Beyond the Rift ✔ (Completed)

Chapter 47: The Truth behind the rage

"The Void? What's that?" I ask him. He takes a step closer to me. His face too close for comfort. Few golden strands of hair dangle over his temple. His eyes; soft as snow. I close my mind to the thoughts. Moreover, the thoughts are almost inaudible over my palpitating heartbeat. His dreamy aura envelops us as I manage to keep my stone-cold glare constant.

"You really are naïve." His fingers trace my bangs. His eyes travel devilishly over my lips as he tucks the hair behind my ear. Jolts of current sizzle the inside of my skin. I inhale sharply. What is happening? He is definitely provoking me. I have to stand my ground. With that, I nudge myself away from him. Nevertheless, he is still in my personal space; his hand still in my hair. "I see, how they tried to hold you back, mold you into one of their puppets, and, how that made you hate yourself. You don't have to be scared anymore. It will be over." Haze fills my mind as soon as he ends his sentence. Everything around us feels unreal, the pain and anger wilts away. He steps away and puts his arm out at me.

"Come with me."

I look at his palm. I want to take it and follow him. I want to be free. Everything he mentioned at the moment feels so right. It feels safe.

Alexandra. Don't do it! Remember me!

"Dad!" The single syllable comes out as a whisper.

"Sorry?" Asmodeus speaks.

"You are lying!" I raise my voice at his ignorance.

"Really?"

"No one tells me what to do! These people care about me. They would take a bullet for me. They love me! You on the other hand, are a MURDERER!" I almost howl the last word in his face. But, he didn't seem scared nor is he taken aback by my response.

"Okay." He draws back his hand and gaits around me. "So, you think I am a murderer."

My gaze follows him as he walks up to Ethan. Azazel has Ethan's hands tied behind his back. His ginormous fist grabbing Ethan by his jacket. Ethan looks unusually nervous. Knowing him, he isn't afraid of Azazel at all. Maybe it's Asmodeus that's making him uneasy.

"Do you know how your father met his end?" Asmodeus quizzes me. A ball of fury trails inside my chest. Rage grips me. I look solemnly into his eye.

"They surely must've fed you some cock and bull anecdote, about how I opened the Aether and Samuel used a soul spell to seal it all up, didn't they?"

I don't reply. Although, I would smack him for taking my dad's name.

"Well, there is much more to that. I agree, I was on my mission to find the rift. Regardless, Your Father and little old Ethan here, were insanely set on the path to stop me. They had all the means to save the day. The beryl crystal only works in the hands of a fierce fire essence altruist. And at that time, the only weapon the altruists had was Ethan. An 18-year-old-misfit orphan; whose parents left him to rot in a place he later burnt down to ashes. Killing two innocent kids with his spleen wrath. He was unstable for sure. But, your father thought otherwise. Ethan had one job, to use the crystal to lock me up. But, he failed pathetically, which led your father whipping out one of his spells to stop me. In an instant, he ran his knife over his palm and casted the spell to lock me up. Which cost him his life."

Asmodeus ends his story. There is stillness in the huge gym. No one speaks; however, I glance at Ethan. His hands are ablaze; tangerine and violent flames consume him. Red sparks reflect in the hazels of his eyes. He is looking at me. But, he isn't angry or enraged. His face is covered in guilt and sweat. He struggles to fight back the tears.

I sense the corner of my eyes twitch; the puddle of tears makes it harder to look.

"Who is the Murderer now?" Asmodeus announces rhetorically.

"Alex... I..." Ethan grits his teeth. "I am... sorry." His meek words are like a warm cardigan on a wintery afternoon.

"He out of all people, was the real reason you are fatherless. If he hadn't been this weak Samuel would be walking alive."

Raw anger shoots through me at his words.

"No." I mutter.

"No?"

"It was never Ethan's fault." I look at Ethan, who couldn't believe my sentence. "I know everything, When I dived back in my dreams to find the crystal, while I was trancitioning, I revisited the dream, I took a long look at the boy, his face too close to yours. I could taste the fear in his eyes. It wasn't your fault that my father chose you, Ethan. There is nothing you could do about it. You were only helping. He shouldn't have put you through that nightmare. And, I know you never would have wanted that. It was inevitable. The only person responsible for anything that has ever gone wrong is Asmodeus."

I feel a heavy weight lift off my chest. It is true. I did walk into the dream of the dark-haired boy holding the crystal. I saw my father too. I understood the whole situation right there. Why Ethan kept me away from him, not because he hated me, but he didn't consider himself worthy of my forgiveness. I realized this much later, right when he confessed his feelings for me.

"So, you knew that too." Asmodeus' lips curl in a half smile. "I guess, I'll have to find the void myself then."

There is no time to register his words. My body is dragged towards Asmodeus by an unknown force. It collides me right into his. His left-hand clasp around my thin neck making me look up right into his steely eyes. The pressure increases every half-second.

"Leave her alone!!" Ethan roars on top of his lungs, nonetheless, he is unheard.

"Time for convincing is over. Now, you get to witness my real side." He scowls sinisterly at me. His fingers digging into my skin. The oxygen in my lungs run out and I gasp for air. He raises his right arm. Flicking his wrist, he suspends a white current at the center of the court. The hot current buzzes and inflates by each passing second.

My essences rush to my brain. The earth quakes. Blood surges through my veins. My vision begins to cloud. The current morphs into a rift, further burning bright as a thousand flashlights.

"You ... can't compel me." I breathe my words.

"We'll see that."

The minute his hand over my neck loosens, I feel him grab my wrist and walk us into the pure-white light.