:The Herald:

A short while before The Rift...

Jago stumbled through the Tiger Temple, doing his best to fight back against the darkness taking hold within. But even he, at his best, started to crack, and break at the overwhelming power that was coming down upon him. It started to become, painful.

Even after all of this time, after all of the battles he fought, he still could not purge this darkness. And now he was paying the consequences for his failure to do so.

Still, the monk continue to fight back.

And the more he fought back, the stronger the dark force became.

The power of this dark aura only growing, more and more and more, until Jago finally broke.

Shadowy energy rising from his body as the monk fell to the ground. The temple began to darken, smoke began to fill the air.

And as Jago slowly recovered, a dark voice spoke,

"Weak vessel."

Jago's eyes shot open.

"You were to herald my master's return."

The monk groaned, working his way to his knees as the voice echoed around him,

"But you proved too, incorruptible. But your conflict gave me strength."

Jago grit his teeth, hands balled up into fists.

"And your resistance has given me, freedom."

Jago powered through the massive ache in his body and managed to his feet, glaring for the source of the evil as he exhaustingly muttered through breaths, "Who...what...are you...?"

"Woe to those who stand against me, for I am his herald, and the sign of things to come!"

A dark figure hovered through the smoke, large black wings flapping as it descended into the darkened Tiger Temple below, slowly landing in front of Jago, "I, am, Omen."

Jago took a step back, quickly entering a fighting stance as this enemy appeared before him. The being, whose form seemed mostly of dark energy, raised its hands, energy crackling from them as it looked towards Jago, killing intent clear.

"And now, vessel, in your weakened state, will prove an effective shell for my master to use, until the time, has come." Omen said quietly, darkly.

Jago's brow furrowed, raising his fists in defiance, "Never."

Omen tilted his head, only slightly, before whispering, "That, is no longer your decision."

Jago, with his arm pulled back, thrust it forward, "ENDOKUKEN!" He shouted, a fireball shooting from his hand towards the dark enemy.

Omen unleashed his wings, hovering back as he swung his fists forward, "RASHAKUKEN!"

Several balls of dark energy fired forth from his hands, hovering in the air as if they had a mind of their own. One, firing forth and exploding upon impact with Jago's Endokuken fireball.

The second, fired forth towards Jago himself, who quickly moved to leap over it, however, it circled upwards, colliding and exploding against his back.

Jago's cry of pain was cut short by the third Rashakuken shadow ball, which hammered and exploded against front, sending him flying into one of the pillars.

The monk refused to stay down though, despite the unbearable pain coursing through his body, he couldn't give up. He wouldn't. He'd die first. And would sooner die than let this, monster use him for its own schemes.

Omen lunged forward with a ferocious roar, landing and skidding across the ground before reaching the monk, who drew his sword attempted to force him back.

The dark foe was too fast however, his monstrous speed allowing him to pummel Jago with a barrage of kicks.

Jago, despite the pain, again powered through, pulling back before swinging his sword down at Omen. The sword would have collided, were it not for the fact that Jago was in barely any condition to be fighting, and his foe being super fast.

By the time his sword had gone half way down, Omen had circled behind him, hammering an elbow into Jago's spine.

A strike that would have killed any normal man, and possibly even him. But the fact that he was still alive clearly proved this foe really was intending to use him. He couldn't let that happen.

Jago quickly spun around, jumping into the air and thrusting his foot forward, in an attempt to deliver his swift wind kick. But again, the two disadvantages he was at made it impossible.

"RASHAKUKEN!" Omen's swift speed allowed the dark shadow balls to strike first, throwing Jago off his feet. The dark foe quickly flew forward, grabbing hold of Jago before laughing maniacally as the dark energy around him began to cover them both, exploding.

And through this intense attack, Jago could feel what strength he had left leave him, the last thing he could see was the eyes of Omen's dark mask, before he fell into darkness.

Omen dropped the monk, letting him fall to the ground with a loud thud. "Foolish vessel, you could never hope to challenge me."

Thunder, and dark clouds, and Omen quickly brought himself down on one knee. "Master."

Much like Omen's body, dark energy began to form around over Jago's unconscious form, a chilling dark voice speaking, "My Herald, you have done well."

Omen kept his head bowed, remaining silent.

The dark voice then added, "But there are still those, who would seek to deny my return. Our enemy must be vanquished, if I am to fully return to this world."

Omen remained as he was, quietly replying, "I will seek them out. And destroy them."

"Go." And with the one word, Omen unfurled his large black wings, and took to the air, flying off.

The dark aura around Jago chuckled evilly, quietly whispering, "You will be the bridge that will finally allow me to return. Now then..."

And in seconds, the dark fog covered Jago's form, twisting and turning as began to possess the monk as it intended. No strength within to fight back, the dark foe easily started gain feeling in his new temporary form.

Jago could only scream.

And Gargos relished finally standing in the world again.

Not long after though, his first enemy appeared in the form of one of Ultratech's metal fighters.

Fulgore, for the past few days now, had stood motionlessly on the balcony of the room that was provided to him. Though he had no use for the bed and, pretty much everything else, it did allow him the privacy he wanted so he could think in peace without having to listen to the ponies constantly bicker back and forth about whether they could trust him or not, whether he should be executed or not.

'Not that they would have a chance.' Fulgore thought to himself, shrugging off the absolute absurdness that such creatures could do so, especially given how kind hearted they seem to be. Kind heartedness that he was careful to be wary of, of course.

In the last few days, only small pieces of information relating to Gargos reached him and the ponies, a creature matching his appearance being seen here and there, this village, that town, various places that they would go and investigate, with no success however.

Fulgore had already gone about keeping his reactor charged up the entire time, so that in the chance event he did end up coming across Gargos, he would be more than ready to destroy absolutely.

Or, if the Ponies decided to turn on him, destroy absolutely.

'The latter being least likely if the Princesses are as honest, kind and trusting as the one Rarity says they are. I could care less if they are trustworthy or not, Gargos is my target here. I will not allow these creatures to interfere with my objective.'

A knock on the door and the one called Twilight Sparkle peeked into the room, "Um, Fulgore, the Princesses would like to see you."

One turn and the Ultratech cyborg was walking towards the door, preparing to leave to discuss whatever it was the Princesses wanted to discuss.

Meet with the Princesses and talk.

And, just in case they were likely plotting to turn on him...

'Destroy absolutely.'

Author's Note

Btw, not dead. A lot of life stuff happened, let's just leave it at that.