James McKay’s mind raced as he sped down the sidewalk towards his best friend’s house. Five hours earlier he had called his girlfriend, Terra, and arranged to meet her at the local Tim Horton’s. She never arrived. Worried, he ran to her house only to find she wasn’t there. After an hour of calling Terra’s friends, Terra’s mother called the police. They said they couldn’t file a missing person report. Something told James that it wouldn’t matter even if the police could.

As soon as the police were long gone, it was off to Sam Strife’s house for James. If anyone could locate Terra, it was Sam.

Pieces of gravel ground against each other under the heavy work boots of James as he made his way up the Strife’s driveway. His long, black trench coat rippled behind him as the harsh winter winds cut their way across Brantford’s south end. Bits of his shoulder length hair whipped against his face, though most was held down by his black toque.

Turning his back to the wind James banged his gloved knuckles against the white metal screen door frame. He stood there for a while, waiting and hoping. Finally, fearing the worst, James, opening his coat and pulling the left side back, unsheathed his samurai sword. The sword flashed as it was brought down against the door frame, only to be repelled by a shimmering green force field; one of the many gizmos at Sam’s disposal.

Suddenly the door swung open and standing in the doorway was the blond haired, blue clad figure of Sam Strife.

James picked himself up out of the snow pile he was launched into by the force field’s feedback.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Sam said as James brushed snow off of his coat. He motioned for James to enter the house.

“That,” James started, stepping inside, “would be an improvement.” He paused for a few seconds to remove his coat. “Terra’s missing.”

Before James could say anymore, Sam ran off to his room and yelled behind him, “Say no more, I’m one step ahead of ya!”

“Found ‘er!” Sam yelled as James entered the room.

“Good, where?” James demanded, his eyes intently fixed on the display screen.

“You won’t believe this, but she’s in England… Here,” Sam explained, tapping his finger on a bright, red dot on the screen.

“Considering the enemies we’ve fought in the past, not much surprises me anymore,” turning his face towards the window James continues, “I’m gonna need a vehicle.”

An hour later, James sat in a tiny aircraft’s cockpit musing over the past year’s worth of adventures he and his group had gone through. He revived the memory of how the team started. Four average students, all of the friends, started to exhibit strange abilities. James McKay discovered his ability to manipulate electricity. Terra Lorien possessed the ability to summon seismic activity in the earth and channel it to do anything with the ground. Sam Strife, though a genius prior to his powers, became even smarter and unusually gifted with inventing things. Last, but not least, David Manning found he could change his skin onto whatever metal he touched, and possessed super-human strength and agility. They joined together under the leadership of another mutant whose skin was midnight black and possessed uncanny agility. Together they had saved the world more than once. None were indispensable.

The aircraft continued on for a few hours, then landed in an open field that extended in front of a very old-looking castle. It took James only a few minutes to reach the front gate of the castle. It was closed and most likely locked. Drawing on stray electrons in the air around him, James jumped, simultaneously forcing the energy down. He landed on the parapet at the top of the castle wall. He leaped down onto the rampart and drew his sword. He walked the short length of the rampart and looked down into the courtyard that separated the gate from the large double oak doors leading into the gigantic main building.

James crouched slightly and leapt. James focused electricity into the palm of his hand and, with a slight grunt, threw it.

The large oak doors shattered under the impact of the electricity blast and James colliding with the doors, sending splinters in every direction.

James shook off the impact of landing just inside the doorway and stood up. He staggered back a little and he found himself face-to-face with a semi-transparent boy about his age. The boy’s short brown hair was covered with a black baseball cap. He wore black shorts and his black shirt displayed “Ok, I got out of bed and got dressed. What MORE do you want from me?” James’ immediate thought was ‘ghost’ but he convinced himself there was another logical explanation.

“GHOST!”

Okay, maybe he didn’t.

James swung his sword at the boy. The boy nonchalantly sidestepped the sword while simultaneously firing a fist-sized fireball at James. James swiftly maneuvered the sword, ending the fireball’s trajectory. He focused power into his sword and was ready to strike again.

The boy held out a flaming hand and yelled “Stop!” He extinguished his fist and continued,” First of all, I am not a ghost. Second, I don’t’ wanna hurt you. I’m not your enemy.”

James didn’t budge, his sword crackling with electricity.

“The name’s Jim Cooper, also known as the Flare, which is probably easier since we share the same name,” Flare said.

“Humph, the Cooper Ghost.”

“Only if you consider a human being whose body is trapped in the space between dimensions a ghost,” Flare bitterly replied.

