Post by Khaos on Jul 5, 2021 19:52:51 GMT -5
Everything seemed to happen in slow motion, like Damien was stuck in the moment and the only thing he could do was watch helplessly as the bone knife shredded through flesh and impaled itself into her heart. Her face, so familiar, twisted into pain as the Lich stabbed the blade into her back. Damien felt his breath catch in his throat, his heart freeze in his chest. He opened his mouth to scream his condemnation at this brutality but wasn’t sure if anything decibel left his lips.
“It’s not time to stop just yet; you still have further to travel…”
Damien felt like his legs were made of iron as he tried to move them towards her, Eadon watching this as a chuckle of amusement emanated from his dark soul.
“Not everyone can be saved…”
The Lich pulled back his blade with such force that the blood pooled into her mouth and rolled down her lips, as her body viciously heaved forward.
“Death waits for no man…”
Damien pushed his legs forward, trying to get to her before she hit the blackness that surrounded them.
“We all have our demons, Damien; it’s time you face yours...”
The Charon collapsed into his arms as the weight of it sent him toppling down with her, the two falling into the abyss as the darkness closed around them, swallowing them whole.
“The Crucible does not always show you what you WANT to see but, rather, what you NEED to see...”
A nine-year-old version of Damien found himself crouched in the closet, his knees pulled tightly to his chest, tears streaming down his cheeks. Tendrils of smoke wafted under the doors, circling around him, forcing its way into his lungs. His fits of crying mixed with exasperated coughs as he struggled to breathe. But he stayed still; he did as his mother had told him. Even after the agonizing screams of his family had long since died away, he remained hidden. Through the small slit in the door, Damien watched as the fire crept its way into his room. At first, he thought it was something beautiful, the way it seemed to dance its way to the ceiling, moving with a purpose as it devoured all it touched. But the majesty of it all faded away to terror when he realized that he, too, was on the menu. He waited for death to take him, could practically hear it knocking on the door. But then the axe swung through, splintering the wood and forcing Damien to shield his eyes. The gloved-hand of the firefighter forced open the door and reached through, pulling him from the fire and to safety…
A twelve-year-old version of Damien sat on a stiff wooden bench as raised voices could be heard in the next room. He’d do better to block out the noise, focus on something – anything – else, but he knew they were talking about him and he wanted to hear every word, even though it did nothing but bring him pain. Words like “menace”, “unloveable”, and “dangerous” could be heard as his third set of adopted parents returned the youth back to the Silver Oaks Orphanage. This had been his last chance. Three strikes and you’re out, or so the saying went. The voices faded away when he saw her. Her long brown hair was tied back in a loose pony tail, her beautiful face tired and her eyes dark. She had been crying again, and he knew he was the cause of it. Sister La Rosa wearily sat down beside him, gently putting her arm around Damien and telling him that “it’d all be okay”…
A sixteen-year-old version of Damien watched as his world, literally, went up in flames once more. The horror of the past set him into a tailspin as he felt like he was right back in his childhood closet, waiting for the fire to take him in its eternal embrace. As he ran from room to room, he found himself on the second floor balcony, watching as Sister La Rosa held firmly onto the arm of Kaiya Fox. At first glance, he thought that the kind-hearted nun was trying to save the thirteen-year-old girl from the inferno. But as he got closer, he could see the fear in Kaiya’s eyes as she looked to Damien to “save her”. He tried to intervene, break La Rosa’s grip on his friend. He hadn’t meant to push her so hard, it was an accident. She fell backwards, the railing breaking under her weight. Damien remembered looking over the edge as the lifeless, accusing, eyes of Sister La Rosa looked back up at him. She had been the first one to greet him when he had arrived at the orphanage all those years ago. She had been there when the nightmares would hit, softly stroking his hair and soothing him back to sleep. She had helped him find the strength to live again. And now she was dead, because of him. Damien wanted to lie down and let the building collapse in on top of him. But he had Kaiya to think of, she needed him. With tears in his eyes, he took the little girls hand and led her to safety…
“Why are you showing me this!?” Damien cursed, the painful memories coming to a stand-still as the darkness blanketed over him.
Damien collapsed to his knees, his fingers clenched so tightly together that they dug into his flesh, blood dripping from his hands. When he first got here, in the In-Between, he wanted nothing else but to go back to the land of the living. Now, he just wanted to be done with it all; he just wanted it to be over. He felt her hand on his shoulder as he lifted his head at her touch, looking into Sister La Rosa’s face once more.
“I’m so sorry,” Damien implored, the tears streaming down his cheeks. “Please forgive me.”
