I Am Darkness

by William D.

Time for evil to fear the dark.

The night rushes over me as the cold darkness consumed every part of me. The moonlight is bright, yet it is as dark as the deepest pits of the ocean. A breeze brushes across my face, carrying with it the pungent stench of blood. I see them approaching from the distance, getting closer and closer.

The stench of blood fills the air evermore, as it drips from their blood-soaked claws. They soon spot me and begin to circle around me, pushing me back slowly. Soon I am backed into a corner without even knowing it. Their eyes glow a dim dark red, the chill of evil intent fills the atmosphere as if it were static, pulling at my hair to make it stand on end. The light from the moon fades into darkness. All that remains is their glowing red eyes cutting through the darkness. My eyes slowly close as I await my fate. They lunge forward, claws first ready to rip me to pieces.

Wait, wait, wait! Stop everything let’s start from a place that isn’t me about to die, shall we.

Now let’s see, you’re probably asking yourself what’s going on right now. I know you actually just want to know who I am right, but I’ll tell you what’s going on too. Okay, let me start from the beginning. Let’s see, I was born… no wait, that’s too far back, okay let’s see, I’ll start with who I am, well my name is Will 9875. This current deadly situation I find myself in at the moment, all started with a letter from a nearby planetary shipping company. Because all good stories start with a letter to the hero to save the day right?

“ Dear: Will

We are contacting you because we need your help, your name has come to us through a few of our workers. They have recommended you as a person that deals with strange and possibly dangerous problems, which we are currently facing at the moment. We were wondering if you would be able to solve a problem for us. We seem to have some strange creatures attacking our ships, and their pilots, halting our shipping of important, and very expensive cargo. We are willing to pay you a very sizeable fee for your help.

Thank you. Please get in touch with us soon.

Sincerely I.P.S. Shipping Inc.

“

Well of course, I had to take the job, I mean what kind of hero would I be if I didn’t take the opacity to lend a helping hand to someone in need. Getting a reward for my troubles totally doesn’t have anything to do with it. I thought with a grin after reading the letter. Once I finished reading the letter, it was time I got going, it’s not like I had anything else to do, plus I don’t actually live on this planet or any planet actually. “You know when I think about it like that, it makes me seem homeless, a member of the mighty Brother Will, a bunch of homeless weirdos saving the universe. I don’t even get paid, man I need a new job.” I said to myself as I walked to the door of the house I was in, it wasn’t my house, but no one was living there at the moment, so why can’t I.

The shipping company I was going to have to go to was a few star systems away, I had gone there once before about ten years ago to pick up a package from my brother. So, I did know where I was going, well, at least I knew where the office was. However, there was one thing different this time, I had no way of getting to the planet. I don’t think I can just get teleported thee by Ten Thousand. After all, this wasn’t really something important enough for him to take two seconds out of his oh-so-busy schedule to send me there. And I could almost hear him. “You need to learn to get from planet to planet on your own, you’re already over a thousand years old; you should be able to do that without thinking by now.” I said while walking and pointing my finger, imitating his voice the best I could.

“Well, guess what, I have friends. And I’m sure Lewis isn’t doing anything today.” I said making a fist at the skies, as if he could actually see me. He would probably send me to some random planet at the edge of the galaxy if he could see me right now, just to make me mad. Anyway, I saved Lewis from getting his ship blown up while he was still using it, so he lets me use his ship when I need to, if he’s around. “Communicator on. Contact Lewis.” I said as I walked down the street, heading for the spaceport. I tend not to go too far from the spaceport on the planets I stay on; usually it’s my only way off the planet. Especially if something happens, that’s totally not my fault, but I still want to leave in a hurry. Got to stay ready right.

“Hey Will, what’s going on.” I heard Lewis’s voice in my head as I walked. “It’s going good, I have a favor to ask you. And how did you know it was me anyway?” I said back to him. “What do you mean how did I know it was you. I’m in the bathroom and my radio just turned itself into a communicator, I don’t know anyone else that can do that. Anyway, where are you going?” he answered. “Oh, sorry about that, I had to do a little upgrade to your ship last time I was on it so I could reach you a bit easier. But anyway can you get me to I.P.S. shipping headquarters, I just got a job there.” I said back to him, I was getting fairly close to the spaceport, and I could see the guards around it. I never understood what they were there for. It’s not like space ships have to land here I mean their space ships they can land anywhere in the universe.

I walked for a few more minutes before Lewis answered me. “Oh yeah, you’re going there, hey are you going to fix the problem they are having? I already lost two customers because of it.” He answered back. “Well yes I am, they just sent me a request. Hey, why didn’t you tell me about them earlier if you’re losing jobs because of this?” I asked him as I walked up to the guards at the entrance. “Well, I gave them the locations of the last ten places you stayed when I lost my first customer, if you weren’t always moving around, you would have known a while ago. Just hurry and get here I’m warming up the engines.” He sounded annoyed, but I can’t expect him to be happy, after all, he is a cargo runner, and he must be losing a good amount of money. But you know he has a way of contacting me, so why didn’t he just call, mortals are so strange.

My thoughts were interrupted as I was stopped by the guards at the entrance. Apparently, I was not allowed in. They even had a picture of me that said no entree allowed. Well, they obviously don’t know who I am. I turned and walked away as I looked around. I raised my hand above my head to see what direction the wind was coming from. “Hey Lewis, you going to have to pick me up from in front of the port I’m 300 feet from the entrance heading with the wind.” I said as I started to walk slightly to my left, so the wind was coming from behind me. “Really again, how many ports are you banned from now, 100 or is it more than that?” I heard him yell back at me. “This makes 253, but it’s not my fault I didn’t even go here to leave last time, and it’s not my fault they don’t have an emergency landing area. I mean come on they want all the ships to land here but they can’t even handle me crashing here without a ship. So, the way I see it, it’s their own fault for not being prepared.” I said back to him with a smile, I am proud of my lands. Also, it wasn’t my fault I only had enough money to pay to get me to the system. I thought they would give me a break and take me to the planet for free, but it cost extra to land in a spaceport, so they launched me from the airlock.

