Chapter 76 THE RISE OF THE BLACK SUN
There was no silence in the vault, only a deafening roar. The black mask on Dorian’s face seemed to absorb the surrounding light, creating a void in the center of the room. The mirrors in every corner were shattering one by one, reflecting Dorian’s millennia-old rage.
"Dorian..." Serra’s voice was a whisper, but in that noise, it echoed like a scream in Dorian’s ears. "Please... that’s not you. Take off the mask."
Dorian didn't turn to her. Black flames leaked from his hands to the floor, charring the white marble beneath his feet instantly. Valeria dropped her gun; the thing standing in front of her was no longer a living being that could be killed with a bullet.
"Even my father didn't know who I truly was," Dorian said. His voice was layered; it sounded as if a young man and a thousand-year-old demon were speaking at the same time. "Valerius wasn't a person, Serra; it was a title. And that title has now found its true owner."
Kael threw himself in front of his sister, Valeria. "Boss, snap out of it! If you put on that mask, there’s no turning back!"
Dorian simply raised his hand slightly. Kael was caught as if by an invisible giant hand at the throat, lifted into the air, and hurled into the far corner of the room with a sickening thud.
"Kael!" Valeria screamed, running to her brother.
(THE PRICE OF POWER)
Dorian walked heavily toward Marcus. The old man was trembling with the horror of the moment he had waited for his entire life. He tried to raise his cane to stop Dorian, but Dorian snapped the cane in two like a dry twig.
"You thought you told me everything, Marcus," Dorian said, his black eyes shining from behind the mask like dying stars. "But you were the one who tore that last page from my father's journal, weren't you? The page that read: 'If the King dies, the shadow awakens'."
"I had to!" Marcus groaned, falling to his knees. "We had to keep you under control! You had to stay asleep until Atlas was born!"
"I am awake," Dorian said. He placed his hand on Marcus’s chest. Black flames began to melt Marcus’s armor, searing into the flesh. "And now, I will show everyone who truly rules this kingdom."
(SERRA AND THE GUARDIAN)
At that moment, Serra felt Lyra trembling in her arms. Baby Lyra’s purple eyes glowed even brighter in the darkness. The small baby wasn't crying, but she had reached her tiny hand out toward her father.
Dorian stopped mid-step. A low growl came from under the mask. Lyra’s energy was trying to restrain Dorian’s black flames, pulling him back from the abyss.
"Don't, Lyra," Dorian murmured, his head twitching. "You are my guardian, but you are still too small to hold this storm."
Serra stepped between Dorian and the babies, shielding them with her body. "To touch them, you have to turn me to ash first, Dorian. Go on! If you’re that monster, kill your wife!"
Dorian’s hand hung suspended in the air. The black flames flickered for a moment. The human part beneath the mask ached at the sight of the tears in Serra’s eyes.
"Get out of here, Serra," Dorian said, his voice returning to its old self for a split second, filled with agony. "Go now. Take Kael and Valeria and leave this vault. If you stay here... the thing inside me won't recognize you."
"I won't leave you!" Serra cried out.
"GO!" The ceiling shook with Dorian’s roar, cracks forming in the stone above.
(THE ESCAPE AND THE ASCENSION)
Lukas kicked open the secret exit door of the vault, coughing in the smoke. "Serra! If you don't come now, we’ll all be buried here! Lyra is draining her energy; we have to protect her!"
Serra took one last look at Dorian. He was no longer looking at her; he had turned his back, merging with the shadows engulfing the room. With a sob, Serra pressed Atlas and Lyra to her chest and plunged into the dark tunnel after Lukas and Kael.
Dorian was alone.
"They are gone," a voice said.
Dorian looked up. In a corner of the room, where the mirrors remained unbroken, his father’s ghost—or perhaps a memory projection—appeared.
"Well done, son," King Volcan said. "You saved them. But now the real war begins. Above, in the Throne Room, it’s not Marcus’s army... it’s Valerius’s true allies, the 'Shadow Council,' waiting for you. And they don't want your mask; they want your children."
Dorian gripped his mask, his knuckles turning white. "Let them come, father. I am no longer the weak prince you protected."
Dorian reached his hand toward the vault ceiling. With the sound of a massive explosion, the entire palace shook from its foundations. A pillar of black fire erupted, blasting through the floors. Dorian began to rise like a black storm toward the throne room above.
Outside the palace, thousands of soldiers watched as the sky darkened over the capital. It was as if the sun had been eclipsed, but this was no natural phenomenon.
The Black Sun had risen.