Reliving this memory made Amrielle’s stomach curl into knots, as he drifted aimlessly to sleep for seemed like an eternity before being forcibly woken up and dragged out of the car by his father.

“Oh god”, Amrielle whimpered, “why did he do this to me?”

Another enveloped him, fast forwarding 4 or 5 years later. Amrielle blinked to find himself sitting in a corner, his body trembling profusely and his frame huddled a fetal position. His cheeks were soaked in tears and his fear stank like the rotting corpse of a newborn. Harsh words were echoing around him, as the sound of furniture being thrown around and glass breaking near him made his senses kick into overdrive. Then suddenly a large hand yanked him upright while another began squeezing his delicate frame, nearing popping several bones out of their sockets. He screamed and wailed at the pain, only to be decked in the face while someone hollered at him to shut up. A second later, he was tossed on the a bed and stripped naked, while the clinking of metal rang the bells of an impending funeral toll. Amrielle cried loud and openly, before a resounding smack made him scream like the child that he was.

“Shut up!”, said a snarling voice.

“Waahhhh, haaaa haaa haaa!”

“I SAID SHUT THE FUCK UP YOU LITTLE N****R BASTARD!”, the voice commanded, raising his belt to smack the child.

“Waaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!! Pwuh-weeeseee Daaaaadddy!!!!! Pwease ddooohhhhp!”

“You want something to cry about?!? I’LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO CRY ABOUT!”

He raised his fist, his knuckles barred white, with pure rage and hatred in his eyes, about to unleash the full fury of his leather belt on the 8 year-old wailing beneath him.

Tears welled up Amrielle’s eyes as the vision dissolved before him leaving him in darkness. He felt weak, his breathing labored, and his strength nearly all but evaporated. He could feel himself growing lighter than air as he floated in space surrounded by blackened corpses, sinking in a sea of black liquid while the sky was a of mixture of black with white outlines. By this time, back in the eye of the storm, the thousand hands attached to tear had latched onto both Amrielle and the wounded storm dragon with which he was fighting, and feeling the life and willpower being sapped away from them, began pulling them in the void that opened in the tear. The dragon roared defiantly, biting off several limbs, but there were to many, and some immediately clamped the creature’s mouth shut. Wafts of energy radiated from the dragon, as they did Amrielle, and to anyone who could see, the tear was visibly draining them both of energy

Before long, both Amrielle and the dragon were 2/3rds away from being completely consumed by the tear in reality. As the two of them were sucked in the further, the entrance through which they came began stitching itself back up, piece by piece.

You’re more than just a child my dear, the voice reasoned, you are a mistake. A fatal accident when the condom broke. Everyone knew your mommy was a whore, slutting her way through every Tom, Dick, and Harry that came her way. The way she seduced men, they all fell for her like flies to honey. She didn’t care about them and she didn’t care about you. That’s why she died after giving birth to you, because she was so ashamed of a worthless halfbreed Oreo like yourself. Your mother was a goddess, and you killed her.

No. I didn’t

She hated your very existence down to her last breath.

No.

She never thought she’d die giving birth to a bastard like you.

No!

She hated you…

“NnnnnnnoOOOOOOOOOOOOoo!”, Amrielle bellowed.