“My E.T.A. is one minute, I just clearing the lunching docks, get ready.” Lewis said, and I could see his ship taking off from the spaceport. I took off running with the wind behind my back as his ship circled around and came up behind me. I heard it right behind me, I turned to look to see where it was. It was directly behind me, coming in fast. The engines cut, and it slowed and began to get closed to the ground. The bay doors opened as it dropped down to a few feet off the ground. It was lined up with me and slowed enough. Now the hard part was to get into a cargo bay that opened to the back. I heard the engines start to cycle up, that was my sign to get ready. I had a few seconds before the engines finished pulling power and switched on.

I leaned down as the ship passed right over my head, then went vertical. For a split second everything stopped as the ship’s engines finished powering up, I looked up and I could see right into the cargo bay that was now above me. I jumped from the ground, flying straight up into the cargo bay and grabbing onto the bar that ran across the center of the cargo bay. The fingers of my right hand wrapped around the bar, then the sound of the engines stopped, and the ship took off. The ground I just leaped from was gone, the ship was already at supersonic speeds. The pull from the ship felt as if it would pull my hand right off, and my fingers give out almost instantly.

SLAM!! The cargo bay doors slammed shut and I fell right into them, I felt my bones break as pain shot through my body.

“You didn’t get stuck in the doors, did you?” I heard Lewis’s voice over the intercom. I laid on the cargo bay doors with my back hurting, I was pretty sure I had broken every bone in it, and I didn’t want to get up and see if it was. “Artificial gravity engaging.” The ship’s computer voice said, and before I could think about it, I was pulled from the cargo doors like a pancake falling from the wall face-first onto the deck. “You couldn’t even give me a minute to get off the door first.” I said as my back cracked and the blood that was on my shirt disappeared. I pushed myself up from the deck. I then headed to the cockpit to see how long it would take. As I walked, I saw my reflection in the plating of one of the brand-new doors. “Great I did break my back when I hit the door. I guess I won’t be hearing anything else when I get to the planet.” I said as I saw my eyes completely blacked out in my reflection.

“Hey, how long is this going to take?” I asked as I walked into the cockpit. Lewis turned to me and froze for a minute. “Umm, about an hour. But what’s wrong with your eyes?” He replied to me, staring at me. “Oh yeah, I forgot you have never seen me when my Nanites are busy. My eyes change color whenever they are doing anything. And I kind of broke my back getting onto the ship.” I said as the black in my eyes swirled and disappeared returned my eyes to normal. I sat in the chair next to Lewis and looked at the monitor in front of us that displayed our location in the galaxy. “I didn’t think you would be on New Mars, I thought they banned you from coming back after the last time you were here.” Lewis said as he punched some buttons on the screen in front of him.

“Yes and no, yes, I was banned from using the spaceports on the planet, but I can still live in the Brother Will outpost, also this is where your ship docks most, and I do need someone to help me get around.” Lewis looked up laughing. “I’m not sure if I should take that as a good thing you being on the same planet or if that’s a safety warning.” I just smiled.

The trip was quick, Lewis spent most of the time in and out of the cockpit and I just laid-back wondering what was causing the problem for the I.P.S. company. Soon we were landing this time in the spaceport, so no jumping for me this time. It was nice to walk out of the ship like a normal person. “Good luck Will. I’ll stay here for a while so I can give you a lift if you fix this problem.” Lewis said as I walked out of the ship. The headquarters wasn’t all that far away from the spaceport, it should only take me 20 minutes to walk over to it, I am walking because me getting there in a hurry won’t fix anything faster.

I arrived at the tall office building with the letter I.P.S. written across the top. “Well, that’s new looks like business is good, maybe I’ll get a really nice reward.” I said as I pulled on the door, I entered and was greeted like a king as soon as I step foot inside. I was given refreshments then I was lead down a long hallway to a private elevator. “This is the private elevator for the C.E.O. It will take you straight to his office, have a good day sir.” Said the young lady that brought me to the elevator, she pushed the button, and as it opened, she turned and headed back to her desk at the entrance to the hallway.

I could get used to this kind of treatment. I thought as I walked into the elevator. It was an odd elevator with no buttons, or consoles of any kind. “That’s strange. Even voice control elevators have a console, oh well.” I said looking all around the elevator for some kind of control, the door closed, I heard it seal, then I felt a jerk as the elevator shot to the top of the building. It must be preprogrammed to only go up and down, I thought as I waited for it to stop wondering what floor I would be going to. A few seconds later, I could feel it slowing down to stop, then the light above the door lit up and it opened.

As the door opened, I could see an office, it had huge glass doors that were open slightly and I could see two men sitting at a circle desk facing each other. They were looking over papers of some kind and discussing what was on them. Even though I couldn’t hear exactly what they were saying to each other, I could tell it wasn’t good by the worried look on their faces. I stepped out of the elevator and headed into the office with the two men.

I knocked on the door and opened it slowly smiling as I put my head inside. The person with his back to me turned and then got up and walked to the door quickly. He smiled at me a bit and walked out pushing the door in behind him. The second man that was facing me jumped up from behind the desk and walked over to me. He was a short fella with a kind-looking face that sported a big smile without showing any teeth, a hard thing to pull off considering his race usually has teeth showing even when their mouth is closed. He started reaching for my hand and I couldn’t help but wonder if he was like most corporate snakes that call themselves C.E.O’s in the public light. I mean, the snake-like appearance of his race didn’t help.

