Piece of his soul

The intense heat of the midday sun cooked the metal oven which the family of four rode. The horns beeping loud, and curses of bored men in the traffic were echoing throughout the highway.

"Whaa...its soo boring..." the little girl shook her frail legs up and down and threw an adorable tantrum, or so it looked in Vergil's eyes.

"We will reach soon enough child, quit your fit and behave like your older brother," said a woman in the front seat beside her husband who languidly watched the traffic with listless eyes.

The little girl threw a heavy glance at Vergil and turned her head away with a - hmph sound which earned a simile from Vergil.

It was summer vacation, Mother had father had taken leave to spend some quality time with their children. What better place than an amusement park could go to spend time with children and enjoy themselves. But the problem was that they were not the only ones who wanted to spend time with their children. A ton of people had the same idea as them and hence the long traffic.

And to add fuel to their discomfort, the burning sun boiled them with cautious care. A dozen wet handkerchiefs were already dumped at one side of the seat of their humble car.

Fourteen years old, Vergil was considered a responsible teen, and the biggest responsibility he took over was his little sister who was five to six-year younger than him. He loved her dearly and took care of her while their parents were busy with their work. The siblings were closer as a mother duck and baby duck.

The ride would be a headache due to his sister's unending tantrums, but it was a bittersweet headache nonetheless.

But something happened on their way to the Amusement park. They never reached it, nor did the others who waited in the long traffic did. A nightmare that haunted every dream of his. A moment that intervened in his deep, hollow loneliness.

And now this moment was being tarnished...the event that burned a mark on Vergil, a memory etched deep with seething emotions, an anchor on grey, on madness, on loneliness.

The memory shifted to a yearning dream he held but never shaped. But no matter how blissful and yearning, it threatened the moment that changed him from a sweet, naïve kid to what he was. And he didn't want that, no matter how seducing it was, an illusion it remained.

Anger rose as his memory diverged. Anger at the illusion that was carelessly touching his infernal emotions. And deep within him, it responded, the churning mass of darkness that had coiled his very existence ebbed. And with it, the wrath building up exercised its menacing will on reality.

...

The hovering darkness watched as three humans sunk slowly into the sea of black.

It had watched the scene the thousandth time, slowly as time passed its collection had grown. first, it was one or two wandering humans, and as its strength grew so did its victims. now it hoarded thousands of lambs in its web of dreams.

It was going to leave, letting the three ignorant humans dwell in their sweet dreams. But something stopped it in its tracks, a twist in the black curtain indicating what seemed of turning its head. its curious gaze on a certain human.

Invisible blurry haze came out of the human, its deep churning black eyes opened with fury. it broke its threads with force and stood on two legs.

The shadow witnessed the scene with interest. it never happened before, all those who slept, slept forever. It watched the human getting up on his feet with the human's sharp eyes glaring at it.

No power radiated from the human, none. only its vehement desire seeping into the surroundings.

It locked its gaze with the human, and it felt threatened by the powerless human.

The human let out a wild growl-like howl. and it jerked the threads like metal strings. The decorative faces scowled, and their dreams took on a dark turn affected by the cruel howl. And it woke the two humans near drowning.

The shadow's curiosity lurched into annoyance and hate.

...

Vergil stood there staring at the mass of shadow. Now he felt the darkness that had seeped inside him on that eventful day before the emergence of the giant magical tree.

It didn't feel like it was a supply of power but rather a will, a long-lost piece of his soul that went missing from that day he lost everything.

He found his emotions amplified, it grew and it was getting hard to control. He wanted to release all his wrath on the perpetrator who touched his memory without permission. And release it he will.

Nora and Hector opened their eyes with blank faces, their face told him everything. The hopeful desire rejected reality and embraced the dreams.

"A dream!!!" Nora muttered in a whisper. A streak of droplets slid down her aghast face.

They had dreamed and they had dreamed for a long time, their life had continued in their dreams that were filled with beautiful flowers. Vergil felt complicated, was it a blessing that they woke or a curse to be woken from a life they desired. He pushed those thought's behind.

" get up, the dreams over. time to face reality" he said to them, but mostly for himself.

Hector was first to snap out of his indecisiveness. He got up to his feet and turned to look at the shadow in front of them. his eyes distant but slowly returning.

Hector smiled at Vergil "you were never one to indulge in sleep, were you"

Vergil didn't quite understand, he had other things to worry about at the moment. His building wrath clouded his thoughts and deteriorated his sense of caution.

Vergil lunged at the shadow, drawing his sword from its sheath. he slashed across the shadow before him. it didn't make an effort to dodge as if something like that couldn't hurt it.

But to the shadow's surprise, the sword did hurt, and gravely so. its ignorance and confidence caused it so.

It reeled back and screeched.

Its screech made Vergil's hair jump in fright. it was loud and felt wrong. He heard such an ominous voice before. But this one was of pain and anguish, unlike the one he heard before a long time ago.

Vergil readied himself for what he knew would be a tough battle. unsure he would live through it. The only thing he was sure of was that he wanted to express all the bottled wrath out.