A slow recovery

The color of the area around him faded, a burnished brass or copper paling over all other things. The world had lost it's color, he heard the words, and they echoed into the very fabric of his being. The last time he had a moment like this, God-Eater attempted to devour his sanity...and mostly succeeded. Now it was happening again...but not the same. The colors were...warmer, though still mono-toned as their nature. A dog was running up to him, a little Lab...

    "Dammit Shael!" the words still echoed, even though time itself seemed to have slowed. He took a deep breath In. It was like Deja Vu. He had been here before. Suddenly his mind replaced the little girl with a young shaggy dark haired Jordan and the puppy with a little dark haired Shael... that name. Ouroboros could honestly say that there is no way in Hell that these two weren't Ethereal in some way. Seriously, what human, in their right mind, would name their kid Shael? Ouroboros quickly thought abut it for a moment, and then suddenly recalled the naming of his own son. His excuse? He's an Ethereal...pissing on humanity and their logic was his thing. But if humans...if they named their kids that they should be publically executed and their brains devoured by jackals. Color began to bleed back into the area, now that his brain finished tormenting him. Robert chuckled as he squatted down and latched onto the puppy, scratching behind it's ear and petting it.

    "Well lookie here, what do we got? Huh? Look at you. You're such a big puppy." He said, his eyes flashed a spin revealing that this dog was either...well...not a dog...or it was some crazy meta-mutt. He chuckled as he allowed the Ouroboros eyes to stay, as he looked up to the little girl and smiled. "With a name like Shael you might want to put a leash on him. They tend to be hyperactive and not prone to listening. Isn't that right?" He asked the dog, arching an eyebrow.
* * * * *

  The Imperium shot out from under the table to defend Ashlynn, as Ouroboros had commanded it too. The blade placed itself in her hands and seemed to move upon her command, though it was merely a trick. Making it seem as if the blades selected new ownership. The item of Ouroboros was now simply "acting" under the influence of Ashlynn. The Pure Ethereal blade crackled out a holy fire, there was an unnatural glow to it...an extra enchantment of his own energy, though radiating as pure.

"If you think that was a grab for power then you know nothing. King or not you are a fool if you believe that." Ashlynn was honestly a bit nervous, this was the king, the person above the council. Maybe if she wasn't wounded or hungry she could stand a chance. But in her current state she doubted it. Ashlynn saw her life flash before her eyes. Time seemed to slow down as the bullet of energy broke through the table. But then end didn't come, instead the shot had been blocked by a sword that somehow appeared in her hand. A surprised look appeared on her face. However she didn't question it, it was metal, which is what she needed. She forced herself up and lunged at the king, leading with the sword. She had no idea what this sword was or where it came from but she hopped it surprised him as much as it did her so he was going to try and catch him off guard.

If the woman thought she was being brave, the bitch had no idea who she was messing with. Michael didn’t respond as the bullet would tear through the table and aimed to destroy the female within an instant. What did surprise him was the blade appearing out of nowhere, his father’s blade to be more exact, something that confused him more than anything. Perhaps this woman was more powerful than initially intended, which meant that he would only have to kill her quicker. Leaning to the side, the blade sunk within the seat only an inch from his arm. ”A fool you say?” Michael mused as what appeared to be a tendril of dark ethereal formed along from his back, as well as seven others, one aiming to take the females head off with one fell swoop. It would a simple motion really, and he had a feeling that she would be done with quickly.

The little transformed ethereal panted, looking up to Ouroboros with happy eyes. He reacted well to being scratched behind the ear, licking Ouro’s hand and then running next to Fera. The female sighed, crossing her arms as she looked up to the stranger. ”You’ve got that right.” She agreed petting Shael lightly before the little pup turned his attention to Robert Soros once again and began to run around his heels, sniffing him some before returning to whatever he was doing.

The Imperium roared out, a defiance against the Dark Ethereal, it's holy celestial light roaring as it moved upon it's own volition, freeing itself from Ashlynns hands, diving forth at the dark tendril, aiming to slice it short of it's trajectory. The blade was more than enough to handle a few of Michael's tricks...however it was up to Ashlynn to survive... The blade of Ouroboros, The Imperium...it was powerful... but Michael was of Ouroboros' blood.
Meaning? The bastard didn't know when to die.
* * * * *

Ouroboros rubbed his stubble beard up against the little dog named Shael, looking to the little girl, with a kind hearted smile. He wasn't certain of who these two were....but the girl reminded him of Michael. His face suddenly changed, looking at the kids... a little shocked. Michael...oh no. These two creatures' couldn't belong to him. Deep within him it made sense, and he knew it wasn't unlke Michael to surprise him, though he did have one question...

who would....with Michael!? He's a total dick! I mean, I managed to trick Sean but I was able to hide the fact I was a jackass. He just let's it all out there... He wondered, recalling that people constantly compared Michael with him...it sort of made sense. Though he still found that last part to be almost dogma. Ouroboros smiled and he looked to he dog, then the little girl.

"So I take it your here with the Ethereal man who passed me not to long ago?" He asked the children, still smiling sweetly.

