*nervous laugh*

Uh, hey, about how I would be uploading more often...Um, that's getting pretty hard for me, so don't be surprised if I randomly stop uploading for um, several weeks, or months...Yeah, the homework i've been getting lately isn't helping...

Anyways this is Goth's POV...I actually had this two months ago and forgot to upload it . Silly me...

This story really feels like its dragging so I will try to pick up the pace...when I discover how... See ya :)

Chapter Fourteen: A Swift Decision

Somewhere in the world, the former king of a mighty army flew silently across the sky. It didn't matter to him that he was one to be hated and feared upon by many. It was a cruel world and he had gotten used to its cold judgments a long time ago.

Once, in the distant past, he had thought that if you ruled the world, or a nation, maybe it wouldn't matter, maybe the judgments others passed on to you wouldn't affect you as much. But he was wrong. No matter how powerful you were, judgments remained the same. But at least there was one thing he could count on.

Darkness was an old friend, always there when he needed it, always protecting him, shielding his figure under its massive wing. Darkness was his true guardian, his true fortress. He didn't need anyone else. Or so he thought.

Zotz, as His name suggested, was like a bolt of lightning into his life. Like lightning, He exuded great power and strength, but also like lightning the power was short-lived which was why it needed a strong base to protect it. For Zotz, his base was His followers, His believers. Without them, His power could never be as great as it was now.

Frankly, for the past few weeks, Goth had had enough of His egotistical attitude and wanted nothing more than to desert Him, the once mighty God of the Night he had once thought was the meaning of his life. Heck, it was becoming more and more apparent that it may just be the other way around; Zotz would not stop following him around like a tortured spirit, whispering threats and spitting ultimatums that he would certainly not fulfill, because day by day Goth was slowly losing his faith in Him.

Belief is something immensely powerful, he thought, but when you choose to abandon it, slowly, it loses its power, its hold on you. Goth no longer felt devoted to Zotz, and the stories that had been passed on in his wealthy heritage for generations seemed to slowly shrink to just that: stories. They lost their once lustrous brilliance, like the trees losing their leaves in autumn, and suddenly, it was like the thick tangle of chains bound around his soul, loosened, until they eventually broke apart and diminished into ashes. He had never felt such freedom before.

See, the unfortunate thing was, there was something about the object that Zotz kept on referring to, that caught Goth's interest. It could go back in time. No, it wasn't the eclipse that Goth wanted to change anymore. Zotz was no longer an essential part of his life and He knew it. Goth wanted to go back in time, far enough that he would be rid of Zotz entirely, or maybe just be reborn in a different body so Zotz no longer concerned him.

Goth knew very well by now that Zotz could see everything and anything, so obviously, He would know the location of this object. Unfortunately, He would not tell him where it was if Goth no longer served him, as their relationship would become that of two complete strangers.

So this was the decision that he had to make. To pretend that he still served Zotz until he found the object, or find it on his own. The first option would quickly become a burden, but at least he was guaranteed to completing his goal of finding the object. The second choice presented more freedom, but it would be a lot more time consuming and it would also force him into the risky method of trial and error that would not promise success.

Goth felt compelled to choose the second option despite the fact that it wasn't the better choice, at least at first glance, anyway. The only con the first option produced was the fact that he would be in the control of Zotz. The second route displayed seemingly larger factors of drawbacks; he could never find the object, there was a larger chance he would get killed or simply die in the process, and not to mention he couldn't be the only one looking for this object either.

But then Goth thought harder. All these problems existing in the second option were also a possibility if he chose the first option as well. There was still a chance that he would never find the object if he followed Zotz as He could lie to him (and that was actually very probable, considering the fact that Goth no longer listened to him anymore, so that would give Zotz all the reason to kill him off once and for all).

If Zotz gave him false information, the other two cons: dying and competition, didn't even matter as false information would just turn into time wasted. In the end, both options were dreadfully similar. It just narrowed down to one factor, whether he trusted his own judgment more than Zotz. And now, it seemed obvious that trusting Zotz was no longer a reliable option.

So this was it. He had to go his own ways now. Goth took a deep breath and closed his eyes once more, spreading his wings as wide as he could. He'd never felt quite so free in his life. But he never felt quite so lonesome as well.