New Darkstar: Mason's Legacy

Prologue (Benedict Crypt)

"How... how could you do this?!" I shouted at Sam.

Sam regarded the corpse of Uncle Dennis, whom he had killed with a horrifying slash of his black tail construct.

"This world... everybody here. They've always put me in a box... because of my parents." Sam seethed, eyeing at the rest of us with pure hatred.

"We're not saying that. You've been gifted with the powers of two of the greatest heroes in the history of Croft!" Jin yelled at Sam. We were in utter shock at what Sam had done. Up until now.

Sam was one of us. He was part of our group.

"We were supposed to be New Darkstar, Sam. What happened to our dream?!" I screamed at my brother. "You were supposed to be the greatest... you HAD EVERYTHING!"

"NO! I... Everybody here. They don't see me for ME. Why do I have to be a hero. Why do I have to follow in the same footsteps as Mom and Dad. I don't want to be known as Jason's son, or Amana's son. I want to be known as ME. WHY CAN'T ANYBODY UNDERSTAND?!" Sam roared, sending us back in a wall of red flames. A column of Sam's celestial fires, the same ones Mom had used, came racing towards Baxter, but Rift created a portal, sucking the fires into another dimension. Rift turned to me.

"Ben, we can't take Sam head on. We need to get out of here."

Tears raced down the side of my face. "Sam, if you do this... you will become an enemy not just to Corinth and Croft. You'll become an enemy to us. US. To ME! Your FAMILY."

Sam's face was full of hatred and pity. "If that's what it takes, to escape my shackles, then so be it."

I could only plead as Rift extended his hand, creating a breach that redirected Sam's fires back at him. But Sam took out Kronus and slashed the air. Citybreaker Smash. Dad's move. A huge black arc blasted the fires away as he turned to the Warpgate.

Rift held out his hands, and several breaches formed taking Baxter, Jin, Danny, Rigel, Lilith, Courtney, and I away from Corinth. I watched as my vision became warped, elongated from the reality bending power of Rift's breaches. I watched Sam open the Warpgate, to the dimension that held the Aspects prisoner.

Chapter 1 (Rift)

I could only transport so many people with so many portals to another location. That was as far as I could take them with my powers.

We fell through several trees as I landed on my ass. Damn rocks. I wasn't wearing my suit today, meaning my once very new looking flannel looked "farmerized". I got to my feet, groaning. We were all in shock after the brutal realization.

"Everybody alright?" Danny spoke to the rest of us. Leave it to Dan to be the adult. He was well older than the rest of us, and definitely acted his age. Supposedly, Dan was the test tube baby son of Samuel Mason. Yeah, you heard me. The Samuel Mason. The guy who fought the Prime Aspect, literal god of gods. And won. That guy. I definitely didn't believe him at first, since he was only able to use, like, 1% of Blackflame's powers. Absorption. This was probably not a good time to be thinking about something like that.

"No." Ben replied. The guy looked like he was on the verge of tears. I didn't blame him. His own brother turned out to be the Acolyte. He had betrayed us all, and all of Corinth. No one would have expected Samuel Crypt to be the traitor. He was literally the poster boy of heroism. Born to The Black Jason and The Fox, he had both his parent's powers. People would have expected him to be the next Blackflame. It sadly wasn't the case.

And now, with the Warpgate opened, I could only imagine how many Aspects were on the loose.

Jin put his arm around Ben while Lilith and Courtney turned to Danny for a plan. Rigel, as usual sat under a tree saying nothing. Of all the members of the Ghetto Ghosts, Rigel's powers were the most similar to Blackflame's. But he was waaaay more different than he was similar to the legend.

"We have to warn the Inquisition." Danny turned to us. "Look. I know. What we just witnessed. It's effed. But we need to keep moving forward. For Joust's sake."

The mood was sullen. But someone had to chime in. I spoke up. "You're right. But first, let me track down Lupine. I think we gotta tell him first." Danny nodded in agreement.

I closed my eyes, and concentrated. Feel the energies of the multiverse. A neon district. High rises. A middle aged man, lying in a bed. Greying curly hair and wolf-like features. That was him alright.

"Got him." I reported. I held out my fist and fired a blue vibrational blast which opened a portal to the alleyway of an apartment.

Lupine was lying in his bed, and he was getting much worse. We emerged from the portal as I shut it off. Ben ran up to Lupine and the guy gave him a hug.

"Hey kiddo. Tell me what happened."

Ben broke down in tears as he explained what had happened in our little venture. Our quest to locate The Acolyte, who had messed with the Inquisition and led to the destruction of Blackflame's universe. How Croft had been destroyed, and Acadia desecrated. And how The Acolyte was one of our own.

Toby regarded the kid with sad aged eyes. "It's times like these you must continue to keep fighting."

"Then help us, Uncle Tob." Danny stepped forward, taking Lupine's hand. But the old man shook his head. "I cannot. My body is deteriorating. As it stands, I cannot even move my legs. My wife had left me to hold back the Aspects long ago. It is my time to leave."

I could kind of see what Lupine meant. How could an old man do us any good? Maybe in his prime. But as it stands, there was no one in this multiverse that could stand a chance against Sam. Much less an entire horde of Aspects. The best man we have right now was Rigel, and if we sent him to fight Sam, he'd be squashed like a bug.

Lupine chuckled weakly. "Ah damn. If only that blockhead Sam was still around, eh? It never occurred to me, that the dumbest kid in Darkstar was always our greatest hope."

Danny looked away. "Father isn't here. I wish I could live up to his legacy."

Lupine put his hand on Danny's. "There's no need, kiddo. Sam, I mean Decen, was never the brightest tool in the shed. But there was always something that made him special."

"Like what?"

Lupine turned to us. "Heart. Sam never knew when to quit, even when the odds were stacked against him. That was what made him special." Lupine suddenly burst into a fit of coughing.

"Uncle Tob! Uncle Tob!" Ben and Danny tried to help Lupine as his life started to fade away. "I wish... I wish I could be there for you lot. But now it's your time. Both of you. To bring your brother back from this wickedness that has consumed... his heart..." Lupine's eyes blinked for the last time as Ben and Danny shouted his name.

Rigel walked up to me. "We need to go."

The rest of us was standing uncomfortably. I held out my hand and fired a portal to our hideout. We entered it to our base, to what was left of the Inquisition.