by Lucas Flint
As they walked, Treehugger explained to the Midnight Menace everything that had happened since she was kidnapped from the Academy. He listened well, although Treehugger could tell that his attention was not entirely focused on her, because every now and then he would glance around as if making sure they were not being followed. The deep darkness on all sides made it impossible for Treehugger to see anything, but the Midnight Menace could see in the dark, so she trusted that he would let her know if he saw anything dangerous.
It took Treehugger a surprisingly short time to finish telling the Midnight Menace about everything that had happened to her. By the time she did, she felt a lot less stressed; she hadn’t realized just how much she had missed talking to another human being, especially one from the same universe as her. True, she didn’t know the Midnight Menace very well, but given how the NHA and INJ were allies, she felt safe talking to him and telling him everything she knew.
The Midnight Menace did not respond at first. He merely walked in silence for a few seconds, perhaps processing everything Treehugger had told him. Now that there was a break in the conversation, Treehugger felt a growing anxiety. She was not exactly a social butterfly, but given the circumstances, she didn’t like prolonged silence and was about to break it herself when the Midnight Menace suddenly spoke.
“I believe you,” said the Midnight Menace.
“You do?” said Treehugger. She sighed in relief. “Whew. I thought you were going to call me crazy.”
“No, you seem perfectly sane,” said the Midnight Menace. “Besides, it does not surprise me to learn that there is an agency dedicated to protecting alternate universes from extra-dimensional threats. I have never encountered it myself, but given the infinite nature of alternate universes, it’s only logical that such an agency would spring up in some universe somewhere. Besides, I’ve seen horrors that most humans can’t even comprehend, horrors that, were they to cross over into our universe, would alter the very fabric of reality itself. We are lucky that there are so many other universes which these horrors prefer to attack instead.”
Treehugger gulped. “Doesn’t sound like we’re going to be safe for long, though, if Space is right about the Starborn coming to Earth.”
“He is,” said the Midnight Menace abruptly. “They are coming. I’ve known that for a long time.”
“You have?” said Treehugger. “How do you even know about them? I thought no one on Earth knows about them.”
“Because I’ve encountered their Servants here in the Shadowlands before,” said the Midnight Menace, gesturing at the darkness all around them. “I have also encountered a few of them on Earth. For some reason, they have a tendency to appear in California, and every time they do, the INJ has to take them down.”
“You mean the Servants of the Starborn have already made it to Earth?” said Treehugger. “Several times, even? Why didn’t you tell the NHA?”
“Omega Man is not my boss,” said the Midnight Menace in an annoyed voice. “Neither is Mecha Knight or Black Blur or any of the other members of your Leadership Council. Despite our alliance, I am under no obligation to report to them every villain or eldritch monstrosity we defeat. Besides, we always manage to destroy the Servants before they get very far or cause too much damage; informing the NHA about them would be a waste of time.”
“Yeah, but this still seems important,” said Treehugger. “I was told that the Starborn want to destroy Earth, but if you’ve already faced their Servants before and won, then there might still be time for us to get Earth ready for their arrival. We might even be able to beat them off and save the planet.”
“Maybe,” said the Midnight Menace. “But I doubt it. Their Servants are absurdly powerful. Each time the INJ has faced one, I have always had to step in and help. Even then, it often requires that I use the fullest extent of my power to destroy them. I shudder to think how powerful an actual Starborn is.”
“Even so, if more people know about the Starborn, the more likely it is that someone somewhere will be able to develop a defense against them,” said Treehugger. “Right?”
“Right,” said the Midnight Menace. “Either way, this is most definitely information I will have to share with my fellow INJ leaders when I get back to Earth, as well as the Leadership Council of the NHA. I didn’t realize just how close the Starborn were. It sounds like we don’t have much time left.”
Treehugger nodded, relieved that the Midnight Menace was speaking reason, but then she glanced around the darkness and said, “What is this place, anyway? You called it the Shadowlands, I think?”
“Yes, that’s its name,” said the Midnight Menace, nodding as well. “It’s essentially a pocket dimension connected to our universe, one accessible to any superhuman who controls shadow like myself.”
Treehugger blinked. “I don’t understand. How does controlling shadow give you access to a pocket dimension?”
The Midnight Menace sighed as they walked, as if he was resigned to giving a complicated explanation that he really didn’t want to talk about. “Tell me, girl, do you remember the G-Man agent Shade? And how she uses her shadow powers to travel via shadow?”
“I remember her,” said Treehugger. “What about her?”
“Her ‘shadow travel’ abilities do not let her travel through actual shadow,” said the Midnight Menace. “It’s more like she takes a detour through the Shadowlands. I am much the same way, although unlike her, I am better at coming and staying here.”
“Really?” said Treehugger in surprise. “That’s, um, interesting. Why are you two capable of doing this, but not anyone else?”
