Chapter 5

Into the Darkness

The lights in the building came back on, and I saw every face turn towards me. They had all witnessed the encounter with the deities, had all seen that I was not merely a telepath. Hundreds of voices all called out to me, begging me for something. Immortality. I answered myself. I peered into each mind, and that was the only thing present in any of them, except for the man who I first talked to. He was merely in shock.

I was now being pushed and grabbed, tossed back and forth like a child's play thing. I will not tolerate this! I screamed to myself. I gathered all of the air from the place and jammed it between me and any other object, living or otherwise, and threw it all away from me. Everybody in the room crashed into the walls, dropping to the floor after. They were still obstinate, trying to return, so I held them all down with the same air I had thrown them with.

I merely breathed for several moments, letting myself calm down enough to handle the situation well. I had less time than I would have like, however.

I felt myself thrown away from my position, slamming into the wall, just as I had thrown everyone else. I looked up as I released the air I held, and saw one man staring at me, his hand outstretched. There was nothing holding me, nothing to push away. I was just…being held.

The man approached me, leaving his hand outstretched towards me…keeping me there. I attacked his mind, searching for the source of his power. "You, child, will grant me immortality. I have you under my each and every whim." He said, demonstrating his point. My arm flew up, and began to scratch my head, my other hand scratching my arm pit. He was making a monkey out of me!

I delved deep into his mind, finding no resistance. Obviously not a telepath. I thought, flipping through memories and thoughts as he made me dance. I searched, but I was hitting blank walls. Not blocked walls, just blank. There was nothing there. I turned and ran into emptiness again, and again. "Ha-ha. Searching for my powers, little child?" He asked. I looked up, aware of my surroundings after abandoning his mind, and saw him standing a mere two feet away.

"You won't find them in there." He said, tapping his head with his free hand. "I may not be a telepath, but I know how to manipulate them, make them think that they are winning. I then…leave them high…and dry." As he spoke, he raised his hand, causing me to shoot up towards the ceiling.

"Now, as I said," he lowered his hand, bringing me back down to his eye level, "You will grant me immortality. I wish to become a Deity, and you will make me one." I tried to speak, but I had no control over anything physical in my body, eyes included.

I dove into his mind, trying to find something to use against him, but immediately came up blank. It was as though he were not even there. "Child! Grant me immortality! I will not all-"

I focused, freezing time; At least this was still within my power. I was still frozen though. Even my manipulation of space would do me no good here, as I had to move to get places.

It was a very good thing that I could not suffocate. My lungs were completely useless, and I would have surely died if I needed air. I am better than an ordinary telepath. I can't die, I can kill Deities. I should not be able to be held back by this…Amateur magician! I thought this, attacking his mind once again.

I scrambled for some form of foothold, but found nothing but white. Wait…I can make memories within people…Maybe I can slip by his 'barriers' after all! I imagined a large gold gate in front of me, imprinting the image into his mind. I skimmed over the empty surface, finally finding something; A large gold gate, blocking the entrance to his mind. I focused on the gate, opening it. I easily entered his mind after that, gaining complete control over his body.

I allowed time to unfreeze, letting him realize what had happened. Ah! What did you do to my body! I cannot move it! He thought loudly, unable to say anything with his mouth. I lowered his hand, my body dropping with it. I continued searching his now-malleable mind, finding what I wanted out of his memories.

I located his powers, and began to learn them like I would learn a book. Telekinesis, blocking his mind. Well, not the greatest powers, but the telekinesis will come in handy in space, what with no air to use. The mind-blocking was utterly useless, now that I could break through any barrier by merely placing an open gate into their minds.

I shuddered lightly, losing the smallest control over his body. What the-

GET OUT OF MY BODY! He screamed. I was being pulled apart. Invisible forces were now pulling his own limbs out of their sockets, held together only by my now-limited control over his powers. I was losing this battle, this battle which was entirely dependent on will-power, so I fled back to my own body.

I was immediately forced back against the wall, but I was able to lower myself, countering his manic force. He lunged forward, still throwing invisible pressure at me, and grabbed me. He lifted me by the front of my shirt, trying to crush me with his power. LET GO OF ME! I cried into his mind, thrusting my palm forward against his chest.

