A/N, Rant, whatever you wanna call it will be at the bottom of the page from now on.
Night is a wondrous time. It brings out some of mankind's most basic feelings. The night could put the fear or God in a man, or pure ecstasy. Ean Farrell was one of the latter.
Ean was a man of average height, and medium build. He liked to take walks after dusk to clear his head, ponder the day's events, and to get back in touch with himself. He hated living having to go into one of New York City's many suburbs to find a little privacy, but it was worth it. The air was much cleaner here, and it was much quieter then that mess of a city. He also found out if you walked near construction sites, there was a great decrease in people as the night progressed.
He sighed, running a hand though his shaggy black hair. There was always a risk of walking alone… especially now, since it was well into the night. He had not gotten out of his shop until late that night, and still wished to walk. Ean shifted his shoulders under his white, closed, trench coat. The hair on his neck prickled. He could feel it… something bad was going to happen. He turned at the fence guarding the construction site, and walked though the gate.
Alright… I parked a block away from here… he thought, running the position of his car though his mind. Or at least he tried, as the Buzz suddenly got much stronger.
Ean eyed the skeleton of what looked to be a hotel in construction. The area he was walking though was being annexed into New York City, and needed places for people to stay. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see into the shadows behind the many I beams. He unlaced his coat, letting it hang open. "Show yourself!" he yelled, in an accent that sounded as if he was from every land, and no land.
Something moved to Ean's right. He turned on his heel, his coat flaring out to show a katana sheath strapped to his dark cargo pants waist. His boots crunched on glass that must have been dropped by some construction worker.
Something leapt from one of the almost completed structures, and into its long shadow. A figure rose, swaying slightly. He stepped forward into the light. It was a man of middle age, dressed in a dark red long sleeve shirt and tight blue jeans. The forearms of his shirt bulged slightly. "Ah…" he smiled, pushing his blond hair back from his face, "So I finally meet Ean Farrell…. The Immortal with the romantic belief about an all loving God…" The man sneered, a scar running from his right brow to cheek twisting it into something more sinister. "That sickens me."
Ean calmly removed his coat, before throwing it off to the side. His black shirt let him blend in with the shadows, all but the words on the front reading 'God in his heaven, all's right with the world' and a three barred cross on the back. Ean sighed, as he brought his right hand to grip the dragon engraved hilt of his katana, his left hand resting on its sheath.
"Thom Al'Mera… one of the most cocky Immortals still alive…" Ean's voice was ice, his eyes narrow, "You have a lot of nerve…"
Thom threw his head back and laughed. "What God in his right mind would make a group of people, one of which could ultimately challenge the God himself! Give it up, 'priest'! It is time to see if there truly is a God!" With that, Thom sprang with surprising quickness at Ean, his long hair making a trail behind him.
Blades on both sides emerged, Ean's from his hip, Thom from his sleeves, two foot and a half long blades emerging from his sleeves. Twin katars met katana with deadly quickness as the two men leaned in, their blades touching. Ean leapt away back from Thom, his katana in front of him.
Thom sneered openly. "So it is true… you do have a Murasumune… a sword made for peace…" Thom laughed again. "Haven't you figured it out?"
Ean cut him off by lunging at Thom, katana slashing to his left. Thom brought up his left fist to counter, and flung it the rest of the way to his left, sending the katana flying. Thom brought his right hand across his body to slash at Ean's torso.
Ean brought his now empty left hand across his own body to catch Thom's right wrist. Before Thom could retaliate with his left, Ean drew his right hand back before slamming it into the center of Thom's chest, opened palm. Thom let out his breath, cushioning the blow, but still flew backwards, and hit the I-beam that was close behind him.
Ean leapt back and to his left, and bent down to pick up his fallen katana. "Peace is needed for advancements to take place… I am keeping that peace from being over run by those such as you." He said, softly, pointing his katana at Thom's fallen figure leaning limply against the I-beam.
Thom picked himself up, a flow of blood emerging from his mouth with each cough. He wiped his mouth with his right sleeve, before glaring at Ean. He then ran at Ean once more, in a fit of rage.
Ean shook his head. "Have you learned nothing throughout these ages?" he asked Thom, as he brought his left hand up to the hilt of his katana, before slanting the blade horizontally in front of his face.
"It is you who have not learned!" Thom cried out in rage, as he shifted to his right, and cut the air with his katar. There was a loud snap, as a wire that Ean had not noticed broke. Lights flooded into Ean's eyes, temporarily blinding him. His right hand, holding the katana dropped, as he covered his eyes with his left. When the lights went out and Ean recovered, he could no longer see Thom.
Ean turned on his heel, raising his katana back in front of him horizontally, meeting the form of Thom, who had launched himself off of the top of one of the buildings. Thom brought both of his katars over his head, before slamming them down at Ean. They locked together with Ean's sword, sending sparks flying.
