Crusader: Champion of the Dark One

Chapter 5

Jason packed all his belongings in a bag and slung it over his shoulders. He didn’t have much, just a few clothes, a laptop and that’s it. He took his savings and walked downstairs, he saw his father drinking again but didn’t mind him as he headed for the door. Just as he opened the door and was about to step out he heard his father say,

“Walk out that door and you’re no longer my son”

“I never was”, Jason replied and slammed the door as he stepped out.

The air was chilly as he stepped into the evening air, the sun was setting over the horizon. He boarded the bus to a cheap hotel close by to sleep and think about what to do going forward. His savings could probably afford a week’s stay at the hotel but then what, just as he was still deliberating he remembered the voice and wondered where it was now and if it was still watching.

‘Impressive, you really are gifted and bold, you finally stood up for yourself without wavering under the threats of your father’

[ What do you mean gifted]

‘You were able to channel dark mana even though there is none on this world so all I can say is that you somehow managed to channel it from a different source which although I believe the barriers of your world weakening played a big role in it, it’s still impressive none the less more so when you channeled dark mana which has become rare even on my world as it is one of the major mana affinities’

[What do you mean mana and what other world are you talking about, also what’s with the whole world barrier thing]

‘Do you remember that icy feeling you had that made you feel calm even though you were extremely angry, it allowed you to think rationally without emotional distractions such as fear, etc. this made you bolder and able to focus on your decision and what you want. That’s one of the benefits about channeling dark mana, it enables you to perform your task efficiently without any distractions, this makes you clear headed and decisive while giving you and intimidating and oppressive aura but it has it’s disadvantages too’

[Yeah, so that’s what it is]

‘But not only did you channel it but you used it’

[What do you mean used it and what’s the difference between channeling and using]

‘Channeling is like circulating it within you this can be done consciously or unconsciously especially when emotionally agitated but using is when you channel it with a purpose, like when your father was about to hit you, you used it to boost you speed and strength as well as your perception enabling you to see everything as if slowed and to catch his hand without much effort’

[So that’s what it was]

‘Now unto my proposal, I can grant you the power you seek, the power to never bow down again before others but to look down on them instead’

[What’s the catch?]

‘You would have to become my champion, my paragon to say to lead my followers and rebuild my pantheon, you would also represent me in the war that is to come, to bring us all from limbo’

[Why are you in limbo and who are you plus why me]

‘I suppose introductions are in other, I am known as the Dark One, the representation of all that is dark and unwanted by the so called Light as for the rest I will explain in due time’

[If I am to accept there will be some terms]

‘Fair enough, but it cannot be excessive and it will be discussed first, but it will have to be later cause I do not have much time, the others are already suspicious enough so do we have a deal after all what do you have to lose you have nothing here you’ve already lost everything what more could you possibly lose’

[I accept, so what now]

‘Look outside your window’

Now Jason’s room was on the middle floor of the 5 story hotel building but now outside his window was a slow revolving portal

[So do I jump into it or what?]

But just as he thought this the voice said,

‘Now you take a leap of faith’, and a shove came from behind as he falls forward. Jason closes his eyes whiles cursing the voice as the ground approaches quickly he waits for the pain but there is only darkness

Outside people gather near Jason’s body which was bleeding on the ground one calls to report a suicide attempt by a youngster from his window, paramedics show up and he is rushed to the hospital but unknown to them all the soul of the person in question slips away into a portal above.

Meanwhile with Jason’s Father

*ring*ring*

Micheal, sat down still drinking as his phone rang, he was deciding whether to answer it or not when he saw the number calling. Finally, mustering up courage he picked it up

“Hello”, he slurred out

“ I can tell you’ve been drinking”, the voice on the other side of the phone sad sounding displeased

“ What is it brother”

“ Father wants you to come back home, he is not pleased with the results of your little experiment and as such he requests your presence home”, the man now identified as Micheal’s brother spoke

“ Why would he, after he sent me away, especially when I failed with the boy”, he asked

“Let’s just say things happened and you are needed back here and about the boy, like I said he was trash just like his mother and like her uncontrollable in the hands of a failure like you” his brother spoke in disdain

“ Tell him I’ll be there, oh and brother you should remember your place after all I’m still the eldest” Micheal growled angrily

Elsewhere

A woman sat in front of a TV listening to the news with shock all over her face, the news anchor was talking about a 16 year boy who had tried to commit suicide by jumping out a window and was now hospitalized in critical condition. The woman stared at the picture of the boy and sat there in disbelief and sadness. She picked up her phone and dialed a number, as soon as the person picked up she said,

“I need a favor”

“How many times do I have to tell you to hurry up on your end, you were supposed to leave the city tonight and with all the reports coming in about some goddamn portal, you know I don’t have time for ……”

“It’s about Jason” the woman interrupted,

The man turned silent before sighing and answering quietly

“ We’ve been over this and I’ve told you it’s not time, leaving was for the best and that when the time came we would get him back, just give me a year and ….

“No you don’t understand Dad, he tried to commit suicide, my baby, tried to kill himself”

“Tell me everything”,  the man said sounding angry.

Jessica POV

As Jessica walked down the hallway she was looking somber, that cheerful girl she was, was nowhere to be found. She could hear the whispers going on around her, they were all about Jason.

[This was all her fault, she’d betrayed him got him expelled and now he had tried to kill himself, and this was all her fault], she thought to herself, [This wasn’t supposed to happen, it wasn’t supposed to go like this, he would at most have gotten suspended, she would then explain and then he would forgive her and they’d go back to how it was, he wasn’t supposed to get expelled, he wasn’t supposed to leave home and worst of all he shouldn’t have tried committing suicide. ]. When she thought back to that day, at how Jason looked angry and how he’d promised vengeance she felt a shiver down her spine and those eerie glowing eyes.

[She had to explain to him], she thought to herself, [he’d forgive her, he always does],  but deep down she knew that he wouldn’t,  and that she had lost something she didn’t know how valuable it was till it was gone.

At that moment a glowing circle appeared beneath her, and it was only her some of her fellow students too had glowing circles underneath them and with a bright flash they vanished. Unknown to them this had occurred all over the world as people vanished in the same way.

But Jason was not aware of all this, and that when he came back home there was a storm waiting to break out.