1 Chapter 1

"I have been expecting you, Agent Dorst. You did quite a good job dodging the lethal traps that I took so long to set." The Professor growled mockingly.

Brushing off her tight, jet black suit, Alayna walked forward into the chamber cautiously, for she knew better than anyone to never underestimate the Professor. She flicked her hair behind her and put a single hand on her hip.

"If you really wanted to stop me, you should have gone with the 50 henchmen trick. At least then I wouldn't have gotten here 10 minutes sooner than usual." Alayna responded.

Upon hearing this, the Professor raised a single hand and snapped his fingers twice. In a matter of moments, 50 henchmen came out at every angle, surrounding Alayna, who kept her calm, unsurprised pose.

"Ask and you shall receive, Agent Dorst." The Professor snickered.

The henchmen moved in on Alayna slowly, some holding swords, some holding guns, and some with brass knuckles, no matter the weapon, each henchman had one. Truth be told, Alayna was a bit intimidated at first sight of some of them, but after taking a deep breath, she felt ready. Getting into a fighting stance, she pointed at the Professor.

"What's wrong, Prof? Too scared to fight me by yourself?"

"Regrettably, contrary to what you expected, I will not be fighting you…at least not here. I have a meeting with a close business partner of mine. With him, I shall be one step closer to finishing Project Star, and neither you nor that insidious agency can stop me…" The Professor stood up and bowed his head slightly to Alayna in mock respect, "Good day."

With that, the Professor slowly turned and walked towards a glass elevator towards the back of the chamber. Alayna growled and tried to run forward, but a Henchman jumped in front of her, blocking her path.

"Pray we meet again, Agent Dorst. Maybe then we shall finally have our fated showdown you have long dreamed for." The Professor laughed as the elevator rose, soon becoming out of sight.

After the Professor left, there was a moment of silence in the chamber. Nobody moved and nobody spoke. The sound of breathing was the only thing that could be heard. Alayna's eyes darted back and forth, as she counted each Henchman. It was true, 50 in total. With one last deep breath, Alayna tapped her foot once and dashed forward at subsonic speeds, bashing her elbow into the neck of the first Henchman in front of her. Seeing this speed and that she initiated the first attack, the Henchmen roared and charged her, wildly and savagely swinging their weapons. Staying calm and keeping her heart rate steady, Alayna swiftly evaded each attack and struck quickly with a counter. Atop a ledge far off in the chamber, a henchman with a LW3 Tundra sniper rifle aimed carefully at Alayna's head as she darted back and forth knocking down henchmen quickly.

"Gotcha…Dorst!!!" The sniper shouted as he fired the shot.

Without even looking, and while wrestling down a henchman, Alayna swung her arm out and caught the bullet with two fingers. As the sniper started to reload, Alayna flicked the bullet back, breaking through the gun's scope and just barely missing the henchman's head.

Smirking at her own strength, Alayna quickly and effortlessly took down the rest of the henchmen. After all of them were knocked down, unconscious, Alayna took a moment to admire her work, clapping her hands.

"Whew! I suppose that'll do my workout for the day, thanks boys." Alayna pleasantly said through deep breaths.

AGENT DETECTED. ACTIVATING TOTAL MELTDOWN PROTOCOL IN T-MINUS 3 MINUTES. A booming robotic voice echoed throughout the chamber.

"Crap! That's my cue!" Alayna shouted to herself, as she looked at her watch.

Looking to the elevator, Alayna dashed over and tried pressing buttons on the keypad to open it, but it didn't respond, and the door didn't open. With a growl, Alayna punched the glass as hard as she could, shattering it instantly.

"I always have to do everything MYSELF!" She roared as she ran into the elevator.

Looking up, she saw a ledge where the elevator would stop at, and pointed her arm towards it. Alayna tapped once on her watch and a small grappling hook came out of the end. Before she could fire the hook though, a fist crashed into the side of her jaw, sending her backwards into the wall. Dazed from the hit, she rubbed her jaw and tried to stand, but a knee drilled her in the stomach, sending her back down. Wearily, Alayna looked up and saw that the attacker was the sniper from earlier, his mask torn from the bullet.

"I honestly don't know why the Professor was so scared of you. You're nothing but a brat!" The sniper growled, kicking Alayna in the face, hard.

