after empire's end

48 Hours after Empire's End

The house was quiet. Too quiet. Everything had changed now. The Sphinx was gone. Now only her big brother Drake Nygma remained.

Suddenly the air inside felt like a trap, like the maw of a giant monster come to consume them all.

It was then that Dollia Trypp spoke for the first time this evening "Drake? can you hear me?"

He looked up at her. His eyes were haunted now. Lost in ways words couldn't explain.

The world title rested next to him on the bed, he hadn't been able to bring himself to touch it, not after that night.

For a moment it looked like he might say something, anything: but no words left his mouth.

"What did you see? what did you feel, what was it like when you knew you were separated from The Sphinx?"

His hands trembled with a raw humanity he hadn't felt in years.

"I saw his past, the things he'd done. The darkness of an entity who knew only to rule."

He paused there.

Now his features sharpened, hate warring with traces of humanity.

"I fucking hate Akhenaten. I wasn't his partner. I wasn't his equal. I was just another piece on his board."

Drake reached for the world title and whispered quietly "Let them come. Every one of them. This time they won't be fighting a god. They'll be fighting the man who survived one."

"Close your eyes big brother, rest, let your mind sleep this night. No big decisions need to be made under the red sky tonight. The world and the chaos within will still be waiting for us tomorrow."

fade to black.