Josephine's father was still sitting in jail. He knew someone would be coming to question him and the chances where really good that it would be one of the brotherhood.
He thought of what he'd done and in the long did not care. The test had proven successful and he'd gotten a piece in the long run. As he let his thoughts drift, he silently ran his fingers over the krystal necklace that he had stolen from that ridiculous looking creature. But what the creature called itself, he could not remember.
He let his thoughts flow back to the beginning and contemplated how things had turned out.
At one time Darryl had been one of the brotherhood. He had been one of the members that would collect the Amulet of Zulo and send it off to it's next destination. He had been plucked for the order from his home in Louisiana in nineteen hundred and thirty two.
In nineteen hundred and thirty two, Darryl had his own share of problems. There was the depression to worry about and the fact that he had to slowly sell his granddaddy's farm off.
One day, as Darryl was coming out of the bank, he'd spied a newspaper someone had left on a bench. But it was what the paper was open to that caught his eye. It was an offer from a company posing as Ord-Zo and they were offering a one in lifetime membership, plus perks and bonuses to their company. It was like the heavens had opened up and smiled on him, he reasoned.
Collecting the discarded paper from the bench, he followed the directions to a run down shack out in the middle of the Bayou, right on the Louisiana border. Thinking he may have gotten the wrong address, he knocked anyway, figuring he could always ask for directions.
He was greeted by a simple looking man, who showed him inside and offered him something to eat. After a quick bite, the man got down to business and explained his offer to a now very confused Darryl.
"We are part of an Order called Zulo. Now I can't explain all the details at this time, because that would leave too much to clean up if you declined. What I can explain is your job, if you except. You would be paired with another one of our members and then you'd be erased from time itself. You'd still be here, but people would have no recollection of you ever being. You would be permanently the age you are now until the end of time, but that doesn't mean you can't die. After all, accidents do happen. Now, with this partner, you'd seek out the amulets and wait for their uses to come to an end."
"Well how will I know that?" Darryl asked of the man, ignoring the part about being erased.
Grinning, the man continued. "You'll know. It's almost like they're calling to you. Once you have removed the Amulet of Zulo, you take one of these," here he pulled out what Darryl thought looked like a prod of some sort, "And run it over the Amulet. Afterward, you send it on it's way."
"How will I do that?" Darryl asked.
"With the prod we give you." the man explained. "Now, sometimes the medallions will end up back at one of the orders many buildings. That happens and is perfectly okay, so don’t worry."
Darryl sat there with an incredulous look on his face and finally could only ask, "Can I get back to you?"
The man nodded and said, "I can give you one week. If you still haven't come to a decision, than, I must move on to my next destination." Darryl nodded at this and hastily exited, not sure if he would be back in a week.
But the following week found Darryl back out at the shack, intrigued. It didn't take long for him to fill out the necessary paperwork, be issued on of them prod things and be paired with a woman called Jo-Ann. After that, his life was erased and Darryl became a man that could literally go anywhere and not be seen or questioned for his actions. Those that did see him quickly forgot.
Then it happened. In nineteen hundred and sixty seven, an inmate by the name of Carl had gotten a hold of the Amulet of Zulo. Knowing that this man could escape his punishment, Darryl and Jo-Ann disguised themselves as prison Guards.
They had just frozen time and were about to collect the Amulet of Zulo from the frozen con five feet in front of them, when all hell broke loose. Somehow, both the inmate and one of the guards had not been frozen and just as Carl, who was to be fried in the electric chair that night, stepped from his cell, the Guard, a newbie named Arnold, opened fire on the two members.
The bullet had been meant for Carl, but hit Jo-Ann instead. Apparently Carl had murdered several of the Arnold's family and the man felt this was the perfect way to exact revenge.
Only Arnold had not counted on there being anyone in the way. He was to go to Carl's cell with three other Guards as Carl was shackled, he would open fire on Carl, the other Guards and then himself. Now he was left looking at a five Guards instead of three and for some reason, three of them appeared frozen in place. Seeing the pretty woman lying on the floor, bleeding from the bullet hole in her head, he dropped the shackles and wondered briefly, "What the hell is going on here?"
Then the other Guard who was not frozen was approaching him. Suddenly he had a weapon of some kind and Arnold knew what to do. But before he could do anything, the probe touched his left temple and everything went black. When he regained consciousness, he only had memories of shooting the pretty Blonde woman, Officer Jo-Ann or something. And when he tried to confess, people just waved him off as being in shock from what Carl did the night he was scheduled to be executed in the electric chair.
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Darryl saw the rookie Guard shoot. He saw Jo-Ann fall to the floor and before he knew what he was doing, training kicked in. He walked to the Guard, placed the probe to his temple, froze him in place and modified his memories. Next, he took the Guard's gun and positioned him and the rest so that it looked like Carl had gotten the best of them in a desperate attempt for escape.
Next he went for Carl. Wondering what in the hell just happened, Darryl quickly caught up with the escaping inmate. Only it looked like the effects of frozen time had finally caught up with him.
Not seeing the electrified fence clearly, Darryl quickly approached and then reached out to Carl. Just as he touched the man, he was thrown ten feet backward as about ten thousand volts of electricity coursed through Carl, through his body and then into the probe.
Standing, Darryl felt odd. His face was wet and everything was all jumbled up. He could not make heads or tails of the world. Something clicked and he went to examine the man he was sent collect. Around his neck, Darryl found the amulet. Brushing his hand against his face, he saw red when he brought his hand back. Shrugging, he placed the probe against the Amulet of Zulo and activated the device.
Suddenly a noise like a nuclear bomb going off echoed through the prison and the world for Darryl went sideways. He watched as the Amulet of Zulo glow bright red and then imploded upon itself. The energy coursed into Darryl's hand and his thoughts turned into a new level of insanity.