Blood spilled from her nose like a faucet. As Alayna scrambled to get to her feet to defend herself, the sniper gripped her by the hair and jerked her up off the ground, violently. Alayna shouted in pain and reached up to claw at the sniper's hand. Unamused, the sniper grabbed one of Alayna's legs and lifted her above his head.

"Do you know how much it hurts a sniper's pride to know that a person, especially a mere girl, manages to catch their bullet, and then throw it back?! Where is that monster strength from before, Agent?!?!" The man roared as he kept the weakened Alayna lifted above his head.

With another growl, the man brought Alayna down, back first, with all his might, onto his knee. A loud crack could be heard as Alayna's back hit the knee. Her spine was surely broken, and she was rendered almost completely paralyzed.

TOTAL MELTDOWN IN T-MINUS 50 SECONDS.

Groaning in pain, Alayna tried to aim her arm up towards the ledge once more. She only had one last chance to escape before the entire facility exploded. Seeing what she was trying to do, the sniper stomped forward and slammed a foot down onto Alayna's chest, shattering her ribcage. This time, Alayna did scream. Seeing her writhe in agony, the sniper grinned and leaned forward over her.

"You are nothing, Agent, and you will always BE nothing. Let these words go with you to hell." The sniper laughed as he reached for Alayna's watch.

Hearing these words, something clicked in Alayna, and an extreme boost of adrenaline and anger flooded her body.

"And you….will a-always be…nothing more than a…a…lab rat…" Alayna angrily growled through her teeth.

With all her strength, she punched the man in the jaw, sending him backwards, then immediately aimed upwards and fired the grapple hook, which successfully hooked onto the ledge. The sniper jumped up quickly and lunged forward at Alayna, barely missing her as she escaped upwards.

ACTIVATING TOTAL MELTDOWN.

"Damn you Alayna Doooooooorst!!!!" The sniper screamed as the entire chamber detonated, covering everything in fire.

Once Alayna reached the ledge the grapple hook unlatched itself and her momentum threw her forward, just barely missing the fire from the explosion. Taking a moment to catch her breath, the sound of footsteps got louder as they approached her. Once they were right on top of her, she braced herself for death, but when it didn't come, she opened her eyes weakly to see a nicely dressed man standing there, leaned over her.

"You look like hell, Agent. What happened, get too cocky with the traps again?" The man asked with a smirk.

Alayna, at the sight of the man, smiled in relief.

"Screw you…Josh." Alayna weakly muttered.

Seeing her completely broken, Josh carefully lifted her off of the ground and carried her onto a stretcher as more agents entered the building with guns. Before the stretcher was brought into the ambulance, Alayna looked at Josh.

"Did you f-find him yet?"

Josh thought about the question and frowned.

"Well…I suppose you could say that." Josh replied, annoyed slightly.

Curious and confused by what he meant, Alayna opened her mouth to speak, but Josh raised a single hand stopping her.

"Save your strength, Agent. We'll talk once you've healed." Josh stoically ordered, putting his hands in his pockets.

Alayna closed her mouth and nodded. The ambulance doors closed and it drove off. Josh watched as it drove away, and once it was out of sight, he turned to the building again, gazing at it curiously. Another agent approached Josh, holding a clipboard.

"Sir, we have the report you filed for-"

"Dante Cinaglia, the famed treasure hunter and part time thief. What else did you find?" Josh asked calmly.

Reading over the report once more, just to make sure that it was correct, the agent nervously looked up at Josh and rubbed the back of her head.

"Uhm…well, see, there is nothing else." She said, not even believing her own words.

"What? How is that possible?" Josh asked in disbelief. Continuing to look at the report in an effort to find anything in order to not disappoint Josh, the agent spoke.

"I have no idea it's almost like everything there is to know about Dante has been completely removed. But I will certainly keep looking, sir."

With that, Josh waved his hand dismissively and the agent immediately walked away, continuing to read through the report. Sighing, Josh continued to gaze at the building, thinking about the report.

"Dante…who are you really?"

"Well, since you asked, I suppose I'll tell you my illustrious tale of action and adventure." Dante replied to the new guy at the bar.

