Through the Eyes of Pain

It's the end of the road... a road that have drove Patrick to a darker side of himself. Now it's all for all, everything goes, for Patrick to save his mind and to find Furia.

Through the Eyes of Pain

 

That voice… it had to be that f*****g voice.

 

Hello Patrick.

 

I told Elvis and the rest of the team to wait, and while I jumped down to the street, I told the Russian...

 

Gedeon Domashevich.

 

I see you didn’t lose any time; you managed to put the whole world onto me… I have nowhere to run or to hide. Impressive…

 

You must have killed me in one of the thousand opportunities you had to do it… But you had to follow the cliché of putting me on your shoes before killing me. And the Mind Poisoning… What’s your excuse for that? A failure-proof system? In case you didn’t manage to kill me? That only proofs how much of a coward you are.

 

The Mind Poisoning was just for fun, Patrick… how many have you killed so far?

 

Not a single one, Gedeon. Jokes aren’t your thing, you aren’t very funny.

 

Want to start now?

 

Then I exclaimed, so everyone around could hear me…

 

-Tasers out!

 

Elvis, Alan, Alena and Oliver, they all got their Tasers out and aimed at me from onto their dragons. Then I heard Gedeon’s laugh… and he said…

 

Are those really your friends? Aiming at you with Taser guns and willing to shoot at you?

 

They wouldn’t be my friends if they refused to shoot me.

 

Guess what, you will be very far away from them in a couple of minutes.

 

Why so?

 

You can follow my mind and track my position; I want you to do it alone. Otherwise, I will go away and you will never be cured from the Mind Poison.

 

And you still plan to play by the clichés… What’s this? You plan to ambush me with the help of your partner and his dragon?

 

That actually sums it up pretty well. Are you going to come or not?

 

You just wait for me.

 

Then I said to the team…

 

-I just talked with Gedeon…

 

-What did he say?   -Asked Elvis; to what I answered…

 

-He wants me to go alone to where he is. He even admitted it was going to be an ambush.

 

-And you are planning to go?   -said Oliver with a little alteration.

 

-It doesn’t sound like a good idea, Patrick… -Said Alan.

 

-You shouldn’t go, Patrick.   -Said Elvis-   He’ll have you where he wants.

 

Then I exclaimed…

 

-I know! But what other options do I have? Gedeon is that kind of man, and I just discovered what kind of man I am… a Dead Man…

 

-You’ll become a Dead Man once you head there, Patrick! Are you sure you are being yourself? Or is the Mind Poison manipulating you…  -Said Elvis, aligning the sights of the Taser gun, perfectly aiming at me.

 

Then I answered him…

 

-I am already dead! I can’t trust my own senses! Nor will I see our father again, not in this state! And… I can’t even think of looking for Furia! Imagine the things the Mind Poison would make me do to her! I told you I wasn’t going to experience her death again… I just can’t!! And less I will allow me to kill her myself. The only way for me to get back to life is finishing this. So don’t follow me… either case… I am not going to hurt anyone while being dead.

 

I turned towards the direction Gedeon’s signal felt stronger; leaving my friends behind, incapable of giving me any support… Also knowing that could be the last time we saw each other. Right when I took the first step, I heard Elvis’s voice shouting out my name with energy. I turned and he threw a phone at me, which I caught like a reflex with my left hand. It was my own phone. “Right when you are done, Patrick.” Elvis said. I nodded and turned around once again, heading alone down the street.

 

Where I was imprisoned was the Metro West Detention Center, at the western borders of Miami. It was clear why I was imprisoned there, that place was the furthest possible to take me from the city. But it was also perfect for Gedeon, for he was leading me to the outskirts, where he was safe and couldn’t be found by anyone but me.

 

The Full Moon in the sky lighted my path as each step took me away from the city and into the wilderness. Knowing this night everything would end. I still felt weird, my own words rebounding in my mind. I wasn’t myself anymore… I was different. I felt like I lost something along the way of this obscure route. Never in my life have I felt so thirsty of blood, so eager to hurt someone. Just to imagine my hand, holding a blade, stabbing deep into Gedeon’s meat, made my fingers tickle with emotion.

 

Suddenly, a dragon landed in front of me, he then paced past me and turned his head to me. It looked like a lightly bright shadow and was hissing loudly, showing off his fangs. The man on his back, sitting straight with his hands resting on his legs, said…

 

-You will not walk furthermore, Patrick Darst.

 

To what I responded with a low, solid tone...

 

-You will stay out of my way if you want to live.

 

-Master Gedeon ordered me and my dragon to die by your hand… But it is up to our own resolve not to make it easy for you.

