Deus Didymus: Rend

The Original Phantom V

Screams and panic of both man and woman crashed against blood stained walls. All combatants rushed toward the source of the chaos, yet those who arrived found a massacre they'd shortly join. The stench of death swelled, bursting and filling the hallways suffocating even the bravest. Heavy pants and gasps for air followed behind a single survivor, stalking like a ghost with its eyes looming over with a sick, twisted, and cynical smile.

Even with his legs moving as fast as he could will them, every step felt like moving through molasses. 'It's useless!" he told himself over and over, yet the possibility of finding someone strong enough to deal with the monster behind him gave him hope. As the man burst through his superior's door, relief washed over his face. "Boss! Call help! Someone's-"

A thin line formed on the center of the man's face, growing red as it did wide until both halves of his face fell apart. There wasn't a sign of anything or anyone behind him, but even without the boss' eyes, it was clear someone was there. Every sentient being with the will to live would be able to sense that something stood in the doorway. 

"Have you ever lost something?" Hakun's voice echoed through the room with his footsteps. A noticeable chill filled the air followed by the feeling of despair, one that prevented the boss from making a break for it through the open door. "Not just progress toward something greater--a brighter future. Not just a person, but a part of yourself? Regret wasn't something I thought I could feel anymore. I cast it aside like the many other hopes and dreams I once had. It was part of the job. Yet, I feel a void--like I'm missing something."

A small slit opened on the boss' cheek. The color of his flesh drained around the wound, growing gray while blood trickled down his skin. Inexplicable pain bit into the boss' nerves, shooting straight to his brain. But his fear held him still. 

"I used to believe that I could create a future for myself. One where I could watch my children grow. Seeing them take their first steps was something I took for granted. Hearing their first words was just a given; every person would say them eventually. Being there for their first heartbreaks would have been tedious... for the old me. I imagined guiding them through the darkness, showing them how to navigate through this twisted world, but now... now those beliefs are nothing but ashes, scattered to the wind."

Hakun's steps continued to echo around the room as if he were pacing with his hands behind his back. Each clack of his shoes against the stone felt like a tick of a clock counting down to one's inevitable death. 

"Do you know what it's like to regret? True regret. One that tears at you and berates you constantly--nagging, and nagging, and nagging without end--for taking what you had for granted? One that has you lamenting and thinking about their smiles and the innocence in their voices just a handful of years ago. To watch and hear the pained cries of those who remained, deteriorating because they won't get to see their loved ones again..."

The wall splintered causing dust to fall from the ceiling. A second laceration slit just below the boss' eye where the claws of death stabbed down to the bone. The feeling of his cells dying, crying out in agony sent alarms blaring in his body's system. Alarms that ultimately fell under deaf ears, for there was no use.

"They were innocent. They had nothing to do with your wars, your vendettas. They were just children with their whole lives ahead of them. Lives that you snuffed out without a second thought. And now... now there's nothing left in my heart for me but this. This bitter, endless rage that gnaws at my soul--that demands retribution. Retribution for this sick, twisted game you FUCKERS played!"

A low sigh blew between Hakun's lips. The pauses he took drove the boss' anxiety up and around his body, crawling and scratching at his insides to be free. The itch moved under his skin like a bug from his core, through his chest, along his arms, and around his face as if fingers dug through his flesh.