The market

[Maero]

Suddenly, Alex was plunged into Darkness. The sensation was not unlike falling into a pool of ice water all at once, and his soul nearly froze. But something shielded it, something...within the blackness. The energy funneled into Alex and overtook all but his very soul. His body changed, his magical power burned away to nothing, the all consuming darkness took it all for its own, and Alex knew pain like never before. He was nearly one with the evil, he could not see, could not sense. Blind, numb, deaf, a worm, a snake, nothingness. Several times it threatened to overwhelm him, and each time it was turned back, but by what, Alex could not know.

And then he was changed....

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Outside, D and Hoods would be at the ends of their strength. The overbearing power of an apocalyptic seal could not be denied. Mickal was about to simply finish them off, using his new found terrible powers, but suddenly...they ceased. He retained what power he had, but no new power came to him. A spire of black energy erupted from the tower then, and Alex ascended into the sky, his form changed by the dark power. A huge basilisk followed behind him, and coiled protectively around Alex, hissing at Mickal. The Basilisk was a symbol of the dark power, and it chose Alex over mike, it chose balance over chaos, as it was tasked to, as was its nature.

But Alex was barely Alex any longer, his soul just barely able to hang onto its mortla tether. For now he retained his will and sanity, but that could change at any moment. He would need to work fast if he wanted to defeat Mickal before the darkness overtook his soul.