CH1: The Phantom
A black bird soared gracefully through the skies, illuminated by the full moon.
Below was the misty dimly lit slums of Pyremonte city... A cesspool of poverty and decadence.
A thin figure of a young man ran scared through the streets, heading towards the old warehouse deep into the slums. He pushed and shoved the drunks still walking the midnight streets out of his way.
The drunks cussed at him, but the young man was too terrified to notice.
He looked behind him and saw on the rooftops, a man with glowing red eyes staring down at him with malice.
The boy picked up the pace and arrived at the warehouse, which was filled with unsavoury-looking characters.
"He is here!" The boy shouted under his breath.
A large man grabbed the young man, "Who is here?"
The young man took a moment to catch his breath.
"It's Phantom. He is here!" The boy responded.
"What? Phantom?! He is in Pyremonte?" A look of fear flashed through the surrounding men's eyes.
Fear also flashed through the large, burly man's face but he pushed it down and rage took its place.
"And you bring him here?" He slapped the young man's face sending him flying into the corner, his condition unknown.
The burly man turned to the front door where a man now stood. He was dressed in a black long coat over a well-tailored double-breasted suit with golden accents. His black top hat casted a shadow over his face which was hidden behind a creepy smiling mask with crescent-shape slits for eyes.
These slits were just large enough to reveal the red-coloured pupils behind them, which were filled with rage and malice.
The burly man swallowed his saliva audibly. However, his nightmare was yet over.
Suddenly another figure jumped down from the rooftops and arrived beside the mysterious man.
It was a black direwolf standing at almost 5 feet tall and almost 8 feet long.
This oversized and terror-inducing wolf brought down its head before the mysterious man, and he patted it like a pet, sending shivers through the burly man.
"Go!" A cold voice sounded.
Immediately, like an arrow from a bow, the direwolf shot out towards the burly man.
Its 3-inch-long claws narrowed on the burly man's face when a green light flashed in the man's hand and a Green Shield appeared before him, blocking the strike.
The force of the attack did push the man a few metres back, into the other members of his gang.
"Phantom is already here. If you don't want to die, then you have to fight." The burly man said. "Attack! Kill him!"
Different coloured lights flashed as the thugs activated their Gifts. Warriors took out their weapons while mages launched their spells.
The direwolf's expression morphed into a humanlike expression of disdain.
It opened its mouth and responded to their attacks.
Fire Breath!
A blast of blue fire launched towards the group.
The burly man stepped up and used his Shield Artefact Gift to block the attack. However, the blast still reached some of his men.
Some were fortunate to just be sent flying by the blast, others were not so lucky and were caught in flames.
They were reduced to ashes immediately in the face of the direwolf's blue hellfire flames.
"I will hold back the mutt. The rest of you attack Phantom. If he is a beast tamer he has to be weak in combat." The burly man analysed
"Yes!" The gang members were enlightened. "Go! Kill him!"
A few helped the burly man to swarm the direwolf while another four others rushed at the mysterious man with different weapons drawn.
The mysterious man took a step back, which caused one of the thugs to mistake it for fear and rush at him faster.
'I will be the one to kill the Phantom.' He thought.
Boom!
The thug heard as the mysterious man disappeared from his sight.
The next thing the thug knew, his vision rolled and he saw a headless body that vaguely resembled his.
The mysterious man decapitated the overzealous thug in one swing of his short sword at incredible speeds.
Without skipping a beat, he continued his attack into a thrust. He plunged his sword into the second fastest thug, sending both of them sliding on the floor towards the other incoming two thugs.
The mysterious man jump-flipped into a spinning kick which sent the two thugs flying away. One crashed into a couple of wooden crates while the other smashed into a wall.
The man had only just regained his footing when he sensed an attack coming his way.
His red pupils flashed and his perception of time slowed down. He side-spun to dodge the ice bolt attack while sheathing his short sword into his waist. His eyes quickly found and locked onto the mage that just attacked him.
His hand immediately went for the weapon hidden under his jacket and pulled it out.
It was a Python Revolver!
He pointed the gun at the mage responsible and opened fire.
Bang!
The thugs saw the mysterious man point his strange weapon toward their best mage. A white light flashed with a loud sound.
In the next moment, the mage dropped to the ground with a hole in his head.
The thugs were stunned.
A costly mistake as the enraged direwolf who just witnessed its Master almost get hit by an attack stopped playing.
Flame Claws!
Bluish hellfire flames coated its long claws, ripping through the thugs' puny defences, tearing into their flesh, before they were burnt to ashes by the flames.
Even the burly man's Gift Shield was shattered, causing him to spit out a mouthful of blood.
The mysterious man no longer made a move as the direwolf made short work of the remaining thugs, except the burly man.
It returned to its master, wagging its tail.
"You let one get away." The mysterious man admonished, but he still patted the wolf's head.
The wolf was surprised. It didn't expect one of its prey to have escaped.
It was about to hunt down the escaped thug when it heard its master say,
"Don't bother. He won't get away."
The mysterious man turned to look out the window. His red eyes glowed as if to pierce through space.
It turned out the young man who was slapped away by the burly man had at some time gotten out of the warehouse. He actually used his mates as bait in order to escape the Phantom.
He ran as quickly as his legs could carry him and arrived more than three blocks away from the warehouse, where he had to stop to catch his breath.
'I did it! I did it! I am the first person to escape the Phantom. I will live!' He celebrated inwardly.
However, this celebration was short-lived.
