Unlocking Potential

It's been two weeks since Ortis last had contact with other humans, yet his life seemed a tad bit better. He had been kicked out of his town for being viewed as a 'demon' or 'devil's reincarnation.' The fairly young man simply wanted to help that woman, but instead his plan backfired and he was viewed as the bad guy. His heart was pure and he had the right intentions, but his image and 'abilities' made people fear him.

Slowly, Ortis opened his eyes, allowing his jade green eyes to stare straight into the sun. He moved his right hand to block the sun as he stood up from his lying position. His nap, though short, had refreshed him and now he was ready to find some food to eat. He thought surviving in the forest would be hard, but instead it was quite simple if you knew what you were doing. And Ortis, surprisingly, knew what he was doing.

He began to walk in a random direction, taking a whiff of the fresh air, while also smelling something else. "What is that smell?" He muttered to himself as he looked at a clearing, walking slowly to the source. As he entered the clearing, his eyes widened as he looked at the scene in front of him. A family of two deer and one fawn lay dead with their bodies split open, guts spread across the ground as the blood got soaked into the ground. "What could have done this so brutally?" He asked to no one in particular, but to himself.

After examining the carcases, he let out a small sigh as he looked around the area. 'Whatever done this should still be in the area.' Ortis thought as he breathed calmly. 'Should I leave now before it notices me or wait a while to see what this thing was. Some decisions are simply too troublesome to make.' He let out a small sigh as he scratched his head on what the next move he should make.

 

The island was both a paradise and a prison for Sam. She spent her days glumly trudging through the forests near her dad's house, or blankly walking through the malls and streets of the dense city near the shore. She'd only been moved in for a week or two, forced to follow her dad to an island she'd never heard of. No friends, no family. Nothing, really. She didn't like water all that much, and being outside was boring if you were alone. Plus, she hadn't started school yet, so she didn't have any friends to hang out with.

The sixteen-year-old was out in the woods today, trying to escape her father, if only for a few hours. She was short and thin, 90 pounds and just below five feet tall. Her skin was pale and smooth, her eyes large and bright green. Her features made her almost doll-like. She was pretty much adorable. Her defining feature, however, was her bright, fiery red hair. In the wind, her hair made her head look like it was in flames.

She sighed, stopping in front of a tree. She sat down, drawing her knees up to her chest. She'd sit for a while, maybe take a nap. She drifted off after a while, succumbing to sleep. She couldn't have been out for more than twenty minutes when a scream split the silence that permeated the forest. Sam, being the light sleep she is, jumped to her feet, glancing around nervously. She took a deep breath, deciding to go off and search for the source. She dusted off her khaki jeans and straightened her shoulderless green shirt, tugging on her sleeves slightly as she walked.

Despite Sam being small and somewhat frail, she wasn't scared of anybody hurting her. She'd discovered a few weeks prior to moving, that in extreme danger, rather than just getting an adrenaline burst, she was strong enough to throw pretty much anything. Including the dude in the alley that was trying to do God-knows-what. Sam was fairly sure she broke the majority of his limbs when he smacked against the building. Regardless, she wasn't too scared of whatever was out there. Rapists, murderers, thieves...No big deal. She'd throw them into a tree and run.

But for now, there wasn't a person in sight. So she'd just keep looking for the girl that was screaming...

 

”Such distress in your scream.” a voice said, ”But the pain is no longer, as the consciousness you held so dearly slipped from your grasp – such is the way of the forest – to share such beauty, only to guide you to it's thorns...” The voice came from a black-haired man.  No taller than 6 feet. He seemed around thirty, but walked with a grace that would rival any angel. His eyes burned an iridescent orange, changing to green as he entered the many shadows that surrounded him.

He wore a trimmed suit of white, as he placed the common flower into a breast pocket, taking a deep inhale of the musky forest. He was quite tanned, toned, and attractive, as he had a chiseled jawline and cleanly trimmed facial hair that surrounded his mouth, and made its way down to his chin. His matching black hair was styled freely, barely making their way to the bottom of his neck, and had a windswept look.

He walked silently as he headed towards the scream, keeping a sly smile as he moved fearlessly through the forest, gently pushing away branches, and kicking aside small stones with his polished shoes.

After a minutes of silent walking, the man stopped. He lifted his chin upwards and sniffed the air, his grin widening, showing a small set of fangs, as his eyes lit up, quite literally. ”I'm getting warmer my sweet – your scent makes it easy for this beast to stalk you – but you were never competent at evading stalkers, were you girl?” He gave a sinister laugh as he finished, taking his suit by the collar and popping it out, giving him a far more malevolent look as he took many more graceful steps.

It wasn't long before the snapping of twigs could be heard. Not close by. ”It is the ears that know...” He started. ”The man – he sees, and feels, but the beast knows before it occurs; Two miles away, a boy runs home to his mother. Six miles, a pair make passionate love, and eighty-eight paces north – could be the stalker I am stalking...” The man launched himself into a sprint, running towards whatever had been making the noise he heard, and took heavy breaths.

Despite his great speed, he made little sound, and his running stamina was legendary. Eventually, the man's hearing had led him to a clearing, and his nose told him that decay was evident. Could it be that he was too late? No. In the clearing were three deer, all expired. But more importantly, there was a man. Without a second thought, the black-haired man jumped into the air at such speeds that one would only see a blur of white from his suit, and the light-trail of his burning eyes. As he fell, he threw his fist forward, smashing it into the jaw of the green-eyed individual, and landed on top of him, hands on either side of the individual's head. ”You look far too frail to be the one I stalk – however, I cannot take chances; The beast, cannot take chances. Prepare to die.”

