Legacy of Light, Dynasty of Darkness
Prologue
A short time ago, there was a dimension filled with wonderful magic, but then the Darkness came to power.
An army of the undead swarmed over the land, setting their sights on the human realm and beyond.
All seemed hopeless when a small legion of brave but powerful warriors came forth. Against insurmountable odds, they battled heroically, driving the evil back from the edge of the human world.
Then the most powerful of them all, the mighty Gatekeeper cast a spell to seal the darkness inside giant gates for the foreseeable future, but with great victory came great loss.
Families were torn apart.
Entire villages were burnt to ashes.
The grass of the forest was stained red with the blood from the fallen.
Entire species of magical creatures were driven to extinction.
The human world never knew of the great battle or the sacrifices that were made to save them from destruction.
Even till this day, they live in peace, unaware of what is about to awaken….
Twenty Years after the Great Battle…
The Underworld
General Morticon, leader of the dark forces, grunted as his protégé parried the blades of a pack of hidiacs, before retaliating with his own attacks, swiftly dismantling their weapons, and knocking them to the ground.
"Wonderful!" Necrolai's spawn clapped her arms, flying over to his side, fawning over him as usual. "You are so powerful!"
She placed her arms around his neck and squished her face along his.
His student didn't seem to mind, having been used to her antics, ever since their childhood, but it grated on his nerves.
"Necrolai, tell your brat to cease her antics at once!" He thundered, feeling a twinge of gratefulness that despite being a fanatic follower, the hag respected his personal boundaries. Her spawn on the other hand had no such reservations…
"Of course, my lord!" The queen of vampires bowed, before shooting a glare at her spawn, who grudgingly let go of the boy.
"For twenty years, you have trained till you become the best of us, boy." He growled. "You have proven you have what it takes to hold your own in a battle, but tell me, is your magic strong enough to break us free from this accursed prison?"
The boy raised his eyebrow, not deigning to answer, and he felt his temper rise. A burst of steam bellowed from his mechanical horn, at the boy's insubordination.
"ANSWER ME, BOY!" He slammed his sword on the ground, creating a tremor that caused many hidiacs and other dark creatures to shrink back into the caverns in apprehension of his wrath, and even Necrolai and her brat flew into one of the upper burrows, steering clear of his view, but not the boy, who stood his ground.
He yelled, raising his sword at him.
"DON'T TEST ME!" He snarled. Years ago, he had seen the terror in the child's eyes. Now, there was nothing but quiet confidence and silent defiance… which reminded him too much of his great foe, for him to keep his cool.
He rose from his throne, and charged at the boy with his sword, only for a crimson glow to bask over them all.
He immediately dropped his sword, and fell to his knees. So did Necrolai and the hidiacs, and the boy as well.
He turned to the spherical dome in the center of the arena, the source of the crimson light, as the Master's eye peered through it.
"Forgive me, Master." He spat out.
The crimson light fizzled out and the eye vanished, the dome reverting to its dormant state.
The boy smirked at him, and he resisted the urge to strike him down.
Before he could bark at him again, the air around them dropped several degrees.
"You forget your place, general." A smooth feminine voice came from behind him, and his temper rose once more, though this time, he restrained it, for her actions unnerved him more than the Master.
Unlike the Master, who could only show his disapproval, she could act on hers.
"Lady Khione." He spat, turning around to face a woman in a white fur cloak, her face obscured by the skeletal skull of a hellhound, which she had moulded into a terrifying mask.
"You were supposed to be teaching the Dark Heir, not attacking him." She growled, as her acolytes in white cloaks and their ice golems, the chillers filled the chambers, each holding a basket of ripe fruits.
Despite her title as the Hound of the Master, Lady Khione was the only one whose magic could sustain the ancient gardens of Persephone… the closest thing their land had to a farm.
True the Master's dark magic could keep them tethered to the mortal plane, but it was a paradox in the sense that it would cost them their autonomy, making them little more than mindless beasts. He had lost count of how many hidiacs were once powerful dark wizards.
There were other alternatives… venturing into the deeper bowels of the underworld, and hunting slumbering creatures like the hell hounds, hydras and basilisks, but often they lost many soldiers to slay a single beast, whose husk could only keep them fed for so long…
He remembered an even darker period, where the hidiacs and even some warriors hunted each other for sustainence.
All in all, as much as he despised Khione and her ilk, she had made the Underworld much more habitable.
"The Dark Heir answers to his father, your Master, and to no one else." She warned, as she came in between him and the boy.
One day, when they broke free of this realm, he would not hesitate to cut them down after demonstrating that he was enough… that the Master needed no heir.
But till the day they outlived their usefulness, he would be forced to tolerate their presence…
Khione and the boy had amassed their own followers within the Underworld, and as much as it agitated him, he couldn't openly act against them.
Nor would he…
When their best chance of escape was the power growing in the boy…
"My only intention was to unleash his true potential… Potential that would be wasted if you coddle him." He spat, returning to his seat.
"He might be a boy, but do not forget he is the heir to the Underworld." Khione said scathingly, taking the boy's arm and hoisting it upwards, eliciting a chorus of cheer from the hordes of monsters and hidiacs. "Next time, remember that before throwing one of your temper tantrums. You serve him, general. He is not one of your soldiers, but your master."
Morticon saw red. Another jet of steam escaped his horn and he clenched his fists, but he did not rise to the bait.
"And as for his power, well…" Khione smiled. "I have communed with our Master, and the time is near. Soon, my son will be strong enough to open the gates that hold us here, and spread the word of our Master to all realms!"
Another chorus of excited yells echoed through the chamber, and the boy had the gall to smirk at them, as he drank in the applause.
The ingrate.
If anything calmed him, it was the thought that one day, the gates of the Underworld would be smashed open.
He wished that the old foe would live long enough till the Underworld rose again… that he would come face to face with the Dark Dynasty.
The look on his face would be worth tolerating the impudence.
His metallic lips twisted into a cold smile, as he recalled the lines he had read from the Book of Prophecies. They may have lost the last war, but the future was theirs to write.
Legacy of Light,
Dynasty of Darkness.
Forest of Life,
Depths of Strife.
Sword of the Dark One,
All worlds will burn.
A/N: I was not going to start another Mystic Force AU. I really was not, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone.
Blame Super Shadowhenshin and Disastardly, for inspiring this story and encouraging my (perhaps, unhealthy) obsession with Mystic Force.
Anyway, hope you guys enjoy this story, and please review.