SPOILER ALERT! If you hadn't read "Jonas" and don't want the spoil the ending, start ending past the horizontal line. If you have or you don't care about spoiling the end, go ahead and read the first sliver of the prologue.
It had been nearly a year since the great angel prince, Jonaseriah had slain the evil sorcerer, Nightariel, as his ancient form did millions of years ago, and hardly anything has changed in his life since then. Every day, he’d spend time with Nina, his true love and soul mate and things couldn’t have been better.
Although the struggle between Jonaseriah and Nightariel has ended, another has begun to surface involving Penelope and her boyfriend, Orion, whose destiny is more complex than that of Jonas. His tale began in a time before Jonas, but somehow connects to a similar struggle in a much different place in the future just 13 months before Jonas’s destiny was fulfilled.
Orion’s ancient form originated in the land of Ancient Greece that existed before Jonaseriah’s arrival, before it was destroyed by the Black Night Dragon. Orion’s form was very unlike the form he currently possesses; his form was only half-human.
His being went through a very unusual evolution. It started when he was a faun: half-man, half-goat; his realm was that of Ancient Mythological Greece: the realm before Jonas’s time. However, fauns were a weak species and not many survived. Orion, even though his spirit was strong, as an individual, he was really weak, so he didn’t make it past his 5th year. Zeus noticed that shortly after he died, so he decided to reincarnate Orion in the next century.
To make sure he would make no mistakes, Zeus turned to Aphrodite and Athena for help in choosing the form for Orion’s evolution from a faun. Orion was quite a curious individual, one who seemed to hold some hidden wisdom deep inside, which was why he decided to have him born again in the form of a centaur. He sought help from Athena, as she was the goddess of wisdom. Centaurs have also been known for their wisdom so it was her area of expertise. Aphrodite helped recreate his form so he would look even more handsome.
About 1,500 years after Orion’s first creation, Zeus reawakened the spirit of Orion as a centaur. He magically appeared by the side of the peaceful waterfall of the Centaur forest. His locks of hair, from his head to his tail were of a golden brown. His lower half was of a vivid blue that matched his mesmerizing eyes.
After sleeping for so long, Orion slowly woke up, looked around and wondered what had happened. He got onto his wobbly newfound legs and wondered out loud, “What’s going on here? I thought I was dead. How am I back?” He looked around, seeing that he was in a completely different part of the world that he knew. He saw a few centaurs frolic past him, realizing that he was a centaur himself. “I’m a centaur? But how?”
“Orion,” Zeus called from above.
“Zeus, is that really you?” He looked up and saw the clouds part as a bright golden light shined on him. After bowing, he continued with his many questions, “I don’t understand, what’s going on here?”
“Orion, I apologize. Fauns are a very weak species and you are stronger than that. I knew you had a lot more potential, so I brought you back into a more suitable form.”
Orion looked himself over, “I feel… weird. I feel so strange here.”
“Don’t worry, you just need some time to adjust to your new surrounding, so go out and see the world.”
Orion acknowledged him with a nod and trotted off to see the others. He looked around and noticed how centaurs were all around the lake, both male and females. He hardly took notice of females when he was a faun, only because he could only sickly lay in one place. He used to spend his days there, eating the few berries he could keep in his stomach. He shook off those horrible memories of sickness and continued trotting alone, feeling very out of place.
He walked along for a while, and suddenly heard a soft, slow trot coming up behind him. He turned around, and didn’t see anything. He kept going, but the trotting continued. The next time he turned around, he looked to his right and was startled by another centaur, letting off a scream. It was a female, who had red hair and yellow fur on her lower half, along with dark green eyes. “Oh, excuse me; I’m sorry I startled you.”
“What? Were you following me?” He wondered, as his heart started to settle down from that mild shock.
“Yes. I don’t believe that I’ve seen you here before.”
“I’m new here, that’s all, and I feel a bit strange.” He forced a smile.