 

Master Gedeon?  Then I remembered how one of Gedeon’s partners jumped in front of him to take my attack, saving Gedeon’s life. What kind of business partner does that? A friend would… but, all of Gedeon’s friends still thought him dead. In the end, his partners weren’t even partners at all… just a group of innocent brainwashed minions. I could try to save him, but it wasn’t something I would die trying. Both the Rider and the Dragon had in their minds the one and only purpose of… dying by my hand… which meant they were already willing to give everything in this fight. And trying to subdue an opponent with such a resolve was simply impossible.

 

“A Rider and his Dragon can be only defeated by another Rider and his Dragon” I was told. Though, I was going to prove that also could a lone Rider… who is looking for his Dragon. Then I responded to the rider… “Suit yourself.”

 

I generated the Chain Blade with my right hand, but before I could even attack, the dragon exhaled Fire at me. I defended myself with a shield I generated with my left hand and then they took off.

 

I dissipated the shield, but not the Chain Blade, grabbing it by the handle, with the blade aiming downwards. While the dragon made a curve to come back I readied a spear in my left hand. Then they were flying towards me and the dragon exhaled more fire. This time I jumped to my right side and rolled on the ground, threw the spear at the dragon’s chest and with a whip the Chain Blade I cut off his left wing.

 

They flew above me, the dragon groaning horribly with pain, and crash-landed ten to fifteen meters behind me. “I’m Sorry” I muttered to myself when I slowly turned around to finish the rider.

 

The rider struggled to strap off from the squealing, twitchy animal that was still alive, drowning on his own blood. When the rider got finally down from the saddle, he walked towards me, not even caring for his dragon. He generated a sword with his left hand and a shield on his right, and then charged with a war cry. But he didn’t manage to take five steps before I whipped my blade at him. He tried to defend himself with the shield, but the Chain Blade cut through it and mutilated his right arm a couple of inches from the shoulder. And immediately, without letting him even react; I made the blade twist and whip back, hitting the back of the man’s head and coming out by the center of his forehead with a solid vertical chop.

 

Both my weapon and the corpse fell to the ground, as I slowly walked towards the dragon. I dissipated my blade and walked by the corpse. Then I arrived near the dragon; he was lying on the side he still had a wing, but now that wing’s articulation was broken. I approached his neck, right behind the head, and pressed my right hand against his scales. He wasn’t even twitching, he was too injured to do something; his breathing was slowly fading away while I made a fist with my left hand.

 

-I am sorry…

 

A couple of seconds later, I felt his last breath passing through his throat. I pressed my teeth with rage, looked down for this death in vain. This dragon, whose name I didn’t know, died for nothing. He died for the whims of a resentful man… nothing more. And worst of all… was that it was by my hand. I killed him… I killed an innocent dragon whose only doing was to end up under the grasp of a puppeteer. I thought the worst day of my life was the day of the Battle in the Bermuda Triangle. But, nothing I did that day matched with what I did tonight… Tonight I became a murderer. Then I muttered to myself…

 

-This shouldn’t have happened. (Then I shouted to the sky…) This shouldn’t have happened, Gedeon!! You miserable piece of s**t!!  -Then I turned and resumed my way to where Gedeon’s mind felt stronger while saying… -You are going to pay for this… I am going to make you pay for this!

 

I walked for a couple of minutes before suddenly being surrounded by a hundred shadow beings; just like the ones I met when I escaped from Gedeon’s gang. They were making a circle with a radius of like five meters in which I was the center. I located my hands at my left side and positioned myself as if I was going to pull out a katana from its sheath with my right hand.

 

Suddenly, the shadows began to vibrate, like changing their shapes. It was something like taken from a horror movie. When they finished, they had more humanoid appearances, they had arms and legs; each of them wielding a different weapon from the rest… from axes and swords to war-hammers and spears.

 

Then, three shadows charged at me from different directions: The First one had a short sword; The Second had a pair of Tomahawks (small throwable axes), and The Third one had a big battle axe. The first one arriving was the one with the Tomahawks, one in each hand.

 

The shadow attacked me with the Tomahawk in its right hand with an up-down swing. I leaned to my left, avoiding the attack, and twisted while generating the katana. His right side was now vulnerable and there I attacked with a lateral swing, cutting the shadow completely. It then collapsed, the torso falling forward and the part with the legs tripping over it to then explode in a cloud of dark smoke.

 

Then I put my attention on the two shadows that approached; their shiny eyes with no single expression, confident that they would success due to their bigger number. I decided to take offensive and took a step forward. But suddenly, before they even got close enough to use their weapons, I felt a sharp cut on my left arm, a couple of inches from the shoulder, that broke my concentration and prevented me from defending myself from the shadows. They just arrived to me and reached distance cero to explode into a cloud of smoke; just like their fallen comrade.