James relaxed a bit, “Okay, assuming you’re what you say you are, what are you doing here?”

“Experiment gone wrong,” Flare shrugged as if it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

“Uh-huh…” James flipped a switch on his watch and Sam’s face appeared on the watch face.

“Moustache-man,” James said, “I need you to run a check on any dimensional disturbances in this castle.”

The sound of fingers hitting keys filtered through the mini-speakers in James’ watch. It stopped and there was silence.

Sam finally spoke, “James, you are standing in a gigantic dimensional disturbance. There are dozens of quantum signatures which means they are relatively new. The one in front of you is flickering in and out of our universe.”

Flare grinned as James looked up at him.

“Thanks, Sam,” James said, switching off the communicator. “Okay, Cooper, here’s the story. My girlfriend’s bin captured. We – well, Sam mostly – tracked her to here. My question is, have you seen her?”

“No. Sorry.”

James immediately walked past Flare without another glance toward the door at the other side of the room. He had almost reached the door when Flare spoke again.

“Y’know, if ol’ moustachio is right, you could be walking into a death trap. Y’might need backup.”

“I work alone.”

“Hah!” Flare’s laugh echoed of the walls in the room,”I know you, man! In my universe, after our battle against the Asgard, you were the one who taught me the value of teamwork.” James stopped. He remembered the original leader of the Four and what he had taught them about teamwork.

Alright, Cooper. You can along, just don’t get in my way.”

“That shouldn’t be too hard considering I’m not completely solid matter anyway,” Flare replied with a grin. Then he muttered, “And call me Jim.”

As the two superheroes of their own worlds walked through the castle it became apparent that it was not a dimensional rift, but a ripple in time, a spot were different sections of the timeline existed at the same moment. Some areas of the castle seemed to be only a few days old while others seemed ancient. The only consistent thing throughout the castle was its complete and total desertion. At least until they reached the dungeon.

“Terra?” James said softly then he saw the lifeless form of his girlfriend slouched in the corner. He ran over to her wishing, praying that she was still alive. As soon as he had her in his arms and saw her face, he noticed something very odd and slightly disturbing. This Terra was a full grown adult!

“I’m sorry, James,” Flare said, oblivious to Terra’s age.

“No, this can’t be right…” James started as he turned to face Flare. Problem was the Flare was not there. James didn’t have much time to muse over Flare’s disappearance.

“James Alexander McKay,” a deep, sinister voice said, “Surprised to see me?”

James’ eyes widened and he found himself looking up at his former master, former leader, and former friend Zsaio. Another problem arose. Zsaio’s head was crushed under the hammer of an alien being that had called himself Thor! Something was wrong, something beyond earth had a part in all of this and James could feel it.

James gripped the blue cloth bound hilt of his sword and stood up. Suddenly the room melted away and James found himself surrounded by rubble a barely-standing buildings. The architecture of the buildings was futuristic, but looked old and run down.

James was standing in a clearing between towering buildings while his former master stood on a slanted slab of concrete just a few dozen feet away from him.

“Master? What the heck are you doing? I thought you were dead!” James snapped.

“I did die. Luckily for me, an energy being merged with me just after I died, giving me new powers that stretched beyond time and space. I wiped out the wretched Asgard, feeding on the energy their bodies produced when they died. But that was a long while ago, and quite frankly, I’m hungry!” While he was talking, Zsaio’s left palm started to glow with a light-blue light. As soon as he had growled “hungry” Zsaio threw the energy which split into four glowing orbs of energy.

James ducked under the orbs and rolled forward. The orbs collided with the ground behind James pelting him with fragments of concrete and metal. James quickly sprang up at Zsaio, bringing his sword swiftly in front of himself. Metal clashing against metal resounded through the deserted city.

For a few milliseconds James and Zsaio’s eyes met. Burning hatred clouded Zsaio’s eyes, causing James to look away. Big mistake.

Both swords touched each other as James seemed to float in the air. Zsaio grunted slightly as he used his sword to send James sailing through the air. Dropping his sword to his side, Zsaio leapt after James.

James flew through the air. Seeing Zsaio, James desperately tried to maneuver himself into a defensive position. Thump! No such luck.

Before gravity could move James an inch down the side of the building he had just slammed into Zsaio raised his sword and, with a sickening SINK, James became pin-up art against the side of the building.

Searing pain erupted from James’ right shoulder. Tears rose up in James’ eyes to the point were they started to run down his cheeks. In his mind he could see the lifeless body of his girlfriend. He remembered the adventures they had experienced. Anger, pain, and sorrow caused the tears to pour down his face, but his strength was being fueled by those emotions.

