Taming Darkness
Chapter 3

~Aleera~

My hearing is the first to go, then my eyesight. I am met with total darkness and utter silence for what feels like eons as his memory flickers and blinks to life.

Blinking, I replace we are in the mess hall. Only it looks different. In his memory, it is some kind of ballroom, with heavy maroon drapes covering the windows. A crystal chandelier glistening under the light, casting the ground in rainbow orbs of light on the polished floor as the sun shone in. "Now, Darius," comes a deep, booming voice

Looking in the direction where the voice comes from, I see a tall, imposing man with dark onyx eyes and a short beard. His dark hair is thick and kept short. He towers over Darius, a giant in Darius' childlike mind. The intimidating man walks over to a huge golden throne embedded in jewels and bones. The throne is a masterpiece, yet strikingly horrifying at the same time, and as he takes his seat, Darius' heart rate picks up, thumping violently in his chest that I can hear throbbing in his head.

Darius glances around the vast room nervously, then makes a run for it. He runs for the door, but a nearby guard cuts his escape short by blocking the exit. He stops in his tracks, eyes darting around, looking for another exit, when the man's voice cuts through his panic. "Darius!" His father booms angrily.

Darius shakes his head and his fear is potent as I experience his memories as if they're my own. His hands trembling and lip quivers; he wants to leave. He wishes to escape this room. Escape his father, knowing what is to come, and from his feelings churning violently. I know it's nothing good.

"No, please, Father," he begs, his feet dragging as the guard grips his arm, dragging him before his father. He must be about six years old. The room looked huge through his eyes as he peered at the back of his father's throne, which sat in the center of the room. His father looks over his shoulder, leaning over to peer around his chair.

"I said now! Either them or you?" his father snarls at him. Them?

Darius shuffles his feet, drops his head, and moves closer to his father. His father grabs his shirt, hauling him in front of the throne. Darius sniffles and his father hits him up the back of the head.

"Get on with it. Tell me what you see?" he snaps at his son, and Darius finally lifts his gaze. When he does, I replace a man and a woman on their knees, both beaten and bloody. The woman's long dark hair cascades to the floor, creating a veil and shielding her face. The man glared at Darius' father as if he wanted to kill him. The man, for some strange reason, reminded me of someone. His features resemble a face I've seen before. The shadows on his face make him appear dark and ominous. Yet upon closer inspection, I realize they're bruises like he's done nothing but endure t*****e, his cheeks are hollow, yet his piercing blue eyes peering at Xandrious under thick lashes are filled with fury.

The woman finally lifts her gaze and glances at Darius and whimpers, her piercing gray eyes shadowed by the dark lines that appear burned in her skin when I notice the aura around her is violet ringed with darkness. She, too, was a Harmony-Fae now tainted, dark like my mother had turned. Her shackled wrists make the chains clang as she reaches her fingers out to clutch the man's.

"Kill me, but let her live. We've done nothing wrong," the man pleads.

"Tell me where your son is?" Xandrious booms. "Then I may consider your request," he states.

"Please, please, we have no son, we've told you this!" The woman states. "You're liars!" Xandrious snarls before looking at his son.

"Find the boy, Darius," his father booms, kicking Darius in the backside. Darius stumbles forward with a whimper and moves toward them, his fingers outstretched, and I gasp. He had magic, actual magic. I could feel it writhing through him, powerful and strong. He had already manifested, or if not, he would have been a force to be reckoned with when he does.

"You bastard, you f*****g bastard. We told you we have no son! Haven't you taken enough from us?" the man on his knees screams. Darius flinches.

"Ignore him, son. Either you replace the boy, or you go back in the chair," Darius' father tells him. The man looks at Darius. His eyes soften slightly, almost in pity for him.

"You sick f**k! You'd t*****e your own son!" The man retorts.

"For the sake of the rest of the world then yes, sacrifices must be made, lives depend on it!"

Darius observes him, his aura black as charcoal, and he looks at his father, confused. "They changed, they are Dark-Fae now?" he questions. His father nods his head slowly and scratches his chin, a flash of disappointment crosses his features before he answers. "Yes, we killed the Harmony side, which is why we need to replace the boy," his father answered. For a child, Darius, I could see, was far more intelligent than the average six-year-old. Far wiser than his young age, but I can see that due to never being allowed to actually be a child, his father treats him like a worker, an employee, not a son.

"Which is it, Darius? The chair, or will you search through their memories?"

I could tell Darius was petrified of whatever his father meant by the chair, making me wonder.

