Hi Readers, you might wonder who Ethan is, rightly so. The next few chapters are introducing some 'History' for this world.
5500kg of luxury SUV crashed towards them. Ethan wasn't thinking, there wasn't time, but his mind showed him the terminal math. Math ending in both of them dead. His mind toyed with him, in this adrenaline fueled hyper awareness he could envision what would have happened if he hadn't asked Dan to get boba tea with him... A fuzzy, staticky, blue alternate version of the present seemed to overlay the reality he was seeing. Dan was both right beside him, and also, a blurry apparition across the road watching this impending accident. Ethan could feel Dan's shoulder under his hand... a microsecond later he was touching nothing as the chrome grille approached. The darkness claimed him almost faster than the pain of the crushing impact to his chest, head, arms... -------- The universe, this one at least, started with a big bang. For nearly 14 billion years it has expanded and evolved, but one of the most amazing things to happen since, was heralded by a system alert. "What the fuck,"
The axe head missed Ethan's shoulder by a centimetre, so close it almost caught on the cotton of his shirt as it swung down. Time seemed to stop when Ethan leaned back from the blow, almost like during his karate tournament days. Unlike back then, he was certain of the assailants' follow up move... so certain he felt like he was watching a ghostly 'fore-image' of the beastly man follow up with a spin that would end in a vicious horizontal swing at neck level.Ethan was already moving, spinning into and below the strike, rising behind him and delivering a surgical kick to the back of its knee. He must have been 7 feet tall, but, on his knee, Ethan easily grabbed his hair with one hand and pressed the edge of a wicked looking blade to his neck. Ethan had pulled the blade from its sheath so fast, he thought his hand might have blurred a little. He smiled in spite of himself."Enough!", Miri shouted. Though her voice sounded harsh, those blue eyes sparkled with pleasure. "I swear you
The Director felt the change in his surroundings immediately. He was alone in his office, and then, suddenly, he wasn't. He couldn't see anyone, but he had trained to react from even subconscious information.Almost casually, he ducked his head down and then dove across his desk. He hit the ground on a shoulder, twisted, and drew his gun so he landed facing his assailant."What the hell?" he said out loud, seeing no one in the room. 'Am I just being paranoid after the Quantum readings these past weeks?' He stood up and holstered his gun, glad that none of his subordinates had seen his anxious display.The blade hit his forearm, his instinctive move stopping the sword from slicing through his neck. He was already spinning along the outside of the sword arc, towards the attacker, his blocking arm now up and leading the rotation. Taking full advantage of his momentum, he delivered a spinning elbow strike to their temple.The crunch was audible as the elbow connected with the snarling,
"Can you believe my parents want me to focus on exams right now?" Lily said, glancing up at Dan. Since Ethan's death, Dan had become even more dependable, hardly leaving her side. He'd changed in more ways than that though. She often caught him with a far off look, as if he was seeing something different than her. "Earth to Dan, are you in there?" she said with a little laugh."Sorry," Dan said, shaking his head a little. He turned towards Lily, Ethan's sister. She had always hung around them while they were growing up, and now, as a teenager, he was noticing how beautiful she is. 'Not the right time Dan,' he thought."I did hear you. I know it seems crazy, but I think they are trying to help you. You know, focus on some normal things. Besides, you're smart, but with everything that has happened, even you must be behind in your studies," Dan said, a sad smile lifting his lips. "Ethan wouldn't want you to put your li
"The scriptures aren't like, a religious thing. Or, not really I guess", Miri said to Ethan, staring right at him instead of the road while accelerating down the highway. "Eyes on the road!" Miri just smirked. "Like I was saying, the scriptures are actually culled from ancient writings, religions, prophecies, even some artwork, of all the cultures on Earth. Religion always tries to answer 'why' and usually the answers are ridiculous, because people are stupid." Miri smiled again. "Still, after thousands of years, and billions of people, asking 'why', some patterns emerge. We saw the patterns hundreds of years ago, and have been preparing." "We. You mean your organization, the Fraternity of the Rising Phoenix?" Ethan said, looking at her sidelong. It was a ridiculous name, and he still thought it was all some elaborate hoax. It isn't often you come back from the dead, and find a hot woman and a bunch of commandos who say t
Sardi felt like he was a criminal returning to the scene of a crime as he walked slowly out of an alley and approached the battle site. He really must have been passed out for a while, because the crime scene mages were loading the bodies into carts. Each body was wrapped in a black shroud, and a visible magic seal was on them. Sardi was told this protected them from rotting, and from people tampering with them to cover their magical signatures. ‘My magic is all over this place… though how will I explain how Shinra and I did so much damage? He is only a zombie after all. I’m probably the only person who knows how … capable he is,’ Sardi thought. Capable was a strange word to describe the shadow of death he’d witnessed before he fell unconscious. ‘Shinra, you have a lot of explaining to do.’ As the crime scene team was busy cleaning up, it was easy for Sardi to spot the Sheriff in charge. He was a large muscled man with very dark skin, a bald head, and a deep scowl on his fa
Sardi couldn’t ignore Wintersbane. Whether a Major in the military, or a Senior Sheriff, he was definitely Sardi’s superior. “Of course, Sheriff. I mean, Major, Wintersbane. How can I help?” Sardi tried to sound neutral and respectful. He needed to get back to the Vampires before they left on their own. Or ate someone. ‘Diplomatic immunity has to have some limits…?’“I heard that you and Deputy First Class Shinra were the victims of this attack.” He paused then and looked around at the blasted and blood stained cobbles. His eyes almost glowed with amusement after the word ‘victims’, but he didn’t comment. “You said that Deputy Shinra helped you beat back the attackers, and he is ok? Are you ok?”“Yes Sir. Shinra reported back to headquarters while I scouted the area for other casualties or attackers. We were pretty confident any remaining attackers fled the scene, but I was worried that a civilian may have stumbled into the battle and been injured.”“Good thinking, Deput
The Simaldrian Forest was known as the farthest edge of Monster civilization on the continent, if it could be called that. It was home to many nomadic beasts, and clusters of small villages that all managed to coexist without too much fighting. There was an unspoken understanding amongst the magical and monstrous beings in the forest: it was better to live free in the forest, than have to follow the rules and laws of the powerful monster towns and Countries in this part of the continent.Just whispering Sekhnatio was enough to frighten most of the Forest’s inhabitants to make the sign of the evil eye and be on their way. That sort of organised power was terrifying to creatures that just wanted to live amongst themselves.“The Vampires have sent their heralds, and left their messages all over the forest. Don’t they realise we don’t care what happens to them?” The creature stomped its front hooves into the leaf covered ground, stirring them up into the air with the strength of the