Back From The Dead

"Sam! No!" That was the last I saw of him. He pushed me out of the way and the Nexus claimed him instead. The Flame of Life was relit, but he was gone for good. The last image of him still lingers in my mind, framed in blinding light like an angel.  Just like that he was gone, not even ashes, just gone. No scrap of clothing or bits of armour. Not even a fragment of his sword made it. He was just gone, erased from existence in all but memory. Celebrations abounded that night. The Fire Thief was dead and the Fire of Life was alight. But I was sure as hell not feeling joyful. One of my best friends was dead, how could I be happy about that? I spent the night in mourning, I didn't even get any sleep. Just when I thought I found a guy that liked me for all the right reasons, my best friend no less, he sacrifices himself to relight the Fire. To hell with fate and karma, this is just unfair! I missed him so much, even my Ascension ceremony failed to pierce my mask of sorrow. Zeke and Rayne tried their best to comfort me, but even they couldnt and eventually just learned to keep their distance whenever the topic of Xaren came up. It was a sore spot for me for a long time, about five years actually.

Today was the fifth anniversary of the Relighting of the Fire. For obvious reasons, I was moping around the entire day as fanfares blasted through the streets and the denizens of Arcadia came out to join in the festivities. That's when I got a call from Zeke, for an emergency meeting. "What could these evil bastards be planning, today of all days?" I heard Rayne rant from down the hall, sounding rather put off. "Honestly, hunting crime lords around the Deadlands isn't my idea of celebrating the Relighting. I had a date planned tonight with a cute guy and everything!" "Oh for fuck's sake, calm down. You're not the only one sacrificing their day off, so quit whining." Zeke chastised her. When I walked in, the other two fell silent. Master Boro walked in and nodded, a signal for us to take a seat. "Firstly I would like to apologise for pulling the three of you off your holidays, you three deserve to enjoy it most. But our scouts have been reporting a lot of movement by Haagen Gorath's men, something is going to happen soon, possibly tonight. Tonight, we watch and wait for him to make his move. When he does, the three of you need to take him down. Capture him if possible, kill him otherwise.  His reign in the criminal underworld needs to be stopped. Be prepared, you three. This will not be an easy fight, he is a powerful Psy and hundreds of Shifters waiting in the shadows. Be on your guard. Good luck, Heroes." without another word or a response, he waltzed out. He always was very frank and to the point. "Great, another date up in smoke. I'll never get a boyfriend like this..." Rayne whined as they left to change out of their festive best and into their combat gear. I looked at myself in the mirror, wondering what ever happened to that sweet, innocent little girl. I was well-sculpted from the active lifestyle I led. Twenty one years of age, with long, straight dark brown hair and lightly tanned skin, i could catch the eye of most guys with my cute face and big, sweet eyes. I ran my hand down my new combat suit, silver with light shock plates for extra protection at my joints. My eyes wandered over to the small alcove in the side of the wall. There, behind a glass panel, lay my old suit. Burnt, ripped, dented and still bearing the scars of the Battle of the Relighting, it brought back some bad memories, but it also reminded her of her time before the Battle. She sighed and spun around to face her weapons rack. Her twin windmill shurikens retracted as she slipped them behind her back, followed by her daggers and handgun. With a heavy sigh, she finally headed to the deployment bay for insertion. Rayne and Zeke were already in the deployment bay, Rayne on her holopad and Zeke fiddling with his armguard straps. As I stepped in, they rose with a silent nod before taking their seats in the Vortex dropship. The only sound that permeated the small hovercraft was the low hum of the engines as they entered the central business district. Rayne was still tapping her holopad, but her brow furrowed at one point. "Rayne, what's up? You don't look that happy about whatever you're looking at." I inquired. "There's this bounty hunter that keeps popping up around the reports some of our scouts have been sending in. Hasnt been around long, but he sounds like a real pro. No info, no records, not even a damn picture of him without his helmet on. He has taken down crime lord after crime lord, bounty hunter after bounty hunter, all without being tracked, traced or anything." "Sounds like a freaking ghost," Zeke chimed in. "what's his name?" "we don't have even that. All we know is he calls himself Myth and he can't even be tracked through normal means because he doesn't use the usual bounty hunter circles. He gets his contracts privately, that usually means high profile kills and big amounts of credits." "whatever happened to 'Follow the money'?" I said without thinking. "it's not that simple, we need to know who is hiring him to be able to follow the money, right now we have nothing." "let's hope he doesn't show up tonight." Zale said. "with our luck, he isn't just gonna show up, he is gonna carve his initials into Haagen's skull before he makes his exit."she replied rather exasperated. "Good, then we'll get him instead." I stood at the back of the Vortex, staring out at the Arcadian skyline. We were in the middle of the Central Business District, any misfires could cost innocent lives, so we decided to go in close-quarters. I pulled my twin daggers off my back, Zeke opened his quarterstaff and Rayne unrolled her dagger-whip. I hated heights, so naturally I hated air insertions. Closing my eyes, I leapt forth and let weightlessness take me. On the inside, I was wracked with fear, but I didn't let it overtake my proper senses. I was the first to pull my chute, contented with drifting slowly and quietly to the waiting rooftop. I watched as the three figures fell from the sky.

They were Arbiters, I would have to try not to hurt them. A silver suit? It can't be... Oh just my luck. I can't skip out on this contract, but this could get complicated...