"Find the boy, and I will let you go see Molly, but only if you replace him," Darius' father tells him, an image of a newborn baby flits through his mind briefly wrapped in a pink blanket. I know it must be his sister. His heart beats faster at her name before he turns to face the man and woman. Guilt smashes into him. Yet, he wants to see his sister.

"Remember why we are doing this, son, it is for her. For your sister, you can fix this, you can save her, save all of them, but we need to replace the boy," Darius' father reminds him. Yet, some part of him didn't believe his father. But if he doesn't, he'll be punished. Nevertheless, he steps forward and places a hand on the man and woman's heads. He closes his eyes when suddenly images flicker before his eyes. The woman and man start sobbing when an image comes forth and takes shape, and I blink in shock. "He's perfect, Sasha," the man says as he peers into the bassinet at a baby boy. He was wrapped in a blue blanket, his aura magnificent, his eyes already open and peering back at his father like he sees with clarity and not like a typical newborn. The woman, whose name is Sasha, starts sobbing, and the man turns to look at his wife.

"We can run. Maybe..." the man grips her hand and kneels next to her where she sits on the bed. He cups her face in his hands, his own eyes blurring with tears he's trying to hold back.

"I know you love him, I love him too, that is why we will do this," he tells her and she shakes her head.

"I carried him, he's part of us. We can replace another way, we can keep him," she pleads with her husband. He drops his head and sighs.

"And if we don't fight, Sasha? What future will he have? They need all the help they can get, they need us. Mom will keep him safe until we return, we signed up for this, we can't run now." She sucks in a shuddering breath.

"I promise, I'll keep him safe, we'll go underground. I'll keep him safe until you return for us," an old woman says, who has similar features to her son.

"For him," Sasha states.

"We must, Love," she nods then stands, leaning in as she kisses his head.

"Be safe, son, help the humans. Bring down the Demonic King. I'll watch over Kalen until you return," the old woman tells them. The memory ripples and my surroundings blur as I move through their memories. Darius searches each one like files in their head. Darius skips through the memories of their return and them on the run with their son and the old woman who is killed trying to protect them. He eventually pauses again. Through his memories, Darius learns Sasha and Valen were vigilantes for humans; they fought alongside them when the demonic king tried to enslave them. They were freedom fighters, fighting for the humans, the White-Fae and their son's future.

A war they fought and won alongside the angels until the first plague hit. Killing off all the White-Fae, yet I noticed in the first plague the Harmony-Fae weren't affected. They rose up and fought harder, angry that so many lives were lost recklessly. Desperate and on the run, they made a decision that almost broke them, wounded them beyond repair.

The very person they were fighting for a better future for, they were forced to give up. A bounty was on their heads, and the risks outweighed their ability to keep running, especially with a baby.

They made the right decision. Their winning battle was short-lived, and eventually, they were captured. The memory fizzles, and we are moving again through the files of their minds. Suddenly he feels a tug, a connection outside their memories. One in the real world, a link anchored to them, to their memories. Darius follows the pull, tugging on it until he opens up a connection.

Darius looks around the room, yet I have seen it before. Déjà vu hits me, like a slap in the face, and it only takes me a moment before I figure out why. We're in an orphanage.

Darius pinpoints the location where he feels the brightest energy, a power similar to his. He follows it, virtually walking through the place, just by merely touching them, he had a connection to their child. The orphanage lights flicker along the ceiling, casting shadows on the walls, coming to a set of stairs, Darius pauses, feeling the energy emanating from above. Alluring and strong, he climbs the steps, coming to another hall lined with doors. Like a beacon calling him, he's led to the last blue door. He stares at it, the door seems to be glowing, and he walks straight through the thick wood.

Beds line the room, and he peers around, trying to replace the beacon he was chasing. Something catches his eye, and he turns, walking toward the back of the room.

What I wasn't expecting was to see when he stops beside a bed is a face I had already seen before. It was Kalen.

Darius watches him sleep for a second. Seeing the boy, he knew what would become of him. He knew what would become of his parents. His parents were no longer Harmony-Fae, but Dark-Fae and Darius knew his father did something bad to them. He turns around, gazing into the room, trying to figure out what this place is. Yet when he turns back to the boy, he's sitting up. Staring directly at him. Darius gasps and takes a step back from him.

"You're not from here, are you?" Kalen asks him. Darius shakes his head, trying to figure out how the boy could see him.

"You can see me?" Darius thinks, yet the words seem to echo the whisper around the room.

