Chapter Thirty-Six
Dorian
My body glowed with the power of the sun’s radiation, absorbing every ray I could get.
I took it all, sunlight from all around the globe coming to me like a blast of light. Soon nothing but darkness would cover the earth. It would only last one solid day, but that was enough. I wasn’t asshole enough to doom the planet by holding the light within me until the plants wilted and nature slowly died. But I wanted suffering like my people had suffered. Like I suffered. So, keeping them alive was a necessity to that.
The moon had completely covered the sun, and now the night would take over.
When the last bit of sunlight was absorbed into my veins, my vision became tinged with a glow, and a subtle current ran over my skin.So much power.
“Dorian.”
As I knew he would, Draco had showed up a few seconds too late.
“Congrats on evacuating the city. Now we can destroy it without simpletons getting in the way.” I shrugged. My voice was deeper than before, the power inside me making everything I was more charged. My father had once told me that he felt like he was always harboring light, like a vessel, and it was a constant battle to keep the light contained during the night. I could understand his struggle.
I turned to see Draco standing by the rooftop’s only entrance and exit door. He ran up here and barely looked out of breath. Impressive.
“I beseech you, brother, it’s not too late. All isn’t lost—we can still be the light in the darkness together.”
He was seriously trying again to bring me over to the side of the heroes.
“I am the lightandthe darkness. It’s too late, brother.” I spit out the last word. He wasn’t my brother, and though we shared the blood of Apollo together, he was nothing but an enemy to me.
“Then there is no good inside you.” He knew that, but had tried to find some humanity in me anyway.
“I am the villain in this story—have been for over a millennium.”
I could see the future in my head spin to what he was going to say next, and I cut him off instead.
“No use in using her in your cause; you’ll only piss me off further.”
She was not part of this fight, and I would keep her name out of it for as long as I could.
“Then it comes down to us,” he sighed. Our battle was about to begin.
“It was always about us. This whole story has always been down to us—everyone else was just a side character. Easily disposable. Now, I have a world to take over, so let’s move this along. I’ve seen the ending enough times to know that you fail against my sword and lose those you care about. I’m quite eager to see that defeated look on your face in the present.” I positioned myself for the lunge that was coming, and even when his arms went around my waist, throwing us off the side of the tallest building in the city, I was prepared.
I flashed us to another building, and his fist came swinging toward my face as soon as our feet touched the ground. Dodging him was easier this time. I had a cleared head and could focus on his movements instead of Esme’s like before.
We traded blows, and I flashed to another building.
My hand moved up and pressed against his shoulder, pushing the light out through my hand. Draco flew back with a nasty burn on his skin. Sunlight was quite potent, especially in concentrated doses like that.
He rose and came back at me, even with his charred skin exposed to the cold.
“Things are getting too predictable, Draco, I think we need to shake this scene up a bit.” I moved to the side of his punch and touched his shoulder, digging my fingers into his wound and flashing us to where the heroes were surrounding Griffin tower. My crew was just coming out of the shadows.
I dropped Draco in front of his woman, who glared at me with hatred in her eyes as she helped Draco to his feet.
Her powers were caressing my brain, wanting me to open up to her and let those emotions wash over me. To control me.
“I’m immune, darling.” I winked at her and looked around the nearly empty city, the only inhabitants the few who stupidly thought to stand their ground against me.
“Your Hero Society is over. Join me and be free. Live the life you want without fear, or persecution from humans, who just days before this were willing to hurt you. They abandoned you, and yet you stand here for them? Give up the righteous cause! The gods were fools, and they died because the humans gave up on them. Don’t follow their fate.”
I did try, although I knew none of them would waiver. Good versus evil. To them there was no in-between. But life didn’t work that way—there was a middle ground. Good people could do bad things for good reasons, and vice versa.
