Chapter 1: The Shadow of a King

Disclaimer: I do not own Dying Light

The Top of Rais Tower

'This is it. My final fight with Rais.' Thought Kyle Crane, the man who was now considered the hero of Harran. Slowly, he climbed up the ladder to Rais's extraction point.

"So here we are, face to face again." Rais stood there watching me, a smug grin on his face as Kyle stood up from the ladder.

"BASTARD! YOU'RE DEAD!" Kyle shouted, enraged at the man. All the anger he held toward the man for causing Zere and Jade's death bursted out and he drew his sword from his side.

"Not so fast Crane, you wouldn't want anything to happen to this now would you?" Nonchalantly, Rais stepped on Zere's box, the box that could very well determine the fate of Harran, or even the world.

Almost instantly, Crane stopped himself. He inwardly cursed. 'I have to save these people, its what Zere wanted, and I can't spit on his grave like that. I have to remain calm.'

Rais glanced down towards Crane's sword. "I've seen you carry around that sword for a while Crane. Why do you hold onto it? Do you think yourself to be a knight or a hero?" Rais gave a mocking laugh."There are no heroes in Harran, Crane. Everytime you kill the infected you get another man's blood on you. How many have you killed just to save one precious survivor, how many times have you bashed in a viral's head as it begged for mercy! If this outbreak ends, how will you tell families that you killed their kin in order to survive another day." Rais stops and points his machete towards the so called "Hero"."You are nothing but a murderer Crane, and soon, you will be just like me".

"NO! You're wrong! Even if the zombies are still human they were too far gone! I killed them to save those few that still had hope." Crane shouted back, and prepared to fight.

"That is only an excuse Crane!" Rais shouted and charged towards Crane.

Crane swung his sword at Rais, but he easily ducked under it and thrusted his own blade towards Crane, forcing him backwards. No matter what he did, Crane was simply unable to hit Rais, and kept being forced backwards.

"Gah!" Rais managed to kick Crane and slashed him with the opening he created. Blood mixing in with the sweat on Crane's face and momentarily blinding him.

Taking advantage of this, Rais charged in for the kill, slamming Crane against a pillar, causing him to drop his sword. Crane barely managing to hold off Rais's machete.

It was then, when he on the verge of losing, that Crane remembered the prophecy that Ishaq once gave to him:

"The shadow of a self-proclaimed king will be waiting for you... the king with whom you shall have to fight. You'll find out who he is and what his weaknesses are. When the time comes, you will take his crown or die."

Crane continued to struggle with the blade, why was he remembering this now? 'There has got to be a reason behind this, c'mon think!'

By now the blade was nearly touching his chest and Crane didn't think he could hold it off for much longer. "Hah! It looks like you were too weak to defeat me Crane, I'll give you the luxury of saying your last words to me." Rais knew that he had won, and anything Crane tried would be a failed last attempt.

Unfortunately for Rais, Crane now knew why he remembered the prophecy. 'Thats it! His weaknesses! The only thing that I can think of would be his brother!'.

Crane prepared his words, knowing that they could very well determine his fate. "Look at you Rais, you're just a hypocrite. You know that the GRE failed to save your brother from his death, and now here you are going straight into their arms. Your brother would be ashamed of you." Crane replied, desperately hoping that Rais's anger would be the warlord's downfall.

"YOU DARE ACT LIKE YOU KNOW MY BROTHER, CRANE!" In his anger he moved his aim from Crane's chest to his head and brought his hand further back for a longer swing.

Crane used this extra time to duck under the attack and roll away, picking up his sword, and impaling Rais through his stomach as he attempted to charge him.

"Blugh!" Rais spat out blood from his mouth, staining the ground and Crane's back red with blood. "No, I cannot lose. I am a king, and you are but a slave…" Rais slowly trailed off, speaking his last words. His machete dropped and clanged on the floor, marking his death.

Crane, disgusted with Rais, shoves the body off his blade and sends Rais plummeting down the skeleton of a tower. Crane took some bandages from his pack and covered the slash wound that Rais had gave him. Then Crane just picked up the research and laid down, finally having a chance to relax.

'Finally, its over, he's dead.' Crane thought to himself, but at the same time he didn't feel like his vengeance had been satisfied. In fact, he felt empty and also a bit gloomy. 'Rais was right about one thing though, I have far too much blood on my hands.'

Then, he started hearing a growing sound in the distance, thumping and becoming louder and louder.

Turning his attention to it, Crane scowled. The other half of the issue had arrived, the GRE was here.

"What do you want?" Crane barked. His scowl deepening even further. He was definitely not going to compromise with them, not with the bullshit that they already pulled.

"We're giving you a chance, take Zere's research and come with us." The GRE operative ordered. This only served to piss off Crane even more.

"Do you think I'm stupid! Why the hell would I give you the research after all the shit you guys did. I know that you guys need the cure, and you won't bomb Harran if its still here."

"Why the hell do you even care about these people Crane!? This is just a job and you have no place here!" The GRE operative yelled at Crane through the radio, her voice laced with exasperation.

"This isn't just a job anymore, these people need me and I need to stay here to make sure you guys don't do anymore ministry bullshit!"

In reply to that the helicopter simply turned and flew away, the constant thumping of its rotor becoming distant. Without Rais or the GRE, the scene grew more peaceful, and Crane took a moment to just listen to the wind and the flapping of the giant flags hanging on the tower.

This peace was broken by yet another call to his radio, fortunately it was one of good news. "Crane are you there?" The excited voice of Camden came through the radio.

"Yeah doc, what is it?" Crane greeted back, and began questioning the purpose of his call. 'With that tone of voice it must be good news! Hopefully its about the cure.'

"The results just got through and they are phenomenal! If you can bring back the rest of Zere's research there is a definite chance that I could make a cure!" Camden exclaimed, simply unable to keep the excitement out of his voice.

"Thats great news! I'll see if I can bring the research over soon, for now I have to get to a safehouse though."

"Alright, good luck."

With those words, the talk was cut and Crane turned his attention to Zere's research. 'With this simple box could finally give Harran hope, it could even save Harran. Rais is gone and the bandits should be falling apart, all that needs to be done now is cure the infection!' Crane opened the box, curious to see the research that could save the world.

"This is Ayo speaking. Head to the nearest safehouse and wait until dawn…" The customary warning before night came through on his radio, but Crane didn't even hear it. Any feelings he had of hope or excitement quickly vanishing and being replaced with despair.

The research was GONE.

"Good night, good luck."

AN: Hello everyone! I hope you like my fic! One of the main reasons I wrote this was because I was not satisfied by the ending. I felt Crane should have used some sort of weapon during the fight with Rais (who the hell tries to fight an armed man with their bare hands?) and I also didn't like how the ending didn't really show off any of the skills that either Rais or Crane had.

Anyway that's all, feel free to criticize my story in the reviews, just make sure you explain them. Ex: Don't just say "Your story sucks", tell me why it sucks.