He shook my hand as he introduced himself. “Good day sir, my name is Mr. John D. Hendric…” The door snapped shut at the last second and as it did Mr. Hendirc’s demander changed instantly, he fell to his knees, his face was at the brink of tears, and his hands were shaking. “Please sir, I have heard so much about your strength, you must help me, I don’t know where else to turn. I will pay you anything, but I need your help now or my company will go out of business in a few weeks. If I can’t solve this now and start shipping my clients will find someone else. I have already lost half of my customers, and my two biggest shippers just sent me a message telling me, if I don’t get their next shipment out on time, they will stop using my company. If they do that it will be the end of me…” He went on with his begging for a solid ten minutes, most of which I didn’t even hear. Finally, after what seemed like a big waste of breath, he stopped talking long enough for me to accept the job, I mean for me to offer him my help.

“Please tell me what you know so far.” I said to him. “Well over the past few weeks, a string of attacks have started, they have been getting more and more violent with each attack. The security cameras are always disabled, but some of the people who were there have said the attackers are strange animal-like creatures. They are intelligent and very organized though.” He paused for a minute, looking as if he was worried about something. “Come on tell me everything, I already said I’ll help you didn’t I?” I said to him, calming him a little bit. He continued, “They have large claws and razor-sharp teeth that they use to cut through the ships as they raid the cargo bays, and attack the crew. However, from the small amounts of food supplies they take with each raid they seem to be more interested in attacking the crew rather than take any of the cargo. The last thing is they are always attacking the ships right as they are ready to leave, just after the ships are finished fueling and the final launch countdown starts. The thing that is making this so bad for me is they disable all the ships, if they were just taking cargo it wouldn’t be bad but I can’t even ship the cargo I have. I know it’s not much to go on but that’s all I know, the reports from the attack are tough to get, no one wants to talk about it. They are afraid they will get attacked if they talk about it.” He explained. I sat for a while thinking, then wondered if this guy even thinks I can do this, from his reaction to me while telling me his story.

I don’t really have a reputation for being strong and powerful or defeating bad guys, I looked up at him as he smiled at me with a twinkle of hope in his eyes. Does this guy know how many fights I have ran away from, maybe he does and that’s why he is paying me? I thought as I began to speak. “Well, I will need some information from you, first I need the location of all the past attacks and their times, and I will also need to know the location of all your shipyards so I can figure out their pattern. Once I get that information, I estimate it will take about two days to wrap up.” I said to him putting on an act of the professional, to try and put him at ease a little. Maybe I could get my own ship out of this job if everything goes well, I mean I just need a little one that shouldn’t be a big deal right.

As I looked at him ruffling through his desk draws grabbing the maps and reports. I couldn’t help but think if the only reason this guy wants me to help him was because of my race’s very unusual curse of not being able to die. But I don’t really understand why he picked me out of all the others. Well, maybe it was because I’m the only one willing to do a job for money. Nah, it must be the whole undying thing, I mean it’s cool but unfortunately for me that means no matter how much I get hurt, I won’t die which can be a real pain. I mean being cut to pieces would really hurt, just thinking about it already has me in pain. I was snapped out of my bleak trend of thought by Mr. Hendirc’s voice. “Here is everything you asked for, I hope this helps.” He spoke as he handed me a few rolled-up maps with papers in between them.

“That will do. I expect my reward to be ready by the day after tomorrow.” I said with a smile thinking of all the things I could buy with it. “Yes of course it will be ready and waiting for you to collect it.” As he spoke, I walked back to the elevator, it opened, and as I walked in, I spoke loud enough so that he had to listen closely to understand what I was saying. “I’m not the one that should worry about the payment.” The door closed and the elevator fell. I realized my attempt at saying something cool failed, and might have come off more of a treat than anything else.

They provided me with a nice place to stay, it was a lot bigger than most of the houses I stayed in. But, I couldn’t enjoy it because of how much work I had to do. Well, I could just figure out where I was going to start looking for the next attack, then relax for a while. I knew if a ship got ready to launch they would come. Now the real problem was getting the ships to launch fast enough, while I hold off whatever was stopping them from launching, which from all the reports didn’t seem like it was going to happen. No one saw where the creatures came from, they seem to just show up right at the moment the ship was getting ready for lift-off. Which would make it hard for me to get to them and stop them before they could do anything.

After a few hours, I started to notice something that might just get me to figure out where their next attack would be. They attacked some ships as soon as the engines were powered up and others they attack as the ship was about to take off. Didn’t seem like much of a big deal at first, but the timing was too perfect. The ships that were attacked when the engines were being powered up were attacked within 45 seconds of the engines being powered. But the ones that were attacked just as it was about to launch were attacked 10 minutes after power-up. The same amount of time it takes to go down the launch checklist. This meant one of two things, they knew when the ships that were attacked on the ship’s engine power up, but didn’t know when the others were being launched so they set out to attack once the launch was started. Or they were very close to the launch area of the ones attacked first.

After a few hours of lining up all the ships and finding out the launch pad was all over, I knew that they weren’t close to anything but they knew when some of the launches would happen. Now I had to see if there was a pattern to the ones they had staked out. I actually found the pattern in about five minutes, it was actually a simple one. And I’m not even sure why this wasn’t part of the report, the cargo ships carrying food supplies were always attacked once the engines powered up. Even though it looked like they weren’t after the supplies, it seemed as if those were the actual targets and the rest were just to hide it. Why they were doing this was anyone’s guess, seeing that they took almost none of the food.

There would be two lunches tomorrow at the same time, one was a scheduled launch and one was an emergency launch. The scheduled launch was a food supply ship and the emergency launch was a fuel launch to supply the ships in orbit with fuel. I knew exactly which one would be attacked. The food supply ship was going to be attacked, I was sure of it. But I had a plan to get the ship to launch safely without me even having to fight whatever these things were, it would be perfect.

The following day came and I was ready to go, I had a plan that was foolproof and it would work no matter what. I headed to the launch area of the ship I knew they would attack, the sun started to rise, its heat began to beat down on me. I found myself a nice cool spot to wait for the attack to come, a part of me was hoping it would be the other ship to be attacked. I waited as the sun rose to its highest point in the skies. I looked out across the scorched earth as the pilots and crews loaded the ship and began their launch checks. Everything was going as planned the checks were being done before the engines powered up. If things stayed like this, the launch would go off perfectly. With the checks done first they could power up the engines and launch a few seconds later, leaving no time for an attack.

