He lowered his hands from his mouth, breathing hard. His tongue was slick, bits of the soft warm meat stuck in his teeth. Blood dripped from his chin, pouring down the front of his shirt. His hands returned to the corpse in front of him, scraping around the ribs for any more soft tissue that might be left.
His movements, though they had been wild and feverish before, were slow now. He took another handful of meat but didn’t raise it to his mouth. His chest was heaving, his heart racing from the adrenaline. He swallowed hard, tasting metal.
His eyes, now glazed over and empty, drifted to the face of his victim. The eye sockets had been dug out, giving him an almost surprised expression. His mouth ajar, his jaw slack in an unnatural manner. Claw marks and blood covered his features, making him unidentifiable.
Still, he hadn’t known him anyway. Even if he had, it wouldn’t have really mattered. His hunger was all he could think about now. It burned him from the inside out, consuming him.
“Remember me, as you pass by. As you are now, so once was I.”
He lifted his head slowly, seeing a familiar, shimmering form walk up slowly behind him. His voice was low, and soft. Contemplative. Every day that passed only nursed his hatred toward that person, and yet his rage and bitterness dulled with every minute. Every thought. Every bite.
He continued speaking, walk around the corpse to face Ethan. “As I am now, so you must be…”
Ethan watched him, his hands frozen as they hovered over his victim. This wasn’t what he had signed up for. Mark had promised him purpose. Mark had promised him revelation.
“Prepare for death, and follow me.”
Dark lowered to one knee, his dark eyes inspecting the mutilated body in front of him. He seemed almost thoughtful, his gaze growing distant before he looked up at Ethan.
Ethan watched him, his hands shaking only a little. When he finally spoke, his voice was low and weak in his own ears. He felt his eyes sting with tears, a foreign liquid that dripped down his cheeks. “You made me do this.”
Dark tilted his head. “I haven’t made you do anything. All your choices have lead to this.”
Ethan took a hiccuping breath. “Y-You lied to me.”
A soft chuckle escaped Dark and he shook his head. “I promised to show you the truth, and I have. Time is fleeting, my perfect creation. Every day you pass without fulfilling your purpose is wasted. You should rejoice; you’ve become what you’ve always been. It is the way of all things.”
This couldn’t be right. Ethan stared down at his victim, shock filling every vein in his body with numbing fire. “Why would I do this?”
The edge of Dark’s mouth twitched and he sighed, tilting his head to the side. “Because you’re hungry,” he said softly. “Because you crave to be full again. Because I took away a piece of you that shut your eyes to who you are.”
Dark chuckled at this, a low rumble that shook the air. “I could give it to you. But then you wouldn’t learn the most important lesson of all.”
Ethan wiped his eyes, smearing blood and gore across his cheek. Why was he crying?
Dark stood, that thoughtful expression returning to his countenance. He nudged Ethan’s victim with his boot, curling his lip a little. “What lies within you,” he murmured. “That you don’t need a soul at all.”
“I know.” Dark raised his hand with a sympathetic click of his tongue, but inspecting his fingernails with chilling indifference. “You’re meek, and vulnerable, and rely on others. You seek comfort and assurance, but don’t worry.”
His eyes flickered to Ethan, who looked up at him in a desperation that could only be found in a man at his very last chance to find answers.
“Soon you won’t feel anything at all,” Dark told him, and the air itself stood still. “This is what it means to go even further beyond.”
