The rain continued to come down during that hot summer day. It was out of the ordinary too because the whole time it was humid and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. With the sudden down pour of rain there were accidents all up along the highway. Lightning started to strike the antennas of the skyscrapers within Roanapur. One of the bolts came with great force, as if Zeus himself was pissed at the world. The bolt slammed into the power generators within downtown and blacked out 20 blocks of the city. Horns honked and people screamed and shout. Within a matter of minutes looting had started to begin and the alarms of convenient stores were sounding off. Throughout the chaos there was only one small light shinning within the 20 block black out. A light that could literally be seen from anywhere in the city that night. It was high up in the sky and in one of the skyscrapers continually being struck by lightning. The building itself was acting like a conductor and as the lightning hit the building a strange red aura surrounded the building. Again and again the lightning struck and aura grew to a hotter shade of red. Within seconds the building was fiery red. The rain dissolved as it hit the building from all angles. The clouds overhead opened up into a giant circle revealing the clear night sky. The lightning stopped but the rain didn't. Harder and harder the rain continued to drop from the sky. The dark black clouds roared with tremendous thunder. The thunder shook the ground and broke the windows within so many buildings. This thunder was unlike any thunder ever heard before man's ears. This thunder had to driven out of hell itself. Suddenly it became dead silent.
The rain ceased immediately as did the thunder. The building's hot red aura quickly faded back to its original color but the clouds remained dark and the circle in the sky singling out the building below stayed still. The lone light in that building started to grow brighter and brighter until it became a blinding white light. People on the ground covered their eyes from the light. As soon as it couldn't get any brighter it went black like someone flicked off the light switch. The people on the ground pondered at what could've happened to the light. As they turned their back to the skyscraper the thunder started up quickly as did the lightning and rain then the loudest boom was heard all across the island. The people turned around and viewed and hot red thick beam of light shoot out from the antenna on the building and into the sky. Following the beam of light a blinding white light came crashing down onto the building. The window that held the single light before strobe white and red as if the two were fighting each other. The red overpowered the white and in that instant the hot red aura came back engulfing the building itself. The window exploded and that entire level of the building exploded into flames. The flames and the explosion knocked everyone off their feet and tossed them like the insignificant beings they are. The dark clouds disappeared from the sky as quickly as they came in. Fire engines could be heard in the distance racing to the building to put out the fire but there was something strange about the fire. As it quickly exploded from the building it quickly sucked itself back in and burned brightly within the middle of the building. The people in the adjacent building viewed what was happening. The fire just vanished after that.
As the fire engines and police arrived at the scene. They scoured the entire area and sectioned off two blocks of the street. The firefighters exited their trucks and broke down the buildings doors with their axes and began their climb up to the level of the blown out building. The people in the adjacent building screamed and shouted at the police officers and fire fighters down below but their screams were unheard from their height. They saw something within that building that they should've never seen. As the firefighters opened the door the level they were on they viewed what the people in adjacent building saw. It was a small red glowing flame that was pulsating. It could've been described as a fiery orb but it wasn't that it was something much worse. One of the firefighters approached the orb cautiously.
"Easy there Jon," one of his buddies mentioned as the firefighter extended his arm to the orb.
The glow of the orb turned black instantaneously. Jon quickly retracted his hand and just stared at the orb. He moved in closer to it to get a better look at it. His hazel eyes met the pitch black orb.
"What...what is that?" Jon said to himself as he looked directly into the orb.
Jon viewed what could only be seen as a hooded and figure standing in front of his eyes. Jon wanted to move away from what he saw but he had no more control of his body. He wanted to scream but his vocal cords were no longer his own to control. The hooded figure within the orb walked closer to Jon. It extended its arm and opened what looked like his hand and immediately turned it into a fist.
The next words were heard by all of people who had seen the orb, "Gotcha," it said in a bellowing demonic voice.
Jon gained control of his body for an instant and he gripped his ears in pain. He let out a blood curdling scream.
His body levitated in the air and his spine bent backwards. "Oh my god!" one of the firefighters said in a panic.
Jon's eyes turned black, as black as that orb was. His body shook and convulsed. The orb's color soon faded back to the fiery red it was originally. Jon's body stopped convulsing and straightened out.