“As far as I can figure, the Shadowlands are accessible only to those of us with shadow powers,” said the Midnight Menace. “I don’t know exactly how or why that works, but I suspect it is because we shadow superhumans gain at least part of our power from here. That is to say, when we control shadow, we’re really pulling out at least a portion of the Shadowlands and using it to reinforce shadows on Earth. It’s why our shadow often has physical properties, because it technically isn’t Earth darkness, however superficially similar it may seem.”
Treehugger rubbed the back of her head. “That seems a lot more complicated than just controlling shadow.”
“Maybe so, but it is the best explanation I can come up with for why Shade and I can access this place but no one else can,” said the Midnight Menace. “Not that I am complaining. It is nice to be able to withdraw from the world sometimes, even though the Shadowlands are much more dangerous than Earth.”
“Why do you come here?” said Treehugger, glancing around again. “It doesn’t seem like a very safe place to be.”
“Safety is not my ultimate concern,” said the Midnight Menace. “As I said, the Shadowlands are actually more dangerous than Earth. The reason I come here is because it is my duty to patrol these lands.”
Treehugger frowned. “Your duty? What do you mean?”
The Midnight Menace stroked his chin, as if trying to think about how he could explain it. “You must understand that I feel a strong connection to the Shadowlands. I was not born here, but because it is the source of my powers, I do feel a certain duty toward it. I am not the first human to come here or defend this place; indeed, I am merely the latest in a long line of people who have defended this realm from those who would seek to destroy it.”
“You are?” said Treehugger. “I didn’t know that. Does that mean you’re not really a superhuman?”
“I am just as much a superhuman as anyone else,” said the Midnight Menace, glancing at Treehugger in annoyance. “But I am different, it is true. My powers allow me to cross between Earth and the Shadowlands at will. I was chosen to defend the Shadowlands precisely because of my powers.”
“So the fact that you have shadow powers is unrelated to the fact that you defend the Shadowlands?” said Treehugger.
The Midnight Menace shook his head. “I don’t think so. Just because I was not granted my powers does not mean that I was
not destined to use them to defend the Shadowlands. Fate is more complicated than that.”
Treehugger still found it hard to wrap her head around this revelation, but she said, “Does anyone else know about this? Like the rest of the INJ, for example?”
“The other INJ leaders know, as does Strike, but no one else does,” said the Midnight Menace. “It is part of my duty to defend the Shadowlands. The fewer people who know about the Shadowlands, the easier it is to protect.”
“Why do you have to defend it?” said Treehugger. She glanced around the area again, a feeling of unease rising in her stomach. “It seems to me that we are the ones who need protection from the Shadowlands, rather than the other way around.”
The Midnight Menace rolled his eyes. “A long time ago, the Shadowlands were once a prosperous land, full of light and people, until the Starborn came and destroyed everything.”
“You mean the Starborn are the reason the Shadowlands is such a dark and bleak place?” said Treehugger.
The Midnight Menace shook his head again. “No. The Shadowlands became such a dark place as a defense mechanism against the Starborn. It succeeded in driving off the Starborn, but it also made the Shadowlands uninhabitable, save for the twisted creatures that were once its inhabitants that roam its barren lands. You were attacked by one such creature.”
Treehugger looked over her shoulder, but as usual, she could not see anything beyond the shadows. “And you are defending it because … ?”
“Because one day, the light will return,” said the Midnight Menace. “That is what the prophecy uttered by the last king of the Shadowlands stated, that warriors of shadow would continue to defend the land until the light returned. When that will happen, I don’t know, but until it does, I will keep protecting this land and eventually pass on the mantle of protector of the Shadowlands to my successor, whoever that will be.”
“And what role does Shade play in all of this?” said Treehugger. “Is she also a warrior of the Shadowlands or not?”
“I don’t think so, because there can be only one at any one time,” said the Midnight Menace. “As I said, she probably doesn’t even realize this place exists. She travels through here via shadow travel, but never stays long enough to investigate it. To her, it is simply a place she passes through, and nothing more.”
“Okay, but how did I end up in here?” said Treehugger, gesturing at herself. “I don’t have shadow powers.”
“You ask a lot of questions,” said the Midnight Menace. “But to answer your question, I don’t know. Given how your escape pod has interdimensional travel tech, it is possible that your pod took you here. I didn’t think it was possible for beings without shadow powers to enter this dimension, but given how you are here, it is quite clear that I was wrong about that. The only question now, of course, is whether you can go back.”
Treehugger came to a halt. “What?”
The Midnight Menace also stopped, though a few feet from Treehugger since he had not stopped walking at the same time as her, and turned to face her. His demonic helmet did nothing to soothe any of Treehugger’s fears, especially the red eyes that stared out of the eye holes. “I said, the question now is—”
“No, I heard what you said,” Treehugger interrupted. “I mean, what do you mean by that?”
The Midnight Menace shrugged. “I mean that I don’t know if I can take you back to Earth; I might, but since I’ve never taken a person to or from this place before, it may not even be possible.”
“Shade could, though,” said Treehugger. “Her shadow travel powers took us in and out of the Shadowlands, if what you say is correct. I don’t see why you couldn’t do it, too.”
