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Mizrak was unnaturally still in Olrox's hold. He laid like a corpse, staring out into the trees. He didn't blink, didn't breathe, didn't move in the slightest, as if afraid to feel his own body. He was healed now, of course he was, but it seemed the cost was far too high for him. Olrox's sweet knight.
A petal fell from one of the trees above them, landing on Mizrak's face; He didn't even twitch. His eyes remained vacant, distant. Olrox brought one of his hands up to gently brush it away, then ran it through the short hair, ignoring the blood which stained it, made it sticky. He made a note to help him clean off soon. Perhaps it would help him feel better.
Several more long moments passed, until eventually, Mizrak mumbled, "I didn't give up."
Olrox leaned in a little, not catching his gaze, but noting that though his eyes were glassy, he did not appear to have the strength to cry. Not like he had before.
"I thought... being a vampire... I decided to try. To live, whatever that meant. And now, look what I've done. What I am."
"...I understand," Olrox whispered, heart clenching. Mizrak finally shifted his gaze up, focusing in on Olrox for the first time in many long minutes. "Do you think I haven't done the same? Back when I was a newly-turned vampire, I was alone. My world was crumbling down around me, and the one who turned me didn't care, vanished without a trace. The others who came to make colonies out of my home weren't... options. That I would take. And so I ended up hurting many people in my hunger. I think some of those older vampires found it funny."
Mizrak's chest was moving again, breathing in and out. Good. Olrox watched as several more blossoms blew down from the trees, scattering in the breeze to catch on himself, and Mizrak, and the bodies hidden just off the path. The delicate petals stained red, already sticking in the puddle and stains where they landed. Olrox sighed softly to himself and plucked a blossom off Mizrak's neck.
"But... you aren't alone. Not with me here. Do you understand, Mizrak?"
Though he didn't nod, he swallowed, lips parting slowly, eyebrows starting to furrow. "Is it- Did I really-?"
"I'm afraid so, yes," Olrox admitted. Mizrak's eyes screwed shut then. A frown cut through the deep red staining his mouth and chin before he managed to re-open his eyes and speak again.
"May I...? I can't do this now. I wish to not think... for a little while."
It wouldn't make the problems go away, nor change his way of thinking or take his guilt, but it would allow Olrox to lift his burdens until they could get cleaned up and into a safe place. Olrox could do that, for Mizrak, for getting him comfortable to process this part of a vampire's life.
"Very well." He looked directly into Mizrak's eyes, letting his magic unspool, feeling that electric charge fill him like a storm, rumbling and flashing.
Mizrak stared back, unafraid, so much unlike how he viewed himself and his own abilities. His sweet, sweet knight. He was so young yet, and hadn't the experience of dealing with such loss, not the way the long-lived eventually had to reckon with. And even then, Olrox himself still found himself clinging--perhaps selfishly--to his favorite people, unwilling to leave them to their fates and pained when they hurt. Mizrak, at least, was finally beginning to relax out of his stiff state.
As Olrox let his magic reach out and embrace Mizrak's mind, curling around and muffling his mind, his breaths came longer and slower, all his muscles finally letting go of their hold so that he went limp, completely reliant on Olrox's hold. His face smoothed out where Olrox trailed his fingers, brow smooth, lips slightly parted, eyes soft and pupils wider. It wasn't the look Mizrak gave Olrox when he was in bed, but something almost more like... awe, maybe.
Curiosity getting the better of him, Olrox asked, "What do you feel, when you are like this?"
"I... It's like... praying." Mizrak didn't look away, the green reflection of Olrox's own eyes dancing within his.
"Praying." Mizrak made a soft sound. "In what way, I wonder."
"Be here with me," whispered Mizrak.
"Always," Olrox whispered back, leaning down to press a soft kiss to his forehead. "In that way, I'd like to think I'm far more reliable than the average god."
Mizrak settled into his trance, his dazed look soft and comfortable. He curled into Olrox when he stood with Mizrak in his arms. Dealing with the rest of the situation could wait. With Mizrak healed--but only physically--Olrox decided getting them cleaned and cozy was the next thing on the list. Dealing with whoever had wanted to harm Mizrak would come later.
Olrox left the small grove then, noting that the blossoms which drifted down in the breeze looked far nicer on Mizrak when he wasn't so distressed. "I didn't give up." No, with Olrox at his side, he never would. Olrox himself would make certain of it.