Days of Darkness: Awakening

Chapter 16: Gods Among Men

As Damien drove through the city, his mind raced as fast as his motorcycle. He needed answers. For him, his entire life had turned upside down for the second time in a matter of minutes. To go from a comfortable life with his mother and father and his baby sister to end up on his own in a world of darkness, and now these unknown changes within himself was a lot to take in. He was scared – scared about what was going on and, even more so, scared of what he was becoming.

Eventually, he found himself at his childhood home again. As he stopped and got off the motorcycle, he stood in what remained of the driveway and stared at the house. The nearly destroyed house stood as a reminder of not only the life that he had but of the changes that brought about his current situation. The two years that had passed up until this point had shaped him in ways that he never thought possible.

He walked up slowly to the front steps while removing his jacket and sat down. "What am I doing here?" he thought to himself. He couldn't fully understand what led him here. Was it familiarity? Comfort? He couldn't figure it out.

As he sat there on the front porch, he started having flashbacks to when he and his sister used to play in front of the house. He thought back to the times when he taught his sister how to ride a bike, how to climb a tree, how to fight - all the memories that he held close to him. They all came back to him in an instant.

"What am I doing here?" he thought to himself.

In the background, he could hear a faint voice call out to him. "Damien," it whispered.

"Am I losing it?" he pondered.

As the wind rustled through the bushes blowing the leaves on the ground about, he could hear the voice again, but more loudly. "Damien!" He finally stood up to have a look around outside of the house. He searched the side of the house between his and the next and no one was there. As he approached the backyard, he heard the call again increasing in intensity. That's when he finally heard, "DAMIEN!" At that moment, he realized that the voice wasn't coming from the outside... It was inside the house.

Damien walked up the deck leading to the kitchen, smashed the glass, and went inside the house to investigate. He immediately pulled out one of his daggers to prepare himself for whatever came next. He did his best to tread lightly through the heavily damaged kitchen and front entryway in hopes of the floor not caving into the basement. Nothing was found though. There was no trace of where the voice came from. He then inched up the creaky stairs in hope of not creating too much noise. Inch by inch he walked up to the top stair when, CRASH, right through the floor.

Damien hung on as hard as he could to a broken wood beam. He knew that if he dropped, then that would be his certain death. So, he tried hard to pull himself up, but it was to no avail. The wood beams were covered in water making it hard to get a firm grip. He looked down to see if it would've been at all safe so he could let go, but it was no use. Falling would've taken him on a direct path to the basement floor two levels below him.

"This can't end like this," he said out loud as he continued to struggle. But Damien was losing the fight - and he knew it. Soon after, Damien lost his grip. "This is it," he thought. Then, out of nowhere, a hand reached out, grabbed him, and pulled him up to safety.

Damien fell to his knees and started to clean himself off. "Really... you just don't know how much I appreciate you right now."

"Oh, I can imagine," the voice said.

Damien couldn't believe what he was hearing. It was a very familiar voice. As Damien looked up, he saw the long black coat flowing down to the floor. As he stood up, he looked the man straight in the eyes - at least what he could see of them. It was Dante!