He extended his arm out towards his friends and in the same cold devilish words Jon heard the firefighters and the people in the adjacent building heard it as well, "Gotcha," it said.
Their bodies levitated off the ground and convulsed dramatically. Their eyes rolled back into their heads and the skin melted off their bones. The blood from the bodies didn't fall to the floor but hung in mid air like the bodies continuing to accumulate under the bodies. Screams could be heard from both buildings now. Screams of agony and unbearable pain that belonged only in hell itself. The bones snapped, twisted, and dislocated themselves from the body. Even though their bodies were dead the souls of the people could still feel the pain. It was as if their nerves were still intact throughout the process.
The police on the ground heard the screams and rushed both buildings. The building that the firefighters were in couldn't be entered. The men were flicked back like insects as soon as they touched the building. The police who entered the adjacent building climbed the stairs quickly and opened the door the room where the others were. They saw the skeletons of people that were in the building. They were still screaming and begging to die. The police officers dropped to their knees and cried blood. They clinched their eyes to stop themselves from viewing but their eyelids were ripped from their sockets. They screamed in pain and were forced to look onto the skeletons. Losing all ability to move their body they became limp. They tossed up against the wall and with inhuman strength. They felt small tiny daggers cut into their flesh and began cutting their muscles and intestines. From out of nowhere hooked chains sprang from the ground and latched onto their arms and legs and pulled them. The separate chains from the roof came down and burrowed into their faces and pulled them back. Excruciating pain was felt, it was pain that couldn't even be described as pain. The chains pulled tighter and tighter on their flesh until they couldn't pull no more without pulling off their flesh; and that's what it did. The flesh from their bodies were slurped like spaghetti into the ground and ceiling as were the chains. The once lively bodies of the officers were now bloodied corpses.
Jon's body was still levitating and screams still could be heard from down on the ground. The orb that Jon looked at had began a large vacuum sucking in everything that was in both buildings. The corpses of the officers and the screaming skeletons flew out of the building and into the building where Jon was. The officers below saw the unimaginable. The bodies were sucked into the orb at once. The concept of it being a small hole wasn't an issue. It lacking size wasn't the case nor the amount of bodies there were was it either. They all fit were sucked into the hole. The fiery orb then shot out from building and across Roanapur like a small comet. It landed off in the distant southern end of the island. Jon's body had taken what was needed of the people around him. Jon's body slowly came back down to the ground. The clothes that he had been wearing was burned off and he stood completely naked. He viewed his body for the first time and smiled. He moved his hands up his stomach and over his head getting a firm grasp on what he was in.
"Free at last," he said as he took a big whiff of the air around him.
His first step in long time and this time the ground beneath him was cold. "Simply amazing," he uttered.
As he took another step, then all consciousness left his body and he blacked out dropping to the ground. The blood that was once hovering landed on top of him and rushed out over the open sides of the building dripping down onto the lower levels and the police below.
[24hrs later...]
Dreaming the dreams that he never had before. It was as if a new set of memories was installed into his brain. Visions of unthinkable creatures devouring bodies of flesh. Twisted sights of human on human cruelty. There were sounds of screaming in the distance. The shouts of god was taken in vain more times to count. Men and women cried out for help from someone but their pleas went out onto deafened ears. Jon stood watched on the plateau looking from above at the gruesome scene below him. He wanted to help but the heavy chains restricted him from moving off the plateau.
The ground started to tremble beneath him. Jon tried to run but in each direction there wasn't anywhere to go. From the middle of the plateau arose a stone throne. The throne had skull carvings made along the base of it. The seat itself was soaked in the buckets of blood and the backside was made out of human skeletal remains. Jon didn't know what to do. He didn't want to sit so he tried yanking the chains from the ground but it wasn't no use. They were far too heavy and strong to do anything with. He turned his back on the throne and continued to look around the plateau for something to free himself with.
As the search continued he heard a familiar voice bellow from the sky above him. "You aren't going anywhere Jon," it said.
"Who are you? What do you want from me?" Jon shouted up at the sky.
