Prologue: A Hostile Farwell
All was silent in the city of New York, a rare occurrence if ever there was one, the normally busy and hustling streets overflowing with citizens and workers were completely empty, safe a few stray pedestrians walking about like nomads in a barren wasteland, but other than that it was entirely void of its usual load commotion and bustle, making everything deathly silent. It felt as if a blanket of calmness and silence had been spread over the city, covering it in a seemingly unbreakable state of complete serenity and stillness.
A lone figure walked along the empty streets, his hands in the pockets of his black hoodie and his gaze downwards at his feet, a pair of jade green glasses hid his inhuman eyes and his hood covered the rest of his face. He possessed a air of mystery and intellect that seemed to surround him, of someone who would not take kindly to those who get in his way and would dispatch those unlucky enough to do so. He took small gentle strides as he walked, being careful not to disturb the silence that enveloped the area. He enjoyed the rare lack of sound that was around him, since his hearing was stronger than that of a humans, the normal noisy and busy streets sometimes made him want to rip his ears off, so he tried to cherish these unique and welcoming periods of silence whenever he could.
He looked up from his feet and to the sky. The sun had long since set below the horizon, enveloping the area in a growing sheet of darkness. The street lamps around him refused to show their light, safe the few that would flicker to life for a split second before returning to their state of inactivity, making the streets darker than usual. For anyone else, this would pose a problem, but to him, seeing in the dead of night was easy thanks to his much stronger eyesight. Even from behind his thick shades, he can see everything perfectly, his nocturnal eyes allowed him to see every color and detail around him as clearly and sharply as if the sun was still out. Though there were upsides to being an undead wraith, there were also several downsides.
"Hey! You!"
Like that.
He turned his head and saw three people approach from a few feet behind him, they appeared to be a trio of thugs by the looks of them, but then again he could be wrong. They stopped about a foot or to from him and when he turned they glared at him with hate in their eyes, making what they wanted very apparent." Yeah I'm talking to you, freak! I have a score to settle with you!" yelled the middle one whom he guessed was the leader, a tall gruff looking man that was taller than him by a foot or so. The other two were only a little shorter than the leader, but just as rough looking and, if it was anyone else, intimidating. They all wore sleeveless shirts with ripped jeans and worn out boots, each of them looking like they had washed their faces with grease, not a surprising thing to see in this city, and it was even less surprising that they had a bone to pick with him.
" And what might that be?", the figure asked in a calm tone, looking at them with a neutral expression. The man scowled at him, showing a mouth with only half of its teeth inside.
" Don't you play dumb! You know what I'm here for! Do you think I would just forget what you took from me? If so, you have another thing coming!" He growled, emphasizing the last part with a punch to the wall next to him, leaving his fist bloody, although he didn't seem to notice.
He looked at them with the same blank expression, as if he saw them and the rest of the world as meaningless or disappointing, as if he held no emotion at all for anything or anyone. But if not for the glasses covering his eyes, one would see the pain and regret inside of them, because he DID know why they were here, and he knew all to well that he was referring to one of the SOMEONES he had....... gotten rid of.
None the less, he continued to hide it. " Hmph, so I guess your another one of these hopeless brutes, you guys never learn do you? Tackle with me, and you will only end up getting hurt, why haven't you grasped that concept by now? It is the same every time, you fight me, you lose, I walk away unscathed, rinse and repeat. You just keep popping up like rats, no matter how many times I beat you, you guys just keep on coming." he shook his head,"It is REALLY getting old"
All three snarled at him and gave him a glare that could have killed twenty men, but he still remained calm." So I will give you the choice I gave the others, and I will hope you are smart enough to make the right one. You have two options: fight me and try to get the revenge you so crave, which you will fail miserably, or you can turn around and walk away with all your bones intact, no strings attached. So what will it be?"
If they were anymore pissed off, he swore their heads would explode. The leader growled and threw a punch at him, but the man raised his hand up with lightning fast reflexes and caught the blow, his fist colliding into his palm with a soft thud. They all looked at him with surprise, shocked by his reaction speed, but their faces quick went from shocked back to pissed in only a second.
The man shrugged." Well, it was worth a try. Guess you guys like doing things the hard way huh?"
The man pulled back and attempted another strike, this one directed at his face. He moved to the side and avoided it, the attack going past his head. He then turned and delivered a strike of his own, punching the man in the stomach. The leader staggered back a few feet due to the force of the blow, but quickly regained his balance. He spat out a glob of blood and looked back at the figure with a glare with hatred that seemed to burn in his eyes, a hand on his stomach were he was struck.
It was at this point that his friends decided to join in on the fight, rushing at him with their fists raised. One tried to left hook him in the side, only to be stopped as he took a strong punch to the chest, knocking him to the ground. As that one attempted to get up, the figure turned toward the other attacker, only to have to move to the side to avoid a kick, making it miss him by an inch.
He retaliated by uppercutting him in the jaw, and as he was stunned grabbed him by the shirt and threw him into his friend that just begun to get up from the ground, only to be knocked back down as his ally was throw on to him, both of them on the ground and beaten.
As he turned he saw the leader rush at him, finally recovered from the attack from before, and attempted to strike at him once again. The figure waited until the man was just inches away before moving to the side of the punch as it was thrown at him, and reached out and grabbed his out stretched arm and yanked it downward, breaking the mans forearm.
He howled in pain as he felt his limb being pulled from its socket, he fell back but was caught as he was grabbed by the shirt and lifted into the air by his adversary, and was then thrown into the far wall as if he weighed nothing more than a rag doll. The man grunted as he felt his back hit the hard brick wall and slumped down to the ground, and cried out as he felt his combatant punch him in the chest with alarming force. His ribs made a load crack as the mans fist collided with his body, his whole body coursing with pain.
He looked up and saw the figure in front of him, the same emotionless expression on his face that he had held the entire time. He began to tremble as he was lifted back up and placed on the wall, his opponent looking him dead in the eyes with his own behind the green shades.
" I had warned you did I not? I told you this would happen if you fought me, but like all the others, you did not listen. You believed in "strength in numbers" and thought that just because there were three of you and one of me, that you were going to win no matter what."
He moved an inch closer to him," You made the greatest mistake anyone could make: you underestimated your opponent. You were so confident in the abilities of your little friends and yourself that you thought that you couldn't be beat by any ordinary person, which was the other mistake...." He lightly pushed him into the wall, making him groan in pain."I am NOT ordinary, I am not even human. How do you think I haven't been arrested for what I did by now? How do you think I was strong enough to break every one of your ribs with just one punch? I am different in more ways than one, and you didn't take that into account."
He was shaking like an earthquake at this point, he looked at the man with fear in his eyes, any and all hate gone from them and replaced with pure terror at the power of this man." W-w-who ar-e-e you.....?" He said, his voice as pained and trembling as much as he was.
The man raised an eyebrow."You attack me on the street saying you want revenge and you don't know who I am?" He shook his head and looked at him." Artemis Nocturne is my name, And I suggest that if you don't want to be wounded more, that you do not follow me. I am, after all, doing you all a favor."
He dropped the man to the ground and began to walk away from him before stopping a few feet away and turning his head to him."I am leaving this city and never coming back, so you all will be rid of me forever. So with that in mind, I will be on my way, I have a long trip ahead of me, goodbye."
He turned back and continued the way he was before, the man watched him until he was out of sight before finally falling into the darkness of unconsciousness.
