was all in vain once Mihail spoke. The idiom was one that Babis knew very well. After all, how many times over the years had it been hissed at him by scholars in the family’s library? Normally, he’d just brush off the statement with a playful laugh and he’d dash off before the men could say anything more. Now, here in a cave, staring down a loaded bow being drawn back by a psychopath, he wished he had the ability to stay silent. If he was capable of that, perhaps he could shimmy deeper into the cave, away from this threat. But the time for that to happen had long since passed. Babis was trapped, cornered, and left to his fate by the gods.
Though, it seemed as if Mihail was now offering Babis a chance to escape. His sobs quieted for a moment as the snake teased the chance of letting him, but a shiver went down his spine when the Thanasi named his price.
Mihail would only let Babis go if he willingly gave Vang to him. The boy’s safety would only be promised if handed over his beloved canine to what would surely be a prolonged and cruel death.
Babis would be a liar if he said that he didn’t consider Mihail’s offer for a moment. His deeply-rooted drive for self-preservation told him to do it, that Vang wasn’t as important as he was. However, deep down he knew it to be a false promise of hope. Babis was an Eliades child, he may not enjoy the classroom, but that doesn’t change the fact that he, like all the others in his family were naturally gifted in intelligence. (It just so happened that like his Uncle Mikael, his mind demonstrated it’s brilliance in other ways.) This meant, that beneath the fear that left him trembling, there was still a rational part of him that was in control.
It was long past time that this little voice that sounded remarkable more Aras than Babis took over. Babis’s eyelids fluttered shut for a moment as he quietly thought to himself, “Alright. Think. You need to think.” His mind starting whirring with the thousand things he could do in order to escape. He could run for the exit? No. That was a bad idea, Mihail would shoot him before he reached the entrance. He could set lose Vang on him? No, that would be the same outcome and even he could see that the dog was the only thing that would keep him safe. He couldn’t trade the dog or let any harm come to Vang. He was the only thing standing between him and basically certain death.
Babis could not let Mihail have Vang.
He pulled the dog closer to him as he called back out to the stranger in the entryway to the cave, “No. You ca-can’t. He’s my-y dog.” Even though Babis had managed to muster up some strength for his defiant stand, any forcefulness was undercut by the sobs that continued to rack through his chest. He sounded more like a petulant child rather than a noble lord almost grown in the eyes of the court. It carried no weight and Babis knew almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Mihail would ignore it. After all, clearly he wasn’t the type of person to care for other people or consider their own feelings on the matter. Plus it didn’t hurt that Mihail’s tone carried an obvious falseness to it. Even if he let Mihail have Vang, it was unlikely that he would let Babis go. Not when he so obviously fed on the boy’s fear and a target who could beg for their life would clearly be more interesting to him than a dog who could bark and growl at their attackers.
Despite knowing this, his fear took over for a moment and latched on to the question Mihail had poised. Without even realizing he was speaking, Babis’s next statement practically tumbled out of his mouth, “You ha-have to l-let me-e go. I a-am --” He was about to stupidly reveal his name to Mihail, but was quickly cut short by the man’s insistence that he return the arrow to him.
Instinctively, his eyes glanced over to where the arrow had been forgotten in the dirt, dropped as Babis needed to use both hands to hold back Vang who had been growling the whole time. A part of him wanted to be defiant in this aspect as well, but that just naturally did not seem like the wise thing to do. However, Babis wasn’t going to stand up and walk it over to him either. That would be suicide for him and murder for Vang.
However, his thoughts soon became clouded as he considered the phrase, “Don’t you know who I am?” continuously circled through his mind. There was something oddly familiar to the way he snarled his words. For a moment Babis racked his brain, trying to figure out where he had heard that name before… until it suddenly struck him with a small audible gasp as a memory came flooding back to him. A few years ago, the Eliades manor had invited the Thanasi family over for some reason that Babis was too young to understand at the time. He wasn’t too young though to not rig a trap for one of the younger boys in that family since everyone better much knew that he would try to sneak about. Babis had only wanted to protect the twins’ play area (as he was a child at the time) from any intruders…. So, he built his own version of the classic bucket of water just inside a doorway prank. The Thanasi boy had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. It had been hilarious how the dark-haired lad had ranted and raved, proclaiming he would kill whoever had done this to him in addition to general boasts of his greatness and how it was a crime to do such a thing to him. Aras and Babis could barely keep their laughter contained that evening at the antics of a brat who was far more childish than they were.
“Don’t you know who I am?” He had screamed that day… just like how he had repeated those words several years later, unknowing that he was now threatening the mastermind of that prank from all those years ago.
“You’re a Than-anasi.” Babis stated back to him, unsure of the first name of the man before him. Realizing that now maybe he had a bit of leverage, Babis forced his voice to become more steely as he discarded all conversation about the arrow. “You're a Thanasi. Let us go and I won’t tell anyone. I promise.” It was the closest Babis would come to begging for his life, but a small part of him already knew it would fall on deaf ears.
After all, Mihail of Thanasi was clearly not a man to give up the hunt easily, not while Babis was trapped and cornered like this.
Heavens help him if he was going to get out of this one.