There was no reply after those words. His heart started to race and he quickened his pace to find an instrument to get out of the chains. As he looked the rustling of the heavy chains perked up his ears. The chains slowly began to retract into the ground pulling Jon closer and closer to the throne. Jon resisted and pulled with all his might but every time he pulled away the chains would become searing hot and burned his wrists. Nevertheless he struggled continuously every so often screaming from the heat burning on his flesh. Soon the chains had pulled him closer the throne, close enough that he couldn't walk away from it. The sound of a locking mechanism was heard from the ground below.
"Sit down!" the voice ordered. The chains yanked Jon down onto the seat.
As Jon made himself comfortable he felt a sinking sensation within him. It felt mysterious to him but somewhat comforting. He then realized that this sensation wasn't in his mind but it was actually happening. The throne had begun to swallow him whole, rear first. It was as if he had sat in quicksand. An evil laugh was heard from the sky. Jon wasn't going to be taken without a fight. He pushed himself up on the hand rails of the chair making to harder for the chair to swallow.
A familiar came from the sky and it wasn't the evil voice; this voice was the that of his wife. "Jon, don't die on me," she said. He could hear her sobbing as if he was right next to her.
"I'm not going to die, I'm not going to die," he repeated himself. "Jon..." the evil voice beckoned his name.
"She sure is beautiful Jon. I'll make sure to treat her well Jon," the voice said devilishly and followed with a evil laugh.
"Don't you fucking touch her!" he screamed. The sky above him became darkened quickly. Lightning and thunder roared shaking the plateau and struck the ground near him.
"You dare give me orders?" the voice bellowed deeply. Then a force like no other hit Jon's chest and forced him into the throne. It swallowed Jon up as if he never struggled at all.
"Goodbye Jon," the voice said.
His eyes began to flutter as he started to wake from the nightmare he was in.
"Doctor, I think he's waking up," the wife said as she went running out of the room to find the nearest doctor.
He opened his eyes slowly. He could hear the monotonous sound the heart monitor beeping in the back. He turned his head and finally opened his eyes slowly. His once blue eyes had turned grey. The dark grey eyes looked upon a mirror facing his bed. He saw what he hadn't seen in over a 100,000 years, flesh. Jon laughed uncontrollably as he was looking all over his body. The body that was once Jon Perkins, husband to Tracy Perkins, son to Maxwell Perkins and Debbie Perkins now belonged to Terak, level 3 of 5 Demons.
Tracy came running back into the room with doctors in tow. She looked at the what was the body of Jon laughing at himself in the mirror as he sat in bed. The doctor and nurses came running into the room and tried to restrain Jon from getting out from the bed.
"Easy Jon, you just went through a lot. It's best not to move," the doctor advised.
Terak struggled as the two nurses that entered the room tried to restrain him. "Hold him down for some anesthetic," the doctor said as he prepped the syringe.
"Get the fuck off me!" Terak said as he pushed one of the nurses off him. The nurse went flying off Terak and into a wall falling face first onto the ground.
The doctor rushed over to the IV and started to administer the anesthetic. Blood squirted out from Terak's arm as he ripped the IV from his vein and shoved it into the other nurses neck. The doctor immediately backed away and called in the guards. Two hospital guards came rushing into the room.
"Restrain him!" the doctor yelled as he ran out the room to get more help. Terak pushed himself out of bed and hopped out of to the floor.
The guards took a hold of each of Terak's arm and held him in place. Terak laughed a bit then threw one of the guards out the window. He screamed on the down smacking right on top of an ambulance. With a free arm Terak reached back and threw a punch right at the other guards face taking off half his head. Tracy screamed at the sight of Jon doing these unspeakable acts with ease. Blood gushed onto Terak's fist and arm as the body slowly dropped to its knees. He slung his arm down quickly flinging off the brain matter and blood on his hand. His strength was unimaginable yet his powers did not fully recover yet. Terak walked to where his clothes were and noticed Tracy curled up in the fetus position praying. Her whimpering cries were heard all the way down the hallway.
"You aren't my Jon," she said, her body trembling.
"Jon died a very bad death, but I did manage to thank him for this great new body," Terak said as he moved closer to her.
"God will..." Tracy began to say but was cut off by Terak.
"God will what? Stop me? Bullshit, God could care less about a me. He has his own problems to deal with," Terak spoke as if he knew God personally. "The one you call God is nothing more than a hypocrite. The only thing that divides us from him and his army is location. God, tch! whatever," Terak said as he turned his back to her and began putting on his clothes.
