The wind had picked up and was now blowing directly into their faces. It no longer mattered who was behind who, as everybody was getting slapped in the face with snow and ice. The wind was bad enough to make the trees sway side-to-side and the snow already on the ground swirl around them. The combination of this, plus the tired state they were in made for very poor hiking conditions.

Orion held his hands out in front of him to try to stop the winds, but most of it was just finding its way straight to his face. Sharpe was doing the same thing, while Violet, without hands, had to endure the winds.

Harmony was tucked deep inside of Orion's shirt, trying desperately to stay warm. In the beginning of the wind storm, she was succeeding in this task. But as fate would have it, Orion's body heat alone could not keep her comfortably warm throughout the onslaught of snow. "C- can we s- st- op ye- t?" she asked as best she could with chattering teeth.

Orion shook his head, not really caring that nobody could see him do it. "Nope! If we stop to rest, we might freeze to death. And that would be bad." It was hard to hear him over the winds, but yelling seemed to solve that problem.

Sharpe groaned. "How long until we get to the capitol?! I'm freezing my ass off!"

Orion laughed. "If it freezes off, how will you use the bathroom? Would you still have a hole? Hmm..."

"Can you please not talk about that in front of my daughter?" Violet complained loudly.

Orion laughed again. "You know, sometimes a little profanity can be good for you. You should try it some time!" He laughed until he stopped suddenly, taking on a serious look.

Everybody looked at him strangely.

"What's wrong?" Violet asked. "Is there a prob-"

He stuck his hand out, silencing her. He looked around him, lingering on the trees. "No... It couldn't be..."

Sharpe walked to his side. "Is something wrong?"

Orion nodded slowly. "I... can feel it..."

Sharpe narrowed his eyes at the trees. "Feel what?"

Orion frowned. "There's... There's something out there... It's not here, but it's there."

Sharpe scanned the trees for any sign of danger, letting no tree go un-looked. "What is it?"

Orion frowned even more. "I don't know. It feels dangerous... But... I can't tell if it's sentient or not."

"What do you mean?" Sharpe asked, looking behind him, over the cliff.

Orion shook his head. "I don't know. It's not an animal, but it doesn't feel intelligent, like a person. I can feel something wrong with it. Anger... Hate... Hunger... Greed..."

Sharpe put his hand on his blaster. "Should we be worried?"

Orion looked behind him. "I don't know where it is... It's like it's all around us, but it's not there... It's coming closer, but I can't tell if it wants us or is just passing..."

Sharpe nudged Orion forward. "If something's coming, we need to keep moving."

Orion nodded and ushered Violet closer to him.

She looked up at him. "What's wrong? Are we going to be all right?"

Orion closed his eyes as he walked. "It has so much anger in it, but not for anything. It's... It's like anger is what makes it." He looked at her, opening his eyes and looking completely serious. "If it comes across us, it'll attack."

She shuddered, not from the cold. "What is it?" she asked, looking around her.

He shook his head. "Can you imagine a person, but also an animal? It's like it knows what it's doing, but there's no outstanding thoughts or feelings. Like, there's no directed emotions or feelings, just an air around it. Can you feel it?"

"No, but I'm kinda scared," said Harmony from inside his shirt.

Orion patted the lump that was Harmony and gave a forced smile. But upon realizing that she had no way of seeing him, he dropped it. "Don't worry, if anything tries to hurt you, I'll turn it into soup."

Violet frowned. "That's not a very pleasant thing to picture, you know..."

Orion chuckled dryly. "Paste then."

Sharpe growled slightly. "Y'know, if something is following us, we might want to be quiet."

Orion breathed in, then exhaling shakily to try to stay calm.

Sharpe turned around and eyed him. "What's wrong?"

Orion took in a shaky breath. "I don't know... It's like I can feel it inside me. I can feel... something... It's like a fist squeezing my head."

Sharpe stopped walking. "Should we stop?"

Orion nodded. "Whatever it is, it'll find us even if we keep moving. It's coming closer to us, and I don't think we'll be able to hide from it."

"Mom?" Harmony called.

Violet pressed herself against Orion. "I'm here sweetie."

"I'm scared."

Orion walked into the treeline and propped himself up against a tree. His companions followed his example, finding a comfy looking tree and leaning against it.