She smiled, “It’s all right. It just takes a few days to get used to this place.” She walked alongside him, slowly wrapping her arm around his, “So, where are you from?”
“Across the lake, I think, I don’t really remember where I came from.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll show you around.” She wondered, “So, what’s your name?”
“My name? Oh yes, I remember. My name is Orion.” He forced a smiled, laughing a little awkwardly in the face of such a beautiful female. “My soul was only asleep for so many years, why would I forget my own name?” He laughed a bit more, but she dismissed it as if it didn’t matter to her.
“Orion? That is such a nice name, a nice name for a nice looking centaur.”
“Speaking of which, what is yours?”
“Oh sorry, I’m Penelope.”
“Penelope, I like that.” He smiled as she leaned against his shoulder. They walked together as she showed him around. The Centaur Forest was definitely a beautiful place, but as far as Orion was concerned, Penelope was the most beautiful thing in it. Soon enough, the day came to an end. “I’m starting to get a little tired.”
“Yeah, I am too. I’ll see you tomorrow. Then, I can introduce you to some of my friends.”
“Thank you.” He smiled before finding a tree to sleep under for the night. He was deeply tired. He figured it was due to the transfer of his spirit to a different form.
When he got up the next day, he was covered with cherry blossoms. He looked up and noticed that he had slept under a cherry tree. He shook the petals off of himself and picked a cluster to give to Penelope. He wanted to thank her for taking him around the other day.
When he found her, she was in the lake with some of her friends. There was one with blue hair, one with blonde and another with pink hair. He smiled and trotted over to Penelope, “Hi, how are you this morning?”
“Orion, it’s good to see you again.” The other centaurs came closer so she introduced them, “I’d like you to meet my friends. This is Melanie, Jasmine and Misty.”
“Hello,” he said, bashfully. He hadn’t seen so many female centaurs before; they were gorgeous. He looked at Penelope again and he was completely turned onto her. He nearly forgot about his cherry blossom, “Oh, I forget. This is for you.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet, thank you.” She smiled, putting it in her hair on her right ear.
Misty, the centaur with pink hair, intervened, “Hey, how come I haven’t seen you around before?”
“It’s a long story, but to make it short, I just got here yesterday.”
“I can show you around if you want.”
“I already took care of the tour yesterday, Misty, so don’t worry about it.”
“But,” she grabbed Orion’s arm, “I want to show him around.”
“Um, you can if you want.” He added, nervously.
“Hey.” A voice called over that made the others look, “What’s going here, ladies?” A male centaur called from afar. Orion looked at him, already feeling a bad vibe. He had dark blue fur and blackish hair. Not only that, but he had a certain look in his eyes that he didn’t trust.
“Adam, what, what are you doing here?” Penelope wondered, not seeming to be as thrilled to see him.
“Looking around for you, my pet. I haven’t seen you around, what’s happening?”
“I just... wanted some time alone.” She looked away, uninterested.
He looked over at Orion and sniffed him, “So I see. Who’s this?”
He looked him straight in the eye and spoke, “I’m Orion, I just came here yesterday.”
“Oh really...” He flashed his eyebrows and came over to take a look at him. “I suppose you come here to see the blossom festival.”
“The blossom festival?”
“Oh, so you haven’t heard of it.” He smiled grimly, “Well, it’s tomorrow, Orion. If you’re nice to me, I think I can fix you up with someone.”
“What are you talking about?” He backed off, a little nervous.
“Maybe I should explain," Penelope tried to push Adam away.
“No, you don’t have to, my sweet.” She rolled her eyes at his 2nd use of a ‘pet’ name for her. ”I can take care of it for you.” He smiled at Orion and walked along with him. “Don’t worry, ladies, I’ll return your friend soon enough.”
Orion seemed a bit nervous. “So, what’s going on?” He laughed weakly.
