Balance. The equilibrium of all things. Light and Dark, Good and Evil, Love and Hate, Life and Death. All things that stand in the scales of balance. These are things that cannot and should not be tampered with, or at least that's what should've happened.
One push. One hit. One tiny detail. One insignificant yet unnoticable detail, slipped under the nose of he who knew all. That tiny push threw everything and everyone into chaos.
Utter absolute chaos.
All the plans either had side cooked up got derailed and have been long discarded. All because of one man, the man who challenged fate, the man who broke the scales of balance, the same man who threw the world into madness. All for sole purpose of achieving his goals, and he wasn't going to let anything stop him.
They called him a traitor, a madman, a monster even. While others called him a hero, a genius, a savior. Who can say which is right? Either way he didn't care what he was labeled as all he cared about was his goal.
One thing for sure that both parties agreed on was that this individual proved to be the most challenging and intriguing threat they've ever come across.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"We meet at last, Pyro Jack! Or do you prefer I call you Jax?" A tall sinister voice cackles "Once i'm through with you, I think i'll have a nice little chat with your little friend, Katheleen"
"Sure. If you can live that long, Ripper. Or should I say Mr. Kelly?" Jax retorts with a cocky grin on his face "Your days of terrorizing innocents are over, Kelly."
"I-I'm sorry, Jax I thought this would be a relaxing vacation" Kate says nearly sobbing in a corner tied up "Just run and forget-"
"Hush now, Katie. I'll take care of this clown and we can have that vacation" Jax interrupts "It's my chance to prove to your dad I'm worthy of you. I promise I'll be quick, just hang on."
"Are you lovebirds done?" Ripper says in disgust as he brings out two machetes. "Don't worry after I play with your girlfriend, I'll be sure to send her to you in hell."
Ripper dashes forward at blinding lunging his machetes towards Jax one aimed at his chest the other at his throat. Jax, taken by surprise at sudden approach, barely dodges as he backflips out of the way and readies his Scythe as he lands.
"Not bad, Kelly. But sadly not good enou-" Jax tries but he ends up spitting out some blood.
"Hah. Amateur! I. Never. Miss. My. Mark." Ripper laughs as he licks the blood off one of his machetes.
Jax looks down at his abdomen and sees a straight cut running along his chest. He also feels a small stab wound on his neck, not deep enough to be fatal, but very painful. Despite the wounds however, Jax remains standing ever smirking and confident, totally unfazed by his wounds he smiles as he wipes the blood dripping off the side of his mouth.
"Very impressive. I see why you are the most feared individual by many of the locals." Jax says as he gets into a stance "However, I'm still leagues better than you! Eat this maggot!"
Jax screams as he slices the air in a 'X' formation creating an 'X' shaped flamed wind attack speeding towards Ripper. He dashes behind his wind attack delivering an elbow right on his opponent's nose.
Ripper gurgles in pain as the flames make contact with his chest cutting an X in his skin as it sears and burns away some of his flesh, in addition to that he flies backwards into the wall from the impact of his nose getting struck.
Jax doesn't let up as he fires another slash this time in a Z shape towards his opponent. Ripper gets up in time and manages to dodge the slash but he didn't notice Jax til it was too late, readying a kick right in the position he dodged into. He gets kicked right in the face with Jax's burning foot.
The kick sends him backwards and Jax dashes behind Ripper before he can make contact with another wall and delivers a burning uppercut punch right on his back sending him upperwards. Jax then jumps up in the air and delivers a double burning dropkick onto Ripper's midsection, sending him crashing onto the concrete below.
Ripper again gasps in pain from the onslaught of attacks. He gets up all shaky and out of breath barely able to move as he sees Jax conjuring a Flaming Tornado heading straight for him. Weak and unable to dodge, he closes his eyes smiling evilly.
"This is not the End, Pyro Jack. I will have my revenge Mark my words" Ripper says as the Tornado engulfs him
The Flames dissipate and all that's left is ash and the handles of the two machetes. Jax pants in relief as he finally succumbs to his wounds and falls on his knees. Still conscious but out of breath he crawls over to Kate and frees her from her binds then finally passes out from blood loss and exhaustion.
"JAX!" He hears Kate scream before fading out completely.
Jax's eyes flutter open and he scans his surroundings. He sees various paintings adorned on the walls, he notices a fancy dresser before he feels the bed he woke up on shifts beside him. He looks to his left and he sees Kate sleeping peacefully next to her is a table with a first aid kit opened and used.
Jax smiles, gets out of bed and catches his reflection on the mirror, He is wrapped in bandages from neck to waist. "She did a good job mummifying me, at least."
