Maurich laid lifelessly adrift in the void between time and space, only to be embraced by the cold, empty and seemingly inescapable darkness he had wrestled with his entire life.

"How long will you allow this entity to pollute this realm, Witch?" a voice spake from the unknown.

"What does it matter to you, Malevolence?" The witch of time shot back.

"Crazy woman, do you really not know? Did you really believe you could kill that type of darkness?" Malevolence said while moving forward toward the witch.

At that moment the entire area around them lit up with a brilliant light. The knight's body had stopped mid drift and now emitted this very marvelous light, making the area that they inhabited show bright white.

"Wha...What is this?" marveled the Witch of time yet fearful of Malevolence's impending reply.

"Fool! I warned you!" started Malevolence, "This is the true value of the darkness in Maurich. A darkness so great, so poignant, so abrasive, yet immensely incomprehensible and there in lies the error of leaving his body here in the void where something like that could come to understand itself. Now do you understand, witch?" Malevolence walked pass the witch and prepared to rip open a passage into time and space.

"No...this can't be..." said the Witch as she stumbled back in horror, "So the curse placed on him at birth was..."

"On purpose."said Malevolence interrupting the witch. He then recalled a memory that he hoped he would never have to recall.

"He must never come to know of his true heritage."

Malevolence's trip down memory lane was brought to a halt immediately as opening a rift in time and space required all of his focus. "...and out of his darkness, he'll birth brilliance and in death, he'll find life..." said Malevolence, "Looks like the light has eluded even the"Black Hole"." he continued.

"Black hole?" asked the witch. She had no idea what was going on. Had she really been so detached from life, having existed outside time and space, that she had missed something so detrimental.

"Black hole is what I cleverly named the curse my master placed on Maurich at birth under the guise of Maurich's father, Darrick." Malevolence began, "The curse exhibited properties similar to a black hole as it literally sucked up any benevolence from the knight's heart forever binding him to tainted darkness. For you see, there can be no clarity in darkness. The spell worked but it worked too well, which is why my master disguised as Darrick later killed Maurich's mother in front of his very eyes. This way, no matter how much light the black hole in Maurich's heart absorbed he would never be able to access or reciprocate it adequately."

"Yet here he lies afloat before us emitting light's brilliance." started the witch, "What went wrong?" she inquired.

"It's simple actually," Malevolence began, "You see, all humans possess an inherent darkness that can be manipulated but unlike you and I, who were born from darkness, each and every last one of them possess the uncanny ability to overcome anything no matter how great the opposition. My master knew this and sought to rupture Maurich's own inherent ability to overcome any obstacle. Alas, he was slain that very day that he decided to murder Maurich's mother by the very hand of Maurich himself. This was the first time I witnessed what my Master feared the most, the complete and utter destruction of darkness."

"That can't be..."the witch spoke distraught at what she was hearing, "Even in the most brilliant of lights exist shadows. Can darkness really be eradicated by a mere mortal?" she spoke now only to herself. She knew that if what Malevolence was saying was true then Maurich's existence meant the end of her, Malevolence and all the Dark Brethren. How could something like Maurich exist? What was this feeling that had engulfed her entire being? Was this what it meant to fear?

"No!" screamed the witch, "It's...it's impossible! Foolishness is all it is!"she had gone insane with madness. Fear of an impending death had taken her victim. Malevolence had finally finished ripping open a rift in time and space."Get a hold of yourself woman!" he yelled at the witch, "We have to escape before we are engulfed in the light's rays."

The witch of time snapped. "I...I can't accept it."she said under her voice. The darkness inside her had reached its boiling point and time began to flow inside the void." I can't accept it!" screamed the witch. She would not be denied her existence.

"What are you doing?" Malevolence cried out to her, "You'll only speed up the process!"

The void began to collapse on itself but the light emitted by Maurich fought to keep it from closing in on the warrior. The witch poured her darkness into time to speed it up. She meant to kill the dark knight by rapidly aging him.