“I’ll explain the whole festival to you. It’s a ‘girls choose boys’ celebration. We’re all reaching our 19th year, so for this festival, we pair ourselves off into couples. And if the Gods are pleased, then those chosen to be together will stay together for all eternity, wrapped up in a powerful bond of pure heart.” He seemed to have spitted while saying ‘pure heart’. “Who knows if it even exists, I don’t believe in it.”
“I may not remember much from the past couple of days, but pure heart is something I believe in. It exists, I know it does.” He looked away, wondering how that came to his lips.
“So, did you think that you could just show up one day and try to steal my girl for the blossom festival?”
“No, I had no idea. I didn’t really want to cause any trouble.” He thought back, “but it sure doesn’t seem that she likes you that much anymore.”
He growled, “She does so, Penelope loves me. She is off-limits to you. She’s my girl.” He returned to the females and grabbed Penelope’s hand before rushing off, “Come on, let’s go.”
She looked back and called, “Orion!”
He decided to stay away, not wanting to cause trouble. “Penelope, I’ll see you again.”
“I know you will.”
He trotted back, noticing that Adam had taken the blossom out of Penelope’s hair and left it on the ground. He picked it up and sighed in disappointment.
Melanie tried comforting him, “Orion, don’t worry. Adam is always like that, but I think Penelope likes you the best.”
“She’s just so beautiful.” He stroked the blossom and started reciting his own poetry, “She has the heart and soul of a delicate flower. The sunshine shines off of her coat like the rainbow’s reflection on the water. She completes the emptiness that was once in my heart and her eyes heal the sickness that lay inside of me.”
Melanie and Jasmine looked at each other in amazement. In the meantime, Misty grabbed onto Orion’s arm. “Come on, let’s go somewhere else.”
“But what about...”
“Don’t worry; we’ll come back to them later. First, I want to talk to you.”
“All right. I seems like everyone wants to drag me off somewhere today.” As they trotted off, “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”
“I have not heard a centaur speak of such deep feelings before.”
“It just came from my heart, remarkably. I can’t explain it myself. It just... happened.” He looked behind him, “just like the way I’m somehow starting to fight with Adam. I’m not usually the fighting type.”
She dismissed it. “You know, I’m usually very lonely during the blossom festival.”
“You mean, you have them before age 19?”
“Oh yes, but you just get to choose a mate for a day. You have one chance a year to show your true feelings to one centaur that you really care about. Usually, when we choose, we choose the same centaur every time. Of course, I usually get stuck with one of the last ones left.”
“Oh, that must feel terrible.” He felt slightly guilty.
“I’m glad you understand.” She laughed a bit. “I was thinking that…”
He inched away as she was about to kiss him, “It’s getting late; I’d better go.”
“What? The sun’s setting already?”
“Yeah.” He forced a smile, “Sorry Misty, I gotta run.”
As he trotted off to his cherry tree, she sighed, “Just you wait, Orion. I’ll win you over tomorrow.”
When Orion woke up the next day, he felt slightly weak. He didn’t know if it was from his state or the way he felt. He was completely confused about what happened between him, Adam and Penelope the other day. He was completely new to the festival, so he had no idea what the customs were.
He stretched himself out before looking around. Aphrodite had already given the go to all of the centaurs in the forest. Orion looked around as most of them were pairing off already. He tried to look around for the centaurs he knew. He noticed that Melanie had already paired off with a centaur with golden fur. She looked at him as if she felt sorry for him.
As he looked around, he felt as if he was different from the rest. He noticed that his fur was a lighter hue than the rest of them so he felt more alone. He looked around for a female, but most of them didn’t give him a second look. He felt that his difference in color made them believe that he was not normal.
He looked around and instead, tried calling for Penelope. “Penelope? Penelope, where are you?”
“Orion, is that you?” She came out from under another tree. “I’m not even ready yet. What are you doing here?”
“Looking for you, what do you think?”