Violet shivered. "How are you two not freezing?"

Sharpe was scanning the forest for any kind of danger. "I can regenerate my body at extremely high speeds, so I can put my organs in overdrive and not have to worry about anything. With this, my body works almost ten times faster than a normal Human, so it generates enough heat to keep me plenty warm."

Orion just shrugged. "I'm wearing underclothes, under-armor, armor, clothes, then my robes. Plus I've been through some pretty rough things, so I've been toughened up to the point where nothing really bothers me."

She scowled and shook her head. "Of course it's not a simple 'Oh, I have padded clothes'. No, it has to be something I can't share," she grumped.

Orion looked back to the path, staring intensely at the cliff edge.

Sharpe noticed this. "Is it over there?"

Orion frowned. "I... can hear it... It's... speaking..."

Sharpe walked over and crouched next to him. He put his hand on Orion's shoulder. "You need to tell me what's wrong. Is it coming from the cliff, or is it in the trees?"

Orion shook his head very slowly. "It's right here... It's over there... It's... everywhere... I can hear it, but it's not talking."

Sharpe shook him gently. "What are you saying? Where is it?!"

Orion ignored him. "I speak, but utter no words. I feel, but have no emotion. I see you, but am not near you. I know, but have no thoughts. What am I?" He put his hands over the lump in his shirt, Harmony. "I can see you, but you're not there..."

Sharpe shook him roughly now. "Orion, tell me what you're saying! I don't understand! Where is it?! What is it?! Can we kill it?!"

Orion looked at him. His eyes were wide and he looked like he had seen a ghost. "Where did the wind go?"

Sharpe's head shot up and he looked around the area quickly. He hadn't even noticed it before Orion said anything. The wind was no longer blowing, and everything was so silent they could hear the sounds of snow falling to the ground. That's when he saw it. A large boulder that hadn't been there before was dangerously close to Violet. The snow covering it didn't look right. Almost like a thick layer of matted white fur.

Sharpe calmly got up and reached behind him, grabbing his rifle. "Violet, slowly get up and walk towards me."

She raised a brow at him. "Why? What's wrong? Is it here?!"

Sharpe started easing his rifle off of his back. "Come over here. Right now. Just do as I said, and slowly get up and walk over here."

She started shaking violently as she slowly stood up.

Even with Sharpe's cybernetic's, he still didn't even see anything more than a blur of movement.

Violet blinked in confusion. Something didn't feel right. She looked behind her and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. The entire back half of her body was missing, and she could see her lungs moving as she breathed. Then she lost her balance and fell.

Sharpe roared something in his own language as he fired into the thing's face. It didn't really translate, but it's something somebody screams when you feel rage beyond belief and you want kill the thing that caused that rage more than you want to live.

The burning energy scorched its fur and it let out something between a howl and a roar. He barely saw it as it charged him, and he just barely managed to get out of the way of a monstrous claw. As he jumped back, he got a look at its face. It had an elongated face with pale grey skin. At least ten eyes covered the top half of its head, and the rest of its face seemed to be a mouth. The bony structure that made up its nose was rimmed with miss-match teeth on the bottom, like the thing only had teeth as an after thought.

Sharpe fired into its head as he ran backwards as best he could. The thing was fast. Faster than he was. On top of that it was at least twelve feet high, and was built like a mountain.

Sharpe fired one more time and jumped behind a tree to avoid a crushing blow by a makeshift club made of an uprooted pine tree. It was swinging a fully grown pine tree like it was a twig, and even with armor, that would hurt. He looked out from behind the tree and saw more of it. The body looked like it was solid muscle covered with ridiculously thick white fur. The forearms of it were bulging grotesquely, small bits of bone tearing through flesh and making it look like its arms were spiked clubs. The same thing was true of its lower legs. Its shoulders also had bone fragments sticking through, only they were blunter and much more thick. It also had the hands and feet of a Human, only with seven fingers and six toes. It had two thumbs on either side of its hand, and all of the fingers and toes were the same size: strangely long with five joints in each one, save for the thumbs which had three joints.

Sharpe saw it glaring at him. He knew this thing must have some kind intelligence, because animals don't glare.

