Futurism logo

Midnight

Chapter 1

By Zero DantezPublished 7 years ago 21 min read
Like

Imagine a time... a time where there was constant bloodshed, constant war, constant death... place yourself in this place of war and darkness, how would you react? What would you do? What COULD you do?

I

Long ago, war of this type was everywhere. A particular war that was the bloodiest to note is one that dealt with light and darkness, a war that took place during the first Lycan and Vampire war in fact. This light against dark war took place in a dimension opposite of the Earth, however, on a reverse copy dubbed the Reverse World by the earthlings of the time.

This war was between the two types of people in that dimension, the users of light called The Tribe and the users of darkness called The Hive. These beings of light and dark could use abilities that were powered off of the two types of forces.

The war was something that lasted for a great number of millenia, due to the fact that age doesn’t kill Reverse Worlders. It was very intense by general standards due to how long it lasted, how many died, how great the toll on the planet was, worse than all wars on Earth combined.

The forces of light and darkness were so intense that the dimension’s boundaries between others grew unstable, so unstable that rifts and breaks between the dimensions occurred and intensified as the war went on, as far as they knew later as this was discovered, how though still being unknown.

During one of the biggest battles of the war, the leaders of each of the two clans met head on in combat. The force of the light and dark given off during the battle was too much and it eventually ripped a big hole between the Earth’s Dimension and the Reverse World’s Dimension.

That’s when the Hive’s power grew exponentially...

As the war exploded onto Earth, the beings of the planet immediately noticed the violence and attempted to interfere with the long lasting war, seeing it as an opportunity to claim the riches of a new world be it slaves, treasures, weapons.

Things turned bloody after that as the Hive adapted. While the Tribe could keep the earthlings away with their light power, the Hive had a harder time until they evolved yet again.

The Over Lord of Darkness, leader of the Hive at the time, created creatures called Darklings, creatures of pure darkness that could possess other life forms, eventually even non-living things; even warriors of the Tribe fell to the possessive powers that the Darklings possessed.

Darklings were found to be much harder to kill, only bursts of light or light weapons could kill them but the fact that when they take a host, the host’s abilities and skills are increased. However... should that host die, so too did the parasite. Even with this the darklings, however, weren’t the most powerful entities of the Hive... far from when compared to the elite class.

The Earth was soon caught in the crossfire of the Tribe and the Hive entirely. In the end, though the time came to make a choice, side with the Tribe or side with the Hive; the vote that most agreed on was joining the Tribe in combat against the Hive.

And so it was, those involved with the war generally sided with the Tribe but there were a few that chose to help the Hive out. With even these odds the Hive was still over powering the Tribe and its allies thanks to the possessing powers of the Darkling.

Eventually the power of the Over Lord of Darkness was becoming a little too much for his fellow warriors to resist. A time came when five warriors of the Hive double crossed the Over Lord by draining him of his power completely, each dividing it rather equally exception of the leader of the five who got the most power from the Over Lord.

After that the Over Lord was set to receive the worst fate that anyone could suffer, being sent to a place of pure darkness and fear, filled with the worst nightmares anyone could ever think of, The Shadow Realm. Being sent there was for an act of treason or for the high-level enemies that were captured alive during the war, dying would have been better.

In the Shadow Realm, your worst fears and nightmares are extracted by the realm’s black mist which will create illusions of those things. These illusions actually affect the nervous system in a way that whatever happens in the illusion truly happens, such as if you get your head cut off in the illusion, it actually happens. A person’s fears and nightmares become a reality in the Shadow Realm.

The Over Lord was sent there, his fate unknown. The Shadow Realm is a place with a mind of its own; it actually thinks and enjoys causing pain to those who enter via the black mist which is why the Over Lord of Darkness’s fate is unknown. It would remember that it was the Over Lord of Darkness that gave it its victims. It was unknown if the Realm actually tortured the Over Lord.

After this, the five warriors took power over the armies and allowed Earthlings to join the army of the Hive. This set the Tribe back by a long shot considering how the new leaders operated. As the war dragged on, it became clear that the Tribe was losing the war; so at last, the time came for the choice of ultimate sacrifice or demise.

