Page 76 of Celestia, Year Four

When he didn't reply, I smirked and began to snicker. Now it was my turn to laugh as I worked on gathering the energy inside me, allowing it to build while I kept Martz distracted.

"Wow. I guess when you live for so many centuries, you have this impression that no one will fuck you over. What a joke. How does it feel? Doesn't feel very nice being betrayed by the people who are tired of your bullshit."

Martz was gone in a flash and was in my face in the next second. I felt Lucian's energy heighten, but I lifted my hand to signal him to stop.

He can do no harm to me.

"I can destroy you."

"Go ahead," I dared. My vision turned black and white as a sinister smile formed on my lips.

His eyes grew wide in shock, and he tried to move back but struggled as if his feet were glued to the floor.

"You need that crown for the power it carries. Those potions are losing their effectiveness and if the Forsaken continue at the rate they are, you will succumb to it too. That's why you want the crown. To ensure your castle and loyal commands are safe to make a new world full of shifters that will only obey you."

He huffed and rolled his eyes, trying not to look nervous.

"You can't kill me. The darkness inside me is far too powerful. A part of your soul is what is needed to get rid of me, and with half a soul, you'll die from the darkness that will consume you. It's a lose-lose situation. So, go right ahead. Kill me! Without the next heir, this world will rot and self-destruct.At least with me as ruler, some shifters will have a chance of survival."

"Living in a world of darkness created by greed, power, and control isn't what shifters want. It will all come crashing down, and people would rather beg for death than live under your ruling." Spite infused my words, the smirk still evident on my face.

"You're nothing but a child," he snarled, and my grin only widened, noticing the way his hands trembled.

"To you, yes. To, Mother Nature, not quite. You're trembling in fear right now because you know your end has come. Right now, I'm not the Celestia you pierced like a rag doll, hoping I'd die just like that. You feel the darkness inside me. The strength it carries to not only hurt you but overpower you. How would you feel if you had to go through exactly what you did to me?" I teased and took a step back.

"I'll die and so will you if you dare pierce me," he growled.

"So be it." I shrugged and looked over to address the speechless Lucian.

"Lucian, Prince of Darkness. You've done more than enough for me. Though I may not be exactly the woman you once loved and cherished, I thank you for what you have done. For helping me reach this point where Mother Nature needed me to be. You can go now. You do not need to face death on my behalf."

Lucian sighed and mumbled, "You're still as selfless as ever."

"You make it sound like it's a negative thing."

"In your case, it is," he whispered as he placed his hand on my right shoulder. "My time on the land of the living is long overdue. Two of us together will make a big difference."

"You'll still die! How dare you try and go against me!” Matz snapped.

"You killed the woman I loved. You took away pieces of my body and allowed your people to mock me endlessly. I lived inthe shadows, watching for years as you killed my people or fed them to the Forsaken to alter their appearances and make it that much easier to eliminate those of dark magic. I displeased you and your pathetic group of power hungry assholes for centuries, and now I get to see the end of you all. As we speak, they should be nothing but ash by now, thanks to the potion that you’re fighting so desperately against. You tremble and threaten us because you know if you don't defeat us shortly, you will join your comrades in the land of judgment. I do not care about this world, but I won't allow the likes of you to control it any longer. If I can do one last good deed to give me the chance to meet my beloved Sia, so be it."

"You fucking fool!"

"No, Martz. You are the fool. No matter how many times you get away with something, there will always come that fateful day where your luck runs out. What do they call it on television? Oh right!" I lifted my left hand to my side like a waiter waiting for something to be passed to them.

I grinned when Lucian placed the hilt of his blade in my left hand and placed his now free left hand onto my shoulder, beginning to pour his dark energy into me. Raising the point of the sword to Martz's chest, I looked him dead in the eye and smiled.

"Karma's a bitch."

"NOO!!" Martz screamed, but it was too late.

I slid my sword into his chest and closed my eyes.

"May the darkness that continues to flow into my body use me as a connector to rid us of this man who deserves judgment. Allow me to deliver the justice he respectively earned. And for the suffering of all those who were killed due to his involvement, let their pain, agony, anddepression be inflicted into him with every thread I create. Let Mother Nature see the end of the wickedness."

I opened my eyes as the first scream left his mouth. With the first string of the thin thread, a stream of darkness shot out and hit the barrier around us.

As the second thread pierced through him, another ray shot out. Over and over his screams of agony echoed around us as the darkness he'd harbored for centuries yearned to escape the control it had been forced to obey.

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