It roared at him, pulling back a thick outer-skin on its face and revealing a bony triple jaw. The top was whole, while the bottom was split in two. The top jaw had large, miss-match, tusk-like teeth, while the bottom two were little more than slabs of bone covered in sharp teeth that curved inwards.

Sharpe jumped out of the way of its massive fist, firing once more into its face. But for the love of God it wouldn't die! "Die you beastly fuck!"

That's when things went bad. First, Sharpe stumbled on a rock that was buried in snow. Then, he was punched into the sky by the monster. On his way up, he saw Harmony hiding in the branches of a large tree. But if she was there, then where was Orion? He couldn't think too long because he was hit by a tree while in mid-air- thrown by the monster- and sent spinning wildly out of control. On the way down, the monster slammed its fist into him, making him fly sideways and through multiple trees before finally stopping on a large rock.

Sharpe spit out a worrying amount of blood and hissed at the advancing creature. "Is that all you got, bitch?"

It let out a guttural sound that could almost pass as a growl and narrowed its multitude of eyes at him. It increased its pace until it was moving faster than Sharpe could wholly perceive.

He pulled out one of his special CryoBan grenades and activated it. He threw it at thing and almost smiled as it explode right where its face would be.

It howled and fell on the ground, sliding a few feet in the snow. It stopped just short of where Sharpe was leaning against a rock, a thick layer frozen chemicals covering it from head to toe.

Sharpe pushed himself up and walked over to where it lay. "Thought you could beat me, huh? Well, let me be the first and last to tell you. Fuck you, asshole!" he yelled, pulling out his S-5 and DL-44 heavy blaster pistols and firing repeatedly into its face. He shot until his fingers ached, which took about a full five minutes of rapidly pulling the triggers. When he was done, he looked into the black eyes of the monster.

The eyes blinked and looked back at him.

Sharpe swore and leveled his guns with its head again.

The thing roared and twisted its neck, shattering the frozen chemicals down to its chest. From there, it easily broke free of its frozen prison.

Sharpe got off about five shots before it swung its forearm intro his chest, causing a disheartening crunching sound to come from his ribs. He slammed into another tree and lost his breath. His body was already healing, but having his ribs puncture his lungs tends to cause some discomfort.

Looking at the charging form of this thing that was trying to kill him, he felt dread for the first time in a long, long time. He couldn't kill it, and he couldn't run from it. But then... he heard a wonderfully familiar sound.

Orion ran passed him, twin beams of pure, bright red energy at his sides. His hood was pulled up to the point of completely concealing his head, and his robes billowed out behind him. He ran so fast he was nothing more than a blur of red and black to the naked eye.

He ran straight at the monster, his lightsabers pointed out to his sides. He was on a collision course with it, and he was only getting faster as he went. When he was only a foot from it, he crossed the blades and went straight though it.

After Orion went though it, it stumbled forwards a few steps with a look of pain on its beastly face. It fell to one knee, and it fell apart. It had been cut straight through in a large X, cutting the arms off with part of the stomach, and the head with most of the chest.

Orion lifted the pieces in the air, sent ungodly amounts of lightening into them, and threw them in four different directions. They all went far enough to leave the range of sight of both of them. He extinguished his sabers and put the hilts back on his belt under his robes.

Sharpe stood up and walked over to Orion. "What was that thing? Why wouldn't it die?"

Orion shook his head and started walking forwards. "I don't know what it was, but it had a crazy strong connection with the Force."

Sharpe hissed in thought. "It was connected with the Force?"

Orion nodded. "Yeah. Connected to the point that it was using the connection to heal itself every time you hurt it. It would have taken another day of brutalizing it to even make it bleed."

Sharpe narrowed looked behind him, where the thing had been cut up. "So, it's dead now? You killed it?"

Orion nodded again. "Yeah, it's dead. I can still feel the Force seeping out of the pieces, but it's dead."

Sharpe looked back to Orion. "Is that why you were freaking out? You could feel the connection messing with your head?"

Orion shook his head. "No. I couldn't feel the connection, but I could feel the thing itself. I felt the air it had around it. You remember how the wind stopped? And how you didn't even realize it was there?"

Sharpe nodded.

"Well, it was putting out some kind of field that altered our perception. It was literally blinding us to it while it snuck up behind us. The only reason you saw it was because I let you know something was off. If I didn't do that, it would have killed you without you even knowing you died."