The two choices were to fight it out to the end or seal the rips in the fabric of the two dimensions, cutting off access between the two dimensions. They chose to seal the major rips.

With this would come extreme sacrifice, however, everyone left on the Reverse World wouldn’t be able to be evacuated before the possibility of containment was too far gone. To seal off the Reverse World, the Light Angels crafted a special object which resembled a mirror. It would absorb the light properties that maintained the rips. This mirror then absorbed the disruptive field’s lighter properties leaving only the darker properties which alone couldn’t keep the tears in the dimensional fabric open.

This didn’t solve the problem entirely but it did control the situation. While the mirror was together, light was given off and kept the rips open. It had to be broken to stop the light and dark from mixing.

Before it could be broken apart, the Hive attacked in an attempt to stop the Tribe but failed. It was split into thirteen pieces before they could capture it. Four of the five Hive leaders got absorbed by the mirror when it was broken apart by accident while the fifth one was shot back into the Reverse World through a tear due to the aftershock. It was done; the rips disappeared.

The war was over with the exception of the thousands of Hive Warriors that were left on Earth, all supposedly eradicated by the Tribe over time but the demise of them all is unconfirmed. After they were taken care of the Tribe members that were left faced extinction in the new world because of adaption issues. About a thousand escaped being trapped in the Reverse World with the Hive and about a hundred survived the battle with the remaining Hive Warriors.

After that they agreed to scatter, only to come together if the Hive were to return. Some Warriors however never stopped guarding the shards, even after they were scattered and hidden. One of which was the daughter of the Tribe’s leader and her father. They also split but their cause never changed.

Soon enough as the centuries passed, the story of the Reverse World was forgotten and lost to all except for those who remained of the two civilizations. The humans evolved through technology, the others shrunk into legend. The balance between the Light and the Dark became equal once again but of course not everything is meant to last...

II

The forest grew darker as the moon hid behind the clouds, the wind was silent, not a sound to be heard minus the occasional howling of wolves. Eyes glowed in the dark background, eyes of wolves, coyotes, owls, and multiple other animals.

Deeper into the forest was a clearing, and in that clearing were seventeen figures, all of which were humanoid and clearly having an assembly.

“-so it’s been decided, the timing is perfect for us to begin the task at hand?” one of them said as they faced another, questioningly.

“Yes Jackson, Nightmare says that the time has come based on my studies,” came the reply.

As the one called Jackson nodded his head as a gesture of acceptance, another of them grunted, “Well that’s just fine and dandy to hear but have you forgot that we still have no clue where to look for the shards?”

“Relax Rusty, in the end, time won’t matter,” the second one replied. “So why are we acting now?” “From what I’ve gathered for Nightmare, she put together that Max has become too weak to protect the shards, his powers inactive for too long.”

“I hate to burst everyone’s bubble but don’t forget that his daughter is close to the same level of power that he was at during the war,” another one muttered out loud. “Relax, Holly may be powerful but in these times, her power can’t compete with ours, not this time. Basilisx is more than capable of handling her now because like Max she has grown weaker.”

“That’s because he is an elite regardless though, what about the rest of us!?” shouted another. “I doubt her power can defeat even you Jack and you’re the weakest one here.”

“Why you! I’ll show you who the weakest one here is.” Jack got into an attack form, ready to leap at his offender.

“Jack, if you were smart you’d stop right there. Don’t mess around with Shadow or you’ll end up dead.” Jack froze up at Jackson’s command; arguing with his leader instantly, “I could take him Jackson, I’m stronger than Shadow.”

“If that’s what you think, have fun getting killed, he is a lot more powerful than you. He has enough power to open a portal from and to the Reverse World alone.”

“So why doesn’t he just open a huge portal, why go to the efforts of collecting the shards?”

“Because you insolent little worm, it wouldn’t help.” Shadow slowly walked passed Jack but stopped, in an instant grabbing Jack's hair and proceeding to pull it. Jack let out a yell but Shadow’s other hand covered his mouth.