Caw!
The black bird gliding in the sky arrived above the young man, then dived down.
Boom!
The Bird's talon slashed through the young man's skull before he could take another step.
It was only after the bird landed that its identity was revealed.
A black Harpy Eagle!
Standing at 4 feet tall with a wingspan of 7.5 feet, spotting 5-inch-long talons, this was an apex bird of prey.
The eagle intelligently searched the young man for his possessions, which it picked up before flying back to the warehouse.
Caw!
The eagle called off before gliding towards and landing on the mysterious man's outstretched hand. It dropped off what it picked up from the escaped thug to its master. The man patted its head to praise it.
The eagle looked at the wolf disdainfully before flying back out to keep watch.
"Who are you?!" The burly man roared.
His legs had been slashed by the wolf so that he couldn't escape.
The mysterious man ignored him and instead stood silently as if he was waiting for something.
Suddenly, a moment later, his shadow wobbled as a serpent rose out.
The snake was unlike any the burly man had ever seen.
'Another one? How can he control so many beasts and still be able to fight this well. Who said beast tamers are weak?!' the burly man felt his worldview shatter.
Hiss!
The snake seemed to have said something to the mysterious man as his red eyes finally registered on the burly man for the first time.
"What did you do with the children you kidnapped?" His deep, cold voice sounded in the burly man's ears.
"I will tell you nothing!"
"Your name is Gunnar Brower. You have a seven years old son, the same age as the children you kidnapped from the slums. You are not the only one doing it. I may as well kill you and set your son out as bait for your compatriots. I am sure that will lead me to the other missing children."
"No! Please don't!"
"Then tell me." The mysterious man's eyes glowed a bewitching light.
The burly man's eyes became hazy. He told the man everything he knew.
"Thank you." The mysterious man stood up to leave.
"You are not going to kill me?" The burly man asked.
Without turning back, the mysterious man answered, "I won't..."
Joy surfaced on the burly man's face. He began planning the next steps to get back at the mysterious man after he is healed.
One thing he doesn't accept was to have his son threatened.
Hiss!
He had only just finalised his plans when he heard a snake's hiss sound beside him.
Before he knew it, he was bitten by the snake.
Almost immediately, he collapsed on the floor. His body wouldn't move and breathing became difficult.
"You said... you wouldn't..." He muttered with difficulty as he watched the mysterious man walk out of the warehouse.
Outside the warehouse, the man muttered coldly into the wind as if responding to the burly man's words, "I said I wouldn't kill you. I never said I would let you live."
The burly man's lungs collapsed, but not before his throat constricted and blocked his airway. He died of suffocation.
The snake descended into the dead man's shadow, only to reappear from the mysterious man's shadow and stiffen into a snake-headed cane.
"I am done." The man said as he pressed a palm against his ear.
Suddenly, a vortex opened before him and the man walked into it along with his beasts.
A black-haired young lady dressed in a butler's suit was waiting on the other side of the vortex. She received the top hat and long coat from the man.
He removed his white Fool's mask to reveal a handsome face as his hair colour changed. It went from black to blonde. His eye colour also changed from red to red-gold, before finally turning to blue after the man put on a pair of glasses.
The infamous Phantom now looked like a harmless scholar.
His Beast Companions also changed their forms.
The terror-inducing black hellfire direwolf shook his fur and it turned white. Its height reduced to half its size while its snot and fangs and receded significantly. In mere moments, the black direwolf became a snow-white ice wolf.
The black cobra-like serpent tucked in its hood until it merged into its skin. Its skin glowed until it turned green. The black cobra-like serpent became an emerald garden snake.
The Harpy Eagle's transformation was even more dramatic. It directly morphed into a golden lion with a large mane highlighting its regality and splendour.
Anyone would be hard-pressed to connect these three beasts to their previous forms.
Then, as if these weren't enough, the three beasts shrunk into their cub forms, making them look cute and unthreatening.
"Welcome back, Master Leo."
"It's good to be home, Zora."
The master and butler/maid left the secret room and moved to an adjacent room that looked like a Storage room.
The man looked at the empty crates and asked, "Elaine picked up the orders already?"
"Yes, Miss Hartman came around earlier in the day. She hoped to meet with you, but I had to turn her away since you were 'busy forging'." The maid, Zora, reported.
"Miss Armstrong also dropped off the materials you requested from the Artisan Association."
"Navia came personally?" The man looked surprised. "The two of you didn't get into a spat, did you?"
Zora turned her face away without responding.
The man smiled, amused.
He pulled her close by her waist, then placed his forehead against hers.
"I gave you a way out. This was something you yourself asked for. You can't run away now." He said.
Zora blushed. She gently pushed him back and left the room.
"Please be out by tomorrow. You have a meeting with the guild master." She said as she walked out the door.
The man's smile widened for a moment. However, his expression became cold in the next.
He reminded himself he couldn't become complacent. One wrong move, and he could lose everything.
He could never allow himself to forget. While he might be a well-regarded craftsman in society and a mysterious terror to the people of the evil and criminal underworld, it wasn't always like this.
If it wasn't for the fateful encounter that day all those years ago, he would have remained a weakling scraping for food at the bottom barrels of society.
He shook the thought from his mind.
"Open Sanctuary." He called out.
A Golden arc door with intricate, mystic designs silently appeared before him.
The man placed his hands on this door as his image reflected back into his eyes.
He couldn't help recalling the past which led him to where he was now.
*
Many years ago...
(To be continued...)