As soon as the madman’s shadow filled the cave, Babis became acutely aware that he had made a grave error when he sought shelter in the deep cave. He had made that split-second decision based on the assumption that Mihail wouldn’t want to make the trek down to the beaches. Babis had stupidly believed that if he was out of sight, he and Vang would be out of the snake’s mind. After all, wasn’t that what a normal person would do?
Little did he know that Mihail was not normal.
Not by any means.
He was hardly the kind of man to listen to his conscience and walk away once he realized that the dog was not alone. No, instead he was a boy who gave into the sick and twisted predatory desires that lurked beneath the surface of his false grin. Mihail was the type of animal that got off on his sick need to inflict pain upon others, especially those who couldn’t really fight back like Babis, who carried no weapons. That was why he was at the beach. That’s why he took aim at Vang. But most importantly that was why he had followed the boy. Mihail hadn’t been looking for target practice. He had been looking for a hunt where Mihail was promised to be the victor.
And now that he had decided that Babis would be his quarry, there was no chance that the young boy was going to escape.
Babis recognized this the moment he heard the man’s sandals slapping harshly against the sandy entrance to the cave, signaling that Mihail wasn’t intent on losing his prey just yet. Babis’s breath quickened as a mortal panic seized his chest, bringing his mind to a dream-like haze and causing his grip to tighten on Vang’s collar. His eyes locked onto the menacing shadow as his thoughts raced as to what he could to survive this. After all, there was no mistaking the sight of Mihail loading his next arrow and slowly lifting the taut bow in the direction of the growling Vang. Though, whether Mihail realized it or not, the weapon was not facing the dog, but instead, it was aimed at where Babis was huddled against the wall.
The crystal-clear image of this brought a new heightened fear into his chest and without meaning to, his racing breath began to hitch as a forcefully silent sob of fear racked Babis’s chest. He tried desperately to not let the noises be heard as he tried to shimmy his way out of the path of the arrow, but the little hiccups he made were deafening in the near-silence. There was no way that Mihail would not be able to miss the physical manifestation of Babis’s terror, even though he desperately tried to prevent any noise escaping his lips.
However, Babis knew that it was all in vain once Mihail spoke. The idiom was one that Babis knew very well. After all, how many times over the years had it been hissed at him by scholars in the family’s library? Normally, he’d just brush off the statement with a playful laugh and he’d dash off before the men could say anything more. Now, here in a cave, staring down a loaded bow being drawn back by a psychopath, he wished he had the ability to stay silent. If he was capable of that, perhaps he could shimmy deeper into the cave, away from this threat. But the time for that to happen had long since passed. Babis was trapped, cornered, and left to his fate by the gods.
Though, it seemed as if Mihail was now offering Babis a chance to escape. His sobs quieted for a moment as the snake teased the chance of letting him, but a shiver went down his spine when the Thanasi named his price.
Mihail would only let Babis go if he willingly gave Vang to him. The boy’s safety would only be promised if handed over his beloved canine to what would surely be a prolonged and cruel death.
Babis would be a liar if he said that he didn’t consider Mihail’s offer for a moment. His deeply-rooted drive for self-preservation told him to do it, that Vang wasn’t as important as he was. However, deep down he knew it to be a false promise of hope. Babis was an Eliades child, he may not enjoy the classroom, but that doesn’t change the fact that he, like all the others in his family were naturally gifted in intelligence. (It just so happened that like his Uncle Mikael, his mind demonstrated it’s brilliance in other ways.) This meant, that beneath the fear that left him trembling, there was still a rational part of him that was in control.
It was long past time that this little voice that sounded remarkable more Aras than Babis took over. Babis’s eyelids fluttered shut for a moment as he quietly thought to himself, “Alright. Think. You need to think.” His mind starting whirring with the thousand things he could do in order to escape. He could run for the exit? No. That was a bad idea, Mihail would shoot him before he reached the entrance. He could set lose Vang on him? No, that would be the same outcome and even he could see that the dog was the only thing that would keep him safe. He couldn’t trade the dog or let any harm come to Vang. He was the only thing standing between him and basically certain death.
Babis could not let Mihail have Vang.
He pulled the dog closer to him as he called back out to the stranger in the entryway to the cave, “No. You ca-can’t. He’s my-y dog.” Even though Babis had managed to muster up some strength for his defiant stand, any forcefulness was undercut by the sobs that continued to rack through his chest. He sounded more like a petulant child rather than a noble lord almost grown in the eyes of the court. It carried no weight and Babis knew almost as soon as the words were out of his mouth, Mihail would ignore it. After all, clearly he wasn’t the type of person to care for other people or consider their own feelings on the matter. Plus it didn’t hurt that Mihail’s tone carried an obvious falseness to it. Even if he let Mihail have Vang, it was unlikely that he would let Babis go. Not when he so obviously fed on the boy’s fear and a target who could beg for their life would clearly be more interesting to him than a dog who could bark and growl at their attackers.
Despite knowing this, his fear took over for a moment and latched on to the question Mihail had poised. Without even realizing he was speaking, Babis’s next statement practically tumbled out of his mouth, “You ha-have to l-let me-e go. I a-am --” He was about to stupidly reveal his name to Mihail, but was quickly cut short by the man’s insistence that he return the arrow to him.
