Darksong Timeline

Hearing voices, I peek over the convenient stack of boxes I’m hiding behind. Standing under a light is Peregrinator and another frog-like costumed deviant who I don’t recognize. They're having a whispered conversation, but after a few moments, it grows more and more heated. Peregrinator pulls her gun and points it shakily at the other deviant.

“Go ahead! Do it! You won’t!” the other deviant shouts arrogantly.

“I will if you keep antagonizing me,” Peregrinator grumbles, almost too quietly for me to hear.

“You don’t have the balls to, and neither does your boyfriend! You’re all a bunch of wussies!”

“Shut up, Jumpspit!” Peregrinator snarls. The other deviant, Jumpspit, steps forward and rests her forehead on the barrel of the gun.

“Do it.”

Peregrinator grits her teeth, and after a tense moment, drops the gun. “No. I live by a code. I only kill in self-defense.”

“If you won’t, I will,” a familiar voice says. A gunshot rings out, and Jumpspit falls to the ground in a heap. Peregrinator glares into the darkness.
A moment later, much to my surprise, Darknight steps into the circle of light.

“You,” Peregrinator growls. “I had it under control.” Darknight takes another step toward her, revealing glowing water-like blue streaks on the uniform’s torso, and... that Darknight’s a girl in this timeline?

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what you always say,” Darknight says, but her voice sounds exactly like Aunt Kyndra’s. What’s going on in this timeline?! Peregrinator glares at her in stony silence.

“Anyway, I had to tell you, Manipulator says you’re running out of time for the deal he offered you.”

“And I already gave him an answer,” she spits.

Darknight, or Aunt Kyndra, shrugs. “I told him, but he wouldn’t accept it. You know the consequences of your actions.”

“Or what, you gonna shoot me?”

“I’d rather not. Presumably, I’d drag you back to base for the boss to deal with himself. Wouldn’t be surprised if you were fighting alongside me in no time at all.”

“Unlike you, I refuse to become one of his mindless robots!”

“Who said anything about mindless robots?”

Peregrinator replies in an intense whisper, and the conversation carries on at a much quieter level. I look around, spotting an even more convenient stack of boxes and silently making my way towards them. Unfortunately, I trip right at the last second and fall right into the boxes, causing the sound of glass shattering on concrete to fill the warehouse. As I climb to my feet, a familiar, but ominous shadow looms over me. That’s the last thing I remember for a while.




Groaning, I rub my eyes. Ow, my head hurts. I crack open my eyes to find a glaring light shining down from the ceiling. Pushing myself into a sitting position, I can see I’m in a concrete box, with one wall made of reinforced steel bars. Well, that’s fantastic. My head spins, warning me I sat up too quickly. I close my eyes and groan again. Once my head stops spinning, I try to find some an escape but come up empty. I peer out of my cell, but can't see anything but empty cells. I shake the bars out of frustration. What did I get myself into?

I hear footsteps and see two guards dressed in all black walking down the hall. They stop in front of my cell, one of them holding a pair of metacuffs, both with guns in their belts. The first one has strange bright orange eyes, and the second, the one holding the metacuffs, has vampire teeth and large eyes, like a bat.

"Hold your hands out," the one with vampire teeth orders. I glare at the two of them, refusing to comply. He barks his order again, and I cross my arms over my chest. The one with orange eyes growls and reaches through the bars, grabbing my hands and pulling them for the other one to snap the cuffs on. Instead, I grab his wrists and yank his face into the bars. He grunts, and I claw at his face before his claws come out, which narrowly miss my stomach. I rake my claws down his arms and he pulls his arms out of the bars with a hiss. I hiss back, and suddenly the one with bat eyes is missing.

Suddenly, there’s a tiny bat flying next to me who transforms into the one from before, but with more severe animal mutations. I hiss at him and try to claw at the wings attached to his arms, but he grabs me. His claws dig into my shoulders as he bites my neck, hard. I cry out in pain and slump the floor, the world already going blurry from what must have been poison on his teeth.


I wake up lying on my back staring at the ceiling with metacuffs on my wrists. I struggle to my hands and knees, hissing at the pain radiating from my shoulder where the stupid bat person bit me. I immediately notice my vision is dulled, and so is my smell and hearing. Normal human fingernails have replaced my claws, and reaching up to my head confirms my cat ears have morphed back into normal human ears.

“Oh, wonderful, the antidote worked. We’ve never bothered to bring anyone back from his poison,” Aunt Kyndra says. I look towards the sound of her voice and see her dressed as Darknight, hood pulled over her face, leaned against the wall, arms crossed over her chest.

“Aunt Kyndra?”

She snorts. “No one’s ever called me that before. Probably because the only siblings I have don’t have girlfriends, much less kids.”

