Soon, Shade, the shadow monster, appeared right in front of them with Brian. "I finally found you," said Shade. As soon as they saw him, Darren quickly stood up and shouted, "Brian!"
"What do you want?" Darren asked.
Shade replied, "Like I said, your power in exchange for Brian."
"My powers? How do they work? How do I give them to you?" Darren asked, but suddenly he found himself somewhere different. He looked around and saw a space with nothing but a clear sky. He noticed someone standing right in front of him. It was the Wizard he had dreamt of earlier.
The Wizard spoke, "You can't give up your powers."
"Why not? What should I do?" Darren asked.
The Wizard replied, "They may be the only hope all the realities have. If he gets your power, he'll be unstoppable."
Darren asked, "Then how am I supposed to defeat him?"
The Wizard replied, "With full access to dark magic, he'll be a lot stronger here. You can't defeat him. Not now, not here."
"Then what should I do?" Darren asked.
"Go back to your reality and use your power to close the breach. Without the breach, he won't be able to travel between dimensions. At least not for now," said the Wizard.
"Okay, so you said just by using my mind, I can basically do almost everything, right?"
"Yes," the Wizard replied.
Darren asked, "Okay, uh. So if I need your help again, how do I contact you? Do I just think of you?"
The Wizard answered, "I sent this message from the past. I saw the possibilities of the future, and I am here to guide you through it."
"And what about my friend, Brian? How do I save him?" Darren asked.
"Sometimes, in order to save everyone, you can't save everyone," the Wizard said, and a second later, Darren was back where he was before. He seemed nervous and worried.
Janet noticed and asked, "Darren, are you okay?"
"Yeah," Darren answered. He handed her the magic book and stood strong.
"So, what's it going to be?" asked the shadow monster.
Darren whispered to Janet, "Find someplace safe, alright? I have a plan." Janet ran not too far from Darren and hid behind a tree.
Once Darren saw Janet was safe, he answered, "No! I'm not giving you anything," and quickly shot blue energy out of his hand. Shade saw it and calmly used his hand to punch the energy, reflecting it back to Darren. Seeing this, Darren immediately created a circular shield in front of him. The shield, made of transparent light blue energy, blocked the energy from reaching him. Once the energy was blocked, Darren threw the shield forward at the shadow monster. However, the shadow monster easily redirected the shield with its hand, rendering it ineffective.
Shade spoke up, "Looks like you have learned how to use your power, huh? This is far from enough." As soon as he finished speaking, he stretched his arm and punched Darren again. This time Darren did not do anything, so he was sent crashing into a tree and fell down.
Seeing this, Janet quickly ran to Darren with concern. "Oh my God, Darren, are you alright?"
"Don't worry, I'm good," Darren replied, then disappeared from where he was. Shade stayed calm and looked around. A second later, Darren appeared on the right side of the shadow monster with a magic blue sword, slashing at Shade. However, Shade magically sensed where Darren was and what he was doing. He quickly grabbed Darren's magic sword and punched him again right in the face. This time Darren bounced off and rolled several times.
Shade, the monster, spoke again, "You knew you couldn't fight me. Why would you try?" Darren didn't say anything. He stood up and spoke, "Because that's what best friends do. I'm not gonna just let you take him knowing I have a chance to save him."
Darren spread his arms and made copies of himself. These copies, once created, quickly rushed to the shadow monster and started attacking. Shade was surprised by what Darren did, but he didn't panic at all. In fact, Shade stayed calm and randomly punched Darren's clones one by one. He still hadn't hit the real Darren but was enjoying the fight. Janet stood there watching Darren fight the shadow monster, not knowing what to do to help. After a while, Darren's clones kept the shadow monster busy. While Shade was punching Darren's clones, he didn't realize the real Darren was aiming a bow he created using his magic at him from behind. Shade smashed the ground, sending energy in all directions, causing all Darren's clones to disappear. However, by then, Darren had already shot a magical arrow from his bow. Shade hadn't prepared anything to stop the magical arrow. The arrow hit the shadow monster, causing it to bounce off.
Once Shade fell to the ground, Darren quickly rushed toward Brian. "Brian?" said Darren. Brian could not speak due to the dark vines that tied him. Darren saw that and tried to use his power to destroy the dark magic vines. He even tried to make them disappear, but they weren't affected by his magic at all. He took a step back and summoned a magical lead to pull them off, but again it didn't work. Meanwhile, Shade stood up quickly. A second later, dark magic from around started flowing into Shade. He got bigger and began moving toward Darren. Janet saw the whole thing and realized she still had her flashlight, so she quickly aimed her flashlight at Shade, slowing him down a bit. However, once Shade realized that, he quickly sent dark vines out of his hand. The vines quickly grabbed the flashlight and then he threw it out of Janet's hand.
Shade teleported behind Janet. Just before he was about to hurt her, Darren shot an energy beam out of his hand. This time the energy kept coming out and didn't stop. However, Shade calmly created an energy shield to block the beam. The shield did a great job; Darren's energy couldn't do anything to him. Seeing that, Darren increased the power of his energy, and it worked, knocking Shade further away. Once Darren saw that, he quickly rushed to Janet. Darren saw that dark magic was flowing into Shade once again. This time Darren was able to feel the ground shaking like an earthquake. Shade was already too strong to stop, and he couldn't save Brian. Knowing this, he knew he needed to make a tough call. In a brief moment, he decided.
"I'm sorry, Brian, I'm coming back for you, I promise," said Darren. He continued, "Go, Janet, let's go."
"Wait, what about Brian?" asked Janet.
"I'm coming back for him. I promised," replied Darren. Just before Darren and Janet left, Shade spoke in a low tone, "You think you've been chosen? You think you can stop me? This is far from over."