I nearly screamed in shock; I could feel his soul. Just as I could feel the glowing ball wrapped in light within Serela, I could feel the presence of his soul, just above his heart. Without thinking, I pushed it. I pushed it harder than I had pushed anything before, launching him across the room. He slammed into the wall, being suspended by my pushing. I pushed it, now with telekinesis, until I could no longer feel anything to push. He fell to the floor, unmoving.

I gasped in surprise, shock overwhelming me. I rushed to him, flipping his lifeless body face-up. His eyes stared straight up at me, shock frozen in them. They were the eyes of a statue, a home that had been abandoned.

I gasped out a sob, realizing what I had done. I had never killed anyone before. I had never even seen a dead person before! I was sobbing uncontrollably, everyone backing away from me quickly. I felt everyone running away, jumping into spacecraft of all sorts. This made me angry. They were running away from me, a girl who was sobbing for killing a man in self-defense!

I was losing it. I grabbed anything and everything that I could find, pulling it in towards me. I reached out into space, finding nearby stars, planets, moons, anything. I pulled and pulled, everything rushing through space towards the giant jellyfish. Planets collided together against the pull of gravity, smashing each other. Suns swamped moons, eating them like they were nothing.

People and space ships were crushing against me, but it did not hurt; I was too angry. I felt a dark energy welling up within me, begging to be let out. The first planet collided with the jellyfish, a shower of sparks and fire lighting up even the inside of the complex.

The energy could no longer be contained, so I let it go. I released the dark, evil energy that had been clawing its way out from me for several seconds now. I released it, and had to pull it right back. It was taking everything out of me. I screamed, several ships smashing even closer, being sucked inside of me with the evil energy.

It hurt. It hurt more than anything I had felt up to now. The energy was insatiable. It had been sucked back inside of me, but was now sucking everything else with it. Ships, people, the entire complex, all were crushed against me, only to be drawn into nothingness.

A loud groan sounded around me, and I felt the complex come crashing into me. It was too big for me to contain, so the energy forced its way back out. I screamed as pain overwhelmed me, my body being overtaken, releasing the insatiable force out into the galaxy.

Orion POV

I was walking through the complex, enjoying my new friend, Alec's, company. A sudden shriek cried out from nowhere, but everywhere at the same time. I froze in my tracks, searching for the disturbance. "Orion?" Alec asked, stopping to look at me, as though he had heard nothing.

I ignored him, jumping out into the universe beyond. I could feel immense pain coming from billions of light-years away, so I warped instantly to them. I nearly cried when I saw the infinite destruction being wreaked in this part of the galaxy.

I stared straight into a black hole, just finishing its absorption and destruction of several suns and large planets. I felt the pain of every individual, whose life had just been turned into energy, attempting to satisfy the hunger of the black hole. I cried out in pain, empathizing with all of those billions of lives. The worst pain, however, came from right in the center of the hole, a pain greater than that of all the planets combined.

A sudden blackness overcame me, and all of the pain vanished. I could no longer see the torturous black hole, feel the pain of trillions of beings being obliterated. Alec. I thought, casting the thought out loud. I could not locate him, so I hoped that he heard. Thank you, Alec.

I felt the blackness lift, and I was staring up into Alec's eyes. I was back in the Volturi's large mansion, my best friend staring down at me with immense worry in his eyes. "Thank you, Alec. How did you know that I needed an anesthetic, though?"

"You fell to the ground, screaming." He replied simply, worry still staining his eyes. "Orion, what happened?" I thought back to what I had seen, all the pain that I had felt.

"Something is terribly wrong, my friend. I was just witness to the birth of a black hole, the death of trillions of beings. Their pain was more than anything I have ever felt.

"Alec, something is terribly wrong with this universe right now. The black hole itself, was feeling pain! That was where most of it was coming from, from within the black hole!" I could still feel the loss of all that life, but it had grown faint with distance. "Orion, what do you mean? How is something wrong with the universe?" Alec asked, more confused than I felt.

