1 1. Almost Every Story has a Mysterious Intro

The sun was just beginning to sink over the horizon, it's rays slowly but surely disappearing and making the gray sky dimmer by the minute. Storm clouds had been rolling around for a few days, coming closer and closer, until it was directly on top of the island making the air cool and the rain inevitable.

Taking a step back to admire my work, I wiped away the sweat on my forehead and smiled to myself. "Beautiful," I breathed out under a whisper.

The powder white seaplane I had used to crash here was finally in usable condition again. The charred marks of where the thunderbolt had struck were still there, but miraculously the engine hadn't been touched and the downpour that night had put out most of the fire. Though I wasn't exactly in ideal condition to fix it, there was a bit more duct tape than what would have been deemed sane, I assured myself that I could at least make it to another beach before crashing again.

I was on an island shaped roughly like a teardrop. Its black beaches made the sea foam and bone like drift wood stark against itself and would blend with the ocean when night fell. Toward the larger end was a forest of vibrant trees that hid the slope of a hill. At the zenith was a house carved from marble, the white rail of its balcony acting like a crown on a giant's skull.

A little grin crept onto my face as I leaned against the plane looking toward the sunset. What I wouldn't give to let people know I was still alive, that not even an army helped by the forces of nature could drag me to the grave. Here on a tropical island in the middle of nowhere I didn't feel like on top of the world but I was close.

The first drop of rain landed squarely on my nose. Sighing at the moment cut short I patted a wing of the plane. "Please work tomorrow," I begged softly before starting my trip to the house.

My vacation on the island hadn't been long but three days was enough time for the world to change when I got back, that wasn't my main problem though. No, the real problem was the unexpected passenger I was taking on. She wasn't bad looking, southeast Asian and more on the petite side, nothing special, but she had been there to pull me from under the wreckage. Even though she doesn't speak much English it's clear that she wants to go away with me. The longer I had stayed here the more questions popped into my mind, all of which she couldn't answer even if she wanted to. She just keeps smiling like I owe her the world.

The grin on my face faded. I stopped in my tracks and the surrounding forest seemed to go silent as I looked up again at the house. What she was doing now? Packing her trinkets for the trip? Making a special meal for our last day on the island? The rain was now a light but constant shower when an idea came into my mind. Perhaps it wouldn't be the worst option to leave early.

Suddenly a bright blinding white light flashed out from the house.

"Fuck!" I shielded my eyes and fell backwards onto the grass landing on my butt.

"Shit!shit!shit!" With that snap to reality I staggered back on my feet. Dashing behind a tree, the world became a haze of spinning blue and white dots.

Without hesitation I gritted my teeth and ran towards it through the cover of the forest. My heart was racing along me but my mind was already there. How many had come? Was the light a stun grenade or something else? Was the girl hurt? How had they found me?

In the crevasses of these questions, in the middle of heartbeats, in the haste of my movements, something felt oddly familiar. So many questions with no answers, this was the second time in three days that it had happened, and it had happened countless times before too. But I had always made it work.

The little grinned came back to myself face, this wasn't going to help with me being the girl's hero, was it?

First, every hero needs a tool. Running through the forest I could feel the heat in my eyes as they glowed. Leaping over a log, I landed heavily on my feet and in the space between a gun shimmered and steamed into existence, already in my hands grasp. It gleamed, for a second, a hot neon blue before dying down to a cool gray. Its weight and roughness were familiar.

I missed this, I lived for this, and somewhere deep in my mind there seemed to be a sigh of relief, I knew this was going to happen, was waiting for it actually.