Titan: The Dark Path

Nightfall

His head ached. Images swept through his mind faster than he could catch them. Sounds echoed faster than he could hear them. These were memories, but he didn't remember them. They were foreign, like they belonged to someone else.

But do they?

There was familiarity, like events in a dream. He fought to throw off the heavy black blanket keeping him in the dark. There was a rush of air. Sensation returned and he clawed back to consciousness.

Tim lay on the floor. A circuit reconnected in his mind and he remembered. Nancy had the knife and she said something. A word. An incantation. Then nothing. And then suddenly everything. His eyes snapped open and he stared at the ceiling.

His mouth was dry and he felt stiff. It was dark outside now. When he had come home it had been late morning, but now the sun was gone. He felt every year of his age ache throughout his body, but nowhere more than his back. Maybe his head.

"I know you're awake," Nancy said.

"I wasn't hiding it," Tim said.

"You've been out for almost a day," she said.

"Is that an accusation?" Tim said as he sat up. He ignored the grinding, pulsing pain in his back caused from lying on the floor for more than twelve hours. He found Nancy sitting where she'd been when he got home in the morning. Her legs were crossed and she held a half smoked cigarette. The knife was standing up in the coffee table, blade down.

"You did this to me," he went on. "You didn't know what would happen?"

"I only knew I had to do it," Nancy said, staring at him over the knife's hilt.

"When did dad give you that?"

"Just before I did it the first time," Nancy said. "Do you remember now?"

Tim saw only flashes and glimpses. Swords crossed, they struck so hard sparks flew, and his hands hurt. There was another Titan. His armor was battered and broken. He fought hard. Not hard enough.

He heard a baby cry. A rattle dropped. A woman screamed. Nancy blocked his path with a knife—the knife—and she was so young... and Sarah was cradled in her arms.

I don't remember this... No.

Nancy's eyes were red. Her cheeks were stained with tears that turned to ice in the biting cold. The look in her eyes was resolute. She clutched the knife out in front of her and it gleamed, lit from within itself. He was afraid.

She spoke, but Tim didn't understand what she was saying. It was the fog of memory or her words were in foreign tongue or both. When he moved towards her, the knife erupted with crimson light. A great groan went up into the air. Reality itself shook. He held his arms up to shield himself and the armor burned away exposing his flesh. He saw no more.