Sharpe shook his head. "I never thought something so fucked could happen on a planet like this." He put his hand on Orion's shoulder. "Orion, you know it killer her?"

He nodded slowly without saying anything.

Sharpe frowned. "Then... you know the girl's got nobody to look after her?"

Orion stopped underneath a familiar tree. "She does have somebody."

Sharpe scowled.

Orion looked up into the tree. "Harmony, come down! It's safe now!"

After a few seconds, a crying filly fluttered down from the highest branches and clung to Orion's neck. She was weeping into him, making his neck and shirt soaked with tears. "M- mom... S- sh- she's d-"

Orion put his arms around her. "Ssshh, don't worry Harmony, I got you. I stopped the monster. It's safe now."

Sharpe glared angrily at Orion.

Orion gave a look of finality to Sharpe.

***

Harmony continued crying as Orion walked away from the scene in the forest and back out onto the road. She cried through the storm, and through the calming winds of the evening. She cried as Orion carried her down the mountain and along the road. She cried as Orion went through a small town, drawing the unwanted attention of the griffons that lived there. She cried all the way to the large walls that wound around a huge city on the side of a mountain. She cried as they went through the city gates. She cried as at least a hundred city guards followed them from the gate to the city itself. She only stopped crying when Orion patted her on the back, drawing her attention.

She looked at him with bloodshot and teary eyes.

He smiled at her. Not a goofy smile, but a happy, genuine smile. "I don't mean to interrupt you, but I just wanted to let you know we're here."

She sniffled and looked around her. She was nothing short of amazed at what she saw. Griffon architecture, she had seen before. But this? This was like art compared to the small village she was in before Orion came along. The buildings were made of smooth grey stone slabs, and all of them had real roofs. Some of the buildings were small, but others were two, or three, or sometimes even four stories high and took up entire city blocks. The streets were paved with more of the grey stone slabs, however they weren't quite as smooth as the buildings were. All of the buildings were on outcrops of land, seeing as how they were on a mountain, so everything looked like it was stepped. A few buildings and roads were even cut into the mountain and led into some kind of cave system. And at the top of the city was an enormous castle-like structure. It was "castle-like", and not a castle because it was more like a mansion with aspects of a castle, than an actual castle.

Harmony's eyes went comically large as she took in all of this. From the buildings to the massive amount of griffon citizens walking or flying around, everything was overwhelming. She was too busy being amazed to keep crying.

Orion smiled at her while she was staring at everything. He was glad that she had stopped crying. Seeing her so sad had hurt him.

One of the city guards cleared her throat.

Orion turned to face her, a stupid smile on his face.

Sharpe groaned.

She walked up to Orion, her talon on her sword. "Excuse me-"

"I don't smell anything," Orion interrupted.

She glared at him. "I'm placing you under temporary arrest. You will be held in a protected cell until we figure out who you are."

Orion cocked his head to the side. "Why? Did I do something wrong? Is is against the rules to wear black after the holidays?"

She raised a brow at him. "No... You can wear black whenever you feel like it."

He donned a confused look. "But, why am I under arrest then? Am I not allowed to wear my hood?"

She got a confused look at that. "You can wear a hood whenever you want to. Any kind of clothing style if fine."

Orion smiled again. "Oh, so I'm not under arrest. Okay, bye then!" He turned around, but came face-to-blade with a spear.

The female griffon cleared her throat and spoke. "You're under arrest because you fit the description of the one who murdered our King perfectly. When we determine if it was you who did it, we will let you go, or execute you, depending on the decision."

Orion laughed heartily. "Oh, don't be silly! Of course it was me that killed your king! I crushed him into a ball and mutilated him! It was so much fun I got a hard-on from it!"

Harmony looked at him oddly. "What's a 'hard-on'?"

Orion smiled at her. "I'll tell you when you're older. But for now, if anybody but me talks about them in front of you I'll tear their eyes out and strangle them with the optical nerves." He smiled brightly at her.

She looked a little pale, but gave him a weak smile.

He looked back to the griffon and stuck his finger in her face, poking the tip of her beak. "Take me to your leader!"