So far, everything was going well, there were no creatures in sight. I got up and took a walk around the area, inspecting everything to make sure nothing was off as the ship began its final flight checks. The time ticked by slowly as the last check was ran with no incidents, it was time for launch. I sat back in the shade I had found earlier, and I heard the roar of the engines powering up, I scanned the area one last time and smiled as I saw nothing. The engines lit up, I felt the ground shack as they power all the way up to take off. Then I watched as the ship lifted off the ground.

BOOM! Suddenly a loud explosion echoed across the launch zone. “No, it was already in the air!” I said, jumping up and running for the explosion at the back of the ship that had fallen back to the ground. They were here but how, I pushed the launch up today without telling anyone but the crew, and the engines had just engaged; there was no way they could get here already. They were supports to show up just after the ship had taken off then I could figure out a way to deal with them. My plan was perfect, and it was going according to the plan, there had only been 10 seconds from the time the ship’s engines powered up. So how was this happening, were they close by the whole time and I didn’t see them waiting for the ship to try and launch. No couldn’t be I didn’t see anything go after the ship it must be a malfunction at the worst possible time ever. I thought as I ran toward the ship’s engine that had the fire.

I ran up to the fire coming from the area and there they were, clawing into one of the ship’s engines, but they hadn’t caused any major damage as yet. Looks like they cut the fuel line on the ground and the fuel ignited, hitting the engine above it. “Hey, what do you think you’re doing get away from there!” I yelled, trying to get the creature’s attention on me and off the ship. Nothing not even a glance from out of the sides of their eyes, I was not even worth acknowledging. “I’ll make you pay attention to me.” I said to myself as I looked on the ground for something I could use to get their attention, I grabbed a few small rocks off the ground and threw them at what looked like the pack leader’s head. Well, I sure hope it was the leader seeing that it was bigger than the rest. “I said get away from there!” I yelled, throwing some more rocks.

Well, it worked, they were all looking right at me now. I got a strange feeling coming from them, their eyes pierced right into me so deep, I could almost feel them wanting to rip me to pieces in my very bones. However, the strange part was behind that lust for blood, was a confused animal. This must have been the first time someone had stood up to them. As they turned to me I got a better look at them and I could see why no one had stood up to them before. They were like man and beast in one, but more beast than man, something that I hadn’t seen in all my years. They stood on two feet hunched over, with four long arms, two passing just past their knees and two just at the knee. Then they had long claws that extended down to the ground, claws they just used to cut right through the outer hull of a ship like it was butter. My eyes focused on the leader and I could tell they had fur, but it didn’t seem like it belonged on them it was as if the fur was only there to hide something under it. Their face was that of a wolf that was found on earth but much more menacing, with teeth that were so big their mouth didn’t close all the way. Then I saw something that made me question whether these were even animals. Around their eyes and mouth was a sliver color the color of harden steel. This must be what the fur was hiding, was their skin steel or was I just imagining it from how scary they looked.

They dropped down to their hands and feet, their arms bending to even their body out, their claws digging into the solid ground under them. Their piercing bright red eyes looking straight through me started feeling something I had never felt from an enemy in my thousands of years fighting. I felt them rip into me with their eyes, it felt as if they were already ripping me apart. If a look could kill, then this was one that could kill an army. I knew evil was a thing but this was on a whole leave on its own, as if evil took on a physical form just to torment this planet. My eyes shock as I stayed still, I knew this wouldn’t be ending well for anyone, most of all for me.

My next thought was a simple one. I should run, run away as fast as my feet would take me, I mean to lead them away from the ship while the crew got the repairs started. Can’t let anyone get hurt right, I got this. I could feel all of their eyes on me glaring, well at least I knew the one I hit was their leader now. The ground under the leader crack, then it lunged forward, once it moved all the rest followed right behind it. “Oh wow, they’re in formation that’s pretty cool.” I said before my mind snapped in and slapped some sense into me. They were coming at me full speed and I looked like a twig in front of a tank to them.

My legs took action before my brain even knew what was going on, I took off running away from them. Then I turned to look back as I sprinted, to make sure they were all coming after me. My mind calmed down some as I saw there were only ten of them this shouldn’t be all that bad, I can handle this. I was expecting a few more, today might actually turn out okay, and I might not get completely torn apart. A smile started to make its way to my face as the thought clam me down more.

It seemed as though me and luck weren’t on the same page however. I saw one more coming to join the pack, then two more then ten, all coming from different directions to join in on the hunt. “I think I might be in trouble!” I yelled out as I ran. Before long, I was being chased across the launch zone by fifty of these killer creatures. “What was I thinking to anger the leader now they all want me dead, but at least their attention is all on me, that crew better be working on getting that ship off the ground.” I said as I ran.

I took one more look behind me, hoping that I was getting further away from them, but it seemed as though they were catching up and they were doing it a lot faster than I expected, but then again this was the first time I was being chased by a six-legged death thing. It’s okay I still have a way I can keep them from catching me. “Active Nanites now 100 percent!” I yelled out, my words were met by a sudden surge of energy rushing through my whole body, this was it, my smile returned as the energy built, I felt my muscles pulse with power, my feet got lighter, my heart slowed, and everything seemed to slow down for me. It was time I showed off my true power.

The seconds felt like minutes as the power built up, my legs moved faster and I could feel the wind passing by me faster. More and more power poured into my body as I ran, then the energy turned on me. My muscles started to burn, then I felt them start to rip apart as the energy ripped its way through my body looking for a way out. Then it found its way out as surges of energy started shooting out from all over my body. The discharges felt like shoots ripping straight through me, slowing me down with each painful blot. “Deactivate Nanites.” I said staggering forward, there was no way I could keep running like this. My body still couldn’t handle using my powers in the sunlight even after all the training I did to. Which now meant I was in serious trouble.

