Divulgence (Song of Sophangence Book 2)

by E. I. McAllistair

  For one thing, though he loved Anaar dearly, he had never seen him so well dressed of his own accord. His clothes fit, they looked new and rather stylish, none of the worn tatters that he was so accustomed to wearing. Though the height was there, the build was not. By no means was he gaunt, but his build looked closer to his own rather than the frame utterly packed with lean rippling muscle. This was even more evident thanks to the clothes that fit so well. Anaar never wore his hair loose in public, it was something that Phavian quite liked, but he had been told many times it was far too much of a hassle to deal with. His face, though obviously Anaar’s looked much younger due to the absence of facial hair. Though it was always well groomed, he had never been completely clean shaven before.

  Why would Anaar make such drastic changes to his persona? It was as if he was looking at him, but he wasn’t looking at him at all, at least not the man he had come to know. Could he perhaps have been more affected by the previous day’s argument than he expected? Was this his way of getting back at him? With how large the campus was, how much of a coincidence was it that he managed to cross his path? Unable to take any more, Phavian charges forward to confront Anaar to find out what he was doing.

  “Anaar! Anaar! Stop!”

  When Anaar continued walking as if he did not hear his name being called, Phavian took a more forceful approach, grabbing his shoulder to stop him from walking. When he turned around, it was no doubt it was Anaar, despite the massive attitude change.

  “Fuck off dude.” Shaking himself free, Anaar continues on, ignoring Phavian and resuming his fun with the two women.

  With such a better look at the man in front of him, he saw something in his eye that he had never seen before. Though he knew Anaar had been exclusively with women before their relationship, the expression he wore was one of a predator who had its prey in its sights. He had never seen Anaar look so hungry before. Nothing else seemed to matter other than the feast he would be partaking in soon. They had lots of sex, but never had he looked like that before. Was it he simply was just not that into it? He knew Anaar was a master of secrecy and faking things, so had their entire relationship been a lie?

  The prior day’s events replayed in Phavian’s mind, how a simple argument had gotten them to this point. Then something triggered in that moment as he remembered the cause of the argument. Anaar was far too well dressed, but that could possibly be the doing of Harston. He could not however just lose twenty pounds of lean muscle definition in the span of a day. He would never allow it. There was someone who could get the look almost right, but not completely perfect though.

  Despite his warnings, Anaar had chosen to believe in Merc. A person who had such a hard time opening up to anyone at first had knowingly and willingly let in someone who was a deviant and a scammer. Now the very person that caused strife in their relationship was committing the ultimate betrayal to likely the only person who would be willing to give them a chance. Using his image to fulfill their sick pleasures, Merc had proven the point he had been making all long. Someone who is willing to do that to a friend could be called nothing but evil incarnate.

  Seething with hatred, all of the anger and anguish he had been feeling since the day before came rushing to the forefront. It did not matter if Merc was seriously hurt, if he could kill them the world would be a better place. Expulsion was nothing to him at this moment. Merc had broken up their last relationship, and impersonated the wrong person to achieve their ends. If he had lost Anaar already, he had nothing else to lose anyway.

  Roaring at the top of his lungs Phavian lunged forward to tackle Merc, his mind already pumping with the unrelenting beating he would give them as he sat atop them, giving them no quarter. Though he had never hit Merc before, he knew that as a Water Affinity and not much of a combatant, Merc would easily go down, leaving him open to dispense long and torturous justice as befitting a villain. What he did not expect, was when he made contact with Merc, charging with quite a bit of force, rather than taking them down to the ground, Phavian crashed into them like a brick wall, bouncing off and hitting the ground.

  Dazed and confused, Phavian shakes his head to clear his vision from the impact. To his surprise, Merc is standing, unharmed and unfazed, and the women beside him gasped and began to giggle as Phavian floundered on the ground. Unsure of what was going on, he let his temper and his emotions get the better of him rather than thinking it through. As a Fire Affinity and a Juggernaut of some repute, that should have more than decimated Merc without a second thought. Not caring about that though, all he knew was that he needed to hit them harder.

  Shakily standing up, he activated his Adrenal Trance, his mind instantaneously becoming much clearer, his stamina and strength surging to levels that his body could only handle for a short amount of time. He would exceed the limit he should be utilizing this ability many times over if it meant ridding the world of Merc. Throwing out a haymaker that even without enhanced strength would put most people in the dirt, when it connects, instead of feeling Merc’s bones shatter beneath his fist, it was his own bones that shattered, leaving him in agonizing pain, and leaving his hand completely useless.

  Once again, Merc did not even flinch at the blow from a supercharged, tranced Phavian. One benefit of his ability was that the pain was far duller than it should have been, and he was able to recover from the shock much more quickly. In his blind rage however he failed to see the dire situation he was in, with his hand and arm already ravaged. Charging again, this time with the other fist, rather than waiting for another ineffective strike, Merc took the initiative, catching him with a swift backhand that looked like nothing, but had enough force to shatter the bones in his jaw, and crack one of his vertebra. The blow also sent him flying a full twenty yards away.

  Under the effects of his Adrenal Trance, he still found the strength to somehow stand and face his opponent. Not used to being hit and taking damage, it took him a moment to process what was going on, and just how far away he had been knocked. Throwing all caution to the wind, he accepts that his brute strength would not be enough to handle the situation, and instead moves to freeze Merc solid. The giggling girls immediately began shivering, their teeth chattering as the air took on an arctic chill.

  Seemingly fed up with the situation, Merc appeared completely disinterested and unfazed by the continually dropping temperature. Looking at Phavian as one would look at an annoying gnat that was buzzing around but had finally fallen from the sky, with a barely perceptible motion Merc releases a fiery explosion so intense it left the area where Phavian had been standing but a mere scorched crater. Blown from the site of the explosion, Phavian lay on the ground charred almost beyond recognition, blood pouring from his mouth, his barely open eyes red from the vessels in them bursting from the force.

  Twitching on the ground, his body in shambles, burned to a crisp, and barely hanging on to life, the last thing Phavian sees before losing consciousness is a completely smug looking Merc turning to walk away, dragging the girls with him. It was then that he realized he had been wrong, a mistake that had no doubt cost him his life. His undue hatred of Merc made them an easy scapegoat, but there was no mistaking it now.

  The changes to the clothes, hair, and even body all pointed to Merc doing what Merc does. How he had not realized it before though was indicative of just how blind his hatred was. Though Merc was many bad things, they were not bad at their craft. They could impersonate even the most minute details of a person. It made no sense they would make so many changes on a whim. His charred, battered body was proof it was indeed the man he loved who had thrown away everything they had. No one on campus, maybe even the planet was capable of such a feat other than Anaar. He still was not sure why he looked smaller than usual, but perhaps that was what he wanted to see.

  The truth of the matter, was even though they had been seemingly so happy, Anaar had now made it clear all of that was over, in the most spectacular display. One little argument and this was the result. As Phavian’s life con
tinued to drain from him, his thoughts floating back to the ephemeral moments of bliss he had known, Anaar comes to stand over him, peering down at the wreckage he was. In a great and sickening intake of air, he spits on Phavian’s soon to be corpse before returning to the frightened women. With not much time left for him, tears trickled from his eyes as he searches for any reason why the love of his life would break him to his very core.