Pitch Black

I yelled as I seemed to spin uncontrollably through time and space. It seemed as if I was traveling through a huge whirlpool downwards into the center of the world. As soon as I started to to feel sick, I smashed into a hard surface, and all the wind was knocked out of me.

I struggled up to sit on my haunches, coughing and trying to to regain my breath back. I looked around trying to see where I was. It looked as if I were on a long bridge of earth leading to a larger place where a great throne was situated. I looked over the bridge, and saw with amazement an great ocean of flames. I looked back up to see a dark-throned figure sitting in the throne, and before him was a small, brown-haired boy who looked no older than nine. He was naked, and hugged himself as he shivered. I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he was scared and close to sobbing. The dark figure, shrouded in shadow, looked down upon the small boy with no pity at all. They didn't seem to notice me.

The dark figure was the first to speak. "Christopher Kellen." His loud voice rang out. "You know why you are here today."

I saw the small boy shake his head, too scared to say anything.

"Beating and killing another scarlet-fever ridden child. Torturing him for your own amusement, did you not?" The small boy mumbled something. "SPEAK, child!" The figure roared.

"It wasn't my fault!" The boy said loudly. "He deserved it! He killed my parents!"

"And is it his fault the fever was contagious?" The figure boomed. "Was it his fault that your parents were doctors? His fault that there is no vaccine available?!"

"NO!" The boy shouted, distraught. "But it's not fair! Why should they have to die because they just wanted to help?! He took my parents! So I returned the favor and put him out of his misery!"

"Which is precisely why he and your parents are with God and you are with me. You have reaped what you sowed, and now must pay the price. You have been judged." The figure said in a smooth tone. The small boy began to weep. As he did, the scene dissolved again, and the boy and the dark figure disappeared...

I was now in what appeared to be a dungeon corridor, lit by torches in their brackets on the walls. The brunette boy, who looked to be about 13 or 14 now, was leaning on a wall opposite a door in which it sounded as though many voices were discussing an important matter. Now that I could see him more clearly, his face was dotted with freckles. His head was facing the ceiling, and his eyes were closed.

A middle-aged man stepped out of the room. "Christopher." He called to the brunette boy. The boy looked at him with shocking gray eyes.

"Yes?" He asked the middle aged man.

"Good news." He said, offering him a small smile. "Since you've done all three years of your Blood Promises, they're considering sending you to the land of the living again in another body that they'll make themselves. And I've volunteered to be your living father until you get back on your feet."

The brunette boy smiled. "Thank you, Caesar. I couldn't be more grateful."

The other man, Caesar, clapped Christopher on the back. "No need, my boy, no need. You've become a son to me anyways these past three years, I'd take a bullet for you."

A woman stepped out of the door. "The final decision has been made, gentlemen." Christopher and Caesar followed her inside the dark room, and then the scene changed again...

I was now in a small, poorly-lit room. Caesar was at a desk, typing frantically on a type writer. I couldn't see what he was writing, but as he finished he lent back in his chair and sighed. He looked older and worn, and most of his neat hair was white. He had grown a mustache as well, bushy and nearly gray too. Someone walked through a door on the other side of the room, Xavier, and walked over to the man and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Father." He said in that smooth voice I recognized. "What are you doing?"

"I've completed my book for you, son." Caesar said, looking at Xavier. "I've done it! The long years are over! Your life story, I've addressed in this one novel. Please, will you be the first to read it when I get it published?"

"Certainly, father." Xavier said, smiling. "What is it called?"

"Moon and Light." Caesar said, smiling back.

"What a beautiful title, I am honored." Xavier said. "But um, father, before we get to this, may I ask you something?"

"Surely, my boy." Caesar stood to face Xavier.

"Why did you not tell me about all of this body's properties?"

Caesar's smile faltered. "I-I'm not quite sure what you mean, Xavier."

The smile never left his face. "I'm sure you know damn well what I'm talking about, old man." Xavier stepped closer. "Somehow I've been able to control people I've had contact with. I'm put into their mine and I can make them to whatever I wish. Why is it that I, the very owner of this body, was never told?" In a quick and furious movement, Xavier knocked down the lamp that sat on Caesar's desk.