 

As he was further examining the decaying bodies of the deer, Ortis could hear a scream coming from a random direction in the forest. The scream sounded female and was fairly close to his location. Before he could even move in the direction of the scream, he heard rustling coming from his side and saw something that would later give him a big headache.

Coming straight at him was a tall black-haired man with his fists extended, possibly to punch him. Seeing this as a potential threat, Ortis made the decision to activate his special power. Before the punch could reach his face, his nose to jaw transformed into a darkish-gray metal that had a red line, outlining where his jawbone was. His newly converted appearance softened the punch to his face, but didn't stop him from falling from momentum.

While transforming his face back to normal, Ortis stared at the man with a face of confusion as he made no sense as he spoke. "First of all," He began as he pushed the odd man off him and standing up to brush himself off. He stared down at the man, trying to see what was wrong with him before continuing. "I don't know what you're talking about, but I did cause this scene before us. I just arrived moments before you did and just finished examining the bodies. I would stay here longer, but I've heard a scream coming from that direction." Ortis shifted a little and pointed in the direction where he heard the scream coming from.

He looked back at the man that attacked him and let out an annoyed sigh. "I would love to stay and chat, but I must find out where that scream came from, someone may be in danger." Ortis began to walk in the direction, before stopping and looking back at the man. "This would be troublesome, but you may join me to see what the commotion was. I'm not too sure what happened, but I may need another person's help if it's really bad." Without waiting for a reply, he continued his walk, hoping it wasn't as bad as he thought it was. "By the way, my name is Ortis, but people tend to call me 'El Diablo', which means I'm the Devil."

 

”A scream you say?” The man kicked himself up with little effort, and dusted off his suit. He gave an amused smile as he lifted a brow, looking the individual up and down. The black-haired man's shoulders relaxed as he furtively placed a hand behind his back, while extending the other. ”Please forgive my earlier rudeness, it is so rare that I meet an individual with a modicum of civility, and common sense. Call me Moartea Vulpe – or just... Vulpe –  if you would.”

He walked to the individual's side and slid his hand from behind his back, discreetly placing it on the man's shoulder as he leaned into him. ”That's quite the unique ability you have there, but, surely it isn't enough to guard against all threats. I mean, you must sleep eventually, correct? However I may be wrong to assume, such an... intriguing individual has anything to fear, especially since the human world is bound up with lock and key, but seeing as we're kin – that is news we both already knew, is it not?”

”Now...” He began as he took a few steps to the side, freeing his hand from the individual. ”Tell me of this scream – because I have good reason to believe that it is a memory we share.” He paced slowly as he absently snapped off a small tree-branch, seeming to be lost in memory. ”Was it soft, or was it shrill? Because the scream I heard was from a young girl as she made a cacophonous cry to the heavens to no avail – her skull softened by a blow only a pernicious individual could manage, as he left the world around him in a calamitous state – not dissimilar to the trio of ungulate we see before us.” He took a small breath before letting his mind return to the present, as he turned back to the other man. ”Was it that scream you heard, Mr....?”

 

Despite the minor headache from the man, now know as Vulpe, and his flowerful speech, his description of the scream was rather accurate. Letting out a small sigh, Ortis tried to think of a reply to the man. "Jut call me Ortis, Vulpe." He told the man as the duo could see a clearing in the distance.

 

Despite the minor headache from the man, now know as Vulpe, and his flowerful speech, his description of the scream was rather accurate. Letting out a small sigh, Ortis tried to think of a reply to the man. "Just call me Ortis, Vulpe." He told the man as the duo could see a clearing in the distance. "And although that sounded rather too poetic, your description was rather dead on. I'm guessing you probably heard the same scream as me and though I did it, didn't you?" Ortis got closer to the clearing and had to put his hand in front of his face to block the sun.

In front of them was a cliff, extending upwards in the sky until at its peak. Ortis looked around the area, searching for who could have made that scream. "I may be wrong, but the scream should have came from around this area." He told his rather poetic partner. Ortis tried to look up at the top of the cliff, but couldn't see anything except the sun which left him in a small daze. "Either she fell off that cliff and landed somewhere or she ran."

"What do you think, Vulpe?" He asked the man as he sat on a nearby rock. His stomach let out a small rumble, causing him to remember he had yet to eat a meal. "Though I'm not an expert at searching, I can honestly say I don't see anything here." Ortis scratched his head, moving his brown hair as he did it. "Unless something literally comes out of nowhere, I don't know what we can do since the trail goes cold from here."

 

The minutes went on as Sam trudged through the forest. She was getting irritated with all the bugs and was a few seconds from turning around when the sound of a dog's bark resonated through the trees. It was very close, so Sam took off at a jog to find the little animal. Perhaps it had something to do with the scream...? Probably not, but dogs were awesome.

The little brown fuzzball wasn't very happy, apparently. And it only became more enraged at the sound of a girl's voice, growling and barking with renewed vigor. "Oh shut up, you little turd," Sam retorted sarcastically. "It's not like we're doing anything." She sat down and stared at the dog for a moment. "So uh, what brings you to this neck of the woods, person I can't see?" she called out, wondering if it was the same girl that screamed earlier. "Oh yeah, did you scream earlier? I heard someone scream and wanted to check it out. Make sure they were okay and everything."