The Snap Before the Storm
We ran.
No words. No wasted breath. Just the rhythm of boots against soil and the blur of trees rushing past. Luke was ahead of me, sprinting like a machine fast, focused, relentless. I didn't know him well, but something in my soul told me to trust him. After the Minotaur, I thought I'd never see him again. But here he was. And I was glad.
Still, my mind couldn't stop drifting.
Edwin. Sophie.
Were they safe? Had the New World Order seized them? I didn't know. I just knew I had to keep moving.
Then bang.
A body launched from the shadows, striking Luke with brutal force. He flew through the air, landing hard on his head. The impact alone would've knocked him out. The blow had already done the job.
I froze.
Standing over Luke's unconscious body was Light.
He hadn't seen me yet. He looked down at Luke, confused, probably wishing it was me lying there.
Then the air shifted.
The woods felt wrong. Heavy. Diabolic.
Light turned, instinctively.
Our eyes met.
I stared, blank-faced. But inside? I was boiling with hatred. Ready to strike.
"It's me, peasant," Light sneered. "The one you hate. The one you'll never defeat."
His voice was venomous. But I barely heard it. All I could think about was the false peace, the demons, the sympathizers, the lies. The world they built on blood and silence.
Then Light's aura changed.
Black and red. Sinister to the bone.
The trees around him wilted. The ground cracked. My knees wobbled. He was becoming something else. Something monstrous.
He charged.
I braced myself, thinking only of one thing: my promise to Edwin. And the words of the demon child long ago:
"If you continue your journey… you will die."
Everything went black.
Just for a second.
I woke up on my hands and knees, gasping. My body was drained. My legs felt like stone.
Light was getting up, more furious than before. His aura now pure black like a void, a black hole sucking life from everything nearby.
"Pathetic," he growled. "You're nothing."
He rushed forward.
Then gunshots.
Eight of them.
Luke.
He was back on his feet, firing his .45 Colt. Armor-piercing rounds. Every shot hit.
None mattered.
Light barely flinched. It was like mosquito bites to a god.
He turned to Luke.
I tried to move. My legs wouldn't respond.
"Luke, run!" I screamed.
But Luke stood frozen, stunned that his weapon had failed.
Light surged forward, a blur of rage and energy.
One punch.
Straight to Luke's gut.
Luke's body convulsed. Blood erupted from his mouth. He collapsed, held upright only by Light's grip.
"Pathetic mortal," Light hissed. His voice was layered two tones, overlapping, inhuman. "Your weapons are ours. Your strength is borrowed. You are nothing."
I watched, helpless. Furious.
I tried to rise. Fell again.
"You will not win!" I shouted. "Not now. Not ever!"
Light paused. Amused.
He looked at me not with hatred, but with something quieter. Admiration.
"Thomas," he said, "the end is near. I almost wish we'd met under different circumstances."
Then snap.
A twig.
Everyone turned.
A man stood at the edge of the clearing.