Created

Part 1: The Idea

Lt. Joshua Sandburn

New York City, 2560

Chaos. Complete and utter Chaos. Everyone was running away. Cars were exploding, buildings were falling, the world was ending. lieutenant Joshua Sandburn, age: 25, was holding an old M16 assault rifle as he ran towards the epicenter of the destruction. He was different that way. While everyone ran away, he ran the opposite direction.

Josh ran across wall street and up 4th and main when the Empire State Building split in half. The top came crashing down onto the street below, collapsing the street, and spewing up a giant dust cloud. It was hard to believe that all this destruction was caused by one person. That was what Josh was running to. He jumped into the huge hole that was caused by the empire state building splitting in hald and falling, and ran across its now horizontal wall. He climbed up a ledge across the sinkhole and now had a clear view of the cosmic being who called himself(by multiple eyewitness stories) Dark Atlas.

For a being named Dark Atlas, he sure was bright. He had a bright yellow aura of pure energy around him. He was literally glowing. His entire person was made up of orange energy. Like lava, Josh thought. Dark Atlas looked at Josh, and all the energy faded away from Josh's body. He collapsed down onto his knees into a bowing position. He looked at Dark Atlas, and all of the cosmic energy that enshrouded him dissipated. Josh was now looking upon a 9ft tall Goliath who's clothing is made up of dark black armor with what appeared to be Stars texturing it. His skin was void gray and didn't have any textures on it. No scars, no spots, no hair. His face was made up of two empty white eyes. No mouth, no nose, no ears. Sticking out of his forehead were two 4 foot horns made up of the same material as his armor.

With great hardship, Josh got to his feet, aimed his gun, and pulled the trigger. Suddenly, he could see the bullet, just floating in midair. All around it was blurry and wavy, like blacktop on a very hot day. The bullet turned around and Josh jumped out of the way right as it whizzed past his head. Dark Atlas gave a deep low chuckle.

"Your weapons cannot hurt me." He said in a very deep, not very malicious, almost fatherly voice.

"Well, it was worth the try." Josh said that only to reassure himself. Your getting off topic, Josh thought to himself. He didn't come here to hurt Dark Atlas, only to understand.

"Why are you doing this? What does a being like you have to gain from the destruction of our world?"

"Nothing. I have nothing to gain. That is why I won't destroy your pathetic little world. I have only set the wheel into motion. The events that will unfold will most likely lead to my demise. The Crest of Creation has been my burden for far too long. The time for humans to rise is near, and when it comes, you will see a battle like never before. A battle to test our heroes. A battle of, what you percieve to be, good vs evil."

"What is this Crest of Creation thingy?"

"The Crest of Creation is, like Atlas's mountain, The point where I hold up the Universe. Without it, your world, and countless others, will be as if they never existed. It is the source of my powers, and it has given me a near infinite amount of patience and understanding."

"If you have to hold it up, why aren't you there now, and why isn't this world collapsing?"

"Every cosmic eclipse, I go to the Crest, and I use all of the power I was given, to create an exposion. This explosion, if big enough, stabilizes the Crest, and prevents it from creating a cosmic rift."

"Why is it every eclipse, why isn't it sooner."

"I decide what time to do it, as long as it is in a certain hundred year period. The eclipse doesn't happen naturally. The cosmos can feel the weight of what I am doing and the eclipse happens because there is a chance that I might fail, and the universe will crumble."

"So what are you going to do now?"

"I will finish what I started on this planet, and then I will leave, and wait for the future to come."

With that, Dark Atlas shot up into the sky, now bathed in that lava light Josh had first seen him in. He flew up and up, higher and higher, until all Josh could see was a little orange dot in the sky. That's when the explosion happened. A huge flash of light, an earthquake, more screams, then that light was gone. Dark Atlas was gone. But he left Josh in charge of the fate of the universe.

2594, 34 years since Dark Atlas

Commander Sandburn(or Glass, as his inferiors and friends would call him. They thought it was really clever because burned sand is glass, and his last name was Sandburn) now age: 59, stood in the center of the CHESF head of operations. They were so close. So close to save everyone. So close to killing Dark Atlas.

"We're only a few days away, sir" said a high nasally voice. Josh turned and looked at his head of science, Dr. Charles Minkly. He was a tall skinny man with a small nose and mouse-ish features. Still looking at his work he replied.

"I know Charlie. I know. Did you already send out the letters to the candidates?"

"Yessir. All candidates have received their invitations as of three hours ago. Our surveillance teams have reported that all of our candidates are eager to accept, and plan to meet at the desired location. The only one we had trouble with was subject six. Her younger sister needed someone to watch over her. After all, Elizabeth's only nine."

"Yeah. Did Amethyste find someone?"

"Amethyste?"

"Subject six. Did subject six find someone to watch over Elizabeth."

"Yes. Her mother's friend agreed to accept the role of caretaker while subje-Amethyste- is gone."

"How is Elizabeth handling this news."

"Not well. She threw a major tantrum, kicking, throwing, and screaming. Change is hard to accept when you're that young."

"I agree. So everything can proceed as scheduled?"

"Yes. The subjects will all arrive whithin ten hours."

"Good. Proceed the experiment."

"Will do. Deploying Alfreds for extraction." Charlie pulled out a joystick from his lab coat and clicked a few buttons. An announcement came on the intercom.

"ALL ALFREDS EN ROUTE. ETA 7 HOURS"

What Josh was doing, no one else had even tried. He would change the course of history forever. He was, in a way, fulfilling Dark Atlas' prophecy. What was his experiment?

He was creating heroes.