The sun goes down, the moon rises and so do I. I wake only to find myself in the same nightmare I was in before. The nightmare of my "new life". Last night I went on a vengeance spree. I never thought I was going to kill people. I guess it is part of the job. What's even stranger is that I seemed to enjoy it. Was I right when I thought that those who wander around in darkness to long find themselves becoming it?

'You already have become it. It is a part of you, remember? It's what you live on.'

'Get outta my head! Get out of my fucking head! I don't want this anymore! I want my old life back! GIVE IT BACK TO ME NOW!'

'NO! You can't have it. You can never go back to your old life. You have no choice. You can't really kill yourself. You know why? Because we'll just bring you back. There is no way for you to actually stay dead. Yes you can die, but you can and will be brought back. In a way it is kind of a hell for you. But you truthfully didn't do anything to deserve this, you were just chosen to be this way.'

'Who are you anyway?'

'I've told you before that it is not important to know who I am. Just to know that I am your boss and you will do as I say. Is that understood?'

'Yes'

'Good, now here is your next assignment.'

Another image comes into my mind again. She is sixteen going on seventeen; her life has been pure hell. She has brown hair, she's five foot five inches, extremely skinny. In fact she has an eating disorder. She is in her house, alone, cutting herself with a razor. Her name is Gail. Gail Waisly. She's suffered so much child abuse from her mother and father. In fact her father has molested her a few times. The poor thing. She's never allowed out of the house. She's locked down in her own private cell. She's never seen the outside before. Her father keeps her in the basement. Everyday he pays a little visit to his daughter. Everyday he adds on to her pain. I'm surprised she's still alive. It will all be okay when I get there though. Her angel is on the way to save her.

I knock on the door. The big ex-marine answers the door. He is drunk off his ass. Figures.

"May I help you?" he asks.

"Ah yes, is Gail home?" I ask.

"I'm sorry I'm afraid you have the wrong house," he replies.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I do have the right house. This is the Waisly's house, is it not?"

"Yes but there is no Gail that lives here."

"There is according to a birth certificate."

"What agency you from anyway?"

"I'm from the Ultimate Court of Judgement. The one that decides what to do with people like you. I'm your judge Phillip. Would you like to here the verdict?" I say pushing him aside and walking into the house.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I walk over to the basement door and smile devilishly.

" GUILTY!" I bust down the locked door. "Guilty of child abuse and molestation, if your sickened mind can even understand that. What you've done for the past ten years is wrong. Do you understand that?"

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!" I walk down the basement steps and I see her. The ground is stained with blood and urine. She is literally nothing but skin and bones.

"THIS!" I say pointing to her. "This is what I am talking about! A poor, young child, tormented and raped, by whom? YOU! Her ever so caring father."

"I can explain…"

"Are the bones of your sins sharp enough to cut through your own excuses?"

"You don't make any sense!"

"I don't, do I?! Look Phillip, over there in the corner, there is a little girl playing the violin, and the strings are the veins in her arm. Do you hear her song of pain? You should hear it, after all you were the one who inspired it."

"Shut up! Shut up and get the fuck out!"

"I'm afraid that your request cannot be given. Sorry." I don't sound like myself anymore. I sound…so dark. I guess it's true…those that stay in darkness for too long often find themselves becoming it.

"You're getting out now!" With that he elbows me in the throat and trips me from behind my legs. So he wants to play does he? Fine then, we'll play.

"It's time for your lesson." I bring my elbow into the back of his neck. Then I come into his stomach with my knee. As a finishing blow I jump up and land the heels of my boots into his back as he is leaning over. Damn, ex-marines aren't really shit when drunk off their ass.

"Gail, are you all right dear?"

"I'm okay, thank you. Who are you?"

"I'm an angel. Come child we must get you out of here." I lead her to the steps and then I remember Philip. "You wait outside your house Gail. I've got some business to attend to." She heads up the stairs. I turn around and he's still lying on the floor. "Oh Philip, you still have a lesson to learn."

"NO! Please, I beg you! Don't hurt me anymore! Don't you understand I was raised this way!"

"I will be deaf to pleading and excuses, nor tears nor prayers shall purchase out abuses…" I got directly in front of his face with mine. So close I could smell the Jack Daniels on his breath. "…Therefore use none. I do not believe you when you say that you were brought up to abuse your daughter."

" I was brought up to abuse woman, I hit and rape my wife too."

"I still don't believe you. Even if what you're telling me is the truth, too bad. You still have a lesson to be taught then. You need to be shown that what you've done is bad."

