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Stories # - L | M - Z | Authors
Part 2
After a few days Light Shade was released from the
hospital. The first place he went after his release was the warehouse
where they had been attacked. He had to know who had attacked them but
the warehouse was now completely empty except for the holes in the
walls. There was police tape trampled on the ground but the
investigation was apparently over.
Light Shade scoured the warehouse but there was
nothing to be found to give a hint at what had happened weeks earlier.
Light Shade then went to the Police department and spoke with Detective
Hopkins who was in charge of his wife’s murder case. Another dead
end, no clues had arisen as to who was in the warehouse and Light Shade
was asked to make a statement to the Detective of the last moments he
remembered before he was teleported away. This was all the closure
Light Shade would have. For awhile the case remained open but unsolved
until eventually the case was closed with no leads to go on. Eons
became just another hero to fall in the pursuit of justice.
Light Shade fell into a dark despair. Feeling
inadequate to deal with the villains that took his wife’s life he
walked into the Talos magic store and sought council with the store
owner simply called The Conduit. The Conduit directed Light Shade to
several books on the occult and the dark arts. Leaving Light Shade with
the warning that the powers he sought to assist him in his search for
his wife’s killer could very well consume him, Light Shade
responded “I can only hope, and then I will no longer feel so
empty.”
Light Shade read every work of the occult he could
get his hands on. Calling on whatever spirit would hear his call with
no answer. Until one day a spirit did hear his call and appeared before
him in a bright fiery ball of light flickering with red and black
flame.
“You have summoned Overdark, and I have
answered. I can grant you the power you seek; you must only serve as my
host. I will lie dormant within you but my power will be yours. You
must answer quickly or I will fade from existence.” With these
words the demon did not wait for an answer…Overdark threw
himself into Light Shades chest merging with Light Shade. Immediately
Light Shade could feel his power grow. There was an intense burning
throughout his body that accompanied the demon. A glowing fiery aura
engulfed Light Shade and again…there was darkness as the
overwhelming power consumed Light Shade and caused him to pass out.
When Light Shade awoke some time later he looked at
himself in the mirror. He saw the demons light in his eyes and knew all
that the demon knew. When he closed his eyes he could see the gates of
hell…he knew the pain of the fires on his skin. He heard the
demons haunting words again in his head and when he opened his eyes he
saw a different face.
“This is not my face. This is a new face; this
is the face of darkness. From this day forth I will no longer be Light
Shade…I am Darkeshade.”
The hole that was left in Light Shades heart had
been filled by the demons fire. With his wife now gone Light Shade
decided he would wear a part of her and keep it with him. He fashioned
their wedding rings into a red amulet and placed the jewel in his belt
buckle. He added the E to his name to remind him of who he lost. He
kept several of Eons devices to help him continue his search for his
wife’s killer and Darkeshade took to the skies of Talos Island
for the first time and headed for Dark Astoria to test his new power on
the rotting corpses of the Banished Pantheon.
Darkeshade entered the eternally twilit city and
began clearing the Hall of Heroes in Moth Cemetery. This was a place
that both he and his wife held sacred and weekly they would descend on
the Cemetery and proceed to clear the risen from the area. Darkeshade
was now able to summon blasts of fire from his hands. He could also
breathe fire and cause a rain of fire and brimstone to fall from the
sky that would cause the creatures to scatter and flee. The power was
extreme and Darkeshade liked the feeling the power gave him.
“Hey!” A voice echoed from inside the
hall. A hero clad in blue and silver emerged with the edge of his cape
smoldering. “Why don’t you watch where your throwing that
fire ‘hero,’ you could kill something alive out
here?”
“I apologize” replied Darkeshade,”
I didn’t realize there was anyone else down here. My name
is,” Darkeshade paused. “My name is Darkeshade. Who may I
ask are you?”
“I am Nyghtbeast…I was clearing off
some of the statues in here when I heard the commotion and I wanted to
see what was going on. The Banished had entered the hall when I got
here and I wanted to have some fun. Their numbers seem to grow by leaps
and bounds daily.”
Nyghtbeast was an expert in martial arts and had
honed his reflexes to a superior level. Darkeshade held out his hand
and Nyghtbeast took it and a friendship was forged. Darkeshade told
Nyghtbeast of his story and of his quest to find his wife’s
killers. Nyghtbeast agreed to assist and they proceeded to speak to
contact after contact…take mission after mission. On occasion
they would come across other heroes and make new friends that would
accompany them on their mission. Together they formed the group Powers
Unlimited and would fight side by side for many years.
