Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 30 - Darius - Home

Everyone values different things. Some value diamonds and gold coins. Others value the food at their table or the roof over their heads. Me? I value the people surrounding me. The people that stay by my side no matter what kind of stupid shit I do. They pick you up when you fall or tell you to get off your ass and keep going. Never will they turn their back on you, and if they do, then they never really had any value to begin with, it was only you that hoped they had more to them than deception and lies.

I'm a hopeless hoper. Someone who hopes so much to trust anyone and everyone because the second that I don't I begin to blame myself for not being strong enough to make you stronger. I blame myself for feeling that you didn't have anyone else looking out for you – anyone who would absolutely care if you left. I don't like seeing people alone and pushed aside, not because it's wrong and no one should go through their trials of life alone, but because neglect and wrongful treatment is how evil lays its eggs.

No one is just born evil without being born with goodness in them as well, and there's no getting rid of one or the other.

There's a saying that Aracely used to tell me.

"Inside each of us are two wolves. One is evil. Created by anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The second is good. Created by joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. In a pack, there's always an alpha and another wolf who challenges the alpha. They fight for the highest rank, biting and clawing, bleeding, and growing stronger.

"Sometimes it's hard to tell which wolf will win, and most will say that in the end, it's always the one who is fed the most and that it's the alpha because he's the alpha and gets the most food to continue to be the strongest, but the truth is that the wolf who is strong enough to fetch its own food alone is the one who wins. So which one really wins?"

Everyone has two wolves that constantly fight for the title of Alpha, one being fed by those around you, and one fighting to feed itself. Surround yourself with good people and the one fighting won't win because those around you will make sure it doesn't. Surround yourself with the corrupt and they'll try to overrule what lies within you, but all you have to do is fight. Be the one that's strong enough to sustain yourself that no one could change your mind.

The Demoni was my evil wolf, and he pounced and fought me until I realized that I was stronger when I allowed myself to hunt for good, rather than feed the darkness. When he showed up and would launch straight for Clare's throat, all I did was beg it to stop. I'd beg and I succumbed to its superiority and greed which only fed it and made it stronger. Much as friends never gave in, I started to.

Once I realized my own humility, my own truth, and hope, I shoved him back into his dark corner and kept him out of my dreams. From that point on I had no more confrontations with him, and it wasn't all just because I, myself, made that realization. I could've never made that realization without my friends or without Clarice who, despite the fact that I'd throw her across the room, would still be there to tell me to rest easy while she watched over me.

She didn't care that the evil of my own making was winning the battle, she and all twelve of my friends knew the good that was me, and they helped me in seeing that it was far stronger than him. That's why I'm here. That's why I'm on my horse, following Víđarr through the silent streets of my home. Clarice was willing to take several punches and a million more to the gut to save me from the bad, and I'll be damned if I don't return the favor.

We reached the outskirts of Fernweh thirty minutes ago, and it took all our restraint to slow to a walking pace. Víđarr did his magical silent command thingy with the horses again, so we didn't really have a choice. Arthur - Lance - wants to go to the House of Jade, and though Víđarr agreed, he's been leading us all throughout the town. It annoyed me at first, but then I realized why he was doing so.