A New Day

Chapter 30

"Ah, girl", he roared, "I see that Deity has removed my darkness from you. He would send a peon to do the work that he, himself can not do!"

Athens didn't speak. She only stared at him with focused eyes.

Revos continued, "Tell me, why you? What is so important about you? Why are you willing to die here? When you fall, this planet will fall to me as well. All of this is for nothing. Give up now!" His laugh filled the air again, rattling even the breaths within Athens' chest, yet still she did not respond.

He peered at her in anger. "Why will you not answer me, girl?", he said, "Are you that frightened in my powerful presence? It makes perfect sense. Though, while I would love to continue berating you, my patience has worn thin with your family. it is time that you join them ,and then your pathetic race of people can be wiped from the memory of time like the specks that you are!"

He phased quickly, and then was within 5 steps of her, nostrils flared and claws protruding. Athens could feel his intentions. She stood with her Lumen sparkling, ready. She knew that this was it. She could hear Deity's words in her head, that she had the power. Then another voice rang in her head. It was her mother's voice. It took her back to the evening before she had sacrificed herself. Revos interrupted her memory by grabbing her neck first and holding her up off the ground. She could feel his grasp. He was squeezing hard, but Athens had learned how to shield her body. Even with her shield, she knew that she could not survive long. She tried to think of offensive maneuvers she could enact, but that memory called back out to her, and so, even at the risk of her dying right here, she followed it. She heard her mother's voice telling her that light overcomes darkness by showing it a better way, by loving where hatred is given. That is when she knew what she had to do. She knew that this would probably get her killed, but she could almost see her mother and father smiling at her, wherever they might be.

Athens could smell his breath. She also knew that from where she was hanging, she could lift her hands just a little bit and strike him enough to force him to let her go, but she did not. Instead, she called back Lumen. She also broke her shield, immediately feeling feeling the true pressure of his hands around her neck. Through cracking bones, she looked Revos in his eyes and said,

"I forgive you."

Revos looked at her, and then renewed his focus. He brought a fist up into her stomach, sending her crashing through a grove of trees, before landing on the ground with splinters stuck in her arms, legs, and torso. Her body ached. Tears gathered in her eyes, but she sniffed them back up. Now was not the time to be weak. And so, even though she didn't trust her voice to speak again, she sat slowly up, and then stood up, feeling fire erupting in her body. She waiting until Revos had quickly phased within spitting distance of her and said again,

"Revos, I..I forgive you."

Revos flexed his muscles and screamed into her face. It was a scream of anger. He brought his fist down into her stomach again, and Athens heard multiple ribs crack with the force of the impact. Shw dropped to her knee, but never allowed her eyes to leave his, because in that scream she heard just the smallest bit of something else. She needed to be sure, so this time she said,

"Revos, all of us...Aramis, my mother, my father, my uncle, aunt, and cousin, our people...we forgive you!"

Revos stared at her, and that was when she saw it. A single tear forming in the corner of his eyes. This tear was not dark. It was not black. it was not tar. It was clear, and pure. It was...light. Seeing this, she decided to press her advantage.

"Revos, do you hear me?", Athens said, "we forgive you. You made a mistake. You thought the darkness would give you what you craved, but it hasn't has it?"

Revos opened his mouth, but no words came out. That single tear in his eye formed completely and fell slowly down his scaly cheek. He raised his fist to strike her again, but looked uncertain.

Athens smiled a painful smile, and then said, "What you really seek, what you really want and desire...is to be accepted. To be loved. To be welcome back. And so, I say to you, Revos, denounce the darkness. Come home."

The more that she spoke, the more she felt her pain leave her body. She was aware of a warmth in her that was radiating outward. Her vision was becoming clearer than it had ever been before. She not only saw Revos as he was before her, but she saw Revos as he had been. She saw him laughing and joyful, at peace. Shew saw him playing with the children he had later destroyed. She saw him working hard to accomplish the will of the Deity. She saw him excelling. She saw him whole.

"Revos", she spoke in a voice she barely recognized, "Deity has commissioned me to bring you home. He misses you. Leave the darkness behind. Come home."

Revos looked at her again, tears streaming down his face. When he opened her mouth to speak, there was no anger. He sounded like a hurt child, fighting something that he could not quite let go of. His words still wouldn't come, and Athens could see the internal struggle going on within him. The Darkness was not proving a willing accomplice to this change of plans. One moment he was growling, and the other he was sobbing openly. His visage changed from his original form, back to the one that her wore now. Athens could tell that he was trying. She walked over to him, and saw his claws come out once more. She walked toward him as he secreted black tar from them, and gnashed his teeth. She walked toward him as his arm trembled and shook while he tried to decide whether he should kill her where she stood or not. She walked toward him boldly, unafraid. Through her new eyes, she saw him as he was meant to be. She saw that there was nothing to be afraid of, only someone to bring home, and when she was close enough to him, she wrapped her arms around him and did the only thing she knew could overcome the darkness in him.

She hugged him.