The Darkness Within

---

Everything goes black.

The darkness slams into me like a freight train, crushing me into the ground, pressing the air out of my lungs. I can't breathe. I can't think. I can't do anything except lie there and let the weight of it suffocate me.

Viktor is laughing.

"Look at you," he says. "The great Elara Vance. The woman who killed the Collective. The woman who broke the veil. And here you are, nothing but a pathetic little worm squirming in the dirt."

I try to move. My body won't respond.

"Your power is nothing," he says. "The Collective gave me this gift. They made me stronger than you. Faster. Better. I've been waiting for this moment. Waiting to crush you beneath my feet."

I feel his boot on my back. Pressing down. Hard.

"Say goodbye to your people, Elara. Say goodbye to your friends. Say goodbye to everything you've ever loved."

He lifts his boot. I hear him walking away.

And then I hear the screams.

Damon.

Helena.

Cutter.

Mira.

"No," I whisper. "No, no, no—"

The darkness inside me stirs.

Not the light. Not the power I've been using. The other side. The dark side. The thing I've been trying to keep buried since I killed The Collector.

It rises up like a wave, hot and hungry and angry.

I let it go.

---

The explosion tears through the square like a bomb.

Viktor is thrown backward, his body slamming into a crumbling wall. His army is scattered, their weapons flying out of their hands, their screams swallowed by the roar of my power.

I stand up.

My eyes are burning. My hands are glowing. The darkness is pouring out of me like a river, and I don't care. I don't fucking care.

"Elara!" Damon shouts. "Stop! You're losing control!"

I can't hear him. I can't hear anything except the sound of my own heartbeat and the roar of the darkness inside me.

I walk toward Viktor.

He's on his knees, clutching his chest, his face pale with fear.

"Please," he gasps. "Please don't—"

"You should have killed me when you had the chance," I say.

I raise my hand.

And I end him.

---

The silence is deafening.

I'm standing in the middle of the square, surrounded by the bodies of Viktor's army. The darkness is still pouring out of me, but it's slowing now. Fading.

And I can feel it. The darkness inside me is changing. It's not just power anymore. It's something else. Something hungry.

"Elara."

Damon's voice. Soft. Careful.

I turn to face him. His grey eyes are wide with fear.

Not fear of Viktor. Fear of me.

"Are you okay?" he asks.

I look at my hands. They're still glowing. The darkness is still there, waiting.

"I don't know," I say.

---

We retreat to the bunker.

The journey back is silent. No one speaks. No one looks at me. They're all afraid of what I've become.

And I don't blame them.

Helena is the first to break the silence.

"You used the dark side," she says. "The part of the veil that destroys. That's dangerous, Elara. If you can't control it, it'll consume you."

"I know."

"Sera warned you about this. I warned you about this."

"I know."

She sighs. "What happened out there?"

"Viktor attacked us. He was going to kill everyone. I did what I had to do."

"You destroyed him," she says. "You didn't just kill him. You obliterated him. That's not the same thing."

"I don't care."

"Elara—"

"I said I don't care!"

I slam my fist on the table. The wood splinters. Cracks. Breaks.

Everyone stares at me.

I look at my hand. The darkness is still there, pulsing beneath my skin.

"Get out," I say. "All of you. Get out."

They leave.

I'm alone with the darkness.

---

Two days pass.

I stay in my room. I don't eat. I don't sleep. I just sit there, staring at the wall, feeling the darkness inside me grow.

I don't know who I am anymore.

I thought I was a survivor. A fighter. Someone who could save the world.

But I'm not. I'm a monster. A killer. Someone who destroys everything she touches.

Damon comes to see me on the third day.

"Elara," he says. "We need to talk."

"About what?"

"There are other warlords out there. Viktor wasn't the only one. They've been watching us. They know about the bunker. They know about you."

"And they want to kill me."

"No," he says. "They want to use you."

I look up. "Use me?"

"Viktor had a network. Contacts. Allies. They've been tracking your movements. They know how powerful you are. And they want that power for themselves."

"Then they can come and get it."

"It's not that simple," he says. "They're not going to attack us head-on. They're going to try to get inside. To infiltrate. To find weaknesses."

"I don't have weaknesses."

He looks at me. "Everyone has weaknesses."

---

The next day, I find out he's right.

Helena bursts into my room, her face pale, her eyes wide.

"Elara," she says. "You need to see this."

I follow her to the main chamber. Everyone is there. Damon. Cutter. Sera. Mira. They're gathered around a screen, watching a broadcast.

A man is on the screen. He's tall, thin, with cold eyes and a cruel smile.

"Elara Vance," he says. "My name is General Kael. I'm the leader of the Northern Alliance. We've been watching you for a long time."

"What do you want?" I ask.

"Your power," he says. "Your bunker. Your people. Everything you've built."

"That's not going to happen."

"Oh, I think it will," he says. "Because we have something you want. Something you need."

The screen shifts.

I freeze.

It's Marcus.

My ex-husband. The man who betrayed me. The man who let me die.

He's sitting in a chair, his hands tied behind his back, a bruise on his cheek.

"Recognize him?" General Kael asks. "He came to us, offering information about you. About your weaknesses. Your people. Your bunker."

"He's lying," I say. "He doesn't know anything."

"Maybe not," Kael says. "But he's willing to talk. And we're willing to listen."

"Let him go."

"Why would I do that? He's useful."

I feel the darkness stir inside me.

"If you hurt him—"

"Or what? You'll come for us? We're counting on it, Elara. We have defenses. Weapons. Power. And we've been watching you. We know how you fight. We know how you think. We know your weaknesses."

I don't know what to say.

"We'll be in touch," Kael says. "When you're ready to surrender, you know how to find us."

The screen goes black.

I look at Damon. At Helena. At everyone.

"I'm going to kill him," I say.

"Elara—"

"I'm going to kill all of them."

---

I leave the bunker the next day.

I don't tell anyone. I just walk out the door and into the wasteland.

The world is broken. The cities are rubble. The roads are cracked. The sky is grey and cold.

I walk for hours. Days. I don't know how long.

And then I see it.

A convoy. Trucks. Soldiers. Weapons.

General Kael's army.

I raise my hand. The power surges through me. I'm going to destroy them. All of them.

And then I see him.

Marcus.

He's standing in the middle of the convoy, talking to a group of soldiers. He's not tied up. He's not hurt.

He's one of them.

He's been working with them all along.

"Hello, Elara," he says. "I've been waiting for you."

I stare at him, my heart pounding, my hands shaking. "You bastard. You betrayed me again."

He laughs. "I never betrayed you, Elara. I was always working for them. The Collective. The Northern Alliance. All of them. You were just a pawn."

"What are you talking about?"

"The veil," he says. "The power. The Receptors. Everything. It was all a setup. We wanted you to break the veil. We wanted you to free the power. And now we're going to take it."

I feel the darkness surge inside me.

"Try it," I say.

He smiles.

"Oh, I will."

And then he attacks.