THE IRON AGE OF NIKADEMUS

By Dark-Eternity

Chapter One: From the Ashes of the Past

Prologue: The terrorist organization known as V.E.N.O.M. is long gone. Miles Mayhem and his agents were apprehended and put away. Seeing no more need for it, M.A.S.K. is disbanded; most of the people gone their separate ways, even Matt Trakker. But evil always has a way of returning but sometimes in darkness that no one could ever understand.

"Tell me what is pain without reason? It is an art without paint, a wind without a fan. It is purely natural; it needs no hindering by things of mortal existance. That is the goal we must achieve, my friend."

This is what the man would say whenever approached by another. Then again, he was seldom around others, a man of Siberian and American origin dwelling within the more northern regions of Siberia, away from humanity. How he hated humanity, and every thing in it. Was it the coldness that existed around him that made him this way? Perhaps the fact his very origin remained a mystery, and no one had ever seen his face behind that brown hood he wore; only those mysterious glowing red eyes that could be seen through the blackness of the hood? What inner workings existed in him? The few that ever met him could never tell. Of course, anyone who met him never lived to tell about it. Master Nikademus. That is what he was known by. Named after the character in the Bible, perhaps? Doubtful. The shadow of what he was totally contradicted that possibility.

This empowerment of a man known as Nikademus was insanely brilliant; obviously having some top-of-the-line technological studies. Though few knew under the cape he wore, and medevil Russian style clothes he had upon his body, this man was a top of the line swordsman. He kept his sword tucked away under his cape.

Master Nikademus appeared to be a walking shadow, a wraith in the cold, harsh weather. A hermit? But of course. He would have lived no other way.

So who would suspect a creature like this to cause trouble? And in the 1990s? Goverments had more worries about the jaywalking laws then they did about a person like this. This thing that looked from his wardrobe that he belonged in the Middle Ages? Knowing this, it is not a hard task to understand how he was able to do what he did.

Then again, I don't suspect most knew about the small outpost V.E.N.O.M. had set up in this remote region but eventually abandoned because of time constraints.

But then how did Nikademus find it? Or better yet manage. Another question people may only guess about. But then again, Master Nikademus was a wanderer. Few knew the land he was in like Nikademus did. Few had the scientifical and technological mind of Nikademus. It makes one wonder if Nikademus stumbled upon it and just went in, or knew about it for a long time and just waited for the right moment. Which ever one it was, Nikademus eventually made it in.

Another question arises out of obvious implied continuance of the incident: when Nikademus did in fact enter the compound, how long did it take him to learn of the amazing mask technology used by both V.E.N.O.M. and M.A.S.K.? Again, by insufficient data passed on to all, there is no telling the exact length of time. Some theorize weeks, others, years. All-in-all, it is now inevitable what was about to happen. A brilliant yet mysterious creature of a man spurned by hatred of humanity for his own reasons and corrupted by the shackles of time. It was only a matter of how and when.

How? Nikademus obviously knew some very powerful people who somehow profited from his cause. In some strange way, he was able to slowly get the money he needed to start with.

When? No one knows. No one will ever know. Not even a decent estimation. But most speculate it began ever since the idea first entered that dark cloak that flowed throughout his mind.

But one day in the late 1990's, under the cover of darkness in northeastern Russia, evil arose in the form of the strange organization known only C.E.S.T.U.S., otherwise known as the Crescent Enterprise Syndicate To Unite Supremacy.