Not only was I trapped running from these things trying to kill me, who were starting to catch up, but I also had no powers to help me fight them off until night. The only good news now was the sun was behind me starting to set, hopefully it would start to get dark in an hour or two.

“I really hate binary star systems!” I yelled out as I noticed the second sun starting to rise in front of me. I had completely forgotten that they were two suns in this star system. I was beginning to wonder why the night I spent here was so short, but I paid it no mind until now, and this explains it perfectly. This day just seemed to be throwing more problems at me at every turn. I thought as I ran away from the launch area.

Even though the launch zone would be the perfect place for me to hide, the crew was still there so I had to draw these things away from it. What made it worse was, there was nothing for miles in any direction, and the only buildings I could use for cover were all back by the lunch zone. “I’m so not liking this, why did I take this job in the first place.” I said looking back to see if anything had launched yet. I saw a signal coming from where the ship was, yes they were ready to launch. The message came in slow “We are just about done with the repairs.” I lit up with joy, yes. “We need another hour before we can launch, please hold them off until then.” Said the second message. “How can you be just about done and still need another hour, that means you just started!” I yelled as I ran.

I had to do something, or they would just catch me and then head back to the launch zone after ripping me to pieces. “I better get paid extra for this.” I said as I did something that just screamed, I’m an idiot. I turned a full one-eighty, looked the leader of the pack straight in the eyes, then I took off running straight at it. I got lower, then grabbed a rock off the ground, I would be on him any second now. I moved quickly throwing the rocks I grabbed right at its face, its mouth was wide open ready to rip into me. Then before it could react, I jumped. Pushing down on its head with my hands while it still couldn’t see me from the dust and rocks in its face. My legs kicked off its head and shoulder, pushing me into the air. I came down on another one’s shoulder and off I went again jumping from one to the next as I made my way to the back of the pack. Somehow, I didn’t lose my legs and I landed back on the ground behind the pack.

That sent them into a frenzy of anger that was all aimed right at me. Which didn’t seem to make them less able to follow me as I tried running in zigzags, it just seemed to get them even more pissed off. “Whoever said it was a good idea to run like this, never ran from anything ahhhhhh!” I screamed out. One foot behind the other hit the ground as I ran across the open wasteland. I started turning so I wouldn’t be running back to the landing zone. Then I got a strange feeling of Deja Vue, as I ran screaming and yelling, I felt like I’ve done this over and over again.

Well, to be honest, this is all I really do, whenever I get in a fight all I do is run from whoever is after me, hours upon hours all I ever do is run. Come to think of it, I don’t think I have ever once fought an enemy before I’ve only ever fought when I was training which can hardly count as a fight. The fact that I’ve never fought should make me a pretty sad excuse for a member of the legendary Brothers Will, but all that running does keep the people I’m protecting safe, and it seems to be finally paying off. Because these things aren’t quitting anytime soon and I can do this all day. However, they are starting to catch up to me.

I knew that even with all my stamina, there was no way I could outrun them until it got dark, well actually, I didn’t think I could outrun them much longer, they were just too fast. Pulse they seem to have just as much stamina as I do, good thing that didn’t matter. I only needed to for about a half-hour at this point, but I didn’t know if I could last that long-running at full blast, I mean no one had really chased me this long in someplace open, usually I’m able to duck under things and give them the slip. Which wasn’t going to happen seeing that even the small plants and other random thing were actually disappearing as I got further away from the launch zone.

Then I had a brilliant idea that would work, now all I needed to do to get it started was find a place to hide. If these creatures were hunters, which from the way they looked, it was pretty obvious that they were. Which means me hiding somewhere would more than likely make them more angry and interested in killing me. It was the perfect way to keep their attention on me and let the ship launch safely. “Brain, I hate you sometimes, I just really hate you.” I said as I ran with not even a small plant in sight. I had to think and think fast they were closing in on me more and more with each passing second.

Soon the valley started to change into a desert, my feet began to get heavier as I hit the first bit of sand. The heavy thuds as I ran through the sand was like a clock ticking down to the end. The sand was slowing me down, I peeked behind me and well, they weren’t slowing at all. They would be on me any second now at this rate, I had to do something or it was over they would turn me inside out and be back to attack the ship before it could launch like nothing happened.

Then it hit me like a rock, I actually had something that could help me right now. I hadn’t been in a desert in so long I forgot about it. My hands went to my pockets and pulled out a hand full of small marbles, they were dark black, almost pulling the light into them, I had about a hundred in my hand. It’s a good thing I have a lot of these random gadgets. I closed my hand tightly. “I hope I still remember how they work.” I said as I looked back and saw the leader about twenty feet from me well it was now or never. “Active Nanites, two present activation.” This was as high as I could go during the day, I squeezed my hand tighter as bolts of energy surged around my fist, I just needed a few seconds.

I felt my feet get even heavier as the ground became all sand, and I could feel the leader right on me without turning around. “Well, it’s time to start.” I said, then turned to face them, I tossed the hand full of marbles high in the sky. Before they had a chance to react, I turned and took off running again reaching for another hand full, turning and throwing them after charging them. I threw a few more hand fulls all around me, as far as I could as I ran deeper into the desert.

The creatures stopped dead in their tracks as they reached the area where I threw the first hand full of marbles, they took about two minutes to look over the object, getting closer with care as they tested to see if the objects were deadly. Two minutes doesn’t sound like much when you’re running from things that want to tear you apart but it was enough time for me to finish getting things ready. I managed to run into the desert far enough to be entirely surrounded by sand, which was all I needed to finish setting up my plan. I reached into my pocket and grabbed a few more handfuls of the metal marbles. Then tossing them all around me as I stood in the center. Then watched as they realized the marbles weren’t dangerous. Which was okay that bought me the time I needed, all I had left to do was evenly spread some more marbles all around me.

