Disclaimer: I do not on the Power Rangers, they belong to Disney (aka the Mouse and co.) Note to everyone who reads this, this is an Alternate Universe story as you will clearly see first hand. Things will get intense as that is my plan with this story. I guess I owe the inspiration for this story to the fics that I have read in which things just get really bad, really fast. If you want to talk to me, email me at ericpaladin@hotmail.com . Now without any further ado...
Prelude to Darkness
By: David Knight
The year is 1993.
In many realities on this year, Rita Repulsa is awakened from her space dumpster and begins her attack upon the earth, forcing Zordon of Eltar to select the first five in a long line of Rangers that would follow through out time.
This is a reality in which that does not happen.
* * *
The two astronauts looked up and saw a strange object imbedded in the moon's surface. Something that they had never seen on the moon nor had any other astronauts before them. They wanted to open it up and see what was there, possibly making them famous.
Those were the last thoughts they had before they were disintegrated by a blast of pure energy.
"Gutter trash," a cold voice spoke in the nothingness of space. A figure walked over the ashes of the two humans before walking toward the prison. He put his hand over the gem and it glowed before the seal vanished. He moved a way and watched several creatures come out of the prison.
"Alright free at last! Yahoo! Now we can do some conquest!" were the joyous cries.
"Sadly, you have no future." the being spoke emotionlessly.
Two of the beings, a short blue monster and a tall blue hairy one, turned around just in time to see a hand leveled at them which let off a blast of energy which vaporized them. Another one, a golden monkey turned with an angry scowl. "Infidel! How dare you do this to the court of Rita Repulsa! Now pay for your mistakes at the hands of Goldar the Unstoppable!"
"Stop." the being spoke and suddenly Goldar the 'Unstoppable' found himself very stopped.
A short white skinned monster looking like a gnome just stood there froze, waiting to see what was going to happen when the groans of a cranky old witch came to be heard. "Oh where are you people! I need help to wake up after ten thousand years! I am going to conquer a planet and I don't care..." as all she got to say when she came out before she felt someone's hand wrapped around her throat.
"Obviously you didn't get the memo." the cold voice spoke.
The witch's eyes went wide when she heard the voice. "... it... it can't be..." she turned to look at the being in front of her. Long green hair down his back, dressed in black and dark blue clothing, but most of all, two crimson eyes staring her down. "Ah...Ahriman..."
"Yes Rita Replusa, I have been freed... and many have felt my wrath from being betrayed." Ahriman said coldly, "And you were one of those that aided Dark Specter in regaining his place as Grand Monarch. You couldn't take it that someone as young as I was able to defeat someone as old as him. You feared me and my power. Well now no one need fear Dark Specter... for I have eliminated him and taken his power. You on the other hand have only so little that I wish."
"What... do you want oh great..." Rita felt the grip tighten as Ahriman narrowed his eyes.
"Be silent traitor," Ahriman hissed as he glared at her, "What I want I take... and I take your power to add to my own." Suddenly a dark glowing aura surrounded the two figures, Rita screamed out in pain as she felt her power be stripped from her soul, being added to Ahriman's power. She knew it would be soon time for her to die. Her life would end once her magic was extinguished.
So it was a great surprise to her to find that she had at least a quarter of her once great powers left when Ahriman let her go. "What... what... is going to happen... to me now..."
That's when she saw the smile form on Ahriman's face, and then Rita became very afraid, for when Ahriman smiled, it meant no good at all. "Prepare to receive a fate worse then death... death by personality."
"What... what do you..." Rita asked but when she saw him look towards Goldar and waved his hand toward him, she knew just what he had planned. "Oh no... Darkness no! I beg you! PLEASE!!!"
"I show nothing to beggars." Ahriman said as he magically lifted Rita up into the air along with Goldar. Now both of them started to glow in a matching color. A dark pink. "But let it never be said that I can't make a punishment be the worst it can be... Exados Libiros Fusienon!"
"AHHHHHH!!!!" Rita screamed as her body was sent flying for a collision course with Goldar's... just as his was sent on one for hers. When they touched, an explosion of light occurred, one that was blinding.