 

I dissipated the katana and took my hand to the wound; I was indeed cut and it was pretty deep. Then I exclaimed…

 

-Very brave from you, Gedeon! Very brave indeed…

 

While I looked around looking for him, Gedeon said…

 

Shame on you, looking for bravery in a matter about killing… Enjoy the show. It was fun while it lasted.

 

Then a group of five shadows charged at me while I generated two knifes; the one in my right hand with the blade upwards, and the one in my left one with the blade downwards. I readied my stance and… before the shadows even arrived… I felt a stab on my right side that made me groan and fall to my right knee, dissipating my knives. The shadows one by one exploded into smoke once they reached distance cero.

 

Gedeon’s low laughing rebounded in my mind… or what was left of it.

 

Welcome to my realm Patrick… Though you are just a guest… you’ll never leave.

 

I pushed myself up and saw a new group of four shadows approaching, and before I could even decide which weapon to generate I was hit on the head with a blunt object. Bathed in a new cloud of smoke, I landed on my back while I could just grunt and groan with pain as everything turned around and twisted without sense, all accompanied with the most horrible headache.

 

Gedeon’s laugh appeared again, but this time wasn’t a low one… instead, he was laughing out loud, he was joyfully having the time of his life.

 

You have no idea how much fun this actually is, Patrick!

 

Among the twisting stuff, I saw Furia like a flashed memory. I wanted to find her, but I had no idea of how to defeat Gedeon. I was never going to find a way while being in his realms… and then I got it… I found the answer in something I said myself... “I am already dead! I can’t trust my own senses!...” With a new plan of action, and lightly recovered from the hit, I pushed myself up and stood still, without even generating a weapon… and closed my eyes.

 

How stupid are you, Patrick? I know everything that roams your mind, did you forget? And it’s not going to work, by the way…

 

I began to hear the shadows charging at me; I could hear their steps, like a running crowd getting closer to me from every direction. Then I felt a stab on the back of my right shoulder. I groaned, but didn’t allow myself to fall. I took a deep breath, swallowed the pain and composed myself up straight. After half a minute of more running footsteps, I felt a diagonal laceration on my left thigh. It was deep and made me collapse with a loud groan.

 

I could just kill you, you know? But this is so much fun… you’ll die eventually.

 

I didn’t say a single word within my mind, I just concentrated. But still, my mind burned with fear, I kept my eyes closed against every one of my instincts. I slowed my breathing, and by doing that, I slowed my heartbeat. The steps running at me began to sound clearer and louder. I could feel the light breeze that kept the place fresh… and I felt the pointed object touching the hairs of my left forearm.

 

In the blink of an eye, with my right hand, I grabbed what felt like a wrist and pulled it to my front. Then, with my left hand, I down-up punched what seemed to be an abdomen. Then I pushed myself forward and pulled up my left leg with a war cry, holding the pain it provoked me… and kicked down on a knee, I did it strongly enough so the bones couldn’t hold and broke sideward. The crack of bones accompanied by a pure scream of pain was just music to my ears. I then loosed up my right hand, allowing my prey to fall to the ground. And then I opened my eyes to see Gedeon lying on the ground, whimpering with pain as he held his knee with both hands. I generated a blade and stabbed his other knee, making him scream even louder. His legs now ended on his knees, the rest was just meat and bones hanging from him.

 

Very lowly, like a loud murmur, I said…

 

-So you don’t go away.

 

Then I walked up, closer to his torso and chopped off his right hand with one single swing. The severed member landed on his chest, I stabbed it with the tip of my blade and, with a quick movement I tossed it away. Gedeon was too in shock to even defend himself, his head turned from one side to the other, crying and screaming. He was grabbing the stump with his left hand. Then I walked past his head and with a single swing I chopped off his left hand and even another section of his right forearm that was in my blade’s path. Then I said…

 

-So you can’t defend yourself.

 

Then I knelt next to Gedeon and with my left hand I grabbed his neck to choke him while I healed him. I could feel his pulse, as fast as a pig’s when it’s being taken to the slaughter house. Gedeon wasn’t crying nor screaming anymore, just looking at me with fearful wide eyes. I stopped choking him, but didn’t let go of his neck, then I said…

 

-You think yourself a bad guy, huh? You think of yourself the one who sees in the night? (My tone rose) Just by murdering hundreds of innocent people!? (Then I pressed his neck, choking him lightly and pulled his face closer to mine, looking at him with furious eyes) Now tell me how it worked for you… you are going to die tonight, but the how depends on how quickly you heal the Mind Poison.

