The night sky was starless as Dante Stormborn walked in the dirtiest part of the city, his eyes glued on the alleyway in front of him.“Just a little closer,” he muttered through gritted teeth, the reinforced gloves he wore already showing signs of wear and tear.“I have to get another one then,” he sighs. He dragged the sealed bag behind him, amidst stares from the locals. He was a regular, nobody would dare disturb him. And even if they did, he didn’t have much to live for anyway, and they knew it.“Be still!” He screamed, poking at the bag with a bayonet. Pained shrieks emerged from the wiggling bag. He tossed it to the side once he got into the alleyway, where the light couldn’t meet him. It landed in a dull thud.“I had to do this,” he says more to himself than to anyone else. Dante has always been a lone wolf, and surviving in the City of Selene is nothing short of a miracle. The advancement of humans have shown him that he didn’t belong there. He didn’t even have the basic nece

The whirring sound didn’t stop. Not like Dante expected it to, it was a sound he’d come to associate with despair. And it was a sound perfected by one person alone . He had many names, although Dante Danteantly refused to call him anything but Wicked. That was the name of the streets, the name Dante grew up to fear.“Quite a stint you’ve gotten yourself into, eh?” Wicked said, and Dante could envision his face, and the devilish smile that curved like death’s scythe. Dante didn’t need to see it to visualize it, it was the smile that gave him the nickname.“What are you doing here?” It took all of Dante’s willpower to not flare at his once guardian. The man who everybody hated, and feared. He was about 35 years old, with a body crisscrossed with scars. The only place left untouched was his face. The face Wicked immaculately groomed.“You’ve gotten into a fix, I see. I’ll fix you right up.” Wicked placed a saw on Dante’s arm, and the droning of the chainsaw drowned Dante’s screamed, his

The rules are simple; but not simple enough. Dante wondered if there was something he was missing. Life with Alan wasn’t as bad as Dante thought at first, especially when you didn’t think of the fact that you’re practically existing nowhere, just living for the hell of it.“How did you get here?” Dante asked Alan, who looked a little better than the week before. Dante still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that he’d been in The Graveyard for a week, it felt like an eternity. Also, time flowed differently there, he could tell. And so, he used the pocket watch he somehow came with to tell the time. It was a handy device to have.“I don’t know. I was offered gold and well, I took it. Isn’t that the same with you?” Alan spoke, his tone devoid of emotion. It was the same way he spoke when Dante did a little burial for Liz, Alan showed no sign of being in the moment. He didn’t care, and it was evident in everything he said or did.“But that can’t be all, can it? We are thrown here on

As Dante would learn, Crystal wasn't just insane; she was batshit crazy. Sure, it didn't seem like that initially, but he knew deep down that something was off with her. She didn't react to things as he expected her to; she didn't even show a sign of being pulled along in the whole charade.But before all that happened, Dante followed Crystal into what seemed to be her hideout, if it could be called that. It was a closed-off space in what appeared to be a cave at the edge of a cliff."How good is your mountain climbing skills?" She'd asked. Dante didn't understand what she was talking about earlier, but standing right in front of the colossal mountain, he did a double take."We are not going to climb that, are we?" He asked, looking in the direction where Crystal was."Oh, but we are. Do you need a rope?" He was confused; the flow of events seemed more than his poor heart could bear. And who could blame him? He'd been thrust into a world without rhyme or reason."I'm not climbing that

Dante ran like hell itself was on his tail. And Crystal followed suit. He had no idea why they were running, but seeing that look on Crystal's face, he had a vague idea.Something was coming—something big, something terrible."Why are we running?" Dante asked after a while, and Crystal cocked her head to the side in a gesture of pure confusion."Because I said so?" She replied flippantly, and Dante shook his head, wondering who he'd somehow ended up entangled with.The dark skies seemed foreboding, even though Dante couldn't pinpoint what made it so. He ran through the rough terrain, his heart almost jumping out of his chest."It's here," Crystal said, her voice having a defeated feel to it. Dante wasn't sure he could get used to seeing her in such a light."It's just the darkness," Dante tried to say, but she grabbed his wrist and placed her hand on his mouth while ducking into a carven that seemed to have materialised from nowhere."What—" Dante tried to speak, but Crystal pressed h