Death's Favorite Child

24. Light and Darkness

'Captain, it seems that the magical beasts in the forest are agitated. Several of them are attacking the wards,' Jon noted.

Daniel was standing on a hill near the restricted area, watching several beasts smashing on the wards, clearly in pain. What could be driving them to this behavior?

"So, you arrived?" a mysterious voice came from somewhere close.

Daniel raised his guard and looked around. He saw a middle-aged man floating a dozen meters away. He was tall, slim, and dressed in classic servant attire. He looked familiar.

"You are the servant of Princess Amelia," noted Daniel.

"Among other things. You can call me Jonathan."

"Did you do this?" Daniel pointed towards the forest.

"What if I did?" grinned Jonathan.

Daniel's eyes darkened, and his domain oozed from the ground.

"Well, well, aggressive as always. Before the day is over, you'll regret not kneeling yesterday," Jonathan said smiling. He obviously expected Daniel's reaction. After their last encounter, he had equipped an artifact to withstand Daniel's powers.

'Captain, based on the vibration of the warning stone, there are thousands of beasts attacking the wards throughout the boundary. I don't think they'll hold for long,' Jon warned.

"What did you do to the beasts?" Daniel asked. There had to be a way to stop this.

"Hmm. They are just tools to cleanse this territory from your corruption. There is nothing you can do to stop them now," Jonathan said and looked towards the forest. He then added,

"You have used your evil powers to corrupt this land -- as foreseen by the prophecy. Now everyone you corrupted needs to be purged."

Daniel looked at him and frowned, "Prophecy?"

"Oh yes. The prophecy has been passed down in the Church for hundreds of years. 'The One will come, wielding a spear and shield of darkness, consuming the world'."

"You are from the Church?"

"Perceptive as always," mocked Jonathan and added, "We identified you as the Dark One since you were born. We had to wait until your 10th birthday to dispose of you and save the world. However, the greedy Duke had to interfere with the prophecy and tried to kill you earlier. Tsk."

"Unfortunately, you survived. It seems that soul crashing spells cannot hold you," the strange man added as he hovered closer.

Little did the Church know that by attacking and failing to kill Daniel, they prepared a vessel for the Captain to come into this world. Without knowing, they were partly responsible for Daniel becoming the 'Dark One'.

"So, you are the ones that killed the boy?" muttered Daniel.

"Hmm. 'The boy'? So, you see yourself as separate from your past self? Interesting..." remarked Jonathan, to add,

"It doesn't matter. Today, this territory you have corrupted will disappear. Everyone that you corrupted will die. Even if you somehow survive, the world will learn that the crazy experiments you were running in this facility caused the monsters to go berserk, killing everyone, including Princess Amelia," Jonathan grinned, "You will be forever hunted, a pariah, an outcast. You will eventually surrender to the God and be purified."

"Which God?" Daniel asked.

"Which God??? There is only one true God!" Jonathan shrieked, agitated for the first time.