Instinctively, his eyes glanced over to where the arrow had been forgotten in the dirt, dropped as Babis needed to use both hands to hold back Vang who had been growling the whole time. A part of him wanted to be defiant in this aspect as well, but that just naturally did not seem like the wise thing to do. However, Babis wasn’t going to stand up and walk it over to him either. That would be suicide for him and murder for Vang.
However, his thoughts soon became clouded as he considered the phrase, “Don’t you know who I am?” continuously circled through his mind. There was something oddly familiar to the way he snarled his words. For a moment Babis racked his brain, trying to figure out where he had heard that name before… until it suddenly struck him with a small audible gasp as a memory came flooding back to him. A few years ago, the Eliades manor had invited the Thanasi family over for some reason that Babis was too young to understand at the time. He wasn’t too young though to not rig a trap for one of the younger boys in that family since everyone better much knew that he would try to sneak about. Babis had only wanted to protect the twins’ play area (as he was a child at the time) from any intruders…. So, he built his own version of the classic bucket of water just inside a doorway prank. The Thanasi boy had fallen for it hook, line, and sinker. It had been hilarious how the dark-haired lad had ranted and raved, proclaiming he would kill whoever had done this to him in addition to general boasts of his greatness and how it was a crime to do such a thing to him. Aras and Babis could barely keep their laughter contained that evening at the antics of a brat who was far more childish than they were.
“Don’t you know who I am?” He had screamed that day… just like how he had repeated those words several years later, unknowing that he was now threatening the mastermind of that prank from all those years ago.
“You’re a Than-anasi.” Babis stated back to him, unsure of the first name of the man before him. Realizing that now maybe he had a bit of leverage, Babis forced his voice to become more steely as he discarded all conversation about the arrow. “You're a Thanasi. Let us go and I won’t tell anyone. I promise.” It was the closest Babis would come to begging for his life, but a small part of him already knew it would fall on deaf ears.
After all, Mihail of Thanasi was clearly not a man to give up the hunt easily, not while Babis was trapped and cornered like this.
Heavens help him if he was going to get out of this one.
"I can't?"
Of course. Mihail must have forgotten that his life was controlled by the whims of some nameless child. How silly it was of him to assume that, if he wished to shoot stray hounds, then he could do so without worrying about the permission of an infant. He arched an eyebrow at the stuttered supplications, tongue flicking out and running over his lower lip in thought, almost as though he was considering the request. It was the sort of action that might have given the boy hope, a false sense of optimism that might trick his victim into assuming that all was to be alright and there was still some chance of escape when, undeniably, the truth was anything but.
Where would the fun be in letting the child go as soon as he asked? There would be no satisfaction in such an act, no challenge, no burning pleasure from hearing him plead and beg and then scream when Mihail finally released the crimson arrow, and it pierced through the flimsy cloth of his tunic, a shot so perfectly through the heart that the light-coloured fabric was sticky and tainted with the carmine liquid which poured from his wound. He had never taken a life before - not human, not directly - and yet there was an undeniable appeal to the idea of it, the sense of power it could give him that he would never otherwise obtain from his mundane game of targeting strays on the cliffside.
For a moment, it seemed as though the boy was about to reveal his identity, a move which Mihail considered nothing short of idiotic. What did it matter to him if the boy was of Laconia or of Chaossis? It did nothing to change the destiny which Mihail had already begun to imagine for him.
"A Thanasi," he repeated, lip still curved upwards in amusement. The man may not have considered himself a member of the royal house at present - the temper tantrum he had been raging since Nethis had announced to him the news was far from ended, and 'of Nethisa' was still the passive aggressive title he presently wore with a pout - but Mihail was not beyond still using the name for his benefit. He would have hoped it would instil more fear in the boy, but outside of the whimpering quiver of his voice and the harsh growls of the beast he still held back in the darkness, he made no sounds that might have indicated his distress further. The dark-haired man tilted his head to one side, weighing the situation in an attempt to analyse every which breath the boy uttered. He could not yet quite see the child, only his shadowed outline and that of the dog beside him, but his confidence had not quelled, and he straightened his stance, fixing the angle of his bow more firmly in the direction of the breathing.
It would only take a single shot to silence him for good.
Still, in that eternal moment, despite all the opportunity the gods were pouring upon him, he did not loosen his grip on the thin leather string. "If you know I am a Thanasi, then you know I plan to take exactly what I wish from you, by any means necessary." Mihail snickered again, mouth twitching. It was a valid threat, more convincing than the muttered half-threat the boy had attempted, voice raised in a blatant endeavour to appear less terrified.
Oh, he wouldn't tell anyone. He promised.
"Isn't that sweet of you?" The man grinned as he took a few steps forward, the movement unblocking the entrance to the cavern behind him and allowing a sudden stream of sunlight to burst through and shine across his face, highlighting that malefic glint in his russet eyes. "If I let you go, you won't tell anyone." He spat out the quote as if thoroughly amused by it which, in reality, he would not deny was the case. "And why should I do that? Why should I believe your words? If I were to let you go, you would only run from this cavern and alert whoever you could, and then, what? Who should believe some peasant child over a Thanasi?" Mihail's own sister was a princess of the kingdom, after all, and his own words could be twisted as charming as he wished them. It was unlikely he would lose in any battle of wits, especially to a child.
Now a few steps closer to his unwilling victims, he paused, continued. "Or, perhaps, I shoot you and your mutt now. You'll bleed out slowly. You'll never be found. You'll be left to rot alone in this cave, and I'll walk away, and none shall ever know." Mihail pulled the string ever-so-slightly tauter, eyes focussed directly on the face of the boy which he could now almost entirely make out. "Besides, I rather wanted a hunt."
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"I can't?"
Of course. Mihail must have forgotten that his life was controlled by the whims of some nameless child. How silly it was of him to assume that, if he wished to shoot stray hounds, then he could do so without worrying about the permission of an infant. He arched an eyebrow at the stuttered supplications, tongue flicking out and running over his lower lip in thought, almost as though he was considering the request. It was the sort of action that might have given the boy hope, a false sense of optimism that might trick his victim into assuming that all was to be alright and there was still some chance of escape when, undeniably, the truth was anything but.
Where would the fun be in letting the child go as soon as he asked? There would be no satisfaction in such an act, no challenge, no burning pleasure from hearing him plead and beg and then scream when Mihail finally released the crimson arrow, and it pierced through the flimsy cloth of his tunic, a shot so perfectly through the heart that the light-coloured fabric was sticky and tainted with the carmine liquid which poured from his wound. He had never taken a life before - not human, not directly - and yet there was an undeniable appeal to the idea of it, the sense of power it could give him that he would never otherwise obtain from his mundane game of targeting strays on the cliffside.
For a moment, it seemed as though the boy was about to reveal his identity, a move which Mihail considered nothing short of idiotic. What did it matter to him if the boy was of Laconia or of Chaossis? It did nothing to change the destiny which Mihail had already begun to imagine for him.
"A Thanasi," he repeated, lip still curved upwards in amusement. The man may not have considered himself a member of the royal house at present - the temper tantrum he had been raging since Nethis had announced to him the news was far from ended, and 'of Nethisa' was still the passive aggressive title he presently wore with a pout - but Mihail was not beyond still using the name for his benefit. He would have hoped it would instil more fear in the boy, but outside of the whimpering quiver of his voice and the harsh growls of the beast he still held back in the darkness, he made no sounds that might have indicated his distress further. The dark-haired man tilted his head to one side, weighing the situation in an attempt to analyse every which breath the boy uttered. He could not yet quite see the child, only his shadowed outline and that of the dog beside him, but his confidence had not quelled, and he straightened his stance, fixing the angle of his bow more firmly in the direction of the breathing.
It would only take a single shot to silence him for good.
Still, in that eternal moment, despite all the opportunity the gods were pouring upon him, he did not loosen his grip on the thin leather string. "If you know I am a Thanasi, then you know I plan to take exactly what I wish from you, by any means necessary." Mihail snickered again, mouth twitching. It was a valid threat, more convincing than the muttered half-threat the boy had attempted, voice raised in a blatant endeavour to appear less terrified.
Oh, he wouldn't tell anyone. He promised.
"Isn't that sweet of you?" The man grinned as he took a few steps forward, the movement unblocking the entrance to the cavern behind him and allowing a sudden stream of sunlight to burst through and shine across his face, highlighting that malefic glint in his russet eyes. "If I let you go, you won't tell anyone." He spat out the quote as if thoroughly amused by it which, in reality, he would not deny was the case. "And why should I do that? Why should I believe your words? If I were to let you go, you would only run from this cavern and alert whoever you could, and then, what? Who should believe some peasant child over a Thanasi?" Mihail's own sister was a princess of the kingdom, after all, and his own words could be twisted as charming as he wished them. It was unlikely he would lose in any battle of wits, especially to a child.
Now a few steps closer to his unwilling victims, he paused, continued. "Or, perhaps, I shoot you and your mutt now. You'll bleed out slowly. You'll never be found. You'll be left to rot alone in this cave, and I'll walk away, and none shall ever know." Mihail pulled the string ever-so-slightly tauter, eyes focussed directly on the face of the boy which he could now almost entirely make out. "Besides, I rather wanted a hunt."
"I can't?"
Of course. Mihail must have forgotten that his life was controlled by the whims of some nameless child. How silly it was of him to assume that, if he wished to shoot stray hounds, then he could do so without worrying about the permission of an infant. He arched an eyebrow at the stuttered supplications, tongue flicking out and running over his lower lip in thought, almost as though he was considering the request. It was the sort of action that might have given the boy hope, a false sense of optimism that might trick his victim into assuming that all was to be alright and there was still some chance of escape when, undeniably, the truth was anything but.
Where would the fun be in letting the child go as soon as he asked? There would be no satisfaction in such an act, no challenge, no burning pleasure from hearing him plead and beg and then scream when Mihail finally released the crimson arrow, and it pierced through the flimsy cloth of his tunic, a shot so perfectly through the heart that the light-coloured fabric was sticky and tainted with the carmine liquid which poured from his wound. He had never taken a life before - not human, not directly - and yet there was an undeniable appeal to the idea of it, the sense of power it could give him that he would never otherwise obtain from his mundane game of targeting strays on the cliffside.
For a moment, it seemed as though the boy was about to reveal his identity, a move which Mihail considered nothing short of idiotic. What did it matter to him if the boy was of Laconia or of Chaossis? It did nothing to change the destiny which Mihail had already begun to imagine for him.
