Dark Ages - Tumblr Posts
Arthur Murphy/King Arthur
New Post
An era placing mostly emphasis on suffering, bloodshed and immorality.
Order out of Chaos; A necessary evil for a greater good.
You need more than you can UNDERSTAND.
Don't run from fire if you were born to slow dance with it.
Them: Is it safe
Me: I've done it over a hundred times.
Guess if I was simple in the mind,
Everything would be fine.
An age is called Dark not because the light fails to shine, but because people refuse to see it.
--James A. Michener (Space, 1982)
As they said, there will probably be dlc too, on top of a tutorial area like 7 other areas.
Another bout of Uncle Jon Angst
So, in this AU, a strong enough ghost will have wings of its own, showing the fact that it is powerful, akin to how some animals have different marks to showcase danger. Clockwork switches between a Pygmy owl as a child, barn as an adult, and snowy as an elder. Pariah is crow through and through. After Danny became Pariah's Heir, he was gifted a cloak made of Clockwork's feathers, constantly shifting, with Pariah's mixed in as well, since they technically ghost-adopted him. This makes the cloak not only even more comforting beyond its weight to Danny, but a very powerful artifact in its own right. Pariah has also had most of his abilities sealed by Clockwork so someone can directly watch the ghostling that is Danny. So he's stuck in a crow form sticking with Danny (thank you @hallowsden for the Crow AU!) and protecting him. I HC Pariah as having a shadow core, which means he can vaguely form in dark areas, but it's kind of like Johnny's shadow beast. Another detail, I have written that only Halfas can become Ghost Kings/Queens, which means Pariah was one once. By sealing him and sending him with Danny, Clockwork hopes to restore some of his humanity. (Why do you think the Observants were so quick to want to kill Dan? They had seen it before in Pariah). Thankfully, it does work, though slowly.
Final note, Crane wasn't going to let him skip school, and Johan Welch is an asshole literature teacher at Gotham High (not the Academy). He also wasn't going to use his last name so the Bats could track the poor boy, so he used an old name the family dropped ages ago to enroll him. Anyway, actual thing is longer than the others and I've already said so much that... boom, an actual Read More! Also, it's midnight when I'm posting. 😅 Finally, Trigger Warning
It describes some of Danny's accident, including the loss of his wings, and shows a panic attack.
Danny was no stranger to bullies, whether it be lunch money, tests, or a punching bag they were after. He was also used to teachers who pushed their rules, who played favorites and sneered at those they thought of as less. At least he had his cloak, a secure weight upon his shoulders, much lighter than the crown he would day wear.
Mr. Welch seemed to zero in on his sour mood. "Nightingale?"
A sigh escaped his lips. "Yes, sir?"
"Tell me, in the Silmarillion, what is the moral behind the oath of Fëanor?"
He stared at the board a bit before glancing at the book in front of him. "I'm not certain, I think it’s that you shouldn’t promise something if you can’t actually do it?"
The teacher sighed. “No, Nightingale.”
There was a snicker behind him, Danny ignored it.
“Yes, Atkins? Can you answer?”
“Choosing violence in the heat of the moment will almost always end with suffering.”
“Good job.” He looked at Danny. “Now, was that so hard?”
“But-”
“You got it wrong, Nightingale.”
Danny hadn’t realized how close the teacher was until the cloak was yanked off his shoulders, feathers scattering. “No! Give that back!”
“You can have it after class is over.”
The laughter that had been bouncing through the room suddenly stopped at that; all the students knew better than to take another’s prized possession. Some money, maybe their homework, or even a jacket? All fair game. But anything that was clearly precious? You never knew how the kid would lash out.
Danny watched as the teacher walked away, but he did not take stock of the room itself. His wings, they were gone, seared away again. And he shook, like the shocks that wracked his form, mouth aiming to scream the silent terror that took over as his vocal cords were fried and healed time and time again until he had made his way out, wings in tatters, the scent of burning meat hovering over his f-
“Ghostling, you are not experiencing that anymore...” The tone was deep and stern, the barest hint of kindness underneath the ancient voice, mingling with a soft sorrow..
Danny continued to shake, but leaned into the cold warmth of armor and shadow. He had no idea where he was or how he’d arrived, but he was glad his p̸a̴t̷r̵o̸ was here for him.
“I guided you to a dark space as well as I could, it is hard for me to show after all.”
Danny didn’t pay too much heed to the words, merely listening to the soothing tones and trying to calm himself.
Pariah was determined to get that cloak back quickly, It was an important gift to his heir, and was too powerful to be left in the wrong hands. But, right now? All his focus was on the ghostling. “You can see the glow of my eyes, yes?”
Danny slowly looked up at his face and nodded weakly.
“What else?” Pariah mused as he waited for a response.
“The... light under the door...”
“Good. Again.” Perhaps it was a good think Tik had trapped them together in a loop until Pariah learned how to help the ghostling.