Well this sword seemed to have a mind of it's own. The sword ripped itself from her hands and seemed to be dealing with the man. It didn't matter at this point, her adrenaline was running now. Ash bolted for the door and dashed out on to the street. She dodged through cars, sending them flying back towards the direction of the cafe, to scared to turn around to see where the king was. She looked around for a place she could go. Diving down an alleyway she pulled down a ladder to a fire escape. Once she got to the roof she stayed low, hopefully to try and get Michael off her tail. She looked around, there was no place for her to escape other then roof tops with little to no cover. She hoped that her decision wasn't a mistake.

Michael found himself surprised for the most part, as the tendril aimed to kill the woman was sliced through. The ethereal appendage was sliced nearly in two, Michael glaring upon the blade Imperium. ”A little parental intervention? No, he’s dead…so why are you here?” Michael mused as the took notice of the woman trying to escape, growling lightly to himself as the people within the diner were already beginning to panic, though he had that covered well enough. Arrow shafts found themselves within every human that was trying to escape from the resturaunt, each falling down to the ground as the rolled in agony. Michael found that some things within his life would not do well mixing with others, so this was what had to be done. Even surveillance was taken down, so that no one would know exactly who had caused such carnage.

”Run as fast as you can woman, but you won’t get far.” Michael mused with a smirk as he stood to his feet, arms crossed over his chest as he formed a single blast of dark ethereal, knocking Imperium away enough that it could not strike out at him. The remaining seven tendrils remained around him as they pushed away the convulsing corpses at his feet, then breaking the door off of its hinges and throwing it away. A few cars were tilted upon their heads, and others were simply slammed against things. The woman was desperate and if he knew anything, she would not be too far away. Letting his senses dim, Michael let that sixth one expands, looking for any aura out of the ordinary. Within that blacks cape was a small black flame; larger than the humans at least.

Tendrils reacted, seeming to twitch within anticipation as he approached the woman’s position. With an act of defiance towards gravity itself, Michael raised into the air, looking upon the woman that was attempting to escape. ”Rooftop wasn’t that good of an idea really. I mean if I were someone else maybe it would’ve worked, but…..that was suggesting I couldn’t sense you..and I couldn’t fly.” Michael noted cleaning his index fingernail, looking down upon the woman with glowing purple eyes full of dark intent. Creating a alrge sphere of Dark Ethereal betwixt the seven tendrils that seemed to be converging, the stub that was the eighth reformed and once the orb grew substantial he unleashed it upon her.

”Well not exactly with him. Our dad would be pretty angry if he knew about us following him here to his target.” She paused for a moment. "Who are you anyway? You’re not an ethereal, and I can’t sense any magical energy from you…so are you some kind of metahuman?” She looked strangely at him, perhaps trying to put the pieces together. Shael however found himself reverting to a human form, clothes coming along with it. He was a short young male with black hair in a messy fashion, and a darker complexion that he earned from his mother. He was dressed in slightly baggy jeans and a t-shirt with a large skull emblazoned on it.

”Dunno, he smells kinda familiar.”

The Imperium, the blade of pure Ethereal began to glow, and on a very instant, Ouroboros (otherwise known as Robert Soros) had activated his secondary power and The Imperium empowered Ashlynn. Now, in an instant, Ashlynn was virtually untouchable by all standards, as well as weightless to the reality around her which allowed her to move freely in any direction as if gravity were no longer applicable. (+2 Ability Intangibility +2 Flight) Move! NOW! The blade commanded it's wielder
* * * * * *

    "Indeed...I'm not one of your people, am I?" Ouro posed the question back to her, almost forgetting that he was unable to be detected. Though that was something that he was unable to cope with. She called Michael, or who he assumed she was talking about, their dad. So these were his grandchildren? Interesting...he didn't know he had any. Looks like he'd need to teach that son of his a lesson in keeping family connected. A lesson he would probably incorporate with the whole "gimmie my crown back bitch!" lesson he would need to probably wrestle with.

     [color=#00ca00]"Yeah...sure...a metahuman. That works."d, he noticed his grandson transform back and reveal himself to be a dark skinned boy with black hair...it was how Ouroboros would have imagined himself...if he had ever been a child in his current form...it was slightly ironic. "So why are you here alone?" Ouroboros asked.

Was there anything this jackass couldn't do? First he just can seemingly make her so unnerved that she has to run and to top it off he can now fly. Well it looked like the end for her. She bit her lip trying to think of a way out and hey look the sword returned. She grabbed it and felt power course through her. She heard a whisper telling her to run. Well she didn't have to be told twice. She took off, running towards Michael, holding the sword up to block the oncoming attacks. However, she didn't block the attacks. In fact she didn't even get hit by them. The sensation of the attacks passing through her body was a strange one. But Ashlynn kept running and jumped off the building. However instead of falling she kept going. She cursed loudly in surprise. She wasn't expecting that. Either way she kept running, flying through building and the such to try and get Micheal off her trail.