"I did the best I could, idiot! You realize that you fighting past your limits made your wounds far worse than they initially were?!" Kate says pouty behind him "I sometimes think you like getting hurt, are you a masochist?"
"No. I just don't mind getting hurt if it means I can protect you." Jax smiles as he walks back to her and pulls her into a hug "Especially, if it means I get patched by you afterwards as well."
She smiles and returns the hug. "I love you, idiot."
"I love you too, Katie."
They look at each other and share a kiss as they fall back in bed, in each other's arms kissing, as their clothing slowly comes off as they go on.
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"Such a shame, Ripper, you were truly a powerful individual." A dark infernal voice growls "But your biggest weakness was your mortality. Let's fix that shall we?"
The infernal growls as he starts chanting in enochian a resurrection spell on the charred remains of the Ripper. A green light shines on the ashes, it gets brighter and brighter, turns blood red then vanishes. In its place stands Ripper, his eyes now blacked out, his skin pale white.
He looks at the individual standing before him "What… What happened? Who are you? Where am I?"
My identity is of no value. You were defeated by Pyro Jack because you were merely a mortal." The infernal replies "I have shed your mortality and granted you the immortal power of demons, You are now my pawn, Jack the Ripper. Be reborn and bring forth bloodshed upon this land once more."
"Yes, Master."
Ripper picks up his burned machetes, infuses his blood into them, reforming the blades with blood. He licks the excess blood and laughs maniacally, his eyes turn dark black "Hahaha… You'll give all your blood to me, Pyro Jack! I'll skewer you"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
The sun shines through cracks of the window curtains, the sounds of birds chirping signifying that a new day has dawned. Kate awakes to sounds and the sun shining on her face. She gives a stretch as she yawns out the sleep from her body.
She looks beside her and sees her boyfriend, Pyro Jack barely waking up and trying to go back to sleep but is unable to. "Get up, Sleepyhead! It's a new day and we're on vacation! Let's go somewhere!!"
Jax groans "five more minutes…" as he buries his head under a pillow.
"Last night was amazing, Jaxxie. Don't you agree?" Kate says cuddling next to Jax "I love you"
Jax gets out from under the pillow and looks at her. "It was, I love you too, Katie. I can't believe we did that… wait I didn't use-"
Kate quickly shushes him. "It's okay, Jaxxie. I wanted my first to be special, and besides you'd take responsibility if something did happen, right?"
"I would never leave your side." Jax reassures
"Good. I don't want you to."
"Rawr." Jax replies
"Rawr? What are you stupid or something?"
"No, I'm mimicking a dinosaur! Rawrr!"
"Okay so you're being an idiot. Gotcha."
"No. Dinosaur."
"A stupid Dinosaur then."
"Hmph. You're no fun! You should get tips from my brother on how to be fun"
"I am fun, you're just stupid."
"Good stupid?"
Kate smiles at her boyfriend and kisses his cheek. "Yes, Jaxxie, a very good stupid."
"Then I am content."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"My lord, May I hunt for Pyro Jack and take his head. I want my revenge for such a humiliating defeat." Ripper growls in annoyance "I wish to show him my newfound power and serve his head to you on a silver platter."
"Patience, patience. In time you will get your revenge"
"Yes, Master. I understand." Ripper replies bowing his head
"In the meantime why don't you torture some lost souls as the new head torturer of Ring 666?" The infernal offers "Be patient and when the time is right I will grant you the greatest vengeance on Pyro Jack."
"Yes, My lord. I thank you."
Ripper says as he exits the throne room and makes his way to the lowest Ring of hell. As he leaves Lucifer enters.
"Father, we have located the traitor. The former Head Torturer seeks refuge in a vessel." Lucifer urgently informs "My squadron isn't fully aware of the vessel's exact identity but we do know that he walks on earth. We do not what his plan is"
"Thank you for informing me, My boy, keep an eye on him. We don't let traitors get away with shit."
"Yes, father. We will make him rue the day he betrayed us." Lucifer says bowing before he takes his leave as well.
"Shit just got interesting. You'll get what's coming to you, brother, in due time I'll make you pay!!"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"I think it's time we tell, papa Jaxxie." Kate says cuddling her boyfriend "I am tired of sneaking around and hiding this."
"But what if he doesn't accept me? What if he doesn't accept us? What if he- "
She shushes him by planting a kiss on his lips. "He will and if he doesn't we will deal with it, together, I love you Jaxxie"
"I love you too, Katie"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"Kate?"
"Kate??"
"KATE??"
"Huh? Yeah what's wrong Jack?"
"You okay? You were zoning out. I asked what you wanted me to teach Arty to read today?" Jack looks at Kate concerned "Something bothering you?"
