Days of Darkness: Awakening

Chapter 20: The Awakening

The team all stood around in complete disbelief. Cyris, a man who had helped to lead the Pack for over two years, was now dead. Damien sat holding his lifeless body, filled with grief and remorse. Diamond bitterly wept in Christian's arms over the loss of the man who became her surrogate father. Nadia, who had become close to Cyris over the years, collapsed from the shock.

"What did you do?!" shouted Diamond.

"You all left me no choice," Dante said with a callous tone.

"There's always a choice," she replied. "You had a choice from the beginning. Every single thing that you've done to terrorize this planet was your choice."

Dante looked to the sky and paused for a moment. "I... I never had a choice. Ever since I developed these abilities, I was used as a weapon to serve others' purposes. Just a mere pawn in the scheme of power-hungry people who'll stop at nothing to see the world enslaved. No... no, my friend. It's liberation that I want – a liberation of the multiverse and a free society for all."

"But at what cost?" Nadia questioned. "When is this enough? Haven't you taken enough lives? Because of you, we live in fear every day. That isn't liberation. It's a slavery of both the body and the mind."

"Only if you lack the vision and commitment to see it through," Dante started. "To create a new society, you need to tear down the old institutions and start from scratch. Only then can a new world rise atop the ruins of the old society. Yes, I was a slave to that kind of thinking, too. It was never my goal to come here and destroy your world. What would be the purpose? What could I gain? But as I came through to your world, I was filled with a new calling. And that was to be free from the control of those who possess true power and influence. I must destroy the worlds that he created and start anew."

"You're insane!" Nadia shouted.

"No," Dante replied. "I am simply a man who has seen both the best and the worst of man. I will see success... And you all could've joined me. Now, you have to die!"

With that, Dante took to attacking the two women. Right away, Diamond and Nadia were on defense. Dante attacked viciously without mercy. Each blow meant to kill. However, the girls fought back just as hard matching Dante blow for blow.

Damien still held onto Cyris but, at the same time, he had begun to slip into a trance. The pupils in his eyes had disappeared as his eyes turned pure white and then started to glow a bright blue. His skin began to sizzle, and electricity surrounded him and engulfed his body as the roof started to crumble around him from the energy.

Lightning streamed across the dark sky as the thunder crashed. Nadia at once noticed what was going on with Damien. She tried running to his side but was quickly met with an army of Night-stalkers. As she did what she could to fight them off, the lightning began to strike Damien over and over again and with each bolt, his eyes would glow more. Nadia fought as hard as she could to get to Damien but the sheer number of them proved to be far too many.

Christian rushed for Dante's portal machine to try to shut it down. As much as he wanted to help his friend, he knew, deep down, that this was what Damien would've wanted him to do first. At first glance, Christian felt overwhelmed at the thought of crippling a device of this magnitude. He knew, however, he had no choice but to try because the stakes were far too great.

Diamond continued to fight Dante on her own. Vengeance clouded her mind, and she could think of nothing more. The only thing that she could see was Dante's death. It drove her to continue fighting even if it seemed as though the fight was an uphill one.

"I'll kill you!" she shouted out as she continued to strike at him.

Dante laughed at her, mocking her. To upset her further, he folded his arms and only used his legs to fight, toying with her. With every swing she threw, he'd tease and taunt her, forcing her to exert herself more and tire out.