The winds howled through the night, its high pitched screech squealing through the shattered windows on the very top of the skyscraper. Desolate and decrepit, the building looked like it had been many years since it was last tended to by man. Bricks were crumbling, the walls pockmarked with so many bullet holes and stains of dried flecks of blood smearing the dull paint. Yet, the world only ended yesterday. A single flash of silver sparked through the sky, striking the lone metal rod on the top of the building. Jay slid down the silver pole, landing deftly on the already unstable roof. He stretched out, releasing all the cricks in his neck, ruffling his already messy jet black hair. “Bloody space-time travel,” Jay muttered. He then slowly revolved in his spot, taking in the scene of absolute carnage that had befallen this once great city. A manic grin spread over his slightly unshaven face as he gripped the hilt of his twin bladed sword, The SoulSnatcher and let out a barking laugh. “Perfect. The destruction the world deserves is at hand,” he chuckled. Jay then walked over to the edge of the near 100-storey building and just jumped. You see, the world may have ended yesterday. He was there to make sure it remained that way. He landed hard on the ground below, breaking his fall with a well-placed tumble and roll. Still, the impact did leave a crater 10 metres in diameter. He brushed the dust off his black trench coat and strode into the destroyed city. He was hunting. Humans were resilient. He had learnt that during his many travels. Just because the world as they knew it had ended, it did not mean they were all gone. Like roaches, they would fester and struggle to survive, such is the nature of Life. Which is why he, being the Will of Death, was here. His mission was to completely finish off every single living creature on Earth, so that it may begin anew under a new visage which would be under the command of Hell’s Legion. The increasing number of atrocities that mankind had committed over their miserable 200,000 years of existence had corrupted all their souls. Many of which were now burning away in fiery pits in a dimension humans believed to be many leagues beneath the Earth. Their resurrection would be torturous. They would become slaves to Hell and its denizens, and serve them for all eternity. It would literally be Hell on Earth. Jay sniffed the air, pungent with the metallic tang of blood, just the way he liked it. He licked his lips with his long tongue and tasted life. It seemed he had work to do. The repeated thrumming of beating hearts drove him to a frantic bloodlust immediately. Pulling out his blade, he charged into one of the nearby buildings, tearing down a wall in the process. That was when he finally reached them. They were sickly, emaciated, and looked to be at death’s door. They were so weak and fragile, unable even to look at him. Licking his lips again, Jay decided to be a gracious host, and open the door for them. He swung his blade through the air. Instead of feeling the familiar sensation of ripping through flesh and bone, all he heard was a loud clang and was thrown to the floor. It would appear that someone did not want that door opened. Groggily, he looked up at the pesky maggot that had denied him his kill. And there she stood. In the resplendent radiance that befit an angel, she pointed the tip of her long blade at his throat. “Not another move, demon. Or I will rip your head off, and send it back to Hell on a pike” she stated simply. Jay looked up at her, and grinned. “Ah, I was wondering when one of you was going to show up. Better late than never though,” he spat. Quickly parrying her blade with his reinforced bracers, he struck with finesse, aiming directly for her vital points. But she wasn’t going down without a fight. The angel retaliated perfectly, dodging and parrying, swinging her blade with cold efficiency. The two wretched escort avcılar humans were completely forgotten. “Who are you?” Jay growled. As the Commander of Hell’s Legion, he was very well versed with each of their generals. This pest was wearing a general’s armour, but it was someone he had never known before. The lady did not reply and merely smirked at him, infuriating him further. Enraged, he upped the pace. His blade cleaved through the air and caught a lock of her hair as she spun to dodge. Glancing upwards, he smirked. “I suppose that’s a point to me,” he chuckled. Arrogant to a fault, it was simply not in his nature to concede. He could not concede even if he wanted to. There was simply too much at stake. Mysteriously, the angel scowled, a frown marring her face. Curiously, that was something that tugged at his non-existent heartstrings, creating a feeling of emptiness within an empty cavity. Jay cocked his head to the side, as he contemplated his next move. She growled and lunged at him, taking him by surprise as she flicked her blade at his cheek, nicking him. Jay stepped back, raising his eyebrows. Clearly this was someone he had not anticipated to meet. Someone that they had no idea of. A wild card. Calmly, he brushed his thumb over his cheek, and licked the blood off. “You… you are interesting, angel,” Jay said. It would be the only compliment he would give