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Prologue

In ancient times it was believed that when there is evil, pure and undiluted, there will be those who will fight to keep it at bay. There were once many great heroes, each with extraordinary skills and abilities, who fought against such powers and over time evil grew to weak to fight back. The are many who wished to bring back the darkness but only one came close.

_His name was once honoured and respected but then he turned and became knower as the Dark Mage. He tried to conduct a ritual that would grant the user all the remaining powers that evil had retained but he was flawed by seven that were granted great gifts from seven gods and powerful skills from seven masters. Zeus, Hermes, Isis, Poseidon, Ra, Horus and Osiris were the selected gods. Orion, Atalanta, Hercules, Achilles, Odysseus, Leonidas and Perseus were a amongst the greatest heroes throughout time and thus they were also chosen to pass on their legendary skills through the god's mortal choices. There were many trials and challenges but the heroes triumphed when they were needed. They preformed a power spell that generated a seal so strong that the Dark Mage was banished from reality and forced him from his body. As all great shields, there were weak points in the seal. Three objects must be gathered, each representing a different aspect of the Dark Mage's influence on this world; his power, his name and his face. All three must be gathered at a sacred altar but this altar was corrupted by those who swore to uphold its history and it's name. Only one was left to be trusted, to keep the seal of the seven safe within their spirit orbs but he was attacked by the traitors. In a desperate act, the orbs were scattered across the stars until they would, one day, be summoned to aid the world once again. _

The Beginning

"Hey Dan."

"Hmm?"

"Did you finish the math homework yet?"

A lone wolf stands poised on a ledge right outside a warehouse. The wolf wore a jumpsuit of midnight blue and had a silver 'v' shape on his chest as well as a simple clip belt around his waist. The wolf also wore a quiver full of arrows, each with their own tricks, and held a black compound bow in his left hand. The wolf's mask mainly covered part of his muzzle and had wings to cover his ears, his eyes were covered with target-finding lenses connected to the mask. He rarely wore shoes because of his digitigrade feet so his foot paws were bare but his three fingered hands bore gloves that ran up to the middle fingers.

"Seriously bro? You're asking me about this now?"

"There's no time like the present."

"Well I'm busy right now. See you at home."

The wolf's tracking system spied movement from a window in the warehouse. He switched to inferred and saw just above a dozen people within the complex, each packing heavy machinery. The wolf's name was Dan Russo but he was going by his alter ego, Night Raid, tonight. He notched an arrow in his bow and aimed for the spot he knew was taken up by a table, judging by how everyone was positioned around it. On the outside of the warehouse it looked like he was aiming at a window that was covered up by tarp. Night Raid clicked a tab on his bow to activate a recording device that he had hidden in the warehouse earlier that evening.

"Will the shipment be ready by the arranged time?"

"First I want to know about the money I was promised. Three million was the arranged terms, correct?"

"Money means little to us. Here," the click of a briefcase opening," is half of what is owed to you. The rest will be transferred to your account the moment we leave with confirmation."

The was a pause and the only thing that moved outside was Raid's tail, occasionally flicking in anticipation.

"This is where we want the shipment to arrive. The time stays the same as before."

"The guards will be paid off correctly so they shouldn't cause you any trouble but be warned. Double cross my employer and you will regret it."

"I couldn't of said it better myself. The money will be transferred when we leave this building. Until our next meeting then?"

The red silhouettes on Raid's lenses made a move like they were shaking hands. The arrow was released and soared through the glass, into the warehouse and onto the centre of the table where it released tear gas into the room. Night Raid went to the other side of his roof then ran and jumped through the already broken window. He quickly shot trick arrows that tied, tasered or even just knocked out the guards due to arrow tips carrying a sleeping drought. Night Raid also punched and kicked any of the guards that got to close to shoot but he had to move around a lot because some of the security detail remembered that they had weapons of their own. Raid's quick reflexes saved him from getting any bullets do more than lightly graze his fur. Within minutes every security goon was down but when he realised that the buyer had left Raid curse and struck the table with his paw. He retrieved his recording device and began tying up the goons when his cell started vibrating. The caller id read Jake Parr, his best friend, so he answered it.

"Hello," he answered.

"Dan, mom's looking for you."

"Tell her I'm out."

"I did but it's nearly nine! What else can I say?"

"Stall, I'll be there in a few."

"Dude your curfew ends in about five minutes, after that you're dead."

Raid turned off his cell and slapped his head. He forgot about his curfew again! Thankfully he had one more trick up his sleeve. Raid breathed in slowly then watched as time around him slowed down. The police sirens in the distance became long drones as Raid began moving so fast the world couldn't keep up. He tied up the goons, left his calling card (a big NR on the table) and rushed out the door. He approached mark 1 as he ran at full sprint out of the city of New York 3019 which was bigger than the original. It was nearly one hundred miles across in any direction but luckily moving at around seven hundred kilometres an hour you can get where ever you need to go in no time at all. Raid ran through the city and into the neighbouring towns outside it. He made for one of the houses, it was big, grey and shaped like a two story standard American home like every other house on the block. The house number was 124 on Grave Road and Night Raid stopped just outside it. When he had entered the town Dan had pressed a hidden symbol on his belt and his costume faded away into a small ring on his right middle finger baring the same crest.