"A Thanasi," he repeated, lip still curved upwards in amusement. The man may not have considered himself a member of the royal house at present - the temper tantrum he had been raging since Nethis had announced to him the news was far from ended, and 'of Nethisa' was still the passive aggressive title he presently wore with a pout - but Mihail was not beyond still using the name for his benefit. He would have hoped it would instil more fear in the boy, but outside of the whimpering quiver of his voice and the harsh growls of the beast he still held back in the darkness, he made no sounds that might have indicated his distress further. The dark-haired man tilted his head to one side, weighing the situation in an attempt to analyse every which breath the boy uttered. He could not yet quite see the child, only his shadowed outline and that of the dog beside him, but his confidence had not quelled, and he straightened his stance, fixing the angle of his bow more firmly in the direction of the breathing.
It would only take a single shot to silence him for good.
Still, in that eternal moment, despite all the opportunity the gods were pouring upon him, he did not loosen his grip on the thin leather string. "If you know I am a Thanasi, then you know I plan to take exactly what I wish from you, by any means necessary." Mihail snickered again, mouth twitching. It was a valid threat, more convincing than the muttered half-threat the boy had attempted, voice raised in a blatant endeavour to appear less terrified.
Oh, he wouldn't tell anyone. He promised.
"Isn't that sweet of you?" The man grinned as he took a few steps forward, the movement unblocking the entrance to the cavern behind him and allowing a sudden stream of sunlight to burst through and shine across his face, highlighting that malefic glint in his russet eyes. "If I let you go, you won't tell anyone." He spat out the quote as if thoroughly amused by it which, in reality, he would not deny was the case. "And why should I do that? Why should I believe your words? If I were to let you go, you would only run from this cavern and alert whoever you could, and then, what? Who should believe some peasant child over a Thanasi?" Mihail's own sister was a princess of the kingdom, after all, and his own words could be twisted as charming as he wished them. It was unlikely he would lose in any battle of wits, especially to a child.
Now a few steps closer to his unwilling victims, he paused, continued. "Or, perhaps, I shoot you and your mutt now. You'll bleed out slowly. You'll never be found. You'll be left to rot alone in this cave, and I'll walk away, and none shall ever know." Mihail pulled the string ever-so-slightly tauter, eyes focussed directly on the face of the boy which he could now almost entirely make out. "Besides, I rather wanted a hunt."
Babis had been right when he thought that Mihail wouldn’t listen.
As the older man parroted back the boy’s protest against Mihail taking his dog, the twelve-year-old shrunk back further against the cave’s wall. It was this moment when Mihail mocked him did he truly understand for the first time that he was truly in mortal danger as there was no kindness, no compassion, no humanity within him. The sheer selfishness he showed in claiming the dog as his to kill when it was clearly a beloved pet of Babis’s just showed that there truly was something with the man. Any appeal Babis would try to make to this snake would be useless. There was nothing but hatred and maleficence behind those muddy brown eyes of his. Babis suspected it before, but now he knew it for sure.
This revelation was only further supported by the fact that Mihail had yet to move the bow away from the boy. No, instead he kept it firmly locked on Babis as an eerie silence filled the cave that was only disturbed by the quiet breathing of all three of them, intermingled with the constant growling from Vang. Although Babis couldn’t possibly know that Mihail was fantasizing about killing the boy, he could tell that there was something wicked going on in his thoughts. After all, Babis could see the faint uptick of a smile on the madman’s face in the darkness, sending a new sense of fear shivering up his spine.
Instead of crying out in fear, as he could sense that this is what the psychopath wanted, Babis also turned his thoughts inward as he decided that the best course of action he could take was to pray. After all, it was abundantly clear by now that Mihail was not letting him go. Not without him giving up Vang and Babis had no intention of ever doing that. So, he wordlessly called out to the gods, hoping that perhaps one of them might take pity on the boy and offer him a way of escape. His first thoughts went to Hermes, his favored god. Then a few words to Artemis, the protector of children like him. Up next, Apollo in the hopes that the god would ensure that if Mihail released his bow, somehow the shot wouldn’t be true. He asked every god he knew for some sort of protection within this hopeless situation.
However, there was no divine intervention. There wasn’t a burst of light and Mihai didn’t turn into some sort of animal. No, instead he stayed right where he was, that evil glint in his snake eye utterly unchallenged. Losing hope, Babis turned to the last god he could think of… Hades. Death was not something that Babis liked to think about. It was distant from him, up until this moment when now it was suddenly staring him in the face with no way to avoid it. As every second ticked agonizingly by, it was more and more clear that Babis was going to die here in this cave. Especially when Mihail confirmed his suspicion that his assailant was a Thanasi. There was no way he was going to let Babis go now. Not when he could identify him if he needed to.
With all of this unfairly weighing heavily on the child’s mind, he wordlessly asked the King of the Underworld for mercy at this moment. If he kills me, please don’t let it hurt. Please don’t let it hurt. He silently begged in his mind as his eyes screwed shut and a small whimper escaped him when he heard the bow shift in Mihail’s hands, searching for the best angle for when he would release the arrow. Though whether that shot would be to torture him further or end his suffering, Babis didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. He just wanted it to be over one way or another.
How terrified must a twelve-year-old be in order to go from believing that the world was at his fingertips to begging Hades for a quick death in only a few minutes?
