The fading of the light
Sat around a table, a group of mysterious executives discussed what the future held.
But more so, they discussed what to do with the one that had been in the way of many
of their plans.
One of the figures coughed.
Their faces were hidden by the shadows, and there was an atmosphere of cigars being
smoked in the badly ventilated room.
"He grows stronger with every battle." One of the voices spoke at the table.
"There was very little left of the one we sent against him." Another spoke.
"It proves our suspicions were correct. We cannot allow him to grow stronger."
"Then we must end it now. We know that he has the ability to destroy us."
There was a long silence after that sentence.
The speaker had definitely made a mistake by saying what he did.
From the head of the table, a cigar was lit by the director of these mysterious men.
Finally, after a long pause, he spoke.
"My dear friend, I do believe you are over estimating this mere boy."
The previous speaker quickly replied.
"No sir... I was merely... pointing out... that given the chance, he might be able to... eliminate
us." His hidden forehead became sweety, knowing what was surely about to happen.
"You... you are affraid, are you not?" The cigar smoking director asked.
Although he did not really want a reply to the question.
"No! No sir. Just a brief moment of concern." The executive replied.
"You know as well as the others, that we have nothing to fear in this world. We are gods
among these children. I cannot allow fear to continue in my organisation."
His voice was cool, calm.
He spoke as if his voice was ice, flawless, with a hint of arrogance.
"No. Please. I made a mistake. I do not fear this boy." The executive was getting rather warm
under the cullar now.
"You make another, for I will also not allow mistake to take place in this council. I am affraid
you will have to depart from us."
There was the click of a button, just before two doors opened, revealing two large figures.
They quickly moved towards the executive.
These two figures were the councils personal body guards, or as they called themselves
Guardians.
"No! Please. I beg of you! You can't do this." The man was quickly picked up by the
two mutations created by the Pandorax science teams.
Their large scally muscles bulging as they took a hold of the small man, dragging him
to a door, far away from the the other executives and their meeting, closing the door behind
them. Yet screams of agony and pain echoed slightly through the cracks of the door.
"Now that we have gotten rid of the unworthy, does anyone have any ideas on how to
dispose of this unfortunate accident we created eighteen years ago?"
The way the director spoke in was chilling.
What he had just did was also a warning towards the others, that they too await the same
fate should they admit to their darkest fears.
A single voice spoke from the furthest reaches of the table.
"May I suggest, we fight fire... with fire?"
"Hm?" She replied, her mind wandering somewhere else.
"What's wrong?" Hood asked they amde their way through the streets of Rome.
It had been several weeks since his encounter with Griffin, and they had left the overgrown
gardens and parks of France for the more warmer climate of Italy.
"Nothing?" She said, as if she was talking to no one in particular.
Hood stopped dead in his tracks, making Karen turn around towards him.
"What?" She asked, like she had done something wrong.
"I've known you longer than today, to know that there's something wrong. I can tell."
"I'm telling you. There's nothing wrong." Karen tried to walk on, but she felt
Hoods hand wrap around her arm, forcing her to stop.
"Karen. You can trust me. You know that."
Reluctantly, she turned to him, her eyes avoiding his.
"It's kind of hard to explain. I told you that my powers as an Eternal have been halved since
I told a mortal about, right?"
"Karen... I know. You've lost all of your powers." Hood smiled as Karen looked up at him
in shock.
How did he know about it? There was no way in this realm, he could have known about
her losing her powers.
"What? How... how did you know?" She asked, looking sightly confused now.
"Last time I looked in a mirror and took of my shades, that's how."
Slowly, he moved his hand towards his sunglasses, which he hardly ever took off.
With a moment of hesitation, he removed them from his face, revealing his eyes.
His eyes.
There were as they had been before Karen had changed them to normal.
Both his eyes had turned black, with a perfect red iris.
"But... they should have stayed normal for ever." Karen said as she slowly ran her finger
around his eye lids.
Quickly, Hood put his shades back on.
"It doesn't matter, Karen." He said, as he took her hand in his. "I don't care what my eyes
look like, as long as I can see you."
She gazed deeply in to his eyes. Past the sunglasses and the warriors exterior, and saw
the man she had fallen in love with, the man she would always love.
"I'm sorry." Karen moved closer towards Hood and held tightly on to him.
"For what? It's not your fault. It just means that we have one more thing in common."
There was a puzzled expression on Karens face now.
"We're both mortals." Hood smiled as he moved his lips closer to Karens, feeling her lips
on his lips. "Come, we'd better find a place before night fall."
Slowly, they let go of each other and made their way through the ancient streets of Rome.
Two pairs of eyes following them at all times.
From behind a gargoyle, sat one of the many roofs of Rome, two figures watched the couple
walked amongst the others of the city.
"Yes... she does have an amazing influence on him. And he shall need all the help he can
get for what he is going to face." The first figure said as he sat on the gargoyle.
"I fear for all of us, but I fear mostly for him. For it is he, who our lives depend on now."
He was wearing a long purple cape, beneath that dark colored clothes, mostly brown and
green. He had long curly brown hair, and dark green eyes.
The second figure was much smaller, and sat on the shoulder of the first.
In fact, the figure was more like a bird. A falcon to be exact
"Come, Merlin. Let us return to our home." The young man said as he walked over the roof top.
The falcon departed from his friends shoulder and followed him through the air.
Evil Awakened
The blue sky surrounding her, as she floated gently up in to the heavens.
It was so beautiful, and it was exactely as she rememberd it.
Karen finally floated above the clouds, and so the Palace of Celestis came in to view.
Within the flash of a moment, she stood before the tempel, where the Elders of Cronos were.
She opened the huge oak door, and slowly walked in to the hall.
There, standing behind the stand, stood the three Elders.
All three women.
One was but a child, one a middleaged woman and the third was the eldest.
She sat in between the two younger ones.
Karen looked puzzled at the Elders.
"Why have you taken all of my powers?" She asked, knowing that this was more than just
a dream. It was real.
Her life force was actually in the palace, in the tempel with the Elders.
"We didn't, Karen. It wasn't possible." The oldest of the three spoke. "Never in all of Cronos
has there been a half Eternal, with only half of the powers. It was either all your powers,
and be an Eternal, no powers and become one of the mortals, or oblivion."
"Obviously we pressumed that you would not prefer oblivion." The youngest spoke.
"And it was very clear, how deep your feelings for the Shadow Warrior ran, and so, slowly
the powers you once had as an Eternal, have dissapeared." The middleaged Eternal said.
There was a long pause however.
"We have realised that the Shadow Warriors however, have a much longer life span, and so
we have granted you an equal long life, so you may spend it with him...
Also, you have the power to give some of your own life force to those who need it. But
remember, this life force can never be given back."
And so the oldest said her final words, before sending Karen back towards her now mortal
body, lying asleep beside of Hood.
"Thank you." She softly whispered, as placed her head on Hoods chest softly.
It walked with a limp.
It was hard not, if your left leg had been replaced with a robotic leg.
The figures right arm had also been detached, and a metalic arm had become its replacement.
This green skinned cyborg walked over to the control panel, and began
entering commands in to the computer.
"Please enter security clearance codes." A friendly female computer voice asked from one
of the speakers. The sound of keys being rapidly typed on could be heard shortly afterwards.
"Thank you. Beginning croygenic re-activation sequence, please stand clear of chamber."
There was a sudden movement of an object at the side of the wall.
It was a cryogenic stasis chamber, slowing moving from the side of the lab, to a more
accesable location. It stood still with a shock.
