It was quiet.

Everything was quiet.

There was no sound.

No movement.

Just a dull feeling in Eclipse's skull.

The small demon could tell he was on cold stone, but his brain refused to react to it. It was too sluggish, too much in a daze to work properly. Whatever appeared in it felt like a distant dream, an illusion that never existed.

A sharp inhale reminded Eclipse he had a living body. A body so sore it was like he no longer had any limbs. Yellow eyes squinted and frowned for a short time before they decided to face the world.

The dim light cut right into his irises. He groaned, closing them and opened them after more seconds. The light source was still there, but it no longer hurt him.

'Where-?'

Eclipse had no idea how to answer it, so asking was quite pointless. However, his brain still needed time to process everything. The first thing he noticed was a small sharp stone under his chest.

It was poking him with each inhale which showed Eclipse he was laying on his stomach. With more moaning, he forced his stiff limbs to move and lift his body up. During it, he noticed he had produced a considerable puddle of saliva despite his throat was dry.

The small demon slightly shook his head. What happened to him? Where was he? What was he doing here? Who was he? Thankfully, the last question was answered in the next moment. He could rule out complete amnesia. The next answers had to wait for a bit.

Eclipse finally looked around himself, sitting down. Around him were fragments of stone statues, cracked floor, dim lights illuminating the area, and a sitting figure. The small demon had to squint to recognize it since his vision was blurry.

"Brother?" he finally asked.

"Yes," Sirius silently replied, "how do you feel?" His voice was soft and silent.

Eclipse was puzzled, his voice never sounded so weak. However, he had to ponder about Sirius' answer.

"Empty." He didn't refer just his stomach, but the way he felt. He had a distant feeling he lost something.

"Good, anything else?"

Eclipse shook his head.

"Can you stand?" Sirius slowly stood up.

His younger brother tried too thought it took him a bit longer to find the balance on his shaky legs. With his eyes higher, he could scan a bigger area. His eyes fell on round head with big ears.

"Those are!" He yelped as answers to his questions pummeled his brain.

"You don't need to worry about them. Each and everyone was successfully destroyed."

"What?" Eclipse barked, unable to believe his own ears. "But how?"

Sirius looked at him, tiredness visible in his eyes. Usually, he had a strict spark in them. He was proud and humble at the same time. Eclipse always wished to be like him, acknowledge by all demons. However, right now he seemed fragile.

"Tell me, what do you remember?" his brother asked, slowly moving closer to remains of stone guardians.

"I... I..." Eclipse bit his lip. "I'm not sure," he silently mumbled. He pressed his temples, letting the slight headache move out of his brain. "I was hiding from them because I couldn't figure out how to destroy them for good."

He felt ashamed. He was sure he or Crestia would solve this problem in a few minutes. Why was he such failure? He didn't discover anything noteworthy in the last months. He was supposed to spy on The Order!

Eclipse shook his head. He had to at least answer this question. "My body... turned really hot. It was like it was boiling from inside."

Sirius remained silent for a short while, watching his baby brother. "Have you noticed anything strange on you during the last months?"

The small demon fidgeted. There was something strange about his brother, and it wasn't just the look in his eyes. "Yeah," he silently answered and proceeded in explaining the pangs of pain and strange nightmares.

However, Sirius placed another question. "Do you know how these Stone Golems were defeated?"

The small demon lowered his head. "No, it was you who had beaten them, right?" Even his older brother who wasn't specializing in combat was able to deal with them.

"No, it was you."

Eclipse lifted his head, his eyes winked with dumbfound expression filling them. "Me?" He pointed at himself. "But how?"

"Before I can answer that, tell me what is that seal inside of your body?"

Eclipse molested himself in a puzzled attempt to find it. "What seal?" he had to inquire. "Nobody put any seal in my body. I have just one from Miss Gold to mask my demonic features."

"So you don't know," Sirius silently muttered, shifting his attention to the ground.

Eclipse wobbly ran to him and grabbed his sleeve. "Please, tell me what it is," he pled.

The older brother lifted his hand, and Eclipse's fingers slipped down. Sirius caressed his brother's quills. It was a gesture he hadn't done in years.

"It's absorbing your life energy, but it's too deep to be removed. Doing so would greatly endanger your life." The small head jerked under his touch. "I could only put my own over it to weaken its effect. But tell me, who planted it inside of you?" Sirius' voice didn't stop to sound soft, and signs of worry were seeping out. "Why you didn't report it to me?"

