Days of Darkness: Awakening

Chapter 14: Open the Floodgates

As the portal opened slowly, Christian and Nadia were immediately terrified. Damien, Diamond, and Cyris, all stood poised, ready for whatever would come through the wormhole. As he stood ready, Damien's body was surrounded by an immense, electrical aura. The electricity surrounding him had an intense effect on the equipment around them, sending them all into a frenzy of lights and sounds. His eyes glowed a bright, white color while his skin burned a deep red and an electrical current flowed around and through him. His body began to tremble violently at the power that coursed through him as he stood focused.

No one could understand what to make of this moment. The strange things that were happening to Damien over the last few days, the portal opening in the middle of the lab, and now the energy that emanated from his body – everything now seemed to add up. But everyone was troubled, too, at the sight of Damien and what he was becoming. What could it all mean?

Christian ran over to the device despite the immediate danger figuring that there was only one thing that he could do.

"What are you doing?" Damien yelled.

"We need to close it up," he answered. Christian tried everything that he could to shut the wormhole down. He pressed every button and flipped every switch that he saw, but it was all to no avail. "Ugh! Nothing is working!" he exclaimed in frustration.

Damien quickly grew impatient and grabbed Christian and threw him to the side.

"Damien, wait," Christian yelled.

The portal started to open wider by the second, and a very loud screech could be heard from the other side. The sound pierced their ears and sunk to their core. Right away, they knew what the sound was.

Damien looked over to Christian. "Take Nadia and get out of here." But all Christian could do was stand at the console frozen in fear. "DO IT! NOW!"

Christian rushed over and took Nadia by the hand. He did everything that he could to get her clear of the room and out of immediate danger, but Nadia fought it as much as she could until Damien walked over to her.

"I made a promise to myself that I would keep you safe, Nadia, no matter what. I intend to keep that promise." He caressed her face as she began to cry. "I love you, Nadia Montgomery. But you need to leave, now, and let me handle this. I'll find you later."

The sounds from the portal got louder with each passing second. Diamond looked over to Damien with grave concern. She knew that it was only a matter of time. "Damien..." she called out with uneasiness in her voice.

"Christian," Damien said, "get her out of here, now! I'll find you both later." With that, Christian and Nadia made a hasty retreat to find safety. They ran down the hallway leading away from the lab shouting out warnings. "Leave the area, now! Everyone, get to safety!" While running down the hall, Christian stopped in his tracks.

"What are you doing?" Nadia questioned.

On the wall was a handle surrounded by glass that read, "In Case of Emergency, Shatter Glass and Pull Handle." Thinking that it would be the fastest and most efficient way to force everyone to safety, Christian took the hammer on the side of the case, smashed the glass with it, and pulled the handle. Once the alarm sounded, they continued to run away.

Once they made their escape, the wormhole in the lab opened as tall as the room. The winds and the lightning grew more and more intense as time went on. So, Damien, Diamond, and Cyris, all braced themselves for a long fight as the screeches from the portal increased and got louder and more frequent. The piercing sound of the Night-stalkers shattered monitors and beakers leaving chemicals on the floor and the lab in disarray. Immediately though, Damien's body began to absorb the electricity in the air, and the aura surrounding him started pulsating with more intensity.