The greenskinned cyborg limped over to the chamber, and slid a card in to a slot on the side.
An amazing sequence of lights flickered, as cryo mist was vented from the side of
the chamber on to the floor.
Shortly afterwards, the front of the chamber began to open.
Even more cryogenic mist flooded from the chamber, although there was a sufficient amount
left to consealed the occupant.
"Beginning re-animation sequence." The computer voice continued.
There was a sudden burst of light in the chamber, as the occupant of the chamber was
electricly re-animated.
The voltage at which it was used would have been enough to kill any normal human being,
but who ever said that the occupant of the stasis chamber was human.
Eventhough, it was created here on the earth, it was still from another world.
An arm quickly hung from the side of the chamber, as the slumberer slowly awakend.
On the right arm that hung outside, there was a tatoo of the moon, with dust flowing from it
on to the earth. It was the logo of its original purpose to be created.
The cyborneticly enhanced Turtle wandered to the side of the chamber, holding a pile
of clothes in his hands.
"Welcome back to the living world, my friend." The sly twelve year old cyborg said.
There was a moment of silence, before the slumberer arose from its bed.
It was a man.
About eighteen years of age.
He franticly looked around, trying to look for smoething formiliar. As he did, he noticed it
was formiliar. It was all the same as it had been when he entered this long sleep.
"Who are you?" He asked, grabbing the pile of clothes Turtle held.
"My name is Turtle, loyal servant to Pandorax, and have been asked to revive you."
As the young adult got dressed, he looked sarcasticly at the small boy.
"Of course you came to revive me. Or we wouldn't be having this conversation now would we?"
There was a quick nodded on Turtles side of the conversation.
The young adult walked over to the side of the chamber, where there was a mirror.
He looked in to it, seeing himself, much older than the last time he had seen himself.
He had long dark hair, and dark brown eyes.
It was obvious by the way he was looking in the mirror that he enjoyed admiring himself.
"Are you ready for your training?" Turtle asked, noticing that the person he came to
revive was a bit busy grooming himself.
"Yes, what are my orders?" He asked, turning towards the greenskinned boy.
"The ones who have sent me, want you to be at peak condition for your mission."
"I've been in peak condition since I entered stasis." The young man seemed insulted by
Turtles remark. Though there was a smile on the cyborgs face.
"Yes. Although, we now know the true strength held within you."
Now this had gotten the young adult slightly confused.
Turtle noted the puzzled look and guided him away from the stasis chamber.
"Let me explain to you what has happend since you went in to stasis..."
while wandering through the room.
On the arm of a chair further on in the room, a falcon sat perched, also reading a book on a desk
in front of it.
Once it had finished a page, the falcon turned the page with its beak and read the new page.
"There is no information what so ever on the event that is about to occur."
Manaja spoke as he walked towards the desk. "Such an event must have been predicted somewhere."
In an adjacent room, a whistle suddenly blew, catching Manajas attention.
"Excellent. The kettle has boiled."
Leaving the book he was reading where it was he headed towards the kitchen.
Though, the remarkable thing here, was that the place where the book had been left was in
mid air, hovering just above the desk.
Merlin the falcon didn't even look up and continued reading the texts.
Manaja quickly returned to the library holding a warm cup of tea.
With his other hand he waved at the book he had just been reading, and followed him towards
an armchair, where he sat down. Gently the book floated down on to his lap, as he
placed the cup of tea on the small coffee table beside of him.
As Manaja continued reading, Merlin popped his head up in surprise, his eyes still looking
at the book he was reading. He then let out a small screach.
"You found something have you?" Manaja quickly got out of his armchair and walked towards
Merlin, he pointed with his beak at the text.
The sorcerer began reading it.
"On the eve after the awakening, the moon will shine on the battle of the same. A darkness will
loom over the participants and a life shall be lost."
He paused for a moment before turning the page and continued.
"During the full moon, the skies will be restless and the dark lightning shall be created, destroying
the evil of the mountains.... The evil of the mountains?"
He looked with a puzzled face at the falcon, who, if it could, simply shrugged its feathery shoulders.
"The awakening was this morning, we must make hast and find him, before it is too late."
With those words, Manaja quickly took a hold of his brown and green cape and headed towards
the door, his feathery friend quickly following.
The Deadly Night
He prefered the roof tops. They gave a beautiful view of the city of Rome.
Once he came across a gap between buildings, he would merely leap over them, continueing on
his journey of scouting the city.
Hood stood still for a moment as he looked at a gargoyle, sitting suspicously on the ledge of the
roof. Bored with walking around, the warrior sat down beside of the stone statue
and gazed the same direction that the gargoyle was looking.
It stared deeply at a bakery, long forgotten since the virus.
Grafiti covered the walls of the shop now.
For a moment, Hood felt something. Another presence besides his stoney friend.
Quickly, he stood up. Awaiting who ever it was.
Within moments, a mysterious figure climbed up the fire escape on to the roof top.
His cape flowing behind him in the wind as he walked towards Hood.
"You are The Hood?" He asked.
The warrior simply nodded in reply.
"My name is Manaja, this is Merlin." A falcon landed on Manajas shoulder and bowed its small head
towards Hood.
"What do you want?" Hood asked, walking towards the seemingly unarmed person.
"We are here to warn you. Within the next couple of days, very grave events shall occur."
"You are a fortune teller are you?" There was a hint of sarcasm in Hoods voice.
"No, I am a sorcerer if you must know. Though I know very well of you."
There was an inquizable look on his face now.
"As you must now by now, your reputation proceeds you, and we have heard good and less good
things about you and your companions. For example, I know what you are."
Hood tilted his head in recognision of the obvious intelligence of this teenager.
"Though I also know things you do not." There was a blantent stare from the warrior now.
"I know that there is another one like you. Equal in strength and power."
"The only other one that is like me, is in France, and she is far from my power level."
"No, I talk of another. He is like you in nearly every way but your heart. He has been re-awakened,
and shall have his revenge soon."
There was a long pause between the two. Hood was thinking this through.
All he knew, was that Theta and himself were the only Shadow Warriors alive. Except for
five others who were in regeneration stasis on the moon base.
There was no one else that could be like him.
No one.
"Do you know who he is?" Hood asked finally.
"No. It has been foretold however, long ago. I must go now."
Manaja walked back towards the stairs, but turned back to Hood for a moment.
"I warn you though Hood. He is like you in every way. You shall have no advantages over this
man. He knows who you are, what you are, and where you are. Stay aware Hood."
Those were the final words before the sorcerer and his winged companion dissapeared
from the roof top.
Hood was left to think about things.
Slowly, he made his way back to where the gargoyle was sitting and sat down beside of it.
Another one like him... only Pandorax would know of this.
But it was only the Moondust squad which was created from the genetic samples left
by the remains of the Shadow Warriors, that was a fact, as there was no information about
any other project involving them.
He turned his head towards the gargoyle, who seemed to be in an equal level of thought.
'There were ten of us created for Moondust...' he began a deep chain of thoughts
'There are seven of us left now. Two others were killed during the great Loneliness.
The original Alpha I had killed in a fight during our training with Pandorax....'
It now dawned upon him who the person was.
The only other to be able to much up to his skills now, and the one who should have been
leader of the Moondust squad, and he had replaced.
Alpha 1 was the original leader, and would have been should it have been for the fight
during their training with Pandorax.
Alpha was back...
The stars above shining brightly on the small planet known as Earth.
