They were sat opposite each other over a small table in a bland, windowless grey room on one of the lower floors of the Corporation HQ. Draz stood to the side of the table looking at the two men, who just continued to stare at each other. It was difficult to tell what emotions either of them were feeling. Draz had known Dr Day for years, he was an emotionally closed man. And Soran? Well... Depersonalization Disorder isn’t exactly inviting of emotions, and Soran was diagnosed with it in his teenage years according to the CCN.
“So” Draz said aloud, trying to cut through the tension. They had walked in, taken a seat at Draz’s request and listened to Draz explain The Jubilee Project, Rammachandra’s stealing of Day’s biological tissue, Soran’s birth, Rammachandra’s mind control, Soran’s hybrid state, the explosion and everything that had lead to this point. Dasy remained silent as he listened, and now that Draz had finished both father and son continued their silent stare for an uncomfortable couple of minutes.
“Shall we try and get this underway then?” Draz asked slightly impatiently. He had left Ana to continue the briefing upstairs without him, this was clearly an issue that needed clearing up.
Day was the first one to break the silence.
“Did you really think that I wasn’t aware of any of that?” He asked Draz, without breaking focus from Soran.
“I’m sorry?” Draz replied, somewhat perplexed.
“I’m a scientist and the head of a division. I’m surrounded by the Utopian Elite and have access to all but the most secure areas of the CCN. It doesn’t take a man with an IQ as high as mine to figure these things out”.
“Well I just...” Draz started.
“Don’t mock me” Day interrupted. “The CCN and all media outlets pinned you as the cause of all of this, and of the explosion” Day stated, pointing an accusing finger at Soran. “But then they retracted their statements. Talk of ‘new evidence’ pointing towards Rammachandra. I suppose that’s what happens when systematic mind control is lifted. But I don’t buy it”.
“You’re a cynical man, aren’t you?” Soran replied, continuing his stare.
“Of course I’m damn cynical” Day replied with a bite. “Look at the world we live in”.
“I do every day. And that’s why I do what I do”. There was a bang of a fist on the table.
“‘Do what you do’?” Day spat. “Like destroy an entire section of the city in an explosion just to take out one woman?”
“That was actually Ramma...” Draz began, but Day spoke over him.
“Like fuck was it Rammachandra. I’ve seen the arcane signatures on the shrapnel, I’ve seen the video evidence that was conveniently ‘lost’” Draz let out a small, guilty cough.
“It was you. But I want to hear you say it out loud”. His eyes were boring into Soran’s with such hate.
“I did what I had to do to save the planet from that tyrant” Soran replied calmly.
“Save the planet!?” Day shouted. “You killed thousands of innocent lives!”
“In order to save billions” Soran replied. He remained seated but his voice was growing louder.
“I can’t believe this” Day said more to himself than Soran. “I’ve dedicated my life to Utopia, to the humans of this world and to this nation and now find that my own flesh and blood has been our greatest threat all along!?” Day was on his feet. “Do you know how many you killed? Do you know how many friends, family and co-workers of mine that died that day? Their bodies vaporized by you? Do you? How dare you sit there with that smug look on your face. I never wanted a child, I never consented to this. I want my bloodline to die with me, not continue on in some maniacal man with a god complex...”
Then Soran was on his feet. He towered over his biological father. His voice was full of rage and his eyes turned to the crimson he inherited from his mother.
“You know nothing of this world” He growled. Heat began to seep from his body and the light began to flicker. Draz took a step back.
“You’ve not seen the horrors I’ve seen. You’ve not seen the future, a dark future in which she became a god, destroying this world and all those on it. You didn’t see what Vittoria attempted - boiling away those on the surface of this world to replace them with whatever she deemed fit”. The table flew across the room and shattered to pieces as it hit the wall opposite Draz.
“Soran....” Draz warned as he grabbed the hilt of the Darklight Axe. Day was pushed into his chair by an invisible force.
“A God complex?” Soran continued. The inhibitor was trying to stop the surging energy being fed by his rage and Soran’s head was splitting in pain and there was a burning in his chest, but he couldn’t control it - he hadn’t needed to in such a long time.
“Maybe I do have a god complex. But I saved you. I saved us all, on more than one occasion”. Day’s look of hatred turned to fear as he looked up at Soran.
“And you may have dedicated your life to Utopia and to humanity” Soran said, grabbing the arms of Day’s chair and putting his face right into his fathers.
“But Humans are as deluded as Rammachandra”. This comment snapped Day out of his fear-induced state for a moment.
“Deluded?” He muttered in a small laugh. “Look at the one who’s trying to intimidate an old man”. His piercing blue eyes were boring into Soran’s crimson ones.
“That’s enough” Draz stated, pulling Soran back from Day’s face by the shoulder. Soran obliged, not breaking eye contact with Day.
“This is no father of mine” he muttered, walking into the corridor and out of Dr Day’s life.
YOU ARE READING
Darklight: Precipice
FantasíaFive years have passed and there is tentative peace between Skry and Utopia. A discovery deep under Utopia City in part of Rammachandra's shelter could herald a new age. But at what cost?