“You’re not supposed to be over here. This is our half of the forest. Go wait for me to get you on the middle plain. It’s the patch of forest that’s parallel with the waterfall.”
“Okay, I’m sorry.” He backed away, nervously. When he followed her directions to the place directly parallel with the waterfall, he noticed that the color of his fur changed back to his normal color. ‘Oh, that explains a lot,’ he thought.
He waited around for Penelope, but saw Misty heading his way instead. He backed away, trying to keep his distance. “Orion, I came to accept your invitation. I brought you the most delightful cherry blossom I could find.”
He backed off. “No, no, I can’t,” he nearly whispered.
“What, where are you going? Why are you walking away from me?”
“I’m sorry. I promised someone else.”
“Orion!” He turned around and smiled at a familiar voice. “I’m sorry for pushing you away before. Here’s my cherry blossom to you.” He looked at her and she was more beautiful than before. She had golden petals strung through her hair and around her neck. He then looked at her blossom; it was twice the size of Misty’s blossom and it was nearly glowing.
“Why is your blossom always nicer than mine?” Misty whined.
“I grow my blossoms myself with fresh spring water.” Misty just gave her a sad look and trotted off in sadness.
Orion felt a little sorry for her so he called out to her, “Misty! I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt your…”
“Just forget it, I’ll be fine.” She called before walking away, not turning back to even look at him. Orion’s attention was drawn back to his mate.
“Hey Penelope.” Orion and Penelope turned around and saw Adam coming their way. “I’ve been looking for you.”
“Adam,” she shook her head, “I’m sorry, but I’m going with Orion.”
“You… you can’t do this to me, sweetie. We always pair off every year.”
Penelope showed her nasty side to Adam for the first time, “Adam, I told you two months ago! I don’t want to be with you anymore. You’re just too overprotective and I can’t stand someone that doesn’t trust me with other males.”
Admiring Penelope’s spirit, Orion took his first step towards standing up for himself by going right up to Adam’s face and laying down the law, “You heard the lady. She says she’s going with me, and we don’t care what you think.”
“Oh,” his eyes lit up, “you should care about what I think, and I think that you don’t belong here. You’re not a pure centaur at all. You’re just as weak as a delicate faun, or maybe it is because you were one!”
With those words, Orion went into shock and everything started spinning. He heard mixed responses from everyone as he got dizzier, “Orion, are you all right? I knew it, he’s weak. Orion, can you hear me?” With that, his eyes rolled aside and his knees got weak, causing him to topple over.
Penelope went to help him up, but Adam pulled her off of him, “Come on, Penelope, you don’t need him. Let’s go.”
“No, I can’t. Orion, please wake up.” Hearing the commotion going on, Misty walked back over and tried to wake him while Penelope tried to struggle out of Adam’s grip.
Misty stroked his hair. “Orion, please wake up. Wake up, Orion,“ she said in a sing-song voice that made his eyes open.
Adam looked and gave him lip, “Okay, he’s awake, now let’s go.”
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ll look after him for you.” Misty insisted.
Penelope refused to leave. “No, I can’t. I can’t leave him.”
Adam only got angrier by Penelope’s ignorance, “He doesn’t deserve you, now let’s go.”
“That’s enough.” She shouted, “I can’t take this anymore. Adam, please, let me go. I’ve made my choice and you can’t stop me.” She tried helping Orion to his feet, but Adam shoved him away. “Adam, please leave him alone.” She cried out.
“Penelope, he’s not a real centaur. He’s not worthy of your beauty. I heard from a reliable source that the only reason that Orion is alive right now is because Zeus helped him.” Misty and Penelope gasped. “That’s right. Orion used to be a weak little faun. Zeus just felt sorry for him and changed his form.”
Orion stumbled onto his feet, with some help from Misty and Penelope. “Who… who told you?”
Penelope added, “Yes, whoever told you must be as evil as you are.” She gasped, “Oh my gosh,” she said in disgust, “I went out with you, and you turned out to be evil.” Orion, with the little strength he had, embraced her for support.