"I had no idea there is anything in me!" Eclipse quickly barked. He never wanted to fail his older brother. A strong pang hit his chest, so he grabbed it. "Wait," he muttered through his bared teeth. "Maybe him!"

"Who?"

"A weird guy! He was white echidna with black sclera like us!" His head shot up staring into his brother's eyes. "He shot me with some weird bullet, but doctors," his voice turned weak, "told me I'm fine."

"Finding such seal was impossible for them. It imitates your energy pattern so it won't give off different energy impulses like normal seals. It's firmly embroiled into your energy paths now. How long you have it?"

Eclipse lowered his head. "I think for about half of the year."

This time it was Sirius' hand that twitched. "I see," he merely replied. "Wait here a bit," he told to his younger brother and walked toward one golem's head.

The small demon couldn't see what he was doing as his back was facing him. He only noticed his brother was hiding his right arm in his sleeve. That was strange, it was his dominant arm, so why? Before he could ask, the golem, his brother tinkered with, rebuild itself. Eclipse hissed and growled.

"Can you see it?" inquired his brother leaping away from the guardian as he was also on its target list.

"See wha---?" The demon's eyes widen. There was a symbol burning on its forehead.

"Now hit it," Sirius noted, knowing his brother could already see it.

The small demon listened to him, hitting the spot. He also quickly retreated, but the statue collapsed and didn't reactivate itself.

"Wau! It's not getting up!" His eyes fell on his fist. "Ugh! It's burning!" He waved with it in futile attempt to extinguish the fire.

Sirius merely watched him, letting him figure out the flames weren't hurting him. That happened after a number of unsuccessful tries.

"That flame is a manifestation of your energy."

Eclipse awkwardly scratched in his quills with a sheepish smile. He felt really stupid.

"Now is time for a short lesson." Sirius sat down on one broken golem's body. A silent hiss escaped him as his right arm hit the stone.

Eclipse moved to him, sat in front of his brother and waited for his words.

"I'm sure you have figured out you have just hit the seal that kept rebuilding the Golems, right?"

The small demon nodded.

"Every living being has something similar. I started to call them, Central Point. Not really original, I know," he added, lifting the tense atmosphere a bit. "The energy there has the highest density and hitting it is like throwing a stone into calm water."

His brother took a deep breath before he continued, "It will create ripples that disturb the balance. With time it will recover its calmness. However, these guardians aren't living creatures so once their inner space is disturbed they no longer can function."

Eclipse leaned forward, realizing what possibilities were opening in front of him.

"In the case of agents of The Order, you can temporary neutralize their spiritual abilities. But don't count on that!" His voice quickly shooed the big smile that appeared on Eclipse's face. "They aren't so easy targets. The most skillful ones may be able to recover from the shock in a matter of seconds."

Sirius' body again twitched. The burning pain he felt was starting to affect him. "True masters are able to sense Central Point and move it inside of their bodies, some are able to divide it into smaller points. That allows them to minimize the impact and strengthen their defense. Never in your fights think hitting Central Point ensures you of victory."

Eclipse widely nodded. Without a word, his brother took out a small mirror from his pocket space. He offered it to his brother. The small demon accepted it with a lifted eyebrow. He looked at his reflection. There was really nothing wrong with him until the cold sweat covered his body.

"M-My eyes," he stuttered. "They are purple!" Tears appeared in his eyes.

"Yes, they turned that way because you are using your enhanced sight."

"Can I revert them back?" Eclipse quickly barked.

"Yes, let me show you how."

Sirius slowly circled him until he was behind him. He placed his left hand on the small skull and poured a bit of his energy inside. Eclipse concentrated on how he was doing it. After a minute his eyes recovered its usual color. The small demon sighed in relief.

After this he tried to activate and deactivate it, watching his reflection. It took him a while, but soon he was able to call and hide it in a matter of seconds. During his practice, he noticed not all golems had the pulsating seal on their foreheads. Some had it completely black. He asked his brother about it, and Sirius' head jerked like he nodded off for a second.

"You really don't remember?"

Eclipse sadly shook his head.

"You have awakened The Eternal Eater, Ashyss."

The name resonated in the empty space. Eclipse's skin bristled. His instinct told him that name portended danger.

<Note: Ashyss => A:ʃys>