***

"... And that is why you need to spruce up around here. This entire room looks like it came out of the Dark Ages! From the throne to the floor to the walls, everything needs to be remodeled and improved. Maybe look more regal, with just a hint of malice. That would really impress any commoner who you're receiving here! They would be too impressed to be ungrateful and stupid!

"Well, they would still be ungrateful and stupid, but that's just because they're commoners. And you know what they say! 'You can take the commoner out the slums, but you can never take the slums out of the commoner.' Well, unless of course you tear them open and cut out everything inside of them. But, that is both unsavory and tedious work for someone of your stature.

"And that brings the point of remodeling your palace back again for another spin! I think if we put in- say, for example- a torture chamber, it could help with the prison population and keep fear and order on the streets. After all, who wants to be tortured? Well, besides from sadomasochistic perverts that get off on floggings and whips... But that's besides the point! We can just kill that kind of filth and torture normal people! It would be good for the economy, adding new jobs to the city. And besides the point of upholding the law and instilling terror in your subjects, it would be great fun to watch! Eh, not that I'm into that sort of thing, of course... But just the thought of bringing justice to those who would wrong you and your kingdom makes my feathers all tingly. I'm sure that the sight would be even better..."

The Queen snorted loudly in her sleep, the sound echoing off the walls and startling the royal adviser.

He looked at the Queen and saw something was wrong with her eyes. They looked very... crayon-y... He sighed and drew his sword from its sheath. One good low swing and sparks were flying through the air.

Queen Gilda yelped and opened her eyes, the drawn-on ones smudging as she did so.

The royal adviser sighed again as he sheathed his weapon. "You know, if you were bored you could have just told me to stop talking and saved my breath. Tell me, what was the last thing you heard?"

Gilda gave an awkward look and blushed a little. "Uh, the part about how funny it would be if a shark at the fishermen that disobeyed me."

He frowned. "My Queen, that was over an hour ago. Are you telling me that for the last hour, everything I said went unheard? Oh, the tragedy... I had some wonderful ideas too..."

Gilda coughed into her talons. "Well, my guards heard you, and I'm sure they can fill me in on anything important."

He brightened immediately. "Oh, I forgot they were here! What a fantastic idea, my Queen! You are indeed much wiser than I!" He looked to the nearest guard. "Now, I want you to tell her everything I said that she slept through. And if you miss anything, I'll tie you to a table and grind your beak into powder."

The guard blinked at him.

The royal adviser gave a smile and a wave as he walked towards the door. "Don't mess up! I know where you sleep!"

And that's when he bumped into Orion.

The royal adviser looked up into the face of Orion, a curious look on his face. "Now, what have we here?" he mumbled to himself.

The guards nudged Orion forward with their spears. "This is the one who killed King Grey Down. We brought him and his companions here to face the judgement of the Queen."

The adviser looked at Orion with interest as he heard this. "Really? You killed the King?"

Orion smiled and nodded. "Yep! It was fun! The blood getting on all those peoples' faces was awesome!"

The adviser frowned a little. "I heard that you have killed King Grey Down in a rather... violet way. Tell me, how did you reduce him the to the size of a soccer ball? And for that matter, how did you force his legs into his stomach?"

Orion smiled mysteriously, giving him an odd look. "All answers can be solved with peanut butter."

The adviser frowned more deeply at this. "So, insanity is it? Well it would explain how you could stomach such a brutal display. But how did you crush him? Surely you're not that strong?"

Orion kept the mysterious smile, only turning his head so it looked like he changed facial expressions. "When your mind wills it enough, the world can turn the wrong way." Then he took on a thoughtful look. "Well, the world is round, so there really is no up or down, so how could it turn the right way? Is there a left way? Since there is no up, could I just float away? Or would gravity stop me? But how does gravity know what's up or down since there is no up or down without an up or down? Is gravity a god? How is it smarter than us? It isn't even a thing. Or is it? I don't know. I'm Orion, what's your name?"

The royal adviser had a blank expression on his face as he simply stared at Orion, and all of the guards looked like they had headaches. "Uhm, excuse me?"

Orion smiled stupidly. "I don't smell anything."

The small filly on his shoulder, Harmony, giggled quietly at this.

"You killed my dad?"

Every eye turned to Queen Gilda.

She rose from her throne, making her way down the steps and the hall. "You're the one who killed my family?" she asked angrily.

Orion smiled wider. "Yep!"