"No! Please! I've learned my lesson, I swear!":

"SILENCE! You have not learned anything yet, but you will." I leave him with his arms cut off at the elbows. He won't be able to hit any one for awhile that way.

'So what's next boss?'

'I'm now deciding what I want to do with you, I'm thinking about changing your current job status. You're free to do what you want right now but when I find a job for you, you will attend to it.'

'Of course.' For some reason I decide to go to Perkin's, a local restaurant. Something about that place that I can't remember now. In my old life I went to that place just about every Saturday night.

I walk in the door and I see her. Brooke! That's why I went here. When she sees me, she just stares at me for I can tell she can't believe what she sees.

"Hi Brooke."

"Jason?"

"Well actually it's Drakan now, but I used to be Jason. That is in my old life."

"Where have you been?"

"Well it's a long story. Are you going on break soon?"

"Yeah."

"Well sit down and I'll tell you all about it."

"Hang on I'll be with you in a second."

'Drakan'

'What now?'

'We've been thinking and it's time that you moved on.'

'What?'

'Well there are too many people in the world with problems and there is not enough time for you to help everybody out with them. So we've decided to give you a new job.'

'What would that be?'

'Well we haven't quite figured out what to do yet. We've decided to give you missions. Missions that will help keep the world in order. This will prevent an outbreak of problems for everybody. Your government holds many of these problems. They think that if they can keep it under wraps that it will cause peace in the world. The thing is that they have so many things that aren't being held properly. In fact they have things that can't even be held and might break out at any time. Diseases, weapons, deadly lifeforms, cursed artifacts. They have no idea what kind of chaos would be created if these things were to break through their containment and released through out the world. There are many groups of people that know about what the government has and they are contemplating ways to release what the government has. Your mission is to make sure that what the government has gets destroyed before these groups come through with their plans. I will be giving you the information you need to get in and out of where they are keeping their projects, and how to eliminate them. So get plenty of rest tomorrow and get your ass to Wright Patterson Air Force Base. From there I will tell you what to do. You'll also be having someone join you tomorrow. In fact I believe you know her. Farewell.'

Goddamn if that wasn't the biggest speech I've ever been given. Well here comes Brooke.

"Okay so tell me everything."

"Well from what I know I was originally sent to help people with their problems and to hurt people that did wrong. Now I've got a whole new assignment. I'm being sent to discover the government's secret projects and destroy them."

'She is one joining you tomorrow. She still has the darkness inside of her. Help her bring it out.'

"Do you remember anything of what happened at Gehenna?"

"I remember something but it's kind of a blur. I remember being in a prison cell and two guards had me tied down. But you stopped them from doing anything to me."

"Do you remember anything about the powers you had before?"

"Powers?"

"I guess not. Okay I want you to concentrate on that fork in front of you. Now close your eyes. Picture that fork. Now concentrate on lifting the fork but imagine lifting it with your mind." With that the fork in front of her began to float. Excellent.

"Open your eyes but keep concentrating on the fork." She opens her eyes and she sees what she is doing. She is shocked with disbelief I can tell.

"Unbelievable isn't it? Get ready you're about to find out a lot more about what powers you have." I concentrate on the land of darkness, the Land of Nod, and immediately a blue light surrounds us and then everything is dark except for the dim light.

"Are you ready to learn about the power you possess?"

"I guess so."

For hours I teach her the powers that I know. I teach her as Lillith once taught me. I taught her: how to move like lightning, borrow the strength of the earth, to be as stone, to hide herself from hunters, to command obedience, and to demand respect, how to alter forms, have dominion over animals, see past sight, hear past sound, smell past smell, feel how others feel, heal as though she was never damaged, and to be as agile as a spider. After I taught her the powers of the darkness I then begin to teach her how to fight as Lillith taught me. Her instincts come back and she becomes the same warrior that I fought with in Gehenna. She is now Iris again.

'Hello Drakan.'

'Lillith!'

'You've done an excellent job at teaching her. Now I must take over from here. While I'm busy doing my part I want you to meet someone. He will keep you busy and sharpen your skills. His name is Vlad. He is an ancient warrior. He knows everything you've been taught. So Drakan, Vlad, may the better of two win.' Fuck. The thing with Vlad is he is twice my size and he has all the powers that I have. So I think it's obvious that I'm going to get my ass severely whooped.

"Ya ready?" I ask him

"You bet." He pulls out a vicious katana as I unsheathe my broadsword. Let's rock.

