“You want some more, asshole?” Another asked from the back of the group.
Several tall, muscular forms stepped forward, their chests puffed and shoulders pulled tight. Blood lust flooded his veins as Chaos grappled for control.
Brooks knew he should shove the assholes aside and find Xia, that the fight was precious time wasted on beings that mattered less than shit. But as the group of harpies puffed their chests, Brooks found himself sharing space with Chaos. All of that rage boiling between the two of them was desperate for an outlet, no matter how small.
The group of harpies surrounded him as the other patrons in line backed away. None of them paid any heed to the god standing before them. How far his world must have fallen.
“If you want a fight, freak, you’ve got one.”
“Yeah, Tobias! Kick his ass!” The pink harpy cried out from behind the approaching males.
“Yeah, Tobias,” Brooks taunted, his voice deep and ethereal. “Kick my ass.” He grabbed that string of chaos and pulled, calling to the shadows and smiling as they danced along the ground and curled through his fingertips. The black bleedingthrough his veins pulsed and he knew from the wide stares that his eyes glowed. And yet none of them backed down.
“You stupid motherfucker,” Tobias yelled before launching himself forward.
Pride. A disgusting amount of pride. Tobias didn’t make it a full step before Brooks released the poised darkness. Using them was as simple as breathing.
They were an extension of his chaos.
Of his soul.
Tendrils of inky black lashed out and restrained Tobias while another wave barred the crowd. Brooks held the invisible cord of chaos and pulled taught, but when it fizzled and slipped his breath caught. His power waned and surged, one minute as easy to wield as a thought and the next impossible to capture.
Chaos bared down on the flow and pushed it into the wavering shadows until they were solid as stone and growled.I don’t know what is happening, but we cannot call on the well of chaos many more times before we’re dry. Take it from the bird so we can save her.
There was no indication that the daemon noticed his lapse in power. The crowd continued to roar and the harpy's face was stuck in a fit of rage, but fear glinted like a blazing sun in his eyes. Brooks stepped toward him and once they were toe to toe, he inhaled deeply and listened to the shadows around him. Through them, he could taste the sour tang of fear and the spice of hate. Brooks sent tendrils of shadows forward and caressed Tobias’ face. The bitterness on his tongue thickened and a shiver of pleasure tingled his spine.
Brooks wrapped the harpy in darkness. Tobias’ eyes disappeared up into his head, a silent scream on his lips as the shadows seeped into his body and soul. Brooks knew it hurt, tearing the mind apart from the inside out in search of memories, but he didn’t give a fuck.
The Deathless God only gives one chance at mercy.
Brooks closed his eyes and sniffed the air, pulling in the harpy’s mind through all of his senses. His shadows filtered through sounds, smells, and sights, pillaging memories and tearing through thoughts. Within seconds Brooks had a clear map of Club Hel. Each Level represented a sin the daemon glutted themselves in. Tobias, it seemed, liked to feed off of the fear of those weaker than him and force himself on females while his brothers watched. Brooks rummaged through the memories, each more disgusting than the last.
“What a man, Tobias, to take advantage of others to make yourself feel big. To force your cock somewhere it doesn’t belong just to stroke your pride. You’re nothing,” Brooks spat. Something dripped to the pavement, and Brooks looked down to see piss running from the navy feathers. “Now everyone knows how small you are.”
Brooks smiled and sent his shadows plunging through Tobias’ every orifice above the shoulders. They forced their way down his throat and into his ears as they tore him apart from the inside out. Brooks gripped Tobias’ neck in a crushing hold and forced his chin up. He closed his eyes and urged his shadows toward the pulsing life in Tobias' chest as the harpy screamed. Chaos swirled there and Brooks urged it forward, calling it back home.
It came eagerly and left Tobias’ body in a rush, mingling with Brooks’ own darkness. He sighed as it swelled within. The daemon used to fear him.The Soul Eater, they would whisper.
They weren’t wrong.
When any living being was born, a small bit of chaos intertwined with their soul and gave them life. When they died, their essence was ushered into the Underworld and eventually pulled back into the well of chaos. From the well, others were born.
It was a great cycle and keeping balance was imperative. If the chaos wasn’t recycled, then the new souls would get less than those before them.
The world he’d created so long ago could not function without the chaos he fed it. Since he was the power that all beings were born from, taking a soul did not affect the balance and he could choose whether or not they were reborn.
Without his chaos, the harpy was just a shell. Brooks decided that Tobias would end there. Sins as great as his didn’t deserve to be reborn. Red trails of blood wept from Tobias’ eyes, nose, and ears. It was a mercy really, that Brooks had ended him quickly.
Take the others,Chaos growled.
Screams rent the air as his shadows swelled over the crowd and plundered their captive souls. Bodies fell to the ground around him, the darkness swarming back to curl around his ankles once more. The shadows were darker than they’d been before the harpies, but nothing like the endless void he was used to wielding.
“For now, it will be enough. We just need enough to find her and run.” Brooks spoke inward.
Agreed. We will figure out the cycle once she is in our arms.
Brooks turned to stalk toward the entrance. The original plan was to find a quiet way in, get to Xia, and leave before her captor knew she was missing. But now, eyes tracked his every movement as the patrons of Club Hel moved out of his path.