Terak looked over what Jon had to wear but found nothing that suited him. He laughed at the sense that he was now choosy on what he could wear. Wearing the black cloak for all those years and now being given the choice to choose what to wear made him laugh. From out of nowhere he conjured up a 3 piece charcoal black suit with crimson red tie and Italian leather shoes. The clothes magically appeared on him. He walked towards the mirror and checked himself out.
"Boy, looks sure do make a difference. These people won't know what hit them," he said with a smile as he looked at the mirror.
He snapped his fingers and from thin air appeared a black comb in which in gently slicked back his brown hair. He put the comb in his pockets then clapped his hands twice. His hands were now covered with black gloves.
"I can't go around touching people with bare hands now can I?" he asked Tracy rhetorically.
He turned to her and walked picked her up by her blouse effortlessly. As he held her in the air he took one good look at her and said his final words "For a human, Jon did have decent taste in women," he said as he delivered what was thought to be death blow.
The fist collided into a whitish blue aura around Tracy. The collision made the entire floor shake as if there was an earthquake. He pulled back his arm and threw another punch but once again it was knocked aside. Terak then saw what was blocking his hits. It was a silver necklace with a cross attached to it. Tracy screamed for help and as he voice reached higher the aura around her body shot out a powerful force that sent Terak flying through the rooms wall and counter outside. Tracy fell to the ground and clinched her necklace. Something in her told her to get up immediately and run as far away as possible, so she did.
The fire alarms went off as several fires ignited from Terak's stumble. He pushed himself up and dusted off his suit and looked around. The people in the hospital were sprinting every which way. Those that could walk were hopping to the nearest exit. He laughed at the sight and levitated into the air. Just like before the people around Terak levitated and were sucked dry of life. This time he left their blood and just took their souls. He descended back to the ground and found the closest exit and made his way to the lobby of the building.
Police and firemen surrounded the building. Their trucks were flashing red and blue lights illuminating the evening sky. As Terak exited the stairwell and entered the lobby firemen snagged him up and helped him outside. Not knowing what was going on he reached for one of the firemen's axe and yanked it from his hands and bludgeoned one of them over the head with it. The fireman collapsed from the impact. The others turned around and saw their fallen partner and went to his aid but were thrown back by an incredible force that came from Terak's palm.
"It's coming back," he said as he tossed the firemen out the lobby doors like rag dolls.
The police pulled their guns and stood behind their cars and aimed for Terak. A news reporter and her cameraman were filming the situation.
"Put the axe down and lie down on your stomach," the police Sergeant ordered.
Terak looked at them and just shook his head in amusement. He crouched down to the floor as if he was lying down but took his arm back and with an underarm throw he flung the axe in a spiraling motion at the Sergeant. The axe impaled the Sergeant and threw him back into the air pinning himself against a concrete pillar killing him. The police fired upon Terak. The bullets pierced his skin and made him flinch every so often but did nothing to him overall. He walked outside calmly and looked around at the chaos that was ensuing around him. A shotgun blast stunned him a bit then made him slightly annoyed. He dropped his hands to his sides and faced his palms up. He curled and tightened his fingers and summoned the hellish hooks from the ground itself. The hooks leaped out from the ground like snakes and burrowed themselves into the officers flesh and muscle. Screams of grown men echoed the city streets. The reporter watched in fear as the officers were torn apart by the chains or swallowed into the earth itself. Blood and limbs were all that was left from the chains. Terak took a look at the reporter and cameraman and smiled. Within that devilish smile and a blink of an eye he vanished.
[Lagoon office, other side of town]
As evening turned to night Revy and Dutch sat in the living room watching the television while Rock finished up preparations on the phone for their next job. Benny was quietly making himself something to eat when he accidentally jabbed himself with the knife.
"Shit!" he yelped as he held his finger in pain.
"What happen?" Rock asked.
"The knife stabbed my damn finger," Benny said as he wrapped a towel around his hurt finger.
Rock put the phone on hold and got the first aid kit for Benny. Benny thanked him and got back bandaged himself up. Rock finished up the phone call and walked over to Dutch and started talking to him about the day's schedule.
"Shut up Rock, I can't hear the damn TV," Revy barked. Revy turned up the volume to hear what was going on.
