Chapter Fourteen: The Darkness Within

''' Chapter 14 '''

''' The Darkness Within '''

This time, no one made joke about me carrying Madison, because they saw how injured she was. They brought Nectar and Ambrosia, but I could still feel her dying.

“Connor,” she whispered, “Thank you for saving me twice,”

“But I didn’t,” I said in pain, “You’re dying,”

“Oh,” she said, as if this had just occurred to her, “Come rescue me, promise?”

“Yes, I promise,” I said.

And with that, she died. I couldn’t believe it. I felt a lot of anger surge into my mind. I wanted to kill every man, women and child in Camp Troy.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Than do it,” said a voice in my head, not my fathers, and from what I’ve heard, it wasn’t Kronos. It was a voice much older and powerful. “They took her from you, seek your revenge.”

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“I shouldn’t,” I told the voice.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Of course you should, they took her, and you should take them.”

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“But it is wrong!” I replied to the voice.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Maybe, but wasn’t wrong for them to take the girl? You have the power to do it in a short amount of time.” The voice whispered.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">I thought about the situation. I thought about escaping the Lemnian Women, and the Lotus Casino. They had taken away all of that from me.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“How do I do it?” I asked the voice.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Imagine putting all of the power of death into your palms.” The voice instructed softly.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">I made my hands do the five dollar foot-long thing, than turned it sideways. I concentrated all my powers of death into my palms. An orb of black and white appeared in my hands, I twisted my hands to keep the orb in my control while it expanded. When it got to the size of a basketball, I held the pressure.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Release the orb!” The voice said, “And avenge her!”

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">I pulled my arms back, then thrusted them forwards pushing the orb through the air. The orb flew to the camp. When it hit the area, it exploded. It broke into many smaller orbs and scattered around. Horrified, I watched as the life was sucked out of every Trojan in the camp. I had created my own Angel of Death. When every last Trojan was dead, the orbs flew back to me and into my body.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Good, they deserved it, they killed her.” The voice crooned.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“You used me,” I said quietly, “YOU USED ME!”

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Yes, and now your mind and soul will be mine!”

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">I screamed in pain. My mind was being invaded by a celestial being. I was losing the battle, I couldn’t force him out. Chiron and the remaining campers gathered around me and watched me struggle with the battle within.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“You are mine!” The voice yelled.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">I saw my friends all of them, I thought of Madison, I had to rescue her. But first I had to force this being out.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Get out of my head. You have never been loved, and this is why you are doing this, your jealous,”

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“You dare?” The voice asked.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">“Yes I dare, I will save Madison, but first, GET OUT OF MY HEAD, AAAAHHHHHHH.”

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">The pain of him exiting was worse than his entrance. It felt as if he was pulling knives up my head. But at last, it was gone, I was free.

<p style="text-indent: 0.5in; margin: 0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><span style="line-height: 115%; font-family: 'Tahoma', 'sans-serif'; font-size: 20pt">Everyone has a dark-side. I just had mine, what tells out tales is which side we choose. The darkness within can only be defeated by the light. I blacked out.

Chapter Fifteen: I Make Several Vows