Orthos. Sacred beast. Path of Black Flame practitioner. Last great descendant of Serpent’s Grave. Contracted to Wei Shi Lindon.
Stage: Truegold
Path:
The last great descendant of Serpent’s Grave, a massive black turtle whose shell facets glow sullen red and whose eyes are inky pools of darkness with circles of furious red. Nearly 300 years old, Orthos spent a decade imprisoned and mad from Blackflame madra overload before contracting with
Stage: Truegold
Path:
Restored to full vitality by the Life Well in Northstrider’s Ghostwater facility, Orthos shed a hundred years of wear. Glossy black skin replaced worn gray, his eyes brightened, his voice deepened. The madness that had gripped him for a decade is gone. His insight sharpened with his health: “Your weakness, Lindon, is thinking you are weaker than you are.”
Stage: Truegold
Path:
Orthos departed on a traditional sacred beast journey to advance along his own Path. He expected the journey to take years and accepted that
Stage: Truegold
Path:
Operating in
Stage: Dragon Sage (Archlord)
Path:
A Dragon Sage who manifested the Dragon Icon through centuries of meditation on the nature of dragons.
Blackflame
Orthos was imprisoned in Underground Chamber Number Three beneath the Arelius compound, his own Blackflame madra having overwhelmed his mind a decade earlier. The Arelius branch heads had attempted to end his suffering;
As a sacred turtle, Orthos is as long as a horse but three times as wide, his shell peak rising to head height. Clusters of blazing embers dot his back and black smoke rises from his shell in waves. His voice sounds like a rumbling volcano. He served for centuries as liaison between the Arelius family and the Blackflame imperial family before the madness took him. [BF Ch.10]
Orthos demonstrated the proper form of every Blackflame technique for Lindon: Dragon’s Breath (madra gathered in the throat, compressed and spun three times until nearly liquid), Burning Cloak (Enforcer technique wreathing the body in flame), and Void Dragon’s Dance (Ruler technique that raises red-and-black aura into blooming roses of fire). His combat power at Truegold exceeded anything Lindon or
Skysworn
Orthos settled into the role of guardian for the Arelius family, his madness receding in flashes of lucidity that grew longer over time.
Ghostwater
His insight matched his restored health. He told Lindon: “Your weakness, Lindon, is thinking you are weaker than you are.” [GW Ch.14]
Underlord
Orthos joined Eithan’s Skysworn squad alongside
Orthos announced his departure for a traditional sacred beast journey, expecting it to take years. He had reached a crossroads he could not resolve as Lindon’s companion: “I thought my Path was over. Now I face decisions.”
Orthos arrived in
Wintersteel
Orthos spent months in
Bloodline
Orthos led an attack on Heaven’s Glory School and freed Wei Shi Seisha, but failed to escape and was captured himself. When
Reaper
Orthos used soulfire to shift his size, settling on a form no larger than “an ordinary turtle, maybe a baby one” for labyrinth access. The choice was deliberate: “now I can fit anywhere.” His deep rumbling voice remained unchanged despite the transformation. He rode on Lindon’s shoulder alongside
Dreadgod
Orthos stood larger than a human in his natural Underlord form, though soulfire allowed him to shrink to roughly a foot tall. He noted with dry humor that he could have grown wings when advancing to Underlord, a choice available to sacred beasts that he apparently declined. He recognized Noroloth’s hunger-driven madness from his own decades of corruption: “I’m more a dragon than any of those proud gold dragons.” [DG Ch.9, Ch.12]
Waybound
Lindon’s Consume technique provided the foundation for Orthos’s rapid advancement, with a plan requiring fourteen treatments of processed Remnant power to bring him to Archlord readiness. The Herald black dragon Remnant Noroloth served as his trainer, drilling combat techniques and willpower resistance. [WB Ch.2]
Orthos reached Overlord, continuing to advance through Lindon’s support and his own centuries of accumulated insight into the
Orthos and
Lindon pushed Northstrider’s captured power through their contracted bond, focusing on the Dragon Icon.
His human form revealed itself for the first time: weathered, tar-black skin and gray hair, black eyes with circles of bright red and a spark of fire in their depths. He wore dark leather that looked like dragon hide, with bits of armor strapped to it. His deep rumbling voice remained, and he snorted smoke when amused. When
Orthos challenged Lindon to a grip contest using his new Dragon Sage authority. Lindon overwhelmed him in seconds.
Orthos ascended with the team to join
Threshold
In the Wolf Division training compound, Orthos sparred with Akura Pride in human form, coached in real time by
On a Reaper mission to Iteration 151: Harness, a non-sacred-arts world where humans bond with monsters, Orthos traveled as a pocket-sized turtle on
He broke cover by talking aloud without even noticing he had done it. His philosophy held true across worlds: “A dragon should protect the young.” [TH S11]
In the Grave’s break room, Orthos shifted to human form, dropped onto the couch, and was about to eat an amethyst when