A tower bathed by the rain and Lanon was perched on the beam that faces the city of Alician. The city skyline covered with fog. The streets empty and carriages parked on the sidewalks. Bullet holes and gashes could be found on his body. His coat was ragged and holes were on it. He was like a hawk dutifully watching the city. In his eyes reflecting the city that was now his home.

Lanon’s face was full of melancholy. A thin smile was on his face as he stares at nothing. Maybe it was this loneliness that made him see through the veil. He was drunk of the power that he was given. Not even two weeks and he had been using it for his own self-righteous justice. Not much to do in a new world where he had no purpose.

Simply, it was empty and all he could do was wait for the Sons of Helios. So he turned to the other beam that was empty. He imagined a silhouette. A spectator that would listen to his woes. It was a lanky young man who seems to be starved. This spectator reminded him of the days where he was simply some tool who work to live instead of fighting a light’s war.

“They are weak. I had expected better.”

“The people of this world seems to be soft. If this was the other world then they’d be long dead.”

“Should not be fair to compare them. This looks like a world that didn’t have its ass handed to it. It evolved into this kind of world that reached its own industrial revolution. If that world reached a better age in time, then maybe I wouldn’t have to watch so many people die. Artillery against those mountainous monsters would have saved lives.”

“No need to think about the past you cannot change. Tell me, why do we even bother killing these people? Look, we are in a world different from what we had experienced. Does killing these hateful people better than peace? Are you not tired of constant struggle?”

His phantom started getting agitated. Lanon didn’t know what to say to his own phantom. He too has started doubting whether there was a purpose for all of these killing. He frowned. He had to stare at his own palm to think about the recent events.

“This world isn’t my responsibility, I know that. I am being too self-important about my own relevance. But turning my eyes away from evil is evil. I have been here in this city and what do I see? Callous gangs, degenerate owners working kids to death. For fuck’s sake, they lash a kid out because of one honest mistake! This shit could be worse than my own world’s industrial revolution? Do I have the heart to watch when I have this power? Of course, I can’t watch! My heart says no despite the reasons my brain tells me about the way I should proceed.”

“You plan on saving the whole country?”

“I only act on things that are within my control. The Trichotomy of control demands it.”

“Oh really?” the phantom said with a doubting expression. “Is that really all?”

“What do you mean?” he frowned.

“You are trying to forget about her.”

“I am,” he said without flinching. “

“My heart bleeds. I should have moved on from this pain. Yet, I just feel like after I had lost my purpose. I started to realize how I wanted to be with her. But I am not going to mope about that any longer. I am tired. It’s all so tiresome to think about things I have no control over.”

“Tell me then,” he pointed with his trigger finger. “That blood on your coat, and the haggard look on your face. Are you doing this purely out of such contrive reason? Or is it because your heart tells you to do so?”

Shadows have been cast on his face for a brief second.

“My heart tells me to do so. But let me ask you this.”

“Pray tell.”

“What do you expect from a man who had spent his life fighting? Do you know what I do best? Killing monsters and people that have gone mad. I spent the majority of my last life killing and surviving. Do you think that I could even function normally? I would have spent time in Laos’s bar. Yet I cannot do that. Everywhere I could see shadows, and I cannot hold back.”

“Or are you telling that because you like the thrill?”

He smiled wearily, “I admit that the feeling of your senses at their peak made me feel truly alive. My hearing is sharp, I smell like a hound, and watch everything with a critical eye. This world is too peaceful. These bastards that I am killing aren’t even worth thinking. I fought monsters that could annihilate an entire battalion of soldiers armed with the best equipment. I saw those damn wizards acting like rogues trying to kill monsters that could dwell underground and spit needle-like rocks. Time is slowed down and the daily high of adrenaline made me think that I belong to that kind of world? Yes, I am using this as an excuse to put despair out of my mind. I could drink myself to death yet here I am killing thugs. I want to do something and instead of being passive and letting it happen in front of me. Why not try to make it better, knowing, that I have the power to do so?”

He stood up with his arms spread.

“To not act when you can is evil! Even if the path I walk is bleak, I shall not falter. They may look humans but to me, they are just men dressed like humans. They are monsters and monsters do not need to exist in this kind of world.”

And so he took a plunge at the lone carriage that was driving down the road. The phantom behind him blurred out and what was heard was the sound of flesh tearing.

