Chapter 48:

Brendon staggered towards the nearest tree to him. That entire running took up all his energy, his breathing was heavy and left his arm burning with pain. He was in debt to Kaitlyn but he repaid his debt by offering a nullifying ring to her. It was a gift from his mother. He knew because he remembered only parts of it. He had the ring since he was alive and he just kept it with him. It was shocking when Kaitlyn suddenly grabbed his hands. He was never shocked but he had not recovered from the shock of his terrifying nightmare.

He dreamt that he was running in the rain and his skin burns as the pelts of rain hit his skin. It was not any normal rain nor acid rain as the pelts of rain are golden in color. Right before his eyes, building collapsed, fire raged and the area was engulfed in smoke. Living mortals run about in horror as the ground swallowed them up and waves washed them away. Unseen to mortals' eyes, the Dark and Light were fighting one another, many just blended in with the surrounding and disappeared into thin air. The scene was mortifying.

Felix's evil laughter echoed and Nadine's sobs can be heard from opposite. Floating in the middle was…

Kaitlyn Swift. Golden Darkness.

Her beautiful golden eyes dimmed and it was blank. There was no presence of life in those eyes; it was as though she was in a zombie trance. It was the scene of the destruction of Earth. From the corner of his eyes, Brendon spotted his brother. Raye was tied to a pole, like a sacrifice. He was out of conscious and battered. Golden Darkness raised her hands and…

Brendon woke up. The bed he was lying on was drenched from his sweat. His skin still burnt from his dream and his sleeveless left arm revealed a black charred upper arm. Brendon knew that it was the mark of Hera and that mark sparked something within him. Other than the dream, there was also the lady at the Light Academy, the lady with the same eye color as him. There was a connection between them but Brendon could not figured out what.

Brendon felt lost and really unguarded. He could no longer differentiate what was what anymore. His life will never be normal since Golden Darkness entered his life. Shuffle of footsteps were heard from behind and Brendon swung behind, his arm hitting the tree. He groaned in pain.

Raye emerged from behind the tree. "You reacted slow."

"Shut up," Brendon growled. I resign to my fate. Kill me now and end the suffering. Brendon thought. The pain was throbbing.

"Mind your words, Brendon. Right now, I could easily make you scream for mercy and you can't even fight back." Raye snarled, his eyes glinted silver. Brendon's knees gave in at the right time and he fell onto the pile of dead leaves. Raye's eyes were on Brendon while his hands took a ring out from his pocket. Raye slipped the ring onto his index finger.

"Why did you give Kaitlyn yours?"

Brendon stared at the ring in Raye's hands. "A mere gratitude ring, brother. I do not wish to possess the same ring as you. Now you two are a lover with a matching set of rings." Brendon mocked.

Raye obviously wasn't amused by Brendon. His glare was as piercing as before. "If anything happens to Kaitlyn, Brendon, I swear I'll haunt you down."

"Fine, whatever, brother." Brendon leaned his back against the tree and forcefully pushed himself to stand. "Are you done with your questioning? Because it's my turn. Who was the lady back at your Academy?"

"Eve?" The glare dropped into a confusing gaze. "Why does it concern you? Are you going to run back like a dog to your master and report?"

Brendon felt offended but he suppressed his anger. He knew that if he flares up now, there's no way he getting any answer out of Raye. "Is she our… mother?"

Raye gave a blank stare and blinked a few times. "You remembered about our mother?"

Brendon did not answer his question, he felt no necessity in answer it. Raye gave an exasperated sigh. "Eve is our mom's twin, our aunt. However, she's a God and our mom was a mortal so we've never seen her before. No worries, Eve is not on anybody's sides." Raye murmured something inaudible.

"What?"

"SHE IS NOT ON ANYBODY'S SIDES!" Raye yelled.

"No, your last sentence."

"Oh."

"Oh what? What did you say?" Brendon got pissed, but held himself back.

"Nothing!" Raye shouted. His hostility was back. Any brotherly feelings disappeared without any trace of it even happening. There was an awkward silence between them, Brendon just clasped onto his arm. "It doesn't have to be this way, you know?"

"What way?" Brendon was just feeling frustrated with Raye's mumblings.

"Us killing one another. We… Are brothers." It seemed hard for Raye to voice it out. "We can…"

"We were brothers, Raye." Brendon interrupted. "Not anymore. Not since I joined the Dark and you Light. We can never be brothers anymore. We're enemies now."

Raye was taken aback and hurt. Guilt unconsciously pricked at Brendon's heart. What is wrong with him? He was not supposed to feel any guilt, it was the truth. Or so he thought.

"Fine, keep it that way, Brendon. If you wished." Raye gave one last glance behind him before he left the place with dead leaves crashing under his weight, signaling his grand exit.

Brendon gripped to his arm tightly, it hurts. Inside of him, Brendon felt something. Something was pulling him back into his Academy. A bond. Brendon followed his instinct. His mind was surprisingly empty. It took him longer than he thought when he finally reached his destination. The bond got stronger, and Brendon felt unprotected for the first time in his own academy. Slowly, he made his way towards the pull. He found himself getting nearer and nearer to his mentor's chamber. Was his mentor asking for him? Brendon pondered. However, the pull brought him away from his mentor's chamber towards…

Hera's prison.

Brendon stopped dead on his tracks. Why was he here? Nothing made any sense to him. He was supposed to stay away from the chamber. Of a sudden, something muted his thoughts and muffled his mind. He couldn't think, instead, he just followed the pull and opening the door to Hera's prison.

"Welcome, young knight, I was just getting tired of waiting." Hera's withered fingers stretched out to Brendon. "Come on, knight, and satisfy this poor lady's hunger. I'm starving!"

Brendon can't help but outstretch his hands to her. He felt the need to obey.

"Yes, good boy, come closer so that I can take a look at your face closely. I warned you. You can never run away from me, honey."

A pleasuring pain hit Brendon's skull as soon as his hands hit contact with Hera's. His knees turned into jelly as he fell. The pain was bittersweet and he was disgustingly enjoying every moment of hellish heaven. His energy was sipping out of him, and memories came flooding in. Still, there were no complete memories, just broken pieces of them. Brendon grew weaker.

"Ah. Delicious." Hera licked her lips.

More charred skin fell off and she was regaining her original beauty. Brendon realized something that almost killed him. He was reviving the Golden Darkness who destroyed the Worlds for her benefits, he betrayed his own kind and became a slave to Hera. What had he become? Brendon staggered back from Hera.

Brendon sensed a strong burning sensation on his upper arm and took a good look at it. A golden mark was engraved on his darkened arm. The mark of Hera, the mark of his betrayal. "As expected, the energy of a demi-god never fails to satisfy me, young knight."

"Sorry, what?" Brendon's eyes widened at her. "The energy of what?" Brendon became more frustrated with all the mumblings others made and him having to ask them to repeat what they said.

Hera stunned for a moment, then she laughed. "The energy of a demi-god, young knight. YOU. You're a demi-god, my dear."

Hera's words rang in Brendon's ears. Demi-god… He's a demi-god and his mom was a mortal. His dad was a… God? Brendon could not believed his ears. His father was a God. And he's a…

Demi-god.

Everything seemed so hard to absorb now.