Chapter 6: First Mission

After waking up...

I felt different, once I looked into the mirror I saw how my eyes had lost the brown radiance they had become dark, it felt like anything near them would be pulled into a singularity once near the center.

"That... It couldn't have been a dream." I looked at my hands. There was a bottle of water on the grey dresser beside the mirror. I snatched it and concentrated. A cold unlike any I've felt before came from the center of the black mass that continued to grow, it ate the bottle and seemed to hunger my arm. Fearing that it would cover my whole body I frantically waved it away until my hands were visible again.

A smile came to my panicked face.

"I can fight."

I went to Samuel's office. It's classy demeanor matched the owner.

Samuel listened to my dream, at first he was adamant that it was just my mind. That was until he saw the darkness that I effortlessly summoned. Excitement came over him, he pressed a button on his desk. Cleondra's voice came over the line.

"Get the squad leader's together." He ordered.

While walking with Samuel towards the briefing area, I got back together with my friends who also followed.

"The moment you boys stepped in this place you came with intentions to help us stop this monster." Samuel began. "Thanks to Darren's intel and new power I can brief the other Squads."

"Other squads?" I questioned.

"As you know we have been against a grave threat." Samuel explained. "You guys aren't the only ones who can fight against such an enemy. We have people who dabble in other sorts of power and with them I have created squads who help with my research and try to stop the murders going about." He raised his bony finger and started listing them off. "Alpha, is the first, Beta the second, and so on will be Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta and Eta. You boys will be the eighth squad, Theta."

"Sounds cool." Japheth smiled excitedly. 

"Yea it does." Chris agreed. 

"You named them after the Greek Alphabet?" Joshua asked.

"Quite a wise young man." Samuel gave Joshua a nod of approval.

We all entered an auditorium, surrounding us were many faces of the squads. Samuel went to the center and cleared his throat.

"From now on this will be the eighth squad, Theta." He introduced us one by one. There were some eyes of excitement, some of exhaustion and others of curiosity.

"Hey what's with that guy over there?" Chris tilted his head to the right. We all turned to see the blank expression of a blind person. Their pupil less eyes reflected nothing at all, it felt like seeing into a mirror.

"No idea." Japheth glared. "But it feels like they aren't right in the head."

"Now my leaders introduce yourselves." Samuel called out.

Seven people jumped down from the second floor above our heads. Three men and four women. Only one I knew and that was Cleondra.

"I am the leader of Alpha squad." She smiled. "Cleondra Simmons"

Another woman walked forward, she was the shortest of the group. Her hair was short but still moved freely with her jitter like nature. She smiled brightly at Chris and then turned to the rest of us.

"Aria of Beta Squad." She chuckled.

The light to my right was suddenly taken away by a large shadow, when I looked up a large man had become my main view. His face was like a toddler's own.

"I'm Isaac." He said through a cheerful grin while pointing at himself. "And uh... I'm in Gamma Squad."

Another male came forward, he chewed loudly on a piece of gum that was probably there before this meeting. His sharp eyes scanned me and then went to Samuel.

"These the new guys?" He yawned. "So I can go back to sleep now right?"

"Don't be rude, Andrew!" The next female who looked like him sent a punch into his head. "I'm sorry for my brother." She brushed back her dark hair and sent a hand towards me for a handshake. "I'm Alex." She smiled. "He's with Delta and I'm Epsilon."

I took her hand.

"Darren." I smiled.

Two void eyes came closer to Joshua. It was the guy from earlier, but really it was a woman. She kept staring until Joshua asked what's the matter.

"Just remembering you guys by smell." She chuckled oddly and walked back. "Captain of the Zeta squad, Misery."

We all noticed the last one didn't want to say anything at all.

"Samantha." Samuel called out. "It's Impolite to be rude."

"You called us here to buddy buddy with future dead men?" The girl growled. 

When I looked closer she resembled Samuel to an utmost degree. She had short hair that was held by a butterfly brooch, her eyes were sharp and menacing especially against me. She soon stormed off.

"She's a real keeper." Aria laughed.

