March from Darkness | ✓ (to be edited)

THIRTY-TWO

DEMITRI

"Dearest Universe, as the Watcher of Dreams and Nightmares, I ask of You to give me the power of grand manifestation. Unto Thy power, I call on Your aid for Thy Universal son, Daraya. May You allow me the chance to reintroduce him to Our world, and may You allow me the chance to help him fulfil his prophecy as You so will it to be. As Thy humble child, I beg of You to give him the powers to be free."

Nothing happened for a few seconds, but at the same time I realised I couldn't move, pain erupted in my entire body. It felt like my brain had exploded, and I wanted so desperately to reach up to see if it was possible that it had; my eyes burned, the fluid in them turned into fire every time I moved them; my entire being felt like it was being torn apart then put back together, only to be torn apart, over and over and over again, the feeling so rapid that it felt like it was all happening at once.

My eyes slammed shut, and while I felt acidic tears scorching my face, I couldn't open them again. I was back in that blackness I had been in the first time around. I was terrified out of my mind; I didn't know what to do or how to move, I didn't even know if I could move. My eyes felt like they were open, and I knew that they were, and that was the part that made my heart race again. It was so strange that the darkness behind my eyes was brighter than the darkness that met me when they opened.

The pain in my body was so vile that I couldn't even hear the voice of the souls I'd condemned over the sound of the blood rushing in my ears. I barely even felt them hitting me, barely felt them choking me, cutting me, penetrating me with blades and things that made me want to vomit.

I heard a voice in my head that I recognised as Sakayek, and it felt like a presence was petting me, calming me, distracting me from the disgusting and lurid touches from the angry demons I'd killed.

I tried to calm my breathing, trying to take measured breaths, but as soon as I would get them down, the voices of the damned would start up again.

"You're weak!"

"You fucking queer! You deserve this fate!"

"Aren't you having fun? Because you feel so good..."

"This is your life now."

"This is all you will ever be. This all you will ever feel. This is what all your honourable deeds have gotten you. Are you happy now?"

"You stupid whore! You're a freak!"

"You will only ever feel me inside of you, you fucking harlot."

But one of them stood out to me the most.

"This'll prove to you that you ain't no boy!"

I felt him next to me, felt him whisper those words into my ear just as he had the night he'd died.

"Karien..."

I heard myself whisper it, knew it came out of my mouth. And when it did, every other voice stopped.

I heard him chuckle, the grip on my hair tightening as he pulled my head back. I tried to find him in the darkness, but I could only feel his disgusting hands on my body. "I heard that my little sister was back again," he growled, his voice low and gruff.

"I am not your sister."

"Well, you sure as hell ain't no boy," he hissed. "If you were, you wouldn't be such a fucking pussy all the time."

"Says the grown man who raped his sibling to try and prove a point because you bowed down to suck your God's dick," I hissed, feeling the pain in my body grow with my anger.