Very. The answer is very terrified. The haunting reminder that Mihail would not just let Babis or Vang go, ricocheted in the young boy’s ears drawing any prayers to a halt. The threat of Mihail taking Vang from him forced Babis to open his eyes and refocus on the horrifying situation at hand. It took him a moment to realize that what Mihail was actually speaking of was the arrow still discarded at his side. Babis almost had the nerve to laugh at this. All these theatrics over an arrow?. It was so ridiculously trivial to the fact that Mihail had made his intention to kill him obvious… Babis wanted to do nothing more than laugh at Mihail and his stupidly self-absorbed line of thought. After all, who would decide to kill a twelve-year-old boy over an arrow.?
However, Babis wisely kept his mouth shut as his left hand felt around the dirt next to him, looking for the arrow in the darkness. His hand trembled in fear, just like the rest of him as he searched for the damn thing. Finally, seeming after forever, his fingers brushed against the black feathers. Pulling it close to him, having this thing that Mihail so desperately wanted in his grasp and his grasp alone inspired a new surge of courage to jolt through him, honestly believing at the moment that this arrow might just be worth Babis’s life to the madman before him.
That’s why he stupidly challenged the snake by saying with all the power of the little lord he was behind his voice, “You will let me go or I’ll snap it in half.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Babis knew it was a stupid thing to say, but really when death was already certain, was there any such thing as a stupid decision?
Babis seemingly stood correctly as his courage drained away with Mihail’s question over what good it would do if Babis promised to not tell anyone what happened here. Not only was Mihail right in the assumption that Babis would not remain quiet over what happened, but he seemed to be under the impression that no one would believe the boy. He even went as far to call him a peasant making it clear that he did not recognize who the Eliades twin was.
This, paired with the insinuation that the boy would not be listened to, actually stirred an instinctive gut reaction in the noble-born boy as he balled up his fists and shouted indignantly back at him, “I am not a peasant! My name is Babis of Eliades! They will believe me!” Inadvertently, in one fell swoop Babis revealed the two pieces of information that would both save and doom him. After all, Mihail was not dumb enough to murder a fellow member of the higher nobility… but wasn’t going to risk the twelve-year-old reveal to the world what happened in this cave either.
Regardless, Babis had made a very terrible mistake.
He didn’t realize this at first, not when Mihail brought up the threat of letting him die a horrible, painful death here in the cave. The imagery of what he said was so horrific that Babis couldn’t even conjure it in his mind. His brain just simply refused to acknowledge it, already blocking it out as a new set of sobs threatened to spill out from Babis’s chest. In an effort to hide them, knowing full well know that Mihail thrived on his pain, the boy pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them so he wouldn’t have to keep looking at that death bringing arrow.
When Mihail mentioned he wanted a hunt, a chase, Babis couldn’t keep the fear back any longer as now he knew that even his final desperate prayer wouldn’t be coming true. The noise of his strangled, gasping breaths as the fear consumed him filled the cave along with Babis’s final statement simply repeated over and over again… almost as if he repeated it enough times, it would suddenly come true;
“You won’t. You won’t. You won’t.”
But even he knew by now that there was no way out for Babis. Mihail wanted to kill him and there was nothing stopping him.
Nothing, but a still snarling dog and the power of a name.
Mihail of Thanasi, Hades, God of Lost Souls
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Babis had been right when he thought that Mihail wouldn’t listen.
As the older man parroted back the boy’s protest against Mihail taking his dog, the twelve-year-old shrunk back further against the cave’s wall. It was this moment when Mihail mocked him did he truly understand for the first time that he was truly in mortal danger as there was no kindness, no compassion, no humanity within him. The sheer selfishness he showed in claiming the dog as his to kill when it was clearly a beloved pet of Babis’s just showed that there truly was something with the man. Any appeal Babis would try to make to this snake would be useless. There was nothing but hatred and maleficence behind those muddy brown eyes of his. Babis suspected it before, but now he knew it for sure.
This revelation was only further supported by the fact that Mihail had yet to move the bow away from the boy. No, instead he kept it firmly locked on Babis as an eerie silence filled the cave that was only disturbed by the quiet breathing of all three of them, intermingled with the constant growling from Vang. Although Babis couldn’t possibly know that Mihail was fantasizing about killing the boy, he could tell that there was something wicked going on in his thoughts. After all, Babis could see the faint uptick of a smile on the madman’s face in the darkness, sending a new sense of fear shivering up his spine.
Instead of crying out in fear, as he could sense that this is what the psychopath wanted, Babis also turned his thoughts inward as he decided that the best course of action he could take was to pray. After all, it was abundantly clear by now that Mihail was not letting him go. Not without him giving up Vang and Babis had no intention of ever doing that. So, he wordlessly called out to the gods, hoping that perhaps one of them might take pity on the boy and offer him a way of escape. His first thoughts went to Hermes, his favored god. Then a few words to Artemis, the protector of children like him. Up next, Apollo in the hopes that the god would ensure that if Mihail released his bow, somehow the shot wouldn’t be true. He asked every god he knew for some sort of protection within this hopeless situation.