It wasn't long until the light however died and a new figure landed on the ground very gracefully. Ahriman and Finster looked at the figure that had once been two beings. It was wearing Goldar's armor but it was now dark pink in color and designed for a woman, a very shapely woman that was. From the back of the helmet there was silver white hair streamed down from it and in her hands was a sword, using Goldar's colors but the blade was curved made to look like a crescent moon. Most noticeable of all was the fact that the female wearing the armor was not human, but of the flying monkey species that Goldar had been, only she was white furred, that included the tail coming out of the back of her armor and the two wings from the back. She then bowed down before Ahriman, "Kymera, Magical Swordswoman of Grakis at your service Lord Ahriman."
Ahriman walked over to Finster who had a look of shock on his face, "My... my lord... you... the art of fusion... you can to do it..."
"To anyone? No. I have only mastered the technique with those whose hearts are open to the Darkness." Ahriman said to him. "You Finster among all of this court, save from one other, are the only ones worthy of being spared from my wrath."
"Thank you Lord Ahriman."
Ahriman turned around and started to utter a simple chant. Within seconds a large boulder appeared before him. Placing his hand on the stone, it broke open in half and there had been someone inside that bolder. A woman that looked Japanese but was wearing somewhat skimpy golden armor, designed to look like a scorpion. When the woman opened her eyes and saw Ahriman, she went down on her knees and lowered her head, "L... Lord Ahriman... I..."
"Get up." He spoke and she obeyed. "If I wanted you dead Scorpina, I would have obliterated the boulder you were in instead of splitting it into two. You and Finster are among the only four to escape my judgment."
Scorpina bowed before the dark being, "My life is yours to command as my sword is now to serve you Lord Ahriman."
Ahriman said nothing as he heard Finster and Kymera come up behind him. He had gotten what he had come for. Now it was time to begin what he planned to do fifty millennia ago, "It's time to go."
"To where my Lord?" Kymera asked.
"To the Dark Fortress." Ahriman answered before they were all enveloped in a flash of dark light and vanished from the surface of the moon.
* * *
Astronema, Princess of Darkness was in her chambers, with her protector and surrogate father Ecliptor watching the door. The princess was in contemplation of what had happened over the last week. How the structure of evil had changed so drastically. She was on Onyx, meeting Dark Specter at his request... when he came.
_Ahriman..._ she shivered as she thought about the man that had changed everything, not just her life, but the entire way of evil in the Universe. Not even Dark Specter made her this scared. Dark Specter was fearsome because of his appearance, of how he looked like the dark warlock Maligore and was much more powerful than him.
Ahriman might have had the appearance of a human being, but he was definitely no such thing. She and Ecliptor saw with their very own eyes the Grand Monarch of the UAE be picked apart by Ahriman. He was absolutely merciless, showing no quarter to Dark Specter and tore him to pieces. He took the Monarch's power to add to his own and then made the body disappear. What he did with it, neither she nor Ecliptor knew.
Astronema didn't want to know. She was beginning to wish she never even met this man who scared her so much. Until that moment she had never even heard of Ahriman, let alone know that he had even existed. Yet that was Dark Specter's and his followers plan, to make sure that all future generations of evil would never even hear of the name of Ahriman. If no one knew that he even existed, no one would ever think of trying to free him from his prison.
In the end, that did nothing but delay the inevitable. Ahriman had escaped without aid from his dimensional hell that he been imprisoned for so long. Dark Specter had been first to feel his wrath but he was not the last. Every single Empire in the UAE had been hit.
Only she, a mere fourteen-year-old mortal girl who had not even been born so long ago, and Ecliptor were spared from Ahriman's unholy judgment. For only four years had she been trained to be Dark Specter's heir, and now he was dead and her loyalties had now shifted to Ahriman. It was either that or death.
_I have to wonder if anyone will survive unchanged as Ecliptor and I have... but I doubt it._ Astronema sighed. To be honest, she did not know who she thought was the luckier one. Those that died at Ahriman's hand... or those that did survive only to become something else.