Dropping the probe, he looked down. Carl was no longer lying on the ground. Just as he was bending down to pick up the charred looking probe, a voice behind him asked, "Hey buddy. What are you doing here?"
Looking behind him, Darryl saw a prison Guard approaching. Grinning, Darryl leapt at the prison Guard and strangled him with his bare hands as a voice in his head said, "Get him! He's one of them. They only serve to take you back. If they get you, it’s all over for you."
Happy with what he did, he side stepped and disappeared; vanished from both the order and the known world.
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He had no idea the concept of time and when he found that there was even more powerful magic out there, he set about to claim it as his own. The first thing that he wanted was the ability to transform. Being a member, he knew that was impossible, but he was determined to change all that.
He also wanted true immortality. Darryl did not want to end up like a Jo-Ann, a woman he believed to be a puppet.
Wandering about, he ran into another evil creature. The only way he could describe the creature, was something that looked like an evolved mouse. Over powering the creature, he used the probe to wash clean it's memories and then he took the Krystal from it's neck. Sidestepping out of the world he'd stumbled upon, he watched with glee as the magical energies inside the creature build up and then the creature exploded.
Leaving a trail of death and destruction behind him, Darryl found piece by piece power he'd never dreamed about. He was intelligent enough to fly low enough below radar so none of the members of Zulo became alerted. He had a plan for them and when he was ready, Darryl figured he'd deal with them.
Then one day, Darryl had come up with a marvelous idea; turn another human into the Amulet of Zulo. "Could it work?" he wondered to himself.
He found the perfect family. The mother was dead and the twelve year old son, Joseph, was now living with his father. Murdering the father, he corrected the memories of every person so they recognized Darryl as the father. And then he began to work.
He crafted the amulet from memory and than infused it with some of the magical energies from his body.
Chuckling evilly, he bought a pair of underwear for a little girl. Waiting for the right opportunity, he than began to slowly advance on the unsuspecting twelve year old boy named Joseph.
Overpowering him, Darryl slipped the Amulet of Zulo over the Joseph's neck and then touched him with the pair of underwear....
And nothing happened. Pissed he beat the brat within an inch of his life and the used the probe to adjust his memories. It was as he was doing this, he saw something interesting. As the probe touched the Joseph's temple, a bolt of red energy leapt from the krystal to the probe and than vanished inside the boy's head.
Grinning, he took off the krystal and hid it up his sleeve. Reviving the Joseph, he once again touched the underwear to the Amulet of Zulo.
Delighted, he watched as a red bolt jumped into Joseph and the changes began. The boy shank down, what ever muscle he had started to develop quickly melted away and was soon replaced by baby fat. As the long hair began to grow in, Darryl began to violently rip the clothes from the kid’s body.
He watched in amazement as Joseph's genitals shrunk and then disappeared. And then he watched as the female exterior organs began to grow into place. Laughing, Darryl knew that the medallion he'd created was a success.
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Over the next couple days, Darryl would have his way with young Joseph. Not only would he rape her, he would also play with her memories. Mostly it was erasing what he did. For he learned fast that the power of the Amulet of Zulo was also now in this little girl, but could not be activated unless in came in contact with the krystal he wore.
He had discovered it quite by accident one day. He had been having his way with Joseph, when the family cat got to close. Surprised, he watched as a bolt of energy jumped from the little girl to the cat and a pair of discarded pants he had left laying on the bed. As the animal began to transform into a duplicate of Darryl, the original could sit and watch in wonder.
When the transformation was complete, the original Darryl used his magic to overpower the stunned animal. The next two days were filled with experiments and on the second evening, Darryl accidentally touched the krystal to the girl, who he was touching to his duplicate.
The duplicate, who was wearing the cat collar, rapidly shank and transformed back into the cat. Meowing loudly, it took off when Darryl tried to kick it.
Placing the probe to Joseph's temple, he wiped her memory clean of what she'd seen. Suddenly he was alerted to the sounds of police sirens. Running to the garage, he looked out in alarm as about seven squad cars pulled up.
A bit of quick thinking and he sidestepped into an area that only he knew about. Wondering briefly if these cops had been sent somehow by the order, he questioned why they had never came after him before. Shrugging, he set the probe down in a location only he could find and sidestepped back into the garage. Running back into the house, he grabbed the amulet from the girl and destroyed it.
What happened next was a stand-off between the cops and Darryl. It ended with Joseph being taken into police custody and he being arrested.
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Now here he was, sitting in jail, waiting for someone to come speak to him.
Darryl had guessed correctly when a member of Zulo entered. Standing, he grinned at the man and asked, "Little boy. Do you know who I am? Do you think I can be an order of Zulo?"
This caught the man off guard. Taking a deep breath, he asked, "How do you know of the order of Zulo?"
Grinning wickedly, Darryl said to the bemused man, "My name is Darryl. I was at one time partnered with a woman names Jo-Ann. I have been a member since about the early nineteen thirties."
Shaking his head, the man replied to this, "That's impossible. Both the one called Darryl and his partner perished in a botched attempt to recover an amulet from a murder named Carl. But all this all happened sometime back in the sixties. There is no way you could be him."
Laughing, Darryl said, "That's just what I wanted to hear."
Grabbing the surprised looking man, he sidestepped both into the area where he hid the probe. Looking at the man, Darryl hissed, "Where is my amulet? My little Joseph?"
Getting no answer, Darryl proceeded to choke the poor man to death. Laughing maniacally, he sidestepped and dumped the body into the jail cell he had previously occupied. Sitting there calmly, he waited for the next fool to come to him and hoped that it would be another member of Zulo.