The moon looking as two lovers lay together on a grassy hill just outside of Rome.
It was so quiet, only the words of love being exchanged between them,
holding each others hand and laying on the blanket of their midnight picnic.
"It's strange you know. Being a mortal." Karen said as she looked up in to the night sky.
"You'll get used to it. The rest of us have." Hood laughed as he chewed on a
blade of grass, his cowboy hat covering his eyes as he lay beside of her.
"It's strange, from one moment, there's nothing more powerfull than you, and you'll never
die, and the next moment, you get the feeling like it could be your last moment in this realm."
A bottle of cola was turned upwards and seemed to be emptying its contents beneath the
rim of Hoods hat, a long gulping noise.
A short burp followed.
"Excuse me." Karen gave him a playfull punch, before pulling herself closer to him, and
laying her head to rest on his chest.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
This was change in rolls, as that Hood was the one always asking what was wrong.
He knew exactely when there was something bothering her, just by looking at her,
and now she was doing his job.
"Nothing." Was the obvious answer from Hood, but he was lying.
Karen knew it as well.
"You can't keep secrets from me, Michael. Something happend today."
Hoods mind flashed back to the moment where Manaja found him and warned him
about the next couple of days.
"Best you don't know." Hood answered and lay his hand on Karens head, gently
stroking her long dark hair.
"If you say so... I trust you." She curled up against his body, laying her head on his chest.
There was a long silence between the two lovers as the gazed up in to the sky once more,
watching the stars flicker throughout the universe.
He didn't exactely how he knew but he knew. It was like someone stepping on their grave,
only he usually enjoyed the chill going down the spine.
But this time, Hood didn't like it. There was a feeling with it that he liked even less.
Karen felt there was something wrong as Hood stood up and looked around.
"What's wrong?" She asked, standing up beside of him.
He didn't answer, but his eyes gazed around the hill, searching for a reason for him to
tense up like this.
Hood knew exactely when someone was going to attack, it was something he had gotten
used to. There would be sensation in his mind that warned him and gave him an
advantage when it came to surprise attacks.
This time though, it felt like the darkness of the night wasn't only around him, but in him.
The sound of the crickets cherping dissapeared, as a figure moved in the darkness of
the night. He hadn't noticed it before, yet it seemed like it had been standing there
for ages. A cloud had moved in front of the moon, shadowing the figure.
Slowly, it moved to the top of the hill, where Hood and Karen stood.
The dark figure stood still, only twenty meters from the warrior.
The light of the moon was released on the figure as the cloud moved away.
He wore a dark grey army uniform, grey army boots, and grey gloves.
The teenager had shoulder length hair, which curled slightly, and deep dark brown eyes,
much like Hoods.
"Nice to see you again, Michael." He said, staring at the warrior and the former Eternal.
"Who are you?" Hood demanded, not trusting the figure.
"It's been a long time hasn't it? I suppose you wouldn't remember someone you killed
so long ago, when you were eleven." There was a long grin on his face as he spoke,
as if he knew something that Hood didn't. And he did.
Hood thought about it. When he was eleven, he was in the Moondust squad.
'This guy must have been someone I hurt in the battlefield' he thought. 'Must be out
for vengeance... but why does he look so formiliar?'
"I've never seen you before." Hood said trying to match the face with the memory.
"It was a long time ago, but I don't really like it when someone from my own squad tries
to kill me. What you do not seem to realise, is that anyone working for Pandorax,
never truelly dies. They just get giving another chance."
What was this guy doing? He knew of Pandorax... probably also of Moondust...
'His squad?' The it dawned upon him who this man was.
"You are Alpha... the first Alpha."
"Yes, Alpha 1. And you are Beta 1, but when you removed me from the squad, you
were promoted to Alpha... but Dr. Light didn't want one of his creations to be wasted.
He kept me in stasis, healing me. Shame he died. But now I'm working for someone else,
who wants you out of the way."
"The Council."
"Exactely. The highest level of command in Pandorax, and several other companies.
But trust me. I'm not just doing this for them... I'm doing it for myself."
He was amazed at who this was. If you accepted the fact that they were created
from the same DNA patterns, you could say honestly that they were brothers.
It caught him off guard when Alpha reached behind him and revealed a sword.
It was a dark red sword. Made from the same metal as his, adamantium.
Karen moved away from what she could was going to be one of the worst battles she
had seen in millenia. Now was the time that she was regretting that she had no
powers and couldn't turn Alpha in to a heap of dust.
Within seconds they lunged at each other, swords equal in strength striking each other.
Sparks flew each time the Adamantium weapons struck.
Each time, both there strengths matching each other.
It was no use. Alpha and Hood were equally strong when it came to sword fighting,
and the battle would have gone on forever if they hadn't realised this themselves.
"There's no point in using swords is there, Beta?" Alpha said, backing down from
his opponent.
"You're right. What do you suggest?" Hood knew fully well that he could have used
his powers as a Shadow Warrior at any time, but he needed to know if Alpha
had them as well. After all, he had been in stasis for all these years, his powers
wouldn't have had a chance to develop.
"I know about our origin. And the powers we posses... let our true powers decide
the fate of this battle shall we?"
He was right... Alpha did have the same powers. And knowing Pandorax, they
would be as powerfull as his own.
This battle, would last for a long time...
Taken Away
All kinds of colors illuminated the sky, but no one could see who was letting the
fireworks off.
Though, if you got closer to the hill, you could see that they were not the fancy pyro
technics that they were made out to be.
Instead, they were energy balls.
Pure energy balls being thrown through the air.
If they didn't hit their target, they just flew through the air untill they dissapeared.
The two at conflict were warriors of the night.
Hood and Alpha were equally matched when it came to sword fighting, both
possesing the same swords, speed and accuracy to fight with.
So knowing each others powers, they began the conflict a new, using their powers
as true Shadow Warriors.
"You know... Beta... You'll never be more... than second to me." Alpha shouted
as he dodged the balls of pure energy threw one back.
Hood quickly avoided the ball and retaliated with one of his own.
"I'm not going to let you win." Hood shouted and threw an even faster ball of
pure light. It headed towards Alpha with unbelievable speed, but he was faster.
Quickly he jumped and kicked the ball back towards Hood.
The force at which it hit Hood blew him a few feet away on to the ground.
He clenched his chest in pain as he stood up, and quickly retaliated.
As the two warriors fought, Karen stood closer to them than she wanted.
But she couldn't help it. She had to be there, by Hoods side.
She always tried to be.
through his study. The falcon quickly followed, softly landing on the sorcerers shoulder.
Manaja picked up a wooden staff from behind a book case.
It was made of dark oak, and had a dark green orb at the top, held on by the oak that
seemed to have grown around it.
This was his staff, although it had been handed down from generation to generation.
It was at least a couple of thousands of years old, and had seen countless owners.
Manaja knew exactely where he had to be.
Not too close to the battle, far enough not to be noticed, but close enough to see the
events unfolding.
He turned to his falcon, Merlin. "This night will be darker than the night sky, Merlin...
it will cause much grief."
Manaja stared in front of himself, and held the staff in his right hand.
Slowly, the green orb began to glow, a trail of mist beginning to leave it and surround
the sorcerer. The thick mist completly covered him and the bird.
There were a couple of quick flashes of green light before the mist began to dissapear.
As it did, there was no sign of Manaja or Merlin.
ball of energy.
"No! Karen, go! I don't want you to get hurt!" A blast of light sped past him in to
the gloomy night sky. The battle between Alpha and Hood continued.
