A little earlier
The sun shone down.
Golden, it warmed Karuka City.
Sent its light below.
Pure and bright.
Brushed across the dark house.
Broke through the blinds.
Slipped through as rays of light.
Pierced the darkness of the room.
Bathed Rero's face in twilight.
In the half-dark he sat.
On a black couch.
One arm loosely thrown over the backrest.
His gaze veiled in shadow.
He stared at the wall.
Where darkness traced itself.
"Soon," he whispered.
His fingers dug into fabric.
Hate lay in his gaze.
Cold, burning and all-consuming.
"Soon, yes soon,"
his voice trembled.
"Their worthless lives will fade."
His gaze flickered about.
A smile.
Wide.
Shaped by hate and madness sprouted.
Split his lips.
"They will die,"
he screamed.
Threw his head back.
Laughed, shrieking.
"Yes, die."
While the shadows bound him.
And painted twilight within.
He thrust his hands into the air.
Sprang to his feet.
In the darkness.
Laughing.
With a breaking voice.
So that even shadows fled.
A messenger had told him.
The killers were there.
At the exploded house.
Uhra was there.
Uhra.
Rero breathed faster.
Uhra who had defeated him.
Who had tormented him.
Tortured and tormented in the black hole of his hell.
Who had defeated him.
Made him worthless.
"No one,"
he roared loudly.
Into the darkness of the shadows.
Through the twilight.
"No one takes my power. No one does that. No one—none of those worthless apes."
He laughed.
Screamed his hatred, shrill.
As it ate through blackness and stone.
"Uhra, you worthless one, will die — I will kill you."
He staggered.
Collapsed against the wall.
His face contorted.
While hate devoured it.
Reducing it to a grimace.
"Kill," he breathed.
Gasping.
Then silence.
He leaned against the wall.
Head bowed.
Breathing softly.
Slowly he drew his legs up.
Wound his arms around them.
His gaze stared blankly at the wall.
At the blackness.
At every shadow.
At everything.
"Kill,"
he whispered.
"You all."
It was a whisper.
A breath of wind only.
A tremor ran over him.
A quake that seized him.
The empty gaze fixed into nothingness.
"I am it after all,"
he breathed.
"The most powerful."
His fingers clawed into his leg.
While he trembled uncontrollably.
"You said so,"
his voice broke.
His head fell back.
Struck the wall.
Hard, with a dull sound.
The hollow shells of his eyes
stared at the window.
Against the shafts of light.
That aimed at him like golden arrows.
Threatening to pierce him.
Yet darkness wrapped around him.
Folded over him like a blanket.
And swallowed him whole.
"Am I the most powerful?"
he asked into nothingness.
Trembling.
Shaking with fear.
"What if not?"
his voice croaked.
"What if not?"
He pressed his head painfully against his knees.
Staring into the shadows.
Trembling.
His breathing quickened.
Started to race.
While the golden rays of light aimed at him.
And darkness enveloped him.
His eyes stared straight into nothingness.
Twitching back and forth, driven by terror.
"Am I worthless?"
asked the broken voice.
He slammed the back of his head against the wall.
Again and again.
While he screamed.
His gaze flickered wildly.
Desperately searching through the black shadows.
"Why!"
he screamed.
His head struck the wall.
A dull crunch.
"Why!"
A hollow crack echoed.
And the smell of blood filled the air.
Gathered—
as it ran down the wall.
Turning everything red.
It flowed over his face.
Over his eyes.
Dripped down as tears of blood.
Across his cheeks and onto the floor.
Leaving crimson streaks behind.
He pushed himself off the wall.
Came to his feet.
Slowly he stumbled back to the couch.
A shadow on his face.
Step by step he staggered forward.
Leaving behind a trail of blood drops.
Then he let himself fall.
Hit the couch hard.
Blood ran down his face.
Colored him red.
Ran over his hollow eyes.
Over his hollow cheeks.
Dropped onto his trembling hands.
They trembled.
He stared down at them.
Stared at them with quivering eyes.
"Why—"
he breathed into the shadows.
"Why is this?"
His eyes grew larger.
Were eaten away by madness.
"What is this?"
He stared through the blood.
At his trembling hands.
Everything red.
His voice broke.
"I fear—"
he screamed.
His hand clawed at the place above his heart.
His breathing came ragged.
While blood gushed over him and bathed the world in red.
"But I am the most powerful,"
he roared.
"The most powerful."
Slowly he looked up.
Deep into the shadows.
Through the red veil of blood.
Shrouded in twilight.
Soaked in blackness.
"Find him—"
he whispered in a hoarse voice.
"Find him and bring him to me."
Uhra will fall.
Will die and repent.
Repent every second of his worthless life.
A chuckle escaped his throat.
Rough and broken.
It echoed off the walls again.
Made the darkness recede.
The arrows of light broke.
And struck at the figure in the shadows.
Tall and imposing.
Clad all in black with a veiled face.
Only the eyes were visible.
Deep black.
Blacker than the blackness.
"Kill them all,"
Rero hissed.
Hate carved his features.
"Take the pale-eyed and kill them all."