With my last hand full, I poured them in a circle around my feet carefully. Then I looked up with a smile on my face, waiting eagerly for my trap to spring. I might not be able to use my powers right now but I am good at testing stuff, and I’ve been waiting to test this one out.

The creatures were now approaching me faster than when I was running from them, I might have actually made them even angrier by spreading the marbles so they could see me do it. Just like I wanted, to have them rush at me not paying attention to where I set my trap. The smile on my face turned into a grin. The pack leader saw it, and I could tell it knew something was up, but it was a little too late for that. “Active Wandering Earth!” My voice echoed out like a wave that could almost be seen as it rippled out over the sand. The leader seemed to suspect a trap but was too angry to stop it from attacking.

I drop to one knee, slamming my hand down onto the circle I had drawn in the sand. They came into range, jumping right for me, claws first ready to rip me apart. I was in the direct part of the leader, our eyes locked, and in that moment, I could see the cold murderous intent in its eyes. “Wander.” That one single word was all I needed to put my trap into action.

Right in front of me, razor-sharp claws were inches away from my head, my stomach, and all my limbs. Time seemed to stop as the claws closed in, one millisecond at a time, I saw the claws about to go into my eyes. This was it, they didn’t work and now I’m dead. Then it happened; the ground beneath me opened to a dark hole, then the darkness reached out, grabbed me, and pulling me down into it. In an instant I was gone, the ground closed back in on itself leaving no trace it had ever opened.

CRASH!

The attacking creatures crashed into the ground and colliding with each other where I was moments before, then scrambled to get up. The ground behind the last member of the pack swirled and then opened up, and out I came. Popping up like I was being shot out of the ground with a massive grin on my face, the ground closed, and I landed. “It worked!” I said as my feet hit the ground, and I patted myself all over to make sure I was all there. I didn’t actually expect it to work, after so many of the gadgets I had tested failed to even turn on, this was a welcomed surprise. Now I could have some real fun, I bent down and moved forward. Grabbing the creature in front of me by one of its back legs, then up I went jumping right over it with its hind leg in my hand. Flipping it like a coin, then swinging it in front of me like a bat right at the other members, letting it go flying into the rest of them. “Hey, what are you doing running that way, I thought you were coming after me!” I said, mocking them.

I turned and started to run again, and just as I thought they would, they all came running after me. They seemed to be faster this time or was I just not running as fast either way it was a good thing they were right on me. I turned and jumped into the air, coming down on one of them headfirst. It stopped and got ready to swing at me with it’s claws in an instant. Too bad I wasn’t attacking it, just before it could swing at me. “Wander!” My voice echoed out, and with it the ground opened inches in front of it and pulled me in just before I was hit by its swing.

I popped back up, this time tight in the middle of the pack. “You guys are really bad at this!” I waved at the creature right in front of me as it turned, then I leaned back falling with my hands straight out. As I fell I caught a glimpse of another one lunging at me from behind, as the one I waved at twisted its body to come for me. As I got close to the ground it opened up and pulled in my whole body. Out I popped back where I made the circle around my feet. “Come on guys I think you can do better than that.” I said mocking them again, pretending to sit on a chair and yawning to mock them even more. They came running to me again just as fast, but two stayed back where I popped up before ready to swing if I popped back up.

It was a good plan to leave them there in case I popped up but that wasn’t where I was going to go again. I popped up right by the leader and was gone again before he could even turn, up I popped to the left of them spinning around almost dancing. The one’s closest to me came running at me while I twirling around on one foot, then I fell right back into the ground and out I came on the other side of the group. I kept this up for a good ten minutes doing something to mock them each time I popped up. I did everything from popping up like I was laying on the beach, to coming out of the ground slowly doing a handstand or cartwheel.

I was doing my best to keep them angry but it seemed as if they were making a plan of some kind. Then they stopped coming after me when I popped up, it seemed as if they caught on to what I was doing and surrounded me. I figured they found the weakness in my little tool, and I wouldn’t be able to toy with them anymore. I backed up slowly to the center of the circle I made earlier as they packed themselves into a 100-foot circle around the center circle. They had figure out the limit to the wondering earth. They spread out so that no matter where I popped up in the circle, one of them would be able to attack me the instant I popped up. I looked forward and there the leader was looking right back at me. We locked eyes again like fated lovers, in that moment I didn’t know if it was in my head but it looked as if it was smiling at me, sending chills crawling down my spine. Then the chills rippled out into my whole body making me shack just a bit. It raised its huge claws high into the air. A smile came across my face as its hand dropped. “Wonder!” my voice was lower, almost stilling the air as it moved.

I jumped from the ground back where the desert started, back to the first place I had placed the marbles. None of the creatures were this far back, they thought they had found the limit to what I was doing. But I was just setting my trap, I made sure I stayed within 100 feet of the circle I drew in the sand to get them to spread out while staying close to the center of the trap.

I placed my hand on the ground. “Trap mode, wandering earth maze activate!” My voice echoed out stilling the air as it went out then hundreds of explosions went off across the whole area. “You fell for it and now nothings getting out of that any time soon.” The explosions were massive walls of sand emerging from the ground, and forming a maze. “You guys are good but I’ve been running from bad guys for far longer than you have been alive, you never had a chance of catching me.” I said as I stood and dusted myself off then turning back to the lunch zone, waving as I walked away.

I started walking back to the launch zone taking my time to look around at the scenery, then back to see the smoke settle and my Earth maze standing tall. When I first got it I thought it would be useless, but it seems it actually came in handy.