"I must apologize, Darren and friends." Samuel shook his head in disbelief. "That is my daughter, Samantha. She is a bit irritable by strangers, but that's just how she is. She also happens to be the captain of the Eta squad"

"Now let's get to the briefing." Cleondra brought out a remote and lowered a projector in the auditorium's ceiling. "Theta Squad. You will be tasked of watching over this area of New Port." On the map Cleondra's cursor was on the Eastern section of our small island. In the old Arawak area, there are young girls who have been going missing at night. We can only guess this to be apart of Donavan's plan."

"How did she...?"

"I've sent out a small note of your story." Samuel smiled. "Now everyone knows what and who we are up against."

"I thought we were just dealing with religious nut cases." Andrew rubbed his head. " But a God is another story."

"Interruptions aren't necessary." Cleondra glared. "The Chief of the Arawak tribe has contacted us to help them. This is a great thing because these indigenous people have never opened themselves up to the rest of the island folk, only the Chief has contact with the outside world. Theta you are to head there and deal with the monster in the village."

"Our first mission huh?" Japheth looked at us.

"Yeah." Joshua looked at his hands. "With these powers I know we can do it."

"Hey Darren. "Chris called, his eyes glowed for a minute. "Samuel said you got a new power can you show us?"

Everyone in the room's ears have perked up. They were staring at me too in wonder.

"Alright." I gulped. "But it's a little ominous." After putting my hand forward out of it pooled a fog of darkness. It rained to the floor with a silence that only a predator does before taking it's prey. All eyes were on the fog like thing coming from me.

"W...Woah..." Chris gasped.

"You all are eager it seems, however I think it'd be best to not fight yet." Cleondra stated. "You all are strong but still inexperienced." She sent the monitor back into the ceiling. "That's why I'll accompany you lot there."

The journey towards the Arawak people took a while, Samuel let us ride in a helicopter with Cleondra. We've been over countless trees within the nameless forest that I thought never existed, this was the piece of New Port I had yet to see. This island was really huge and I can see that perfectly, soon we were before a small village with primitive looking homes that resembled the straw from a certain Pig's house in a fairy tale, smoke rose upwards to the helicopter. I smelled the aroma of food and below songs in a language I can't understand stir into the nights air.

"We're here." Cleondra commanded for the driver to lower us to the ground.

Once down, the people's talk and song ceased. From a hut in the center of the village an old man walked towards us. His wrinkled light brown face held a seriousness that was making it hard to imagine him smiling in his youth.

"I welcome you Greek Institute." He placed his fist into his right chest and knocked three times. "I am Chief Ren Ol."

"We thank you, Elder" Cleondra mimicked the gesture.

We all looked at each other then did the same.

"It is as you heard from my report to you all. My village seemed to have been plagued by a beast without restraint. At first we thought of it to be a lion from the zoos nearby, then the incident happened about three months ago. The beast spoke..." The chief's eyes were rage filled. "It told us to send our daughter's to Christopher's Rock. We've sent our youths to deal with this and even now my son begs to go into battle but war parties keeps disappearing, so as the Chief of this small community..." he got on his knees and bowed. "Help us."

"That's why we're here." Cleondra stared into the tree line. "We will rid you of this menace, Chief Ren Ol." 

"Christopher's Rock?" I asked. "Where is that?"

Chief Ren Ol got up and dusted the dirt away from his baggy colorful clothing.

"Beyond these trees to the East is where the great genocide of our people took place." Chief Ren Ol began. "A man landed on our sands and had claimed himself virtuous, instead we were met with slaughter, laughter of our suffering and hellish years of oppression. Eventually, thanks to the help of a Nymph named Undine we prayed to, we were able to end that man's life beside a certain stone, hence that landmark was given such a name."

"A beast and an evil spirit." Chris sighed.

"I have lost my daughter to this monster." Ren Ol grimaced. "So this old man don't have much to live for, so I ask of you to please let me guide you there."

"Go ahead." Cleondra smiled.

Our walk through the forest was met by familiar sigils and other things that felt the same.

"You ready?" Japheth placed his hands on my shoulder.

"...I think s..."