However, there was no divine intervention. There wasn’t a burst of light and Mihai didn’t turn into some sort of animal. No, instead he stayed right where he was, that evil glint in his snake eye utterly unchallenged. Losing hope, Babis turned to the last god he could think of… Hades. Death was not something that Babis liked to think about. It was distant from him, up until this moment when now it was suddenly staring him in the face with no way to avoid it. As every second ticked agonizingly by, it was more and more clear that Babis was going to die here in this cave. Especially when Mihail confirmed his suspicion that his assailant was a Thanasi. There was no way he was going to let Babis go now. Not when he could identify him if he needed to.
With all of this unfairly weighing heavily on the child’s mind, he wordlessly asked the King of the Underworld for mercy at this moment. If he kills me, please don’t let it hurt. Please don’t let it hurt. He silently begged in his mind as his eyes screwed shut and a small whimper escaped him when he heard the bow shift in Mihail’s hands, searching for the best angle for when he would release the arrow. Though whether that shot would be to torture him further or end his suffering, Babis didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. He just wanted it to be over one way or another.
How terrified must a twelve-year-old be in order to go from believing that the world was at his fingertips to begging Hades for a quick death in only a few minutes?
Very. The answer is very terrified. The haunting reminder that Mihail would not just let Babis or Vang go, ricocheted in the young boy’s ears drawing any prayers to a halt. The threat of Mihail taking Vang from him forced Babis to open his eyes and refocus on the horrifying situation at hand. It took him a moment to realize that what Mihail was actually speaking of was the arrow still discarded at his side. Babis almost had the nerve to laugh at this. All these theatrics over an arrow?. It was so ridiculously trivial to the fact that Mihail had made his intention to kill him obvious… Babis wanted to do nothing more than laugh at Mihail and his stupidly self-absorbed line of thought. After all, who would decide to kill a twelve-year-old boy over an arrow.?
However, Babis wisely kept his mouth shut as his left hand felt around the dirt next to him, looking for the arrow in the darkness. His hand trembled in fear, just like the rest of him as he searched for the damn thing. Finally, seeming after forever, his fingers brushed against the black feathers. Pulling it close to him, having this thing that Mihail so desperately wanted in his grasp and his grasp alone inspired a new surge of courage to jolt through him, honestly believing at the moment that this arrow might just be worth Babis’s life to the madman before him.
That’s why he stupidly challenged the snake by saying with all the power of the little lord he was behind his voice, “You will let me go or I’ll snap it in half.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Babis knew it was a stupid thing to say, but really when death was already certain, was there any such thing as a stupid decision?
Babis seemingly stood correctly as his courage drained away with Mihail’s question over what good it would do if Babis promised to not tell anyone what happened here. Not only was Mihail right in the assumption that Babis would not remain quiet over what happened, but he seemed to be under the impression that no one would believe the boy. He even went as far to call him a peasant making it clear that he did not recognize who the Eliades twin was.
This, paired with the insinuation that the boy would not be listened to, actually stirred an instinctive gut reaction in the noble-born boy as he balled up his fists and shouted indignantly back at him, “I am not a peasant! My name is Babis of Eliades! They will believe me!” Inadvertently, in one fell swoop Babis revealed the two pieces of information that would both save and doom him. After all, Mihail was not dumb enough to murder a fellow member of the higher nobility… but wasn’t going to risk the twelve-year-old reveal to the world what happened in this cave either.
Regardless, Babis had made a very terrible mistake.
He didn’t realize this at first, not when Mihail brought up the threat of letting him die a horrible, painful death here in the cave. The imagery of what he said was so horrific that Babis couldn’t even conjure it in his mind. His brain just simply refused to acknowledge it, already blocking it out as a new set of sobs threatened to spill out from Babis’s chest. In an effort to hide them, knowing full well know that Mihail thrived on his pain, the boy pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them so he wouldn’t have to keep looking at that death bringing arrow.
When Mihail mentioned he wanted a hunt, a chase, Babis couldn’t keep the fear back any longer as now he knew that even his final desperate prayer wouldn’t be coming true. The noise of his strangled, gasping breaths as the fear consumed him filled the cave along with Babis’s final statement simply repeated over and over again… almost as if he repeated it enough times, it would suddenly come true;
“You won’t. You won’t. You won’t.”
But even he knew by now that there was no way out for Babis. Mihail wanted to kill him and there was nothing stopping him.
Nothing, but a still snarling dog and the power of a name.
Mihail of Thanasi, Hades, God of Lost Souls
Babis had been right when he thought that Mihail wouldn’t listen.
As the older man parroted back the boy’s protest against Mihail taking his dog, the twelve-year-old shrunk back further against the cave’s wall. It was this moment when Mihail mocked him did he truly understand for the first time that he was truly in mortal danger as there was no kindness, no compassion, no humanity within him. The sheer selfishness he showed in claiming the dog as his to kill when it was clearly a beloved pet of Babis’s just showed that there truly was something with the man. Any appeal Babis would try to make to this snake would be useless. There was nothing but hatred and maleficence behind those muddy brown eyes of his. Babis suspected it before, but now he knew it for sure.
This revelation was only further supported by the fact that Mihail had yet to move the bow away from the boy. No, instead he kept it firmly locked on Babis as an eerie silence filled the cave that was only disturbed by the quiet breathing of all three of them, intermingled with the constant growling from Vang. Although Babis couldn’t possibly know that Mihail was fantasizing about killing the boy, he could tell that there was something wicked going on in his thoughts. After all, Babis could see the faint uptick of a smile on the madman’s face in the darkness, sending a new sense of fear shivering up his spine.
