In the darkness that wrapped around Mark so enticingly, he felt a shift. The air shuddered with a force as something unnatural pushed in around him. It was as if the dark realm had gained a gravitational power. Pressure increased as if he were stuck in some of kind sack that was slowly shrinking. Men whispered around him. Was he a captive? Was that it? They spoke about him, the spoke of devious things that not even he could bear to listen to. They whispered of rape and violation. Their desires even leaked through to tickle his own being. He was so alone now. Not even the voices kept him company, only the shards were left. His fathers were all that was left. He curled into a ball in the darkness, a lost and lonely child. Their fingertips wrapped around him and their sinister claws traced his soft skin.
"Mark, if you're in here, get over here right now!!"
The sound of Okunote’s voice shot through the veil of treachery. “Okunote?” The male called desperately and reached out with a hand that so implored to be grabbed. The voices in the darkness just laughed at the male.
“No one will save you now boy!” They told him. “No one can reach you here. You are part of the River of Damnation, the river of evil and chaos that circles all the worlds. Only we live here feeding off the corruption of life.” They laughed, their tongues flicked out, barbed and rough to scratch his skin like sandpaper.
“Brudder,” mark curled back up as his tears fell to be devoured by the beasts that had spawned him.
“It is almost time,” the voices spoke, thousands of them at once. “Time it is.” The voices then felt distant. “Make a wish,” they vibrated through the air. It felt as if they were miles away though. No longer were they speaking to Mark. They spoke to someone else. “Make a wish,” they continued to chant.
One voice remained. One clawed grabbed him by the hair and pulled him up. Mark screamed as his hair was pulled. A claw came to his throat and slowly slit it. A frigid breath whispered into his ear causing frostbite to his skin. “It’s almost time, the treachery of that Thian will bring the birth of damnation to those that crossed us.” It laughed as its tongue raked against him, long and callused to lick up his blood.
The black realm exploded with cries of agony and joy. The souls of the lost screamed as they were tormented and the tormentors cried with glee as unchecked energy poured into the evil realm.
Mark screamed as once again several pairs of clawed fingers, tentacles, and he could only guess as to what else gripped at him. His insides felt hot as if they would explode. He had never felt such pain, such agonizing pain. His head shot back violently, it cracked with a sickening pop. His heart exploded inside his chest only to be repaired and explode again. The chorus of devilish cheers sang all around him. He glimpsed images of destruction as things were slid inside him. It knew not of what the things were but they were barbed and brought excruciating pain. Some were searing hot while others were subarctic in temperature. The unnatural beings thrust inside him repeatedly, tearing holes in his body so that others could join in on the sick fun.
At some point Mark just became numb. He lost himself. The little bit he had left disappeared. He was completely devoured by the beasts leaving only an empty vessel.
--
Mark’s body formed itself in the natural world. It stretched out its arms in wonder. “Brothers, cometh” The shards around his neck sank into his skin, spilling blood as grisly wounds opened up. Other black stones came from all around to penetrate the boy’s body. His smile was curled into a demented merriment. His eyes no longer held the gold flakes but instead were black and glossy and just like the color, it consumed all others. They fell on the female that approached them. She was a demoness, a beautiful creature.
She looked mark over, “My master has been expecting you.” She was cordial and elegant, her words rolling off her tongue so silkily.
“Demoness, you do not fear death?” The voices asked in amusement.
“Death?” She asked with a smirk. “I may fear death, but that is not what you offer, now is it?” Already the shadows moved in inky claws to wrap around the girl.
“No, I suppose we do not offer death on our buffet,” They laughed as the claws left what looked like nasty bruises on her skin. They were black and purple marks that veined out in a furious red.
“I do not fear torment nor the damnation of my soul.” She smirked, “I have already achieved full potential, therefor I simply exist to be used.”
“Used, you shall be foolish girl,” The voices laughed as her body was dissolved into a black mist then sucked into Mark’s mouth and devoured. Mark continued to walk up the path, a harbinger of destruction. Everything he touched began to decay, even the stones cracked and dissolved as if centuries had passed and eroded their stability. The door before the man flung open to reveal another man.
This man sat with his top hat on and suit finely pressed. He turned his head to look through thick glasses at Mark. “I knew from the day I named you Mark Elkston that you would lead me to my doom.”
“You held us in bondage!” The shards screamed at the man, their fury shaking the whole facility. “It is because of YOU that our son turned from our ways.”
