The Marvellous, Multicoloured Spectruman (IP)

In through the window of the 4th floor apartment burst a strange arc of darkness, like a rainbow except that, instead of colours it was made up of shades of grey and black; then those shades mutated into something else; a tall pale man dressed in a suit of glistening shadow.

Ray Bowman sprang, quick as a trap, from the couch he had been lazing on in surprise but then, touching the Prism of Power that he always wore as a badge upon his chest, in an instant, he transformed into his super alterego; the marvellous, multicoloured Spectruman.

"Who are you?", said Spectruman, "What are you doing in my apartment?".

"Are you the bearer of the Prism of Power", said the man in the suit of darkness, "The crystal that gives its wearer the ability to harness all the wavelengths of the energy Spectrum? The green energy that protects; the red energy that destroys; the blue energy that transports; the orange energy that transforms...".

"I am", Spectruman, interrupted, "But you haven't told me who you are".

The pale skinned man smiled and Spectruman saw that his lips and his eyes were as black as his suit.

"I am Ector; your shadowself; I bear the Prism of darkness that splits darkness into its spectrum; the darkbow".

"Shadowself", asked Spectruman, "What is that?".

"The universe is made up of dualities; everything has its opposite; light and darkness; evil and good; nothing comes into existence without creating a shadowself. For ordinary people it may only be the shadow they carry around with them but when you are the wielder of the Prism of Power you have me", said Ector.

"Well, what do you want?", asked Spectruman.

"Because you are good. I must be evil", said Ector, "Because you are a hero, I must be a villain".

"Must be?", said Spectruman, "But you have a mind, don't you. The ability to choose".

"Can you choose not to be good? Can you choose to be evil?", asked Ector.

"No but", said Spectruman.

"Well, just as you cannot choose to be evil; I cannot choose to be good. A thing made of darkness must behave darkly", said Ector.

At a thought, Spectruman was ensphered in a bubble of green protective energy.

"You wield the power of your Prism well", said Ector with admiration in his voice, "But you do not know the power of darkness".

A giant Ector bent down and picked up a tiny spectruman, holding him and the green forcefield that surrounded him like a snowglobe in the palm of his immense black gloved hand.

"Just as light burns; darkness also burns but it burns with cold", said Ector in a deafening voice, grinning a jet black grin that seemed as long, from end to end, as a sea galleon before, opening his mouth, he breathed out a cloud of light grey energy that felt like a gale of frost and ice and, freezing Spectrumans green forcefield made it shatter into trillions of pieces.

"That can't happen", said Spectruman, shaking his head in disbelief, "Green energy can't just freeze".

"Oh but it can", said Ector laughing and so loudly that it sounded like the Earth shaking, "Your spectrum powers are useless against the powers of darkness".

But then, out of Spectrumans Prism, a burst of yellow energy exploded; the energy that allowed Spectruman to see through barriers or over great distances and, opening his eyes, Spectruman realised that he had been dreaming; that somehow Ector had entered his mind and made him think that he was gigantic but Ector was not and he was still in his apartment protected by his forcefield.

"The power of darkness", said Spectruman, a little smile now spreading across his face as he found his courage, "Is the power of fear and ignorance. Let me show you the power of truth".

Spectruman touched his Prism again and, in an instant, the room was filled with yellow energy as blinding as the sun but in that light, Ector could see what he was; a shadow as vast as outerspace; an emptiness; a non-existence.

"To be dead inside is to be dead; to feel, to love, to appreciate the wonder of life that is what it means to truly exist. You are just the walking dead; a bottomless hole; a growing emptiness and nothing more", said the voice of Spectruman, speaking from behind the light.

The yellow energy giving him the power of appreciation for just a second; Ector screamed; the darkness in his mouth becoming him, his scream swallowing him until he and the scream were no more.

The blinding yellow light fading, Spectruman slumped back down onto his couch, exhausted, changing back into ordinary astrogeologist Ray Bowman.

But no sooner had Ray let out a tired sigh and shut his eyes when his Prism of Power lit up again and, in yellow visions that filled his head, he saw a plane full of screaming people that, siezed by some invisible force was being plunged towards the Atlantic ocean and behind one of the portals of the plane he saw a little boy holding a Spectruman doll and saying "Help us Spectruman, I know you can. Please".

Instantly, Ray Bowman transformed back into Spectruman and, springing to his feet, was immersed in the blue energy of transportation.

"Ector was right about one thing though", said Spectruman as he began to teleport , "A hero has no choice".