“Oh, no. In my timeline, our families are close friends. I know your kids.”

“My kids?”

“Yeah, James, Evangelia, and Karlena.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint you, Butterfly Traveler, but I’m not interested in family and kids and all that. I’m more into... world domination.”

“Where’s Bryce?”

“Don’t know a Bryce.”

Darkling bursts through the door. “Oh wonderful, she’s alive.”

“Uncle Tenebris?”

He looks to Aunt Kyndra. “Please don’t tell me this is a mistake of yours?”

Though I can’t see her face, I’m pretty sure Aunt Kyndra’s rolling her eyes. “Please. Have a little faith in me, brother.”

“Brother?” I ask, perplexed.

“Excellent, because the boss would be furious," Darkling tells her, ignoring me.

“Who’s the boss? The other Darknight?”

“Who?” Darkling asks.

“Y’know, Darknight, the most feared man on Earth, married to the equally legendary, but heroic, Eagle, leader of the I.I.E.M, one of the most powerful deviants ever, the villain who almost took down the whole US government, the one they threaten little kids to behave with?”

“Well, my alias is Darksong, and I’m most of what you described. I’ve never heard of “Darknight”.”

“What was his name?” Darkling asks.

“Zavier Hunter, my Uncle Zavier.”

They exchange a glance. “Zavier? As in our older brother?” Darkling says.

“The little good-for-nothing wimpy coward?” Darksong adds.

“Don't think anyone's ever said that about him in my timeline,” I smile in disbelief. Uncle Zavier? Wimpy? Coward? “Wait... The three of you are siblings?”

“Yup,” I can’t see Aunt Kyndra grin, but I can hear it in her voice. “But I’m adopted. S.W.O.R.D killed my blood brothers and my parents because they dared stand up for what they believed in.”

“Why didn’t they kill you?” I can’t believe S.W.O.R.D would do something like that... They’re a hero organization, at least in my timeline. Something is wrong with this timeline.

“Oh, they tried. Ended up doing this instead.” She pulls off her hood and mask, revealing a face that's equal parts beauty and horror. Her black hair is cut into a short mohawk tufted up in the front, with the hair on the sides of her head shaved where her watermark tattoos wind. Her lip piercings, shaved lines in her right eyebrow, and dark makeup make the right side of her face simultaneously attractive and dangerous. The left side, however, is scarred, disfigured by acid burns. Her left eye is partially closed and milky blue, probably blind. There’s a bit in her cheek missing, and when she talks, I can see into her mouth. “Some idiot serqe(kinetic) blasted me with acid, activating my siren abilities.”

“What... happened to him?” I’m not sure I want to know.

She grins sadistically. “He plucked out his own eyes and tongue out, and melted his own body, piece by piece. I ended it for him, after a few years of torture.”

“A few years?” My face is contorted in disgust. Something is seriously wrong with this timeline.

“Well, yeah, I didn’t master my abilities right when they emerged. I couldn’t control him well and he ended up barfing acid all over the place. Manipulator happened to be nearby, and heard our screams. Once it was safe enough to get close, he grabbed both of us and brought us to the I.I.E.M. He took me in and made me what I am now.” She spreads her arms, gesturing to herself.

“So, who’s in charge of the I.I.E.M?” I ask.

“I am, of course.”

A gasp of static comes out of a walkie-talkie on Darkling’s belt.

“I’m ready for her,” a voice crackles.

“That’s what she said,” Aunt Kyndra grins, showing off some teeth through the hole in her left cheek. Darkling rolls his eyes, but he’s smiling too. Aunt Kyndra grabs me by my injured shoulder, the one the bat person bit, and pulls me to my feet as if I weigh nothing. I hiss in pain and try to push her away, but she shoves me forward, out the door and into the hallway. “Don’t irritate me. I don’t want to carry you to the boss. Wouldn’t be a dignified entrance for you.”

“Who’s the boss, if you lead the I.I.E.M?” I ask.

“Our father, Manipulator, of course,” she blinks, as if this should be obvious. I pause for a step so she’s walking ahead of me and attempt to sweep her legs out from under her but am frozen mid-move. Aunt Kynda sighs, and I’m soon floating in the air in the same half-crouched, half-bent over position I was in when she froze me. She didn’t even break her stride.

“Let- me- go!!” I shout, struggling but unable to move.

“Think I made a mistake not stopping her mouth from moving?”

“Yeah, but she needs to breathe,” Darkling points out.

“I can do both,” she grumbles. Darkling hmphs and we walk in silence for a few minutes. Guards patrol the halls, villains rush by, but all respectfully greet Aunt Kyndra and Darkling. I think he’s her right-hand man.

