Return of the Demon Sovereign (Book 1) [MxM]

3. Broken Brothers

•••••Trigger Warning: There are some descriptions of torture in this chapter•••••

As Erebus rested, he felt something sinister seep into his consciousness. A bloodthirsty desire that he had never felt before. His mana became unstable, and he failed to control it.

The evil inside of him broke through and terrorized his mind. Trapped in a nightmare, he was confronted with demons, tearing at his soul and mind, filling him with a bloody aura. He could feel his body thrashing, and something grabbed his shoulder in a domineering manner. He had lived by fighting, so his reflexes were fast, especially after his hellish training in the darkness. So when he felt this threat, he lashed out in his half-dazed state.

However, when he fully woke up, he found his hand piercing through the chest of his sweet Kore. Despite her obvious pain, she was still smiling and trying to wipe his brow with a towel. She knew she was dying, but her eyes held no blame. Instead, she looked happy that he had woken up. He watched her in horror as the blood spilled from her wound and she turned cold. As his hand dropped heavily, he let out a heart-wrenching wail.

He didn't remember much afterward because he reacted like a feral beast, raving and cursing the Primordials. The only thing he could remember in his madness was the eyes of his friends and fellow Dragon Commanders. They were filled with horror and hatred. When they subdued him, they imprisoned him and bound him in chains.

"Brothers!" He would cry out. "What is happening to me? Help me!" The demons continued to attack his mind, now showing him the death of Kore over and over. Soon, his cries changed from "Help me" to "Kill me."

He would beg them to help him end the blood-thirsty madness inside of his mind, but they would state that he deserved the torment, as this was the price for the darkness that he now cultivated.

He believed he would live this pitiful life forever until they were merciful and sentenced him to die.

Decades were spent in solitude and torture, desiring nothing more but to be reunited with Kore and his brothers. Now that he had escaped, he was damned with madness and became the murderer of his beloved. He blamed himself and started to honestly believe that that cause was the new darkness he had cultivated. He fell for the honeyed words of the malicious voice in the darkness. Ultimately, he sold his soul to the demons and dark deities, and his beloved paid the ultimate price.

Like the time he fell into the earth, he accepted his death.

But fate would not let him go so easily. Before his sentencing, he was visited by someone of the shadows, a member of the Shadowbane sect.

They bowed on one knee. "Sovereign."

Erebus lifted his gaze, and his eyes burned into the dark figure before him. "Sovereign? What evil nonsense are you spouting?"

"Sovereign, the Shadow Deity gifted you his legacy." The figure said quietly.

"Gifted? Demons have cursed me. I was tortured and broken, and now my mind is sinking into the dark insanity. I have betrayed all I have ever known."

The figure shook his head. "Sovereign, you have been wronged." The figure pointed to his chest, where a new mark was exposed. It looked like it was a black flower with five petals.

This sentence momentarily woke him from madness, but the clarity was filled with despair. He shook his head and ignored the flower etched on his chest and the stranger's words. He'd instead paint himself as a monster.

"Wronged?" He laughed angrily. "I let the darkness take over my mind. I have killed her... My hands are covered in her blood."

The figure bowed low and tried to appease Erebus. "You have been given the legacy of the Shadow Deity, but you never lost your mind until you came here. This is a place of malice. They are true villains, my Sovereign."