Chapter 3: Arrival

Ethan woke up in a cold sweat, his clothes plastered to him. He leapt out of bed with alarm holding a colt .45 in a white knuckled grip as he scanned the room. Panting, his heart beating with fear, anxiety. Ethan groans and drops to his bed with a flop and a deep sigh once he realized he was alone and not currently facing his personal demons.

He slowly sits up and looks around his small room, it consisted of his bed and a dresser, as well as an empty bottle of whiskey by the bed. Otherwise the room was bare other than his clothes on the floor next to the bottle, some unopened bills from utility companies and a letter of eviction. "I really need to get a paying case, if I keep doing everything for cheap I am going to starve outside in the cold."

Ethan reached down for the bottle of whisky and shook it making sure it was empty, he got up and carried it into the other room. " God, those dreams never get any easier... " Ethan says to himself in a mumbling voice.

He set the bottle next to several others on the counter. Ethan then shuffles off to the bathroom and strips his soaked clothes and washed his face. Ethan had grown much older since you last saw him, he was well defined and tall about 6 3 and he was about 27 years old. His jaw was lined with 3 day stubble and it led up to his gray eyes and black hair. Most would consider him handsome but you could tell he had been through something that had broken him as a person.

He does not work well with people, in fact... It could even be said that Ethan would be dealing with some mental illness from what he went through as a child, which made it so that he does not really care about others any longer, all he cares about is getting what he wants... and making sure that those who do evil are destroyed.

Ethan stood back up and leaned back away from the mirror, he shuffled his unkempt hair and walked back out into the main room. This was filled with his desk and two chairs facing the desk with a large leather office chair behind it. Ethan sat down at his desk and opened a drawer with a key that he carried around his neck, when he opened the drawer he pulled out a manila folder that held the case he was currently working on. Ethan was a private detective, he used to be one of youngest detectives ever at his old precinct. He was discharged due to constantly going above his duty and digging into cases that his superiors told him to leave alone.. Specifically his.

He then became a Private investigator after realizing that he couldn't get anywhere by going through the system and wanted to work cases his way. His way usually included broken bones and suspects beaten black and blue for a confession when he had solid evidence they were the perpetrators.. He would have been fired earlier, but each person that he did this to ended up being the culprit and were guilty of heinous murders. He placed the case file on the desk and as he was about to shut the drawer he saw a familiar black folder in the very back of the drawer. The name on it is Alltheim. Ethan's last name, this was the case that Ethan left the force for.

He opened it, and looked at the old case files. Interrogation reports, autopsies, and crime scene photos. He didn't remember anything about that time, the only thing that he was told was that multiple SWAT teams raided the compound and through a joint effort between CIA and FBI and local law enforcement the largest cult group bust had happened, the only person who wasn't there? Viktor.

Viktor had apparently disappeared before they could catch him... without a trace.

Apparently the name of the cult was Tenebrosus. The cult of darkness, that had placed a silent, wide eyed Ethan in psychiatric care and eventually to foster homes. However, no one wanted a boy filled with rage and loss due to the death of his parents. So for years, Ethan watched other kids become adopted and become families. While he was left there alone with his grief.

Until one day, a tall dark man came to the foster home. He looked at Ethan's eyes up close and for a long time said nothing. Finally he spoke up after a moment of recognition in his eyes. "Him.. I will take him. He understands loss at a young age, loss beyond measure." But beyond that, the man had seen something else in his eyes, a fragment of shadow as it traveled across his eye. So quick that if his senses were not trained to the extent they were, you would have never noticed it.

This man's name was Booker, He was what you called an expert. He was a jack of all trades, a master at arms. He would take Ethan and form him into something new, something strong. He would help him use his rage. So Ethan was taken to Darkmoon Manor. There he was broken, and through constant training and honing his skills. He became a weapon, a weapon forged for vengeance.

He had joined the Police force to get information on his case in the first place, he would find Viktor and he would make him pay for killing his family... and his childhood, he was no longer a sane person that could live normally... he only lived for vengeance.

" Reminisciiing? We haaad such great times together" a dark unnatural voice said right behind Ethan basically in his ear.

Ethan spun around faster than he could think and brought his colt to bear on... nothing...nothing was there. " man, I need to get more sleep." Ethan said as he reached for a deck of cards sized indent in his jacket pocket hanging off of the chair only to find it empty.

The only thing in the pocket was air, the indent was left over with how many years it carried a pack of cigarettes. " That's right... I quit" Ethan said with a sigh.

" Good thing too, those things will kill you. We can't have that, you are too important." Ethan whirled around again and there was Viktor. Ethan swung his gun up and was about to fire when all of a sudden he could not move. " You were to be my vessel, and you escaped. I had to use this inferior meat sack as an alternative means to escape. Not only that!! But I have been stuck in this form due to meddling from other forces! "

Viktor smiled a smile that was too wide and had way too many teeth, his entire face seemed to morph and stretch to accommodate this large smile. His eyes turned black and goo began to run down his cheeks.

" But I have found a way to regain my power and finally, enter this world fully! And that's where you come in, the rest of the cult is already active and over there. You are the last and most important, as you have a part of me in you... You cannot refuse me. You will be sent to another world, a brutal and unforgiving planet. You will have to work your way up and become strong and bring back a certain artifact. One that will allow me to fully enter this world. "

Ethan balked " why the hell would I do anything to help you?! You literally ate my parents in front of me. The only reason I am not unloading an entire clip into your face is because I can't move."

He said with a strained expression, all of his work, all his sacrifice to find this man.

Then this... creature, just showed up out of the blue. If he wasn't so focused on trying to move, to end them? He would laugh.

"Because it would be useless, guns cannot harm me. Not only that, but Viktor is long dead. He is just a walking meat sack for my use at this point. Even if you were to kill this body, this is only a small portion of my full form. I would just find another way back. Which brings us to our final point."

"Viktor " raised his hand and black tendrils shot out of it and began wrapping themselves around Ethan. They wrapped him head to toe... slowly. Once he was completely covered they began pulsing. " To make sure that you complete your task, I am going to activate the shard of me that I placed in you long ago, it will give you added power and you will need it wherever you are going. "

With that Ethan began feeling intense pain, like his whole body was being ripped apart.

"Arrrrrrgh! Nooo! Do not give in!" Ethan yelled in his mind. " I will not let this monster get what he wants!"

"Bon Voyage! " Viktor yelled as he turned to dust, Zaggoth had used the last of what was left of Viktor's essence to send Ethan away. When the tendrils pulled back and disappeared into a dark void in Viktor's chest that all of the black mass was returning to, They revealed, Nothing.... Ethan was gone.