“I could but the problem is that a person would need my ability to make it through, otherwise you’d become a glass figurine and shatter into ten thousand little tiny pieces, and feel every, single, little, break. That and let's face it, it would take too long, the Mirror Shards have captured the connection, there is nothing more we can do without the power of the Overlord of Darkness or by restoring that mirror.”

Shadow’s hand, the one that was covering Jack’s mouth, became rock hard and soon expanded outward. In an instant the arm had shattered to reveal a long, crystal and glass like blade that had sharp teeth like edges which looked as if they could easily peal the flesh off of bone, “Now, shut up and be a nice little Vampire or I’ll gut you like a fish,” he threatened.

Jack grew silent and not as resistant which told Shadow that Jack was done arguing. “Good boy Jack…” Shadow’s blade hand shattered to reveal his arm again.

A split second after that, Shadow hammered Jack in the back and with just that one punch, sent Jack flying through a tree, his head and shoulders sticking out of one side while the lower part of his legs and his feet were sticking out of the other side. Blood flowed from Jack’s head as he began to moan in pain.

“Next time you pick a fight with me, be advised that I will kill you,” Shadow spat. “The fool, I warned him what would happen… at least you spared him,” Jackson commented.

“Yes because he has his uses yet… now back to business. I think a fitting punishment for Jack’s actions should be this: Jack and his partner must kill Holly.”

Jack’s partner, Roman, interrupted Shadow, “Why must I share the punishment Shadow? I’ll be burned to a crisp against Holly! We may be strong but her light abilities will fry us.”

“I see your point so I’ll tell you this; the Tribe's light doesn't turn you to ash right away... it fries like fire. If you begin to shrivel up you should escape but don’t worry about her pursuing you, I have a backup plan. Basilisx!”

“Yes Shadow?” Basilisx asked, “You require me to bail them out I’m guessing.”

“Yes but don’t worry, she doesn’t know about your secret so she’ll be unprepared if you need to reveal it. If you kill her I’ll be sure to make you a top leader of Lord Nightmare’s army when we attack this world.”

“Thank you Shadow, I will not fail.”

“Good, as for the rest of you, we need a team to volunteer for this next task. You all are aware of the Sword of Light I assume, the weapon that Max used to fight in the war so long ago, we need you to get it away from the current owner.”

“We should volunteer an elite team, such as Jackson, myself, or Scarlet to get it. Max may be weak but with that sword he can still do damage to our numbers.”

“Relax Cortez; Max isn’t in possession of the sword. After the war he gave it to a mortal that saved his life during the final battle of the war. It was passed down through the generations of that family. He had hoped it would be safer with them like a fool.”

“This will be easy as pie, Cortez and I will take the challenge and trust us, we will destroy them all with ease,” Cortez’s partner, Shane, blurted out.

“I wouldn’t be so sure Shane, don’t underestimate your opponents like Jack just did,” a masked warrior replied. “Rusty, they’re mortals. Mortals are so easy to kill.”

“No, Rusty is right, this task won’t be as easy as it sounds.”

“Why is that Tobi?”

“I know that it won’t be easy. The clan is made up of Lycan and as for the family, they’re hybrids. They’re battle ready due to the rival clans in their area. I have a plan though. What I think you should do is try to convince their enemies to join up with you and destroy the target. In exchange for our help we get the Sword of Light.”

“We’ll get that sword if we go with that plan for sure. Oh but wait, what if they don't accept our offer!?”

“You'll just have to figure it out, you forget though that I am a spy that has been monitoring that sword.”

“Well this is all fine and dandy but what about the rest of us, well Shadow?” another one named James asked.

“For the rest of you, unless you’re Jackson or Scarlet you’ve been ordered by our master to research more on where the mirror shards could be. As for them, Nightmare wants them on standby until further notice.”

“Understood,” Scarlet muttered. “Shadow, I’ll take it that you have no further orders to give us?”

“You would be correct Jackson. You all have your orders; I’ll be popping up every now and again to check on your progress. Jackson, you may end this when you wish to, as for me, Lord Nightmare wanted me to report back right after I gave you all your instructions. Ciao.”

Shadow’s legs began to become transparent and vanish along with the rest of him which began to do the same. Eventually, Shadow was completely gone.