We bolt towards he each other at tremendous speeds. And the sound of our blades smashing against each other is almost deafening. We rage on each other with our swords, the clings and clangs each coming down with amazing force. I somehow manage to disarm him by getting in close and knocking his sword out of his hand. But he trips me and grabs my sword out my hand.

"Gotcha." He says.

"Not quite." I reply. I then trip him, flip up, and grab my sword back. I aim the point at his chest.

"Never steal my sword." Using his telepathy he brings his sword back into his hands and the battle continues. After about an hour of slashing at each other he finally comes in and trips me again. He puts his foot on my stomach and aims the point at my neck.

"I win." I then bring the fire out to my hands.

"W-w-well," I stutter "I guess I'm fucked."

"That you are."

"Well actually," I bring my hands together ready to fire. I hope he can heal. "Maybe I should guess again." I fire a blast into his chest knocking him flat on his ass. I pounce back up on my feet and put my foot on his stomach, aiming the point of my sword back at his throat.

"Bet you didn't see that one coming." Damn that wore me out. I step off of him and take a minute to breathe. I light up a victory cigarette to celebrate my win. Half way through the cigarette the force of a fist comes down on the back of my head and sends me to the ground.

"Who said this battle was over?"

"Fuckin great. Do you ever stop?"

"Only when I'm killed."

"That can be arranged." With that the fight once again rages on. Sword hitting sword, clash after endless clash. Somewhere in the middle of the battle comes this staff which knocks us both to the ground. I look up and standing in front of me is Brooke, with her staff in hand.

"Hello boys."

"Gentlemen, let me introduce to Iris. How about everybody versus each other in a free for all battle, just to freshen up everybody's skills."

"Sounds like fun." I reply. Iris sweeps her staff under my leg sending me to the ground. She then goes after Vlad but he dodges her swing. They go after each other while I figure out a way to step in and take them both out. There is no way I can do this with out getting hit by someone and I think it would hurt less if I got hit by Iris's staff than Vlad's katana. I run in sideways and nail Vlad in the head with the butt of my sword. Iris hits me in the side with her staff but I turn around with a swipe at her legs, which she easily avoids with a simple jump. Damn! I thought I had her with that. Iris and I go at it for awhile until Vlad comes in with a body check that sends Iris to the ground. Vlad and I continue the same routine of cuts and slashes that we were doing to each other before. This is really starting to tire me out. Vlad and I keep raging on each other until Iris's foot flies into my face knocking me down. Vlad and Iris then continue their fight. This is starting to get very redundant. It's time to end this. I sit off from a distance and gather energy for my fireball that will knock them out. I look down at my hands and they are glowing a strong bright blue. I shoot it towards them and when it hits they are out for the count. I know it's cheating but it was probably the only way this fight was going to end.

'Very good Drakan, I've trained you well.'

'That you have Lillith and I am thankful for that.'

"All right your first mission will be to infiltrate Wright Patterson. Go there tomorrow night and your mission guide will lead you from there. Any questions?"

A moment of silence fills the air.

"Okay. Farewell and good luck to you both." With that I open my eyes to the cathedral. Iris is there with me.

"Well," I sigh "there's a bed down the hallway. You can sleep there."

"Okay, that's fine. See you in the evening."

"Sleep well."

I retire to my own bed upstairs and rest for tomorrow night.

I wake up the next night and begin to strap my self up with my assorted arsenal of deadly weapons. When breaking into a government base you're going to need a shitload of weapons just in case you run into a little bit of trouble. Iris loads up too.

We arrive at the base an hour after sunset. When arrive we wait for orders.

'There is an air vent at the left side of the base. Enter from there and take the vent straight down to the bottom. That will be the very bottom of the base. From there you have to take the vent in front of you. Go down that vent until you reach the end. It forks there. Turn left and follow down that vent until you reach the end. At the end there should be an opening below you. That is your easiest way for you to get inside of the base. I will give you more directions when you arrive there.

We do as he says. It is very hard to push your body against the vent when going down it. Then again why am I doing it this way? I'm pretty much immortal, right? Then fuck this!

I release the pressure I'm using to keep me up and drop the other seventeen stories. I land gently down to the bottom. Didn't feel a fucking thing. I then move into the vent in front of me very quickly because I hear the increasing speed of Iris doing the same thing I did.

We take the path that he told us to take and we end up at a gate below us, which leads to some kind of lab.