Now in a bar, located in the great city of New York, Dante is sitting at a bar, drinking a glass of beer while he speaks to a boy sitting beside him. Dante takes a sip of his beer and slams the glass down, wiping his mouth of anything left from the drink.

"It all started when a boy came face to face with his old friend known as DESTINY. With their meeting, this boy took it upon himself to beat the crap out of his friend and forge his own destiny…" Dante loudly spoke in a proud tone.

"Until a young lady walked into his life, and took away this so-called 'great destiny', ain't that right, Dante?" A large man came up from behind, slamming a hand on Dante's shoulder.

Dante snickered and playfully slapped away the hand, flexing his shoulder from the intensity of the hit. The young boy cocked his head, intrigued from Dante's tale.

"Who is this young lady? What's her name?" The boy asked.

Dante thought about the question, taking it in. As he thought, memories of himself with the girl played in his head, and he couldn't help but smile. The boy sat for a good 3 minutes, watching Dante smile at nothing, awaiting his answer. Eventually, Dante glanced over at the boy again and saw he was still waiting. Clearing his throat he continued speaking.

"Her name is Emma. We met back on one of my adventures in the temple of Azmud, The Great. I was inches away from stealing the legendary talisman of none other than Azmud himself when she took it first. In that single moment we locked eyes, and I fell in love immediately…" Dante said, lost in love.

The young boy's eyes widened in amazement at Dante's story. Seeing the boy's amazement, Dante reached into his pocket and pulled out a solid gold talisman hung on a piece of old string. At sight of the talisman, the boy's eyes widened even more, somehow.

"...and then I stole the talisman from her. After that, we went on a couple of dates, had a very long night of romance and now she is working from home, convinced that adventuring is too dangerous, and that she wants to become a mother instead. So, I decided to end my adventuring days and live with her…But here's the thing, kid-" Dante reached forward and grabbed the young boy's shoulder, bringing him forward until they were face-to-face, "-nothing is more thrilling, life changing, addictive than a good old fashioned treasure hunt. The moment you get your hands on that priceless item, your body overflows with dopamine, and you feel like you can do absolutely anything! It's incredible, it's positively delicious I tell you!!"

With absolute and pure joy, the boy's face lit up and his eyes sparkled. The words Dante had spoken struck the boy's soul. Seeing this, and with a smile, Dante took the talisman and handed it to the boy, who nearly dropped it in surprise, but Dante caught the boy before he started to topple.

"Careful with that, it's pure 24k gold, and a good chunk of it too. You sell that and you could buy out Amazon and still have enough money for a mansion or two." Dante smirked. Nodding, the boy jumped off the stool and ran off out the door with the talisman in hand, calling for his mother. The larger man standing behind Dante glanced down at Dante's pocket and reached into it, pulling out an identical talisman.

"Once a lying thief, always a lying thief, even with children huh?" The man scoffed, tossing the talisman onto Dante's lap.

"Like I'm going to just give the Talisman of Azmud to a child I've never met before. Come on, Michael, you should know me better by now." Dante sighed, fiddling with the real talisman.

Michael looked at the door and frowned, remembering the joy of the child, then looked back down at Dante, who took another gulp of beer.

"So what DID you give him then?" He asked.

Dante chuckled once then pocketed the talisman again, not even looking up at Michael.

"Oh…just some McDonalds toy I pulled from a Happy Meal. Oddly enough, the toy looks identical to the actual thing, and it was rather heavy too. Even I was mistaken for a second by how realistic it looked. You think the kid'll figure out that it's fake?"

Michael shrugged, and before he could answer, Dillon, the detective of the eastern city's precinct, walked in and sat beside Dante, removing his hat. Dante turned to face Dillon, and saw the fake talisman in his hand.

"What did we talk about, Dante?" Dillon asked seriously.

"It wasn't that bad, cmon, Dillon, I was just playing around!" Dante responded defensively.

"And what if someone thinks you actually handed them the 'real bolt of zeus'! Then the press will be all over your ass, you understand that? That quiet life with Emma that you always wanted ends then and there."

"Yeah yeah, I get it."