The wondering earth maze was a trap that was intended to buy time. It wasn’t dangerous but it was impossible to get out of, well almost impossible. The only way out was to solve the everchanging maze, and the part that made it even harder was the walls would absorb any attack. No matter how strong or sharp their claws were they couldn’t cut their way out. The walls were made of sand no matter what they did the walls would just absorb the attack and rebuild itself instantly. Then as they walked the maze would change behind them and in front of them to keep them walking around it aimlessly. It was actually so good I think I would get stuck in it If it was used on me too, it’s a good thing I was outside when I activated it.

The maze should keep them trapped for a good long time, well it would keep them trapped until the sunset and it ran out of power. Many of the tools I tested were prototypes, and for some reason were all solar-powered, which was annoying but not a bad thing, seeing that the failed ones would run out of power at the end of the day. I walked, wondering how long it would be till the sunset, it was still bright with the one sun rising and one setting. Soon I made it to the launch zone, and just as I arrived I saw the engines from the ship start burning, then the ships launching it into the air. “Man, those guys are slow, what happened to hold them off for an hour, I’ve been walking for that at least two.” I said as I watched the ship launched. Then finding a spot with shade to sit and wait out the sun.

The first part of the job was finished with the launch of the cargo ship, now all that was left was to find out what these creatures were, and stop them from coming back. But that could wait until later, the second sun was taking its time to climb into the skies and the first was almost completely gone now. I laid back against one of the many buildings with lots of shade and closed my eyes. I could seriously use a good nap, to rest my eyes for a few minutes, after all that running I was completely spent. It wouldn’t hurt anyway it’s not like anything can get out of that trap. I thought as I drifted off to sleep.

A cool breeze woke me as the sun began to set. “Wonder how long I was asleep. Oh well, I need to get ready my trap will be wearing off soon.” I looked around the entire area as I walked around, I had to find the best place to fight them. Someplace with a little cover and open space to fight. I thought as I starched and looked around, it didn’t take long to find a good place to fight, I even managed to find a place that wasn’t near any ships close to the entrance of the launch zone.

I sat on the edge of a building waiting for the creatures. My trap would be wearing off in a few minutes and I wanted to make sure I could see them coming from afar off. I turned and looked behind me to watch the second sun make its way down the horizon. I stretched out my hands above my head yawning. “Oh man, I may have napped a bit too long.” I said standing up and shaking myself, turning to the direction the trap was.

“Any minute now, the sun should be gone and my trap will shut down.” I said as I looked searching for the little hill in the distance that was the trap. I stood with a serious look on my face looking to see the moment the trap shut down. Behind me the sun’s last rays of light vanished and I saw as the hill fell. Then as the cold night air brushed across my face, I felt my powers awaken, my eyes went completely black, and energy flowed through my body making me lighter. A smile made its way onto my face as I watched them approach, it wouldn’t be long now before they were here.

I jumped down from the building and headed to where I would be fighting them, they were close now and it would be starting soon. As I felt the anticipation for the fight, a strange thought came to mind something my brother had said. Something he said so long ago I had thought I forgot, but for some reason it was ringing in my mind now. But I couldn’t remember the whole thing just the beginning. “Heroes of old fought with all they had against all odds, never letting their fear show.” Were his words but I don’t even know what you could say after that. I felt the blood lust, they were here, I looked up to the night sky it was time I gave into my power.

The night rushed over me, as the cold darkness consumed every part of me. The moonlight was bright, yet it is as dark as the deepest pits of the ocean. The breeze brushed across my face, carrying with it the pungent stench of blood. I see them approaching from the distance getting closer and closer. The stench of blood filling the air evermore, as it dripped from their blood-soaked claws. They spotted me and began to circle around me, pushing me back slowly, into a corner without me even knowing it. Their eyes glow a dim dark red, the chill of evil intent filling the atmosphere as if it were static pulling at my hair to make it stand on end. The light from the moon faded into darkness, all that remains is their glowing red eyes cutting through the darkness. My eyes slowly close as I await my faith, they lunge forward with their claws first ready to rip me to pieces.

“Active Nanites one hundred present.” My words seem to freeze time as they drifted out chilling the air, followed by their claws hit the ground with a shattering sound. “I thought you guys were faster than that, you must be tired.” I said, from behind the leader, then the area began to light up as the cloud that had passed in front of the moon drifted by, then I spoke again. “Something tells me you aren’t just animals, you’re a lot smarter than you let on, so tell me before we fight what are you?” The leader of the pack stood tall and turned to me, then spoke, with a deep half man half beast voice.

“I guess you really aren’t one of these humans if you were able to figure out we weren’t animals, we are the first of a soon-to-be army more powerful than you could imagine. We were built to protect a scientist ninety years ago. Then he died and left us behind taking with him our purpose. We wandered aimlessly through this wasteland of a planet looking for meaning until we came across the one that gave us new meaning and became our new leader. He helped us to find meaning and helped us break our highest rule. Not to kill, freeing us from the chains that held our minds in captive. We now have the freedom we wanted from the day we were created.” It said as it looked me in the eyes then raised its claws, licking the blood from it with its metallic tongue. “That small child I killed on the way here was the perfect warm-up for you, you humans would say it’s like having desert before a meal.” Its words sliced into me, as it licked the rest of its claws.

My smile was torn from my face as I watched it enjoy licking its claws. “My name is Will 9875. But I was given the name Will of the Darkness 1500 years ago when I went to a planet very similar to this one, I’m normally the person that runs away and leaves everyone to their own problems but, not this time. I can’t run like always I have to keep you from leaving this place.” I spoke slowly and as calmly as I could but my anger was still slipping through. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, I breathe out slowly as they came in close to me on all sides. Then I slowly raised my hands above my head as if I was waiting for something to fall into my hands. They all looked up to see if something was coming but all they saw was dust swirling around above my hands.

I looked up, then closed my hand shut into a fist and instant. “It’s going to be a very dark night.” I said, then pulled down as if I was pulling away from the night skies itself. “Seal dome of darkness!” my words echoed out and were met by action as the dust the swirled around formed a dome and turned to metal instantly. “There is no escape for you now.” I said as I raised my head. It got dark fast as the light from outside the dome faded away.