“James, James, James. Before I kill you, I think you ought to know that your dear girlfriend put up a beautiful fight. I mean, look around. She practically destroyed my city! It was worth it, though her death energy was hardly enough to call a snack. You on the other hand, have so much energy at your disposal that I should think I’ll be filled for at least a month.” Zsaio’s malicious grin quickly faded as James’ eyes started to glow with an electric blue light. James grabbed the blade of Zsaio’s sword with his uninjured arm.

James screamed at the top of his lungs and ripped the sword out of his numb shoulder. He immediately let go of the sword and dropped to the ground like a bolt of lightning. He landed firmly on the ground and looked up. Bolts of electricity crackled around his body as he saw Zsaio running down the side of the building right at him.

Suddenly a bright light appeared behind Zsaio the collapsed in on itself to reveal the blazing form of the Flare, now as solid as the building he appeared beside.

James didn’t really notice Flare. His rage blinded him so much that it’s surprising that he even noticed that the building Zsaio was running down was made of metal.

Looking the eyes of the Flare things were not on James’ side at the moment. He just stood there, electricity cracking around his body, looking up at Zsaio who was running down the side of the building on a collision course with James.

Suddenly James’ lips curled into a sly smile and he casually leaned against the building; the metal building.

“Oh, crap!”

A good distance away, a short, slender girl stood alone on the roof of a building, her brown hair whipping behind her a shockwave passed around her. Her black trench coat rippled behind her revealing the blue cloth-bound hilt of a samurai sword; the brother sword of her boyfriend’s own sword. She silently watched as the dust off in the distance were a tower once stood settled and the electric discharges subsided.

Her eyes suddenly widened as she sensed that her boyfriend was still alive along with the Flare. Zsaio was not so fortunate, which could have something to do with the fact that he was the focal point of the explosion that demolished the tower.

A short while later, they were returned to the dungeon due to the energy being’s dissipated power that held the four humans in the future alternate universe.

Upon James’ return to consciousness Terra explains how she is still alive.

“But,” James said, pressing his hand against his temple,”I saw you dead.” He knew he sounded ridiculous since he saw Zsaio dead and yet he had been alive until a few hours ago.

“That was me, and it wasn’t me,” seeing James’ confusion she elaborated, “That is what would have become of me if you had failed or not even showed up to save me.”

Flare explained his disappearance as his friends picking the most inopportune time to pull him back into his own universe. Flare handed James’ a communicator.

“If you ever need a helping hand, just use that communicator and the Five will be at your side.”

After a brief good-bye, Flare stood back and faded into another universe.

As the two mutants returned home, they wondered what their group was like on Flare’s end of the space/time continuum. If only they knew that they would soon find out, but that is a story for another time.

Author’s Notes

I hope you have enjoyed “Return of Darkness”, though if you are reading this you either have enjoyed the story or are hoping the Author’s Notes will be more interesting than the story itself. Well, that aside, I’d like to take this brief moment of your time to explain a few aspects of this story that may be confusing or that have not been explained to your liking in the story.

As you may or may not have noticed, the word Zsaio is not in the dictionary or a known name, and no, it is not a misspelled word. This is because Zsaio is not English or French or any other known language for that matter. It is a word that means “the dark or evil one” derived from the Elf language in the yet-to-be-finished New Earth books, written by, well, me. Zsaio was called the Dark One because, prior to his death, Zsaio’s skin absorbed all light, rendering it completely black. He also possessed uncanny speed and agility making him seem, at times, like a living shadow. When the energy being resurrected him, Zsaio’s mutant powers did not return but the name Zsaio still applied.

Something else you may have noticed, if you are a Stargate fan, is the reference to the Asgard alien race. This is in no way, shape, or form related to the Stargate Asgards. The Asgards in this story actually encompass all of the major mythical gods of the Egyptians, Greeks, and Norse people and possess a completely humanoid form unlike the Asgard of Stargate.

And, last but not least, for those who are interested, there are other characters in this story that possess code names like the Flare.

James McKay’s code name is Koja, another Elf word meaning light which also translates into the name Luke.

Terra doesn’t need a code name since her name means earth.

Sam Strife doesn’t have a code name as well. Mustacheman and mustachio are just nicknames given to him because he refuses to shave his ridiculous mustache and sideburns off.

David Manning, the last member of the Four, goes by the name the Metalloid, being only partly metal when he transmutes his skin into and organic form of whatever metal substance he touches.