"Oh no. You can decide that, I trust you Jack." Kate brushes it off "I'm going on a walk…. To clear my head"
Jack looks at Kate as she walks off and grabs her hand before she can get any farther, "Kate… I'm here for you for anything"
Kate looks down, a tear flows down her cheek she promptly wipes it off with her free arm, lingers on Jack's hand for a bit before freeing herself and silently saying "...Thanks" and walks off.
"She misses you bro, We all do. You left so suddenly with no answers"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"YOU WHAT??! YOU GOT MY BABY GIRL PR- Five seconds Pyro."
"F-Five seconds to…?"
"You have exactly five seconds to get out of my sight before I snap your neck like a twig."
"Oh.. shi-" Jax says as he attempts to bolt out the window completely forgetting the fact he can turn into a small ball of fire out of fear.
"Time's up. Time to die, Pyro Jack."
"Papa! Wait, don't kill him please! I love him." Kate pleads as she steps between them "I asked him to, I wanted to tell you."
"He is just like the rest who shirk responsibility when shit hits the fan, he won't be there for you."
"No, sir. You are mistaken."
"What..did you say?" Cort says with a vein popping out fuming "You said I was wrong? You won't leave her after this little tryst you did?"
"It wasn't a tryst! Not just a one time thing I love her, I love Kate. I want nothing more than to be with her, I promise."
"Grr…fine. I won't kill you, but if you make my baby girl and my future grandkid sad I will make you feel a fate worse than death" He steps up to Jax, grips his neck and lifts him up "Are. We. Clear?"
"C-crystal"
"Good." He says as he tosses Jax out the window and into the pavement "Ah. That felt better. I'm good now"
"JAX" Kate rushes to his side "Are you okay?"
"O-ouch….at least he approves right? Somewhat…"
"Somewhat… idiot. I love you, Jaxxie."
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
'You know I was the head torturer of the last ring of hell? Until I got bored and betrayed so I joined up with you.'
"Wow. Thanks for telling me useless facts, I didn't ask for."
'Damn don't gotta be such a douche, and it ain't useless you'll see it's part of my, I mean our grand plan of revenge'
"You don't need to include me, in your delusions you're just here for the ride and I don't appreciate backseat comments"
'Dumbass, it includes you, we gotta rescue your son right? Your woman is in shock and forced herself to forget of his existence because of what happened during his birth'
"..."
'Not so cocky now huh? Asshole. I'm here to help you I got spurned by these fools too and I'm not just going to sit by and let them take advantage'
"...Fine. But tell me why do I need to do all this? This is unbecoming of a Guardian."
'That is precisely why you CAN do this. Because of your guardianship you have access to things normal beings wouldn't'
"But kidnapping kids, burning down a village? What's the plan here? Seems very villainous to me. They'll hate me and so will she."
'In order for this to work we need to break the seals, Jamie Bennet is one of those seals, ever since your brother became a guardian Jamie, the seal of fear, was locked tight because he gained courage in the form of fun. Thanks to your twin, We need to break that.'
"Fine. I'm trusting you. But don't hurt him, or anyone."
'I promise I won't kill anyone. But hurting your fellow guardians is part of the plan, I won't lay a finger on Jamie. We will stage it as part of your 'triumphant return' and say you were being possessed by a demon.'
"Alright. Then another question: why does Cortez need to die?"
'Well….'
"I see. That makes sense… So how do we do it then?"
'I dunno.'
"What do you mean you don't know? It's your plan!"
'Yeah but I'm the strategist, not the enforcer. Besides, what we are about to do has never been successfully done before others tried and died.'
"What the f…. You're telling me all this is based on a gamble?"
'I never said it was gonna be easy. What do you think they just hand out the keys to hell? No. You either gotta die and be sent there or force those damn gates open. And we both know dying ain't an option.'
"...Tch. Fine, where do we start?"
'Seal numero uno'
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
'Idiot I left you for 2 days and you ended up doing this? This is bad. Do you know what your woman is? If I'm right he'll escape.'
"Who will escape? What are you talking about?"
'The one who once ruled over darkness, The one who brought the lands to darkness a millenia ago'
"How does Kate tie into this? She's a human."
'Wrong. She is an Arch Seraphim, A high level angel, daughter of an Archangel and a Seraphim. She is the only one of her kind. The rest of the Arch Seraphims were killed by the Dark one a millenia ago.'
"Okay… then her getting preggo is bad because?"
'Because her offspring… could either be a regular human, which I hope is the case or a nephilim. The fusion of Angel and Human. And that is very bad because his birth will break the prison where he is sealed.'
"Well too late now. We'll burn that bridge when we cross it. Any luck on your end though?"
