Blue Nexus: Dark Soul - Prologue

The big moment drew nearer. Ken Masterson watched the Mystic Sven continue their small excavation into the remains of Magus Forest, hanging back a bit to try and slow them down while he thought of his plan. One wrong move would result in his death, or the world’s. Ken looked over at the leader, the man who wore a cloak and had fake markings running down his left and right arms, as well as tattoos all along his neck, touching his chin. Corbin Alkeste.

                Corbin eyed Ken. “What’re you slowing down for?”

                Ken rolled his sleeves up and shrugged. “Got a little tired.”         

                “Doesn’t matter,” Corbin said. “Keep going. We’re close, I can feel it.”

                Ken nodded and started his own digging. He looked around. What had once been total desolation, and utterly annihilated forest, was showing new signs of life. Bits of green beneath the soil, moisture remaining over the soil instead of it being completely dried from dust. Magus Forest was growing again, though it would never be what it had once been. It would simply be a forest, a memory given form, while all the other mages in the world continued to try and fit in.

                Ken glanced over his shoulder. Men like Corbin would keep that from being simple. While most of his markings were fake, his Deception magic was not. How else would he have convinced so many others to join him?

                There were five others with them, digging into the center of what must’ve once been the village at the heart of the forest. They hadn’t made much progress, but Ken could sense that something was coming. He’d seen part of it in his visions, but it was, as usual, unclear.

                The thought of taking Corbin down now crossed his mind. If he did, how many people could he save? Ken shut his eyes in a vain attempt to focus, but he was only getting flashes. A temple. The Dark Soul. Blue Nexus and Shindari, a War God and a dragon. A choice, a choice that had to be made…which could only mean Corbin had to live.

                Ken sucked in a breath and Corbin noticed, approaching him. Ken blinked it away and ignored Corbin as he approached.

                “You’re slowing us down,” he said. He took hold of Ken’s face and turned him toward the others. They were well into the ground already. “They’re far more productive. Right now you’re little more than dead weight.”

                He held his hand up and none of the marks glowed, but they would surely look it to the untrained eye. Ken stumbled back, pretending to be afraid of Corbin’s nonexistent power.

                “I’ll carve into you if you don’t hurry it up,” Corbin said. “Go join the others.”

                “Right away,” Ken said. He sighed and walked over to the others. Their futures were equally as difficult to see.

                Damn. What good was being Brother Time, the all-powerful time-hero, if he couldn’t see anything? Ken tried to ignore the pressing thought that’d daunted him for several days, ever since he joined up with the Mystic Sven as an agent for the Zanderia. There was something strong enough to block his powers. He couldn’t see the fate, anymore, of the entire world, only a series of possible futures, and, even more scarily, possible pasts. Ken stood at the bridge of many worlds, as all humanity did, but was capable of seeing them all; the worst part was how many of them could collapse if Ken did anything as little as sneeze or talk to one of the people.

                What were the hunting for? Corbin had been quiet about it, and instead just told them to excavate Magus Forest. He claimed it was finally their time to do so, since the “usurper” Rafael claimed dominance over the world and was then soundly defeated by Blue Nexus and Shindari. Neither hero really made Corbin afraid, or at least that’s how he presented himself.

                Ken stuck his shovel into the ground, sinking it deep into the fertile, soft soil. He paused again. What if he were the one to find what the Mystic Sven searched for? What if he led to all of this? He didn’t want to look into his own future. Nobody did. It’d make him go absolutely mad. Ken closed his eyes and tried to envision a jumping point just a few moments in the future, but it was similar to jumping on thin ice: he could stick the landing or crash through to the deadly icy depths below.

                He looked to the others, who were hard at work, with little silver auras around their eyes. Corbin still waited with bated breath.

                Two of them were deep within a tunnel that they’d discovered, and hadn’t resurfaced for a while. The other three, including Ken, were trying to simply widen the entrance into the tunnel.

                Ken pulled his shovel from out below and approached the tunnel. Corbin shuffled toward him. Ken knew he should stop, and saw it before it was too late.

                One of the Mystic Sven came flying out of the tunnel, smoking, and crashed into Ken. Ken bounced back almost onto Corbin. The member hit the ground with a charred face and his eyes wide open, but he was dead.

                “What the hell was that?” Corbin asked. “Everyone, into the tunnel, now!”

                He picked up Ken and thrust him toward the tunnel. Ken stumbled in and fell down the rest of the way onto a stone path. He slid to a halt, hitting the ground with his knees. The other Mystic Sven members landed near him. Corbin leapt all the way down and landed, bracing himself on the ground before picking himself up.

                Ken observed their new environment. It was a cavern, as far as he could tell, with incredibly dim light all around them. They stood at a high level; they were on a stone pathway that was fairly wide but had a steep drop off at the sides. How deep did this cavern go?

                Ken got to his feet, and watched Corbin jog down the stone path. Ken broke into a sprint after him. Corbin eyed him and smiled.

                “There’s some enthusiasm,” Corbin joked, but Ken ignored him.

                Something drew Ken near. He felt the calling, right down to his soul. He pumped his arms as fast as he could, and focused as tight as he could, until he leapt through a small time hole and appeared minutes later, staring down a massive iron door, with six colored spheres all dulled out. The door itself was as tall as the cavern was deep, and Ken began to realize how far down they were.

                He couldn’t even hear Corbin’s foosteps, nor the Mystic Sven. He turned to face the door. The calling was far more than that now; it was not a pull, something wanted Ken. He saw a flash in his mind, and raised his hand to it.

                The pull tightened, and then ripped at his core. Ken knew the feeling, and could feel his entire body begin to be pulled in my time itself. Ken tried to run against it, running in all different directions as time fractured near him.

                “No!” Ken exclaimed. “No, no, no! Stop!”

                All the different realities of Ken began to pull themselves together. He looked back to the massive, maw of the door as it towered over him, as if taunting him, and then he saw that flash was thrust ahead. Or behind.

                Or nowhere at all.