'Listen closely, some of the most deadly diseases are in the lab below you right now. You must destroy each one. There is really only one way to that too. You must inject yourselves with the diseases. Your immune systems are very strong and can destroy diseases like these with no problem. We each take syringe after syringe of some strange disease. They weaken us for a few seconds but do no damage whatsoever.

'Now that we've gotten that out of the way you must walk out the door and down the hallway. Get on the elevator and take it to the thirteenth floor. On the way up I want you to build up energy, Drakan. Begin to ready a fireball when the elevator doors shut. Build up strength behind your fire. When you stop on the thirteenth floor shoot it through the floor of the elevator. If do this right this should be enough to destroy the all the floors beneath you. You do not have enough time to go through all of those floors and destroy all projects one by one. After that's done work your way back to the surface. Kill anything that comes in your path. But be careful I have a feeling what will come in your path won't be all the pleasant. Once you reach the surface I will give you instructions from there. Good luck.'

We take the elevator up and I can feel the heat of my energy begin to burn immensely. We reach the thirteenth floor and I fire it off. It darts down the shaft at an amazing speed. I see it hit the bottom and a blue flame shoots up the shaft. As soon as I see it coming faster towards us I grab Iris and we dive out of the elevator just barely dodging the fire. I never knew had I had the energy to that. We follow signs that tell us how to get to the ground level floor but somewhere on the ninth floor is where we meet our match. Three cyborgs stood at the stairwell door. I've never seen a cyborg before; in fact I never believed that they existed, until now. I could tell right now that this fight was going to be a complicated one.

The first cyborg came at me with tremendous force and speed. The impact from his clenched fist immediately sent me to the wall. It looks like I'm tougher than I thought. A hit like that should have destroyed me. Yet I'm not even scratched. I bounce back at him but he knocks me back to the wall. He then follows through with an array of punches aimed straight at my head. I dodge all of these and then counterattack with an elbow into his stomach and an uppercut into his metallic jaw. He opens up the claw that replaces the right hand that he probably once had and grabs my leg. No matter how hard I hit him he won't let go. Iris can't help me for at the moment she is battling one of the other cyborgs. She seems to be holding up damn well too.

I unsheathe my sword except it isn't the sword I had before. In fact it looks like the one that Vlad was using when I was fighting him.

I bring the blade down on his claw. This seriously pisses him off for the next thing I see is a minigun popping out of his right arm. Big fucking deal. I stand there and let him fire off all of the rounds until he's empty. He sees me still standing after all that lead was shot at me and a look of disbelief crosses his wired face. I smile at him devilishly and laugh.

"Nice try," I laugh "But you'll have to find heavier artillery to go up against something like me." With that I whirl my katana around through his neck. The fountain of blood and blue chemical spilling out from the stump in his torso drench the ground. I strive to go help Iris but it turns out that her cyborg now has her staff through his chest. What frightens me is the one still standing there, not even making a move. It's almost like he isn't going to fight. But I know that he will strike, I just don't know when.

Well fuck this. If he isn't going to strike any time soon then I'm not going to wait around for him to. With that I jump up into the air and kick him in the head. This doesn't do a damn thing to him. In fact he stands there as though nothing happened. What the fuck? I go after him again with my katana. Slashing up and down left and right at speed that can't be seen. I pull away and he is still standing there. Not a fucking scratch is on his body! That should have sliced him to pieces. He moves his head in my direction. His scope of an eye focuses on me. He raises his left arm, which looks like some kind of cannon. It begins to make a whirring sound and light starts to gather around the opening. It then fires and sends me through a few walls. I think I'm going to stay here and rest awhile. That took away all the strength. I watch through the holes in all the walls as Iris tries to go up against him. Everything she does has no effect on him. He repeats the process to fire his cannon again. I build up my strength quickly. I ready a fireball, like the kind I used to destroy all those floors. Right before he fires I fire. The force from my blast shakes the ground that I'm laying on. It hits him with a tremendous impact that sends him to the ground. I run up to him. He's unconscious. He's still alive though. How do I take him out?

'Focus your mind energy out of your wrist. Form it into a blade. Once you've figured this out slash his head.' I do as instructed. I feel my energy coming out of my wrist. I can even see it as a dim blue light. I slash him in the back of his head and his whole body begins to shake and sparks begin to fly. It then ends and his body lays there, lifeless. Fucking A.

"Well that was fun," I say to Iris.

"Not really."

I feel something sting the back of my neck and I begin to grow tired. I pass out on the floor.

I wake up in the back of some semi truck. I have no idea where they are taking me but I have a feeling it's not going to be that great of a place.