Ekobean: Well, after a bit of brainstorming, I have come up with new ideas. Hopefully they'll end up just as popular as "Dark Menace." Have a good one.

Erol hobbled through the dank air of the mountain cave. The past few days were a blur to him. All he could remember was that Light freak standing over him, some massive attack forming at his fingertips, then a flash of green light, and then boom! Here he was…

He had found himself in some valley in the Wasteland mountains. His injuries had been severe. He'd had to tear his own mechanical arm off because of the damages. The pain had been excruciating. If that fool of a doctor had felt the urge to resurrect him, he at least could have given him the gift of a painless body!

Erol hissed and slammed his remaining arm into the cave's damp wall, sending a shower of droplets raining down from the rows of stalactites above him. "I was better off dead," he hissed, "now I don't fit in anywhere."

The only thing he had to look forward to was whatever was at the end of this cave…

Some mysterious power, and unheard voice, was calling him, urging him to come, to venture deep into the cave's dark depths.

He ventured on ever deeper. The air became thicker and mustier as he went on. Beads of dew formed on his rusting frame, mist glittering on the metallic surface.

At last he came to an opening. As he walked through he found himself on a narrow walkway in the middle of a cavernous hall perhaps millions of years old. It was nearly two hundred feet in diameter. A ray of sunlight burst down from a hole in the ceiling, giving the only source of light. Erol could make out a bubbling lake of Dark Eco on either side, sloshing menacingly. At the very end of the walkway was an enormous Dark Eco Crystal. It gave off a faint light of its own, a dark; purplish light.

As Erol drew closer it began to radiate more frequently, almost as if it were excited. Every artificial nerve in his mech-body wanted to turn around right then and leave. There was something indeed strange going on.

When he was not two feet away Erol could make out a faint shape moving inside it. It was barely visible, merely a wavy silhouette, but it was elf-ish. And it was staring at him.

A deep, hollow voice that dropped Erol to his knees emanated from deep within the Crystal's murky depths. "At last…" it rumbled, "after eons of waiting, my savior has arrived."

Erol's blood-red eyes focused harder on the Crystal. "Are…are you talking to me?"

The Crystal shook violently. The vibration sent several huge stalactites falling into the Dark Eco about them. "WHO ELSE WOULD I BE TALKING TO!!??"

Erol dropped his head, quivering.

"I am Os'hildai. The first of the Dark Sages."

Erol paused, lifting his head again to stare with wonder into the dark depths of the crystal. Os'hildai? Why was that name so familiar?

"Because you have heard it before. Hidden deep in your lineage, dark one. Your great grandfather Os and his sister Hildai, the spawn of the Dark Sage Gol and his bitch sister Maia? Gol and Maia…the ungrateful duo whom I gave my Dark Powers to when they too found this chamber? The two whom betrayed me and left me here to achieve their own ends? Oh yes, Erol, you and I are connected."

"What?"

"I had believed that your sires Gol and Maia would be the ones to set me free from this accursed prison, but I was wrong. It would be their descendant who would be my savior. I am a Precursor, Erol, the first of the sages whom inherited the powers of Eco."

"A Precursor…"

"Erol, I will heal you. I will give you power beyond your wildest dreams. And when I am free you and I together will rule this pathetic rock, spreading our power across the universe. I will rule over the other Sages with you at my right hand. I ask only one thing: Your everlasting allegiance and loyalty to me and only me. Forever."

Erol's microchip brain took a minute to process everything it had just heard. Second in command to a Precursor? To rule the universe forever… If he had had lips he'd have smiled.

He rose to his feet, his hand across his chest. "I swear."

"Good." A beam of dark energy shot forward from within the crystal. It lifted Erol from the ground, two feet into the air. Erol twisted and shrieked, this limbs flailing about. An indescribable pain radiated from within him. White hot knives were baring into every crevice of his body.

And then it was over. He was lying on the floor in a crumpled heap, stray sparks flying from his body.

"Rise, Erol, rise and taste power!"

Erol rose shakily to his feet, and looked down at his body. It was flawless, shining in the gloomy light from Os'hildai's crystal. The missing mechanical arm had been replaced with a black, muscular one. At the end was a four-fingered, clawed hand. Ebony claws extended from its finger tips.

The crystal set its unseen eyes upon the new Cyber-Erol. "Now listen to me very carefully…"

In the time before time, when the Precursors ruled the land and Heavens,

The Six Chosen ruled over the Lifeblood, forcing balance upon it,

But as the eons passed, corruption rose from within,

And the Dark One betrayed, threatened to overtake all,

The Chosen remaining stood against the Dark One and his Dark Armies,

And the Dark One stood at last alone, a single sword in his claw,

T'was the one of Light whom passed judgment at last.

And the Chosen banished the Dark One to a place of Shadow,

But the Dark One cried out, before sent away,

That the Heir of the Dark would release him at last,

And the Earth would Quake, and the Chosen would crumble.

To be continued…