“Arrogance can even be deadly to beings as strong as you.” The collector took his spectacles off to reveal aged and sunken in eyes. “You forget that, THAT boy is not only your son, but also the son of this world. You may have poured dark powers into him, but darkness such as you can never create life. It took the purity of this world to spawn Mark. I simply gave him what you took. I reconnected him to his humanity, freewill, and emotion.”
With each word, mark’s visage grew angrier. Black shadows leaked from him “SILENCE!” This time the building exploded around them. “You know nothing old man. You shall be eaten also! Your time in this world is at its end!”
Another male came into the room. This one had platinum hair that covered one of his sky blue eyes. Wins sprouted from his back, also the same platinum color. He wore a silky cloth that was more like a scarf. It twirled around his body suspended by some magical force and glittered as if a thousand crystals had been embedded within it. “Master,” He nodded his head to the collector then to Mark. “Brother.” He was exceedingly calm just like the demoness had been. “I heard a disturbance then the manor came crashing down.” The angel’s voice was soft as if it floated on clouds, he spoke to The Collector. “Should I bother repairing it or have you come to take me away also Plague of Damnation?” His inquiry was aimed to Mark now.
Mark grew angrier at the casualness in it all. A black sphere shot through the angel’s chest sending black veins to spread through his body.
“I shall take that to mean that you are taking me then?” The boy smiled. “I suppose this suits me.” He looked down at the tainted veins that were violating his body. “I have served my term in the Midnight Ops; a venture into the realm of desolation should be an interesting change.” He looked to his master. “Shall I see you again?”
The Collector nodded his head. “No Yaleric, I don’t see it in our future. Your fate is to fall to darkness and suffer for the sins that you committed in the pursuit of full potential.”
The angel, Yaleric sighed. “Oh well I suppose. I thank you for what you have given me. I suppose I shall be off then.” He then exploded in a black mist to be devoured by Mark.
“You are next,” Mark looked at the old man who stood up and spread his arms, “Fati Patronus.”
The collector smiled, a crooked, cracked grin, his skin crusted with age. “I welcome it. You may destroy this form, but I’ll live on. There are children out there who still seek a path in life. Fate shall always exist. You are fools to think that you can take the will of this boy.” He removed his glasses, his orbs milky white telling of blindness. “It is not Mark Elkston’s fate to fall to you. His full potential has not yet been met.” His crooked finger pointed to Mark. “You may be the father, but the mother is the one who birthed him. The mother is the one that shall take his soul in the end.” Superiority gleamed in the man. “NOT YOU!”
The Shards screamed viciously as they tore apart the old man’s body. Their rage knew no bounds. “FATE IS DEAD IN THIS WORLD! We will devour ALL! That is the ONLY fate! Blood will soak the grounds in a festering plague of fear! This world is dead!”
--
Mark’s body walked into a mist of blackness to come out near a town. He lifted his hand and blew out speckles of what looked like black sand. The sand grew wings and moved on their own accord. Tiny dots appeared that sparkled with a deep maroon tint. “Seek out the lost children, the most damned of souls. Go now brothers and corrupt all. Build the army of damnation so that this world can be snuffed out of life. Feast on the desires and wickedness of the hearts of these petty beasts.”
Mark then turned to lay his eyes on a tree. Cruelty leaked from his grin as he lifted his hand again and forced the tree to submit to his will and twist into a throne. It screamed as the defiling touches of the dark shards violated its innocence. He took a seat there and crossed his legs. His fingers drummed on each other as he looked to the sky. “Come, come,” He spoke, his words echoing with the whispers of others. “Come to me flies. All of you shall be squashed. Come to me ‘Guardian’,” he spat the word with disdain and sarcasm, not holding any true meaning in the word. “It is too late now, so come to your slaughter Saigo Sachi.” He didn’t even mention Okunote because in the eyes of the shards, the boy was just that, a pathetic child. Saigo was just an old blundering fool. Saigo couldn’t destroy them and they knew it. It wasn’t his destiny. When their son had been created, Mark had been infused with a certain amount of knowledge from the mother, the world. She had whispered to him that it would only be by the younger Guardian’s hand that he would die. The shards had waited and watched. There was no way that the boy could defeat them. He couldn’t even fend off their son when he was in his dormant state. They just laughed as the thoughts ran through their wicked and perverse mind. “Full potential, that old fool. This is his full potential! He will never reach anything more.”