The attack came down like the proverbial hammer of a god, building by which she was laying upon unable to really withstand the attack. Concrete and mortar was torn asunder, as it collapsed in upon itself everything within simply destroyed. Yet Michael found himself not surprised when she was unharmed, intangible it seemed upon the clearing of the dust and fleeing faster than he was sure that he could pursue. Michael growled lightly, one tendril slamming against the ground with enough ferocity to send large cracks spider webbing along the concrete. It seemed that his mission was for the most part a failure, which annoyed the male to no end, another swinging through the rubble and sending a large chunk of building careening into another. ”Run while you can bitch, I’ll find you sooner or later.”

It was simply business before, but now Michael decided to make it personal. He would destroy that retched blade as well, the one that had gotten in his way. If that intangible state persisted trying to follow her would have proven pointless anyway, he would have simply been attacking the air, and that was a venture that Michael did not want to embark upon. With a thought the tendrils dispersed, disappearing as dark purple mist that was slowing fading into the air. With a rough kick he sent a shattered brick rolling into the wreckage, before turning and walking away, a few shards of glass crunching under his weight. Well considering that his little mission was a massive failure, then Michael would have to deal with the vapid whining of the Titan council, and that would have been no fun at all.

It was something about them not wanting to have to worry about their lives or something along those lines. Not that he would pay them heed anyway, they were at best fools set within their own ways, and if need be a few could die. Not that they were irreplaceable. It was then that he sensed something, to small bur very familiar ethereal energies, those which were his own children. What the hell were they doing here? The male cursed lightly under his breath, chewing on his lower lips as the silver orbs darted about, taking note of two youngsters talking to an older looking dark haired male. ”Goddammit.” Michael cursed in a low growl, and they were talking to some damn human.

”I don’t think so.” Fera noted muttering out loud as she looked over the male carefully, as if analyzing everything about him. Something about the male seemed strangely familiar, yet so foreign that she could not quite place it. What did catch her attention was when he said that she was alone, and that made the woman snicker, lip curling into an amused smirk. ”We’re never alone my good sir…I have the entire city of people.” How she said this was as if there were a darker purpose to what she had said. Holding out one arm, one could not heat the mental signal but out of seemingly nowhere a pigeon landed on her shoulder, and seemed to warm up to her instantly. ”Well and the wildli….no Shael you can’t eat the damn bird.” She ended up grumbling as the bird flew out of the range of the male turning into a rather scruffy looking black cat, and then reverting to his humanoid form.

”Why?”

”You know why. I hate it when you try to eat the animals I’m fucking talking to.”

’I thought it was because you were a filthy vegetarian.”

”And you’re filthy..no seriously take a damn bath.”

”I took one yesterday.” He noted smelling himself.

’Licking yourself does not count as a bath.” She muttered tersely, shaking her head, before realizing that there was someone there.

A whole city of people? She must have some form of enthrallment, like the Lych. Ouroboros thought he heard her make reference to wild-life. So she was able to speak with the wildlife, just as Silus was. Interesting. The woman had a moth on her, which mildly surprised Ouroboros, then again it only assured him that they were Michaels. It was in the tan boy that he noticed certain traits, and he began thinking through the processes of whom Michael would have had children with. He kept to himself until the children got into their hygiene. Ouroboros rolled his eyes and pressed his forehead into the space between the forefinger and thumb, allowing his forefinger to stretch across his forehead with a sigh. His own sensory kicking in and granting him the insight that Shael did in fact have an odor to him, but it wasn't anything Fera should be making such a fuss over.

"Shael, I would advise you take a bath. You girl, should care for your brother moreso than to speak at him like that. That's a good way to lose your family...after all...you only need to ask Michael how that process works." Ouroboros said coarsely at both the children, granted he wasn't directed at Shael, but moreso of the daughter. Yet another selfish jackass in his family. At this rate there was going to be a major culling of the genepool.

It wounded Ouroboros more than anything truthfully. Michael was his son... his prodigal son at that. He, as a father was forced to wait for his child to return home. He wanted Michael to eturn home desperately. Even if for a moment he could break down that stoic and damnable rough exterior of ambivalence he might be able to salvage his family. His mind turned to Shael and Silus, and Jordan as well. Of all of them, Michaels greatest victim was his loyal believer... Ouroboros knew both sides of the spectrum in truth. He himself was not exactly an open and hospitable person, however his family was a different story. He began to wonder if it was his own fault.... being so cold and stoic to others outside the family. Was he the bad example? His eyes downcast slightly as he mulled the thought over.

"So...you're waiting for Michael then?" Ouroboros asked, eyebrow raised. These, for all he knew, were his grandchildren. He shouldn't take out his frustrations about Michael on his grandbabies. He began thinking of ways to relate and communicate with them better. In the end his mind proved nothing but numb, incapable of doing anything but remind Ouroboros... Michael got this from him. Michael and Ouroboros were two aces of the same suit in the same deck of cards... Ouroboros and Michael were the same. Ouroboros just now needed to find a way to change the game.
His eyes shifted, looking to Fera and then Shael.