NightShadow flew so hard that his body became surrounded by a white haze as he broke the
“This is bad, this is really bad.” He kept say this to himself as he knew the signs were only getting worse.
Soon, he approached a dark hole in the space that flickered with purple tendrils of energy. He paused before it as he observed it fluctuating. Focusing his own powers, he held out his hands and took hold of the anomaly and attempted to seal it. Just then, the light from the sun flashed and then grew dimmer. At the same time, the hole in space expanded. NightShadow tumbled backward in space.
Stabilizing himself, NightShadow spent a moment watching the sun. The light from it fading.
“This is not possible.” He turned and flew hard toward the station.
***
Justin watched the screen where ten news casts were displaying the information as panicked people raged in the streets.
“What is happening? I want information. Sensors, scan the sun!” He pointed at a robot.
“Scan initiating,” the robot announced.
Justin turned back to others, “Chase, take Torrik, Gar, and EB down to the surface. Get to New Meta City and follow Nova. I want you to get to him, talk to him.”
“Don’t try,” Santa said.
Justin glared at him. “We have to try something. He must be reasonable right now. Be able to give us answers.”
Strange Quark said, “Santa is right. What I sense down there is powerful. Something is protecting all of that area. We can’t get close. Portal or shuttle, nothing is going to get near Nova right now.”
Chase said, “That leaves everyone in New Meta City in danger, and we can’t even get in touch with them or send help.”
EB asked, “What is Nova doing?”
Santa answered, “The only reason I can fathom is that he means to fight her. His mind rages for vengeance, fueled by the remaining sense of honor. Something in him knows this is the end of the world. The sad part is that he probably doesn’t even know why. His soul is torn in two and without the other half, he cannot even remember why he fought her before and why he hates her so much now.”
NightShadow appeared in Operations. He staggered for a second and held the side of a console. “I tried. . . I couldn’t stop it.”
“NightShadow?” Justin turned with a shock at the sudden appearance of the hero.
NightShadow said, “I sensed the hole in space changing, growing. I flew as fast as I could to stop it, to contend against it. But it resisted me. And the sun. . . “
“We know about the sun,” Chase said.
EB added, “It’s all over the news. People are really going nuts over the darkening of the sun. Is something covering it?”
NightShadow shook his head. “No. It’s being absorbed by the void. Light in this area is slowly draining into the void. Something is tapping it. There is a power connected to it that is indescribable. I can sense it, but I cannot explain it other than one word, horror.”
Torrik whispered, “The sun is being eaten.”
NightShadow mused, “That’s one way to put it.”
“No, you don’t understand. Oh, by the name of Merlin! The clues were all there!” He ran back toward the meeting room.
***
Lady
Echidna’s body flooded with the power of the beasts of her
craftsmanship. She exuded a dark shadow and purple energy that ripped
out and tore apart the temple dedicated to her. With a snap of her
head, she looked up and the stone ceiling exploded into the sky.
Flying out of the new opening, she flew quickly across the land
toward the south.
Behind her, erupting from within the temple, was a giant Fenrir shadow monster that stomped across the world slowly in the same direction. Behind Fenrir came a massive monster of a sea serpent with a massive mouth filled with razor teeth. It slithered behind Fenrir in the same direction. Behind this Charybdis appeared a creature like a sea monster and dragon combined with five heads. It had enormous wings that it used to take flight and soar southward.
Lady Echidna moved much quicker than her children and in her wake, the darkness spread, shadow spilling across the earth. The sun above grew dimmer. The normally bright white light of day had diminished into a sick yellow that was turning orange.
***
Citizens in New York City rushed around in panic as the day turned to a sick night with the sun slowly going out.
“It is the end of days! Judgment is coming!” A man cried out from a street corner as he tried to gather attention from the terrified masses.
Several police cars stopped and eight officers jumped out and tried to calm down the people.
A superhero league landed nearby and moved in to help.
“Oh, good! BADGE is here,” an officer said.
