Days of Darkness: Winter's Rage (Book 2)

Chapter 22: Gravity Storm

Hours went by as Damien clung to life in the darkness. His body dangled from chains, bloody and bruised. His breathing was labored at best. Each breath causing more pain than the last. And around his neck was an electric collar with a flashing, red light. Physically, Damien was down, yet, all he thought about was his friends and their well-being.

On the outside, a wild thunderstorm started brewing. The thunder hit with enough impact to shake the entire building. Damien did his best to focus on the sound of the rain to mentally block the agony that he was in, but it wasn't enough.

The man walked in and stood at the doorway quietly.

Damien looked up. "How long are you going to stand there?" The man stood silently. "What's the matter? You can't hear?" His anger began to rise. "ANSWER ME!"

The lights came on as the man walked toward Damien. He dropped his robes to floor as he walked, revealing his body armor underneath. Once he reached Damien, he backhanded him several times before punching him in the gut.

"You know," the man said, "you've caused me a lot of trouble, son. So much so, that I could kill you where you stand."

Damien turned his head and spit blood onto the floor and, then, turned to look at him. "Then, why don't you?"

"It would be too easy, son."

"You do realize that I'm not Dante, right?" Damien asked. "Why do keep calling me 'son'?"

"Don't you think I know that?" he questioned. "It was my soldiers that attacked you both that day. Still, you two are one in the same. You share a connection. Therefore, I share a certain connection with you, Damien. The same way a father would a son. You see, even though my son died that fateful day, fate also brought me you. Don't you feel it, son?"

"Feel what?" Damien asked. "I don't even know your name."

The man pulled up a chair beside Damien and sat down. "I was born Michael Williams," he said. "I'm only known now as Lord Bayu. It actually has a nice ring to it."

"What are we doing here, Bayu?" Damien inquired clearly annoyed. "You've got me chained up. My wife and my friends are all locked up. I mean, what's the goal?"

Bayu let out a loud sigh as he sat back in the chair and folded his arms. "Do you understand the concept of loss, Damien? The feeling of hopelessness that's so strong that you feel nothing but dead inside? I felt that the moment my son died."

Damien quickly rebutted, "It was your troops that backed us into that corner. It was your call to make and if he lived or died. Not ours. Do you know why he sacrificed his life for mine? So, that I could stop this madness. In the end, he understood the error of what he had done to our world but knew he couldn't make amends. No amount of rebuilding or pleading with the people could ever make things right. So, he did the only thing that was left to do - die, so I could live."

Bayu, in a rage, got up and hit Damien over and over again. "You know NOTHING of my son!"

Damien spit blood onto the floor. "I know enough to know that he didn't want to be like you in his last days, and to an even greater degree, like Omega."

"I ordered my son to be killed because he defied me, Damien," Bayu went on. "Plain and simple, just as you've defied me. My flesh and blood, my progeny, my boy that I've raised from youth. So, what I'll do to you, will be much worse. I'll have no qualms about that, I can assure you. I will turn those that you love against you. I will strip you bare and you will fight for your life and their's. Then, when it's all said and done, I will destroy not only this city... but the rest of this miserable world."