The echo of Slánú na nDoimhneacht clattering against the stone floor as Helios threw it down rang through the chamber like a bell tolling doom. Jafar's grin widened. Alira remained rigid under his grip, unmoving. Aladdin wheezed beneath the pressure of Jafar's boot planted on his throat.
Helios didn't reach for the weapon. He didn't flinch or scowl. He stood perfectly still, like a shadow made solid. The stillness pressed against the walls, heavy and foreboding.
"What a disappointment," Jafar sneered. "After all your threats and all your belief of superiority, this is how you end? Unarmed. Now get on your knees. Bow before me."
A whisper slid through Helios' mind like an icy needle. Kurai's voice.
"Will you kneel before this insignificant worm? Why not kill him?"
Helios answered silently, internally. 'We both know I can't. But he's about to learn what suffering feels like.'
Alira stared at him, her face unreadable, but her eyes locked with his. Calm. Trusting. There was no fear. Only silence.
Jafar raised his cobra-headed staff, the ruby eyes blazing with magic. "Summon them!"
From cracks in the walls and shadows in the ceiling, Heartless emerged. Dozens of them. Bandits with curved swords. Luna Bandits crouched low with dual blades gleaming. Fat Bandits rumbled forward like molten boulders. Solid Armors floated down with mechanical menace. Fortunetellers hovered, crystal balls spinning. Even the Heat Saber marched in, fire-forged blades glowing red-hot.
The air reeked of dark energy and greed.
Jafar laughed. "Any last words, boy?"
Helios tilted his head with a menacing grin. "Yes. Now, instead of one arm—I'll break both."
Darkness erupted from him in a slow, dreadful wave.
His zip jacket opened as spirals of purple and black energy began to evelope him. The sigils across his chest ignited like branding fire. His body became inked shadow, his golden eyes glowing brighter with each breath. His hair spiked, writhing as if caught in a breeze only the dark could feel.
His Dark Form emerged.
And the Heartless froze.
Not a single heartless took a step forward as they stayed frozen in place. Their weapons and fists hung idle. Their claws halted mid-strike. A dreadful stillness swept across the battlefield like a held breath.
Then, one by one, they dropped to their knees.
Even the massive Solid Armors bowed.
Even the Heat Saber extinguished its flames and lowered its blade.
They knelt before him.
Jafar's grin faltered. Then it vanished entirely.
Helios took one step forward.
The Heartless obeyed and made a path for him.
They then surged around Jafar—not to strike him, but to trap him. Bandits slashed his robes to break his grip. Fat Bandits rolled between him and Aladdin. Fortunetellers swung crystal spheres to knock the staff from his hand.
Jafar screamed in disbelief as his captives were taken from him.
Alira stepped away from the chaos on her own.
Aladdin coughed and rolled to his side. He looked up, dazed—and froze as Helios walked through the Heartless like a dark king among subjects.
Helios bent down and picked up the scimitar Aladdin had dropped.
He approached the boy.
Aladdin scrambled back, eyes wide.
"Catch."
The blade spun through the air. Aladdin flinched, but instinctively caught it. He stared at the weapon in his hand, then back at Helios.
"Protect her. Both of you head back to the area we fled," Helios said, voice deep and layered with echo, distorted by the raw darkness surrounding him.
Alira stepped up and gently took Aladdin's hand. He didn't resist.
"Go back to the previous chamber. Wait for me there."
Without hesitation, she led him away.
Jafar was still struggling. Shadows now formed living chains that bound him from shoulder to foot, as the Bandits forced him to kneel. His staff lay out of his reach. His magic fizzled like a wet tinder.
Helios turned to face him.
The flicker of torchlight dimmed, overtaken by the consuming weight of Helios' presence.
"What... are you?!" Jafar gasped, eyes wide in terror.
Helios stepped forward slowly, each step like a hammer strike of inevitability.
"Simply someone you should not have messed with."
Kurai laughed softly in Helios' mind.
"And a herald of your doom."
Helios raised one hand.
Slánú na nDoimhneacht flew back into his grasp, whip-sword form coiling with purple thorns and dark energy. The blade sections shimmered with hunger.
He cracked it once—the sound sharp, cruel, final.
Jafar whimpered and screamed.
Helios lashed the whip. It didn't strike Jafar. It wrapped around the cobra staff and yanked it into Helios' free hand. He examined the relic briefly, then infused it with specks of dark energy before tossing it aside as if it were trash.
Jafar screamed.
"You fancied yourself someone akin to a king, a ruler of men," Helios murmured. "But you're just a sad little insignificant man."
He leaned in close. His voice dropped to a whisper that scraped like a dagger across Jafar's spine.
"So… small."
Jafar's mouth quivered.
Kurai's voice joined in again, pleased.
"All these beings who live within the light… so tiny. So insignificant."
Helios stared down at the once-proud vizier, now crumpled beneath the weight of power he never understood.
Slánú na nDoimhneacht glowed brighter, blade links flaring with shifting darkness. One more command, and the whip would strike. End it.
But Helios turned away.
Jafar wasn't worth the energy.
"Hold him here until I return," said the disinterested Helios.
Let him stew in fear. Let him remember the golden eyes that shattered his illusion of control.
He walked to the exit of the chamber, his shadows receding.
"You command monsters," Helios said over his shoulder. "I am what these monsters of yours fear and obey. You never stood a chance really. Never forget that you will always be beneath someone, as that is your rightful place. You should be thankful to me for showing you where you belong. Now wait, when I return, I'll keep my promise about breaking your arms. I am a man of my word after all."
And then he vanished into shadow, leaving the Heartless behind, still kneeling. Still watching.
Still waiting.
Hungry.