One contact named Crimson sent the two on a mission
investigating a terrorist group called the Malta organization. Crimson
directed them to a meeting between Malta and a group called the Knives
of Artemis. Neither of the team nor the rest of the group had heard of
the Knives before now. During the investigation the Knives attacked and
Darkeshade and Nyghtbeast were able to defeat them. Something about
them looked familiar to Darkeshade. Just as they were about to call
Crimson they were attacked from behind by an invisible enemy.
Nyghtbeast saw the attack coming and with his quick reflexes was able
to counter the attack and knock the foe backwards disengaging the
cloaking field. It was another Knives member and this time Darkeshade
remembered. This was the same device the attackers had used that killed
his wife; the uniform she wore was the same as well. Darkeshade went
into a rage and tossed fire all around himself and Nyghtbeast and
discovered four more Knives of Artemis guards about to surround the
two. Darkeshade and Nyghtbeast proceeded to dispatch all but one of the
ambushers. The last they took back to Crimson for questioning.
Crimson had some very unique questioning methods
that had the woman telling him everything. During questioning it was
learned that the Knives indeed were at the warehouse in Talos on the
night of the attack. One of the leaders named Sarah was at the time
Lieutenant in charge of the operation. They were sent to scout out the
docks but discovered a Tsoo hideout instead. After easily dispatching
the Tsoo the team of Knives became over zealous and decided to wait for
a hero, any hero that happened to go poking around. After they had
defeated the duo Sarah was then promptly promoted and given an entire
unit of Blades to do with as she would. She was actually at the meeting
Nyghtbeast and Darkeshade interrupted but had managed to escape. They
are trying to join forces with Malta to boost their ranks.
The prisoner then gave Crimson the location of the
next meeting in Steel Canyon. Crimson assigned Darkeshade to interrupt
the meeting and finally bring Sarah to justice. The whole Powers
Unlimited team was called in and together they stormed the meeting. The
Malta and the Knives were taken by surprise and easily dispatched by
the sheer number of heroes and Sarah was finally captured. Darkeshade
took her personally out of the office building and took to flight
toward the Steel Canyon Jail with Sarah in his arms.
“What do you have against me hero…why
don’t you just fly down and let me go. The Knives of Artemis can
pay you a handsome amount of money. We can supply you
with…”
Darkeshade interrupted her, “Nothing you can offer me would bring back my wife”
“Your wife…we don’t kill wives
we…wait a second” A smile crossed Sarah’s face
“You’re Light Shade? And Eons was your wife.”
Darkeshade didn’t grace her with a look of
understanding. “I remember her screams of pain”, Sarah
began to laugh, “we joked on the way back to base how we
couldn’t tell if she was screaming or squealing as you ran away.
You know she didn’t die right away? She writhed for a good 30
minutes while we watched her bleed out…she cried and squealed
and finally after I slit her throat she stopped making cow
sounds.”
Sarah began to laugh hysterically as Darkeshade then
began to fly as high as he could then looked down at Sarah with fire
filling his eyes and screamed at her as he pulled her close
“What sounds will you make before you splatter
on the ground?” With those words Darkeshade let go of Sarah above
Blyde Square. He began to hover there as he heard Sarah’s
laughter become fading screams of terror. Darkeshade then flew down to
the base of the M1 statue where Sarah had landed and was met by the
hero Positron and the PCPD. Positron looked at Darkeshade while the
police began to question him. Seeing the release in Darkeshade’s
face Positron knew that Darkeshade had dropped Sarah to avenge his
wife’s death. Darkeshade then answers the Police confirming what
Positron already knew.
“I dropped her. I found her guilty and
executed her and have avenged my wife. Eons can finally rest in
peace.” Darkeshade then held out his hands for the police to
handcuff and was taken into custody.
At Darkeshade’s trial the entire Powers group
stood in defense of Darkeshade. Even members of the Freedom Phalanx and
the Vindicators defended Darkeshade’s actions as well as contacts
and citizens that have been helped and even saved by his actions. But
the final word came from Statesman.
“A hero has the duty and the responsibility
not to become the executioner. We must never forget that. Darkeshade
has broken the law and with that one action he has wiped all of his
past good deeds away. The justice system would break down
otherwise.”
Looking toward the crowd gathered Darkeshade lifts
up his head. “I have indeed broken the law. But given the chance
to do it over I would at once drop her again!” With these words
judgment was handed down and Darkeshade was sentenced to life in prison
in the Ziggursky Maximum Security prison. Stripped of his Hero Status
and placed in a power dampening ward, Darkeshade the hero was no more.
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