Candlelight

Zacky groaned and threw a hand over his eyes. It took him a minute to actually process it and by then he had shot up in bed. He looked around the room. It was his, but it wasn’t. The room was clean for one thing and he was never clean. He liked the disorder and chaos of his room. It made it feel cozy. This place was impersonal, large, and empty. It was dark too. The walls were black and the windows were covered with heavy black drapes stealing away all the light. Even his bed was black as sin, or no, it wasn’t. It was red, a deep, rich red the color of wine or blood. Soft candlelight filed the room making him wonder if he would even be able to FIND the light switch. The walls were covered in weapons, racks upon racks of weapons. A growl built up in his throat and he stalked towards the only normal thing in the room: a mirror.

He stood in front of it and he could see himself. Short spiky black hair, a slightly pudgy build and dark eyes, but the man in the mirror, wasn’t him. He was furious and glaring; he could feel his face contorted with his rage. The man in the mirror was smirking, hands resting in his pants pockets and head tilted slightly to the side. “I told you know! We’re finished with this. You can go find some other poor fucker to harass. I’m. Not. You.”

The man in the mirror laughed. “You really think that?” he asked. “Look around you. None of this would be here if you weren’t me. You are me Zack Baker. You are Ares, God of War. Take pride in it! The bloodlust, the call for battle, the beautiful women that you could have at your side, you are a god if only you would accept it.”

Zacky laughed. “This is fucking ridiculous. I’m talking to my own reflection. In the real world, we call that nuts. Gods don’t exist, which means you don’t exist. I want you out of my head forever. We tried it your way, remember? It ain’t gonna happen again.” To prove his point Zacky grabbed the nearest weapon, a morning star, and smashed the mirror. Pieces of glass shattered and flew around him. He looked down at some of them and could almost see Ares still moving in them. He shook his head. It wasn’t possible. He refused to believe it. He had ended this.

He closed his eyes and breathed out a soft sigh. With that breath, he tried to expel the memories of the time when he had tired to be the god Aries. A shiver ran down his spine. He could still taste the sweet and pungent wines that he would drink trying to get himself so drunk he wouldn’t remember what he was actually doing. He remembered the woman. God had they been gorgeous women, but there had been no life in their eyes. At first, he had noticed and it had terrified him. Their kisses and caresses had made his stomach turn. Then he had finally gotten himself to ignore it, to forget what was going on.

He had tried at least. In the end, he never really forgot. He had simply been too drunk to think. Drunk with power, with lust, with need. He wasn’t that person though. He wasn’t the thing that the god inside of him wanted him to be. He couldn’t pretend anymore. He had tried and it was tearing him and the band apart.

Rushing down the stairs of his place, he pulled out his phone and pressed the speed dial he needed. “Yo,” a groggy voice answered.

“Brian, I need you and the guys right now. We have some…some serious redecorating to do at my place,” Zacky said questioning his own choice of words.

He could almost hear his friend trying to think. “Why the fuck are you calling me at three a.m. saying that we need to redecorate your house. Go to bed and call me tomorrow afternoon if you still remember this conversation,” Brian muttered.

“Brian, if you hang up that phone I swear I will drive over to your place right now and kick your ass,” Zacky promised. There was a pause on the phone. Zacky waited, praying his friend wouldn’t ditch him now in favor of sleep.

A sigh came through the line. “Alright, alright, but just remember, I’m invoking the messenger clause. This shit is rolling uphill to your ass,” Brian said. Zack could hear him sitting up in bed and running a hand through his hair. “We’ll get there when we get there.”

“Wait, Brian….don’t forget that kerosene we stashed in your garage, we’re gonna need it.”

He could almost see his friend’s eyebrows shooting up. That statement probably got him up faster than anything else had. “Are we redecorating or torching?”

“Just trust me Brian, we have to do this and now before I can’t anymore,” Zack snapped his phone shut and shoved it in his pocket. He stood barefoot outside looking up at his bedroom window. He probably shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t stop himself. As he watched the window, he thought he saw a hand reach out and pull one of the heavy drapes back. In the window stood himself, no not himself, ARES, framed by soft candle light. “I am finished with you,” Zack promised. He wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince though. Himself or the god who shouldn’t even exist.