Blessed by Night

Chapter 109  Power Outage

In the living room, Mal was sitting on the couch with all of the girls surrounding him. No matter how much he tried, his blessing from Nyx seemed to have disappeared into thin air. No darkness manipulation, teleportation, or even shadow sight. It was as if he'd lost his blessing entirely. "Has anything like this ever happened before? To anyone?" Anna asked. Luna shook her head sadly as she continued to enjoy the feeling of being in Mal's lap.

"Not to my knowledge. Our blessings are supposed to become part of us and they shouldn't just... disappear."

"Then maybe it's not really gone, honey." Sei said comfortingly. "Maybe you're just having a mental blockage."

"Like performance anxiety?" Mal said emptily. "Umm... something like that?"

The young man's mood sank even lower and he threw his head back in defeat.

There was another theory in the back of his mind that he was trying not to think about. What if Nyx had forsaken him?

He believed them to have grown rather close, but what if that wasn't the case? Was there something that he'd done in his last battle with Alex that made her believe he was no longer worthy of her blessing?

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think of any possible explanation for this current dilemma. But when he recalled the love and warmth that Nyx had shown him, he couldn't help but feel like he'd lost a lot more than just his powers. "Try not to think about it so much." Anna said. " Maybe it'll come back in the morning with some more rest."

Mal nodded, although he wasn't entirely sure this issue was that simple. For a while, he merely basked in the warmth of the girls until he remembered that there was something he'd been meaning to do. "Luna."

"Hm?"

"Think you can teach me how to synchronize with my contracted beast tomorrow morning? I want to-"

"""No!"""

"...Why are all of you ganging up on me like this?"

Anna: "What kind of idiot thinks about going back to training as soon as he wakes up from a coma!?"

Luna: "You're on mandatory bedrest for four days minimum. Then I'll think about letting you come back to training."

Sei: "We will tie you down if we have to."

'...This is hot.' Suddenly, Mal was having a hard time remembering what he was so depressed about a few seconds ago.

Luna's face became slightly flushed when she felt something poking her in the bottom and she jabbed Mal hard in the ribs."Are you listening to us?"

Almost on cue, an enormous figure moved through the darkness. In front of him, Mal was no bigger than an ant. It was a god in the shape of an old man, with two dark horns curling out of his head and unhealthy dark grey skin. His eye sockets were empty and black, like looking into pure nothingness. If Mal did not have an affinity for the night, he would have long went insane with a mere look.

"She equates you... to we, her children..?"

Mal wasn't interested in talking about he and Nyx's relationship, even if this being was his 'brother'. "Why did you take my powers? How the hell can you even do that?"

"...From the beginning, my divinity and hers have been... what is the word... Neighbors. Too many times you have crossed into my yard, when you never should have left hers."

"Wanna elaborate a bit more?"

Erebus growled and pointed at Malachi with a massive clawed finger. "You've been using power that you don't have. She gave you blessing over the night, not darkness.

I allowed you to go on so far out of my own curiosity, but you are becoming bolder and bolder in the amount of power that you take, and I will stand for it no longer."

Malachi had no idea why, but everything that Erebus was saying made sense to him. The reason why his body always hurt so much after using his powers was because they weren't really his in the first place. He had been unknowingly taking power from Erebus all of this time. "What...?" Googlᴇ search novelenglish.net . Fɪre.ɴet

Erebus suddenly looked around in a panic as if he sensed something dreadful coming. Suddenly, Shear materialized next to Malachi out of thin air, and nuzzled next to him cutely. "Aww, hey girl. How'd you get he-"

"Human, why is there a nightmare in your mindscape?!" Erebus roared. Malachi looked back at the irate god and saw an expression of pure shock, and even a small amount of fear. "Dunno what you mean by nightmare but this is Shear. She is my contracted beast."

"She is your... what??"

No matter how many times Erebus blinked his empty eye sockets, the scene in front of him did not change. One of the scourges that was coming to earth, was actually nuzzling next to this boy like it was some kind of domesticated animal. "You good man? Look like you've seen a ghost."

"Boy... do you truly speak no falsehoods? This creature is truly bound to you and obeys your every whim?"

"I'm not asking her to do any crazy shit like jump into a helicopter propeller but yea, she's pretty obedient." Malachi said calmly. "That... is impossible... how can you even..."

Internally, the gears within Erebus' ancient mind began to turn. 'That's why they've been having such a hard time observing him lately... he's bound to a damned blindspot!'

There were so many questions that he wanted to ask and things that he wanted to say, but even he had laws he must follow. But one thing was for sure. If this boy was capable of controlling that which is known for being uncontrollable... his value to this world had just tripled. "You called her a nightmare." Mal reminded as he lightly petted Shear. "What is that?" Erebus was unable to take his eye sockets off of the creature in Mal's arms. "...You ask me knowing full well I am not allowed to answer." "Worth a shot." Mal said under his breath. "Then if you won't answer my question just give me my powers back. I need them to help pro-" "Alright." "...Alright?" "Alright." Erebus confirmed. -

When Malachi opened his eyes, a bitter sunlight was streaming through the curtains. His body felt like it was sandwiched between three immovable objects, and it was in this moment that he remembered the girls had spent the night. Sei rested her body on top of his, Anna was underneath his right arm and Luna was underneath his left. All three were still sleeping peacefully, and judging by their snoring they were going to remain that way for a while. 'This would be nicer if that sunlight wasn't in my face...' Whoosh!

Before Malachi had even finished his thought, a curtain of darkness fell over the window, blotting out the light. His powers were back and for some reason they were drastically easier to use than before. "Hm.." Sei finally showed some signs of stirring, and she slowly opened her rich brown eyes. When she saw Malachi, her gaze became unimaginably soft as she looked at him with utter devotion. "Honey... you're beautiful..." She said sleepily. "...huh?"

Staring back at Sei were two mesmerizing feline eyes that were a vibrant amethyst color. Not only that, Malachi's complexion was now a shade darker, and his charm had somehow grown even further. Erebus had done a whole lot more than just allow him the use of his powers again. Though just how much... he would have to find out soon.