her. Before completely finishing her off. Or so he thought. Fate, independent from either Life or Death had other plans in store. The two inhuman beings were now moving so fast that they were impossible to be seen by the naked eye. Blow after blow, parry after parry, the clang of steel on steel rang throughout the deserted street. Finally they withdrew, catching their breath, panting. The angel stared at him incredulously. She began, “I was told of your skill, demon. I was told that you were no match for me. It seems you are more than they claim. Regardless, you will succumb to my ….” Too bad Jay was not listening to her at all. His eyes were fixated on her right shoulder. In their last flurry, he had managed to cleave off part of her armour. He had almost taken her arm off, but she had turned just a quarter of an inch to the left. Now, all he could see, or rather was seeing was skin. Skin that was adorned with a tattoo so familiar. A tattoo that he knew, a tattoo that meant something, that represented someone. He cocked his head to the left, his eyes completely fixated on her shoulder. “Your name?” he asked, his voice naturally commanding, firm and crisp. “Catherine,” she blurted out as her rant stopped half way and she brought her hands to her lips in shock. So ingrained was her training, she just responded to such a powerful command. Then, he remembered. There was a memory from so long ago, hidden within the recesses of his soul, entwined within the fibres of his corrupted essence. He did not know how it had survived his transformation from what he was to what he is now. There was once a woman and her name was Catherine. In what seemed like lifetimes ago, they were both very much alive. She was his everything, and he was hers. Like all pitiful humans, however, they fell into the trap of love. They fell so hard, so fast, and so deep in love and they were to be married. Unfortunately for them, Fate always has other plans. She was on her way to the altar when, a drunk driver smashed right through the opposing divider and onto her car. The last he saw of her was a mangled body in a bloodstained pure white wedding dress. Never even got a chance to say ‘I do’ or to give her one last kiss goodbye. Gone was his heart, ripped from his chest by the cruel ministrations of Fate. Lost and completely detached from the world, he was left all alone, the gaping wound in his chest aching with every single breath. Too broken to live, too afraid to die. In an ironic twist, he turned into the thing she had escort bahcesehir hated the most. He turned to the bottle, and when it wasn’t enough, he sought solace in the black market pharmaceutical industry. It destroyed him, but he did not care. There was nothing that could have saved him from his downward spiral. He died a year later, his body unable to take the abuse. He was found lying against her headstone, his arms wrapped tightly around it, the cold hard marble the only thing he had left that reminded him of her. Death however, was not the end of his existence. He awoke in a fiery pit, his soul burnt beyond compare, but he felt no pain. For there was no pain greater than that of losing her. He arose from the Hellfire pits, unlike the other poor souls that were too engrossed in the pain. Deep down, he knew that she would never end up in a place like this. Not his Catherine. She was definitely somewhere much higher than this. His destruction of his own body had led him here. Straight into hell. Deathmatch sport was a good way to get noticed by the big guns in Hell. It was there he excelled the most. Immune to pain, and ferocious in his quest to finally be with his Catherine, he tore apart the best of the denizens of Hell to make it to where he was, The Commander of Hell’s Legion. In the course of his warpath, however, bloodlust had overtaken his mind. Driving him to forget all about her. He locked those unstained, untainted memories away, keeping them safe from the monster he had become. Now, after all that, here she stood before him. His Catherine. Flashbacks be damned, he fell to his knees in shock. His head spinning, he clutched his left breast and screamed. The empty cavity that had once housed his heart was burning greatly. The flames of love burned hotter than the flames of hellfire. Exactly how The Grinch’s heart grew three sizes that Christmas morning, his heart began to sprout from the memory shard he had kept hidden away. He screamed as his heart tore through the scars deep inside his chest, replacing them with living tissue, a stark contrast to the surrounding cold, dead flesh that was his body. Uncomfortable warmth spread through him, and he gripped his chest tightly, the intolerable heat searing him. It was then, that she attacked. The beautiful angel leapt across the open space towards him. She was not going to get a better chance than this! Confusion ripped through her, as to why her name had such an effect on him, but she steadied her hand and charged forward. She wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Jay watched helplessly as her blade inched closer to his neck, his eyes widening as she lunged. He cursed Fate. He was finally here, with his Catherine and she was going to lob his head clean off. Digging