Damian's Oracle

Damian's brother was somewhere inside the scarred shell of a man before him. He stared into Darian's gold eyes, seeking some sign of the man he'd known. Darian struggled visibly, his gaze stormy and his frame shaking. Damian's own head was fuzzy from the effects of the drink he'd been force fed. He had a throbbing headache, and his body didn't respond the way it should.

"Do you know me, brother?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

"Damian," came the mechanical voice. "Kiri loves you."

Damian couldn't help his smile at the words. Darian knew him because of Sofia. He reached out to his brother, absorbing what memories were in his mind. Darian's mind was like a disaster scene after a hurricane. The bits and pieces of who he was were there, disjointed and scattered. Two people were all he knew with certainty: Sofia and the Watcher with his forest green eyes. His brother wasn't sure of anything or anyone else, even if he did match the faces in his thoughts with those around him.

"Be gentle. He'll break if you push him," the Watcher said.

Damian twisted, surprised to find his body stiff with the simple movement. He was too out of sorts to feel the Watcher's arrival.

"Master," Darian said, bowing his head.

The sight of someone once so powerful and proud in submission to anyone infuriated him. For the first time in his life, Damian was speechless when confronted with the horror before him.

"He's been abused for thousands of years," the Watcher said, pausing beside the still, scarred man and resting a hand on his head. "He'll need your help."

"Like I wouldn't help him," he snapped. He looked to his brother again, fury of the deepest kind running within him. He loved Darian, always would, but understanding what he'd been through for thousands of years made him wish his brother had died instead of being forced to bear such pain.

"I can only coach," the Watcher reminded him. "Your Oracle and Darian had to do the real work. If she'd been any less of an Oracle than what she is …" Darian would have spent the remainder of his life in the hell that'd claimed him. Damian's throat tightened at the unspoken words.

"Claire did this to him."

"Yes, she did," the Watcher said. "After the attack, Czerno brought Darian back to life. He wasn't part of the plan to kill him, but he found out from Claire when they met shortly before Darian's death. He understood that the Black God can never truly kill the White God for fear of unleashing the Original Beings, who would crush him. He was there to save your brother when Isac finished and kept him under control using Claire's blood. I think he's since been sickened with evil and forgotten if you don't exist, neither does he."