Her Fear, His Obsession

Embracing the Darkness with Open Arms

Red.

As red as blood.

As red as the roses that bloom in the garden below.

As red as the devil Luca worked so hard to fight off.

That is all he saw.

When he had awakened this morning, he felt refreshed but still exhausted. After putting Alia to bed, Luca had barely close his eyes before being jolted awake in bed by the threat of a new demon working to release the Darkness. He was an amateur, so it only took him a few moments to dispose of the offender, but Luca had then spent the remainder of the night reinforcing the guards and spells that had been cast to keep the Darkness at bay. Its encroachment onto the realm was too close for Luca's liking, especially when he thought about Alia.

Alia, the woman for whom he began fighting and living again. The woman that made him feel alive after years of being nothing more than a iron fist ruler. Luca was still a strong ruler but years of complacency and confinement to his castle had allowed small rebellions to grow in number. Luca never wanted to be king and as long as it wasn't a group that threatened to release the Darkness, he welcomed a bit of a threat- it kept things interesting for him. But, once Alia came into his life, he wasn't willing to take any risks.

He had changed his entire life for her and here she was, flirting and touching his right hand man... but even more than that, the man he had considered his closest friend before he became King. This was too much for Luca.

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!?!" He roared, rushing towards the recliner. Grabbing and throwing Alia's hand off, he reached for Viraj- one hand crushing the arm that Alia was touching, the other hand wrapping around his throat as he lifted him from the ground. He proceeded to throw Viraj into the glass mirror on the wall that was shared with his office. Shattering the glass with his back, Viraj flew through the window and landed on the floor, rolling and hitting his head on the couch.

He instantly sat himself up and moved to kneel, his head bowed. Remaining silent, he knew that anything he said would worsen the situation and any further disrespect would make Luca go crazy.

In the other room, Luca continued to destroy the room, throwing boxes and books, kicking and upending all the furniture except the recliner that Alia was leaned against. In his rage, Luca had thrown her off the seat and she get her head on the coffee table as she fell to the floor. Pain seared in her head and her eyes watered as she squinted to see despite the blurry vision. Feeling the warm liquid running down her face, she knew she hit her head. Not daring to make a sound, she kneeled in between the table and recliner, attempting to hide herself as she scooped up the bird (which remained untouched), hugging it to her chest. Remembering her breathing training, she closed her eyes and tried to go to her happy place. Knowing it was futile, she curled herself into a ball trying to make herself as little as possible. As her eyes began to droop over, she tried to fight to stay awake, wanting to protect Viraj. But she saw the darkness coming and embraced it with open arms.