"I…I don't know. It just seems…That something is wrong. It is almost like something is happening that shouldn't be." I then knew what I felt; Time was wrong, not the space contained within it. I could feel the fabric of space as I stretched out, feeling the entire universe.

The fabric around Earth was particularly distorted, warped almost beyond recognition. It was completely still, as though it had been frozen, but the rest of time continued on without it. The light film surrounding the perfect sphere of the planet was being destroyed. Only in one spot was there movement, right above Volterra. That one spot was spinning, like the rest of the fabric should be, but it was twisting the frozen material around it.

There were skid and stretch marks all around the rest of the planet, having been frozen for too long. The remainder of space had continued to move, rubbing up against the frozen planet. This twisted the already broken fabric of time, leaving stretched stains across the light material. Time on Earth was being destroyed.

"Oh, Alec! This is horrible!" I cried, my eyes launching open.

"Orion! What is it? What is so horr-"

"Time! Time, Alec! Time is destroying itself around the planet!" I quickly described all that I had just seen, trying to clarify any confusing thoughts. Alec merely stared forward, trying to absorb everything that I was telling him.

"What does this have to do with the black hole, Orion?" Alec asked after a long pause.

"I don't know! It could be that the Earth's screwed up time matrix has started to affect the rest of the universe, but that black hole was so far away, I can't find anything that could have started it from here. I don't know if screwing with Earth's time would even do anything to the rest of the universe." I was completely confused at this point. I collapsed onto the ground, unable to move any more.

"Come on, Orion. Let's get you to your room. Or should we see Aro? Maybe he can help you figure this out?" Alec said as he picked me up. Even though I knew that vampires were strong, I could never get over the fact that Alec could pick me up like a baby, even though I was now nearly twice his size.

None of the Volturi had left the Palace in over twenty years, since there was no news calling them away. That could now be explained by the frozen fabric of time.

We arrived in Aro's hall, and Alec called out for him. "Ah, Orion! What brings you he- Alec, what happened?" Aro finally saw me lying limp in his arms, and flashed forward.

"Touch him, Aro. I don't think that he can speak, right now." Aro reached forward and pressed his fingers to my forehead. I purposely showed him everything that had just happened, everything that I had just felt. He cringed back at the pain of the black hole, losing contact my mind. He dutifully stepped back to me, continuing the movie that he was watching with growing horror.

"Orion…I don't know what to say!" Aro said, stepping back. I raised my head to stare into his eyes, just as confused as Alec's had been. "Have you…tried to fix the time matrix?" He asked, worried about my answer. "No, I haven't. I have been a little preoccupied worrying about how this will affect everything, Aro." I snapped this at him, caring nothing for his concern for Carlisle's little Alice.

"Orion! This has nothing to do with that!" He nearly shouted. Oops. I thought, realizing that I had projected my thoughts out loud. "Well, Aro, what is it then? I know that you don't care a lick for the rest of the world! It can burn, for all you care, as long as you get to keep Alice, in the end!" I was in an exceedingly bad mood right now, and Aro was not helping it. I knew that it was cruel to bring up the subject of his fascination for over fifty years, but I cared even less about his feelings than I did about his obsession.

"Orion, I think that you need to go to your room. You are behaving irrationally. Go to your room. I will call you when I deem that you are ready to rejoin us." He pointed towards my room as he said this, dismissing me.

This pushed me over the edge. "Alec, put me down." I told him, not looking at him. He immediately consented, sensing the oncoming wrath. Don't try to stop me either, or else I will kill you too. I told him, only for his ears. I had never actually hurt anyone here, except for Demetri, but he deserved it, so Aro did not seem overly concerned about my command to Alec.

"Alec, would you help Orion to his room? He is obviously having some listenin-oof!" he cried as I threw him backwards. He crashed into the far wall, remaining suspended against it. "Orion, ce-" I snapped his mouth shut, cutting off his sentence. Cease this at once! He shouted this at me in his mind, knowing that I would be reading it.

"Aro, I put up with you crap a lot. I am done with it. You cannot treat me like a child anymore. I have emphasized this in the past. Well, it's time for the Volturi to hold true to their name." I had snapped. I was no longer me, no longer thinking beyond killing Aro. "The Volturi do not give second chances. I told you of the rule, and you broke it. It is time for you to face the music, Aro."

