The Onyx Prince

File 7

March - 19 - 1979
Heindenskee, Eldora.

Gena.
-The Watcher


File begins:

Alex stood up in a daze.

"You were a slave from birth. Don't fight it, you'll get nowhere."

If Pig were here, it would be licking its awful lips. But all Alex could think about was Mr. Clark had told him. His cold words echoed in his head, again and again.

A scream brought Alex back to reality. The girl who saved him was in danger.

He couldn't help but think it served her right.

The screams kept getting louder, but Alex didn't care. She was a thief, after all. She broke into his house and destroyed things that weren't hers. She even threatened him. This was fair. This was justice.

"What am I thinking?"

Alex shook his head and grabbed his face.

"I think I care."

No, this was justice.

"I don't care!" Alex shouted. Nobody heard him over the screams. Maybe Pig did, from wherever he was hiding.

There was an unfamiliar voice in his head that told him everything was ok. The way it filled his head reminded him of the guardian he met in the desolate grey wasteland.

Everything will be ok, it told him. Know your place.

"But I don't like being ordered around." Alex whispered. "And I'm nobody's slave."

He got up and followed the screams.

***

Alex walked into the guest room where he found Mr. Clark was standing over the girl. His back was to him.

"Hello, Alexander."

The old man turned to face him. He was grinning wildly.

"Is there a problem?"

Alex wanted to turn and run. But he didn't.

"...Yes."

"Really?" Mr. Clark's grin got even wider. "You're stronger than before. I am very pleased with how you've grown. You may watch."

He raised a hand. It glowed, then it began to flicker. Light emanated from his outstretched palm. Then the light turned yellow. That's when the hum turned into voices.

"Who are you to stand in the presence of a god? What can you do to stop him? There is no place in the universe for fools like you."

Alex gritted his teeth and managed to weakly reply:

"Don't do it."

"KNOW YOUR PLACE. YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A SLAVE. WHO ARE YOU? WHO ARE YOU?"

Mr. Clark gave Alex an uninterested but piercing glance and turned back towards the girl. She was bathed in her own green light, but Alex could tell she stood no match. She could probably tell too.

Alex closed his eyes. The once soothing voice was sharp and painful. It wanted him to give up.

"Be quiet."

The voices stopped. The light in Mr. Clark's palm hissed and smoldered. The old man stopped and turned to face Alex. His voice was cold, and it was only half his.

 "I recognize that voice...Abbadon."

Alex tried his best to stay calm.

"You told me I was his slave."

"Slaves don't command the authority of their master."

"That's because I'm not his slave. I stole his fruit of authority."

Mr. Clark was beside Alex in the blink of an eye. He hadn't even seen the old man move.

"This scar..."

His finger was pressed against Alex's face. He stayed very still, like prey frozen under the gaze of a predator.

"The mark of Enemy of Abbadon. I wondered how you got it."

"His guardian tried telling me what to do. I hate his guts."

Some warmth returned to Mr. Clark's eyes. He wasn't grinning anymore, he was just smiling like Alex had always known him to.

"Shrike was wrong. You aren't the apocalypse. You are the long awaited bane of one god. The god of destruction."

The words weighed heavily on Alex's consciousness. Perhaps it was his imagination, but he could feel the skin around his neck and wrists tighten. His birthmarks of servitude. But he could also feel something strange within him. It was like a familiar song he had heard in a dream.

"Curse me, Father Fate."

Was that his fate? To be the bane of Abbadon, the downfall of a god?

It wasn't a question. He felt the same sensation he had felt standing in the circle chanting the words of Apertio. Only one of them could survive.

And he had already made a deal with Pig, what would the poor thing do if something else killed him first?

"The fruit of authority..."

Mr. Clark was no longer paying the girl any attention. He was focusing on Alex with alarming intensity.

"There is a price, of course, to stealing the fruit of a god. That is the mark of the Enemy of Abbadon which you bear shamefully across your face, and the curse of overwhelming fear when you encounter his presence or his remnants."

"Sometimes I feel strange but I make it go away."

"Of course..."

Mr. Clark reluctantly turned back to face the girl.

"Who is she?"

"A friend. Sort of."

"Don't tell me you have a girlfriend already?"

Alex blushed and tried to tell him he was wrong, but she spoke before he got the chance.

"Yes. He...found me outside unconscious from the blizzard. He took me inside and warmed me up."

"Young love!" Mr. Clark laughed. "What a distant memory for me."