The bartender slides Dillon a glass of beer, in which Dillon immediately picks it up and chugs the entire glass in one swift motion. Dante scoffs, half impressed. It had been 3 years since Dante and Emma had started dating, and every day, Dante desperately wanted to live with her quietly and peacefully, but as a famous treasure hunter, he knew he wouldn't ever be able to. Dillon, a good friend of Dante's since high school, agreed to fight off the press so that Dante could have his dream of a peaceful life, and thus became like a father to him, always telling him what to do and what not to do. Unfortunately, Dante always managed to find a loophole to Dillon's restrictions by waiting for him to get caught up in his work and then sneak out to go find a legendary treasure.

Reminiscing on the past, Dante picked up his own glass and attempted to chug it down in a single gulp as well, choking on it halfway through. Seeing his feeble attempt to out-drink him, Dillon glanced behind him at the pool table which just became open, and then looked back at Dante.

"You up for a game? Drinks are on me if you win." Dillon asked, knowing full well he was going to win.

Now, Dante was never one to back down from a challenge, especially when free drinks were on the line, and hearing Dillon give the offer, he immediately rose and placed his empty glass down, readying himself for the game. But before he replied, he thought for a second, hesitating.

"Sure, but I hope you got enough to afford the amount of drinks I plan on having." Dante cockily replied, wiping his mouth of some remaining beer.

"Ha! Yeah, ok, don't get too cocky, Dante. Off we go." Dillon laughed as he walked over to the table.

The game began with Dante breaking, and instantly hitting in 3 striped balls.

"Stripes." Dante called.

"Hm…ok, lucky break." Dillon mumbled. Dante walked around the table, looking at each striped ball and strategizing on which ball he would hit into which hole. As Dante paced, Dillon started speaking.

"Sadly, this'll be my last pool game for a few weeks." Dillon sighed.

"Oh yeah?" Dante asked, still looking at the balls on the table, all of his brain power focused on strategy.

"Yeah, I got called to investigate a murder scene down in Los Angeles. You know the Angeloni's?" Dillon asked.

Dante leaned forward and struck the white ball with his stick, sending it flying into the 10 ball.

"Sure. Hurston, right? The really wealthy guy?" Dante replied, standing back up straight, motioning for Dillon to go.

Dillon looked down at the table and sighed, glancing at each ball, now beginning to strategize as well.

"Well…" Dillon started, still looking at the table "...supposedly, their entire family was slaughtered and robbed. Not in that particular order."

Dante was now interested in what Dillon was saying. He knew Hurston from college, and knew that he was the most independent, self-sufficient human on the face of the earth. Hell, Hurston was a junior in college and already was married and the holder of a 10 Billion dollar corporation. Sadly though, Hurston was Dante's main benefactor whenever Dante went out on a treasure hunt. Without Hurston, Dante couldn't go anywhere. Not as easily as before at least.

Dillon hit the white ball, sending it into ball number 7, which collided with the 8 ball, almost pushing it into a hole. Dillon scoffed in disbelief as he looked at how bad his luck almost was.

"What in the world…I've never been this unlucky before during a game of pool! It's almost like…" Dillon said suspiciously looking at Dante, approaching him. Dillon shot his hand out and into Dante's pocket, pulling out the now glowing talisman. Dante chuckled nervously, and reached forward to grab it, but Dillon pulled away quickly.

"Like someone has been using the power of an ancient talisman to enhance his luck. Nice try, bud, but you can't fool me." Dillon snickered, tossing the talisman back.

With a sigh, Dante placed the talisman on edge of the pool table and looked down again at the balls, strategizing. For some reason though, Dante couldn't shake the thought that Hurston was really gone, despite them just being business partners. Even in college they were friends, but not the best of friends like he and Dillon were. The more he thought about it, the more he started to try and think of ways to get about treasure hunting without Hurston's financial help. Whenever Dante needed a plane to get to another country, Hurston would purchase Dante first class seating, as well as call up some wealthy business friends in whatever country Dante was going to, and have them house him for as long as he was staying there. If there were specific gadgets Dante needed, like grappling hooks or radars, Hurston would supply the budget to have them built. In return for Hurston's help, Dante would also collect specific artifacts that Hurston collected and had studied, or moved to a safer, more secure place.

"Do you have any details on the murder yet? Or are you walking in blind?" Dante asked leaning over, about to hit the white ball.

