Jake was in the same darkness as so many times before.
But he was calm.
He greatly preferred the cold silence of the darkness over the horrors outside of it.
But something was different. When he looked down, he saw a large ripple below him. A ripple where Barry's domain used to be.
What could this mean?
Is Barry's not the one who brought him here?
"Pay no heed to the failure young seed" A soothing feminine voice said to him.
Jake turned slowly only to be caressed by a soft and gentle hand.
A hand made completely of darkness.
A slender beautiful woman was befoe him.
A woman covered head to toe in pure darkness.
She was holding him, caressing him like how a mother would for her son.
Jake felt at peace.
"Oh my sweet seed, you are in so much pain. So much sorrow. If only I could help you." The woman said, sliding her delicate palm all over Jake's currently naked body.
"Help me? W..who are you?" Jake asked nervously.
"Me? You may call me, Umbra. I am the one who bestowed upon you your shadow powers. I helped you defeat your old friend not so long ago. I helped you heal your friend. I am the reason your innate muman ability awakened. I wish they didn't really. Since they kept you away from me. Well, that and the failure."
"Failure?"
"Oh enough about him! The less said about him the better. He is not why I brought you here."
"Then why did you bring me here?"
"To help you of course. Just like I helped you heal your friend."
"But Barry said you..."
"Oh my pure innocent child. Do not listen to the cancerous words of a traitor. Not if you want to save those close to you."
"And how can you save me?"
"Lend me your body. Let me control you and I will save everyone. It's as simple as that."
"H..how could I trust you? After all what the Baron told me?"
"How could you trust the Baron? You have only heard of me through his treacherous lips so give me chance my dear seed."
"And what do you gain by helping me?"
"Oh you'll see."
Jake looked at Umbra with confusion. On one hand, this could be his chance to save Ivy and the little boy and stop Mr E. On the other hand, this could be the worst decision he ever made.
One thing was certain, someone he cared about was in danger. Someone who had nothing to do with this was in danger. So many people were in danger and he could nothing about it.
But maybe she could.
Consequences be damned.
Jake reached out his hand to the woman of darkness which shocked her quite a bit.
"Wow... you really are a sensible mortal aren't you my dear seed..." She said with a slight grin.
"J..Just save everyone and take down Mr E. Please don't pull anything. " Jake said looking away from her devious yet attractive grin.
That is when she hugged him tightly.
"Thank you.."
Out of nowhere, she kissed him on the lips.
Matter of fact, that was Jake's first kiss and never in his wildest dreams did he think was goint to be to a being of pure darkness.
Before he could process the kiss however, he felt something liquid invading his body.
The darkness was flooding him, consuming him. He began to panic but all he heard was a simple...
"Easy my seed. Now the light shall fall and the Shadow shall rise."
Jake closed his eyes and accepted the cold embrace of the darkness entering his mind, body and soul.
Mr E looked at Jake in utter confusion. Just a minute ago this boy was sweating all over struggling to make the most difficult decision of his life.
Now he sat still blank face.
For a moment, he thought this boy had died on the spot. It was only a moment though, as the boy's eyes turned pitch black and a shrill scream of pain left his now gaping mouth.
Ivy watched terrified at what Jake was doing. She barely understood what was going on or how she or Jake had anything to do with that psychopath. But she was scared. More scared than she had ever been in her life.
Not of the man that kidnapped her and made her a pawn in his little death game.
But of the monster Jake was becoming.
Jake's body soon melted into a puddle of black goo. Mr E watched in confused wonder at what was happening.
He never saw it coming.
In a fraction of a second, a giant hand lunged at him from the pool of black liquid and slammed him into the nearby advantagem wall.
Cracking it.
What was before him wasn't Jake however. But something else entirely. Neither Jake, nor Umbra. An entirely new being born from the merging of the two entities. The mortal and immortal. A tall lanky being of pure darkness stood before him. Holding him by the neck like a grown man holding a newborn infant.
This beast went by only one name. The Shadow.
Mr E was in awe of this beast.
"Incredible! I have no idea what this is since all I was aware of was your kinetic energy abilities but this is much better! You've accepted your innate primal nature it seems! Congratulations! You made the right choice. No morals or love, just pure savagery! Now here is your prize." Mr E screamed while laughing frantically.
Mr E's palm morphed into a large mouth and he pulled out a remote. In the push of a button, the green fluid drained into both the child and Ivy simultaneously.
They screamed, cried and writhed in agony at the sudden mutation that began soon after. Their bodies broke and reformed in the most painful way possible.
"Now you'll get to see your allies join your ascension!"
Jake, now the monster known only as Shadow, watched the two transform from an innocent boy and girl into a giant mutated eel and snake monster.
The eel was the length of ten men. It had long slender arms and a big gaping mouth filled with rows of sharp teeth.
The snake resembled a woman but had a snake's tail for legs and snake's for hair. A modern day medusa complete with glowing red eyes.
