Ungodly Chaos Book Three of the Ungodly Series

Chapter Thirty-One: What Will You Do Now?

“I can end this for you.” Purred the voice. “I can make this all go away.” Emma clutched Bel's body to her in despair. “I can bring them all back for you. I can right the wrongs committed here, and all you have to do is give me what I've asked of you.” Emma's head jerked up and she glared at the Fox, who slowly came into view.

“This was all you, wasn't it? All of it? It was all manipulated and manufactured by you! Influenced somehow! It's all your fault!” She shrieked.

“Oh no, my little Goddess.” The Fox ran a sharp nailed finger under her shin. “This was all caused by you.” And with that, she felt herself spiraling back into the past, and saw, as if from a distance, the events starting from Cern's Resurrection. She watched the Darkness creep into her skin the moment she touched the Stag's skull and gave him her life, and how it writhed and plotted within her from that point on, gathering more to itself every time she came into contact with Cern, multiplying, spreading. It crept into her loved ones, family and friends. Luci, Bel, Phoebie, Rafe, her Aunt, her children, they were all contaminated!

“Noo!” She yelled, yanking herself from the vision desperately. She was trembling from head to toe and could feel her heart trying to pound its way out of her chest.

“Oh yes, little Goddess, oh yes.” Hissed the Fox. “I tried to help you early on, but you denied me. Now look! Look at all of the death and destruction you have caused because of your greed and carelessness! I told you you couldn't handle this power! I told you to yield to me! Give it over to me! What other purpose do you have for it? Now, you are alone!” The Chaos God's shout echoed in the empty room as Emma's tears streamed down her face. He had his arms thrown wide, as if to show her the room as evidence, and Emma clenched her fists in response, looking away. The Fox ran his sharp nail under her chin again, drawing a bead of blood and forcing her to look up at him.

“What are you going to do now, little Goddess? You are all alone.” He repeated in a simper and she clenched her teeth, the anger within her rising. She was going to kill him, that's what she was going to do. And then, she didn't know, but first... She felt the Darkness rising up out of her, creeping out of her skin, tendrils of it reaching for him, surrounding him, determined to envelope him and snuff out his life. He tutted. “Ah, ah, ah, little Goddess.” He scolded. She felt her power hit an invisible wall. No, it was more it met itself and stopped, self recognized self, and it refused to destroy what was already part of it.

“You see, I already hold a part of your power. When I took from your Aunt, I made myself immune to you. Because I knew, you see, that you would eventually lose control, just as I know you will eventually ask me for help.” He touched her forehead where the parasite had been, and when he did, she spasmed, arching backwards, visions swamping her mind. Emma saw everything, more clearly than she ever had, and her mind nearly split from the pain. The Fox had better control of her own visions than she did, and he exerted that control with an iron fist and a gleeful relish she could feel through their contact. The pressure in her mind as he guided her from vision to vision nearly killed her in its intensity and she screamed. But in the end, there was hope. She saw her Bel and her Luci again. Alive. And that's all that mattered. All she wanted. But it came at a cost. She shrieked again in defeat. Was she really going to have to give in to this lunatic to get what she wanted? She held Sage to her body and wailed, realizing that her choice held sacrifice on either side, and she wasn't sure she was ready to make it.

“I will never see them again!” She shrieked, rocking the terrified child. The Fox knelt in front of her.

“You were never supposed to in the first place.” He said with sympathy. “But don't worry, you won't remember.” He stroked her cheek tenderly and she glared at him accusingly. “I can help you. Why won't you let me help you?” He murmured.

“Because you're a trickster, and you lie!” Emma seethed, trying to ignore the tears still streaming down her face.

“No, sweet Goddess. I manipulate things to my advantage, but I am no trickster, and I am not lying to you.” He soothed. He knelt in front of her and wiped her tears. “I promise you, your heart will be whole again. You will have back your Bel, your Luci. You just have to give me the one little thing I ask for.” He purred. She rocked Sage even harder, silently sobbing. She looked at the small child's face.

“He's a child made of Darkness, Emma. He doesn't belong to you.” The Fox murmured. “But Bel and Luci.. and your children with them, they do.” Emma ran her fingers over Sage's chubby cheek, then looked around her at the destruction, at Bel and Luci and Phoebie and Rafe. Her heart was divided and she screamed uselessly, letting the Darkness free from her to lash out at the building surrounding her. It came crashing down around them in crumbling and broken bits of stone and glass. Sage wailed in her arms in response and Emma clutched him tighter.

“What do I need to do?” She asked the Fox, not daring to take her eyes from the child. The Fox's eyes lit up, and he shuffled closer to her eagerly.

“Just yield to me, sweet Goddess. Let me take that power, absorb it from you.. Give it to me!” He snarled, pouncing on her, and Emma screamed again as his claws latched onto her temples, digging themselves into her flesh, and then past it into the skull below. Her screaming intensified as she felt the Darkness boil forth from her skin. It swarmed around her and the Fox, filling the destroyed building and beyond, surging from the bodies of her loved ones to swirl around the Fox and Emma. He roared in triumph as it absorbed into his skin, settling beneath his flesh to writhe and twist like a living thing, bucking its captivity.

“Sleep little Goddess.” The Fox purred, and she felt herself sink into oblivion, unconsciousness overtaking her.

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Emma stood at her stove, glaring angrily at the pan with the chicken frying in it. As the hair on the back of her neck ruffled softly, she could swear she felt someone staring at her from across the room. She was so tired of this, this constant feeling of being watched. She tossed down the spatula and spun on the room.

“That's enough! What the Hell do you want?” She yelled. The room stayed strangely silent as her heart hammered away in her chest. Emma blew out a breath, blowing the hair off her face, the relief making her shake, but she couldn't deny there was also a part of her that was.. disappointed. All that reading she had done on the occult and making contact with spirits. She turned back to her chicken, which was currently burning. With a yelp, she grabbed up the spatula and turned it over. “What a load of crap.” She sighed, and gloomily finished cooking her dinner. Maybe all that superstitious nonsense her father's side of the family kept talking about was just a bunch of paranoid delusions too. She sighed heavily again and sat down with her plate, pushing her food around glumly. She suddenly found herself less than hungry.

“And mom's side! Acting all 'oh dear lord you're going to Hell!' Psh!” Emma bellowed to the room angrily. “They're just as delusional!” She shoved the plate of food across the table away from her, eyeing it as if it had offended her. She sighed again. Well, at least the creepy feeling of being watched had faded. Emma sat staring into space with her face in her hand for a while, before deciding to just give up for the night. She lurched her way out of the chair and emptied her food into the trash, brushed her teeth and went to bed.

“It was stupid anyway.” She said to herself as she threw the covers over her head, trying to hide the bitter disappointment that seemed to be haunting her.