Zeus, meanwhile, was watching the goings-on and he stepped in, figuratively of course. “Who told you of my plan, Adam?”
He refused to bow to Zeus as the other centaurs did, “Why, it was the ruler of the underworld, Lord Hades himself.” He smiled with no fear.
“That is enough. I will not let you speak of Hades during this time. This is supposed to be a happy time, and the ladies choose, Adam, so you have already violated that rule. Because of your actions, I hereby sentence you to an eternity of living in the underworld, since you seem to be close enough to Hades as it is.”
He smiled evilly, “Go ahead, you can’t truly hurt me.” Zeus just threw a lightning bolt at Adam and he completely disappeared, leaving behind an evil laugh that made Orion shiver. “It’ll be back to get you, Orion, mark my words!”
Misty wondered, “Orion, are you all right?”
“I think so.” He shook himself off. “I’m just a little queasy and dizzy.” He shook his head.
“The sun is going to set soon. We should get going.” Penelope held his hand.
“Where are we going?”
“We have to go the plateau behind the waterfall for Aphrodite’s judgment.”
“Wait a second.” He went back to Misty, “I’m really sorry, Misty, but… I’m in love with Penelope. Your soul mate is out there somewhere and he’s waiting for you. You just need to find him.” He hugged her. “Good luck.”
As he walked away, Misty put her arms around herself. “He’s so sweet.” After the sun set, Misty sighed as she sat down. “Once again, I am alone for the cherry blossom festival. Orion, mark my words. We will meet again and next time, things will be different.” She sat and waited on the grass while starting to pluck the petals off of her blossom, “He likes me, he likes me not…”
Meanwhile, Orion and Penelope walked hand in hand to the plateau of the goddess of love. Orion looked at Penelope while she looked at him and he knew that he was truly happy that she chose him over all of the other centaurs. When it was time for the judgment, Aphrodite sounded pleased with their choice. “Orion, you and Penelope will be together forever, wrapped in a bond of true love, bound together by the element of pure heart. I approve of your decision and thank you for coming up here today. I wish you both the best of luck.”
They both bowed and walked to the side of the waterfall where the moon reflected perfectly upon the water’s surface. Orion touched the water with his hand, somehow feeling distracted by what happened before. He remembered Adam yelling at him while he was on the ground, giving away his secret. Being reminded of his past form brought back his sickly feelings.
He was so distracted that he couldn’t hear what Penelope was saying to him. “Orion. Orion, are you listening to me?”
“Huh? Oh, sorry. I wasn’t.”
“Hey, are you okay?”
“What do you mean?” He sighed, looking down into his sad reflection in the water.
“It’s just that you seem a little distracted. Is there something wrong?”
“No, there’s nothing wrong.” He paused, “At least, I don’t think anything is wrong.”
“It’s Adam, isn’t it?”
“He went too far.” He sighed with a groan, “But he’s right. The only reason I’m here is because of Zeus. Zeus backed me up and Zeus helped keep us together. Somehow, I just don’t feel like that’s enough. You have been a beautiful centaur for all of your life and I have only been one for three days. I don’t even know all of the rules. I don’t think I belong here with you.”
“No, don’t talk like that. I’m sorry about Adam, but you shouldn’t let him get to you. Although you came from a different place, you have the soul of a centaur.”
“Even so, I don’t think that will make me feel any better.”
“Orion, if you’re not happy here, we can go somewhere else, where we can be together forever and we’ll always have each other no matter what.”
“I’m sorry for imposing this on you, but I feel like I’m meant to be somewhere else.”
“It’s getting late; we should rest for the night. We can leave tomorrow. Things are going to be all right.”
“All right, Penelope.” They lay down on the ground near each other and started shutting their eyes. Before falling asleep, Orion spoke, “Penelope?”
“Yes, Orion?”
“Thank you so much for choosing to be my mate.”