The beasts roared loudly and it was abundantly cleared they had lost all semblance of their respective sanities.
"Look at them! Just as beautiful as you! Soon all of Empire city will turn just like them. Soon the earth will be as it should be. A paradise of instinct and carnage! A beautiful bloodbath of evolution!!!"
Shadow threw the mad man across the room and focused it's attention on the two monsters before it.
However, these beasts didn't acknowledge him but rather the tied up Luther Cain who could only watch in terror as his own son was now a beast of pure instinct and bloodlust.
His son, now an eel like monster similar to what he beczme when he took the mutoxin ever so long ago lunged at him with immense ferocity and Luther could do nothing to stop this attack.
Luckily Shadow stopped it for him.
The two beasts clashed in an epic battle of tooth, claw and nail but the large eel was no match for Shadow's immense ferocity and power. Slashing the monster through the flesh with his large claws of pure darkness Shadow emerged from the battle victorious.
As the beast fell to the floor in pain, the mutoxin poured out of the eel's torso and it slowly went from a savage beast to a little boy, crying and spasming.
As the Shadow approached it's quarry, it began to stop in it's tracks as it's entire body hardened and before it could react, it turned to stone.
This sudden attack was done by none other than the giant snake haired monster Ivy had become.
She had gained the ability to shoot red beams from her eyes. Beams that turned anything into stone. As she focused her gaze to the terrified Luther Cain, she noticed a black liquid oozing out of cracks that suddenly appeared from the stone Shadow.
The creature's instincts went on overdrive once she saw this. It only told her one thing.
RUN.
And run she did. Not precisely running, but slithering away at high speed to avoid whatever was about to happen.
She suddenly noticed the black liquid following her and in an instant, it was right below her.
Before she could escape, a large hand, similar to the one that grabbed Mr E grabbed her by her face and slammed her right into the ground at such force it cracked through the advantagem like glass.
The resulting injury caused the mutoxin to leak out of her body and she soon transformed back into her human self.
It was over. Shadow had won.
Now it was time to reap the spoils.
Shadow grabbed the now naked Ivy and raised her above him with his large yet long and lanky hands. It opened it's mouth to reveal rows and rows of pitch black sharp teeth, all canines.
As he brought Ivy close enough to bite her head off, Mr E watched in immense excitement after the unfolding scene.
This was everything he wanted. Strength above weakness. And finally taken your prey as your own. The ultimate feeding relationship. One lives, one dies.
But Luther Cain soon ruined it.
"Hey! What the fuck are you doing kid?! Aren't you supposed to be helping us?!"
Luther shouted at Shadow with all his strength, drawing it's attention from the meal to this foolish human.
He dropped Ivy and lunged at Luther with killing intent. Luther could only close his eyes and cry as the beast got closer by the second.
But before he did, he got a good look at Mr E who was ecstatic at the incoming bloodshed.
Only one thought filled his head at that moment.
He would rather die than see him get that satisfaction.
Shadow suddenly stopped. Mr E's excitement died at once. Why you ask? Because Luther looked at the beast so intensely with his bright blue eyes that it stopped the creature in it's tracks.
Why did it stop? What got in the way of it's incoming bloodshed?
Jake.
Inside Jake's head...
"So this is what you want me to be." Jake said as he began resisting the darkness.
"Wh...what are you doing?! How are you still conscious?" Umbra said, shocked at what Jake was doing. A feat thought to be impossible.
Resisting the darkness.
"You want me to be some kind of monster.
Hell, I almost was. If that guy didn't stop me, I would've let you do whatever you wanted without realising it."
"H..how? How could the gaze of a lowly mortal overcome my control over you?"
"Because that gaze is what I should stand for! That gaze is one of a helpless man with no one to help him. No one to save him. But still refused to give up hope. To make sure those who wish to hurt him don't get the satisfaction of seeing him hopeless! That is enough to wake me up from any bullshit mind control!"
"N..no matter, you've already accepted me into you. You are mine now" Umbra said as she hugged Jake tightly and brought more darkness to consume him.
But Jake simply hugged her back.
Umbra started to feel an immense pain in her chest. When she looked down, she saw a blue light shining all over said chest.
"W..what is this madness?!"
"That is me! You may be darkness, but I am the light! I see it now, I am born to help people like him. People who have hope, people who don't. That was the purpose I've been seeking all,along. I am gonna save them from monsters like you!!"
"No! You are mine! You are Shadow!!!"
"I may be a Shadow, but I am not yours. I am a hero of light. A hero of hope! I AM THE BLUE SHADOW!!!!"
With intense fury, Jake punched Umbra across the face sending her flying into the darkness and cracking it open.
With a small crack revealed a pure blue light which went from just a speck to a bright power that engulfed the entire ocean of darkness.
It was no longer an ocean of darkness. It was just that.
An ocean.
Suddenly, a large force pulled Jake down the ocean of blue energy.
All the way to Barry's domain.
To get continued...