“As I said, her powers work differently from mine,” said the Midnight Menace. “Given how briefly her powers take her into and out of the Shadowlands, she doesn’t stay long enough to suffer any ill effects from this place. It may be that I cannot take you out of here; that is to say, you might be stuck here forever.”
Treehugger’s eyes widened. “Stuck here forever? Like, just wandering the shadows endlessly?”
“Yes,” said the Midnight Menace. “I cannot guarantee that I can take you out of here or that you will ever see your friends again.”
Treehugger put a hand on her forehead. All of her worst fears seemed to be coming true, but she didn’t want to face them. She remembered what the Midnight Menace said earlier, about how anyone who comes here becomes insane within a week. She had not been here for even a day (at least, as far as she, anyway), but already she could feel the darkness tugging at the edges of her sanity. If she stayed here forever, then she would surely lose her mind.
She must have been wearing a worried look on her face, because the Midnight Menace said, “But I would not worry about it yet if I were you. It’s possible I could be wrong. I might be able to take you back.”
“Why don’t we test it out right now?” said Treehugger. “Can’t you go from the Shadowlands to Earth and back again all on your own?”
“Not here I can’t,” said the Midnight Menace. “I need to be in a specific location to send you home, and the Temple is the nearest place that would allow me to do it. We’re not there yet, but let’s keep going. We’re close and I don’t want us to get distracted by anything else. Also, try not to ask any more questions; the Shadowlands are always listening and it is never wise to speak aloud here for long periods of time.”
The Midnight Menace turned and resumed walking. Once again, Treehugger followed, but she could not help but wonder if the Midnight Menace was right about her staying here forever. She found the thought terrifying, far more scary than anything else so far. She wondered how her friends were doing back in the Academy, as well as how their investigation into Bolt’s possession was going, but she decided that she would ask the Midnight Menace about it later when they reached the Temple. She didn’t know why, but she sensed that they were not alone and that something was listening to them, though what, she did not know.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A short while later, they reached the Temple. Treehugger originally thought that the Midnight Menace was referring to the temple whose courtyard she had landed in, but when she mentioned that to him, the Midnight Menace shook his head and mentioned something about how he was not supposed to go there and that she was lucky that she didn’t get killed. Not that he would elaborate; every time Treehugger tried to get him to explain why he avoided that place, he would ignore her question. The only elaboration he gave was that that particular temple was a place of evil and death and that it always ‘consumed’ whoever visited it. He also would not tell her what the creature in the tree trunk was; he actually seemed frightened when she mentioned it and told her to forget all about it and never mention it to him or anyone else ever again. He was so serious when he said that that Treehugger decided to listen to him, if only because she would like to forget that creature as well.
The Temple was a large building, made out of some kind of stone, although it also had metal intertwined within it. It looked old, much older than even the oldest ruins on Earth, and it looked like no building Treehugger had ever seen. Large, round rooms stood on top of stone pillars around a large building shaped somewhat like an oval, which was painted black and gray. There were no living beings near the building, but Treehugger did see the shattered remains of stones and statues along the path. Yet there was also something familiar about the Temple, despite its alien look, though Treehugger had no idea where she might have seen such a strange building before.
“Here we are,” said the Midnight Menace, gesturing at the Temple as they approached it. “The Temple of the Shadowlands. It is the oldest and most important building in the Shadowlands.”
“What was it built for?” said Treehugger. Her voice was quieter for some reason, like she was entering a holy place. “Did they worship their gods here?”
“I don’t know,” said the Midnight Menace. “It is so old that I think it predates even the dead gods of the Shadowl
ands. Its original purpose has been lost to history, but it can still be used as a bridge between the Shadowlands and Earth.”
“How so?” said Treehugger.
“Let me show you,” said the Midnight Menace.
They climbed up the chipped stone steps to the front doors. Treehugger somehow managed to get ahead of the Midnight Menace and was just about to enter the building first before one of the Midnight Menace’s claws wrapped around her upper arm and yanked her back so hard that she almost fell backwards off the steps. She looked up at the Midnight Menace, who was glowering down at her like she had almost done something really stupid.
“What?” said Treehugger. She winced, because the Midnight Menace’s grip on her upper arm was as tight as iron. “Did you see something?”
“I forgot to tell you that you can’t just enter the Temple,” said the Midnight Menace. “First, you must show proper reverence. Allow me to demonstrate.”
The Midnight Menace let go of Treehugger’s arm and bowed before the Temple. Treehugger did not see anything change, but then she noticed that the doorway seemed to glow red for a moment, although she didn’t know what that meant. The Midnight Menace stood upright again and looked at Treehugger. “Now, do as I did. Then you will be able to enter without dying horribly.”
Treehugger, still not understanding what this was all about, nonetheless walked up to the entrance and bowed. She didn’t feel anything unusual at first, but the doorway glowed slightly for a moment and then she felt something like wind blowing past her, even though her hair did not move. The sensation of blowing air went away quickly, however, and Treehugger stood upright. She looked up at the Midnight Menace uncertainly. “Did I do well?”
