Lykaon

Chapter 13: The Confluence of Dark and Light

POV: Dakoda

There was utter silence.

Where am I? I thought to myself. The feeling crossing my mind was similar to that of when I had first awaken in Sheol; pure confusion and loss of direction. This wasn't exactly the same, though. This seemed far more surreal and my limbs felt as if they were made of smoke. I tried opening my eyes, only to find that they were already open and everything around me was simply darkness.

I decided to ignite my aura and use my ability to see it as a sort of lamp. Immediately the vivid red glow began emanating from my body. The illumination was enough to see several feet ahead.

Each direction looked the same so I decided just to begin walking forward. Every step echoed near endlessly and an invisible weight pushed down upon me. Increasing my aura to take the burden, I continued onward into the blackness.

Something began to appear on the dark horizon. At first it was vague but as I approached it came into vision. It was a room. Not connected to any building, just a singular room. It wasn't a part of the abyss, it seemed to exist as another dimension entirely. It wasn't complete either. It was almost as if it had been ripped from reality and placed here, leaving part of itself behind. I stepped into it and an intense warmth washed over me. Everything about it was so incredibly familiar. It was rundown and small but it felt like... home.

I heard the sound of a door creak open behind me. Quickly turning around, my heart suddenly leapt into my throat and involuntary tear slid down my cheek. It was her; my mother. The way she smiled at the baby in her arms was with the most love I had ever seen in someone's eyes. She paid no attention to me and walked right past, as if she couldn't see me at all. As she passed, I got a glance at the child's face. I'd expected to see myself but I was wrong, the baby wasn't me. I didn't know how that was possible, as far as I knew I was her only child.

She sat down in a nearby rocking chair and began singing softly. Her voice was beautiful and I couldn't help but to start crying. I hadn't heard her voice in so long that I'd forgotten how it sounded. I'm so sorry, mother...

That's when another sound entered my ears. It sounded like someone running across the wood floor but they were light steps. My gaze shifted back to the doorway just as someone else entered the room. This time, it was me. I was only a kid and there was something I could see on my face that I hadn't felt in a long time; joy.

"Stop running, Dakoda! You're going to wake your brother and I don't want to try to get him back to sleep again," my mother scolded my younger self.

"Sorry.. I just wanna know if you know what his name is gonna be yet. I don't know what to call him."

My mother smiled, "What do you think of-" Before she could finish her sentence, the room abruptly vanished.

"No!" I screamed into the silence, falling to my knees as I did. I only yearned to see more. Why can't I remember that ever happening?

"Do you see?" A familiar voice suddenly sounded in front of me.

I looked up at the speaker and wasn't even surprised to see him there. He was always present when I least wanted to encounter him again; my doppelganger. "Do I see what? Why did you show me that?" I asked, choking through tears.

Kneeling down, he looked directly into my eyes, "That you weren't always as you are now." His tone was somber which was something I wasn't accustomed to from him.

"And what's the significance of that? To torture me by seeing how fucked up I've become? Are you just trying to prove to me that I'm a monster?"

"That's the thing, Dakoda; you are a monster. You've always been a monster, even when you were that little boy. It's always been who you are. You believe that that's a bad thing but it's not. It never was. You see, there are two types of heroes in this world; the ones who fail because they follow the rules and the ones who succeed because they live by none. Some will shun you for your monstrosity but others will praise you as a savior. The darkness that has overcome your life was never the beast, it was always the man."