Prologue

"Suspect is moving southeast, over." A stern man reported on his radio, "Come on meat bags, we need to find this brat and teach him a lesson."

"Sir!"

As the man shouted orders to his men, they continued to follow the trail of the criminal in question.

It was a late rainy night in the City of New Providence. The usual lively streets are now filled to the brim with police patrols looking for a murder suspect and his accomplice. It has been two hours since the victim was found dead in cold blood, and because of the victim's family connections, the entire city is under lockdown. The police worked relentlessly in the search of the boy who was found at the scene with blood on his hands. Large holographic signs that showed the boy's face were scattered throughout the city. As time continues to flow throughout the night, the boy and his friend have found sanctuary in an alleyway within the Eastern District of New Providence.

"Huff, Huff, damn it!" exclaimed a muscular man, "What the hell did you do?". The man stared down at the boy with a look mixed with anger and worry.

"What do you mean, 'what did I do'?" shouted a winded boy. "I was framed!".

As the two young men were trying to catch their breath and recollect their thoughts, something caught the muscular man's eye.

"Umm... Alan, what is that around your neck?"

"Huh, there is nothing there.... wait a minute."

As Alan was inspecting his neck, he noticed that there was a pendant around it. The pendant was silverish blue, with glowing aqua-colored gems forming the shape of an hourglass. There were 28 gems in total, twelve round the outer edge of both sides representing the twelve hours and one on the minute and hour hand. But the feature that stuck out the most was its ability to move, even though it was way too thin to have any mechanical parts.

"To be completely honest with you, Marshal, I found this on the ground while we were running and placed it in my pocket."

"So if you placed it in your pocket, how is it around your neck?" Marshal questioned Alan with a heavy look of disappointment painted on his face.

"Hey.... why are you looking at me like that?"

"Because not only did you kill someone, you also stole a very expensive-looking piece of jewelry."

"HEY!" Alan lashed back. "I didn't kill anyone, and I certainly didn't steal anything... er, I guess I did, but that's not the point here!"

As the two were continuing their argument, Alan noticed some heavy footsteps from behind.

"!?" Marshal was taken aback by how Alan had forced his hand around his mouth.

"Shh...", whispered Alan, "We aren't alone here."

Around the entrance of the alleyway, a tall figure appeared. As the figure turned his head, his gaze fixed directly on the hiding spot of Alan and Marshal. The man was wearing an aqua blue cloak with a large hat blocking the light from shining on his face. As the man walked toward the two young men, a strange aqua-colored mist came from behind him. Then the man moved his left arm behind him and pulled a sword from the mist. The blade itself was around the size of a length of a door, but the most terrifying feature was the emblem on the blade was a depiction of two snakes rotating around a human skull.

"Heh heh heh...", the man laughed, "so you were chosen, huh? How unfortunate for you, Alan."

"And who the hell are you?" Marshal said in a serious tone while forcing Alan behind him.

"Well, this is unexpected," the man said while shrugging his shoulders. "Alright, muscle head, I'll give you two options because my time is very limited at the moment. The first is to stand down and give me that child or~," he said in a sick tone, "you can die alongside him."

"Well, I hate to be that guy but, I'm not letting Alan die to a terrorist such as yourself," Marshal said while taking a fighting stance.

"Ha... AHAHAHHAHA," the man laughed, "We, the collectors of Ouroboros, have a job to collect all the lost artifacts of the past using ANY. MEANS. NECESSARY. So your attempt to play the white knight is quite futile." He said with a crazed smile.

"If you are talking about the pendant, then just take it. I don't want it." As Alan was trying to remove the pendant from his neck, he realized that there was no hook or connector on it.

"!?" Alan was panicking as the aqua-cloaked man started moving towards him.

"Tsk tsk tsk, that won't work," the man taunted, "Unfortunately for you, that pendant won't come off unless you die-" As the man was enjoying Alan's look of despair, he heard a ticking clock.

The pendant around Alan's neck shone brighter than before and broadcasted a loud ticking sound, although it was not heard out loud. The sound itself seems to have been transmitted into the minds of those around it.

"So I'm running out of time, huh? Welp, sorry boys, but it's time for the both of you to die."

The man sprinted towards Alan and swung at him.

"Ugh!"

As the blade made contact with flesh, the man noticed that he missed his target. The blade that was meant to hit Alan slashed Marshal's front, but due to his muscular body, he withstood the attack. As the cloaked man tried to charge up another swing, Marshal's fist collided directly with the man's face and knocked off his hat. The man flew into the walls of the alley and Marshal fell to the ground because of his gash.

"N...No...Th...this can't be real..." Alan looked at the man in absolute fear.

"Huff...Huff... heh...don't worry about me..." Marshal said, coughing up blood.

"I'm n...not!" Alan's eyes widened as he looked deeply into the attacker's eyes.

"Wow, how rude..." Marshal said with an uneasy tone.

"That's not what I meant. What I meant was that man...he's... my father...?"

"What?"

As the man slowly got back up, he pulled out a pocket mirror to access the damage he had received. As he gazed upon his reflection, he noticed that his jaw was displaced and stared directly at Marshal. His brown eyes were fixed upon the man who managed to be the first to hit him after his new placement as the collector of Ouroboros.

"Not bad kid, I'll give you that." The man said while staggering to get up. "Man, that punch was really something. It was like you were really trying to kill me. But it's too bad it didn't, so now it's time for you and my stupid son to die."

As the man was charging up another strike, Marshal attempted to get back up but instead fell to the ground due to his injuries. As he coughed up more blood, he looked Alan in the eyes and spoke his final words.

"You....Better....Not...Die..."

With those parting words, the light faded from his eyes and the cloaked man closed the gap between him and Alan but was stopped by a mysterious force. Alan looked around at his surroundings blankly. He had just lost his best friend and his father, who was presumed dead, was trying to kill him. All of this broke his soul, and he sat in a timeless space where nothing moved. Just in front of him stood a transparent man giving off an aqua-colored glow.

"This is your sin," the spirit spoke to Alan, "the sin of sloth flows through your veins as you sat there and watched that girl and your friend get murdered. You are truly worthless."

With those parting words, the spirit faded away and Alan finally managed to come back to his senses.

"Slothful huh?" Alan spoke out loud. "I suppose that's true."

Alan got back onto his feet and looked down at the pendant around his neck. It glowed brightly while broadcasting the ticking noise directly into his head. He compared the pendant to his watch on his right hand and was surprised by how the pendant was actually operational. The time was currently 11:59, and Alan stood there mindlessly waiting for it to reach midnight, and once it did, all faded to black.