"Please!" It was hard to hear anything over the sounds that surrounded them.
Alpha saw his chance as Hood became distracted by Karen.
This was the moment he had been waiting for since the beginning of the battle.
With the speed of a tiger, he formed a small energy ball, which he threw
straight at his opponent.
Hood suddenly felt an immense pain in his side has he fell to the ground, gripping
the wound with his hand. Blood slowly dripped from it.
"Michael!" Karen gasped as she quickly ran towards him without hesitation.
He was hurt, she had to help him.
But Alpha had other plans, as he began to form another ball of energy in the palm
of his hands. The light quickly gathered as he aimed it towards the wounded warrior.
"Karen... leave... now!" Hood gasped for air as he held his wound tight.
"No. I can't Michael." She embraced him tightly, trying to make him beter, trying
to heal his wounds. But it was no use.
She was no longer an Eternal. The powers she once had, had noe gone forever.
A grin appeared on Alphas face as he held the ball of light in his hands.
"Say goodnight warrior!" He shouted, before releasing the destructive ball.
The moments that passed seemed pass Hood in slow motion.
Karen quickly stood up, leaving him behind, and stood before the warrior.
She stood with her arms out, seeing the light heading towards her.
He watched in agony as the ball of pure energy hit her chest.
'No, this isn't meant to be happening. She can't be hurt' His thoughts blurred
as she fell to the ground. At the time, it seemed to be so slow, and now it
all passed him with such speed.
He felt the anger and rage build up within him.
But he couldn't do anything about it.
Karen lay in front of him. Alive, hurt but alive.
He stumbled to his feet, and raised his arm towards Alpha, preparing to throw
another ball of energy. But he couldn't. He was to tired.
Suddenly, a green beam passed him, heading straight towards his enemy.
It began to surround Alpha.
Slowly the light began to dissapear, Alpha along with it.
Without realising it he turned around and saw the source of the green light.
A young man in a dark brown and green robe stood a few meters away.
He hesitated a moment, as he had experience with people who wore robes
like those. They usually turned out be a demented priest of a doomed religion,
or demons who tried to kill him.
But he waited, and stared at the stranger. A voice entered his mind.
Hood didn't know from where, as he didn't hear it actually through his ears,
it was just another voice in his mind, besides his own.
"She's dieing." It spoke.
In a cloud of mist, the young man he had been staring at dissapeared in to the night.
Hood awoke from the trance and quickly headed towards Karen.
She lay on the ground, her clothes and skin scorn from the ball of energy.
He held her in his arms, and looked at her face, covered in her own blood.
"Karen... I'm sorry... I.. I.." He didn't know what to say.
But she smiled at him, her eyes gazing in to his own.
"It hurts... I'm dieing, but it's alright... I'm only mortal." There was something in
her voice that mystified him. Even as she lay there, in his arms, dieing, her voice
was reassuring.
"Don't say that. I should never have brought you here. This is my fault!"
He felt the anger at himself boil within him.
"No. It's no ones fault, especially not yours... Michael, you have given me something
that I had never felt before in the millenia I have spent here... you have given
me hope, courage... love."
"Karen, I'll..."
"No, let me finish. It's alright... I'm staying here, just not in the same way..."
Slowly, she pressed her hand against his chest.
"What are you doing?" Hood asked, as he stared at her.
"I want to give you the last of my life force... I hope... it will make you whole."
"No, Karen. You're going to make it..."
But there was no point, no chance, he knew it.
Deep within himself he knew that she wouldn't even make it through the next hour,
but he had to something.
"Just remember Michael, I will always... be with you... by your side. I love you."
"Karen... I... I." He couldn't think of anything to say, it was all to hard. "I will always
love you. I'll never forget you."
He leaned in closer, kissing her lips gently.
As they held each other, small beads of blue light began to surround them.
First a few, then a couple of dozen, then those turned in to thousands.
All of them, coming from Karens body.
And slowly, he felt her dissapeared, as the blue lights entered his own body.
Healing the wounds as the entered the skin.
He felt his hands empty, where he held Karen.
Now there was nothing left but a memory of her. More than a memory, but less
than reality.
And as Hood stood up, the last of the beads of blue light entered his body,
the last of Karens life force.
He turned towards a soft orange glow at the horizon.
The sun was rising behind the hills.
It had been a long night.
He stared at the light, as he stood in the still darkened part of the hills.
It was then that his eyes began to glow red.
They merely flashed as his body had become fully healed, but he had become more
that night.
'I'm sorry Karen' the thoughts lingered through his mind as he began to walk down
the hill side.
'I'm so sorry.'
The Truth Dawns
He didn't do anything wrong, it was just the way he walked down the streets.
His fists clenched tightly, his walk as steady as a locomotive.
Pity fall upon the soul who stood in his way.
But most of all, it was his face.
Even hidden beneath the rim of his cowboy hat, and the black sunglasses, they
could see the anger on it. But what they saw as well, something that put fear in their
hearts, was the soft red glow coming from behind his eyes.
where each building was, where everyone was.
He felt the new memories surge through his mind.
She had given them to him. All of her memories. Each good and bad.
But he only needed one. The name of a young man.
He was a young sorcerer, and lived somewhere in Rome.
Karen had been to him before, they were friends, he had stumbled upon the Eternal
Realm. And as he did not cause any threat to them without revealing his own
secrets, the Elders of Cronos allowed him to live.
Hood stood before an old Library.
Not just old from the virus, but centuries old.
He banged with his fists on the huge wooden doors. Hood heard the echoes thunder
through the building.
He heard nothing more.
"Manaja! Open up, now!" He shouted. His voice was deeper and darker than usuall.
Even more so than when he was angry, as he was beyond angry, beyond furious.
Footsteps echoed towards the door, and several bolts were lifted.
The door softly creaked open, revealing a girl. She was about 16, with dark black hair
dressed in black clothes.
"And you are?" She asked with an Italian accent.
Hood simply ignored the Gothic girl and pushed the door open even further.
"Hey, come back here!" She shouted as he continued walking.
"Where is he? Where is Manaja?" He finally asked the girl, but he kept his gaze
going through the building.
"I am Manaja." She said. Hood paused for a moment and turned to the girl.
A grin appeared on his face. A grin that was combined with sarcasm and anger, but still a grin.
"You are definitely not Manaja. Now tell me where the sorcerer is."
Finally, realising that the secret was blown, she turned towards an aisle of bookcases,
and shouted something in Italian. A voice in the same language echoed back.
"You can go. He's been waiting for you." The girl let Hood pass, and he continued
his steady walk through the aisles of bookcases to where he heard the voice come from.
Within moments he had entered a small study, a bit more dusty than the rest of the library.
There was a falcon sitting on its perch on a desk on the otherside of the room, it seemed to be
reading a book.
A young man in a green robe entered from another door.
"I see it did not take long for you to find me." Manaja smiled as he read a book, not
even looking at the warrior. These was a terrible mistake.
Hood pushed the sorcerer against the wall, his arm leaning heavily against Manajas throat.
"You knew didn't you? And you knew it was going to be her. You knew, and you didn't
even warn her." Hoods face was inches away from Manajas, his eyes piercing through his
shades and staring at the sorcerer.
He simply stared back and then blinked.
Within an instant Manaja had dissapeared in a flash of light, and then reappeared on the
opposite side of the room.
"Don't play with me sorcerer!" His mood was definitely not improving.
"I warned you the morning before, did I not? I was not to know it would be the Eternal.