"Unfortunately, the only information I have is that there was a letter that Hurston was writing…which is actually the reason I came here in the first place, because I want you to see if you can make any sense of it. The entire letter seems cryptic, almost, like it was specifically written only for another person who understands what he is talking about…and you two having worked together and all-" "You want me to see if he wrote the letter to me?" Dante replied, interrupting Dillon.

Dante struck the white ball, completely failing on his hit and knocking the 8 ball in. As Dante sighed over his defeat, Dillon pulled out the letter and handed it over. Dante hesitantly took the letter and looked down at it, feeling the texture of the paper and the dryness of the ink.

"Multi-billionaire and he still uses sand-paper as actual paper…how did he even manage to write on it?" Dillon asked.

"A special kind of ink he invented. And this paper is also hand-made. It's made of a unique type of wood, which comes from a tree that is only grown in Hurston's residence. The ink won't work on any other paper…" Dante stated, glancing at the letter.

Dante noticed at the top of the page Hurston had written Dear, but never signed the letter to anyone.

"This letter wasn't intended for anyone?" Dante asked.

Dillon shook his head.

"I think Hurston wanted to keep whoever he was writing the letter to, anonymous, but we can't really know that." Dillon replied, calling the bartender over for drinks.

Reading the letter, Dante at first had no idea what Hurston was talking about. Dillon was right, the entire thing had been written in such a way only someone close to Hurston could understand it. As Dante read some more, he noticed a sentence that stood out to him the most:

Beware the lying eyes of she who truly died, for soon she shall once again rise on the dawn of the world's demise.

"Hm…" Dante muttered under his breath, reading it over and over again.

"Find something of interest?" Dillon asked.

Long ago, back when Dante and Hurston first started to work together, Hurston talked about the legend of an entity that has the power to destroy an entire galaxy with ease, and then rebuild it to her own liking. Dante pleaded for Hurston to drop the investigations on the legend, knowing it could lead to horrible things, but Hurston's curiosity on the matter corrupted his mind with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. Dante clenched his fists while holding the paper, crumpling it.

"Kira. The angel of death. Dammit Hurston, I told you to stay away from that legend!" Dante growled under his breath to himself.

Dillon was now intrigued, but not surprised. He knew Dante would find something of large concern. Dante slammed the paper down onto the table in slight anger and took a step back.

"Angel of death? Dante, what're you talking about?" Dillon asked.

"Towards the dawn of time, just after the fall, an ancient entity arose from the darkness of mankind's heart known to early humans as Kira, the angel of death. She was a vicious and cruel monster that destroyed everything in sight if it wasn't to her liking. One day, a group of priests created 3 artifacts that could completely eradicate Kira once and for all." Dante said stoically and coldly.

Dillon had already by this point had his notepad and pencil out, taking notes on the information being received.

"Do we know where the artifacts are now? They're hidden aren't they? Please oh god tell me they're hidden…" Dillon pleaded.

Dante thought for a moment, then realization dawned on him. For years, Dante had collected artifacts for Hurston, unaware of why or for what purpose. It never occurred to him that the artifacts were all to bring Kira back to life.

"I have no idea. I only know so much of the legend intentionally. I have made it an effort to keep myself away from it, as should have the rest of humanity. Now, because of Hurston, if

his letter is right, Kira is on the verge of being resurrected, and I have no idea how to stop it." Dante growled, ripping the letter into shreds.

There was a moment of silence after Dante's outburst. The ripped pieces of the letter fluttered down onto the table and floor. Dillon looked to Dante, dumbstruck and in awe.

"You just…destroyed the one piece of evidence we had on this case. Why would you DO that?" Dillon asked, still in utter confusion and shock.

Dante looked down at the letter and then turned to the door quickly, beginning to leave. Once at the door, Dante turned back around and jabbed a finger at Dillon.

"If you know what's good for you, drop this case NOW, and start spending as much time with your loved ones as possible. Who knows when Kira'll rise again…!" Dante shouted.

"And where are you going?!" Dillon shouted back.

Dante thought about his answer, and after a second looked back up at Dillon.

"To talk to Emma. She needs to know about this." Dante growled, turning and finally storming out the door.

Dillon blinked once, sighed, and started to pick up the pieces of ripped paper off the floor, thinking about what Dante said. The power to destroy a galaxy. Surely no power on earth could EVER be that strong…right?