[Gaius's POV]
There was nothing but silence around me, it almost seemed unreal. I was standing completely still, my entire body trembling from anger. The rain continued to fall and thunder rolled loudly overhead, reminding me of the pain I'd caused, of the suffering that my parents and brother had faced in the past. It was like I didn't belong here, I wasn't supposed to exist. I wanted to die just like my brother, to leave this cursed land and never return. I wanted to disappear.
But I couldn't.
I couldn't leave my family behind.
I couldn't leave my sister alone.
I couldn't leave my mother.
I couldn't leave my father.
I couldn't leave my brothers.
I hate what I did in the the past. I hated being an evil creature. But after all these years, I started to feel more than hatred. I was becoming more human by each day.
I had always thought that killing and destroying things was easy, it was the most straightforward solution. But once you get to know it, that simplicity fades away quickly, becomes something else entirely. It's hard not to give in. And every night when I go to sleep, I feel the darkness creeping in, the urge growing stronger. I can't help it. It's the same urge every night, but I try my best to suppress it. Every night I force myself to stay awake for hours until the sun begins to rise. It's harder now because I have the power to make them wake up, even though they're usually passed out anyway.
The last thing that my father told me was that he needed to see me one last time. He told me not to do anything stupid, not to go back to the island, to stay away from any danger. He told me not to follow in my brother's footsteps, to be a different kind of monster. He reminded me of a story he'd tell me every year during winter. He told me that if I ever became a demon, I'd have to forget everything that I ever knew before. Forgetting everything is the only way I'd be able to be free of myself, of my desire to hurt people. But the idea doesn't seem appealing to me.
I can't forget everything, not even if it would be the best thing for everyone involved. So I decided to go to the place that held so many memories and thoughts and feelings. I knew exactly where I had to go. That's why I came here, that's how I found out what I know now. After a month of travel, I arrived at the small town that I grew up in. It seems smaller than ever, like a dream that I've lost in a fit of rage. It was dark and quiet in the streets, but it was no less eerie than the day I was born, or maybe it's the complete opposite. It was peaceful. No screams and cries of pain, no crying infants or mothers crying and pleading in vain. Just silence; it was suffocating. I felt trapped in this strange world, as though I were living a nightmare. I went upstairs and knocked.