 

Then he began to laugh, he coughed due to the choking, but he never stopped laughing. I generated a knife and pointed it at his face, and then I asked…

 

-What’s so funny?

 

Gedeon laughed a bit more before composing himself to talk, and then he said…

 

-You, Patrick... you are what’s funny… all this time talking about my clichéd plan and you actually came here thinking I was going to heal you. (Laugh) What was next on your plan? Not killing me so I would pay for my crimes by justice!? (Loud laugh).

 

I slapped his face with my right hand and yelled at him…

 

-Why didn’t you kill me!?

 

-I never needed to. (Chuckles) You are already dead!

 

Then it struck my mind and he continued…

 

-Yes, Patrick... The Mind Poison… I already defeated you; ever since the day you met me. Did you actually think I lost all of those opportunities I had to kill you? No. Everything that happened, everything! was for the Mind Poison.

 

-Explain yourself!

 

-The whole deal with the stolen dragons, the following fake rider massacre, and then the later non-rider raids. Everything was carefully planned to take you to this point: Slowly losing your mind to a Mind Poison which purpose is to make you kill indiscriminately. One day you’ll wake up to see all of your friends’ mutilated corpses around you, more innocent people than what you can imagine, not even your dragon will be safe from you. You’ll slowly turn into a menace, no one will be able to control you and let’s say you don’t get to kill your friends, they, along with your family and Furia too, they’ll all watch you be put down like a ravenous dog. That’s my vengeance. I don’t need to tell you that I am not going to take it back no matter what you do, so just kill me.

 

-You are going to heal me.

 

-No.

 

I stabbed him on his abdomen and said…

 

-Heal me!

 

He groaned and said…

 

-And if I told you I made Furia abandon you?

 

-I already know it; so I would crack up and activate the poison.

 

-Furia wasn’t going to abandon you that night.

 

-What?

 

-She was mad at you, that’s a fact; but let’s say I… magnified her emotions to the level of abandoning you… which was very hard.

 

That was a boiling point, my pulse shook and my left eyelid twitched when I said…

 

-You made Furia abandon me?

 

In a very enthusiastic way he said…

 

-Yes! I did! Now do it!

 

Though I wanted to give him the most horrible of deaths for that, I didn’t need to push into the past; I had to keep the priority up against anything I would feel. I generated a knife and pointed it to his eyes, then said…

 

-Heal me… now!

 

-I’ll accelerate the poison instead.

 

My eyes widened as I felt suddenly vulnerable and losing control of the situation. Also knowing that if he did that, there would be then almost no time to proceed to Francesco’s mysterious and risky other option.

 

-No! Don’t do it!

 

-At least this way you are going to kill me.

 

-No! You f**k…!

 

I was lying on the ground when I woke up. The moon hadn’t moved a bit, which meant there only passed a couple of minutes. I pushed myself up to my feet and felt my hands were wet. I felt a goose bump running through my spine and franticly looked for Gedeon. He was a couple of meters behind me, in a state that almost made me puke. Gedeon’s inners were all pulled out and sliced up. His ribs were all broken outwards, revealing stabbed lungs and a heart that was cut by half. His eyes hung by each side of his head and the left side of his jaw was ripped off from its place.

 

I tried to wipe my hands on my shirt but it was soaked in blood as well. I began to feel anxious; a strange thirst began to born in my mind. No, I can’t let it get my consciousness! I took my phone out of my pocket and dialed Elvis’s number while staining the touch screen with my bloody fingers, drawing a red figure.

 

-Are you cured?   -Said Elvis as soon as he answered the call.

 

My breathing was accelerated and irregular, my heart pumped faster than a machinegun…

 

-No… there’s no time… Tasers out when you arrive, shoot me in sight, and come quickly, so I can F*****G KILL YOU!!!

 

-Hold on, we are on our way!

 

Then I threw the phone at the ground, breaking it to pieces, and pulled my hair with my hands while screaming. The voices in my mind ordered me to kill, images of bodies being dismembered, torn apart by my own hands and weapons, born as if they were some kind of delightful fantasy. I threw myself on my knees and grunting furiously punched the ground with my right hand until it broke.

 

I fell to my side and grabbed my broken hand with my left hand while thinking… I can’t lose it, I can’t lose it, keep it together Patrick! Keep calm to slowly cut through their veins… No! F**K!!

 

The next thing I know is that I am being held by Oliver while Elvis cured Alan from a long laceration on his abdomen and Alena cured Sanjay, who had a hole on his chest. I heard Oliver screaming from behind me… “Hurry! I can’t hold him any longer!!” Then Alena approached and punched me on the face, sending me again to blackness.