Chapter 16- Death Waits and Smiles in the Dark

The boy half strangling me to death with his quite skinny arms, was a childhood friend. I don't know why, I seem to attract weirdos, even as a child. As we were growing up, he had to move due to a family matter. I haven't seen him since... four years ago I think.

"Its been a long time Vulcan." He lets me go as my face was turning red from the suffocation.

     "How long has it been?"

He looked up as if he was thinking about the last time we met.

"It's been about five years I think, the last time we saw each other was when I was leaving in the airport." He replied. His dark red hair shone brightly as the only window in our room let the sunlight pass through. This gave his hair a burning effect as the yellow light danced around his hair.

He looked at my eyes and I realized that his eyes changed. The last time I saw him, his eyes burned with the intensity of a phoenix. Now, it seemed like the fire in his eyes has died and replaced with the remaining ashes. This was definitely not the same Vulcan I remember. On the outside, he seemed fine, but I can tell that he was having some internal conflicts.

     We are kind of like polar opposites, me being the calm and deliberate guy and him being the hotheaded idiot who didn't know when to back down. He never gave up, I guess that's the real reason why I befriended him in the first place.

     But anyways, I had cultivation class soon. I walked down the hallway outside my dorm room, leaving Vulcan behind. I saw my brother, Axel entering the classroom and I headed in after him.

"Sup bro, you excited for your first class?" I asked.

He just looked at me with the eyes of someone annoyed. It seemed like I just stole his freedom from him by bringing him to school. He shrugged, and sat at the desk farthest away from the teacher.

"Alright class, today, you will be entering your happy place." Everyone laughed at what the teacher said; a few even left the class. The teacher saw them walked away and wore a face of disappointment. "Umm, as I was saying, you will be entering your happy place."

he had a smirk on his face that I've seen on many faces before. The face of mischief and trouble. His eyes glinted with excitement as if he was opening a Christmas present.

"Also, My name is Unnamed. Yes a bit peculiar, but from now on, you will be calling me Mr. Unnamed." he said. "Now, close your eyes and feel the air around you. Take that air and imagine it engulfing you. Feel it as it overwhelms you, making you feel more powerful. Now shape that mist, and create your happy place."

"Now sleep..." he said quietly.

Something felt weird, the shadows on the wall seemed darker than usual. My vision starts to blur, losing consciousness, I slump over my desk, nearly falling. The world fades away as I go into my "Happy Place".

I closed my eyes and opened them again. Dazed, I found myself in a dark forest. In the distance, I see an army of shadowy creatures guarding a prisoner with his face on his knees. For a weird reason, I felt the desire to save the person. "Do not despair, I will save you", I muttered.

The prisoner ignored me, continuing on as if he already accepted his fate. My voice caught the attention of the creatures and spots me. One resembling a wolf bared its long blood stained fangs.

I barely dodge the first beast, tumbling onto the ground. A black and red line shot out from my fingers, a shadow. It strikes the beast, but when he killed it, three more jumped into action, clawing viciously. There was a mix of shadow soldiers and skeletons. There were hundreds of them.

My energy quickly depletes as I tried to fend them off. Suddenly, a beast prowled from behind me, biting into my skin. My soul cries out as if in pain, my body being mercilessly eaten.

"I WILL MAKE IT!!!" My spirit tingles, the darkness inside coming out. I feel my once dead body coming back to life. I leap straight into the mass of shadowy beasts. My ferocity shocks the beasts, black energy emanating around me. I quickly overpower them with my attacks.

My shadow infuses with more power than I have imagined, killing whatever it hits. I take great pleasure in the shocks on the faces of the beasts. I destroy their army one beast at a time, mercilessly. A few of them retreated and some even started to kneel, knowing that I am superior.

But it didn't matter, I killed them all, every last one. I started to desire for more blood, destroying the whole forest, everything... but leaving the cage. I was slowly turning inhuman, giving off a strong blood lust. The only thing that was keeping me from fully turning savage was the cage.

I slowly advance towards it and opened the cage with brute force. I free him from his shackles but he doesn't move. He was facing the other way so that I couldn't see his face.

"It's too late, you can't save me anymore." He muttered. "Death waits and smiles in the dark."

As I walked around to look at his face, I gasp in shock.

Suddenly, the dead forest slowly started to configure into another image. I was slowly starting to pull back into reality. The prisoner kept saying the same thing over and over again: "Death wait and smiles in the dark."

I managed to take a quick peek at his face before returning to the real world. But, it wasn't the result I wanted. The prisoner that the shadows and skeletons were guarding was... me.

"Death waits and smiles in the dark." He smiled at me. "I am sorry, But it is too late, you've already changed. I am the last part of humanity left in you."

With that, a beast hiding behind a boulder launched himself towards the other me and killed him. I didn't have the chance to stop the beast.

Then, I wake up on my desk, feeling like a part of me just died. I couldn't remember anything, like it was a forgotten dream, but still, I felt like a new person. This was the start of something great... evil, but great.

For some weird reason, seven words seemed to resonate in my mind.

"Death waits and smiles in the dark."