"Die, die, die, die, die!" Thom screamed, hysteria entering his voice. Ean shifted his weight to his left leg as Thom's feet touched the ground. Ean dropped his right knee, sending Thom off balance. Using that, Ean let go of the katana with his right hand, and turning his left hand, he slashed at Thom, cutting off both his right hand, which he had brought up to try to defend himself, and his head.
The hand landed with a clang as the katar hit rocks spread across the ground. The head rolled across the construction site, blood flowing out of the neck.
Ean stood, and flicked the blood off of his katana, holding it loosely in his left hand. He then reached into the neck of his shirt, and pulled out a tiny, golden three barred cross. He held it up, and recited, "Lord, forgive this man, and welcome him into thy kingdom. He knows not what he haft done. Embrace thy childe with open arms. In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen." As he made the sign of the cross, blue mist began to float out of Thom's neck, and began to float towards Ean, the mist surrounded by electricity surging across it.
All at once, the mist turned into tendrils, and lashed onto Ean. Ean lifted his up his arms, his katana falling to the ground.. The tendrils began to seep into his body, the electricity running across his body, before entering it though his mouth or nose. He threw his head back, his mouth moving, but no sound came out. The mist all diapered into Ean, who was dropped onto all fours, pieces of glass cutting his palms.
Slowly and unsteadily, Ean rose to his feet, shaking. But he was not shaking because the mist had harmed him, or caused him pain. He was shaking; for Thom's power had become his own, Thom's knowledge, his own. "The Quickening…" he muttered slowly. The Quickening was what happened when an Immortal was decapitated, the only true way to kill an Immortal. All of that Immortals power and knowledge left him, and entered into the Immortal who had defeated and killed him. Ass such, if the Immortal had killed other Immortals, once he was defeated, you would gain their power and knowledge as well.
Ean bent down to grab Murasumune, before sliding it horizontally across the mouth of his sheath, before sheathing it.
He turned, and walked slowly to the place where his coat lay, getting use to the new power and knowledge that flowed though his veins. He bent down, and picked up his trench coat, before pulling it on to cover his katana. "The Game…" he muttered, "is getting more ridiculous with every passing day…" He had lost more friends, and those who were close to him because of this 'Game'… One should get use to being jumped and attacked, but Ean found it trying.
The sound of far off sirens took Ean out of his daze. He muttered an oath. He should have realized with the noise of the fight, in combination would have awoken one of the people living close by. Construction didn't go on during the night here, and someone must have called the police. He ran, sliding as he neared the gate he had entered, and sprinted into the street, sending dust into the air.
"This always happens in this bloody century!" He muttered angrily to himself as he turned a corner, nearing his black Dodge Charger, a white strip running down its middle. He ran down the street, before pulling his keys out of his coat pocket, and sliding them into the door to unlock it. The sirens grew louder, as he opened the door, and slid into it. He slid behind the wheel, and started it quickly. He then pressed on the accelerator, going at a moderate speed towards the city, and away for the police.
The police skidded around the construction site soon after Ean started cruising away, surrounding the site before getting out of their cars, their weapons drawn. Ean let out a sigh of relief as he blended in with the traffic going into New York City.
He supposed there was one good thing about this the police in this century. They sure as hell kept same fights that would have happened a hundred or so years ago from happening. He leaned back in his seat deep in traffic on his way home.
Holy crap… I think I'm on time for once…
I set up a schedule this time around… I want to try and get out at least one chapter a week. It… didn't quite work the last time around as some of you may know… And, I think I'm actually on time! Woo!
Anyways… I'm kind of guessing about all the suburbs around New York. Never been there, and I have limited computer time, which I spent researching other things. But, since this is an alternate universe… it should be all right… I hope…
I wrote the entire plot of the second chapter, but I haven't even started on it… So, we'll see how it goes.
Also, this was a lot bigger in my notebook then on MS Word. I need a new notebook so I can figure out closer to reality how large the chapter will be before I sit down to type it. I would not have made the chapter this small originally, but since I already intergraded some of the ideas from this chapter into others… I decided to keep it.
Anyways, remember to review. I need to know how horrible I did, so I can fix it for later chapters. This still stands; this is in an alternate Highlander Universe. None of the characters in the Highlander movies or series will appear, just the ideas about the Game and all things attached to it.
Well, that's it. I hoped you liked the chapter. I forgot how long some of my processes take…
Oh yeah, last note. I'm still beta-less. Since I'm terrified of what my old beta, Artemis Girl may do to me if I contact her, I'mma say this now. I need a beta. E-mail me if you're up to the challenge of fixing my horrible grammar.
§Piro§