I believed she was still an immortal." Manaja was going for the negotiate tactic first.
"You knew bloody well that it wasn't going to be that was going to die last night, nor Alpha.
The only other person there was Karen." Hood was edging closer to the robed teenager.
Manaja noticed this and was preparing a small spell in the back of his mind.
"How do you know it wasn't going to be you?" He asked, trying to keep the conversation
flowing, preventing any unneccersary violence.
"Because I know for a fact, that Death will not give me the satisfaction of dying. It will never
give me that satisfaction of joining Karen. And do you know why? Do you know why, that
every relationship has ended up in tragedy? Because I am cursed. I don't know when or how
it happened, I just am."
"A simple spell would be able to lift of this curse." Manaja was seriously getting nervous now,
seeing the tension grow within the warrior before him.
"Not this curse. Because it is a curse of the soul. No matter what life I live, it will be there.
I have only once experienced true love, true happiness, and that curse took it away from me."
"Then what do you want from me?"
"When Karen died, she passed on all of her memories to me, every one of them. Apparently
she knew you, and you knew her. You are the most powerfull in this part of the world when it
comes to sorcerery and the powers of the universe, and I know you can aid me."
He felt the tension in Hoods body relax slightly. He also felt less nervous now.
There was a sudden screach from Merlin, who had been reading all the time that the two
teenagers had been talking.
Manaja saw his oppertunity and quickly walked to the falcon.
"He has found it."
"Found what?" Hood noticed how weird it was asking a bird what it had found reading in a book.
But he had seen weirder things, he was an alien after all.
"The location of the evil of the mountains." The sorcerer explained, but by
look on Hoods face he knew he had not fully explained it all. "It was in the foretelling.
The evil of the mountains is where your foe resides. That is where you can find him."
"Alpha... where is he?"
"In the mountain of Gran Sasso."
"Good, that's where I am going then." With those words Hood headed out of the study.
But Manaja called something after him.
"Hood, there is one more thing. It is not your foe who is the Evil, it is something else, within
the mountain."
"Good!" Hood shouted on his way through the aisles of the bookcases. "I'll destroy that
as well since I'm on a roll."
through the valleys.
But as he walked over the roads, he knew he was being watched.
He did not know from where, or by whom, but he knew it. He felt it.
He also felt something within him. That he felt stronger, that he was stronger.
It was hard to tell if it was the rage within him, which he had never felt before like this, or if
it was the healing powers of Karens life force...
'Karen... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you. I broke that promise... I am so sorry'
Those thoughts kept running through his mind. He couldn't help but blame himself.
He knew fully well that there was going to be a battle that night, but even if they hadn't gone
out to the hills, Alpha would probably have found him any way.
Well it was his turn now.
Now the hunter... becomes the hunted.
The Wrath of the Shadows
Turtle, the greenskinned cyborg, tended to his injuries from the warriors battle with Hood.
It was obvious, by his facial expression that he was not pleased at all with the outcome.
That strange green light had surrounded his entire body, and transported him
to a hill a couple of miles away. He did not see where the beam of light came from.
Though there was something strange about it. It was surely not a result of technology.
Not even Pandorax had created transporter technology yet.
"So why did you not go after him again?" Turtle asked, as he used a strange device
on Alphas skin. The flesh that had been torn was slowly healing with the help of the
soft red glow coming from the device.
"I killed his girlfriend. She was not meant to be there. I have enough respect for him to
give him time to grieve. I'm not as cold hearted as I sometimes seem to be."
Turtle moved to another part of Alphas body, after finishing healing the previous part.
"Anyway, I now fully well that he will came after me sooner or later."
"Does he know you're working for the Council now?" The greenskinned boy asked.
"Yes, though I have to admit, he has changed since Moondust. He will definitely be
worthy opponent in the future." Turtle seemed slightly surprised.
"In the future? You mean, you're not going to kill him?" He paused for a moment.
"Kill him? No, I don't think so. He is my brother after all. He might have killed me when
we were eleven, but we worth both under the influence of Pandorax at the time,
drugged as up so that we couldn't think clearly. Now however, I am my own man."
There was a long smile on his face as he thought about what he was doing.
"You have no intention of doing any other mission for The Council do you?"
Turtle asked, though this was the wrong kind of question to ask, which made Alpha
very suspicious.
"No. And before you even think of telling them about this, consider the fact that I am
able of vapourizing every cell in your body without giving it a second thought."
"No sir! It was Pandorax who changed me from my lovely greenskinned self in to this."
Turtle held up his mechanical arm as example. But it was not only his arms and legs
that had been replaced, part of his brain was replaced as well, by an even faster
computer.
"Good. Anyway, the only reason why I attacked him last night was to let of some steam.
I've been in stasis for nearly seven years. Gives a lot of time to think for yourself.
I'm just going to play with Beta for a while. It's as they say, keep your friends close,
but keep your enemies closer."
in the region. It would make sense to have a Pandorax complex here.
Rarely visited, excellent place to keep an eye on things.
He stood at the foot of the mountain. The pathway he had been following had come to
an abrupt stop thanks to a very large rock.
It was quite obvious that this was going to be the best and only way in.
Hood wasn't planning on making this a quiet entrance in to the mountain. He knew
that Alpha would be waiting for him inside.
He took a couple of steps backwards and then raised his arm, throwing a small energy
ball in to the large rock.
Within moments it fractured and shattered in to thousands of pieces.
As the dust cleared up, it revealed a steel door, that had also been destroyed by the
energy ball.
He walked through the still smuldering steel and entered a long hallway, that seemed to
go up in to the mountain. Small red lights lined the ceiling as it sloped upwards.
It was not long before he stood before a steel door, a control panel beside of it.
On the door 'Fitness and Training' was printed.
Hood clenched his fist and smashed the control panel, short circuiting the locks,
allowing him to slide the doors open.
The inside of the fitness room was a large cave that was within the mountain.
There was fitness equipment everywhere, a wrestling ring, punching bags, and a
stand with a large assortment of weapons. At one end of the cave was a large pit,
which bottom lays several hundred meters lower.
With caution he walked to the center of the cave. He knew that Alpha was here.
He could feel it.
"Welcome brother." A voice suddenly boomed from all around the room.
"You took your time, I must admit." Hood saw that the voice came from several speakers
planted around the cave wall.
"Are you going to hide, Alpha? Or will you face me?" The warrior shouted at the thin
air. He didn't know exactely where Alpha was, but a pretty good guess would be that he
would appear soon.
"If it's any help, I didn't mean to kill her. She got in the way." A much quieter voice spoke.
Hood turned to where it originated from. Alpha stood on the other side of the cave.
He was smiling, though he was being truthfull.
The warrior stared at his brother, hoping that perhaps his gaze would hurt him alone.
There he stood. Smiling, though he knew that his resurrected brother was telling the truth.
But it didn't matter. He had killed Karen. And he couldn't let him get away with it.
"I promise, you will never hurt anyone again.... ever!" With the speed of lightning Hood
had taken out his sword out of its sheath, holding it battle-ready.
"So be it brother!" Alpha took out his own sword, and prepared for Hood to attack.
And so he did, clenching his grip tight around his sword, running towards Alpha.
Their swords clashed, attacking and defending their users.
With each strike, Hood began to feel stronger. On the inside of his shades, he noticed
that his health bar was increasing over one hundred precent.
It had become easier to increase his power, with every battle, with every fight he became
stronger. And it became easier each time to use the powers he had inherited from the
Shadow Warriors, the alien species from which he had been created.
