Bummmm bum bum bum. Here we go. The last chapter of "In the Shadow of Darkness". It's going to be veeery short, since I'm between exams. But I just wanted to get this out of my system, so that I would be able to focus entirely on my studies. Now to quickly summarise what we know so far. A mysterious unknown character appears in an alley and is saved from three muggers by Spider-Man. He is brought to Peter and Mary Jane Parkers apartment and is given the name "Shade" by Mary Jane. Shade gets nightmares about demons and stops sleeping. Due to the lack of dreaming, he becomes temporarily insane and tries to commit suicide to prevent hurting Peter, MJ and the unborn baby May. He is once again saved by Spider-Man. The next day, they visit Dr. Strange and Shade takes of on a spiritual journey to the TEN (not Nine) Circles of Hell. He finds out who and what he is, but in the process, his heart turns cold from the chilling winds in the Ninth Circle of Hell (which can be read about in the 13th century book "La Devinna Comedia" (The Devine Comedy) by Dante Alighieri, along with detailed descriptions of the other 8 Circles of Hell in the part of the book called "Inferno"). He begins killing people in order to send their souls to Hell and thereby strengthen the Army of Hell. In the very last part of the 4th chapter, he recognize the person he is about to kill. It's baby May, the child of the family that took care of him. So if this sounds interesting, I suggest you read the four other chapters. And now for the story.
The 5th chapter starts exactly where the 4th ended. Time still hasn't begun moving, and it starts inside Shade's head. So, I hope you enjoy the 5th and last chapter of "In the Shadow of Darkness".
Chapter 5: A Soul is lost
Shade (thinking): May… I can't believe this… When she finally comes in to this world, I'm sent to take her out of it again. But do I really have a choice? If I slip up, my Maker will not hesitate to remove me from existence and create a new spawn. And why do I even care what happens to May in the first place? I had no problems killing everyone else so far, so why do I hesitate? If I have no consciousness, why is it then hard for me to just kill her and get it over with? So many questions, but where can I find the answers? In my heart? But it's frozen solid… but Mary Jane's isn't, so if I read her heart, I might be able to understand some of this.
Shade slowly walks pass the doctors and nurses, who are still frozen in time, over to Mary Jane and places his hand on her chest. His eyes glow red. He reads Mary Jane's heart like you would a book, turning pages, reading chapters set up by how old she was at the time it was written. He finally gets to the chapters about Peter, about May, about him. He speeds down, taking more time to understand the meaning of each word. His eyes change colour. They are now purple.
Shade (shouting): This can't be!! I must find Peter!
Shade vanishes, only to reappear in the lobby where Peter is watching television. Shade places his trembling hand on Peter's chest and begins reading his heart. His eyes start to change colour once more, becoming more and more bluish. Shade removes his hand and starts crying.
Shade (to himself in a low tone of voice): They still love me… even though I killed all those people, they still love me… I don't deserve this love.
Shade removes the pendant around his neck and holds it with both his hands. He looks at it for a few seconds… and then he breaks it. Light begins sucking into the two broken pieces like were they a gigantic vortex. Shade begins falling and times starts moving. Peter reacts in the blink of an eye, catching Shade before he hits the floor.
Shade: Peter, please forgive me for what I have done… I do not have much time, I must tell you this, it is very important that you listen. A war is coming…
Peter: A war?
Shade: Yes, between Light and Darkness. I myself know not much, except that I was to kill your daughter to prevent her, and you, from interfering.
Peter: May… is dead?
Shade: No… I couldn't kill her… You were the only ones who cared about me, and I so wanted to experience her growing up, so I couldn't make myself take her life. The only way to save was to remove my soul from reality by breaking my pendant in two. When I disappear, I want you to take those pieces and put in a safe place. One day, May's powers will begin to appear and Darkness will come after you. When that day comes, you and May will have to reassemble the pendant together. Your gathered spirits, influenced by the Spider Totem, will hopefully return my soul to this reality. But IF it works, I'll most likely turn temporarily evil, so you will have to fight and defeat me, but only the two of you.
Peter: Are you sure about all this..?
Shade: Very sure... NNNNGGAAHHHH!!!
Peter: SHADE!!
Shade: Remember what I have told you… and take care… of yourself… and… your family.
Shade fades away, without anyone noticing. Peter is left alone in the lobby. He picks up the two pieces of the pendant, one in each hand and walks away, wanting to see Mary Jane and their new born baby. And now, my dear readers, are we left to our selves. Peter, Mary Jane and May are going to start their lives together, but remember… a war is coming…
And that ends the story "In the Shadow of Darkness". I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, or perhaps even more. I know the ending was kind of… crappy, but I'm really short on time, so like I previously wrote, I had to change a lot of things, so I didn't quite turn out the way I hoped. But I hope you liked it none the less. I am thinking about a writing a sequel in about a month or two, if enough people support the Idea of me writing a sequel (let me know in a review or send me an e-mail if you think that I should, or shouldn't write a sequel. My E-mail address can be found by clicking on my Pen name at the top of the page)
Oh yeah, the characters Shade, Crveno, Plavo, The Emperor Demon/Darkness and The Angel Mistress/Light (only briefly mentioned in this story) are all created and belong to me, so if you want to use any of them as a character (hero, villain or just by-stander), let me know first, but there's a pretty good chance I'll say yes ;) and if you want to use them, but aren't completely sure of their abilities/powers, just let me know, and I'll tell you :)
That's all for now, have a nice summer and I'll see you around
Thanks for reading
Sincerely
DarkSkaners