Soul of Darkness (34 page)

Bushes and trees were torn from the ground, their partly severed roots flying through the air behind them as they were sucked toward the center of a vortex and disappeared into nothingness. Dust and dirt followed sand and stones into the void, the spinning air alive and heavy with debris.

Creaking and groaning sounds reached the woman’s ears as the walls of the mansion and its very foundation started to crack, unable to resist and ripped apart by the strength of the vortex’s pull.

As Evil’s borrowed eyes watched bricks and wooden splinters sail by the bedroom window, accompanied by bits and pieces of kitchen appliances and living-room furniture, the glass of the large bay window finally succumbed to the pressure of the vortex’s call, splintering into long shards of glass.

The woman’s hand flew to her neck, to the large piece of glass protruding from her body, and Evil felt the warm, wet liquid run down her hand before she collapsed to the floor of her bedroom. With the dying woman’s last spark of consciousness, Evil bore witness as her body was lifted off the ground and pulled toward the abyss, flying through the air along with the rest of Earth’s debris.

It wouldn’t be long now before the suction power of the vortex would make the earth itself crack and gradually destroy the planet’s integrity, leaving Earth to burn.

Then, Darkness would grow even stronger.

Evil had tried to stop Darkness, but Darkness had always been a step ahead. And now it was too late to change the outcome of the game.

This time, Evil had lost. Next time, it would give everything it had. Of course, none of this would matter to Earth’s inhabitants. In a fight between mammoths, these insignificant creatures had been collateral damage. And though Evil was less than satisfied with the outcome of this match…

…it couldn’t care less about the lives it had cost.

A
idan swiftly tore his eyes away from Persephone and his brothe
r―
he couldn’t bear seeing them like this. He’d already witnessed more than he’d bargained for…everything he’d never wanted to.

Bizarrely, he was hit by the thought that this would be what he and Persephone would look like together, seeing as he shared Aaron’s face and body as his twin. The very notion that his jealousy and hatred were now directed at his own image enraged him even more.

Frozen in place and completely oblivious to the dangerous development around him, Aidan didn’t even react to his father’s continuous efforts to get him to move. Finally, Malcolm grabbed his arm and started to pull him forcefully toward the salt-water pond…toward the very individuals Aidan would have died to avoid at that moment.

Before Malcolm could pull him into the bright-green water, Aidan used all the force he could muster and managed to dig his feet firmly into the ground, stopping Malcolm from going any further.

“What the hell are you doing?” he asked his father angrily. Didn’t he know this was the last place on earth Aidan wanted to be right now? Was the old man really this insensitive?

“There is no time, son,” Malcolm urged him, putting his entire weight into trying to pull Aidan along with him. But Aidan was stronger and held his ground.

“Why?” Aidan asked, an edge to his voice, as he couldn’t quite stop his emotions from getting the better of him. Though his question could have been misunderstood as pertaining to the time issue, Malcolm’s expression indicated that he understood:

‘Why are you doing this to me?’ was what Aidan had meant.

“Look around you, my boy,” Malcolm spoke urgently, his gaze following the increasingly fast movement of the air revolving above and around them, “The world is coming to an end…it is over.”

Aidan was speechless for a moment. If it was over…if there was nothing to be done…then why was Malcolm trying so desperately to pull him into that brightly shimmering hell?

“Then why drag me to this dangerous spot?” Aidan asked, too paralyzed by Malcolm’s last words to fully wrap his mind around the part of it being the end. All he could do in his shocked state of mind was to ask questions whose answers wouldn’t change a damn thing.

“Because we need to leave…now!” Malcolm said forcefully.

“Where could we possibly go? If the world is ending, where do you think we could possibly run to?” Aidan countered incredulously, though he finally let his father steer him toward the others, his eyes averted all the while.

He would not look at them!

“Do not ask unnecessary questions, my boy. Just trust me,” Malcolm tried to reassure Aidan, though it didn’t do the trick.

Aidan gazed at his surroundings
―
everywhere but at Persephone and Aaro
n―
his back turned as he listened to Malcolm’s efforts as he strode right up to the couple, pulled them apart, and made them come back to their senses, urging them to get dressed as fast as they could and mentally prepare to immediately open a portal.

Though Aidan couldn’t see the expressions on their faces and purposefully put up a mental wall to keep their thoughts from entering his mind, he could tell from the silence and the crushing atmosphere that Persephone and Aaron must be shocked beyond measure by what had happened
―
and what was about to happen.

While he watched bits and pieces of their environment flying past as they were sucked toward the center of the vortex above their heads, the sound of the revolving air united with the faintest sounds of Persephone’s sobbing.

Malcolm gathered all of them in the center beneath the vortex, where the suction was not quite as strong yet, and urged them to grasp hands and form a circle. Aidan gritted his teeth and took Aaron’s hand on one and his father’s on the other side.

His gaze was glued to the surface of the rippling water beneath him, his eyes not once seeking out the person standing directly opposite hi
m
―
so excruciatingly close he could smell her scent on the air between them, an aching pain tearing through his chest.

“Concentrate with everything you have on opening a portal,” Malcolm instructed the three of them, “This time you must give every ounce of power to the circle…if this is to work!”

“But you haven’t told us where we’re going,” Aidan complained. Persephone and Aaron were silent, not a whisper passing their lips. Possibly overcome with guilt and shame, they seemed willing to follow Malcolm’s every word without question.

“You will not need to know in order for the portal to function correctly. As we are standing in a very powerful spot, I shall use it and the combined power of our circle…and represent the circle’s will through my own. Therefore, it will suffice that I, alone, know where we wish to travel. Please…I ask you to trust in me…and share your power. That is all I need you to do.”

A silence, interrupted only by the sounds of their screams and the now raging wind of the vortex above their heads, enveloped the four figures immersed in the shimmering water as they held out against the pain of their shared powers and concentrated with all their might on escaping the inevitable.

As the portal materialized, reflecting shimmering green light as though it were a mirror instead of a passageway, large pieces of rock from the suddenly crumbling cave walls soared dangerously close to their heads, while smaller shards of stone grazed their upper bodies, leaving bloody trails.

A moment before the ceiling collapsed and would have shattered their bodies, the four of them jumped through the portal in unison, disappearing in the face of a vortex which had begun to grow ever stronger in bulk and strength…pulling matter, antimatter, and time itself into its depths…

TO BE CONTINUED…

Acknowledgments

I owe a great debt of gratitude to my family for their invaluable feedback and support, and to my fiancé for enduring hours upon hours of going over tiny details with me in my quest to make this novel the best it can be.

Furthermore, I would like to thank my readers for their honest reviews of the first novel in the series and for staying with my characters during these trying times as they attempt not to let the world end. They need your support! I hope you will enjoy the second novel of the series and the characters’ journeys throughout the book.

Thank you with all my heart,

Vanessa Black

About the author

Vanessa Black comes from a German-American background and currently lives in West-Germany with her fiancé and their cat.

She enjoys reading, singing, dancing, crafting, baking, watching movies and serie
s
― especially Asian serie
s
― and loves discovering new imaginary worlds while writing.