Dan now wore black track pants with a red shirt baring a lightning bolt across it. Dan put the ring in his pocket, removed his quiver and his bow then stored them in a backpack hidden in a bush in the yard. He slung the bag over his shoulder, walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. A dark haired girl with a ponytail answered the door, she was eating ice cream.

"Hey Sarah, miss me?"

She rolled her eyes and called out to the house.

"Mom, the dog is back."

"Hilarious," said Dan, moving around her into the house, "you should start a show. Although people might be drawn away from your 'sparkling' personality."

Sarah stuck out her tongue at him then went of it the living room to watch TV. Dan walked up to stairs and down the hall to the room he shared with Jake. When he got there he heard someone clear their voice behind him. Dan turned to see Jake's mother, Jennifer, standing there with her arms cross and her foot tapping on the floor.

"And what time do you call this Mr Russo," she asked.

Looking at his watch, Dan realised that he arrived two minutes after curfew.

"Sorry Mrs P, got sidetracked. I was asked to help clean up the library so please excuse my tardiness."

This was sort of true, though it only took him minutes to clean up the place then he went on his stakeout.

"Last warning," said Mrs Par, looking serious, "you're lucky your school work reflects you time at the library or else you would of had your curfew contracted to eight instead of nine. Is this understood?"

"Yes ma'am," he replied.

Satisfied, she went downstairs while Dan walked into his room which was now occupied by his unorganised roommate. Books, clothes and other junk littered the floor, some torn posters and trash were hanging off the wall and Jake was in the centre of it all, trying to clean it up into a wash basket.

"What happened here," asked Dan, dropping his backpack in surprise, "it looks like a hurricane came through."

"Sarah," said Jake irritably, "she wanted to look for glue or something, anyway she told mom I did it and now I'm dead if it isn't clean by midnight."

"Well then," said Dan, grinning, "I think I can help with this."

Before Jake could say anything Dan moved faster than his friend could see and cleaned up the mess within seconds. The books were stacked neatly by their TV, the dirty clothes were in the washing basket, all the torn posters and other trash was put in a plastic bag and both of their beds, which were found underneath a mountain of laundry, were made neatly. Jake whistled and looked at his watch.

"New record bro, thirty seconds."

Dan helped his friend off the floor. When Jake stood at his full height he was just the same height as Dan and for a human that was tall. Dan was part of a race that humans call Lupines because they all bore a resemblance to wolves. There were other races on Earth that resembled creatures like bears or even the occasional lion but not many other races came to earth. In Dan's case some races send small families here but Dan's parents travel a lot so Jake's family offered to take him in so he could have some semblance of a normal life. Jake was his oldest friend so they acted like brothers although Jake's little sister, Sarah, constantly annoyed him by calling him things like dog or she sometimes tried ordering him around like a dog because of some weird grudge she had against him.

Jake was a little over five foot nine while Dan was an even five ten. Dan had light blue eyes, jet black fur and a long tail that reached nearly three feet in length. Jake had green eyes, dark brown hair and lightly coloured skin. They were both sixteen and had most of the same classes together though Dan had better grades and Jake just didn't care as much about school. Dan told Jake about his super speed a few years ago and Jake confided in Dan about being able to fly soon after. Jake's code name was Storm Rider, he could control the weather and had amazing skills with a Bo staff.

Dan pulled out his laptop from underneath the bed and plugged in the recording device to the machine. When he booted it up he played back the entire conversation for Jake to hear, right up till his arrow hit the table.

"What artefact could they be talking about," he asked, pacing the room.

"I don't know, the buyer made away with the money when I arrived but I got this from his friend."

Dan held up a piece of paper with numbers on it.

"It holds the place of the shipment. I'm hoping that he didn't notice that this little slip disappeared during the fight."

They gave each other a high five then inserted the coordinates into Dan's computer and it began searching.

"If we cross reference this with the time stamp you copied from your previous stakeout then this is where we need to be tomorrow night. The best time to strike would be right after the shift changes at ten so we need to leave here before nine just to be sure."

"Tomorrow's Friday so mom will let us out till midnight if we play our cards right."

Dan snickered.

"What," Jake demanded.

"All I have to do is say I have a study group, give her my 'puppy eyes' routine and I'm set. What are you going to do? Beg her to let you out when you're clearly not going to do anything productive?"

"Thanks for the lack of faith buddy," Jake grumbled, "but mom agreed a long time ago that Friday night was my school free night so I'm set."

Dan rolled his eyes and brought up a bird's eye view of the shipyard where the artefacts were being delivered. It was surrounded by crates that were stacked several metres in a kind of maze and some cranes where being prepped for the next shipment for the night.

