The Origin of Darkblade.
Evann Drake realized that he was different. Not different as in different hobbies or interests, but as in strangely different.
It all began when he was still in high school. One day he walked in late to his physics class. As he went to sit down, all of a sudden everyone within 5 feet of him began screaming and shouting, and scrambling to get away from him as fast as possible. It was almost as if they had seen a ghost. To them, he suddenly became repugnant, and they didn't want anything to do with him. This strange, out of the blue classroom disruption would be talked about for weeks.
Then there was the time when he went out on a date with his girlfriend, and afterwards they decided to make out. After a passionate kiss of about 2 seconds, his girlfriend felt strangely weak and lethargic, and what made even less sense was that at the same time his energy and adrenaline level went up. It was like he literally sucked some of her life right out of her.
Shortly after that, he got into a fight with some idiot as school. It was so trivial he couldn't remember how it got started. He only got in one punch, but it was enough. The poor kid was knocked back, then he was almost paralyzed, but at the same time sort of rocking back and forth and losing energy over a period of about 2 minutes. He wound up being suspended for a week.
He had a close relationship with his parents, Roberta and Evann Drake Sr., so naturally he told them that something was wrong, that he was having this weird effect on people. At first, his parents just listened, but Evann could tell they were being strangely silent. Clearly, they were withholding something from him. After some more heated discussions, his parents decided it was in the best interests of their son to come clean.
They then related to Evann a particularly dark period of their lives. During WWII, Evann Sr., having enlisted in the U.S. Army, was stationed in Nazi Germany. One night, after eating dinner in a restaurant, they were suddenly accosted and kidnapped by a group of Nazi soldiers. They were then interrogated and subjected to some truly inhumane scientific experiments. They didn't tell Jr. exactly what was done to them for two reasons:first, they were still in a sort of denial as to what happened, and second, they didn't want to freak him out beyond what was absolutely necessary. The most important thing was that they both somehow survived, despite the heavy scars they would carry for the rest of their lives. Later, Roberta unexpectedly became pregnant, and it was an occasion both of joy and of dread. They both hoped and prayed that the experiments wouldn't have an adverse effect on their unborn child. Now, their worse nightmare came to light.
Evann's parents then panicked. Even though he caused these things to happen to people he came in contact with, Evann himself felt fine and up until now suffered no ill effects. Of course, they had no way of knowing if that would continue to be true. So, the day after this discussion, his father made contact with a close friend that also happened to be a renowned geneticist-Dr. Benjamin al Zahib. His laboratory was in England.
After several tests, it was discovered that Evann wasn't just different, but radically different. The term 'mutant' wasn't entirely unfamiliar to him;he understood it to be a somewhat rare and deformed act of nature, which naturally made him even more uneasy. They found out that he had a vast reserve of negative energy swirling around in his body which didn't seem to adversely affect him, even though it had the power to somehow drain energy from other people, and even affected their emotions, making them feel fear. Dr. Zahib couldn't guarantee that Evann wouldn't someday suffer the same symptoms he caused in others, but made them all promise to return for further treatment if that ever became the case.
Fast forward to the present. Evann is now 30 years old, having graduated from high school some 12 years ago, and also having undergone other numerous, strange, and even embarrassing incidents since then. But even more importantly, his beloved Paragon City is now under the heavy effects of the Rikti invasion;it's now only a shadow of what it once was. What if Evann could somehow use these 'dark' powers he had for the benefit of other people? One night, after witnessing a particularly brutal mugging, he decided that he had had enough. He decided to learn to cope with any uncertainties he had regarding his physical makeup, somehow control and hone his powers to the best of his ability, and rid Paragon City of all the scum that filled its streets. Finally, after brooding for what seemed like forever and designing his own costume, Darkblade was born.
But there was one final thing he had to make sure of. He had to keep this a total secret from his parents and his current girlfriend. Because if they ever found out that he was running the streets fighting bad guys, dodging bullets and who knows what else, and constantly putting himself in harm's way, they would kill him.
