The drums bellowed across the city with each strike. their roar was low, but carried through everything that was touching the ground. it was the sound of an execution.
Each thunderous boom spelled the word death in the heart of every man, women, or child. a crowd of the strongest hearted people formed around the gallows. The sky was dark with cloud cover hanging overhead. The city was almost silent accept for a few crying babies in their mother's arms being crooned and comforted in this hour of death.
"hanging", it wasn't a good word to be used right now. the people waited apprehensively, almost holding their breath for the execution to begin. right about this time, the last meal was being served to the convict.
A deadly chill ran down the spine of every onlooker of the execution as the sound of chains rattled through the streets. the sound was the most horrible scraping, rattling noise that anyone could ever attempt to describe in their life time. any child who was crying had stopped as rain began to trickle across the small city.
the drums beet faster as the escort group walked toward the gallows with the ends of the chains shackled to their wrists.
through the four escorts, the four guards, and the executioner, there could be seen a figure in the middle. he was hunched over with an iron mask covering his face.
it was secured from the back by a latch. the cold smooth surface of it reflected the surroundings. a large string of chains and seals were placed over and around his torso, his legs were bound by two enormous iron weights that would have crushed any human wearing them. the crowed went silent and cleared a path for the escorted convicted soul. lightning crashed through the air and seemed to be helping the drums. the convict was on the gallows now. he could be seen more clearly, his hair was a stunning array of gold, white, silver, and black that seemed to mingle with each other. his scared skin was only proof of his former life. his tattered pants were nothing short of prison grade- flour sack attire.
the executioner placed the rope around his neck. the escorts unshackled his legs and dispelled them with a simple hand sign, in a cloud of smoke they were gone. the warden appeared behind the convict with his assistant holding an umbrella above him. the rain started and the crowd breathed with an air of relief. the warden opened a large book and began reading form a passage.
"Here before you today, stands not a man, but a monster of society. an outcast of the people who were born into this world. one who was not born into this world and has sought after destroying it!"
All who appose the execution of this monster shall be sentenced to death along with him-"
the convict seemed to stir at these words, he lifted his head and looked out at the people, as though looking for something. someone. a girl stood at the foot of the gallows watching him intently. this little girl, almost old enough to come of the age to know the love of a kiss, had enough courage, to see the execution of one of the most wanted criminals in the world. He was so dangerous, that he had been removed from the bingo book in fear that more people would die at his hands. his bounty was enough to buy a small country.
his attention was drawn to the little sparkle eyed girl. he was looking direct ally at her through the iron mask covering his face. the girl was mesmerized by her own reflection in its wet surface.
why was he looking at her. had she done something? was she going to die? what was going on? how could he see her through the iron? did he actually see her or was he just randomly looking in her direction.
he nodded at her.
she was shocked at what happened. no one seemed to see what had happened, absolutely NO one.
she instantly knew what it meant. somehow she knew what to do. she nodded back at him and he looked away. she crawled under the gallows just bellow where the hatch door was. there was a small latch that connected to a leaver atop the gallows that the executioner stood by. she jammed a rock into the small devise and crawled back out, unseen by the people who were watching him.
a wave of terror struck her as she realized what she had just done. she looked back at the convict, watching unsteadily. the drums stopped. the executioner grasped the leaver.
"- does the convict have any last words?" the warden spoke.
the man took a long breath and stood silent, choosing his words. he raised his head and turned his head toward the warden. the crowd eased forward listening closely.
"yah, just a few." said a cold raspy voice from behind the mask.
there was a pause at what he had just said. no one had actually thought he would say something, the girl thought to herself.
the man shifted in his place. the warden raised an eyebrow impatiently. the executioner tightened his grip.
a lightning bolt cracked through the air.
"... you made the choice." he said.
the girl froze. time seemed to slow as the executioner pulled the leaver and nothing happened. the crowd gasped in shock. the warden froze, mortified at the seen before him. then suddenly in the blink of an eye. the man jumped into the air and sliced the robe with his foot. flipping backwards he landed and tripped a guard, kicking him into a building clear across the yard. the other guards were surprised at this and had little time to react before meeting the same fate. the wardens assistant toppled backwards in surprise, dropping the umbrella on the wooden boards of the gallows. the man jolted over to it and flung it at the warden with such force that it buckled and shot straight through him.