Furious Squirrel ran over to him, “We are here to help with. . . “
People screamed even harder as a dark fog rolled through the streets. It was black as night and moved like fire smoke. Buildings were being consumed, cars wrecked when they lost sight, and people ran as quickly as they could to get away from the dark fog that rolled through the streets.
“What the hell is that?!” the officer yelled as he pulled out his gun.
Furious and his other league mates readied their own weapons. From within the fog formed misty creatures. Wolves, trolls, imps, and other demons. All made of this smoke with beaming red eyes.
“RUN!” Furious yelled at the citizens and then shot at an approaching wolf, which exploded in a puff of smoke.
The people tried to run, but the fog was too quick. As soon as it surrounded them they lost all their focus and gained silly smiles. They danced about with abandon like they had just joined a party and were in the throes of a grand ballroom dance. The heroes were unaffected, but set upon by the strange shadow beasts.
***
Nova stood before the stable portal between worlds. On the other side was the long walk across The Great Divide that parted the worlds. Heroes were coming here to challenge the ferocious beasts within, so to hone their skills. But he could never step foot in there unless he wished to suffer terribly.
“Why?” He whispered to himself.
Since Lady Echidna had awakened his mind to what it was before, to the darkness he once embraced, a part of him had flashes of memory. He recalled betraying her, but that part of him was small. A power in him, planted in his soul, forced him to love her, to obey her. Yet, apart from her, he had enough willpower to fight her machinations. But he still couldn’t remember why.
“What am I?” He asked.
“My lover, my friend, the reason to survive while in my dark exile.” Lady Echidna’s voice spoke behind him.
He did not turn to look at her, for fear he would fall into her eyes again and obey without question. “What did we do? This world was yours to control, yet I stopped you. Didn’t I?”
The harsh winds of Antarctica blustered around them off the icy planes as she patiently concocted her next statement. Finally, she said, “You betrayed me on the day of triumph. You became another man so that you would hope to repent in your soul and cleanse yourself of the darkness I spread. I, on the other hand, embraced that darkness in my soul and nurtured it. Fed it with every evil intention and greedy thought. One must embrace true darkness in order to control this universe.
“I can’t accept that. Goodness is not weak. Honor is not foolishness.”
“Oh, but it is.” She said, “This universe is broken, stained by the power of sin. By embracing that power, we could literally control everything. I have the power now to rip this world apart. But, to truly control everything, to rein unchallenged for eternity, we need to go to Yohan. Find the others. Rip out their hearts and feed upon them as I have feasted upon the creatures I created. Once harnessed, all will be clear.”
She waited for him to answer her. But he didn’t.
“Do you realize why I waited these three months? I was not just letting the people grow more nervous with each passing day, I was studying you and your friend. Midgard betrayed me once, as did you. I cannot afford to lose this time. I had to know. Part of me believed you passed the tests, you were obedient to me. Yet, you betrayed me again. But I will still give you one last chance. We can harness Yohan's immense power to become the gods we were always destined to be. Nothing will ever challenge us again. Don't you understand! I loved you more than any other in all my considerable life. I am willing to share ultimate power with you if you only show me you still love me!” Her tone had grown into a sorrowful plea that displayed the shred of emotion in her other than wickedness, true love.
Nova slowly turned around and looked at her. “I do remember one thing from before.”
“What is that?”
“I did love you. I once felt for you in a way I have never before, or since, for any other person. But, you proved to me that you love evil far more than anything else, including me. I did not embrace the darkness, I embraced you because I wanted to believe there was a chance you would return to the light. In that embrace, you planted darkness within me and I fought it them and I will fight it now. I will never succumb to the darkness you harbor as long as I live." He held out his hand so that his magnificent sword appeared.
Covered in shadow and bristling with energy, Lady Echidna rose in the air, “Then, I will kill you and take Yohan as my prize.” She launched herself at him.
He met her with his sword, the contact creating a wave of energy that cracked the ice-shelf for miles.
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