"If we set up traps at these entrances then we can catch them all in one go then check if the artefacts being transferred are at all dangerous," Dan said, typing away, "I'm also trying to figure out who the buyer is using voice recognition but without a big enough central database I can't figure it out."

Jake was a master at machinery so he had set them both up with laptops that could download and sort through terabytes of information in a matter of seconds while Dan used his programming skills to connect them both to government satellites and databases but he could only go so far until someone in those databases noticed him. Both their phones were synced to a central computer hidden in the floorboards under Jake's bed which contain all the information they had on drug trafficking, mobs and other crimes around town.

They heard Jake's mom yell at them to turn their lights out. Dan copied the data from the recorder to their main computer then wiped it. They got changed then went into their beds and turned off the light. Dan's eyes were really easy to see at night so he always had to turn his back to Jake so his friend could sleep. After a few minutes he got out of bed and crept downstairs so he wouldn't wake up Jake's family. Often during the night Dan would feel restless so he would drink some hot milk and listen to police scanners on his headphones. He heard something about a fire in the financial district and disappeared in a whoosh.

As Dan ran across the bridge connected the city to the mainland, he put on his ring and twisted the symbol on it. A pale light appeared around it and he was suddenly dressed as Night Raid but he didn't have his bow or his quiver with him because he figured he wouldn't need them for this. He arrived at an apartment building which now bore a resemblance to a bonfire. Night Raid ran into the inferno and brought out trapped civilians. His suit kept him safe from feeling the effect of the flame and projected an invisible aura around his feet so they wouldn't be damaged but he didn't have a gas mask to protect him from breathing in the smoke. The fire department brought in three trucks which began putting out the fire. Night Raid disappeared into the shadows after saving the last victim and watched them put out the flames. A screaming civilian began running to them, tugging on their arms.

"Help me someone help me please, my brother's stuck in there and I can't reach him!"

"We'll try to sir," said a lupine firefighter, "but the fire's too strong, none of us could get through fast enough."

"I could," said Night Raid, appearing beside him, "where is he?"

"Top floor, first door on your right. Something's jammed his bedroom door shut."

Without another word, Night Raid ran into the building, climbed the stair well and stopped at the apartment door. He kicked it down then went to the bedroom door to try the handle but hit wouldn't budge.

"Is anyone in here," he yelled over the roar of the fire.

"Yes help me please," said a very unmanly voice.

Night Raid barely had time to get out of the way when the door blew open in a burst of flames. Night Raid looked into the room to see a lioness wearing a red fire fighter outfit with flame designs all over it. She also wore a air tank on her back which was connected to a mask on her face and she was holding a Mark 34 flamethrower which was capable of creating fire hot enough to burn through solid rock. There was a man coughing behind her and he was tied to the bed frame as her hostage.

"Sekhmet, I was wondering how this fire started. You know cats shouldn't be playing with fire, they only get burned."

"So said the little doggy in a burning building," she cackled, raising the flamethrower to eye level, "I needed to draw you out and this building was ready to be burned. There's no way you can out run me here or else you'll inhale to much smoke and then start to slow down which is when I will burn you death!"

Sekhmet gave an insane laugh and fired her flamethrower at him. For Night Raid time slowed like the warehouse but this time he needed an escape into a more oxygen friendly environment. Night Raid ran past the lioness, avoiding her deadly flames, and grabbed the civilian. He then ran to the window and jumped through, just as Sekhmet was turning around, and rolled onto the roof of another building. The building burst apart and Sekhmet's wails of fury could be heard over the roar of the flames. Thunder boomed and a heavy downpour began extinguishing the fire and Night Raid's rescued civilian passed out from the lack of oxygen. Night Raid watch as a flying figure began descending from the rain cloud. They wore a dark grey full body leather suit, with white lightning bolts intersecting at his chest, a grey mask that covered his entire face, excluding his mouth and eyes, and he wore a long black cape that blew around him. His belt matched Night Raid's but his bore a different symbol that wasn't hidden from view.

"Sup bro," said Storm Rider as he landed next to Night Raid, "you left your police scanner on the table so I figured I'd help you out."

Night Raid just unclasped a small inhaler from his belt and breathed in deeply. Once he was sure he had most of the smoke out of his system he turned to his friend.

"It was Sekhmet, she started the fire somehow and now she's disappeared. Nearly killing this civilian here with her new Mark 34."

"That's a military grade weapon," said Storm Rider pacing, "they're used to get into tanks and to burn through barricades. How did she-"

"I've got no clue but we've gotta go, now. I'll drop off sleeping beauty."

Before the storm monger could say anything else, Night Raid picked up the victim and dropped him off by the paramedics. He then took a run home and made it there within five minutes. He had a quick shower to remove the soot off his fur then got dressed and went to bed. Jake had flown in while Dan was in the shower and was already fast asleep.