"Shhhh." Ren Ol lifted his right arm ahead of us. "There it is."

Ahead of us prowled a monster in the pale moon light, it's lion mane was wild and dark brown. Each step it made was carrying a heavy burden of arrogance. The goat on it's back was forced to be there wailing and bleat a complaint every now and then. Finally churning in either agony or hunger was it's tail an emerald serpent twisted independently and free, giving a back support to it's other neighbors.

"What the hell?!" Japheth exclaimed quietly. 

"A Chimera." Joshua said solemnly.

The beast walked each step was making a crunching sound, as we stepped closer we came to realize that the beach was filled with corpses. Male, female, young or old it didn't matter bodies of sizes were everywhere.

"Well I'll be." A voice said from up ahead. "You the chief?"

From the top of the Chimera's back stood a man. "His dark eyes staring downward at us, his smile curled delightfully to a menacing degree. He sent his hand through his unkept shaggy blue hair. 

"Daphne warned me of you lot." He got up and stretched. "Didn't think old Smokey was so easy to kill like that."

"Why is he on that monster's back?" Joshua called out. 

"He might be controlling it." Cleondra removed a short white cylinder from her red holster. "I need you all to be on your guard." She pressed the button on the thing and from it came a velvet light. 

"You beast of a man!" Ren Ol's voice was strained by frustration. "Where have you taken my daughter?!" 

"You Arawaks look the same to me, but you can check the pile for her?" The man motion towards the bodies. "Well she should be in a nice sack of souls. Of course I had my fun before sending her off."

In that moment, I felt something. Ren Ol's eyes had become a deep red and he threw his cane to the side.

"Who are you so that I can remember cursing your name on your way to the great beyond." Ren Ol's voice had deepened.

"Danse." The Man smiled. "Christopher Danse."

"...Impossible..." Ren Ol's eyes widened. "I had my suspicions, but it's laughable to think of the dead returning to life."

"I was given a chance by a certain Goddess and her husband to make enough soul counts." Christopher came off of the Chimera's back. "I'm alive again because I was needed to do what I was good at..." He drew a small blade from his pocket and licked the metallic blade. "Murder.."

"Bastard!" Ren Ol dashed forward, his entire body enveloped in a red aura. "I'll send you back to hell!" 

Christopher dashed forward before we can blink and slashed downward. Ren Ol tried to dodge, but suffered a large gash in his left shoulder. He fell to the ground and gave a face that showed his strength in hiding the suffering.

"What a let down leader." Christopher chuckled. "At least your daughter had a pair of healthy lungs on her." He raised his knife for a finishing blow. "Screamed real nice too."

"Joshua raise him up." Chris shouted.

Joshua sent a storm like wind under Christopher raising him upwards, once in the air, Chris summoned fire that rode the winds and spread all about the mad man in the air.

"Nice combination." Cleondra smiled. "You four handle Christopher and I'll protect the Chief." She looked back at the Chimera. "And take care of this thing."

The beast growled in anger at her taunt as if it understood her.

Christopher's body fell from the sky, charred beyond recognition. Still when his blackened body moved without the slightest hint of pain blasting through it, we all could only stare in awe.

"My beautiful body." Christopher said in a saddened voice.

"How the hell are you still standing?" Chris said with wide eyes.

"I'm already dead, dumbass." Christopher smiled. "I don't feel pain no matter how much you attack this body I'll be here standing. Plus you wanna see something interesting?"

We watched as the scarred tissue healed over itself making that attack all for nothing.

"Damn it." Joshua growled.

"Hold on!" I shouted. "He may not feel pain and can heal, but how long can he keep it up for?" I informed everyone so that their morale wouldn't drop. "So keep striking until his body can't keep up no more."

"Good eye, Darren." Cleondra acknowledged my idea. "Just keep attacking until that corpse can't move."

"A good eye indeed, Darren." Christopher smiled. "Too bad I'll have to pluck them out."

He dashed, breaking through my friends who stood beside me and getting close enough. Even with Christopher in my full view and his knife slowly descending onto my face I was able to keep up, time had taken a slowing point when the mad man was before me.

