Chapter 1

21st Century Earth

A young man could be seen walking down the street with his head hung low in a dispirited mood, carrying a package that seemed to weigh heavily in his hands. As he was walking home, he raised his head up, looking into the skies. With a depressed sigh, he mumbles to himself, "I hope things make a turn for the better, not only did my book get denied, but I also lost my job."

As he continued down his path, storm clouds began to roil and rumble on the horizon as lightning began to dance across the heavens, and thunder shook the earth. Seeing that it was going to start raining soon, he began to move a bit faster grumbling, "Just great! Could this day get any worse?"

He made it half-way down the street, passing an alleyway he froze in his steps when the young man saw that a man was pressing a woman against the wall with his hand wrapped around her throat. Her clothes ripped apart, almost baring her form. While he stood in the middle of the entryway of the alley, they both turned and looked at him. The man carried a murderous bloodthirst in his eyes as he glared at the young man. At the same time, the woman held a pleading expression on her own as she gasped for air, trying to muster enough strength to call out to him for help.

The assailant slowly turned his head to look at the young man. As he started to grip the woman's throat tighter, causing her eyes to roll into the back of her head, giving silent screams of pain. The assailant gave a hard look and said in a gruff and hoarse voice, "Keep walking kid. I may let you live if you do."

Before turning his attention back to the woman.

The young man, paralyzed by fear and unable to move as he stared in horror at the scene in front of him. When he heard the mans' voice, he subconsciously took a step back, causing him to drop the package in his hands before stopping himself. Gritting his teeth, the young man once more made a step forward, replying in a shaky voice, "Let her go."

The criminal once more turned to the young man slightly amused at the young man for attempting to put on a brave front. He released the woman letting her drop to the ground, saying, "I'm going to have to rip you into pieces now. I tried to be nice and let you go, but you decided to take my kindness for granted. So now, you get to find out what death tastes like."

The young man was visibly shaking but managed to steel his nerves. With newfound courage surging through him that he didn't even know he had as strength from an unknown source that seemed to resonate with his soul began to fill him, and charge at the assailant. With a roar, he tackled the man to the ground yelling to the woman, "RUN! RUN AWAY!"

The assailant grabbed the young man rolling on top of him and smashed his head into the ground before pounding his fists into the young man. The assailant huffed out, "You just had to be a hero! You couldn't just keep walking like a normal person! Now, look at the situation we're in!" Each word was followed by a strike from the assailant as if to punctuate his words.

The young man's head was exploding with pain as he was being wailed upon. He was only able to barely muster enough strength to throw the man off of him as he rolled onto his side to try to stand up. Taking a quick look at where the woman was to make sure she got away, the young man quickly staggered to his feet. He gave a hoarse laugh before saying, "I succeeded," after seeing that the woman was no longer there.

Just as the young man got to his feet, he felt an intense pain stabbing through his chest. Looking down, he saw the tip of a blade piercing where his heart is. Feeling the tearing and cutting sensation of the knife being twisted as the assailant pulled the blade from the young mans' body. The young man only managed to stagger a few steps before falling to his knees and collapsing to the ground with his blood slowly beginning to pool around him.

The assailant looked at the young man with contempt saying, "Your nothing but a fool who should've run the first opportunity. But now look at you, slowly bleeding out as your brain is trying to comprehend its own stupidity for getting involved," as disdain filled his voice as he turned and left.

The young man laid there as his life ebbed out of him at a rapid pace. The pain slowly turned into a dull throb as he started to feel colder with his blood flowing out of him. While his blood pooled around him, it began soaking the scattered contents of the package.

The young man managed to roll onto his back with great effort and stare up at the sky as the rain began to fall. The rain fell only a few drops at a time at first but started coming down with higher intensity to the point where it was crashing down in a matter of seconds. One of the now blood-soaked contents of the package exploded in light. It took on the form of an ancient medallion and covering the young man in its brilliance and began to draw him into it. With a bright flash, a lightning bolt struck down onto the young man as a whirlpool of powerful energy manifested above him, pulling him up into it.

This continued for several seconds, with the whirlpool spinning faster. Until everything abruptly stopped, returning to its earlier calm, and the young man's body had disappeared into thin air without a trace left to be found anywhere.