My wings opened.
I caught an updraught and was thrust back.
My back erupted in a furious burn. I howled, out of instinct, before biting back the pain. My feet staggered, finding firm ground and my wings gave out. Blinded and useless senses, struck dumb from an overwhelming pain.
Don't think about it!
Don't think about it!
You're a demon, for devil's sake!
Some Prince of the Underworld, I was - hunched over in agony.
If only Dad could see me. He'd be really proud. I presumed. Writhing in pain on the city streets.
Wait.
I was on the streets!
I froze, turned to stone from the thought. I was vulnerable, I discovered to my dismay, helplessly abandoning the security of the skies.
Not that I cared for the lives of the ignorant humans, but arousing attention to myself at all was too risky.
The two worlds were not meant to mingle, let alone acknowledge the other at all. Besides, the demons chose the underground. The mortals chose the surface and as for the angels…
Well, they claimed everything above.
Those arrogant bastards.
Though, despite their angelic propaganda, many angels fell to the Underworld daily. For this, I couldn't help but question their courtly rulings and authority.
So easy to fall, yet so hard to ascend. Funny.
Yet, in that moment, I could feel the mortals' eyes. They were watching. And even if I chose now to fly away and hide, they still would know of my existence. Besides, I was already compromised and now my wings were useless to me.
Then, all at once - tires screeching, headlights glaring, a horn blaring.
A giant mass heading towards me, trying for a blistering stop - a car.
I reached out, a desperate attempt to lessen the blow. I set my feet, planted them firmly, bracing for impact.
The power was so staggering, I skid with it. Something of the two opposing forces colliding had resonated, the unmistakable sound of a thunderous crash. Metal clanging and the piercing whistling of tires on pavement.
Then, a warped sort of noise, a low hum rippling reverberating throughout the streets.
And when I gathered the courage to look, I found the source of the sound to be from my own lethal grip of the car's hood, nails dug sharp, puncturing through and into the metal. A brilliant, green ring of light rippled outwards into the air. My hands had ignited, enveloped in vibrant, green, flickering flames.
The summoning of my power was completely unintentional and involuntary, yet in the intensity of the moment, I had somehow triggered them in a desperate need to hinder the car's speed.
I stood there, frozen in place for a few seconds, trying to catch my breath.
How did I not feel a thing? Not a single pain prevailed, nor was there a single evident scratch on me.
To this, something grew inside, a resilient, glowing sensation flourishing in my chest. It was so hysterically impossible, a laugh crept from my throat, dark and heavy. It grew in strength and volume and then, I was howling out in a grand fit of manic laughter.
My nails dug further into the metal, closing in on a more solid grasp. And despite the resistance of its tires, the car began to move. Slowly, yet with building momentum, it moved to my will. With all the demonic power vested in my being, I swung.
The car went soaring, flipping across the intersection. It tumbled recklessly, toppling onto other cars.
Debris of car parts flew around and blaring alarms erupted. The car I had thrown was now sitting on top of others, upside down so that the tires spun helplessly.
And the sound of the collision was grand - glass crashing, metal crunching, screams piercing.
Other vehicles swerved to avoid the destruction while others, blocked in the heavy traffic of the city, had nowhere else to retreat.
The most thrilling was the sounds of the mortals screaming. I definitely had their attention now.
Despite the unspoken rule of staying away from the humans, there was definitely no rule against initiating mayhem in their streets.
And damn, it felt so good!
Humans, fearing me, stirring up an immense, frenzied panic.
And suddenly, awareness overcame me - an awareness of how much power I truly possessed.
My own hands, my own strength, my very power.
And it sat in the palms of my hands - twitching and flickering and tingling. Something of it felt… different.
A good different.
I could actually feel its energy, surging through my veins, outlining me like a visible green aura. It was a prickliness at my fingertips, an enchantment among my being.
So much power, manifesting itself, engulfing me.
So much power I was unaware I even had - proof I had only been underestimating myself my whole life.
Even as I clenched my fist, curled my fingers into my palm, the fire remained, relentless. Simultaneously, something had happened.
Aside from the uproar of chaos I had just caused, I noticed a subtle quaking of the ground below me. It was a rumbling tremor, cars shifting, trembling slightly off the pavement. Every car, every vehicle - all under a greater control, yielding to flames of a widespread fire.
Not only that, I seemed to be the one behind the manipulation.
And when I decided to test my theory, gradually raising the palm of my hand up, the more gravity seemed to obey. Sounds of clanking and clattering seemed to emit from them - sounds of the cars' interior parts shuddering, rattling, seizing up.
They began shaking more violently this time, easing more and more off the ground. In the midst of all the vehicles surrounding me, I witnessed them all become weightless.
Cars lifted off into disarray, a disorderly state of confusion, going rogue and directionless. They levitated off and about, bumping clumsily into each other, slowly colliding and then rebounding off another.
It was as if gravity had hitched. Time froze.
They hung in the air like marionettes.
And I was the puppeteer.
The sight of it all made a smile creep onto my face, a devilish, sinister, dangerous grin. A single expression of pure malice.
And in one clear, swift motion, my fist, consumed in the fire of my own magic, fell.
The result was chaotic.
A glorious crash that seemed to resound throughout the city from the mass destruction.
What once had been a tremor had now physically shook the surface, an alarming quake that could be felt from below, sending vibrations to the Underworld.
Cars littered the intersections, either laying on top of other cars, completely turned over, or set ablaze by emerald flames. Smoke rose to the sky, filling the air.
Screams took upon the streets once again, amplified among a larger scale now. People scattered, running like petrified ants.
My uncontainable laugh had crept up my throat at the sound, the evident fear I evoked.
All this time - my whole life, I had simply just been wasting it all away.
I'd been so careful all this time. I'd been so careful to hide what was really true of myself. Wasting my whole life trying to avoid the natural demon urges, the biological, unstoppable craving to shed blood.
How funny it all was.
How painfully hard it was to push it all down to thrive for good.
How hilariously easy it was to let it all go to be who I truly was all along.
It was all so simple, the answer right in front of me the whole time - being feared was so much easier than striving to be someone worth being admired or loved.
I was born for this. I was meant to be feared, to feed off of it and to wield it.
How utterly hysterical I had blinded myself all this time - and how well I thrived on the darkness.
The marvel of my work was short-lived, however, when I was seized. A sudden grip to my throat and I went plunging backwards and taking a blow.
The impact was violent enough to leave my indent in its architecture. My head struck brick and for a fleeting split-second, was met by a sudden flash of white pain in the back of my eyes, whiplashing against a wall.
All at once, the pain came back to me. It took effort to open my eyes at first, yet when I did to behold of my attacker, I found my brother looming over me.
Tom.
