080 - Inner Demons

[laserkid]

Andrew Lizar was absolutely livid from the scene, not to anyone’s surprise given the light emanating around him in erratic patterns clearly not deliberately made. He had immediately gone through talks and investigations, but with the hit man caught, the question remained who ordered the kill, and why. Samuel Reynolds was a good man. Why is it that every good man Andrew knew either died or disappeared? His great mentor on Lizar, the wise sage Ching Shang Shun, the man he viewed as a foster father on earth, Aekir, not to mention the greatest man he had ever known, Midnight.

Andrew was now sitting in an office set up for his use attempting to cool down from the whole ordeal. Anyone walking by though could tell it wasn’t working well. If the searing blue lights from the cracks of the door weren’t enough of a hint, his screaming was.

“Damn! Damn it all! Why do these things ALWAYS have to take the worst possible outcomes?!” He screamed as he his the desk he was sitting at hard with his right hand. A loud thud was made, but otherwise the desk was undamaged.

His thoughts turned more somber, “Midnight would know what to do. He always knew what to do. I’m nothing but a pale imitation to that man.” Andrew stated in a melancholy tone. Tears welled up in his eyes, and fell to the wooden desk rather quickly, and his head soon followed.

“I know Akira.” He added in a whisper, “I know if you were here you would be chiding me for my naïveté. You and Janus were always the more sensible of us. I need you both. Where are you two?” he sighed.

A ribbon of black energy formed its way up into the office and a dark chuckling came from it, “And so the chosen of light fails.” It chuckles as it takes form, a mirror image of Andrew, but dressed in black, and instead of Andrew’s blue sclera (which is white in human eyes), black sclera appeared. A carnal grin was on the doppelgangers’ face, “But you needn’t give up. I can give you the power you need.” It said in a low tone that however sounded just like Andrew.

Andrew’s immediate reaction was to stand back and hold his hand out with energy charged, but he quickly lowered it and sat back down, “I forgot you still have a little bit of you inside me, dark one. I doubt you’re anywhere near strong enough to take form on your own. Just in my mind.”

The doppelganger appearance grinned, “My, you catch on quickly, chosen of light.” It folded its hands into a steeple “Regardless the offer is quite real. Your feeble powers and ‘morality’ prevent you from fixing this. Take me, and both problems will be gone.”

Andrew stood up and pointed at the vision of his doppelganger, “Norimano, you snake, I rejected you, and I do so again!” a concentration of light came into his finger, “I know you’re not really there.” He added, “But I think my points made.” He finished.

The image of the doppelganger shrugged and chuckled, “In time, I will be reborn. You will die that day.”

Andrew was the one who chuckled this time, lowering his hands and charged energy, “Norimano, you will always be reborn when destroyed; you are an embodiment of evil, that can only be defeated, never destroyed permanently. But I am the flipside of that coin. Good cannot be destroyed either. Our struggle is eternal. I may have exerted too much of my power when we fought last, thus losing my link with the collective of other lives that shared this power, but if you do kill me, I will have a successor. Even if it isn’t me specifically, there will always be someone to destroy you.”

The doppelganger grinned and vanished with the parting words, “But you are the last Lizarian opponent I shall ever have.” it finished with an echoing mad chuckle.

“Bothersome pest.” Andrew sighed, it had been a year or so since his last episode with the dark god, he had hoped he wouldn’t see it again.

Having vented some frustration albeit through another channel of issues altogether he stepped out of the office, no longer raging, but his usual warm smile was replaced with a determined look. Andrew wasn’t one who was riled easily, but woe be it to he who actually did manage to do so. Andrew had already resolved this much; whoever was responsible for this wasn’t getting the luxury of a trial and lawyers. He didn’t mean the hit man, which was a hired assassin. Those are a dime a dozen. No, the only luxury the mastermind behind all of this was getting was death by disintegration.

TO BE CONTINUED…