******** Cliffhanger warning ********
[Dark Lord]
I watched as the little pest squirmed in her cage.
“This, would be easier. If you would just let yourself go.” I explained. She turned to me, her eyes wet, her body trembling from each silenced sob she tried to get out. I had to gag her because she refused to stop crying. Her fear seemed to have brought out the light in her and she glowed with a blinding gold luminosity that burned me every time I came close. The night she fell I felt my empire tremble. It shook with such violence that I knew, it had to be something powerful. She wasn’t an easy find. For months, I’d been searching but she seemed to have been camouflaged. I could feel her presence. The closer I got, the stronger I sensed her but I could never pin point her exact location. When I got to Central City she seemed to be everywhere. Her aura was overwhelming. That’s why my army and I had to seek refuge in this abandoned, run down place. It was the closest I could be to her without feeling like I was about to spontaneously combust. Then, 24 hours before, I suddenly knew exactly where she was. Her strength was still overwhelming, but it diminished enough to allow me to capture her. When I first laid my eyes on her I knew that it was all worth it. A child of light. The purest and most powerful creature in existence, yet ironically, also the easiest to manipulate. But this one, this one had developed an emotional attachment that was keeping her from surrendering to the shadows. A connection strong enough to make her believe that there was something in this world worth fighting for.
A temporary setback, I thought to myself. Her connection was so strong that it dawned on me that destroying it might just do the trick. The trauma would be so great and her first taste of anger so consuming that she’d give in to the darkness inside her. Then she’d belong to me and with such a raw and potent source, I’d be invincible. Her glow brightened and I laughed.
“That’s it little one. Attract your affections to me. I’ll take pleasure in watching you realise you loured them to their deaths.”
[Barry]
The coordinates Harry gave us sent us to an abandoned mansion. Iris had stopped crying and her features were unreadable. Her demeanour had gone from grieving mother to super mama bear in the blink of an eye. I’ll be honest, she kind of scared me. The house was easy to spot. It glimmered with a golden light that seemed inviting and was almost pulling me towards it.
“That’s her.” Iris said, her voice slightly shaky with emotion.
“That’s our little girl.”
We made our way inside the crumbling structure, the only thing guiding us through the maze of chipping paint and splintered floors was the light that seemed to intensify by the minute. We manoeuvred our way through hallways yellowed by time into an open room with a high dome like ceiling that was barely there and the stair case that lay ahead of us looked ready to crumble with our weight. The level bellow looked like it might have once been a grand ballroom. In the centre was a cage from where the light radiated. Looking at it, I felt a pull at my heart and instantly knew that Iris was right. That was Nora. But something felt off. Why would someone kidnap her then leave her unattended. Shouldn’t there be guards around or something. Our entrance seemed too easy, too premeditated. Iris took a step forward towards it but I blocked her with my arm.
“Let me go first, this could be a trap.” I said.
“Barry, I love you, but that is our baby down there and there is nothing on this earth that is going to stop me from getting her back.” She responded sternly with a fire in her eyes that told me not to push any further.
“Ok. But give me your hand and tread lightly.” I said. She intertwined her fingers with mine and carefully we made our decent. When we reached the last step, before I could stop her, Iris ran ahead of me to the cage.
“Nora, baby, are you alright?” she probed and Nora approached the side of the cage she was one. I got closer and saw my daughter glowing and floating in mid-air yet that wasn’t what unsettled me. What made my blood burn with an uncontrollable rage was the fact that she was gagged and her eyes shimmered with tears. Those same golden eyes that took my heart the day I first looked into them, pleaded with me to get her out of whatever hell she was living. A hell she was forcibly put into.
“My baby.” Iris cried, her tears clearly pronounced in her voice.
“What have they done to you?” she sobbed, while reaching in her hands and taking the gag off. Out of the shadows a demonic voice answered,
“Nothing compared to what I plan to do to you.”
[Iris]
I felt my body freeze as the inhumane sound reverberated through the room. The owner of the grotesque voice stepped forward, detaching himself from the darkness, and my heart was paralyzed by fear. I took in the sight, his lifeless eyes seemed to hungrily search for my soul and his mouth was formed by unsymmetrical slits in the mask he adorned as a face. My stomach twisted as the demonic figure came closer. Each silenced step sending an uncontrollable chill through me. It pained me too look at him, but I stood my ground, I wasn’t leaving without my daughter.
“Let our daughter go.” I demanded, gathering every bit of strength I had left in me and using it to give me the courage I needed to face this nightmare of a creature. He laughed, a menacing, deafening sound that hurt my ears and caused my head to throb with a sudden, maddening migraine.
“Daughter?” he hissed out. “How interesting that you believe her to be your daughter when she doesn’t have a single drop of your blood in her veins.” Every time he spoke my ears scorched and I felt an impulsive need to cover them. I moved closer to Nora, her light diminishing his effects on me, simultaneously strengthening my need to save her.
“Welcome to the 21st century. I don’t have to be give birth to be a mother.” I spat and he responded with another mortifying laugh.
“Yes, that’s right. Perhaps I’d be more inclined to believe your story if the child were at least human. But as you can see, she is not.” He pointed out and the arrogance in is fiendish voice began to grind on my nerves. I looked down at my daughter. Her entire body was a blaze and her honey eyes shined a bright gold. But in those eyes I saw fear, and that was the only thing that mattered to me. It didn’t matter what she was. All that mattered was what I felt and my heart told me that she was a part of me that I’d never want to lose.
“I honestly don’t give a damn what she is. She’s my daughter and I love her and I’m taking her back.” I challenged.
“That’s right. She’s cries, she feels pain and she’s capable of love. That makes her human enough to me.” Barry backed me up, his voice contained no trace of hesitation or fear but I knew that he was just as startled as I was.
“Mommy. Daddy.” Nora whimpered and my heart tightened.
“Hang on baby. We’ll get you out of there.” I reassured her.
“I would love to see you try.” The man in black taunts.
Something about the way he said it combined with the desperation in Nora’s voice sparked something with in me that I can’t quite explain. I felt my heartbeat ring in my ears and the room around me became a blur. The only thing occupying my field of vision was Nora and the monster holding her captive. I felt my determination burn through me and the room was suddenly painted in varying hues of purple.
“I won’t say it again. LET. HER. GO!” I screamed. Each word punctuated by anger. I heard my own voice echo through the room and what was left of the glass ceiling came crashing down in a shower of shattered glass.