“Now we have our orders, you all know what to do.”

“When should we begin our operation Master Jackson?”

“At the next new moon.”

Jackson sat down on a rock, “Just make sure the task at hand is done right, understood?”

“Yes sir,” they all replied.

“Good, now move out and prepare your selves, oh and I want Tobi and Rusty to stay for other orders.”

With several nods twelve of the sixteen remaining warriors ran to the edges of the clearing and dispersed into the trees of the night. “So Jackson, what is it that you want us for?” Rusty questioned.

“I wanted you to stay back to tell you two something that will benefit us. I don’t trust Shane and Cortez to successfully obtain the Sword of Light, Cortez might be strong but you must remember that he likes to destroy obstacles in our path... so I want you to grab it while they distract the clan.”

“Right… we’ll do just that.” Jackson slowly began to walk towards an edge of the clearing, followed by his partner Scarlet.

“Leave no evidence either.” Jackson stopped, “Report to me when you can…”

Jackson and Scarlet vanished in a whirl of black smoke which sped away into the night time sky, leaving Tobi and Rusty to make an exit,

“Right… Rusty, come. We have a job to do, Shane and Cortez will inevitably fail their task so we’ll need to be ready to clean up the pieces they leave behind. Cortez's powers have been dormant for so long, they'll need a reboot as well probably.”

Rusty and Tobi walked close to each other till they were only a few inches apart. In an instant, they disappeared in a whirl of black smoke just as Jackson and Scarlet had done.

III

A city lay burning and decaying, the corpses of people laid everywhere, hanging from broken windows, crushed under ruble only revealing an arm or some legs. Blood filled the streets as thunder boomed while black lightning struck the surrounding area followed by rain.

In this apparently lifeless city, there was still sounds of movement which echoed off of the fallen structures.

The shadow of a figure running reflected off of the next lightning strike. The person that it belonged to had green eyes that reflected the light of the lightning and black hair which was blown around by the wind.

Her clothes were raged with tears, mud and blood stains, and were also burned. She, herself had several cuts which were bleeding heavily, especially a big slash that was right across her forehead.

The girl’s balance was throwing her running off as she shook with fear. From behind her came footsteps which were coming slowly and also echoing off of the buildings, a shadow followed this one as well.

The girl banged against a metal pole and proceeded to look back. She noticed the figure of her attacker coming into focus.

The attacker’s hair was long and white, the eyes were icy cold blue, which set off his menacing appearance. The figure wore a black robe that had blood red stars on it and black gloves which had finger sections that ended with black blades. The girl stumbled ahead further occasionally nearly falling to the ground.

“Stay back!” she shouted in her highish voice. The attacker merely chuckled as he continued to advance upon the girl. She stumbled ahead three more steps before she tripped from her balance, falling face first into a mud puddle with a splash. The girl looked in front of herself to see the attacker standing.

From his sleeve came a long blade which stabbed the girl in a shoulder blade; after that the attacker forced her against a building, pinning her to it with the weapon, “Come now Holly, are you already giving up? You were much more entertaining in the past week,” he muttered.

Holly stared into the attacker’s icy emotionless eyes, “Why are you doing this…” She coughed up a little trickle of blood before the guy responded, “I have my reasons… from what I thought, you were supposed to be challenging all of the time, even in my current state. It would seem my full power wasn’t required after all…”

“I may die… but trust me… this is nowhere near over. I may fall… but another will rise to stop you and your master!”

“Really?” the attacker questioned. His other hand emerged from the other sleeve, and in an instant a black and white sphere of white and black lightning appeared. His hand and the sphere of lightning shot at Holly’s mouth and made contact. She screamed in agony until her jaw, and eventually her head, shattered into pieces.

The wind howled, storm clouds approached the area from the east of the grassy plains. Holly shot up screaming for a few seconds before she quit and began to breathe heavily. “It was just a dream… one more second and I could've had a heart attack in my sleep...” Holly muttered. Someone shot into the tent she was in, “Holly, I heard you... screaming... again?”

The person was carrying a sword and looked combat ready. Soon he realized that she screamed because of a nightmare. He sighed before he said anything, “That same dream again?”