Now... now he felt it. He had become a complete Shadow Warrior. All the human cells
that had once been used for the missing DNA strains from the alien remains had dissapeared,
and now only the Shadow cells remained.
He had become one of them.
Suddenly, without the knowledge, he struck Alpha's sword, and made him lose a grip on it.
A few meters away it clattered on to the ground, the sound echoing throughout the cave.
With a single kick, Hood threw Alpha towards the edge of the cave, closer to the pit.
He fell on his back, and before he realised it, Hood stood above him, holding his sword.
Hood held it just above his chest.
The warriors eyes gleamed red, shinning throuhg the black sunglasses.
A red glow surrounded his hands, slowly flowing on to his sword. The red glow emitted
a deadly heat as it covered the entire of the sword, slowly edging closer towards Alphas
chest.
"You... you have become stronger. You have become... whole." He softly spoke.
Hoods red eyes shined brighter, preparing to finish the man that had killed her.
Karen... it was him that killed her. No longer shall he kill any one. Never more.
"Come on, Michael. If you are going to kill me, make it quick. You can at least give me that
as final wish." Alpha stared straight up towards him, past the black shades and in to those
raging eyes, so full of hate and anger.
"It's true though. I never wanted to hurt her. She was never even meant to be there. And if
you truelly wanted to know, I was never going to truelly kill you."
Hood couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that remark.
"You honestly think I will believe that? I can remember everything from Moondust, and I
know what you were like."
"Exactely, I was hatefull, torcherous, vengefull, dangerous, but if you remember, I never lied.
Ever."
He paused for a moment, going over his memories. It was true. Alpha had been mean and
diabolic, but never did he lie, at most he he spoke in riddles.
It was then that he felt something, something within himself. It was a sensation he had never
felt before, as if there was a new part of him within his own body.
The sensation grew, and he felt it beginning to enter his mind.
His thoughts were then intruded by a voice. Not just any voice.... her voice.
'Don't kill him...' It was Karen.
But how could it be her. She was dead. Wasn't she?
'Is it really you?' He asked in his own mind.
'Yes. I'm part of you Michael. But please do not kill him. He is your brother, and he never did
mean to even hurt me. It was my mistake.'
'No! Don't ever say that, Karen.'
'Shhh, it's alright. Listen... he needs you. Alpha has as much pain as you, and needs you.
As do you need him.'
Slowly, the voice dissapeared. He could feel her though, not gone, simple dormant within him.
"Well? Michael, you could at least let me die with some dignity. I am your brother."
Alpha was getting nervous of the waiting, it was the one thing he hated most of all.
But then he looked at Hoods sword, which was first glowing red, and become its normal
red colored adamantium steel.
Then, he moved the sword away from Alphas chest, and returned it to its sheath on his back.
Hood began to walk away from Alpha, who was still laying down, staring at Hood move away.
"Michael. Why didn't you....." He stopped as he realised what had just happened.
Hood couldn't kill him, as Alpha could not kill him when they were on the hill.
Though now the warrior stood at a computer terminal, leaning on his arms with his eyes closed,
thinking of what next to do.
Thinking of who was all truelly to blame.
The Final attack begins.
It had been them all the time. They were the ones that had caused all of this.
They had created him, trained him, then sent one creation after the other to try to stop him.
But with each creation they had sent against him, he had become stronger.
The Guardian, Dr. Zachary, Griffin and now Alpha, had added in his growth of becoming
a full Shadow Warrior.
He stood at the computer terminal, coming to a final conclusion.
There was no other choice, and he did need the one that had just tried to hurt him.
Alpha stood on the other side of the cave, rapping a bandage around on the cuts where
Hood had struck him. There was a deafening silence occupying the two warriors.
As far as Alpha was concerned, it was the only thing keeping Hood from attacking again.
It was there fore that he was surprised to here the next words come from him.
"Alpha... you know as well as I do... that we need each other." He said, still staring at the
air before him. Alpha gave a puzzled look.
"What do you mean?" He said, finishing rapping the bandage around his wound.
"The council will soon know that you never intended to kill me, and then they will begin
hunting you down as they have tried to do so with me." Hood moved away from the terminal
and faced his brother. There was a moment between the two, where their gazes at each other
spoke enough to know that they were to become allies.
"I suppose you want to take on the Council now do you?" Alpha said, with a slight expression
on his face as to say 'you must be crazy'.
"They've hurt too many people, not just us and Moondust, but everyone else in Tribeworld.
Too many friends of mine have been hurt by them. It's time that it was stopped."
"You do know they'll be in a fortress surrounded by an immense security force, in the most
hard to find place in the world, backed up by an army of cyberneticly enhanced humans and
every other mutant and creation of theirs. And there's just us two to get through all of that."
Alpha was right. He knew everything about Pandorax, and he knew how hard of a task it would
be just to get through the army.
"I know. That's where you come in to play. You know every security system, every being created
by Pandorax and the exact location of the council. And they don't know yet what we're planning."
Alpha now saw the plan behind what Hood was saying.
"I didn't know you trusted me that much." Alpha was surprised at Hoods attitude towards him.
"I don't. It's just that you're my only way to the council." He said with a grin.
"Good, because I don't trust you." Alpha held up his hand towards Hood.
"Wouldn't want it any other way." Hood grabbed Alphas hand, and gave a firm grip.
Now they would have to rely on each other, to survive.
The young falcon made a screech that sounded like a question. The sorcerer had gotten used
to Marlons high intelligence, and had found that they could communicate quite well.
"Yes, the warrior.... and his brother." He said with a surprised tone of voice.
Manaja had not expected that Alpha would be joining in the battle, for what had been describe
the Black Day.
"Come, we as well have an important roll to play." He walked over to where he had left his staff.
He prepared to transport himself to the scene, but the hesitated.
"Best not. We will need all of our energy." Manaja quickly rapped his cape around himself and
walked down the long corridors of bookcases of the ancient Italian library, a falcon following him
above the aisles of endles shelves of old and mystical books.
Two figures walked through the fields, where young farmers learnt the trades of their parents.
As they worked in the fields, bringing in their crops, they saw the two shadowy men head
towards the dormant volcano known as Vesuvius.
Though what these young farmers did not know, was that these two mysterious men had been
travelling for days, and certainely had idea to what their mission was.
The worries of what these men were going to do dissapeared as they vanished from the young
farmers sights.
Along the table, sat twelve men, twelve adults, their faces hidden by the shadows as the lamps
only highlighted their chins and cheeks.
A door opened and a figure in an army suit headed towards the head of the table, where a thirteenth
man sat, awaiting what this interruption could mean.
"Sir. It seems that Alpha is returning, and is accompenied by another, we believe it to be Beta."
The generals said, warning his superior, known only as the Director of Pandorax.
"So it appears that Alpha has join forces with his brother." The Director said as he lit a cigar.
"Take your army with you and make sure that they never get here. Nor Alpha nor Beta may ever
reach the Council room."
The general headed back towards the door, but was stopped by the Directors voice.
"And if they should enter Vesuvius, I will take great pleasure in arranging your execution."
A shudder flowed through the generals spine has he dissapeared through them doorway.
It was not long before several of the rocks at the foot hold of the dormant volcano part from
each other, and revealed a steel door. The sound of hydraulics echoed as the steel door
slid upwards.
Behind it, stood an army of warriors, glimmering with steel and weapons.
Each one of the warriors, outfitted with guns and armor, if not cyberneticly enhanced bodies.
