One never thinks that one is going to die. Everyone knows that everything eventually withers away, but in the back of their minds, they think that they are never going to die. Being an immortal, one really doesn't think that death will ever be knocking on your door, but nothing can last forever…not even me.

One year prior:

Since Top Dollar and his crew were wiped off the face of the earth by a vigilantly ghost, a war broke out to see who would take his place. After nearly two decades of fighting and bloodshed, a new and stronger crime boss has come into power; one that is far more twisted and cruel than his predecessor, Odin. His men, recognizable by the tattoo (two ravens in flight) he made them all get, were responsible for nearly all of the drugs, fires, and murders in the city. Things were worst than before.

My entire body was cold, but it was the kind of cold that was not exactly unpleasant but not exactly pleasant either. I opened my mouth, but the icy liquid that surrounded me filled my mouth and by extension my lungs. Coughing did absolutely nothing. Eventually I realized that I was under water. I tried to remember how exactly I got here and why, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't swim up, or for what I assumed was up. Who am I? What's my name?

Images flashed before my eyes. I saw a girl screaming "Tristan!" My name. I remembered her, she was my girlfriend, Emma. A gun being fired and a bullet enter her chest. I saw her cold, motionless corpse being tossed off the side of a boat. A weight was attached to my legs. Then I saw the inside of the barrel of handgun. There was nothing else after that. I could not remember a thing.

Breathing seemed unnecessary. I didn't feel the usual dizzy sensation that I got when I stayed under water for too long. I reached down and tugged at the chain around my ankle. I yelled in pain, but it was muffled by the water that was pouring into my mouth. After what seemed like forever, the chain slid off my foot and I began to move upwards towards the surface.

I broke through the surface of the icy, dark water. I gasped for air, though I didn't seem to need to breathe. Disoriented, I looked around, but all I saw was darkness and a few white lights in the distance. So, I began to swim towards the lights I saw, hoping that they would lead me to shore.

Soon enough my feet grazed the sandy bottom of the river. I stood up and began to walk to shore. Once I reached it, I collapsed. Only then did I realize that my body had gone numb. I stared up at the sky, which was covered in thick black clouds. There was not even a star peeking through the smoky clouds.

Dawn came, staining the clouds orange, pink and purple, and I still hadn't moved from the shore. I watched as the sky changed as I thought of Emma. Her face was a little fuzzy. Her features were beginning to slip from my memory. She had blonde hair. Curled. Shoulder-length. She was short with curves that made me melt. Her nose was small, like a button, and she used to always blush. Big eyes. Yes, she had huge brown eyes with freckles right under them. Emma was beautiful, I remembered that.

She was gone. She was dead, taken from me for a reason that I couldn't even remember. Hot tears slid down my face. the love of my life was dead and I hoped that by just laying there, I would die and join her. what else did I have to live for? My parents were dead. My grandparents were dead. I never really had friends to care for me. Who was left?

A face appeared before my eyes whom I did not recognize. It was of a young woman with black hair and teal coloured eyes. Her mouth was small and her skin was very pale. She was attractive, but she was nothing compared to Emma, and I had no idea who she was or why I thought of her.

Sitting up I began to remember the details of the night I was tossed into the river. There were five people there that night; four men and one woman. Two of the men were white, one was black and the other was Asian. The woman was also white. They bore the brand of Odin in their arms. They came out of nowhere and attacked us as we left our apartment building. The three men held me down as the woman used a knife to cut slits into my back. I watched as the woman stabbed Emma in the shoulder. I tried to get up, but they kept me pinned to the asphalt.

"Next time, don't play with fire," the woman told me as she stuck the knife into my stomach. Everyone is a little hazy after that. I remembered Emma getting shot and being dumped into the river. How had I survived?

A crow landed on my lap. It cawed and titled its head. Most people would be afraid of the bird as they were prone to pecking out people's eyes, but I no longer cared. So I stared straight into its beady black eyes.

"Get up," a voice rang in my head. The voice was soft and female. At first I thought it was Emma who was speaking to me, perhaps from beyond the grave. "You need to get up!" As she continued to speak, I realized that it was not Emma who was speaking to me. no, this voice was familiar, but Emma's was more high pitched and more kind than the one who was ordering me to my feet.

"Get the fuck up!" the voice screamed in my head. The crow pecked at my shirt, surprising me. It cawed loudly.

Without a second thought, I swiped the bird off my lap. It took off into the air, cawing angrily at me. "Stupid bird," I snapped.

"Tristan, get off your ass and avenge your murder and the murder of your girlfriend!" the voice ordered. She sounded annoyed.

"I'm not dead," I said as I pointed to myself. As there was no one else around, I spoke to the crow which had moved to a rock a few feet away from me. "Look. See. I'm talking, breathing, and just being alive."

The crow titled its head again.

"You died. You bleed out in the river and no one ever found your body," she told me.

"No. I can't be dead," I exclaimed. "But I am going crazy talking to a voice in my head who is trying to convince me that I'm dead."

"No you're pretty damn dead. You've been under water for a long time."

Sighing I got to my feet, defeated by a voice in my head. I was determined to prove the voice in my head wrong. "Fine," I said as I began to walk up to the road. There were no cars on the street. I moved across the road with the crow right over my head.

As I moved into the city, I stopped at the first newsstand I could find. The chubby man who was running it gave me the strangest look as I picked up on of the newspaper and I don't exactly blame him. I was a sopping wet young man with blood stains tears in my t-shirt. I glanced at the date and dropped the paper onto the ground, to the dismay of the owner.

"A year," I mumbled. "I've been down there for over a year."

"Told you," the voice said. There was a noise that sounded a lot like a sigh. "I am sorry that you had to die. I'm sorry that Emma had to die, but you have to find who did this and you must kill them. I'll help as much as I can."