The Origin of Darkblade.
Evann Drake realized that he was different. Not different as in different hobbies or interests, but as in strangely different.
It all began when he was still in high school. One day he walked in late to his physics class. As he went to sit down, all of a sudden everyone within 5 feet of him began screaming and shouting, and scrambling to get away from him as fast as possible. It was almost as if they had seen a ghost. To them, he suddenly became repugnant, and they didn't want anything to do with him. This strange, out of the blue classroom disruption would be talked about for weeks.
Then there was the time when he went out on a date with his girlfriend, and afterwards they decided to make out. After a passionate kiss of about 2 seconds, his girlfriend felt strangely weak and lethargic, and what made even less sense was that at the same time his energy and adrenaline level went up. It was like he literally sucked some of her life right out of her.
Shortly after that, he got into a fight with some idiot as school. It was so trivial he couldn't remember how it got started. He only got in one punch, but it was enough. The poor kid was knocked back, then he was almost paralyzed, but at the same time sort of rocking back and forth and losing energy over a period of about 2 minutes. He wound up being suspended for a week.
He had a close relationship with his parents, Roberta and Evann Drake Sr., so naturally he told them that something was wrong, that he was having this weird effect on people. At first, his parents just listened, but Evann could tell they were being strangely silent. Clearly, they were withholding something from him. After some more heated discussions, his parents decided it was in the best interests of their son to come clean.
They then related to Evann a particularly dark period of their lives. During WWII, Evann Sr., having enlisted in the U.S. Army, was stationed in Nazi Germany. One night, after eating dinner in a restaurant, they were suddenly accosted and kidnapped by a group of Nazi soldiers. They were then interrogated and subjected to some truly inhumane scientific experiments. They didn't tell Jr. exactly what was done to them for two reasons:first, they were still in a sort of denial as to what happened, and second, they didn't want to freak him out beyond what was absolutely necessary. The most important thing was that they both somehow survived, despite the heavy scars they would carry for the rest of their lives. Later, Roberta unexpectedly became pregnant, and it was an occasion both of joy and of dread. They both hoped and prayed that the experiments wouldn't have an adverse effect on their unborn child. Now, their worse nightmare came to light.
Evann's parents then panicked. Even though he caused these things to happen to people he came in contact with, Evann himself felt fine and up until now suffered no ill effects. Of course, they had no way of knowing if that would continue to be true. So, the day after this discussion, his father made contact with a close friend that also happened to be a renowned geneticist-Dr. Benjamin al Zahib. His laboratory was in England.
After several tests, it was discovered that Evann wasn't just different, but radically different. The term 'mutant' wasn't entirely unfamiliar to him;he understood it to be a somewhat rare and deformed act of nature, which naturally made him even more uneasy. They found out that he had a vast reserve of negative energy swirling around in his body which didn't seem to adversely affect him, even though it had the power to somehow drain energy from other people, and even affected their emotions, making them feel fear. Dr. Zahib couldn't guarantee that Evann wouldn't someday suffer the same symptoms he caused in others, but made them all promise to return for further treatment if that ever became the case.
Fast forward to the present. Evann is now 30 years old, having graduated from high school some 12 years ago, and also having undergone other numerous, strange, and even embarrassing incidents since then. But even more importantly, his beloved Paragon City is now under the heavy effects of the Rikti invasion;it's now only a shadow of what it once was. What if Evann could somehow use these 'dark' powers he had for the benefit of other people? One night, after witnessing a particularly brutal mugging, he decided that he had had enough. He decided to learn to cope with any uncertainties he had regarding his physical makeup, somehow control and hone his powers to the best of his ability, and rid Paragon City of all the scum that filled its streets. Finally, after brooding for what seemed like forever and designing his own costume, Darkblade was born.
But there was one final thing he had to make sure of. He had to keep this a total secret from his parents and his current girlfriend. Because if they ever found out that he was running the streets fighting bad guys, dodging bullets and who knows what else, and constantly putting himself in harm's way, they would kill him.