The Olympians: The Fall of Kin

Shadows to Light

            Hell is an idea. It's not so much a place. Tarik knew that better than anyone. In his long life, he'd experienced many different hells. The night his mother had died. His drunk of a father driving the knife into her heart. That was one.

Another was the time in his life when he'd been homeless, unsure of what to do with himself. Unsure of where to go, how to survive.

And trust in the fact that the streets of Daridovia were not a great place to grow up.

Then there was the war. He remembered smelling the smoke in the air. The scent of blood as bodies were torn apart by gunfire. The Americans and British screaming for him to lay on the ground before driving their knees into his neck, even though he'd only been sitting in the alley, trying to avoid the war as best he could.

It wasn't until much later, after peace was achieved, and the UN created the "Godkin Equivalency Accord" with the help of a seemingly immortal human named Roman Titanus, the father of all Godkin, that he had met Onyx.

Tarik had never met Roman, but he knew he was in cahoots with Adastros. He was looked at as the father of the Godkin. Not much was known about the tycoon, save the fact that he was as old as any Godkin. Some thought he'd achieved that by experimenting with God DNA on himself. But he supposed it didn't really matter.

Onyx had been doing a job for the Titan Corp. founder, plundering a nearby village for a potential Godkin that was hiding from the DGD—Department of Godkin Denominations. That was Hamir.

For one reason or another, Onyx had taken a liking to Hamir. And he'd been apprenticed by the man.

He'd trained Hamir, taught him to use his abilities to kill. And, before he knew it, he was a full-fledged assassin. A murderer.

He always thought that he'd just been dealt a shitty deck of cards in life. But, was that true?

He wasn't really sure.

Maybe he could have bettered himself.

But unfortunately, he'd been a kid. And, after his first failed job, Hamir had been beaten within an inch of his life by Onyx. He'd begged for him to stop. But he hadn't.

After that, he'd seen Onyx's true form. He was a psychopath. An emotionless, evil piece of shit that wanted nothing more than perfection. And if he didn't get it, you were done for.

After years of that, he'd attempted to slit his wrists, to escape. 'Course, that never worked.

He chuckled, as he stood in the Hoh Rain Forest, where he'd been assigned to meet his old mentor.

Guess I'm back in hell.

Various trees that he couldn't even begin to name surrounded him in any given direction, some of them spanning up to seven-feet in diameter and reaching heights of three-hundred feet. Their arching branches and leaves cascaded a spotted shadow over the entire forest, giving it an ominous air. As he walked, his boots crunched on the dead leaves.

Fauna of all kinds meandered about, from deer, to snakes, all the way up to bears. At one point, he even got into a glaring match with one of them. It charged at him, but he simply swiped his hand, causing a blast of wind to tear the thing in half, its blood and gore strewn about the forest, painting the bark of the trees red.

Dammit, he was supposed to be here hours ago...

Where the hell could he be?