((Here is the first in what I hope to be a series of stories detailing my characters. One for each character, following a similar series of paragraphs of how they fight, how they act, so on. The first is one of my current favourites: Nachtbrecher.))
"Nietzsche said 'Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.'"
The hellfire cloaked demon was flung through the air as a fist slammed into its chest. Wrapped in dark and bloody tendrils of shadow, the man dressed in black leapt forth after it. His head was surrounded by a mask of mythic steel, its features almost human but given robotic, emotionless form. Save for the glowing red eyes that burned bright with determination.
As its cohorts bounded after him on all fours, their attacker permitted a slight grin to cross his face. Leaping onto the fallen beast's chest, nether energy began to swarm around his fists. The lesser demons, driven by fury and vengeance and by little wits, all lunged at the same time into his circle of influence. The roar from the void as dark power tore them asunder was immense.
"He was right, but I am no monster. I have not crossed the threshold, stepped over the line. I have circumnavigated it."
The unteroffizier's neck snapped quietly, his body already being dragged into the shadows of the caves the Fifth Column liked to house their bases in. His hand around the man's neck, the mystic soldier drained the fleeing life energy from the corpse before simply placing it down and covering with tarp.
Sinking into the shadows, Nachtbrecher drifted through the base looking for his target. He stopped only occasionally, to drag a Columnist into the nightmares in the shadows.
"Nietzsche also said that 'when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.'"
Ash cowered in fear as his captor approached. He'd heard rumours of the sting operations, but didn't believe them. Vampires, dream-eaters, soul-stealers all used the Internet nowadays to lure stupid victims in. He thought they were just trying to scare people off their marks.
But the girl, a pretty young teenager whose walls were clad in Twilight posters and laden with Anne Rice books, turned out to be something else. A shape-shifter that the fierce man in the steel mask called 'Hochstapler'. Flinching, Ash cried out in terror as the shadows under him erupted into a storm of writhing, blood-rune adorned tentacles. They wrapped around his neck, arms and legs. Tiny tendrils even worked into his eyes to hold them open as the man removed his helmet.
Underneath, he looked old. His hair long and white. His beard the same colour, carefully trimmed. His skin pale, and his eyes soft. As he gazed into the man's dark pupils, he felt a shudder running through his body. His teeth pressing forth from the tops of his gums, his 'suckers' on his hand clenching and opening, hungry for life. The man smiled at him.
"You may have killed others. You may have not. You had the chance for help, and you declined. Let instinct and base desires take over. For this, I can only grant you one thing." His voice was soft as his eyes, with just the hint of a German accent.
Whatever Ash blurted out, he couldn't remember or comprehend it.
Placing his hands on Ash's chest, he bowed his head politely. "Absolution." He spoke, and with the word his fists clenched. Shadowy arms started to strike into Ash's body, the damage physical and spiritual as the tendrils started their work of casting him back to the void.
"When I gaze into the abyss? The abyss blinks."
Standing with the other members of his unit, he looked over the ruins of the Schwardwald Geistliniekannone. The complex still existed, its components rusting away, greatly beyond repair after his defeat during World War Two. Carefully he placed down the selection of flowers, commemorating the men he had killed, the men who had died for him, and the Allies of Earth. Heroes from 8 countries, come together to stop his plan. Their actions instigated his path to redemption, and his work with the US Government fighting monsters and threats to world peace.
"Danke."
With that word, they were whisked back to their Paragon City office.
((Here is the first in what I hope to be a series of stories detailing my characters. One for each character, following a similar series of paragraphs of how they fight, how they act, so on. The first is one of my current favourites: Nachtbrecher.))
"Nietzsche said 'Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster.'"
The hellfire cloaked demon was flung through the air as a fist slammed into its chest. Wrapped in dark and bloody tendrils of shadow, the man dressed in black leapt forth after it. His head was surrounded by a mask of mythic steel, its features almost human but given robotic, emotionless form. Save for the glowing red eyes that burned bright with determination.
As its cohorts bounded after him on all fours, their attacker permitted a slight grin to cross his face. Leaping onto the fallen beast's chest, nether energy began to swarm around his fists. The lesser demons, driven by fury and vengeance and by little wits, all lunged at the same time into his circle of influence. The roar from the void as dark power tore them asunder was immense.
"He was right, but I am no monster. I have not crossed the threshold, stepped over the line. I have circumnavigated it."
The unteroffizier's neck snapped quietly, his body already being dragged into the shadows of the caves the Fifth Column liked to house their bases in. His hand around the man's neck, the mystic soldier drained the fleeing life energy from the corpse before simply placing it down and covering with tarp.
Sinking into the shadows, Nachtbrecher drifted through the base looking for his target. He stopped only occasionally, to drag a Columnist into the nightmares in the shadows.
"Nietzsche also said that 'when you gaze into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.'"
Ash cowered in fear as his captor approached. He'd heard rumours of the sting operations, but didn't believe them. Vampires, dream-eaters, soul-stealers all used the Internet nowadays to lure stupid victims in. He thought they were just trying to scare people off their marks.
But the girl, a pretty young teenager whose walls were clad in Twilight posters and laden with Anne Rice books, turned out to be something else. A shape-shifter that the fierce man in the steel mask called 'Hochstapler'. Flinching, Ash cried out in terror as the shadows under him erupted into a storm of writhing, blood-rune adorned tentacles. They wrapped around his neck, arms and legs. Tiny tendrils even worked into his eyes to hold them open as the man removed his helmet.
Underneath, he looked old. His hair long and white. His beard the same colour, carefully trimmed. His skin pale, and his eyes soft. As he gazed into the man's dark pupils, he felt a shudder running through his body. His teeth pressing forth from the tops of his gums, his 'suckers' on his hand clenching and opening, hungry for life. The man smiled at him.
"You may have killed others. You may have not. You had the chance for help, and you declined. Let instinct and base desires take over. For this, I can only grant you one thing." His voice was soft as his eyes, with just the hint of a German accent.
Whatever Ash blurted out, he couldn't remember or comprehend it.
Placing his hands on Ash's chest, he bowed his head politely. "Absolution." He spoke, and with the word his fists clenched. Shadowy arms started to strike into Ash's body, the damage physical and spiritual as the tendrils started their work of casting him back to the void.
"When I gaze into the abyss? The abyss blinks."
Standing with the other members of his unit, he looked over the ruins of the Schwardwald Geistliniekannone. The complex still existed, its components rusting away, greatly beyond repair after his defeat during World War Two. Carefully he placed down the selection of flowers, commemorating the men he had killed, the men who had died for him, and the Allies of Earth. Heroes from 8 countries, come together to stop his plan. Their actions instigated his path to redemption, and his work with the US Government fighting monsters and threats to world peace.
"Danke."
With that word, they were whisked back to their Paragon City office.
"I am Wernher Alstom. I am Nachtbrecher."
SUPPORT - IT'S NOT JUST A GROUPING OF ATs
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More Than a Game
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