'Yeah the three are still in limbo, very pissed though, as for his whereabouts… unknown.'
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"So he lives huh? And you are certain of this, my son?"
"Yes father, the nephilim and the archseraph said so themselves, I don't believe they would lie." A long haired infernal replies "I didn't see him first hand to confirm but based on their conversation, I am certain he lives most likely in hiding."
"I don't usually trust word of mouth… but this is the work of that nuisance, Jax, if anyone can pull a wool over our eyes it'd be him" The larger infernal sitting on a throne made bones says "I made a grave mistake, asking Astaroth to capture him. It looks like they formed a pact, they both need to die… but he still hasn't spilled anything right? Keep torturing him to get the info we need. Use all means necessary"
"Uhhm yeah… about that…"
"He knocked out Ripper and Escaped captivity huh? Is he still here?"
"Reports from the guards state that no one has left this realm with his likeness."
"Then he is hiding. Find him, inform all demons of every floor to scour for him and tell them to kill on sight."
"Yes, sir!"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
"Tell me again why we are hiding instead of bum rushing it to the exit?"
Do you want to die and get captured again the second you leave here?
"I mean……"
Idiot. You don't, we are waiting for our signal to start your training. Cause right now? You're a weak ass piece of shit.
"And what exactly is this signal?"
Immediately after a loud siren sounds, followed by a large megaphoned voice "The prisoner Pyro Jack has escaped! I repeat he has escaped!" The voice shouts "He is somewhere here in hell, Our orders are to locate and kill on sight!"
That's your signal. Time to bust some heads. By that I mean yours… your head is going to get busted. Because you are weak. Don't worry I'll heal you though when you get too hurt.
"Gee… thanks. That makes me feel so much better." Jax rolls his eyes sarcastically "You suck at pep talk you know that? Trashy ass General Executioner Torturer Demon!"
And you suck at insults. Idiotic Flame Spirit Monkey!
"Okay… that was pretty good. I'll give you that one. But how is getting my ass beat training?"
First, pain tolerance. And second we will be going up against the commanders of the demon army soon, if you can't handle trash mobs like them, and right now you can't. You may as well go back to your cell and get tortured.
"You just wanna see me get my ass beat by trash mobs." Jax says glaringly "And you know damn well, going back isn't an option"
Heh, a little. Alright show me your stuff!
"With pleasure!"
Jax pops out his hiding spot and rushes toward the demons searching for him. There are at least fifteen of them each decked in silver armor, all wielding spears and large shields. "THERE HE IS! KILL THE PRISONER!!"
Remember don't rush. Keep your head cool but your heart ablaze, think before you punch.
A smile creeps onto Jax's lips as the soldier runs towards him. "Let them come to me and watch their movements" He clenches his fists, and eggs them forward.
"Come at me with your lives!"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
He wasn't going to intervene, as least not initially. For years, the Man in the Moon was content as an observer, a watcher and arbiter of fates and events but after what Jax did, there was no choice. He had to intervene.
Jax did the unthinkable, he shattered the scales of balance, averted a death that shouldn't have been possible to avert. He open the gates of hell, but most importantly and most terrifyingly he awoke him… the Harbinger of Chaos, the Seeker of Demise, Destroyer of worlds… Solis Lunae.
Not only did he awaken the greatest threat to mankind, he absorbed him and his power. And for what? Man in the Moon couldn't begin to understand. He knew Jax was possessed by Astaroth, Former head torturer and Fallen Angel, but surely they had a plan for this. As for what that plan was he was going to find out.
For the first time in 100,000 years.
The pedestal that Man in the Moon used to communicate with guardians for over centuries rose from its platform. North quickly summoned the other guardians as well Kate and Artemis; they all stared at the pedestal of the Moon, hoping for guidance.
They all looked hopeful at the pedestal which lay empty, hoping the light of the moon would reveal a key figure or hint as to what to do next. Seconds pass… Minutes… nothing.
Suddenly the pedestal shines bright blue shimmer, something it has never done before, temporarily blinding everyone. The light soon fades, and on the Pedestal sits a pale white figure with Dark Blue hair, and sky blue eyes adorned with a simple white shirt and blue pants. He stares at everyone in the room briefly as if scanning them before speaking.
The figure's deep angelic like voice fills the room as he introduces himself "Hello, all I am the Man in the Moon" he starts as he turns to everyone present "You may call me… Manny. We need to talk about Jax…"
•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•~•
We are back Hoooly shit. Its been so long I know.
I am not dead. I am very much alive thank you.
I just haven't had the drive recently. But here is a extra long chapter. If you leave a review maybe the next one will come sooner than later.
Til next time.