“More like the same nightmare!” she spat, “I don’t get it Johnson, I’ve been having the same nightmare for weeks…”

“Could it be a sign that you know what is happening again?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised, it is clearly a vision of the future, and I just don’t know what it means for sure.” Johnson put the sword back in its slot and stared blankly outside into the sky.

Holly got to her feet and walked outside, also staring at the sky, “Looks like a storm is brewing…”

“Yeah, the last patrol noticed rain and lightning in the north, heading in our direction.” Holly turned to face Johnson; she guessed that his expression meant that everything went well.

A few centuries ago, Holly wandered into the hunting grounds of a clan of Hybrid that were struggling to keep their territory from the Vampire and the Lycan that were constantly plaguing them.

She came across a patrol that was under attack and recognized her old war friend Johnson in the conflict. Afterward, she joined the fight and helped send the enemy running, after that she was offered a place in the clan as an elite warrior thanks to Johnson’s persuasion.

Few of the warriors in the clan knew of the war, out of sixty-five hybrid, only six were involved in the ancient war and remembered it.

“Well that storm will keep the Lycan packs away but what about the Vampire clans?”

“Well Holly, according to Alice, we should be fine. Then again with you, the Vampire clans wouldn’t dare attack us head on.”

“As long as they continue to think that I can create artificial sunlight that will be capable of destroying them instantly…”

“You like to explain every detail don’t you?”

“Well, it helps in the long run,” she joked. Thunder crackled in the background as the wind picked up again. In the distance, Holly and Johnson could identify Randy’s patrol returning calmly.

They clearly hadn’t had any problems with their patrol considering they bore no fresh battle scars. “Well, that’s two patrols that are back safely… Edgar and Jeff are leading the last two patrols right?” Johnson nodded.

Holly sighed, these times of peace were growing dull, she had the urge to fight a real opponent that would be really strong but as it was, there weren’t too many warriors that could satisfy the desire to fight.

Holly stared into the sky and instantly her eyes widened. The person from her nightmares was floating in the air staring at her. She shook her head and glanced at the sky again to see the clouds only.

“Just another vision,” she thought. Johnson noticed it when Holly spaced out again and grew slightly concerned. “Again?” She nodded in response. “These visions must mean something and I think it would be wise to try figuring out what they mean.”

“I suppose you’re right Johnson… maybe they’ll stop if I figure it out.” In the distance, a squad of several Hybrids was approaching lead by two other hybrids.

“Looks like they weren’t troubled tonight,” Alice commented as she approached Johnson and Holly. “Yeah, the lucky devils,” Johnson replied, “On my last patrol we ran into a battle that the Lycan and Vampire patrols were having.”

“So, either of you know where Dewy is? I need to report to him.”

“Why? Did you find something Alice?” Johnson questioned.

“In a way, yeah; my squad found out that those stupid humans are advancing toward us.”

“That’s a problem if they discover us; they’ll report to their military and we’ll have to leave like before.”

“Exactly, which is why I need to report to Dewy to discuss what actions we should take; so where is he?”

“I think I saw him heading for the river.”

“Thanks Holly,” Alice commented before she walked off in the direction of the nearby river.

Holly yawned, “Well Johnson, I don’t know about you but I’m still tired…”

“Get some sleep, they’ll understand why.” Holly walked back into her tent as Johnson walked towards the returning patrols.

She soon began to wonder about her father, the talk of battle was reminding her of when the two of them fought in the ancient war of the Hive and the Tribe; the last she heard of him was that he was losing his power.

Soon she laid down again on her soft bed which was basically just made up of leaves and twigs but applied in a cozy manner.

In no time at all, she was asleep once more. As she slept the storm had started over their heads with a heavy down pour of rain, lightning flashes, and the booming of thunder.

This time she stayed sleeping, no visions or nightmares. Even though she was asleep, her mind didn’t stop pondering over the nightmares she had had over the past few weeks. She knew she would get her answer to what it meant in the future, eventually.

fantasyscience fiction
Like

About the Creator

Zero Dantez

Writing books and just enjoying the simple things in life

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.