Suddenly the door opened, "My Princess," Ecliptor spoke as he walked in.
"What is it Ecliptor?"
"Lord Ahriman has returned. He calling a gathering now."
Astronema nodded and went to her closet, going to change out of her current clothes into something else. She wanted to look as dark as she could possibly be. However at her age, that was somewhat hard to do. She often wished she would grow up faster, become the powerful woman that she was destined to be and fight in real battles. To give meaning to the sheltered life she had been living for some time now. Ecliptor trained her well, but she only remained in the Dark Fortress or on Onyx. But now with the changes that had been happening, she wanted to grow up more than ever. She wanted to be strong. She wanted to be strong to defend herself against any enemy. But most of all, she wanted to be strong enough to protect her right to live.
She finally settled on an all black outfit, her pendant around her neck, and her Satti-rang on her belt, her Satti-rang was her birthday present from Ecliptor last year. She looked at herself in the mirror and thought she looked as dark as she could be. She needed to be when she went into the main hall and saw them.
For her to look darker, all she needed was a different set of clothes. Though for some people, the changes they went through had done much more than cosmetic.
Taking a breath to gather her confidence, she turned to Ecliptor and said, "Let's go." Her protector nodded and they both walked together to the main hall where Ahriman had ordered all of his court to be when he arrived.
When they arrived, they saw that they had already arrived and they were all beings that possessed great power. Beings that Astronema herself once knew. She may not have liked them, but she had never thought she would have seen this.
She looked to her left and saw the Neo Machina Imperium, formed out of the ashes of the Machine Empire. A new name was needed, especially considering what the new leaders were like. Emperor Cladius, he who had once been King Mondo and his first son Prince Gasket. Cladius looked just as large as King Mondo himself had when he was still active. There were some similarities to be sure. Mondo's staff in his left hand, the entire body was made to look just as Mondo had looked, all save for the head and the color of the body. Instead of bright blue being the body's main color, it was emerald green, like Gasket's coloring had been. His sleeves were striped black and green; Gasket's old sword was attached to his right side, ready to be used at any moment. His face was battled hardened, looking younger than Mondo's had been and still this was not the face of a teenager, but it was the face of a man. Atop his head was the golden crown that Mondo himself once had.
Right next to him was his wife Empress Antoinette, who had once been Queen Machina and Gasket's own wife Archerina. The female machine was equally large as her husband and in some ways resembled the late Machina. Her upper torso had the same golden body part that the original Machina had, only made Mondo-size and there were other differences. Such as for the black colored covering Machina wore for her chest was no longer there. Instead there was now a heart shaped hole in the upper body of this machine, shaped like a heart, whose top started at the top of her very large bosom. The color of this covering was white, making it even more striking and showing the Archerina influence of the fusion. She wore a long sparkly pink skirt, which went from the waist all the way down to the ground and had a matching cape attached to her back. Strapped to her back was Archerina's bow, which could appear in her hands at any given time. Finally there was her head. It was not as round as Mondo's nor was it as narrow as Machina's had been; It was something of a mixture. There was a blue-black metal overlay before seeing a purely silver metal face that reflected feminine features. Her eyes were yellow and over her right eye she wore the same eyepiece that Machina had worn.
The other main party was an even greater overhaul but united so many various clans of evil together. The houses of Xett and Repulsa and the Pirate Clans of Diva; Three powerful houses now merged into one group: the Pirates Clans of Darkness. All because of the two beings standing near the right side of the room. The one on the left was older than the other. She was quite tall with a large draped robe that covered most of her body, but what could be seen of it was that she had golden scales instead of skin. In her right hand she had a small golden scepter, with a snakehead at the top. She wore a pair of small spectacles under her eyes, but her head was the strangest thing about her. Two green silted eyes kept looking at people, as if they were her prey. Instead of having real hair, she had many different snakes writhing about. Cobras, vipers, asps, there were just so many of them.
That had once been Master Vile, father to Rita Replusa and the late Rito Revolto, and Momma D, mother of Divatox and also the late General Havoc. All there was now was Mistress Medusa.