What, are you going to kill me? For treating you as a father should? He thought at me, and this only made me angrier. "A FATHER?! Aro, you do not even know what a father should be like! A father should-" I broke off here, trying to remember the argument I was trying to enforce. What should a father be like? Did I even have a father?

I lost all of my steam as these thoughts passed through my head. I turned to Alec, my eyes filling with tears. I can't remember my father… I told him, speaking right into his heart. Alec's face crumpled with my pain, feeling it exactly as I did. Its okay, Orion. I don't remember mine either. He told me, trying to console me, but it did nothing. He at least knew that he had one. I had been in this palace for over twenty years, never once having the thought of a father pass through my head.

My mind receded back into a dark abyss, nearly as painful and pitiful as that black hole that had consumed so many lives. I felt like that now, the black hole of my heart sucking away any love I had once felt for this man, for the rest of the Volturi. Alec, Jane and Felix were the only ones that escaped my list of hate. They were the only ones that had gotten to know me, been true friends.

Marcus and Caius, just the men I wanted to see, burst into the room at that point. "Orion, what is-oof!" Caius started, but then was thrown next to Aro. Marcus joined them, but he did not seem to care. "Alec, go and get Felix and Jane. Unless they wish to die, they will come. I hope you stay as well, I would hate to kill you." Alec vanished from the room as I told him this, searching frantically for Jane and Felix. In the common room. I told him, showing him to them.

"Orion, stop this! This kind of reaction is probably why that black hole started in the first place, probably why time is being destroyed!" Aro screamed this at me, probably trying to make me stop. I was beyond caring. If I created a black hole, so-be-it. I was already a black hole, my only mission now was to fix time. Destroy that black hole that had killed trillions, beginning my desensitization to life.

I had been experimenting with my powers these last twenty years, learning each of the Volturi's gifts. I had reached far beyond those gifts, creating my own as my imagination suited me. I was creating a new one now. I reached forward with my mind, ensnaring Aro's entire being. I created the feeling of a soul within him, and it was there. I wrapped my mind around it, finding a thin black film surrounding the glowing silver ball.

I removed this black film, and Aro lost all of his vampiric beauty. His skin turned a pale cream, instead of dead white, his eyes reverted to dark green. He gasped a breath out, shocked by what had just happened. I had removed his status as vampire. I slid the black film back around soul, returning him to his terrified glory.

"I have a new plaything, Aro. I don't need your lecturing anymore." I said, raising my hand.

"Orion wai-" I cut him off, crushing his soul out of existence. I could feel life within his body, but his thoughts were empty, his living body lifeless. So, a body can live without a soul…Well, a vampire one, at any rate.

Caius stared at Aro's lifeless body, now absolutely terrified. "Can I go next?" Marcus asked, still bored. He had no care for life, held here only by Chelsea's power. I crushed the life from him, allowing his body to fall next to Aro's. "Orion, plea-" I killed Caius next, dropping him next to the others.

Jane, Alec and Felix appeared behind me, not wanting to be next in line. "Come, friends. We are going to fix time." I said, bending space in front of me. I was staring out into the blackness of space, looking upon the great black hole. "Don't worry, you will not be harmed by it." I said, reaching my hand forward.

I felt all around the black hole, feeling the dark energy that possessed it to destroy everything. I grasped the heart of this energy, a writhing ball of pain, and crushed it. The pain floated away, along with copious amounts of energy released from the black hole. I stepped through the portal, into space, brushing through the remains of the dark hole. The twins and Felix stepped through after me, allowing me to control their movements along with my own.

We blasted away, in search of the disturbance of space, leaving the Earth behind.

Billions of light-years away, a small blue planet was wrapped in a dusky white film. Only a small part of this material moved, twisting the rest of the planet's film into a crumpled mess. This small part of the planet suddenly stopped moving, becoming a flaming ball of fire, leaving nothing but ashes to prove that it had ever existed.

Uh oh. Orion is turning into a naughty boy. Please review! I have to know what you are thinking, even if you don't like it.