One guy, dressed in an acid-green uniform, is rather skittish and won’t meet their eyes. He mumbles a greeting and tries to slide past us, but Aunt Kyndra puts out her arm and makes him stop.

“You know I hate serqe(kinetic)s, right?”

“Yes, Darksong.”

“You know the only reason I haven’t eliminated you, like the rest of your kind, is the boss wants you alive?”

“Yes, Darksong.”

“But I won’t always answer to him.”

“Yes, Darksong.”

“Good. Now get.”

The serqe skitters away as quickly as he can.


Finally, we reach the room Uncle Zavier used to meet and intimidate guests. A few seconds later, I can confirm its purpose hasn’t changed. Aunt Kyndra puts me down next to a chain connected to a loop in the floor, which she clips to the metacuffs around my wrists. After I’m secured, she releases the telekinetic hold she had on me. Darkling goes over to a computer and starts typing something. Aunt Kyndra leans what looks like a throne and starts throwing a ball of water and catching it, again, and again.

After a few minutes of computer keys clicking, an older man comes in through a door opposite the one we came in. He looks like a nerd, but something about him tells me he’s more dangerous than his outward appearance suggests. He sits on the throne and Aunt Kyndra’s ball of water dissipates as she focuses her attention on me.

“What’s her name?” the old man, who I can only assume to be Manipulator, asks, addressing Aunt Kyndra.

“Figured I’d leave the interrogation to you."

He harrumphs. “What’s your name?”

I eye him suspiciously, but decide complying might be better in this situation. “Rachalle. Rachalle Eiss.”

“You a cryokinetic?”

“Yeah, but I didn't change my last na-”

“Your father a cryokinetic?”

“Yeah, but he didn’t change-”

“I’m aware Eiss is a German word. Your father was German, obviously, and your mother was... Spanish? Portuguese?”

“Mexican.”

He nods. “And since I don’t know of any such couple, you’re going to explain this to me.”

“Well, in my timeline-”

“Butterfly Traveler, I see. Continue.”

“Yeah, Aunt Kyndra- Darksong- called me that too. What does it mean?”

“Continue,” he repeats.

I shake my head. What did I get myself into? “Well, my dad was a cryokinetic, and so was his dad, and his dad. My mom was orphaned as a child and her and her brothers are all archers.”

“Interesting. Explain what you were doing spying on Darksong and Peregrinator?”

“I heard voices and wanted to check them out,” I defensively. I turn to Aunt Kyndra. “And what was that between you and Peregrinator, anyway? Where I’m from, you two work together all the time."

“Adira and I? Working together? Hardly.”

“Wait... Adira? Aunt Adira is Peregrinator?”

“This is beside the point,” Manipulator says impatiently. “How did you get to this timeline?”

“Uncle Tenebris and Aunt Jules built a timeline traveling machine, along with some help from Uncle Zavier.”

“Aunt Jules? Which one did she marry?” Aunt Kyndra asks.

“Uncle Tenebris, of course. Uncle Zavier was already married to Aunt Arke,” I tell her. Widening my eyes in realization, I smack myself in the forehead. “Oh, duh! Aunt Arke is the Eagle! How could I be so stupid?”

“Zavier and The Eagle?” Aunt Kyndra asks skeptically. “Why would she marry that chicken? She’s legendary!”

“Well, in my timeline, so is he,” I mutter, feeling defeated. What am I doing? Why didn’t I wait for the others instead of messing around with tech I don’t even understand?

“Curious. I think it’s time to test her abilities and training.”

Aunt Kyndra pushes herself off the wall, a gleam in her undestroyed eye. “Sounds like fun. Weapons, abilities, or hand-to-hand combat?”

My eyes go wide in panic. I haven’t done any training with weapons, and I only know a little hand-to-hand combat. If I can’t use my powers, I’m screwed.

“Abilities, no weapons. I want to see her potential.”

Aunt Kyndra cracks her knuckles. “Ready?”

“Uh, could I get these cuffs off first?”

“Sure thing,” she says. I look down to my wrists to see them disintegrating under Aunt Kyndra’s withering gaze, which breaks into a grin. “I love doing that.”

As soon as the cuffs are off, my vision sharpens, my fingernails turn into claws, and I can feel the strange yet painless sensation of my human ears morphing into cat ears. Whiskers sprouting out of my face and a tail out of my backside complete the transformation. I bounce nimbly from foot to foot, readjusting to my abilities. Aunt Kyndra gestures for me to attack first. I do the first thing that pops into my mind: I form a snowball and throw it at her. It hits her face and explodes into dust, making her cough a little. She looks at me with amusement on her face after wiping the snow off.