As the first wave of about thirty warriors moved away from the entrance, three huge machines
walked behind them. About twenty feet high, the four legged vehicles seemed to have the appearance
of mechanical bulldogs minus the tail. On each of their backs a plasma cannon had been mounted.
On one of the Bulldog tanks sat general Tusks, leading his army towards the enemies of Pandorax.
He understood fully well why the Council wanted his entire division to advance upon the two
warriors, he had been fully briefed on their powers.
Even in the security of all of is enhanced soldiers and his Bulldog tanks he still had the feeling that
they were underestimating the powers of Alpha and Hood.
Hood pressed a button on the side of his shades. They zoomed in two miles.
"They're coming." He said, not even looking at his brother. "Thirty odd soldiers, and I think
three Bulldog Tanks."
"You'd think they were worried." Alpha smiled putting his hand above his eyes, to block out the
suns bright glare on him.
"You'd think." Hood smiled, and removed his sword from its sheath on his back.
"Let the war begin."
The Shadow Warriors Attack
Lasers and guns were shot all around, the sounds of swords cutting through armor following.
Dirt was thrown up, as Hood and Alpha made their way through the army of Pandorax soldiers.
"Dam Bulldogs! Alpha take that one out would ya?" Hood shouted over the sounds of war and cutting through one of the soldiers armor with his sword, and deep in to its body.
"Hey I don't take orders from you! I'm your big brother!" Alpha shouted back, taking
out one of the soldiers trying to attack him. The soldier fell to the ground quickly, a pool of blood
beginning to surround him.
"You rather have a rain of shells?" Hood was distracted now, and was hit by a soldier.
The soldier received a energy ball through his chest, blasting straight through his body.
"Dam brother." Alpha reluctantly made his way towards the Bulldog Tank and began climbing one of its
legs, up to the cock pit. He kicked through the hatch and knocked out one of the driver at the same time.
He then grabbed a hold of the other and sent the driver through the front window. As the Bulldog
Tank moved forward, there was the sound of bones and vital organs being crushed.
Hood noticed that the two other Bulldog tanks were making their way towards the one Alpha was still in.
Both were charging up their cannons, ready to fire.
"Alpha! Get the hell out of there!" The warrior shouted to his brother, taking control of the tank.
Alpha saw one of the tanks walk towards him and began manouvering the tanks cannon, aiming it
at the one coming towards him. With a large bang the cannon released the green plasma ball, which
flew with tremendous speed towards the Bulldog tank.
Before the soldiers of Pandorax knew it, the tank exploded in to countless pieces, spreading around the
battlefield.
"Haha!" Alpha shouted in exstacy as he began shooting more of the plasma balls around the battlefield.
Here and there Pandorax soldiers were blown away from the explosions as each of the balls hit the
ground, leaving a sindering crater in its place. "Never mess with Moondust! Never!"
The cannon began to glow with heat as the temperature began to rise. It was overheating.
The third Bulldog Tank had escaped Alpha's eye, and Hoods as he had been to pre occupied with the
ground soldiers of Pandorax. It had come along side of Alphas tank.
Slowly the two walker tanks moved alongside, when suddenly the two drivers jumped out of the cockpit,
running like their lives depended on it. They did.
Hood suddenly noticed the fleeing soldiers and knew immediately that something was wrong.
The warrior then noticed that the tank beside of Alpha was on auto pilot, and alpha was still having
to much fun with the plasma cannon to notice the danger beside of him.
It was then that he saw the red light swirling around on the top of the enemy tank. The cannon itself
was loading ready for another blast, though it was lowering itself in to the tanks body.
'It's going to selfdestruct.' He thought. The enemy soldiers had long by now dissapeared.
Alpha paused for a moment, staring at his brother back on the ground.
"Alpha! Get out of there now!" He could hear him shouting. Then he saw the tank beside of his own.
The swirling lights, flashing on and off. He made a move towards the window, about to jump out
but it was too late.
A huge green explosion covered the battlefield. Nearly everything was destroyed.
The sound was deafening, and could probably have been heard on the other side of Europe.
It was ages before the green mist began to clear up. Now could be seen what the self destruct of
the Bulldog tank was actually capable of, as there was pieces of tanks everywhere.
Both Pandorax and the one that Alpha had hijacked.
From under a sheet of metal there was a long moan, before it was pushed aside.
Hood put his hand to his head, trying to get rid of the ringing noise in his head.
He softly swore to himself as he got up and dusted himself off. He then looked around.
It had become eeriely quiet all around the former battlefield.
Hood suddenly knew that something had happened to his brother, Alpha.
"Alpha! Alpha!" He shouted, in search of him. It was hard to find anything beneath the scraps of metal
debri left from the tanks. "Where the hell are you!"
It was then that he heard a soft moan come from somewhere ahead of him.
Quickly he turned his sunglasses on, scanning beneath metal debri for a life sign.
He found one. Faint. Exremely faint.
"Alpha!" He shouted as he ran towards where he found the life sign.
The warrior lifted several pieces of left over tank, before he found his brother.
He looked bad. Alpha was covered in blood and dirt. In the center of his chest a long shard of steel
stook out, going straight through his back.
"Hey little bro." Alpha joked slightly, he tried to laugh, but instead he coughed up some blood.
"Alpha. Come on, gimme your hand." Hood didn't wait and grabbed his brothers hand, but
he motioned not too. "Come on. My nano bots can patch you up."
Alpha shook his head. "No. It's too late."
"What do you mean? It's nothing but a scratch." He tried again to pull his brother off the shard of steel,
but was rejected once more.
"You try that again and I will kill you." Hood could tell he was laughing, inside. "No. It its too late.
I... want to stay dead this time." There was something in his voice that Hood did not like,
though he respected it. He knew what Alpha was wanting to do.
"The Council or someone might try to resurrect you again." He said, noticing the fear slowly flowing
in to his brothers eyes.
"That's why I want you to do it." There was a long pause, though Hood knew fully well what
Alpha meant by it. "Make sure that there's nothing left of me to resurrect."
Again a long pause, as Hood tried to prolong the death. "Are you sure?"
"Yes."
Hood stood up and walked away a couple of steps, then turned back to his brother, and raised is arm.
"And Michael. I'll say hello to Karen. I'm sorry, but I'm proud I have you as a brother."
"Thank you." Hood said, and opened his hand. His eyes flashed red.
A ball of red energy began to glow in his hand. Slowly it grew to the size of a basketball.
"Do it." Said Alpha, as he saw the hesitation behind Hoods sunglasses and in his eyes.
He waited longer, the ball of energy becoming larger.
"Do it!" Alpha shouted now.
"Now!" He let go of the ball.
It was what he wanted. A warriors death, on the battlefield.
When he was in Moondust, he had told the rest of the squad how he wanted to die, and that the
Valkyrie would come down in winger chariots, singing, and take him to eternal bliss in the heavens.
Hood wasn't that religous, but respected his brothers beliefs.
It was what he wanted.
A Storm To Remember
This was where it had all begun. He had read the files.
From a time long ago, and no one truelly knew how long Pandorax had been around, the center
of all their operations, or of the Councils operations had been from here.
He had such an urge to enter the fortres beneath the volcano, and slay anyone or anything that
got in his way, and kill every last one of the council with his own hands.
But no.
He knew he could not do that. Hood knew that one way or another they would come back.
Perhaps, medical nano bots would come and rebuild the members of the Council, or a stasis
tube warehouse would suddenly activate and take over control.
No.