deep, he clenched a fist and raised his bracer at the last second, overcoming the searing heat and blocking the blade. There was nothing that was going to stop him from reaching his Catherine. Not even her. He gripped her sword, the blade slicing his palm open and ripped it from her grasp and threw it far away, the blade embedding itself deep into a concrete wall. He chucked his blade away before gripping her wrists tightly, holding her. “Catherine, it’s me. It’s Jay,” he gasped out as he ripped the armour of his left shoulder, showing her an exquisite ink design, which was the mirror image of hers. He looked deep into her eyes, for some form of recognition, some spark, anything. But it was just dull hollows that stared back at him, showing absolute ignorance. And with each passing millisecond, his new heart plummeted, in despair as he realized that she had no idea who he was. She was shocked and completely taken aback. She was supposed to have killed him and yet here he stood, having trapped her in his arms. Finally regaining her senses, she struggled. But his grip was vice-like, an impenetrable steel cage. “Let me go, you vile beylikdüzü escort wretch!” she yelled as she squirmed and tried to escape. “Damn it, Catherine! It’s me, Jay! Your Jay!” he yelled back but it was of no use. There was not even a flicker of recognition. “Ah, fuck it!” he muttered. He kissed her deeply, full on the lips. She melted into his arms. With a gasp as his lips contacted hers, she moaned and just slumped into his arms, pulling him close. It felt right. He felt like home. It all came back to her then. She was indeed a wild card. The moment she had arrived at the pearly white gates, she was whisked away and trained. Forced to forget the only person she had ever loved. It seems that Fate was selling secrets to the highest bidder. Fate knew of Jay’s coming, knew that he would lead Hell to complete victory. She was chosen and kept a secret as they knew he would, and could never kill her. For that, they made sure she would never know who he was. Fools they were to have underestimated the bond between souls. She slowly pulled away and looked into his eyes, jet black, with traces of blue hellfire in his irises and whispered. “Jay, it’s… it’s really you” she stuttered, a brilliant smile breaking over her face, as crystal clear tears glistened, cupped by her eyelids. He could not contain his ecstasy and cupped her face, watching her honey golden eyes shine. “Yes, yes my Catherine. It’s me. It really is me,” he whispered and pulled her into a tight embrace and softly kissed away her tears. “They.. they kept me… kept me away from you,” Catherine said strangely. “I… I’m so sorry!” she continued, her rage building up against those that had wronged her, those that had kept her away from her Jay, for their own selfish purposes. It was a good thing Jay had always been exceptionally good at calming her down. He kissed her forehead gently and whispered, “Shhh, darling. It matters not now. We are finally together. No one will ever keep us apart again. We will make sure of that”. Jay felt her energy surge and slowly settle, and was almost afraid at the amount of energy she was building up. Kissing her lips deeply, his hands rubbing her back, dissipating her pent up forces until she was able to open her eyes and look at him “Just stay calm. Those bastards will rue the day if they ever try to keep us apart. I will never leave you again,” he whispered. She pressed her lips to his enthusiastically. “Mmmm, you better not Jay, or else I will hunt you down and make you pay,” she threatened. Jay chuckled and held her gently. “I would expect nothing less from you, my darling wife” She narrowed her eyes. He gulped. “We never got around to doing that,” she said sorrowfully, the desolation in her voice grasping his heart and squeezing it painfully. He never wanted to ever hear her speak like that again. He cringed and rested his forehead on hers, his hellfire tinged eyes burning brightly against the calm golden hues of hers. “I was never good at watching my words,” Jay muttered. She raised an amused eyebrow, the despair in her soul gone as fast as it had appeared. “You really have not changed,” Catherine said simply. Jay nodded. “Nothing could change. This was how you remembered me. This is how I am. Nothing has changed, least of all my love for you,” he said, brushing his lips softly over hers. It was finally time, Jay felt. “Catherine, will you please take me as your husband?” he asked, his voice firm, and full of poise. “I do,” she replied, smiling gently. “Jay, do you take me as your wife?” she continued, her grin getting bigger. “I do,” Jay replied, her infectious smile gracing his lips. It was indeed the thing you’d least expect during the end of the world. A wedding. They kissed deeply, and he lifted her into his arms. She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him tightly against her as they continued their lip lock. They were ecstatic that what could have been, had finally been fulfilled. He took her right hand and gently sucked her ring finger into his mouth. A cool yet warm breeze circled around her finger and when she removed it, there was an electric blue ring of crystallized hellfire on her finger.