the crowd ran screaming well after half the damage had been done. they hadn't even realized it had happened until the umbrella shot through the warden. the little girl ran with them as she noticed that a civilians had pointed her out to one of the support squads who had been hidden around the execution site this hole time.
the executioner lunged out at him, but with ease he jumped and rolled over his attacker and splattering him all over the gallows with one fatal kick. he stood and searched the air for his assistant. a scream was let out behind him. he turned and ran wildly toward it.
the girl was caught by the arm by one of the officers and throne over his shoulder. she screamed again and beat ferociously at his back. she kneed him in the stomach and punched just above his kidney, making him drop her. she ran again. the rain that was pouring down her face was making it hard to see. the other men that had been with the man she had escaped from appeared in front of her. grabbing her arms and securing her with a few mumbled words and a hand sign.
the lightning cracked again and the first man exploded in front of them. the blood fell and the convict stood were the officer had been. he looked wildly around until he found her. he stalked over to them slowly. the two officers who had secured her dropped her and took out their weapons. the convict seemed to waver with heat like the desert horizon. then he was in front of her. there was a long trail of white hot road behind him and the two other officers exploded into thousands of tiny peaces. he kneeled down to her eye level. she sat up and looked at her reflection in the iron mask.
"why me?" she asked. but with no answer. he stood again at the sound of more officers coming. he lifted her with his leg and threw her onto his back.
"hold tight" he said and leaped down the street. she was in a panic. she could feel the cold wet chains around this person. she didn't even know who he was. the government had tried a great deal to keep his existence a secret.
the officers fallowed persistently. she looked back at them and saw more than fifty officers chasing after them.
with the wind blowing and her legs getting cold, she was reminded of her attire, which consisted of a dress that was of no better quality than that of the convicts pants, and the under ware she had beneath it.
a frightening thought occurred to her after that. she couldn't do anything about it now though. she was grasping an extremely deadly criminal around the shoulders for dear life as they leaped over the city she called home. if she let go, she would either be killed, or live than be executed for aiding the most dangerous person in the world. she looked back over the shoulder of the convict and saw the forest that surrounded the city.
suddenly she was tossed around as the man turned and kicked out at the officers launching a portion of them back with an invisible blast of air that shattered the rooftops of the buildings bellow. he turned around once again, twisting out of her grasp so that she flung around him and faced him face to mask. she closed her eyes in fear. he curled his legs around her and tucked his head above hers as they hit the forest and disappeared.
they flew through the branches for a short time and the branches just seemed to form back to protect them. finally they stopped with a loud thud against a large tree. she opened her eyes and looked around he was panting heavily behind his mask. she pushed away from him and stumbled back on the enormous branch the forest around them was like nothing she had ever seen. she hadn't been this far out into the forest to know what it looked like. she took in the surroundings and finally made her way back to the man who had just a short while ago been standing on the gallows in front of her.
he was slouched against the tree with his head drooping to one side. it was truly a sight to behold. such a powerful being in such a week status.
he looked up at her.
"hey... you alright?"
she nodded.
"help me with this mask would yah?" he said tilting his head forward.
she did as she was commanded and crawled over to him sitting on her knees in front of him. she felt uneasy about this. did she really want to?
curiosity overwhelmed her and she reached out to the latch on the back of his head. his hair was slightly wet but eerily smooth.
she hesitated at the touch of the latch. his breathing slowed. she began to back away, but was stopped. when he coughed a deep raspy cough. she licked her lips and grabbed the latch pulling it and freeing the mask from his face.
it fell off into her lap. she was shocked. she had expected to see some sort of demon contorted face covered in scars and welts. but instead. there was the face of a man. a young looking man who looked no different from any other human. his eyes opened and looked at her. his eyes were a brilliant bright green like a polished emerald. it was truly a sight to behold.
he looked her over and then painfully tried to stand, failing and falling back to his current position. he gasped for air again at this effort. a drop of blood dripped down his bangs onto the tree she snapped out of her trance remembering what he had just done. he was still covered in blood, and so was she.
"your gonna need to learn fast kid cause we're going back there in two weeks to get my stuff." he said leaning his head back on the tree.
"learn what?" she asked accepting her new life of crime.
he looked down at her with one solid black eyebrow perked. "a lot." he said. closing his eye's and falling asleep.
she paused and thought about what he just said. her eye's became heavy and without warning she fell asleep as well. the cold damp forest around them grew silent as the rain continued on.
this was the start of their journey.