Instead of crying out in fear, as he could sense that this is what the psychopath wanted, Babis also turned his thoughts inward as he decided that the best course of action he could take was to pray. After all, it was abundantly clear by now that Mihail was not letting him go. Not without him giving up Vang and Babis had no intention of ever doing that. So, he wordlessly called out to the gods, hoping that perhaps one of them might take pity on the boy and offer him a way of escape. His first thoughts went to Hermes, his favored god. Then a few words to Artemis, the protector of children like him. Up next, Apollo in the hopes that the god would ensure that if Mihail released his bow, somehow the shot wouldn’t be true. He asked every god he knew for some sort of protection within this hopeless situation.
However, there was no divine intervention. There wasn’t a burst of light and Mihai didn’t turn into some sort of animal. No, instead he stayed right where he was, that evil glint in his snake eye utterly unchallenged. Losing hope, Babis turned to the last god he could think of… Hades. Death was not something that Babis liked to think about. It was distant from him, up until this moment when now it was suddenly staring him in the face with no way to avoid it. As every second ticked agonizingly by, it was more and more clear that Babis was going to die here in this cave. Especially when Mihail confirmed his suspicion that his assailant was a Thanasi. There was no way he was going to let Babis go now. Not when he could identify him if he needed to.
With all of this unfairly weighing heavily on the child’s mind, he wordlessly asked the King of the Underworld for mercy at this moment. If he kills me, please don’t let it hurt. Please don’t let it hurt. He silently begged in his mind as his eyes screwed shut and a small whimper escaped him when he heard the bow shift in Mihail’s hands, searching for the best angle for when he would release the arrow. Though whether that shot would be to torture him further or end his suffering, Babis didn’t know. He didn’t want to know. He just wanted it to be over one way or another.
How terrified must a twelve-year-old be in order to go from believing that the world was at his fingertips to begging Hades for a quick death in only a few minutes?
Very. The answer is very terrified. The haunting reminder that Mihail would not just let Babis or Vang go, ricocheted in the young boy’s ears drawing any prayers to a halt. The threat of Mihail taking Vang from him forced Babis to open his eyes and refocus on the horrifying situation at hand. It took him a moment to realize that what Mihail was actually speaking of was the arrow still discarded at his side. Babis almost had the nerve to laugh at this. All these theatrics over an arrow?. It was so ridiculously trivial to the fact that Mihail had made his intention to kill him obvious… Babis wanted to do nothing more than laugh at Mihail and his stupidly self-absorbed line of thought. After all, who would decide to kill a twelve-year-old boy over an arrow.?
However, Babis wisely kept his mouth shut as his left hand felt around the dirt next to him, looking for the arrow in the darkness. His hand trembled in fear, just like the rest of him as he searched for the damn thing. Finally, seeming after forever, his fingers brushed against the black feathers. Pulling it close to him, having this thing that Mihail so desperately wanted in his grasp and his grasp alone inspired a new surge of courage to jolt through him, honestly believing at the moment that this arrow might just be worth Babis’s life to the madman before him.
That’s why he stupidly challenged the snake by saying with all the power of the little lord he was behind his voice, “You will let me go or I’ll snap it in half.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Babis knew it was a stupid thing to say, but really when death was already certain, was there any such thing as a stupid decision?
Babis seemingly stood correctly as his courage drained away with Mihail’s question over what good it would do if Babis promised to not tell anyone what happened here. Not only was Mihail right in the assumption that Babis would not remain quiet over what happened, but he seemed to be under the impression that no one would believe the boy. He even went as far to call him a peasant making it clear that he did not recognize who the Eliades twin was.
This, paired with the insinuation that the boy would not be listened to, actually stirred an instinctive gut reaction in the noble-born boy as he balled up his fists and shouted indignantly back at him, “I am not a peasant! My name is Babis of Eliades! They will believe me!” Inadvertently, in one fell swoop Babis revealed the two pieces of information that would both save and doom him. After all, Mihail was not dumb enough to murder a fellow member of the higher nobility… but wasn’t going to risk the twelve-year-old reveal to the world what happened in this cave either.
Regardless, Babis had made a very terrible mistake.
He didn’t realize this at first, not when Mihail brought up the threat of letting him die a horrible, painful death here in the cave. The imagery of what he said was so horrific that Babis couldn’t even conjure it in his mind. His brain just simply refused to acknowledge it, already blocking it out as a new set of sobs threatened to spill out from Babis’s chest. In an effort to hide them, knowing full well know that Mihail thrived on his pain, the boy pulled his knees up to his chest and buried his face in them so he wouldn’t have to keep looking at that death bringing arrow.
When Mihail mentioned he wanted a hunt, a chase, Babis couldn’t keep the fear back any longer as now he knew that even his final desperate prayer wouldn’t be coming true. The noise of his strangled, gasping breaths as the fear consumed him filled the cave along with Babis’s final statement simply repeated over and over again… almost as if he repeated it enough times, it would suddenly come true;
“You won’t. You won’t. You won’t.”
But even he knew by now that there was no way out for Babis. Mihail wanted to kill him and there was nothing stopping him.
Nothing, but a still snarling dog and the power of a name.