The other creature there was her 'daughter'. She was leaning against the wall, clearly feeling very full of herself, with her arms crossed over her ample bosom. If she had any skin, men would have flocked to her. The first thing that anyone would see about this female being was that her entire body had no skin, only skinless muscle with clear colored fluid tubes going all around the body and arms. She was wearing a red and golden corset around her torso and a red skirt formed below the waistline. Her right hand had a golden gauntlet blaster while her left hand had a massive silver gauntlet, with claws that could slash through anything. She was also wearing long thigh high silver metal boots along with a red cape on her back. Looking at her face, one could see that it was metallic yet retained a feminine appearance. There was a silver grid that covered her mouth while a half-face plate covers her right eye. Long purple hair came from the back of her head but the top of it was exposed, showing her brain to the world. Lastly, resting against the wall was a silver staff with a large N on it.
The two beings that been used to create this creature had been Lord Zedd and Divatox. Two incredibly powerful beings and fused together to create this monstrosity before her: Nemesis.
Suddenly, a black flash of light appeared, which disappeared to reveal Ahriman, Scorpina, Finster, and someone that looked similar to Goldar of Rita Repulsa's service, but was female. Seeing no one else, Astronema knew who this creature had been. _Still, at least I am not alone among the unchanged now._
Ecliptor however reflected on a different factor, _So this is the new UAE, this 'Shadow Consortium' that Ahriman has created. All of us in this room, the Quantrons, the weapons in the Dark Fortress, the forces that Ahriman has back on Onyx. That is it._ Ahriman had been of the type, 'if it is useless, get rid of it.' Thus, many beings that belonged to the people Ahriman had eliminated were eliminated as well, simply because they did not have any use to him. Dark Specter had been cruel, but Ahriman was on a level that no one would ever want to believe.
"So Ahriman, when does the fun begin?" Nemesis asked, her voice taking on a clear tone that she was eager for battle and to spill blood.
"When I say so." Ahriman told her simply, glaring at her and it made her back down. "Don't worry Nemesis. You will have your pound of flesh. The earth will be my first conquest here and from here will move onward through out the universe. The moon orbiting us will be the place of my new palace, this system my capital and from here I will launch all of my strikes against the universe." A smile crept onto his lips, "However, I have something I must take care of first." The smile vanishing, he turned toward the machine rulers, "Claudius and Antoinette. Prepare your forces for my signal. Your QuadraVipers had best not disappoint me."
"They will be ready for you when you need them Lord Ahriman," Claudius said proudly.
"We will not fail you. We are not foolish machines," Antoinette replied, her seemingly French accent showing.
Ahriman merely nodded as he looked toward Ecliptor and Astronema, "Prepare your own Quantrons for battle and ready your Velocifighters. They will be needed shortly."
"It will be as you ask my Lord," Astronema bowed.
Ahriman turned to Mistress Medusa, "Have you found him?"
The smile on the snake woman's face was very wide when she gave him the answer, "I have. He's right at the center of a ley line."
"He thought he could protect it by being right on it... how truly naïve he must be now," Ahriman chuckled, "I will return shortly."
"Might I know where you are going my Lord?" Kymera asked, "Do you have need of me?"
"No Kymera. This is something I must do personally." Ahriman said before vanishing in a flash of darkness. With his departure, the other villains all left, save for Eclitpor, Astronema, Finster and Scorpina, who walked up to Astronema and held her hand out, "Scorpina, Former Master Warrior of Solaris."
"Astronema, Princess of Darkness," the young girl said with as much confidence as she could, "At least I still am."
"For those of us that remain the same, it would be best to stick close to each other," Scorpina suggested.
"I would agree... this Ahriman... he's..."
"Unbelievable... little girl, you haven't seen anything yet." Scorpina sighed, while sending a small prayer of pity to the one person that Scorpina knew Ahriman was going after.
And was about to kill.
* * *
In a place that would be known to many as the Command Center, the great sage Zordon of Eltar had awoken once more, feeling a faint disturbance. "Alpha 5, what is going on in the world?"
