Breaking Point

Part 4

I could feel it snap inside me. Like something broke. It didn't hurt, but it made me feel empty inside. All those raging emotions I had seemed to disappear, like I had made the final trade - my emotions, my soul, for the last and rest of the power inside me. I began floating. My whole body tingled and burned as I rose slowly into the air, my toes just barely off the ground. 

Taking a deep breath, power surged behind my eyes, and in a flick of my fingers, the whole building was on fire. Escaping through one of the broken balcony windows, I stood in the air, staring down at the mansion as it burned. 

I stayed far away, hidden in one of the Blackstone Duchy's many mansions. They didn't seem to care much about that mansion anyways, and quite frankly, neither did I. I knew by now that everyone inside the building would have been incinerated into ashes - it wouldn't be long before people came for me.

"Atlas!" I heard my name. I recognized the voice. It was Wes. He still dared to call my name after betraying me? As if he could stop me. Like my anger, the fires that were wholly consuming the mansion grew brighter and larger, and the few servants that had rushed over after seeing the fire to try and put it out were burned. "Stop! Atlas, why are you doing this? Stop these fires now!"

I couldn't believe him. He betrayed me, and now, he was demanding things of me? Who the hell did he think he was? I whipped around quick as the lightning that began flashing from the sky, my eyes glowing ominously and my expression cold. I lowered myself slowly to the ground and when my feet touched the ashy stone, Wes said, "alright, now put out the fires!"

I didn't move. I stared at him, wondering if I could perhaps drill holes in his head if I stared hard enough. It didn't work. Oh well, it was worth a try.

"No." I said firmly.

"W-What? What are you talking about? Do you know how many servants are in that mansion? Don't you care that you're killing all of them?" Wes's voice grew louder.

"Were," I said.

"W-W-What do you mean?" Wes stammered, stumbling a step backwards.

"Were. How many servants were in that mansion." I took a step forward as Wes fell backwards onto his hands.

"A-A-Atlas," he called my name in a shaky voice. I couldn't help the anger that burned through me when he said that. "This isn't you! Stop!"

He'd changed his approach. He was trying to guilt trip me now, use my emotions against me like he always did. What a manipulative bastard.

"This is me." I said calmly. "This was always me. You just didn't bother to see it." Wes couldn't say anymore. My words were true - under all the smiles I showed him, I had careful hid anger and frustration and misery. Even if I had showed him, I doubt he would have actually cared, seeing how callously he treated Iziekel's death.

Anger blazed inside me, and it was gone almost as soon as I had felt it. My emotions seemed to be sucked out of me - the trade was still going. My emotions were still a blazing furnace. I glanced down at Wes's shaking figure - how had I found him so cool? As he sat trembling before me, a thought popped up. Everything he had achieved - the beasts he 'hunted', the evil he 'defeated', the corrupted he 'brought justice upon' - it had all been me. Everything. How much of his achievements were actually his? How many of them were mine? I had lost count. All that was left was the storm of feelings that wanted so badly to slowly and painfully kill him. And now, when he was right beneath me, I could finally have my revenge. After him would come the entire Blackstone Duchy, and then after that, I'd make the corrupted Holy Lands fall. I closed my eyes briefly as I remembered them standing around as the Blackstone's men tortured me, entertainment glinting in their beady eyes. It had been disgusting.