(PFFF SHORT)

They both stood there, staring at each other. Hollow, bleeding, and yellow, shredding. They knew the other was not a kind heart or a gentle soul. Though only one knew of the other's deeds.

“My name-” Never started.

“Is Nevermore. Yes, I know you quite well.” Nero's smile turned to a smirk. “You've done a rather nice job with your time here.”

“And how do you know of what I do?” Never tilted his massive head, tongue twitching anxiously. “Are you a stalker or something?”

Nero let out a delightfully dark laugh. “Knowledge can come to you in very strange ways. Though I won't bore you with the details.”

“Good, I'm already bored with this talk. Are you ready yet?” His black tongue convulsed, wrapping around itself again.

“I am always ready.” Nero challenged.

Never charged at the smaller deer. His fanged mouth opened wide to let the full extension of his putrid tongue reel out, then back. When the beast came close enough, he let his weapon swirl around its enemy's neck, ready to contract with bone-breaking force. As soon as it was ready, though, the other seemed to disappear in an instant. The tongue became tangled in itself, but it was an easy fix. Nero stood some five feet away from him.

“What the hell...?” He started.

Nero interrupted him with a chuckle, “Even the blackest souls can't withstand my power. I'm rather glad I met you. I've finally proven what I can do.”

Never tried again, disregarding what Nero said. It failed once more, the other was back to where he started.

“Fool.”

Never rethought what he had just experienced. Something didn't make sense about Nero just appearing somewhere else. He trailed hoof prints, so he wasn't a spirit. There must have been a trick to it. He went over his memory. He knew something was off, but what? He searched every last detail, right down to the blades of grass.... Of course. So that's what it was.

A squirrel. A tiny little brown squirrel, far off into the distance. A detail so small, no one but Never could spot it. While Never charged, the squirrel began to run to a tree. And when he found his tongue wrapped around nothing, the squirrel was already going up the tree. The time when the squirrel finished running and jumped to the tree was gone. That's how Nero did it.

“I see.” Never let out a laugh. “That's very clever of you. Tell me, how do you do that?”

“One of the many secrets most deer don't know about. A hidden magic that the Twin Gods mistakenly granted me.

“I've met no deer who knew how to hypnotize like that.”

Nero smirked. “That's what makes me God.”

Never's ears perked. Did he just say God? As in HE is God? What makes him think that, the Twin Gods are the only gods here.

“You're wrong.” Nero replied. Never looked to him, a bit confused. “About the Twin Gods. You call those idiotic immortals gods? Just two deer with nothing better to do than throw a few parties and make the sky rain. Is that what you call a god?”

Never didn't think of it that way. But the way Nero put it... He had a point. He couldn't think of a time when the Twin Gods actually helped. Sure, the instant with the humans setting the Forest on fire was something they could've handled, but they only made it rain. Was that all they could do?”

“Control over weather does not make you a god. Any deer can do it.”

Never huffed, “That I don't believe.”

Nero narrowed his eye, “Well, you must believe in magic and sorcery.”

“Of course. Every deer can perform magic.”

“But it's the quantity of magic that limits them.” Nero started to walk in circles around Never. “There are only three deer in the world who know all magic. The Twin Gods, and me. The Twin Gods keep all other deer from knowing so..” he paused, laughing, “so deer like ME don't come along.

“It was their mistake that they let one deer in on their secrets. The overload of knowledge caused his mind to become unstable. He couldn't hold all his emotions into one being, he had to branch off into five different personalities. Good, Content, Afraid, Depressed, and the one who was hidden, me. Evil.

“Through suppression I grew stronger. I searched the confines of his knowledge and revealed every secret to myself. And it dawned on me... What did the Twin Gods do that was so amazing? Weather changes? Parties? It was all they could do. I found that they were powerless in the sight of evil. If they weren't, would you or I be here now?

“Nero, Never, Baerk, Pandemonium, Hunter, all were spared in their power. They were lucky all of you were just as clueless as any other deer. Now I'm going to see what they can do in the presence of a TRUE threat.”

Never... couldn't help but agree. His stony heart told him that Nero was telling the truth. It almost made him afraid of Nero. But if he stayed on his good side...

“So, you will prove your godliness to the Forest?” He asked.

“Of course, why wouldn't I? All this power, it must be put to something good. I'll create a new world order, and those who oppose me...” He crushed a rock under his hoof. “will be damned.”

“And those who keep it hidden?”

Nero smirked. “Never, Never, Never... It's impossible to keep secrets from God.”