“I love you, Orion, and nothing will ever change the way I feel about you.” For once in a long time, Orion slept peacefully with pleasant dreams about his life together with Penelope.
At the sunrise of the next day, the two centaurs left the forest and searched to find the place Orion felt he belonged to. They searched for many years, unable to feel that he belonged anywhere. They traveled to many different forests across the continent, settled in one for a day or two, but Orion refused to settle until he found the perfect place. So they always left after a couple of days, on the road once again.
Soon enough, the endless search started tiring Orion out and he grew wearier every day. He knew that his life was getting shorter with each day that went by, but he refused to settle down until he found the perfect place. Penelope, on the other hand, stayed beautiful throughout the trip, but she continued to worry about Orion’s well-being. After nearly 20 years of searching, Orion was unable to move another inch.
His four legs were exhausted and completely numb from walking for so long. He collapsed and Penelope tried to help him back up. “I can’t move. I can’t walk anymore.” He groaned in pain and the agony of defeat. He finally admitted the truth, “I am to die soon at this spot.”
“No, no, you can’t.” She started to cry.
“You must go and find the next forest over and stay there.”
“No, I won’t leave you.”
His eyes turned to the side in a dying pose. He swallowed, “Penelope.”
“Yes?”
“Before I met you, I felt that I had a piece missing from my heart. You filled in that space and made me happier than I’ve been in a long time. But, my heart still longs for that perfect place where you and I can be truly happy. Without that place, I feel that I am incomplete.” He sighed, looking her in the eye, “That’s the reason I’m dying. A part of my heart is desperate to be filled, but I’m afraid that I cannot find that perfect place.”
“Don’t talk like that, Orion, that place is out there somewhere. You can’t just give up.”
“I’m too weak to move. I’m sorry.” He shut his eyes and one last tear fell down his cheek, “I love you.”
After his heart stopped beating, Penelope embraced him, crying for days; she pleaded to the Gods, “Orion! You can’t die, you can’t.” She refused to leave him, even if she were to die herself at the same spot.
Zeus heard her cries in his head for many days and was shocked about Orion’s death. Although it wasn’t a lonely death, he continued to pity Orion, feeling that he still had more to do. He thought to himself, ‘Orion was such a remarkable being, but there’s only so much that I can do for him. Somehow, I need to bring him back, perhaps in a later time, where he can find a way to be truly happy.
However, he was alone in his decision, unlike the last time. Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite felt that if Zeus were to bring Orion back one last time, his spirit would be completely exhausted and no matter how many times he would be reincarnated, he would get too weak, unable to go on. In the meantime, Zeus put up two constellations to honor Orion’s struggle, Sagittarius the centaur and Orion the hunter.
When Zeus examined Orion’s spirit again, he tried to experiment with the different forms. Nothing seemed to please him, so he looked into the future of the forms of the dominant species. He looked into the future of the Centaur Forest, seeing how Adam returned and destroyed all of the world’s life forms with the help of the Black Night Dragon. He then observed Jonaseriah, a remarkable being that he just recognized for the first time. ‘He may be an angel, but he holds the human form.’ As he looked closer, he saw that Jonaseriah’s spirit was stronger, yet similar to that of Orion. ‘They could even be cousins.’ That’s when he got the brilliant idea of turning Orion into a human, and like Jonaseriah, a human with special powers
When he tried to make a model of Orion, it didn’t completely work for some reason. He examined the spirit, finding that Orion would not be able to come back as a normal human due to the exhausting journey Orion had taken to find his true calling. With the help of Athena’s wisdom and Aphrodite’s love, Zeus planned to have Orion reincarnated at the same time period as Jonas’s spirit, but Orion had to remain in a wheelchair, and would never be able to walk again.
Zeus knew of the huge risk, but knew that somehow, Orion’s spirit will find its true calling, the place where he belonged. Only then would he be complete in heart, soul and spirit.