She scowled. "And what makes you think you can just go around killing my family?! Huh?!" She was right in his face, hovering above the ground.

Orion kept on smiling. "I challenged him to a trial by combat and won. Isn't that legal?"

Her shock made her forget to flap her wings and she fell to the floor.

The royal adviser cough and spluttered, choking on his own breath.

All of the guards' jaws dropped and their eyes bulged out of their heads.

Orion and Harmony laughed at the faces they were all making. It was quite the sight, to be honest.

Sharpe just shook his head, wanting to leave this planet and all of this ridiculousness behind.

The adviser regained his breath and spoke in an unbelieving tone of voice. "Yes, it is quite legal. But the soldiers that reported to General Hawk Eye said that he was murdered. He told me so himself."

"And he was murdered. By this creature."

Everybody turned around to face the speaker. It was none other than General Hawk Eye himself.

Sharpe growled softly. "What is this, a soap opera?"

He ignored him as he advanced on Orion. "You murdered our King, and for that you will be executed. I'll do it-"

Orion lashed out at him, slapping him across the face. "Trial by combat! Go!"

Hawk Eye had about half a second before he felt his neck twisting. Another half second and his world was nothing but blackness. After a full second, his world was nothing. Hawk Eye was dead.

Sharpe snorted. "Well, that was anticlimactic. Can we go now?"

Orion shook his head. "Nope, not yet," he said as he pointed at Gilda. "You!"

She pointed at herself. "Me?"

He pointed at her harder. "You! Call a gathering! Make everybody in the city gather around so you can tell them to leave the ponies alone!"

She looked confused. "What? Why would I mess with the ponies? One of my best friends lives in Equestria."

Orion waved his hand dismissively at her. "Call everybody together anyways. I want to say something to your subjects, and it's important."

The adviser raised a brow at him. "How important can it be?"

Orion's smile could have given a child nightmares. "Shockingly so."

***

As Orion and Queen Gilda stood on the stage in front of the thousands of citizens of the capitol city of the Griffon Kingdoms, Gryphus, Orion felt the excitement of what he was about to do rushing through his body. She had ordered everybody in the city to gather there, and like the loyal subjects they are, they obeyed. She gave a short explanation about why Orion was no longer wanted dead. They didn't seem happy, but they accepted it.

And now Orion stood at the front of the stage, his arms outstretched and a warm smile on his face. Harmony was still laying across his shoulder, and Sharpe was standing just behind Gilda. Orion yelled out, speaking to the whole city with a voice amplified by the Force. "Brothers! Sisters! My dear friends! Today, I come seeking your forgiveness! I have wronged you, not just as individuals, but as a people, and as a nation!"

The crowd made a collective grumbling sound.

Orion continued his little speech. "Now, as some of you know, I am God! Or, at least a god! But with my limitless powers, and divine rite, I wish to give you all peace! All I ask is that you kneel before your Queen, the beautiful, the luscious, the incredibly hot, Queen Gilda!"

All of the crowd seemed to roar in approval of the names he had given her, and they all bowed down in front of her.

Orion smiled a sickening smile. "Harmony?"

She looked at him. "Yeah?"

His smile widened to the point of his lips ripping open and blood trialing down his jaw. "Close your eyes and cover your ears."

Her eyes widened as she thought of what he was going to do. "B- but you-"

His eyes took on a dangerous glint. "Do it," he hissed.

She bit her lip and nodded slowly. She crawled into the front of his shirt for protection and used her hooves to block out any sounds. She couldn't help but let a few tears fall. She knew what he was going to do.

Orion raised his hands in the air, high above his head. "My friends! Let us bow our heads, and hold a moment of silence for our beloved King Grey Down! May he forever rest in peace!"

The crowd all bowed their heads, giving their respect to their late King.

Orion's hands lit up brightly, the electricity arcing between his hands and causing what looked like a tiny tornado of red lightening to form between his hands. It took only a few seconds to build it up to a reasonable power, but a full minute of focusing intensely to bring it to the levels of power that Orion wanted it at.

He opened his mouth to speak, and his bloodied teeth shone brilliantly in the red light. "My friends! May you all be damned to burn in the deepest pits of Hell for all eternity!"

The crowd didn't have enough time to react. They only had time to scream.