Hello everyone! I do not own Stephen King's The Dark Tower, nor Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child's Brimstone. All characters are used out of admiration for such a great authors. I also do not own the following anime Chrono Crusade, the Get Backers, or Hellsing. This is a work of Fanfiction, based off of ideas of myself and a friend of mine.

S.O.S

Chapter 5 - Insomnia

He opened his eyes to a world of darkness. He stood amidst a parched desert earth, void of life and of existence. His eyes shifted from one side of the endless waste land to the other, but there was nothing to behold. The ground crunched beneath his feat as he took a step forward. He began walking, hoping that he would find someone or something. As he took his first steps a flash of light lit up the sky. Lightning was his first thought, and indeed it appeared to be lightning. He watched the lightning storm, frozen in amazement. A bolt flew from the sky and began to descend in front of him. His instincts told him to jump away from the danger, but he stood in awe of it. He could see the arch of the bolt stretching across the sky, in a strange curve of light. As the bolt fell closer to the man's location he saw that what was striking wasn't lightning.

The creature he beheld plummeted from its lightning arc down into the hard earth. Dust flew in all directions upon impact, separating the man from the creature. More lightning arcs began to fly from the sky and follow the example of the first, crashing into the earth in a scattered array. The man stood amidst the destruction staring at the site where the first had fallen. After the initial dust began to settle the man could see a dark shadow standing erect where the creature had made impact. He walked towards the figure cautiously. He heard the crashes from all around him of the others falling, but was not daunted.

He was within ten feet away when his eyes began to make out the features of the fallen creature. It was a tree. A wickedly misshapen tree. The black branches curled and edged off in strangely contorted angles. Each branch was bare without any sign of buds of any kind. As his eyes moved from the branches to the trunk he recoiled slightly. Even in the darkness he could clearly see the face in the tree. It at first glance would have been overlooked as a large knot in the trunk, but the features of some manner of face were visible. He stood staring at the closed eyes of the face, and took a quick look around and saw that nearby trees held the same features. He reached out to touch the bark of the face, but before his hand was even two feet close to it, the eyes opened.

The eyes were dark orbs that pierced the man, sending chills through out his body. He stepped back in surprise just as the face opened its hideous mouth and uttered the most bone chilling shriek the man could have imagine. Each new tree opened its eyes and mouth and joined in the cry. It was a cry of pain, one that the man was familiar with, though not of this magnitude. The tree branches soon joined in as they began to thrash around violently, as if in mortal danger. The screams and the whipping of the branches combined with the crashes created a darkly primitive symphony of destruction that ripped across the once silent plane.

The sound of what he thought was thunder arose amidst the cries. He looked up to find its source, already knowing it was directly above him. He watched as the sky seemed to quake with each clap of thunder. The thunder began to increase and the trees' unholy chorus increased in intensity. As the hellish orchestra reached its crescendo the sky was torn open.

Light poured out from the tear in the sky and flashes of color lit the sky. The darkness seemed to cower before the light. The trees' shrieks of pain now were mixed with the sound of fear as well as loathing. The man's eyes were fixed upon the center of the tear as a blazing figure burst forth. Unlike its predecessors, who plummeted like lightning to the earth, this figure was engulfed in a raging inferno. The creature fell from the tear, leaving a trail of fire behind itself as it burned through the primitive atmosphere. The creature that had been tumbling in the sky suddenly began to slow down as its wings shot out. The leathery wings acted as a parachute slowing it down, and then began flapping rapidly trying to regain lost altitude. As the figure rose back to the tear two forms shot forth from it.

Two men in dazzling garments shot across the sky towards the flaming figure. As the flaming creature rose to meet them a sword formed in its hand out of the flame that engulfed it. The men, as they neared the creature, drew their swords and prepared for battle. The trees that had been shrieking not long ago had grown deafly silent as the three figures began to battle. Silence, once broken by the falling figures, returned once again, but it was short lived.

The three figures met in a clash that made the very earth beneath the man's feet tremble. He stumbled as he tried to stand steady, but never took his eyes off the battle being waged above him. Blow after blow, parry after parry the war raged on. The Inferno produced a second sword to better battle the two, and succeeded in matching their attacks. The two men attacked in synchronized patterns before they split to attack the Inferno from opposite sides. The swords soon moved so quick they became nothing but blurs, lost in the light and darkness of the sky.

The men swung and the inferno met their attack. The three remained bound by their swords as the two men propelled the inferno to the earth.

A brilliant flash of light shown forth as the three crashed into the earth.

The eyes of the one called Red shot open as he awoke from his dream. He looked around hurriedly, expecting to see those horrid trees again. His body was tense; his muscles and his hands ached from the intense grip that he had held throughout his night's adventure. He had woken in a cold sweat, gasping for air as if he had been trapped underwater. The sight of his elevator-shaft hideaway finally came into full view as the darkness of fear faded from his eyes.

This was the third time he had had this dream in the last few months, no detail ever changed. Despite the fact that it was a reoccurring dream, his level of fear and surprise never dropped. He awoke the same way every time: terrified and confused. What were the creatures that fell and became those hideous misshapen trees? What was that ball of fire that scorched the sky? And who were those two men that did battle against it? The answers eluded him again this time, and he was left with only the sound of his breathing.

He finally started to calm down as he walked out of the elevator shaft and went to one of the employee exits. He stood in the doorway and breathed deeply of the cool night air. The sky was mostly dark tonight, barely any light from the moon and none from the stars, save of course for the North Star. He gazed longingly at the star for what seemed like hours before he finally shook his head grimacing and returned to his hideaway. Beauty was a luxury not meant for one who deals in shadows. There was no salvation for a death dealer, especially not this one. Then again, why was there a need for salvation in the first place? He was a faithful servant of the King. The stories of gods and goddesses were just that, stories. Myths one might say of a naïve little people desperate for something to ease their psychotic suffering.

That's all that they were. Clever words. Nothing more.

In a few short hours the sun would break from the shadows and return to rule the day. How he despised the sun. That golden orb that hung amidst the clouds was a mocking remembrance of the desperate struggle between the night and the light. He wasn't one of the undead, if they ever existed, who was bound to the rules of darkness. He just didn't particularly like the light.

He walked back to the elevator shaft, but before he reached it the phone in his pocket started ringing. His master; who else? He flipped it open and answered it.

"Yes, my master?"

"Servant, your presence is expected tomorrow, sometime after noon. There's an important matter I wish to discuss with you."

"Yes of course, my lord."

His master left the servant for the second time that night. Now, however, the servant was left pondering as to what business was to be discussed. Only special "hits" required him coming to the King's office. How exciting. As he walked back to his hideaway a grin escaped from his lips.

The Sacrifice of Innocence, this work need to be done.

Now blow the horn. Hail to the gun.