"Nothing to be alarmed about Zordon," the robotic being that had been Zordon's only companion for so many millennia replied.
"I felt a tremor through the Morphing Grid, you must find out if Rita's dumpster has been opened at all or not." Zordon said.
"Have your powers grown so faint that you can't even feel something that simple old man," a voice spoke out to him.
From his time warp, Zordon's eyes widened in shock and disbelief. "N... no..."
"Ai-yai-yai! Intruder alert! Intruder alert! Intruder..." Alpha 5 screamed until he grabbed by his head and thrown clear across to the back of the command center, thanking the Matrix his head hadn't been ripped off, but as it was he was in no condition to do anything.
"I can't tell you how long I have been looking forward to this." The voice spoke with an eagerness and malevolence.
"How did you escape?" Zordon asked.
"Please. It was easy... if you actually thought about the problem. Stuck in a null void that's even worse than your condition. However in my case there was an access to the Spirit Lines, where spirits go between life and the place after death." The figure spoke with a bit of joy.
"... you didn't..." Zordon gasped in horror.
"Their souls were delicious," the being licked his lips, as if savoring his actions, "Of course I couldn't take them all at once or risk someone sensing it. I took them one at a time over a span of a century to conceal my actions from even the most talented of Adepts and even then I only took the souls that had the most power for me to consume and add to my own essence. Why else do you think I am so much more than I was?"
"The only thing you have become Zariel is a demon," Zordon spat.
"My name is not Zariel! It is Ahriman! The name that my mother gave me on her death bed!" the dark lord snapped, his own restraint wearing thin before speaking again, "Let me tell you an interesting little story I learned while I was there in that hole you and those betrayers of the UAE did to me. And FYI, the UAE is extinct."
"'FYI'?" Zordon blinked.
"For your information." Ahriman smiled, "The future is so interesting to learn about."
"The... the future?!" Zordon gasped.
"If you fools had even begun to consider that I might have been able to manipulate the fabric of time and space inside my prison to see the future since it is a time warp, you might have actually kept me out for another few millennia," Ahriman sneered, "You see Zordon, I found out what would have happened if I never was freed. On this very day, Rita Repulsa would have escaped, and you would have chosen five human teenagers to become your first Power Rangers. These Power Rangers would then face the Green Ranger, Rita's own Evil Ranger." He held up in his hands the Green Power Coin, which he threw out into the back of the room. "You can have that trash. I have no need for Rangers. Still though, for three years you held up against Rita and Zedd and Master Vile. The Green Ranger lost his powers but became the White Ranger, one of the strongest warriors of the light ever produced. But then you lost the powers and you had to get the Zeo Crystal. Then came the Machine Empire but your Zeo Rangers beat them. Next came Divatox and yet another Ranger upgrade. Turbo..." Ahriman paused for a moment to ask, "Can I ask why you would make a group of Rangers look like they were rejects from a NASCAR race?"
Zordon had no response to give to the man who shrugged and went on, "Still your Turbo spandexed warriors defeated the evil pirate queen. Finally came D-Day with Dark Specter's own forces, yet another Ranger upgrade, the power of Space. Your Rangers tried their best but failed against the overwhelming number's game. So much in fact, that you actually asked the Red Ranger to kill you, just so you could free everyone who was enspelled evil to be free and good and annihilate anything else that was evil."
"It sound like a perfect vision to have of the future... but why are you telling me this?" Zordon asked just when Ahriman pulled out a dark ebony sword from the scabbard at his side.
"I just wanted to let you know about the Legacy that you would have had," Ahriman said sweetly as he walked forward, "So that you would feel happy and maybe complete... so that you could embrace your death with some honor even though it will be meaningless. This time, you won't be spreading the peace wave around the galaxy. After all I can't have that wave of goodness destroying my Legacy now can I?"
"... Zariel... you wouldn't..." Zordon breathed.
"The one thing I hated just as much as you being a martyr was someone else killing you," Ahriman stated before looking Zordon dead in the eyes, "If anyone should set you free from your prison, it should be family... right... father!"