"I see many things, sometimes I wish I didn't see them," small Kalen murmurs. Darius peers around the room again, and Kalen seems to guess his question before he can even ask. "It's an orphanage," Kalen whispers. His stomach plummets at his words. "You have no parents?" Darius asks.

Kalen fiddles with his fingers. "They didn't want me," he shrugs. "It's okay though, no one ever does." Hearing these words makes emotion clog me and Darius. They did want him, they wanted him very much. "Sometimes I hear them," Kalen tells him, and Darius tilts his head.

"Your parents?" Darius asks him.

Kalen nods, "I just want them to stop."

"Stop what?" Darius asks, trying to understand what is going on right now.

"To stop screaming, I don't like when they scream," he whispers.

Darius jerks out of their heads, jerks out of the vision he saw and the boy he spoke to.

"Where is he?" his father instantly demands as his eyes focus on the man and woman at his feet. Darius swallows, peering down at them. The woman sobs, dropping her gaze, while the man's eyes stare off vacantly. He looks defeated.

"Well?" His father demands.

"He's dead," Darius lies. The man's eyes flick to him. His lip quivers when Darius does something I didn't believe possible, proving the magnitude of his power. He speaks to Kalen's father, his voice in his head, much similar to how Kalen tampers with auras and how Kalen spoke with him. "I'll keep him safe," Darius tells him. Kalen's father inhales sharply.

When hands grab a hold of Darius, Xandrious shakes him. "What did you see? Where are they hiding him?" his father bellows.

"He's dead," Darius repeats. His father slaps him, not liking the answer. Darius recoils in fright, rubbing his newly reddened face.

"He can't be dead. Look again; I know they had a child," he growls. His father turns, reaching for the woman's hair when Darius wipes his lip.

"They killed him, trying to change him to a White-Fae," Darius lies, and his father's hand stops. He looks at his son. His father glares at him before his brows pinch in the middle.

"How?" his father questions. Darius swallows. He would be taking a total stab in the dark. He didn't know how to kill off the part that made him Harmony-Fae.

He glances at them, but his father grabs his face. "You better not be lying to me?" his father sneers, and Darius whimpers, his father's nails digging into his face.

Darius says the first thing that comes to mind. "They drowned him in the bath," Darius manages to get out. His father watches him, and Darius holds his breath when his father lets him go. Darius goes to run away when his father grabs him by the collar of his shirt. He shoves him toward them. "Since they killed him, you can kill them. About time, I made you into a man," Darius' father says.

"Kill me, please, Xandrous. Let her live, do what you want with me, but let her go. Have you no heart?"

"That is precisely why I'm doing this. I am trying to save them. But it's fools like you that are not willing to help this process." He turns to Darius. "Now kill them," he growls.

Meanwhile, there's a strange grunt from the woman on the floor. "He's just a boy," Sasha, Kalen's mother, rasps in outrage, as if she needs to get those words out with her last dying breath.

"So was your son, yet you had no issue killing him, or is that a lie, Darius?" Darius' father sneers at them. Darius stiffens, knowing his father is testing him. Darius has never killed anyone before, nor did he want to.

He shakes his head. "Good, then you have no issue killing them," he waves his son forward. "Burn them alive?" his father nudges him.

"What?" Darius whimpers. "I said burn them alive, they're murders, child killers. Unless there is something you're hiding, Darius. Like that, the boy is alive?" so his father didn't believe him and this was a test to see if he was lying. "He's dead, though," Darius tells him.

"Then you will have no issue killing them. They are monsters," his father waves him to do his bidding, and Darius trembles.

Darius turns his gaze to the man. "It's okay, son," the man tells him, and tears prick his eyes. Yet, the man's gaze softens, and he nods slightly, reaching for his wife's hand. "Please, father, I don't want to do it," he begs.

"You will, or-" his father doesn't finish, and Darius faces them. The woman tilts her head.

"It's okay, sweetie. Don't be punished for our crimes," she says, but Darius knows they have no crimes that need to be paid. His father was just a monster. A cruel king. While Kalen's parents were freedom fighters, wanting to protect the world from men like Darius' father. They were good and loved their son more than anything.

Darius hiccups a sob before shutting his eyes. He flicks his wrist, and he feels the heat of the flames that engulf them. Silent tears slip down his cheeks as he makes a silent prayer to save their son from his father. The smell of burnt hair makes him gag. And their screams will forever haunt him and being in his head, in his memories, I know they still do.

I feel sick at what I just witnessed when the energy around me shudders, and I replace the scene melting as the next one unravels in front of me. And it is no better than the last.