"I never pictured you for current events type of person," Rock said as he saw the nightly news come on.
The anchorman was talking about what happened at the hospital earlier that day. He cautioned the viewers that the content was grotesque and to a bit overwhelming. Revy got in close to see what the video. The whole crew watched the video of the attack at the hospital. The reporter was talking about how the hospital had a fire go off on one of the floors but then was interrupted by gunfire by the police. The cameraman caught the intense firefight between them and one man. Then Revy saw the chains spring from the ground and grab a hold of the officers.
"Brutal," she commented.
Body parts were flying through the air and blood was gushing out from bodies. Men were dragged into holes in the ground while screaming in pain while others were torn apart. The reporter was crying as the scene of pain continued. The intense firefight went quiet. The cameraman focused in on the only man standing. He appeared to not care what had happened. He turned to the cameraman and smiled then disappeared.
The anchorman cut the video as it ended and told all viewers that any information on that man and his whereabouts would lead to a reward by the police and Roanapur government. He urged everyone to stay inside but if they were to go out, not to go out alone. Revy looked at Dutch and everyone else and saw their mouths hanging open.
"Well?" she asked.
"Well what?" Dutch replied.
"A reward for catching this guy. We could really use that reward guys," Revy said.
"Revy has a point Dutch," Benny said.
"I suppose," Dutch said with hesitation. "Though I do feel uneasy about this. Not because of the man but because of the fact that every gunslinger, low life, and mob member will be out looking for this guy. What's going to happen when we all find him? Who claims the reward?" Dutch inquired.
"So that means we're in?" Revy asked.
"I guess so," Dutch said.
Revy jumped from her seat and ran to her room grabbing her cutlasses. Benny walked to his room and began searching the net for any type of information on the guy while Rock got on the phone and canceling and rearranging the schedule for that week. Dutch realized the hell they were getting themselves into but knew that if things got bad that would without a hesitation pull everyone out if it got too chaotic.
As the night went on, Roanapur became a bustling place of all types of sin. The citizens of the unsavory area of Roanapur were more concerned with the reward that government was offering of the assist and capture of the man only named as Jon Perkins. An innocence roamed the street frantically. She pushed her way through the crowds but out of exhaustion she fell to her knees. A man walked by her and helped her up from the street and sat her on the a chair. He ordered a glass of water for the lady. She snagged the class off the table as it was set down and started chugging the water as if she hadn't drank anything for days.
"Easy lady," a little girl said trying to get her to pace herself.
She finished the glass of water and took a breath.
"Thank you for your help but I can't stop, he's coming for me, I can feel he is," She said.
"Who's coming for you?" the little girl asked.
"My husband," she said.
One of the ladies with man laughed at the remark she made.
"No, he has the body of my husband but it's not him. I can't explain it, you'll think I'm crazy," she said.
"Tell us please, this sounds interesting," the little girl begged.
The woman was confused by the thought of a little girl want to know this information.
She began to speak she excused herself and introduced herself first.
"My name is Tracy, what's your name?" Tracy asked.
"My name is Patty. This is Trish and that's Lady, just Lady," Patty said with a smile.
"And I'm Dante," he said. Tracy looked at the group and saw that there was something more about them that what was just face.
Farther outside the city near a desolate beach Terak appeared where the he sensed the orb had been. He searched through the sands and for about an hour until he a whirlwind picked up the sand and turned it into a small dust devil. The sand flurried around Terak and made a face in front of him. It was one of the higher ups of the demon world.
"Do you know what kind of shit storm were dealing with down here?" the creature asked.
"I can imagine," Terak responded.
"Yeah, well you better not fail us. You were chosen out of the others because you showed potential. Don't let us be wrong about you," it mentioned.
"Don't worry, everything is going according to plan. The gate will soon be opened and my army shall clear out of the way for your castle. There are plenty of humans here that will make a good feast for my master," Terak explained.
"We have no need for thoughts of feasting. Get the damn gate open and complete your task!" the creature said in a loud outburst and vanished.
The sand scattered back onto the ground revealing the black orb. Terak picked up the orb with his hand and felt the power from within pulsing like a beating heart. The plans were moving in the direction he liked and knew the moment was approaching.