Two men were slogging through the rain. They had wounds on their body and they were breathing raggedly. Their eyes were dilated and they were breathing heavily. The rain left a trail of blood that made them unable to stop breathing hard. They could smell the blood. They could hear the lone footsteps that plagued them.

“He’s coming,” said the thug.

“I know,” the other one nodded, he was calm, even though he knows what was coming. “Fucking monster, how could someone like that kill our brothers so easily, not even the guns that we had imported are of no use.”

“We need to run,” the thug said with shaking eyes. “Don’t fucking think, we need to run away, the bastard will be coming!”

“You have a gun? I’m out, and mine’s destroyed.”

“Of course not,” he said. “Why do think we’re running?”

They crossed an alley and hoped that they’d find safety. The alley was narrow and gutters had flooded it. They were slogging through knee-length water as they try to run away from the monster that had appeared. The thug was being drained of his own blood as he pushes himself, while the other one simply was tired. They didn’t expect that the enemy would come from above. They haven’t thought that someone would jump from a tower, crash down their carriage, slaughter half of the crew, and proceed to take down the rest of the crew.

They have heard of the rumors of a single person going to war with their gang, the sons of Helios. They thought that it was a joke made by paupers, but when they saw two of their districts fall, their caravans broke, and the throat of their supply lines being crushed. It was unheard of that a single man was waging a war that had made them look like a joke to the rest of the boroughs. Not even the guards that escorted the carriages were not enough to stop the monster. How can they defeat a monster that had abilities that of those that they only hear in the old world?

Only those who are in the old societies can learn the ways of the old. They had known it and only saw little of what they call magic in this newer world. And even if they did have that kind of magic, can they truly defeat a being that their pistols couldn’t defeat?

The thug had been sure that he shot the monster right at the heart. But all the monster did was shrug it like it was nothing and pounced on someone. He saw the monster claw the heart out of his comrade. Those who had no weapons tried attacking with melee but were destroyed without a fight. The enemy had the strange ability to manipulate black flesh that could form a defensive shield that allowed him protection and a weapon. These black flesh that he could manipulate would form an armor or an extra frame that allowed this monster to rush at them with inhuman speed.

The only reason that they were still alive was that the monster had been occupied by the others. But that time was fast gone as they could hear the loud footsteps of the enemy. The rain muffled the sound but their senses have been sharpened to the point that even the sneaky monster could be heard.

He heard the swish and the person he was holding on to, died. He held him straight for five seconds before scurrying forward, near the garbage cans have turned into barrels of water. Junk floated down this alley and downpour came harder as he was unable to see his surroundings.

He saw the shadow running around the rooftop. His legs gave up on him as he turned his eyes towards the roof. He begged, “Please, spare me!”

“Did you spare anyone in this life?” the voice said.

“I did nothing wrong! I mugged but I do not lash out on folks!”

“It won’t save you.”

“Please, I beg of you!”

“Tell me what your worth is.”

“Just leave me alone! I did nothing wrong! Please, just leave me be, I will leave the gang!”

“I heard of your gang’s motto. That once you are in, you are never out of the Sons of Helios. I hate rats. Are you a rat?”

“Please, I am just some bastard who thought it was a good gig! Fuck, I barely know the guy! I am just the damn courier damn it!”

There was a brief silence before the shadow landed in front of him. It gave him a fright seeing the blood red eyes of the shadow that has been haunting him. His ash-like hair and the black flesh that covered him like armor made the hair on his body stood up. He looked at the monster straight in the eyes as the monster clenched his bloodied arm still dyed with the entrails of his brothers.

It was clear that they had no way of winning against someone who had the skills and the abilities of a monster. Even standing in front of this monster had him unable to gather the same courage that made him a plea for surrender.

“I will find out who you are. Do not run away and stay in your home. There’s only one way this will end for you. Either you atone for your sins or you will help me purge this city from the thugs that inhabit it. This is your only path.”

He nodded without moving his body. The shadow turned towards the building and scaled it so effortlessly. He watched mouth gaping as he finally lost hold of his will. His eyes rolled back and he slammed his back on the wet paved floor. He couldn’t even care about the hard rain that fell on his face.

“I am still alive!” he thought. “That monster allowed me to live! I should be safe for now from that psycho!”

He was glad that he was alive. The monster clearly wouldn’t have killed him if he didn’t have any use.