THIS STORY WILL BE RESTARTED SOMETIME IN COMMING MONTHS TO BE REPLACED BY A MUCH MORE SENSIBLE VERSION THAT I SPENT SEVERAL WEEKS REVISING AND RESEARCHING FOR.
I NEED TO DO THIS BECAUSE MY RESEARCH HAS LEAD ME TO A REALISATION THAT I HAVE COMPLETELY SCREWED UP THE PERSONALITIES AND ATTRIBUTES OF MOST OF THE CHARACTERS (INCLUDING MY OWN, WOULD YOU BELIEVE)

IF YOU WISH TO ATTEMPT TO CONVINCE ME OTHERWISE; FEEL FREE TO WRITE ME A MESSAGE

Prologue

Kerr-Akando's Ultimatum

"That's not what I wanted to hear," said the Stalker, that same unnerving calm in his voice, "Do it."

He addressed the nearby hawk who immediately raised her right talon.

"No, don't! I swear I don't even know who he is, let alone where he is! Let him go, please no more," Cried Eddie, struggling desperately to escape his bonds and stop her from slashing Crash again.

His desperate calls for mercy fell on deaf ears as they had so many times before, leaving him to watch as the hawk's talon swept several times across the tiny body pinned beneath her other talon.

Crash writhed around, screaming in agony as they raked fresh cuts into his flesh, his cries echoing into the previously silent night.

Eddie couldn't bare to watch and shut his eyes as tightly as he could, trying to block out the constant sound of her talons sweeping across his brother's body, the following, gurgling screams and his own cries of guilt and self loathing at being unable to help him.

It took what felt like an eternity until Crash's cries faded and Eddie dared to open his eyes.

He stared at his brother, lying cut, bruised and bleeding, his injuries, although not yet fatal, were serious and definitely immensely painful and now fresh red trickles were making their way down his body in the wake of the latest brutal act of torture.

If only fate had been merciful enough to let that attack finally push Crash into unconsciousness, but no, he returned to Eddie that same pleading gaze, begging him to give an answer he didn't have.

For the first time since this ordeal had begun Eddie took the chance to properly take in he and his brother's captors, looking first at the creature he had come to know as the night stalker, a thing whose entire covering consisted of black fur giving him a definite advantage in the dark, which suited his personality perfectly. Eddie had only known him as a merciless killer, feared across the land for a reputation of death and revenge with a voice of seemingly perpetual calm but ever laced with threat of cruelty. All of this and more were being demonstrated right in front of his eyes every time he heard his brother's cries of pain.

He then looked to the hawk, truly a compliment to her species even if she was a predator, she was beautiful. He had met her once before, except that time she had been crying. A nest, empty except for the remnants of what had once been her chicks, had been lying at her feet and he had stopped to comfort her. Sure he had been nervous at first but her personality had turned out to match her picturesque form, or so he had thought. All he saw now, as he looked into her eyes, was a terrifying fury that would surely even cause the likes of Diego anxiety in her presence.

"Tell me possum. I know you know who I'm talking about, I can smell him on you, even if he wasn't with you when Aldora here managed to catch you, I know you've met him," the Stalker spoke with a hint of impatience. "There's no point in continuing to lie, you know once we're done with this one, you will be next, so why do you continue to resist so pointlessly."

He paused for a moment; most likely thinking of a different approach to this torture, a way that would guarantee Eddie would tell him where his prize was.

He turned to the hawk, "Come to think of it Aldora, if he doesn't answer this time, kill his friend."

The hawk smiled with glee, ecstatic at the chance to finally vent some of her long held rage and raised her right talon, placing the middle claw directly on Crash's throat.

The Stalker now turned back to Eddie and began to approach him, his claws unsheathing as he tread ever nearer.

Eddie felt like he would pass out simply from the fear, he so wished playing dead worked on this guy but Michael, a possum he had come to know as Mikey, had warned that this would only get him killed, so he did the only thing he could do, being bound to this tree, look the Stalker in the eyes and attempt to feign courage that was now long gone.

The Stalker stopped, his face barely an inch from Eddie's, his teeth bared in an impatient anger he could no longer hide and spoke in a voice asserting the atmosphere his mere presence seemed to bring; calm, cruel and threatening.

"Tell me possum, not just for you or your friend but for the good of your entire pathetic species."

He raised a claw and slashed across Eddie's stomach, Eddie cried out in pain, as the claws cut into his skin like searing hot knives.

"Where is the one raised by the sky king, WHERE IS MARCUS'S SON!"