Darren summoned a force field, acting like a cage, locking Shade inside. "Let's go! That should keep him busy," they started running. Darren used his magic to sense where the breach was, so he knew where to go. After running for a while, Janet asked, "Are you sure you know where we're going?"
Darren stopped and closed his eyes for a second, then replied, "Yeah, I can sense the energy from the breach with my power. Just continue going this way for a bit and we will be there." They both continued walking and eventually found the breach.
"There, that's the breach," said Darren.
"So you're sure you want to leave Brian here?" asked Janet.
Darren sighed and replied, "I don't want to, but if there is anyone who knows what I should do to save worlds, it's the Wizard who gave me my power. I should do what he said to keep the world safe, but I promise I'm gonna come back for him."
"Okay," replied Janet. Just as Darren and Janet were about to reach the breach, Shade appeared in front of them.
"Come on, Darren. All this would be over if you just gave me your power, or better yet, I'll take it myself," said the shadow monster.
"Go, Janet," said Darren.
"What about you?" asked Janet.
"Don't worry, just go, alright? I will do what I should do," answered Darren.
"And what's that?" asked Janet. Darren replied, "Just go, alright?" Janet ran and jumped into the breach as Darren wanted. He wanted her safe. Shade started fighting by summoning dark magic vines out of its hand once again. The vines kept coming toward Darren. He tried to create a shield like before. It worked, but Shade quickly used his other hand to punch down the shield, easily knocking Darren to the ground.
Just when the vines were about to reach Darren again, a force field shield covering all sides popped up, stopping the vines. A man appeared. Darren recognized him. It was the Wizard from his dream. The Wizard looked back at Darren and said, "Go, get in that breach. I can't stop him much longer."
"Wait, I want to save my friend," replied Darren.
The Wizard replied, "You have to get back. There's no more time. Just remember, time is on your side." He sighed and continued, "Everyone is counting on you, Darren. Remember, time is on your side. Now go!" Once Darren heard that, he jumped into the breach and returned to his world. Once he got back to his reality, he quickly used his power to close the breach. It worked, and after a few seconds, the breach was closed. As soon as it was closed, Darren knelt on the ground and sighed. Janet was still there. She knew how Darren felt about having to leave his friend behind, so she quickly came to him and gave him a hug.
On the other side, once the Wizard saw the breach close, he disappeared, leaving Shade alone. He screamed out loud, "Nooo!" knowing his plan had failed.
On Darren's side, after a while, Darren decided to stand up. "I'm so sorry, it must be hard to leave friends behind," said Janet.
Darren replied, "It's okay. I just need more time."
"Okay, Would you go back for him?" asked Janet.
Darren answered, "I don't know, it's a tough call. If I go back for him and the world ends, then I...."
Janet consoled, "It's okay, I understand you."
They split up and went back to their houses. Since it wasn't morning yet, Darren decided to sneak into his house and go to sleep without his parents noticing. He wasn't in the mood to do anything or talk to anyone. Not long after, he went to sleep. However, this time, with the curiosity he had from the last conversation he had with the Wizard, he thought a lot of things still didn't add up, so he tried to use his power to talk to the Wizard once again. After a minute of trying, Darren finally met the Sorcerer again in the same clear space as before.
He asked calmly, "I don't understand. I thought you said Shade is dangerous to all realities. If closing the breach is all it takes to stop him and if he can't travel between dimensions, then how would he be dangerous?"
The Sorcerer replied, "I've seen many possible futures. Kid, after years, Shade will eventually discover a way to travel between dimensions, and that's when the chaos will begin. But now he hasn't yet, he's all focused on trying to get my powers. But trust me, the best outcome yet is this one. I can't tell you too much, but you'll know when it's time. Just remember time is on your side."
A while later, Darren ended up waking in his bed. He checked the time and saw it was nearly morning, the time he usually got up. He decided to get up. He barely got enough sleep, but today was Sunday, plus he wasn't in the mood to sleep anymore. He turned on the television and went to change his clothes. He didn't feel good, but he knew there was nothing he could do anymore to save Brian without risking the whole world. While changing his clothes, he heard the news on the television, "There's a robbery in progress at a grocery store near Central Mall. We're closing the parameters as we still haven't captured the thief yet. For your safety, if you're close, please stay in your house and lock your doors." Once he heard that, he thought for a while, then he saw a light blue cloak he had bought a long time ago. With that, he actually wanted to do something about it. He took the cloak and wrote a "D" on the chest as in Darren. He took a mask and wore it only around his eyes. With his cloak and mask, he was sure people wouldn't be able to identify his identity.
As he thought of that, he started using his power to find the thief. However, he couldn't. He remembered he still had the magic guiding book he took from the estate, so he opened it and looked at the important spells page. Darren extracted the symbols and put them in his head once again; he understood what they meant. After a second, he found the guide on teleporting. Darren followed the guide, he sat down, tried to stay conscious, and extracted more power from the blue artifact in the book. A second later, he saw what the thieves were doing. They were riding a motorcycle with what they had stolen. They were in a small street without people. Darren wanted to go there, so he tried to teleport. Darren hadn't officially tried this yet, so he did everything according to the book. Not long after, he finally did it. Darren appeared right in front of the thieves. He quickly shot out the same blue energy from his hand. The energy easily took down their motorcycle and knocked them to the ground.
One of the thieves quickly stood up, aimed his gun at Darren, walked forward, and spoke, "What do you think you just did? You think you're cool and invincible? You're not," as he finished his speech, he accidentally stepped on his own motorcycle and fell to the ground.
At this same moment, they heard the sound of sirens and cars. Darren looked back and saw police cars; they were coming.