Without any hesitation, Ahriman slashed right through the glass tube, but instead of Zordon's energy being dispersed, Ahriman's sword glowed black and negated the effect. Instead of Zordon's essence being sent across the universe, he was brought back into reality, with his true body.
The thoughts going through the great wizard's mind were absolute disbelief as he felt himself truly free from the time warp that he had been in for ten millennia. He took his first breath of air in just as long and stood up, only to look forward and see Ahriman in front of him... and stab him through his heart.
The look on Zordon's face couldn't be any more pained, "My... son..." he rasped as Ahriman pulled him off of his sword and Zordon fell to the ground.
Ahriman looked down at the dying man, his face looking absolutely emotionless, "I'll let your precious Command Center be among my forces' first targets in my opening attack on this planet. My legacy begins with Earth while yours dies along with you. Farewell and may you burn in hell for all of your sins, father." Without saying anything else, he disappeared in a flash of dark light.
As Zordon lay dying, he knew hell would quite literally be unleashed upon the earth, _I don't have much power left... I must... do this... and hope that by the time we are done... there will even be anyone left to save..._ His body flashed bright white for a moment and then it was gone.
"Zordon!" Alpha 5 screamed and then he too disappeared.
Along with the Dragon Coin that Ahriman had thrown away.
* * *
Ahriman teleported onto the bridge of the Dark Fortress and sat in the chair that had been made for him. From here he would communicate to all of his forces, as he would now give the order to begin his legacy. A legacy that would never be stopped, not even by his father.
_My Father's legacy to the Light brings nothing but death and suffering. I have already seen that._ Ahriman thought as he looked out to the stars. He had not shared with his father everything that he knew of the future. To tell him that would give him heartache and he wanted his father to at least die happy. It was the most he could do for giving him the only real gift he had ever given him: life.
His father believed that with his death, evil would be eradicated. But he was wrong on two counts. The first count was the fact that Ahriman had seen from the future. Of how even after his death, evil still existed, in a pathetically ridiculous yearly cycle. A new evil force would appear to threaten the light and a new team of Rangers would be summoned to stop them. And yet all through out people were injured and killed. Every year it was the same cycle. Newer faces, same death and destruction.
_And that was a legacy he though he would be proud to leave behind? Did he go mad when he decided on that plan?_ Ahriman asked himself. Shaking his head, he supposed it didn't really matter. Zordon was dead and there was no way his father would be able to come back from the dead. The legacy he would have made had died with him.
A smile slowly formed on Ahriman's lips, "And now, it time for my legacy to begin." He pressed a single red button on his chair.
And that was when hell came to earth.
* * *
All over the world people were enjoying their normal daily lives; seemingly content and blissfully ignorant abut their position in the universe. They believed themselves to be alone and that there was no other life.
They were proven wrong on this day.
Strange gray and golden colored jets of different make and style appeared over the capitals of every nation on the planet. The people below had no idea what to make of it.
That was when the ships started firing scarlet colored energy blasts down at them and their cities. Right after the first volley, people started running like chickens with their heads cut off, intent on trying to stay alive but it was a very hard thing to do. Buildings were exploding, parts of them falling down the street, adding more carnage and chaos to the situation. The body count started to pick up rapidly as bodies or just parts of bodies started to fill up the streets.
London, Paris, Berlin, Washington DC, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo. All capitals of the world lay in ruins by the time the sun had set on this day in California, which was where the first sightings of the alien ships was seen blasting a seemingly barren part of the desert area near a small town called Angel Grove. If there had been anything there before, there was nothing now.
As for the town that had been near that site... the jets passed it by on their way out and blasted it, destroying much of the city, killing many people and injuring others.
The people of earth would realize that over thirty million lives had been wiped out, and millions more had been injured in one way or another on that day.
But as bad as that day had been, was it was just the beginning.
The beginning of the Legacy of Ahriman.
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: I'll bet no one saw this twist coming at all. I'd love to hear what you all thought of it. This is only the prologue, as the real story will pick up three years later and we'll see some familiar faces, though changed by this event. The next chapter is entitled A Light in the Darkness. Until next time.