Chapter Eighteen: The Extermination

Though he had turned his back on his family, Shawn knew that he would have to face them yet again. His mind was muddy and thoughts of betrayal had consumed it almost completely. There was nothing he could do to change what had already been done. He did not possess a way to make it right, all he could do, was erase the past.

He knew that holding on to what had been broken was the incorrect way of doing things and in some way, had hindered the Underworlds future whilst also preventing its downfall. But this was a secret, that even his wife was not fully aware of. In truth, only one person other than himself knew of the truly horror of which he committed. And that was his child, the one imprisoned for longer than he would care to remember. One that was both inoccent and guilty of some of the world's greatest horrors.

" If I could bring you back to a place of understanding..then I would. Even if that were the wrong choice" Shawn cried into his hands as he sat, at the end of the chamber imprisoning hundreds of thousands of lingering.

" I need you to know that this is not what I wanted..for any of you" Shawn continued to cry. Afterwards Shawn raised his hand into the air and snapped his fingers and within an instant, all of the doors opened except for one and ashes blew out from all the opened cells and swirled into the center of the room, forming a giant orb.

" I hope that someday I can be forgiven for this " Shawn cried as he stared at the giagnatic orb of the dead that he had created through extermination. But as he stared at the orb, one single door remained unopened, and that was the room that contained his child.

" I told you that I could not do this to you. I refuse to let you go" Shawn cried out to the door. " You have no idea how hard this is" Shawn looked back to the orb. " Thousands of lives have been lost here today..and I cannot bring them back. I cannot replace what has been taken from this hellish holding" Shawn looks back to the door and approaches it cautiously.

" My child.." Shawn placed his hand on the wall outside of the door. " I hope that you will understand that I cannot free you.." Shawn would love to have allowed his child to wander the world once more but it was far too dangerous. And as he stared into the black void, he knew that he was making the best choice that he could.

" Someday you will understand why I cannot let you go. And I hope that when that day comes, we can be reunited again.."