This would have to be it. The destruction of the Council would not have to be them, but the
entire base of the Pandorax nervous system, from where every other Pandorax installition got
its orders.
Leaving the batllefield where so many had died, including his brother, the warrior known as
Hood began to walk up the path that lead up the volcano.
So many things went through his mind, things that weren't even his.
And he knew that they weren't Karens memories either. These thoughts had been there in his
mind before Karen had passed on hers to Hoods mind.
They were old. Millenia old.
Slowly it dawned upon him that he had become a full blooded Shadow Warrior, and had gained
the most powerfull powers that they had, or as far as he knew.
As he walked up the volcano, he activated the nano bot watch he wore. Millions if tiny
robots began to cover his body, and once they stood still a small humming noise could be heard.
The stealth function of the nano bots was acting perfectly.
He was half way up the volcano now.
These thoughts, he had inherited them. But from whom? He was geneticly created.
His genes were ressurected from the cells of the Shadow Warriors remains.
That was it.
Ajax. Karen had told him about the leader of the Shadow Warriors group.
Hood was certain now. These thoughts were Ajax', they had been passed on through the DNA.
He reached the top of the volcano now.
He stood on the rim of a crater that lay in the center of the sleeping volcano.
In the center, was a large rock, centuries old and had been there since the last eruption.
The rock was higher that the rim.
Again, Hood activated the nano bots, and used their anti gravity technology.
Gently he floated up to the rock.
He didn't know what he was doing. It was like some one else was controlling him.
He could just go with the flow, and do what his body was being told to do.
that Hood was on the volcano.
Marlon flew high above Manaja, circling him.
"Good luck, warrior." He softly said, and held his staff up high.
He began chanting words in an un known language. The crystal ball on the staff
began to glow green, then red, the finally a misty grey. It seemed to be swirling.
The wind picked up suddenly from a breeze to a heavy gust.
Above the volcano, grey clouds began to form.
A rumbling sound echoed across the sky as the clouds began to twist and turned around
the volcano, as did the wind in the same direction.
above them, as they sat in the Council room.
The cigar smoking man known as the Director didn't say a word.
There was only the soft red glow of his cigar.
He knew it was coming. Only he was hoping it was going to be a bluff.
There was a flash of lightning, as it spread through the clouds.
The swirling motion of the clouds increased and so did the wind.
Hood felt the wind pull on his longcoat.
As it did, he reached his arm to his sword, and pulled it out of its sheath on his back.
The ice cool sound being made as it left the encasement of the sheath.
He took a hold of his sword with both hands and raised it to the air above, the
sharp end aiming upwards in to the sky.
In China, Tai-San sat in her old home, together with Lex, Spike and Ebony.
She saw a lightning bolt fly across the sky in the same direction of the wind.
"What was that?" Spike asked, as he heard the rumbling noise moments later.
"Never seen anything like it before." Lex said, proving his amazing collection of
fantastic moments was nothing compared to this.
"Hood... I think." Tai-San softly whispered, looking out of the window and at
the storm passing over her home.
The wind was heavy as it blew heavily wastelands of north New Zealand.
Piece of junk flew with it.
Kat, leader of the Hackers tribe, saw the wind pull pieces of metal of junk cars.
"This ain't any ordinairy storm." Amazon said, as she sat with the others
at the long table, eating diner.
"It'll blow over soon enough." Said Orca as she ate her turkey.
"If it doesn't rip the junkyard apart first." Kat said with a worried voice.
The Raiders tribe took a hold of anything in there fort and brought it in doors.
Jenny stood beside Chain, on the top of the fort, both watching sky.
"It's him, isn't it?" Jenny asked Chain.
He simply nodded.
The storm was pulling everything apart.
The three travellers hid beneath a bridge, jade hiding in Tigers cape.
"What the hell is that?" Jewel asked, holding on to a concrete block keeping herself
from being blown away.
Tiger smilled beneath the rim of his hat. "The end of Pandorax." He said,
then softly kissing Jade in comfort.
other Mall Rats in the cafe. Bray nodded. The storm was much like the one
Danni had died in.
"Hope the Gaians are holding out." Amber said, remembering her old tribe.
"They'll get through it." Alice said. "We all will."
Pandorax will never hurt any one again, and eventhough this might kill me,
I'm glad of it.'
It was like there was a permanent net of lightning in the sky.
The clouds still turned around the volcano.
'Nevermore. Nevermore.' He thought, as felt an incredible force take ahold of his body.
His strength must have unbelievable has he thrust his sword in to the rock of Vesuvius.
There was a sudden explosion of sound as lightnig poured down from the clouds in
a straight line down to the center of the volcano.
He felt the power enter him. the lightning feeding it. His hands burned as he held the
hilt of his sword, directing the power of the lightning.
The lightning continued to flow down the sky straight in to Hoods mortal body.
A white glow surrounded him as it continued to build up.
"It's over." The Director said, staring straight down the long black table in the
Council room. "For good."
The blinding light surrounded the sword, as it slowly enterd the rocked.
Cracks began to form as it entered the volcano. The cracks extended over the floor
of the volcano crater, and ran down the sides of it.
A sudden burst of power flowed down the stream of lightning in to Hood.
He let out the loudest roar of pain as it flowed through him and in to the volcano.
The burst of light broke through the ceiling of the council room, and fell directely
in to the Directors own body.
Screams of pain and destruction filled the council room, as the lightning connected through
the executives around the Council table, filling there bodies to the brink, before
destroying them.
The cracks on the volcano grew larger, as the burst of light flowed in to the volcano.
"THIS FINISHES NOW!" Hood shouted as an even larger burst of energy flowed in to his
body, directely in to the volcano.
But this one went deeper, much deeper, in to the bowls of the earth, re awaking its thirst
to grow above the surface of the earth.
The earth quaked as the volcano known as Vesuvius was awakened from its sleepy state,
by the destructing force of lightning from the sky.
Hood stood in the center of the volcano, feeling his body loose its strength, but still held
on to his sword, glowing red with the power flowing through the elements it was made of.
Red liquid spewed from the cracks in the crater of the volcano, exploding upwards,
surrounding Hood in a wall of red hot lava.
The wall of lava fell back down in to the crater, but no sooner had the first chunks of liquid
rock fallen than the second explosion of lava burst out of the crater.
Now thought, the earth quake even harder than it already did.
From the sky the last and most devasting bursts of light fell down through the stream of
lightning in to Hoods body.
And explosion of light sweeped through the sky, flowing miles away from Vesuvius.
That was the day.
That was the day that it all ended, the pain, the horror, the agony. The nightmare of Pandorax
ended for good.
For ever
Chapter 119
Silence
way through the mountains of Tibet.
He wore a long dark cape, ripped with age, his face was consealed by the capes hood.
The traveller had heard that the volcano of Vesuvius had stopped raining ashes and lava
and had created a steady flow of molten rock towards the sea.
He made his way up a pathway towards the countless steps that lead up to a monastery
in the mountains.
It was still used after the virus, by the descendants of the former monks who lived there.
They lived in harmony with the harse nature aorund them.
He had been in this part of the world and had heard of this place before.
After an hour or so, he had finally reached the top and stood before two large oak doors.
His gloved hand left his side and knocked against the doors.
Slowly the doors opened, revealing a bold monk in a yellow and red robe.
"Welcome, we have heard you wanted to join us." The young monk said.
The travellers hood knodded.
"Please, come in. We are happy to have you with us." The monk lead the traveller
in to the monastery and closed the large oak doors behind him.
Closing the doors on the past.