"No!" Malevolence yelled out, but it was too late for the witch and he knew it. He knew the rift would not stay open long. He did not want to leave the witch behind for she could prove useful but he had no other choice.

"Well, at least we still have the option of the sage of space." he spoke out loud to himself, "Though I doubt he'll cooperate willingly. Perhaps, the dark brethren and I can use this mishap to our advantage... I will avenge you, master."

"...and out of his darkness, he'll birth brilliance and in death, he'll find life..."

Malevolence walked through the rift making sure to seal it immediately after exiting on the other side. Back in the void the witch was getting fired up. Her body had been engulfed in a crimson flamed armor. She unsheathed a sword made from malice and chaos from thin air and dashed toward Maurich's body to deliver the killing blow.

"Die!" she hysterically barked as she rushed toward the knight's body.

"Its time...to wake up from this dream, my son." a voice from beyond the void spoke.

"...Father?!" Maurich uttered from his lips.

"Son, it is true that the world is but an endless spiral of death..."Maurich's father began, "but even in death one can find out what it truly means to live..."

White flames struck the body of the dark knight like lightning inducing a shock wave that sent the witch flying back half way across the void. Black plated armor melded from the white flames formed and cuffed the knight's body. Stretching forward his hands, Maurich unsheathed two swords from beneath the envelop of fire, smoke and brimstone produced from the lightning bolt of white flames still engulfing his body. One sword was a marvelous blade wrapped in white flames while the other consisted of literally a hilt, a guard and an explosion of dark flames that appeared to be darker than the flames of his previous armor. Maurich causally took one step forward and time ceased to flow inside the void. The collapsing void along with the witch of time all stood at attention before the knight. He walked over to the witch and yanked her away from time's grip, sending her hurling through the void.

"Persevering will of existence..."Maurich spoke the words quietly as if whispering to the wind. Immediately the sword of dark flames grew larger and with one slash he cut through the witch from halfway across the void. The brilliant light that illuminated the void attached itself to the witch and began to shine more brilliantly than before and blew apart the void sending both the knight and the witch flying off in opposite directions.

"I get it now," said the witch of time having finally come back to her senses now that she stood at death's door,"This light is one that not even darkness could hope to comprehend." She then faded away into nothing.

Maurich lost consciousness and drifted endlessly across time and space until finally crashing.

"Its time...to wake up from this dream, my son..."

"Wake up Mr. sleepyhead!" was the very next thing Maurich heard.

"Ugh...my head..."Maurich thought to himself. He awoke before a very charismatic young lady named Jackie. She introduced herself immediately after Maurich had recovered consciousness "What happened?" Maurich inquired.

"Well you sort of discovered gravity there, buddy?"Jackie replied. Maurich could tell right away that Jackie was adept in the art of sarcasm. She somehow seemed vaguely familiar to him. He smiled a little at her remark. Jackie noticed it.

"What are you smiling so endearingly about?" she inquired.

"Nothing."Maurich replied. He knew that such a reply would annoy any woman and used it as a way to ditch Jackie.

"How did I end up with this dork, again?"Jackie thought to herself annoyed, "Seriously, he just falls from the sky, on his head no doubt, and now he's sitting here smiling about it? Geez!" If she hadn't turned around in time she would not have noticed that Maurich had gotten up and was walking away.

"Hey, where do you think you're going, mister?"she called out to him, "You need to get some rest. Your injuries were pretty bad when I found you."

"I have something I must find and I don't have time to sit around waiting." Maurich responded through his labored breathing. He took one more step before collapsing to the ground. A sharp pain jolted from the wound on the left side of his stomach and caused him to yell out in agony.

"See, I told you."Jackie teased.

Maurich got back up to his feet but immediately fell back to his knees.

"What's the rush, you?" Jackie inquired, "What is it that you're so hell bent on getting to?"

Maurich took a deep breath, bit down on his lower lip as he stood up one final time. The pain was virtually unbearable. Then turning slowly back toward Jackie, who was still waiting for an answer, he replied,

"My heart."

To be continued...

By: Darrell Maurice Hubbard