The Charon simply smiled in response as she grabbed Damien’s hands in hers and helped him to his feet. Her light washed over him, healing the wounds that he had self-inflicted upon himself during his grief. Damien watched the blood vanish off his hands, as he looked back to Echo.
“Why?” Damien questioned. “Why are you helping me? Look at all the things that I’ve done. To you; to those poor souls! I’m a monster; a murderer...”
“No,” La Rosa responded, smiling sweetly as her hands cupped over his face. “You are more than that, Damien… so much more. I knew it from the moment you walked into my life over a century ago. And I will be there again when you realize it for yourself. But there will be time for all of that later, you must go…”
“I don’t want to,” Damien interrupted, looking upon his maternal figure as if he was but a teenager once more. “The things that I saw in the Crucible, the things that YOU showed me, how can you send me back after that!? I’m the darkness Sister, and where I go… death follows.”
“Death waits for no man,” Echo began as a cunning smile formed on her lips. “But you are no man, Damien… you are a Reaper.”
Sister La Rosa leaned in and planted a kiss on Damien’s cheeks as he closed his eyes, soaking in the warm embrace. When he opened them, he was kneeling before the Lich, the lifeless body of the Charon still in his arms. Gently, he set her down into the darkness as he watched the black swirl around her and absorb her into the nothingness. The Lich scoffed, drawing the ire of Damien as he slowly rose to his feet.
“You can’t beat me Damien,” Eaden hissed, scraping his bone-knives together.
“Maybe not,” Damien reasoned, closing his eyes and drawing upon the darkness around him. “But 'Khaos' can…”
Before the Lich could fathom what was happening, Damien was gone, the blackness churning around him like a dark twister and swallowing him whole. Eaden’s good eye darted left-to-right, looking for any sign or trace of his adversary. He twirled around, seeing nothing but the souls of the dead looking back at him. The Lich spewed fire from his maw, threw out his bone-knifes in every direction, but there was nothing… Damien was simply gone. The Lich stood still, the bones clicking together as the knives began to recoil back to his wrist. Deciding he had wasted enough time, he moved to make his way to the swirling blue vortex that would grant him his release from this lifeless limbo. The obsidian blade slashed out from the void, catching him across the shoulder. He spun to meet it, only for another to strike him across the back. A series of flashes, the steel sawing on bone, as Eaden turned in circles, never able to pinpoint where Damien would strike next. The Lich dropped to a knee as Damien struck him true in the back of his leg. Eaden raised his hand and thrust forward his bone-knife again, only for the connection of it to be severed from his wrist completely. A series of slashes from the void once more as sparks lit up the darkness as the Lich suffered at the hands of Damien and his thousand-cuts.
“Enough!” Eaden roared, throwing his head back and drawing forth an emerald flame from his palms.
He frantically lashed out, sending the fireballs in every direction. The blasts hit against the boats that waited to cross the River Styx, sending them flipping into the air, the shards raining down and disappearing into the watery depths. The fire seared through the souls of the dead, who continued to look on with disinterest at this confrontation. One blast hit the dais, toppling it over and sending the Crucible and the water within sloshing over the side.
“Where are you!?” the Lich boomed with frustration. “Damn it! Fight me like a-“
Eaden’s voice abruptly ceased as Damien suddenly materialized from the shadows and, with one clean and decisive slash, severed his skeletal head from his body. Damien watched as the head rolled off the Lich’s shoulders and fell into the black, the face staring back up at him. The headless body remained standing but for a moment, before falling backwards, the bones all scattering upon impact. Damien took in deep breaths as the use of his Reaper-like abilities left him physically drained. He looked to Eaden’s skull, to where the Charon had vanished, and then turned to face the portal that waited to bring him back to existence.
“This isn’t over, Damien,” the Lich’s teeth chattered with rage, his one eye burning blood red. “You can’t stop what’s coming. The whole world WILL burn…”
“I’d ask if you had any messages for me to carry on to any loved ones,” Damien mocked, making his way towards the portal. “But something tells me that no one’s missing you.”
Eaden cackled as Damien approached the vortex, studying it with wonder. Would this really bring him back to life? Would he remember any of this had happened? How had he died in the first place? Damien slowly began to lift his hand, his fingers brushing against it as a surge of electricity flowed through his body.
“Oh Damien!” the Lich called out, his voice demonic and ominous. “Tell Tavora… ‘I’ll see her soon’!”
Without looking back, Damien lifted his left hand into the air and gave Eaden the “one finger salute” before taking a deep breath and stepping through the gateway.