“Is that the best you got?” she asks, her unmarred eyebrow arched. I jump towards her, trying to claw at her eyes, to distract while I try to figure out how to get back to my brother, my life, and my timeline, but she flicks her hand and I fly back into the wall some ten, fifteen feet. It might be me, but it looks like her eyes flashed a light color, maybe purple, or white.

“At least make it interesting,” Manipulator says from behind her. She changes tactics, forming a broadsword out of shadows, eyes turning black, as she runs toward me. Since when does she have telekinesis and umbrakinesis? My Aunt Kyndra doesn’t have either of those, I don’t think. I don’t have time to think, instead, I form a weapon of ice, something I’ve never done before, and bring it up to meet her sword, to keep her from decapitating me. I close my eyes and brace for impact. I’m surprised when I crack open my eyes and I’m not laying on the floor in a pool of my own blood, staring at my own body.

Looking up, I see an almost invisible staff of ice with wicked-looking blades on the ends. Boredom plain on her ruined face, Aunt Kyndra adds more pressure, causing the blades to inch closer to my face. On a whim, I fake like I’m going to push back, then drop to the floor and roll until I’m a safe distance from her. Aunt Kyndra tumbles to the ground and I scramble to my feet and back away from her. She clenches her fists, her eyes turning from black to blue, watermark tattoos glowing, making her look even more badvent. Forming two water machetes, she rushes towards me. What she doesn’t see is the thin, practically invisible layer of ice I put down as I was rolling away. That was the first trick my dad taught me, when he finally broke down and taught us how to use our powers. His alias was originally Black Ice, after all. I dodge Aunt Kyndra’s flailing machetes as she tries to regain her balance, nearly getting impaled, and punch her right in the nose. I hear a crack, but I’m not sure if it’s from my hand or her nose. What I do know, is my hand hurts like heck.

Shaking my hand out, I look up to see her, nose gruesomely twisted. She reaches and snaps it back into place. It’s healed in about thirty seconds.

“How many powers do you have?!” I exclaim.

“Well, I have siren abilities, aquakinesis, animal telepathy, tracking, technopathy naturally. I have an umbrakinesis GM and a telekinesis GM from Zavier, a photokinesis GM from Darkling, a mind control GM from the boss, and a healing GM from someone else.”

“Holy crap! The Aunt Kyndra I knew only had, like, two of those!”

“Two? Weakling. I could beat her easily.”

“Wait... who did you get a healing GM from?” I don’t know anyone with healing abilities...

“A deviant from a different timeline. You aren’t the only Butterfly Traveler,” Manipulator speaks up.

“He made a bunch of dick jokes,” Kyndra grins, as if this is hilarious.

An explosion knocks me to the ground, sending my ears ringing. I shake my head, trying to get the ringing out of my ears. Darksong’s voice rings out, harsh, melodic notes. I look up to see eight familiar people standing in front of the newly made hole in the wall that I recognize as Aunt Jay, my Uncle Darkling, Uncle Zavier, my Aunt Kyndra, Uncle Bryce, Aunt Adira, Uncle Max, and my parents. Everyone except Aunt Adira, Aunt Kyndra, and Uncle Zavier start following Darksong’s commands, unmasking and disarming themselves. The three unaffected deviants run towards Darkson, but she easily dodges Aunt Adira- Peregrinator’s- macesaber, and Aunt Kyndra’s daggers. Darknight forms a sword of darkness and she meets it with one of her own.

“You must be the Darknight I’ve heard so much about. You’re much more impressive than my wimpy brother,” she grins.

“What?!” Darknight asks. Darksong drops her sword and kicks him in the chest, sending him out the gaping hole in the wall with some help from her telekinesis. Aunt Kyndra attacks her again, but is pinned to the floor with light. Aunt Adira comes flying at her, but gets blasted by a column of water and sent after Darknight. While she’s occupied with that, I stab my spear into her back and through her chest. She staggers for a moment, then collapses. Those she was mind controlling stop, and look at their hands in confusion. Mom huffs and starts grabbing her stuff, and the others follow suit.

“She won’t be down for long!” I shout. “We’ve gotta get out of here!”

“You just stabbed her through the heart. I don’t think she’ll be getting back up anytime soon,” Mom quips. Out of the corner of my eye, I see her struggling to get to her feet, using her telekinesis to pull the staff out of her chest. Darksong snarls and sends a tidal wave of water at us. We take off, grabbing Aunt Adira and Uncle Zavier along the way. Darkling activates the timeline traveling device and we start to disappear just as Darksong appears around the corner, flinging shadow shards at us, one of which hits me in the chest. The world goes blurry and I fall to one knee as we appear back in the lab. I hear voices shouting, but they're very far away, and the world is so dark...