He gave Alex a mischievous look.

"I think you are a little young to be sneaking your girlfriend in. The moment I leave, no less!"

He kept laughing, and Alex caught a look from her. The message was clear. Keep your mouth shut.

"Can we talk in private?" she asked.

Mr. Clark looked at the both of them, and shrugged.

"I don't really care what the two of you do, so long as it doesn't distract my boy. When you are done, Alexander, you will come back to me. There is much you must learn."

With that, Mr. Clark headed back out of the room. The two looked at each other. Alex was mostly curious, while she glared daggers at him. He sighed and motioned for her to follow him. They walked up the stairs together in silence.

***

They sat on the edge of Alex's bed. He looked at her again. She was definitely older than him.

"I'm Alex."

She looked at him funny. "You can call me Gena."

"Nice to meet you, Gena."

She rolled her eyes at him.

"There's nothing nice about this. How are we getting out of here?"

Alex leaned back.

"Who said I'm leaving?"

"Are you insane?"

"No? Does that make me insane?"

"That is the monster. Alex, he's what killed everyone."

"I figured."

She was honestly confused.

"Then let's get the hell out of here!"

"Is that even possible? You can try, but I'll stay."

Gena looked at Alex as if he were the most vile thing on Eldora. She slowly stood up.

"Then I'm leaving."

Alex stood up and left before she could. The conversation was over as quickly as it had begun. He didn't even bother saying anything as he walked away. His old man was going to teach him something, and all he knew was that it would be worthwhile.

Priceless, actually.

Gena could try to escape. Did she realize her lie wouldn't keep her safe once she left?

***

"So?"

Alex took a seat across from Mr. Clark. He frowned.

"I'm not trying to be disrespectful, but it's nothing worth your time."

"Trouble in paradise already?"

"I guess."

In the short time he was gone, Mr. Clark had already begun lighting a few candles. He walked around and methodically placed them so that all were a different distance from where Alex sat.

"Stand up."

Alex did.

"Anyone can perform a ritual. Real skill comes from within."

Alex nodded. He long knew he was weak. It was why he had no way of protecting himself. Now, immediately after Apertio, Mr. Clark was finally ready to teach. Was it fate?

Alex didn't understand the ritual. He wasn't sure.

"The first magic you ever performed was extinguishing a few lightning bugs. You were nine."

Alex remembered.

"We'll start with that. Extinguish these candles."

It was the first thing Alex ever did with his magic, and the last.

"Well?" Mr. Clark said impatiently. "You may begin."

Alex felt like he was drowning in shame.

"I can't."

Mr. Clark walked up to him. His lips quivered, then he raised his hand and struck Alex across the face.

The power behind the simple movement sent him tumbling to the floor. He spat blood out of his mouth.

"You can't?"

Mr. Clark was towering above him. He was full of furry.

"You can't, but you didn't even try?"

"I don't know what to try!" Alex whimpered. "I didn't know where to begin, or what to-"

The old man's kick sent Alex soaring across the room. Mr. Clark quickly strode over him and stretched up his foot for another. Then he stopped and spat on the floor where Alex lay cowering.

"You're so weak that if I gave you the punishment you deserved, you'd die."

Alex's eyes widened. He even stopped breathing.

"Stand up." Alex hurried back up.

"Now try."

Alex closed his eyes and focused. Another strike sent him straight back to the ground.

"What are you closing your eyes for? You make yourself look like a fool acting so dramatic. These are only candles, now extinguish them."

Alex struggled back up. He was really, truly in a world of pain. There was nothing natural behind the strength with which Mr. Clark struck him. Alex stared at the closest candle. In his head, he screamed at it to extinguish. To flickered. To do anything.

Alex knew the next strike was coming before he felt it.

"You disappoint me."

Alex stared up at the unrelenting eyes of the man he called his father. Then he looked away. After a while, he heard the front door open, and then slam shut. He lay there, bleeding from his face and chest. He had probably broken a rib, too.

Alex just lay back and stared at the ceiling. Finally, he started laughing.

Gena had watched from the stairs, and she had reluctantly started walking towards him. But when he started laughing, she just shook her head and walked back up.

There was a window that overlooked the edge of Heindenskee. Mountains rose up all around them. There was something on those mountains, tearing their stone sides to shreds and screaming in frustration. She knew exactly who it was. No, exactly what it was.

The thing Alex called "Mr. Clark."

End of file.