Detective Comics: The Headless Horseman

Prologue: Lucifer's Waltz

The man in the jacket stood before the woman and her son, his gun aimed at the body of the woman's husband before slowly pointing its barrel towards them.

The gun stood very still, not twitching an inch, determined to end their lives right there.

The woman hugged her son tightly and squeezed her eyes close. Tears were flowing from both of their eyes.

They didn't deserve this miserable fate. It was only a matter of misfortune that led them to this moment. They only wanted to take a shorter route through the alleyway and only that was the intention.

Life is truly a cruel mistress.

If she had some strength left maybe--just maybe she can buy time for her son to escape.

Though--her already wounded leg can only beg to even move.

The outcome of this situation is clear, both of them are going to die. It is inevitable.

A miserable end to finish their story.

The gunman pulls the trigger...

But there was no sound nor the feeling of the bullet penetrating their skin.

She hesitantly opens her eyes, still expecting their imminent doom.

First, she sees the gun trembling which contradicts the gunman's former calm demeanor. Then, the mentioned man whose color had seemed to disappear from his body.

He stood there with his arms and legs shaking, beads of sweat started to drip from his chin, and his mouth agape as his bloodshot eyes stared off somewhere out of the woman's vision.

As curiosity tempted her, she couldn't help but follow his gaze and soon regretted it.

-But like any other story there is. One can simply take action and change the events that take place.

An abysmal amount of smoke was crawling towards the alley, it was like a wave that's about to crash into them. And within it, was a silhouette of a headless figure.

With each step that echoes beneath its feet, a shiver shoots up from their spine.

And there, it emerges from the cloud of smoke.

A being that strikes fear into a demon.

From its headless neck, there comes out black flames burning fiercely, as flies who come into contact combust and burn to ash.

Within its hand it grasped a long sword engraved with intricate marks and an old incomprehensible language running up its blade.

It raised its sword and pointed at the gunman giving a shimmer of hope to the woman in distress yet also it inspired dread in her mind that she might be next.

It wore a ragged and tattered cloak, its vest was like an abyss, its loose gloves were held by a rusty chain, and its boots were an amalgamation of bruised human skin stitched together with dark leather.

Her eyes widened.

What she saw was a myth manifesting into reality. A nightmare that's breaching into the world making those old drunken tales to be true.

She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Truly, this must be just an absurd display of illusions taking place at this moment, is what she had thought. But she damn well knew that this was real.

From the moment when she came to and what led to this was all real.

--

Everyone in Sleepy Hollow must've heard of the tale of a headless figure roaming the earth to find its missing head. Though this tale had many variations in terms of its origins: A blood hungry mercenary determined to slaughter and butcher men. A soldier who got decapitated in the midst of battle and is seeking vengeance to the ones who've stolen his head.

Nevertheless, it's merely a tale coming from the mouths of delusional drunkards at the bar or a chatty barber telling an old story he had heard from his grandpa.

No one could take a story that absurd with all seriousness. Yet, it somewhat stayed in the back of their heads, as if that tale had been engraved into their minds like a curse.

To always remind them and strike an uneasy feeling every time you roam the streets of Sleepy Hollow at night.

That there's something out there far more terrifying than the man in front of you.

-

The gunman tried to aim at it but his arm could not stop trembling, making him shoot off course. The woman let out a shriek and hugged her son closer as the bullet ricochet around the small alley.

It bounced towards the headless thing and was closing in at such astonishing speed.

It didn't move nor did it try to deflect the bullet. It instead let it pierce its body. It didn't flinch or have any reaction at all and just stood there with its black flames staring right into the man's soul.

Then with what felt like an eternity being under Death's gaze. The man finally got to his senses and fled or at least he tried to.

He stumbled at the moment he had turned his back to it. He knocked over a bin, spilling its disgusting contents, and slipped over a puddle of questionable green ooze. He attempted to pick himself up as he tried to crawl away.

But that thing was in front of him already.

It grabbed him by the neck with a suffocating grip and raised him up in the air. His legs were flailing helplessly while his hands tried desperately to get out of its grasp.

He can't breathe, his vision is fading, and his strength is wavering. His arms slowly dropped to his sides and his legs stopped moving. But despite all of this, he kind of felt peaceful for the first time in his life.

Finally, he's free from his cruel life and from this world. No more bills, taxes, dues, or any contracts to pay for. No more struggles of being a mortal.

'I can finally move on.'

Is what he thought as he was losing consciousness.

Though if it's peace that awaits him then it would be quite unfair to grant him that in this already unfair reality now, wouldn't it?

And at that very last second before he goes out.

Within the littered floor, to the dirty walls, and the night sky, something begins to sprout out of them. Fingertips to disembodied hands poke seemingly out of thin air.

Like a hungry pack of wolves, they begin to claw onto him, grab onto his limbs and drag his soul out of his body with otherworldly strength...

He screams. Wishing that he should've died right there and then, but he is brought back from Death's door to suffer an even more cruel fate.

Within the corner of his eye, he sees his lifeless body lying on the ground. While he was finally free from his flesh, his spiritual form pleads to pass on.

The man begs and begs for forgiveness, but the hands were relentless with their method of torment.

By their touch, he feels his entire astral body to be burning. It was agony. They were pulling on his limbs, but it wouldn't detach from his body. They clawed onto his face and felt as if there were flames torching his skin.

--Then it opens.

An entrance to Hell presented itself before him. Their grip tightens and drags his soul in, he cries once more before the door that splits the Mortal Realm and Hell closes where his screams would be heard by no one.

Witnessing all of this had made the boy wailed and his cries echoed throughout the alleyway, which seconds later, was drowned out by the sounds of sirens coming from the distance getting louder and louder as they got closer.

The appearance of the red and blue lights peering through the dark alleyway gave the woman a sense of relief, yet she still could not keep calm. She glances at the lifeless body of the gunman then slowly trails towards the thing.

--It then looks back.