Finding Darkness

Chapter 38

~Black Mist~ I chuckle. "I see. The moment you thought your friend betrayed you, your darkness activated deep inside."

Astral looks back to me, his eyes now changed: his left eye has an iris of a murky orange. The rest of the eye is black save for the rim of the iris and the eye itself. The right eye is completely white except for the eye rim and the iris rim. The markings on the black-ish purple regions of his body have turned a greenish color, and the ones on the white have turned the same color of more than half of his face, which is the same blackish purple.

"You could say that." His eyes light up with pure evil. He grins.

"Well, now it'll be easier to dispose of you, seeing as though you can't seem to control yourself."

"Why do you say that, Brother?" He says "brother" with a touch of sarcasm.

"Astral?" Yuma calls up from downstairs. "What's going on?"

"Oh, nothing," Astral answers casually. "Just having a little chat."

"Yuma," I call. "Come be my servant for right now." I wave my hand, and Yuma obediently starts climbing the stairs toward me. "Ii ko." (It means "Good child" in Japanese.)

When he's up, he faces me with a blank look. I send him a mental command, and he seizes Astral with inhuman speed. Astral thrashes to get away, but to no avail.

He chuckles. "You want me dead? I see now!" Astral looks at me with insane eyes. "This is what you've always wanted! You wanted me to lose it and then kill me! Well, that's low of you, Brother!"

"No, not that at all." I float up to him. "I just like that crazed look in your eyes as I stab your heart out. If I didn't make you suffer before killing you, what fun would that be?"

"No fun at all, I suppose," Astral responds. He narrows his eyes and grins. "Do it, then," he hisses. "Kill me if you want it so bad."

Suddenly, Yuma gives a small choking sound, and he lets go of Astral. His eyes dull, and then he falls, lifeless.

~Astral~ As soon as I see Yuma fall, I waver. My breathing stops for a while, and I wonder what is going on.

"Oh, dear," Black Mist says, sounding bored. "Looks like the curse has taken another soul."

I feel my sanity coming back, and grief follows. Has it really happened? Has the Death Letter really taken another soul? I turn to Black Mist, anger bubbling up and surfacing like lava.

"You...you killed him!" I lunge at him, light pouring from my body. "You fiend!"

Black Mist takes the hit full force, and he gets knocked backward. He gets up and snarls. "I didn't kill him! He opened the Death Letter himself! He killed himself." He grins.

I pull away, then I swing back around to punch his chest and abdomen. "You sent the note! You made this happen!"

Black Mist winces and grins. "Yes, dwell in your anger, Astral. That will be your undoing." He sends his whips toward me. They wrap the space around me and constrict.

~Black Mist~ Astral struggles against my tentacles, his rage close to breaking. Just a small push, and he could be buried in his anger for quite a while.

"It's no use, Astral." I grin. "The angrier you are, the stronger I get. You should realize that by now."

"Let me go, Black Mist," Astral whispers, no longer struggling.

I drift closer to him. I lift his head with my index finger hooked under his chin. He doesn't resist.

"No. Not until you suffer as I have." I grin, enjoying the tears glistening in his eyes, falling down his cheeks. "No need to cry, Astral. It's just one more human life, right?"

Astral shakes my hand off, refusing to answer.

"Alright then." I constrict tighter. "You're not gonna be missed, Astral. At least, not by me." Astral cries out in pain as I tear his chest open, going for his soul.