When Darkness Becomes Good
You snarl at me with both front fangs fully visible; your glimmering eye-burning coat of white fills the temple with an uncomfortable light.
Shadows cling to her fur, making her seem larger than she is. Kauket's eyes glowed with a red light that reminded me why I hated her in the first place. A rumbling growl filled her chest, but the sound didn't startle me. I don't back down to bluffing.
I never feared my worthless little sister. The shadows deepened, making it seem like a swirl of angry bees whizzed around her.
I never took my fraud older brother seriously. Her words didn't carry any trace of fear, but I smelled malice on her tongue.
Who is a fraud? Not me, little monster. I'm trying to build a fresh new world of light, while you go around planting chaos and destruction in my path.
Horus talked with suck strength, such power, but no, he wasn't making everything better. It seemed, finally, darkness was better than light.
You're destroying the world, not fixing it! Whole tribes are dying. Humans and wolves alike are falling at the hands of your servants. The light grows brighter, and a man clothed in a robe of white fire stands in your place.
"Maybe some will die, but it will all serve the greater good." Cold surges through my canine body and shadows encase me. I stand on two legs instead of four; my fur replaced with glinting stygian iron armor.
"Ah, stealing from the Greeks now are you?" I give my brother a rueful glare.
"Unlike your stupid worshipers, the Greeks know what is right, even if it means allying with darkness." He gives me a full smile, showing off pristine white teeth that work as a flashlight on their own. I hold my hand out, and more shadows flow around me with dangerously powerful energy. I grip a stygian scythe with a worn shaft and a perfectly sharpened blade. The weapon absorbed Horus's light, buzzing slightly in my grasp.
"Oh, Kauket, you were always so impulsive as a child, and yet, you still are." He flicks his fingers, and a spear appeared in his hand. It wasn't fancy, just a white stick with a point at the end.
I roared and charged her. With a quick jab, I dented her breastplate easily. I went for another to her snarling wolf helmet, but she blocked with the end of her shaft and sent me backward a couple of steps with the flat of her blade. Kauket advanced with a perfectly balanced swipe of her scythe, but I parried lightly and slammed the butt into her shin. We sparred back and forth around the temple grounds. She blinded me a couple of times with her shadows, and I let a few infernos loose. Soon, our battleground went from a deteriorating old temple to an earthquake of rubble, and a hail-storm of bricks.
"Admit it Horus, your tiring, and this place is about to fall on our heads.
He grins and hefts his spear. "How about it falls on your head?" He throws his spear, and I hear it hit something behind me.
"Have fun under fifty tons of rock." He disappeared in a ball of light, and I turn around just in time to be crushed by the rest of the temple.
~~~~~~~~~~~
I groan as I open my eyes. A small light shines through a crack in the debris, and I estimate it to be around noon. My breath comes in short bursts, and I'm surprised to be alive. I send out nerves to my limbs and ribs to check for broken bones. I try for a deep breath, but a pain resonates through my chest. Okay, I think to myself, you're broken, but you're alive, now let's get out. With some grunting and a lot of pain later, I reach the small hole in my cage. I pry at it with my fingers, willing it to grow. A thin burst of inky darkness flows from my fingers to the opening. Slowly, it begins to widen and shake. I exert every ounce of magic I have left into making a hole big enough to fit through. I squeeze my arms and shoulders through and emerge a moment later onto the uneven ground.
"Now, I must find some help if I'm going to save the world." With that, I use a shadow of a still-standing pillar and evaporate into the gloom.