Age of Ember

Chapter 5

Ahhhh... I'm supposed to be the strongest! Assori drifted through space motionless and left to her own thoughts. She was disappointed in herself for losing. I hardly stood a chance with the way I was acting. I cannot allow this to happen again.

She grits her teeth in a controlled frustration of the moment. She had balled her fist for a moment, only to open them in front of her eyes. She examined them by slowly flipping them once from front to back. These hands of hers were strong, her body almost unbreakable, yet her conviction was weak. Angelo was standing around watching his daughter float around in sorrow while he tried to find the right words that would soothe her pain. Although he may have won the intense battle, he couldn't win a war he's been fighting forever: how to be a father. There were endless ways to parent, but he could never find out which would be correct. He's always improvised, which worked sometimes but not every time. At this point, he thought of words of truth.

"You could've won," Angelo seemed to collect his words. "You're more than strong enough. Why not fight with all you have?"

A single tear fell down Assori's eyes, running across her cheek for a moment before floating into the void of space.

"I am well aware of this," Assori affirmed what he said. Her father knew better than anyone else what she was capable of. He didn't know just by observation alone; her raw power exceeded anyone else in the universe. "My hands... My hands can only kill... It's impossible to regulate this strength of mine. If I would've used everything I had, I could have lost you... Like I did Mother."

Angelo felt his daughter's profound words reach him as he placed his right hand over his chest, over where his heart would be. For a brief time had he felt a familiar pain that was distant in memory. He quickly dismissed these feelings as he couldn't worry about himself. He floated over to Assori and picked her up. He was able to speak the words he felt would help.

"You won't ever lose me. I'll always be strong enough for you... So, there's no need to hold back."

The warmth of his Angelic body pressing against hers reminded her of her mother's warmth.

"You promise?"

"Always."

Assori vowed that she would never lose another battle. With all her thoughts collected, she floated away from Angelo. She was ready to finish the task that she now had to undertake. Regaining her confidence, she turned to her father and said:

"Teleport out. I'll destroy it all."

Surprised at how effective he was, Angelo didn't expose how he felt everything and simply teleported away.

Assori focused her energy, extending both of her arms in front of her. They were enclosed together, tightly grabbing onto an unknown mass. She started to slowly move her hands apart, still grasping onto the mass tightly... Within seconds, the universe begins to tear apart. Simultaneously the stars and the planets exploded, creating countless supernovas. She continued to pull the fabric of reality apart until she was left floating in a void of nothingness. The weight of the unknown matter was no longer there. Angelo teleported her back to their dimension into the room with the others. He spoke formally again in a divine voice:

"You have done well."

Lazarus looked at Dominus, accepting his loss.

"Eh. I will take my leave now and gather all my vampires."

Dominus looked at Assori in a manner that was quite confusing. She could have easily won the battle, but her feelings had gotten in the way of doing so. After processing what he should say, Dominus asked: