Available Darkness Season 1

brothers, one who killed our mom. When I started looking into it, I got shut down by Cromwell faster than I could hit ENTER on my keyboard. Meanwhile, Cromwell is inviting me to join Omega, on the condition that I help bring in the man who may or may not have killed my wife, and who happens to have the same name as one of my brothers. To top it all off, I’ve got agents tailing me and watching my every move. So, either I’m onto something big or I’ve just gone off into tinfoil hat-wearing territory and you ought to lock me in a hospital right now.”
    Duncan’s smile was more grimace than pleasure. His white knuckles betrayed his calm facade.
    “Impressive. You’ve put quite a bit together,” he said. “To be honest, I’m tired of lying. Just tired all around, really. Are you sure you’re ready for this?”
    “Shoot,” Caleb said, bracing for whatever may come.
    “You have two brothers, John and Jacob. You’re all from another world, which I believe Bob told you about already. I’m also from that world. I’m one of the original Pioneers who came over here more than 4,000 years ago when war erupted on our world between the technologically advanced New Kingdom and the magick-using Old Kingdom.”
    Caleb stared at Duncan, the gravity of the story sinking deep. Two months ago, Caleb would have called bullshit to stories of four thousand year old men and left the room. But his old world had left its orbit.
    “There were 48 Pioneers who came over using magickal portals between our two worlds. Earth was far less advanced then, so we never saw a reason to cross over until we were escaping persecution on our world. Once here, the Pioneers were faced with a moral dilemma — should we share our knowledge with the natives or try to blend in?”
    Duncan stood up and began pacing as he spoke, “Our group was split almost in half, one half which called itself the Guardians. They sought to protect Earth’s people from magick and its dark influences. The other group, the Harbingers, believed our magick and technology could help the natives evolve dramatically and usher in a new age of unified worlds.”
    Duncan paused. Caleb wasn’t sure if it the old man was reflecting on the past or having difficulty remembering all the details.
    Caleb asked, “So, what happened?”
    Duncan continued, “The Harbingers goal, if left pure, was a good one. Our tech and magick could, and did , help the natives. But some within the group were using their magick to exploit others and to seize power. The magick was corrupting good people. So I fought on the side of the Guardians, destroying portals and artifacts. The irony of the infighting was not lost on us — we, who fled from persecution, had begun to persecute our own to protect the natives. The Guardians managed to close all the portals back, and then, just as things were escalating toward a bloody war, the sides signed a truce. We’d leave the Harbingers alone so long as they didn’t interfere with humanity’s development. And we lived in relative peace for thousands of the years. The Guardians infiltrated world governments to help steer humanity right in a less intrusive manner while the Harbingers lived among the people, practicing their magick in relative secrecy.”
    Caleb asked, “So, what happened?”
    Duncan said, “Then your mother happened.”
    “What?”
    “Thirty years ago or so, your mother escaped the other world, bringing you and your younger brother John over. Nobody was sure why she left or how she found a magician left on our home world who could create a portal, as we thought they’d all been killed. But she did. She found a new life living with a boyfriend, the man you knew as your father, under the radar.”
    Duncan sat down again and continued, “We’re not sure how, but your brother Jacob followed. From what we’ve pieced together in the post interviews with you as a child, Jacob came seeking vengeance against his mother, but left you and John alive.”
    Caleb said, “So, the dreams I had, where the dark thing killed my mother. That’s all real? It really happened?”
    “Yes,” Duncan said. “However, your brother also infected you with The Darkness, a parasite which infects some of our kind, turning us into vampire-like creatures. To be fair, I’m not sure if he actually infected you both or if you’d been carriers all along and he woke it within you both.”
    Something wasn’t making sense to Caleb. “Are you saying I’m a…