❄️⚡️Darkness In Us All

Ch.14

I'm standing in the Speed Force, looking out at the entirety of the cosmos. All of time and space stretches before me, infinite and breathtaking. Every moment, every possibility—right there at my fingertips.

Then, suddenly, it's all cut off. The stars fade. The currents still.

I'm back with 'Nora.'

"What... what was that I just saw?" I ask, the awe still lingering in my voice.

"That," she replies gently, "was a glimpse into what I see, Barry. The Space-Time Continuum. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

Her voice holds a kind of reverence—like a priestess before a sacred flame.

"Yes," I breathe. "More than I could ever put into words. All moments... from the Big Bang to the end of everything. Life, death, rebirth. It's a lot to grasp."

"For now," she says with a soft smile, placing a hand gently on my cheek. "But you'll come to understand it, my dear boy."

Then her expression shifts—just slightly. A shadow behind the stars.

"Something is coming, my son. A war. A Time War. The Last Great Time War nearly shattered reality itself. It was felt across every plane of existence... and almost brought the end of all things."

I narrow my eyes. "And what does that have to do with my current predicament?" I ask, half-skeptical. It still sounds like a myth.

"All in due time, my child," she says with knowing calm. "But understand this—when creation burned, a new generation of primordial beings emerged from the ashes. Myself included. Cosmic stewards born from the collapse of what was."

She steps closer now, her voice thick with urgency.

"But the cycle turns again. Change is coming. The multiverse will burn once more... and we must be ready if we're to survive what's next."

"What do you mean, Mom? Are you in trouble?" I ask, the word slipping from my lips unbidden. I blink in surprise. I didn't mean to say it. Not out loud.

She smiles, her arms open.

"Oh sweetheart, come here."

She pulls me into a warm, tender embrace—the kind I forgot I missed.

"I'm so happy you're beginning to see me for what I truly am. Because, really and truly, I am your mother. When that lightning struck you, your old life ended. And in that moment, you were reborn—my son, my Champion."

"I chose you not just for your strength or speed—but because your spirit echoes those who came before you."

Her eyes shimmer with ancient knowledge now, as if unlocking something in me.

"You've felt it, haven't you? That connection. Across time. Across cultures."

I nod slowly, unsure.

"There have always been speedsters, Barry. In every age, in every myth. You are their culmination."

She steps back, her voice becoming something vast—like the voice of creation itself.

"Hermes, the Greek god with winged sandals, moved freely between the realms of mortals and gods. Like you, he was a messenger, a bridge between worlds."

"Mercury, his Roman reflection, guided souls to the afterlife—just as you've carried the dead and dying through the Speed Force, preserving what was lost."

"Hjálmþér, the Norse spirit of swiftness, raced across the Bifröst, bearing the winds of fate. You, too, run the paths of destiny."

"Anubis, in the deserts of Egypt, didn't just weigh the souls of the dead—he moved with unnatural speed through the Duat, the underworld, unseen by all but the gods."

"Nezha, the Chinese warrior of flame and wind, rode fiery wheels and carved new paths through chaos, much like you broke time itself to save those you love."

"All of them... echoes. Archetypes. Fragments of a truth the universe has always known."

She looks me in the eye.

"You are not just the fastest man alive, Barry Allen. You are the idea of speed. The god of motion. The future's answer to the myths of old. The one who stands at the center of time."

My breath catches. I don't know what to say.

But she isn't finished.

"The three of us—you, me, and Caitlin—we're going to start a new dynasty of gods. A new pantheon, forged in the wake of a dying universe. And when the new reality emerges, we'll shape it in our image. With you at its heart."

"The one true God of Time."

She extends her hand.

"Now, let's rejoin Caitlin, shall we?"

I take her hand without hesitation, a spark of excitement catching in my chest.

"Let's do this," I say, ready—for what, I'm not sure. But ready all the same.

Vision returns.

I'm back in my childhood home. On the couch, Caitlin's curled up, watching something on the dusty old TV. She looks up in surprise at our sudden appearance—but her expression softens into a smile.

"You're back," she says warmly. "How did it go?"

"It went well," I reply, glancing at Nora. "I think I understand now... what we need to do. But there's going to be resistance. A lot of it. Perhaps from  the very people we once called friends."

"Is that alright with you, my love?"

Caitlin rises from the couch, stepping into the golden glow from the Speed Force still trailing behind me.

"With you by my side," she says, her hand finding mine, "we can do anything. I believe that with all my heart."

And for the first time... I believe it too.

Elsewhere... far beyond Earth... beyond the reach of the Speed Force...

A scorched, lifeless world burns beneath a blackened sky. The planet Apokolips—home to gods of destruction and cruelty.

Within the throne room of a vast obsidian fortress, fire rages in eternal pits. The air trembles with the weight of tyrannical presence.

Darkseid sits on his throne—immovable, eternal.

Before him, cloaked in red and yellow lightning, stands a man twisted by hatred and obsession.

Eobard Thawne. The Reverse Flash.

"My offer still stands," Thawne says with a sneer, golden eyes gleaming. "You help me destroy Barry Allen—erase him from every timeline—and I'll give you what you seek."

Darkseid stares in silence, unblinking. His voice, when it comes, is like a seismic tremor.

"The Anti-Life Equation... exists only within the fabric of living thought. How do you propose to find it?"

Thawne smirks. "That's the beauty of it. Barry... doesn't even realize he's protecting it."

He paces slowly, lightning crackling at his heels.

"When he became the so-called God of Time, when the Speed Force merged with the cosmic threads of reality, it gave him access to something primal. Something buried in the very concept of choice... and control."

He stops and turns.

"And when I kill him—when I replace him—his power will be mine. Along with everything he's guarding. Including the Equation."

Darkseid rises from his throne.

"Fail me... and you will suffer an eternity beyond time itself."

Thawne doesn't flinch. He grins.

"I don't fail. Not when it comes to Barry Allen. I've rewritten history before. I'll do it again."

The two shake hands—gods of death and deception united.

And as Apokolips burns, the multiverse trembles.

A new Time War is coming.

And this time... it won't just shake the foundations of reality—it will tear them apart.