Rebirth of Flames - Prologue

Prologue

Flames razed the surface of the once beautiful world Solicias.

Formerly a vibrant and green planet filled with life untouched by human influence, it was now nothing more than a giant fireball as pillars of fire towering at least a hundred meters into the sky consumed everything standing in their way. The heavens were painted an eerie combination of orange and blood red, reflecting the spilled blood and deaths of the millions of life forms that were once native to the world.

It had only taken one moment.

A single moment for the Keeper of Flames, the host of the Avatar of Fire, to lose control of the fire elemental powers that had been forced onto her and plunge the world into a raging inferno.

The man with a left eye of burning gold, and a right eye of blazing red, crimson sparks dancing from it had felt the exact moment she had lost her hold over one of the most destructive elements to have ever existed and acted immediately despite risking discovery by Division Omega.

The lone figure who was clad in a midnight black jacket, edges in jagged tatters, stalked through the flames completely unaffected by the blistering heat. The air around him trembled from the overpowering presence his very existence exceeded and every step he took extinguished the flames that blocked the path to his destination.

The fact that even the Avatar of Fire's flames, the most powerful of the Elemental Avatars, bowed down to him was a testament to his strength.

Despite the plainness of his clothes, with his white shirt being the only thing that added a splash of colour to his nearly black ensemble, the Darkbreaker always drew the attention of everyone in the area when he wasn't bothering with eclipsing his enormous presence. Everyone who lay eyes on him knew on an instinctive level that he was someone you did not piss off.

A fact that many learned the hard way.

He was a strange individual, to be sure...but to any multiversal wanderer, the rumors made him unmistakable.

A monochrome shadow, the stranger whose age remained a mystery, sightings of whom abounded throughout the eons on multiple worlds, the ghost between light and the dark, crushing evil and injustice without remorse or pity.

Only ever mentioned in passing, he was only there if you knew where to look, hidden in the background behind the heroes and legends of the worlds he'd been to.

Never in the spotlight, but always, always a power to be reckoned with.

Tens of thousands of lifetimes in his wake, those cold eyes hidden behind a pair of black shades had seen civilizations rise, and worlds fall, often with his hand involved in one or the other, always pursuing justice, and his own unknown goal with a single-minded ruthlessness that often struck his allies as bordering on the cruel.

He was the greatest of allies...and the most terrible of enemies.

He was both salvation and destruction.

He was justice.

He was the nightmare.

He was the man they called Alexander.

Alexander J. Darkbreaker.

And he was on a mission.

Creator have mercy on anyone who got in his way.

The Darkbreaker lifted his head slightly when he saw a ring of fire that seemed different from the other columns of flames that surrounded him. His steps began to slow as he got closer to his destination, where the destructive flames that razed the planet had originated from.

Stepping past the ring he saw her.

The source of the inferno.

The Keeper of Flames.

The Avatar of Fire.

...

...

Division Omega Irregular Kristina Knight.

What he came across right in the middle of the circle of flames was a gruesome sight. Even for one as bitter and cold as him, the sight of Kristina's state still sent a flicker of murderous rage across his features.

With her long black hair fanned out underneath her, her fingers intertwined together and laying lightly over her stomach, the girl in question almost looked as if she was sleeping.

That is if you were to ignore the fact that her left leg had been torn off with blood pooling around the stub of what was left. The blood that dripped out from underneath her right eye lid and streamed down her cheek also indicated serious damage to her eye. And if one looked closer they could see that her expression was anything but peaceful, contorted in pain from the brutal injuries she had sustained.

Most people would have died from the injuries, but those who hosted an Elemental Avatar were particularly resilient. Which was something they had to be, taking into consideration that they were the ones responsible for keeping elemental powers of mass destruction under control.

As if sensing his presence, she forced her good eye open and turned her head in his direction.

"I thought I sensed someone here..." She murmured. "But I figured it was just me imagining things. Should have known it was you, though."

The Darkbreaker didn't say anything. What was he supposed to say to a dying girl? Thousands had died by his hand, but even he struggle with confrontations like this or similar to it.

"So... come to kill me like you always said you would if I ever dared to lose control of my powers?"

"...Yes." He finally said after a long moment of bitter silence. "I have."

She smiled at him. "Of course. I wouldn't have it any other way." The single hazel eye flecked with green that stared at him was not filled with the fear he was used to seeing in his victims, but relief.

Relief that he was going to end her misery and pain.

Relief that she was going to be released from the heavy burden forced on to her.

Relief that she would be able to see her family again.

The monochrome figure who went by many names knelt down and gathered the girl in one of his arms as a sword began to form in the hand that wasn't holding her.

He should have felt guilty for what he was about to do.

He should also felt other emotions such as remorse.

Anger.

Disgust.

But the Darkbreaker had become far too broken for that.

He tilted the blade towards her.

"I'm sorry it had to come this."

The Darkbreaker's grip on her tightened slightly and he plunged the sword right into the Avatar of Fire's heart not only killing her, but also extinguishing the flames that had run rampant and unchecked on Solicias for days.