Jack stood on one of the many ancient volcanoes overshadowing the city of La Borboule, France. La Bourboule had shut down for most of the night, but the lights shone brightly, blocking out the stars for the few still prowling the deserted squares in the ancient town. A cool night wind whipped in Jack's jet black hair, a dirt bike helmet held in his right hand, and a pistol in his left. Although only 15, he was known as one of the most notorious criminals in the world's underground. He liked it on the mountain, it gave him a feeling of power to look down on the whole world, but when he saw the Casino's lights in the city, he was disgusted that he had been reduced to this kind of petty theft. In his opinion, it was a true waste of his talent. But, the amount he was being paid by the collector for this job was enough that he didn't feel too badly about this reduction to his stature. Jack turned to the black dirt bike that had become almost a trademark in his crimes, jammed the pistol into a holster on the side of the bike, put on the black and silver designed helmet, and took off down the mountain, disappearing into the trees.
On the other side of the world, across the Eurasian Continent, another young man sat on a mountain, his dark hair, usually in a long braid, clung to his soaked back. Soto reflected on his meditation under the waterfall, knowing that he was going to be late for that afternoon's Ki lesson, but he wasn't looking forward to it anyways. He was thinking of a past that had been lost to him, all he remembered was something of a lost homelamd named Azerath, but the meditation had revealed to him that the ring on his finger had meant something of significance. The ring would have been a simple silver band, but for a jagged part built into the band, looking like a diagonal 'Z'. He knew not what it was attached to or what it meant, and decided not to concentrate on it for now. Soto stood, looking down on the Japanese forest covered in mist from the waterfall below him. Soto could see the monastery from the top of the waterfall, it was just down the river. He thought a swim might refresh his senses, so he took the hundred-foot plunge at a dive, surfaced in a pool near the falls, and swam to the bank. All of a sudden, a dark bird lflew out of the bushes at him. Startled, Soto fell back, almost slipping on the wet stone and fallking into the pool. The bird seemed to smile and laugh at him. He realized it had been, as it slowly melted into the shadow of a young woman who had walked out of the brush. "Who are you?" asked Soto.
The girl pouted. "Well I'd expect you, of all people to remember, but then again who knows what you've been through, in the least you got a lock put on your memory, as most of us had." Soto just sat there gaping, it was taking his brain a little while to register what she had just said. When he was about to say something, the girl said, "Oh, I forgot to introduce myself properly. My name is Lia…ringing any bells?"
"I think so…" said Soto, and he vaguely recalled a faint memory of a girl named Lia. She was…no, he couldn't remember, so he took a wild, risky guess. "You were my…girlfriend…" Lia's face immediately brightenend.
"So you do remember me!" She ran over to the bewildered Soto and gave him a huge hug.
Soto, utterly confused, but extremely relieved he hadn't made a mistake, hugged back. "So," he said, "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here to take you to Azerath." She said, her face darkening. "That ring you carry, is the symbol of the order of Azart, and we are being called to defend Azerath once again." She he;ld up a hand, showing an exact copy of the same ring Soto himself wore.
"Huh?" asked Soto. This was a little much. He was still trying to get straight the fact that Lia had come from the same place he had. He looked at her for a second. She was tall, wore relatively normal clothes, a pair of kakhis and a black tanktop, and had short, shoulder-length blonde hair, the oppositre of him. But the most striking thing was that her eyes, like his, were a deep violet, almost black. Her voice snapped him back to reality. "I'll explain later, but first, we need to get you some type of weapon, cuz there is no way I'm going to cover you this whole trip."
"Don't worry about me," Soto said. "I have the same strange powers you have, Lia, but," he smiled, "I don't use birds." Soto reached to his side, and revealed a pair of short swords hidden under the sash near his waist.
Jack pulled up in front of the Casino, whipped out his pistol, and walked in like he owned the place. Walking up to the bartender, he pointed the gun at his head. "Le Directeur." He said. "La." stammered the bartender, pointing to a large door down the hall on the other side of the room. "Merci Monsieur." Said Jack, and he flashed a smile at the man.
Jack walked down the hall, and found the director's room. He shot the lock, and kicked his way in. The manager, a fat, red-faced man sitting behind a pile of papers at his desk, looked up in surprise at the young man in his doorway. "Que-est-ce vous voulez?" the man asked, trying to compose himself, but his eyes betrayed him, constantly flickering to the pistol held in Jack's hand. Jack looked at the safe in the wall, and said "Ouvrez-la." The man moved quickly, not hesitating to fufill the young criminal's demands.
The lock clicked, and the safe opened, revealing a large amount of cash, and a ring on a chain. That was what he had been sent for. The ring. He swiped all the cash for himself, and put the ring into a special pocket of his trusty black backpack. "Thanks jackass." He said to the manager, who didn't understand a word he said, just sat down in his chair.
The man was a little confused by the style of which Jack had performed his job, it being too forceful for a normal crook, and not at all sneaky. As Jack planned, his tactics had the right effect, and it would be ten minutes before he thought to call the police, who were the least of Jack's worries.
Jack walked out to the street, stopping only to knock out the bar tender with a swift blow to the head. Jack mounted the bike, and rode off into the night, heading past a glistening lake, and onto some backroads. Jack knew that poliece wouldn't catch him anytime soon, and rode as fast as he could, speeding easily over 200 kilometers an hour, he moved onto a group of small mountain biking paths, used only in competitoins because of the danger of rocks and jumps. Although he knew the area like the back of his hand, jack still felt a thrill from the extreme danger this put him in. All of a sudden, he realized that he hadn't hit the ground on the last jump, and was hovering in the air. "What the...?" asked Jack, and a cloaked figure moved out of the trees.
"Take me to the Titans." it said.