"N-now Christopher..." The other man said in a shaking voice. He was clearly frightened, with sweat beading on his forehead, and he stepped back as Xavier still advanced upon him. "Y-you're not quite used to your new body yet, you cannot control your feelings, just calm down-"

"DO NOT ADDRESS ME BY THAT NAME ANYMORE!" Xavier roared ferociously, upturning the desk. Caesar scurried to a corner. "I am no longer that weak and idiotic little boy! I am XAVIER now! Oh, but you seem to think I am still Christopher Kellen, eh?!" Xavier bore down upon the frightened and shaking man. His eyes were blowing a bright red, and that moment I was glad that he couldn't see nor hear me. "Still weak and childish, Caesar?!"

"N-no-" the man tried to stutter out.

"But you must think so for calling me that former name?" Xavier said in a deadly quiet voice, his lips pulling into a smile again. "I am not Xavier Caesar-Adity Belial, like you promised me, father?"

The poor man opened his mouth to speak, but his words never came through as Xavier slashed his throat with scarily elongated nails. Blood splattered everywhere as Caesar fell to the ground, dead. Xavier looked down upon him for a while in complete outrage and disgust.

But then, his nails returned to their former length, his eyes returned their normal brown, and his face held a look of anguish, shame, and grief. Tears began to roll down his face, and he fell to his knees.

"I will be nothing more than a monster..." He said quietly to himself. "A monster..."

These words echoed through the air as I was once again transported to another memory...

I was now in a huge court-like room, filled with people. Xavier was in the middle behind a wooden podium, sporting an unreadable expression. A portly man in a curly white wig sitting in the stands directly in front of him glowered down upon him for what seemed like hours in silence before he spoke, reading from papers on a desk in front of him.

"Xavier Caesar-Adity Belial, formerly Christopher Nathan Kellen." His voice rang out for all to here. "You have been put on trial for the second time in your life for killing your Living father, the late and great Caesar Adity Lovette, who provided for you and given you all the love and support you needed, he who convinced us to give you a second chance and even let you live another life and rename yourself."

"That would be me, yes." Xavier replied.

The other man, who I guessed was a judge, looked at him distastefully. "You disgust me, child. Sir Lovette was one of the greatest members of our Blood Society. He mentored you for three years, was your very father for five years, and this is how you repay him? You're nothing but a killer, boy. A monster among monsters."

"I could not control myself, sir." Xavier said, still looking unmoved. "I was not yet used to my body-"

"Nonsense, you had five years-"

"Easy for one to say when he doesn't have to switch from body to body-!" Xavier's voice rose, and the judge pounded his gavel to silence him.

"You will not raise your voice to me in my courtroom boy, do you hear me?!" The judge yelled. Xavier nodded, looking down at the ground darkly.

The judge sighed heavily. "Usually I would excommunicate you from the Blood Society and I would let the Master do what he wishes to you. But in Sir Lovette's will it clearly states that his son inherit his title after he dies."

Xavier looked up at the judge. "What?"

"You are now a noble in the Blood Society, but since you have committed such a heinous crime, I can only give you a sentence not as severe as I would like..."

"Yes, sir?"

"You will have ten years to fulfill a Blood Promise with a human, but you must do this, and remove the soul of the human as well and bring it back here with you. This will clear your name. If you do not complete this by the end of your deadline, we will send after you and the Master himself will see to it that you are properly punished."

A smile crept upon Xavier's lips. "Yes, sir. I will fulfill this to the best of my ability."

"We shall see." The judge grumbled. "This is your last chance, Xavier. You have ten years. Do you understand?"

"Perfectly, sir."

"Grand. Now get out of my courtroom, I can't stand the sight of you."

Xavier bowed before leaving. As he did, realization had struck me hard.

Was I the human he chose to take the soul of?

This hit me so hard that I felt a blow on the entire side of my face. The scene in front of me dissolved, and I soon found myself knocked down onto the cold ground of the room. My head hit the ground hard, and as soon as I got my bearings, I looked up and saw what his me.

"Hello, Jack." Xavier said, his eyes glowing red and his nails elongated and stained in my blood. "I see you've found my book."