“Uh... there’s shelves in here.”
“Can you find anything else?” Thankfully, ghosts could see well in darkness, though Shadow Cores like himself did even better.
“I think I see a mop? P̸a̷t̵r̴o̷, are we in a closet?”
“Are you feeling better? Can you name something you can feel?” He hoped he didn’t forget anything until Danny was fully calmed.
“A... bit.”
He felt a smaller hand grab the figment of his own.
“I... can feel you, sorta. Your armor, your... essence..?”
He nodded. “What else?”
“The... floor. It’s solid.”
“Good. Give me ano-” Before he could finish, Pariah’s connection to the shadows was lost as the door opened. His form lasted not even a second in the light, but his hearing caught the reaction of both his heir and the intruder. Suddenly, the door was slammed and he felt the connection grow again, sighing softly as he returned. “Call your uncle,” he hesitantly began, hugging the ghostling again. “I don’t think you should stay here the rest of the day.”
“But your- my-”
“The cloak will be returned, I assure you, and whoever picks you up will make certain it is returned.”
Danny sighed heavily, and clung to Pariah as he fished his phone out of his pocket.
When the Justice League heard of Phantom, they believed they had to act quickly. Based on what they were told by the GIW, a branch of the government they had no knowledge of previously (Batman is working to correct that), the ghost was dangerous and extremely powerful.
A ghost that terrorized a small town that they GIW have tried-and failed- on numerous occasions to send back to the Ghost Zone. The GIW wouldn't have come to the Justice League for help if it were just that, but based on what they have claimed Phantom has achieved an inexplicable rise in power after having met with the King of ghosts himself.
If what they say is true, then ghosts could potentially invade and cause an all-out war with humanity that the Justice League would rather much avoid thank you.
Negotiations for peace or understanding have been repeatedly rejected and the GIW has been led to believe that Phantom has done something to the Fenton couple. The leading ecto-biologists in the world, years of research suddenly wiped clean off and acting much more cordial towards the ghost.
A complete 180.
So much so that you could even claim them to have been mind controlled. Which isn't outside the realm of possibility due to ghosts having an innate ability to overshadow others and control them.
Perhaps even the entire town has fallen under Phantom's control. Even another ghost, who had just been recently opposed to Phantom, has fallen under his control.
So the Justice League had to act fast.
---
Danny was fucked.
He could tell that very, very well. He still didn't have his entire new... dragon thing... under control very well, mostly sticking a half human like form. His powers were stronger yes but he couldn't really control them well.
Which is kinda why he's fucked.
Danny has never heard about the Justice League before, mostly because he had recently found out that apparently Amity Park was isolated. Like, extremely. Basically it's own little world cut off from the rest.
So when they appeared with the GIW he thought, hey, maybe they were finally changing their white suit shtick.
He didn't expect them to be extremely well-trained, have supernatural abilities or magic. Along with their usual tech well.
Yea.
Danny was fucked.
And he was very, very scared.
He's already died once but that didn't mean he wanted to die again, and he knows that he would probably be heavily experimented on if the GIW actually got their hands on him.
He was alone. He was surrounded. He was outnumbered. And he was oh, so very scared.
His family and friends had already fallen (thankfully not dead, just unconscious he thinks) and Vlad was occupied elsewhere, also fighting.
So Danny was alone.
No one would be coming to help him.
So what did he do?
He opened his mouth and did something he didn't do often. Despite that he could see that they somewhat recognized what he was about to do and tried to find cover.
Danny wasn't aiming at them.
He pulled his head back, mouth aimed at the sky.
Danny wailed.
It was waaaay more powerful than he had originally thought, so he was glad he aimed it at the sky.
As soon as it was over he felt drained, swaying on his feet and trying to use his tail to steady himself and not fall off his own claws.
They didn't know what was happening.
Danny just hoped it worked.
---
Neither the Justice League nor the GIW knew why Phantom shot one of his most powerful attacks up into the sky, but they did see the opportunity it presented.
Phantom was weak. Looking like he would fall off his own feet and fall unconscious.
They had to act quickly.
But before they could, from right where Phantom had wailed into the sky.
It cracked.
And continued to crack.
Until a large hole appeared in the sky, leading into a dimension of endless green.
The Infinite Realms.
They believed Phantom was trying to retreat.
They were wrong.
Two roars came from the portal, forcing everyone to cover their ears.
Then.
Something came out of the portal.
A long, serpentine dragon flowed out, flying around the area of the crack before descending down and around Phantom.
Then.
A giant claw grabbed onto the edge of the crack. Pushing against it until it broke, forcing the hole bigger and bigger as a much, much larger dragon stepped out. Standing protectively over the serpentine dragon and Phantom.
A large crown wrapped in flame floating about its head signified its status.
The Ghost King.
Cappadocian character from my saga 🦴