I was able to swerve his knife from harming me and launching a bald fist into his face making his body spin about three times. My friends stared in awe at the procedure that had taken place beyond their sight, only Cleondra broke the silence with words of praise.

"Good shot!" She cheered. "And split them up, you and your friends can handle that ."

Chris and Japheth took the front area, keeping a close eye on our enemy. Joshua raised his hand aiming his palms at Christopher. A smile came to his lips once he saw Cleondra had led the beast away.

"You guys barely have hair on your balls and want to take me on." He chuckled.

A sinister air was coming from his lungs, it was cold and chilling. Showing his pleasure in inhumane activities. I narrowed my eyes in caution, making sure to watch all about us in case he decided to move and make an attempt of attacking us.

Christopher vanished suddenly.

"What the hell?" Japheth scanned the area. "Guys watch out he might..."

I caught a glint from Japheth's area, above him Christopher was coming downward with a twisted smile. 

Without hesitation Joshua aimed his hand at him. An invisible wind came and caused the trees about us to shake. Christopher covered his eyes in fear of being blinded.

No hesitation.

In came Chris he leapt into the wind hands ablaze. He sent a fiery punch into Christopher's stomach. His reaction showed his intense displeasure of being caught. 

Chris let him fall to the ground, Japheth came from the side and was going to finish the job with a huge rock fist. 

"I don't think so little lads."

Christopher's left hand went and grabbed Japheth's neck.

"You rascals are really troublesome." He brandished his hunting knife. "I think I had my fun."

He raise his knife above Japheth's head.

"Stop!" I shouted. My mind was filled with a hand stopping that knife, suddenly an arm covered in darkness extended and clamped down on Christopher.

"What is this?" I questioned the action I took without intention.

"Crush him..." Came a voice that was amiliar.

Everything before me grew dim, my vision had taken the nothingness that I used. 

"Where am I?" I called out.

"Your here where I reign." The voice stated in a matter of fact tone. "Your usage of the dark arts will bring me closer to the world you have as your home. Once you release me I'll..."

"Shut up." I strained. "Athena told me to resist your advances and to keep, pushing you away."

I felt control returning to me.

"As if I'll let you come back!" I growled through gritted teeth. Pressure built up in my head making standing a difficult task.

"Darren!" Chris called out to me.

Christopher had shrugged off my dark hold and proceed to attack the knife came down, but broke once it touched Japheth's skin.

"What the hell?" Christopher gasped.

"Surprised to see a man with rock skin." Japheth smirked. His sharp edged hands launched into the guy's stomach making whatever content he had as lunch be regurgitated instantly.

Without delay, Joshua ran forward and slapped Christopher with a burst of wind. His whole body flew into the air.

"Do it again Chris!" Joshua shouted.

Once more, Chris sent a ferocious wave of orange and red flames contorting into the night's air. Surrounding Christopher with a blazing fury.

The flames were condensing and eventually exploded, a heat shockwave shook the forest.

"That... That should handle him." Chris panted.

"God Damn!" A voice roared in the air.

We all looked up to see Christopher's insides revealed. This time he wasn't healing anymore, and I can see the pain on his face now still his poker face should be commended. 

"You boys are really fun." He said in a maniacal tone. "I've been sitting here for months collecting souls from those lovely people, the screams were nice the blood and violence but you know I really craved a fight like this."

Slowly he descended down to us in a deity manner.

"They gave me something else with this beautiful new life of mines." Christopher extended his hands. A familiar sigil came about the ground he stood on, slowly green mist ascended from it and surrounded him, loud bellows of a creature rang through the air. Through the smoke, I saw Christopher's body contorted with sickening sounds of mutilation of himself. From his head, something protruded. This painful transformation can only be done by a man without pain, yet only laughter came instead of agonized shout suffering. 

Quiet had came and with it a tension on everyone present. Christopher's silhouette lifted his hands and waved off the smoke, he had transformed gruesomely. From his head emerged horns that ended in sharp points, on each tip was a green flame. Even his once blue eyes had turned goat like and a deep viridian. 

"Well boys, can we continue?"