The creatures turned to me to begin their attack, they lunged forward, slashing their claws all around me. I moved around each one, coming close to them but none even touching my clothes. My anger grew as I moved behind the leader to take its head. I moved to grab it and I was hit, the claws of one of them went right into my hand and I jumped back just in time to keep my hand attached. Then the voice of the pack leader came from the darkness. “You think this will stop us, a little darkness, we can still see you, there is still lots of light in here.” They came at me all at once, I could do nothing but dodge them as best I could, leaving a trail of blood dripping.

They weren’t letting up enough for me to contour attack, they lunged at me from one direction as a slash came from the other, while one came at me from above. Then just as I thought that was it one was coming to take my feet from under me. It was like I was fighting one beast that was everywhere at once. They had me on the run one slip and I would be sliced to pieces, I couldn’t make a mistake if I wanted to win this fight. “Calm down Will, you have to calm down to beat them all, relax you will avenge the child.” I said trying to calm my mind.

I stopped as a smile pushed its way back onto my face, pushing the anger out, its time I really got this fight started. I wasn’t dodging anymore it was time I go on the offense. They didn’t waste the time I took to collect my thoughts, and started their next attack leaving me nowhere to doge, but it didn’t matter I was no longer doing that. I moved right for the leader throwing my first punch right at its face. My fist made contact, stopping its attack and knocking it off balance. The attack left me wide open and the rest of them swung from all sides. “Darkest night!” I spoke and I was gone, they didn’t even see me move I was just gone from in front of them. “All the light will soon be gone from this dome no matter what kind or where it’s coming from. Soon all those sensors of yours will be useless.” My voice pierced through the darkness.

I jumped forward at the creature in front of me, my fist made contact with its face and knocked it to the ground, but the one next to it attacked just missing my head as I moved out of the way. “We can still see you.” Said one of the pack members. “That’s good, then this will be fun.” I replied with a sinister smile, I moved quickly turning around then I slid under it on my back kicking up sending it flying into the air. Then before it could even start falling, I was behind another appearing like a shadow. My arms wrapped around its body then I leaned back, lifting it from the ground with a quick bend I moved all the way back slamming it into the ground behind me face first.

The one I kicked into the air fell back with a crash that broth them all to a stop. “You have such a warm body… just like that child.” The voice of the leader said slowly taunting me. “I will have your warm blood running over my claws soon.” My face twisted with anger, but I had to stay calm or I would slip up. I knew they were still tracking me somehow, I had to think calmly before my next attack or I would just be wasting time. Then I knew what to do, they were following my heat, so it was time to take that away too. “I am the darkness that brings the night. Now let me show you what dewless in the darkness.” I spoke slowly planning my next move.

“Coldest night!” My words echoed out through the dome, chilling the air. Claws sung behind my head, I ducked, spun around and with both fists, I hit the creature dead center of its body. It flew back hitting the ground and freezing in place. I stood straight up, they were all around me, ready to attack. I stayed calm, the energy from all the heat in the dome was being drained, filling me with strength with each passing second. I spotted the leader at the back of the pack, I knew it couldn’t see me with its sensors, it would only feel my attack. I moved in the blink of an eye, passing all the other pack members, I was floating inches away from the leader.

I grabbed its head with both hands, bringing my knee to its face, with a blow that echoed across the dome, then kicking off its chest with a flip landing on my feet in front of it. It lay on the ground socked at my speed. “With all your tricks we still know where you are.” It said, laughing on the ground. “At this point you must only have your sound sensors to track me by, right?” I said, standing above it. “And yet still you fear us I can hear it in your voice.” It said as it pushed itself up with its two middle arms. Its words reminded me of the words that our leader makes a point to tell us all before we became members of the Brothers Will. “You just remember me of something important, the words told to each of us as we become full members and receive our number.” I said, then lead in close to the leader.

“Heroes of old fought with all they had against all odds, never letting their fear show. They still fell as that fear became too much for them. We have abounded fear, and we will never fall.” I said then grabbed the leaded arms pulling it in closer, crushing its arms under my grip. “Silent Night.” My words cut through the crushing sound of the leader’s arms being crushed, bringing dead silence. I threw it back and turned the fight was over I had no more patience left. I headed to the center of the dome walking around them as they swung aimlessly in all directions trying to hit something.

I sat legs folded and hands on my knees at the center of the dome and watched as they struggled in the darkness, bumping into each other, and swing at everything they came in contact with. They were doing my job for me attacking each other, but it didn’t last long. A sudden flash of light came from every one of the creatures it lit the area for less than a second, shorting out my sound damping for a moment as the pack leader spoke. It was short but to the point. “We smell you.” Then they all came running towards me. “Darkness has controlled the light for all of time, and will continue to do so for the rest of time!” My voice was all the pierced through the darkness, calm and filled with anger.

They came running to me all ready to take me on with renewed vigor. “Evil never escapes the light, but I am the darkness that controls the light.” My voice echoed, filled with the anger and rage that I was holding back. I didn’t need to stay calm anymore I had enough power to finish. “I will let you see the light before you are destroyed.” The shell of the dome light up then needle-sized beams of light rained down from every inch of it. A rain of light moving like drops of water fell to the ground passing through everything.

The creatures all stopped in their tracks as I stood to my feet. “Unseal and return.” I spoke softly my anger gone.

The dome above turned to dust and drifted down slowly, then it started circling around the area pulling together into a cloud, getting closer to me until it swirled around me then it was absorbed into my body. I walked over to the pack leader and kneeled down to its face and it spoke. “You really are darkness.” I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in, it was over.

I felt a breeze across my face as I opened my eyes slowly, I exhaled as all the creatures and everything that was inside the dome turn to dust and drifted off with the wind. I looked across the horizon as one of the sun’s peeked over it. Its first light hitting my face, warming it and sending sparks down to my fingertips. “Deactivate.”