Iron Crossed Realms

Chapter 1

Earth-404, a few years ago

Union City, 3rd POV

The city was shrouded in the gloom of a late afternoon, the gray sky threatening rain as Tyler Skelton walked through the dimly lit streets. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, wincing as the sting of the fresh cut reminded him of the latest beating. His reflection in a shop window revealed a bruise right eye and a busted lip, adding a little more color to his tanned skin.

Tyler scoffed and kept his head down as he trudged along the cracked sidewalk, his mind a swirl of bitter thoughts. The world around him seemed just as bleak as he felt—graffiti-covered walls, litter strewn across the streets, and the occasional car passing by with its tires splashing through dirty puddles. This was his life, a constant cycle of pain and misery, with no end in sight.

"Shitty day," he muttered to himself, his voice hoarse,"shitty life. What else is new?"

He pulled his jacket tighter around him as a cold breeze swept through the streets, chilling him to the bone, and he loved the cold. The city felt as empty as he did, a hollow shell of what it might have once been. His footsteps echoed in the silence, the sound almost lost in the distance between the buildings that loomed over him like uncaring giants.

He growled a bit, his hatred for Union and this shitty city, his girlfriend committing suicide, his sister getting hurt in a wreck the Heros caused and his parents trying everything they can to help him. He felt like a burden to them, always having trouble around him, but no matter what he said, his family and the firends he had, always said they will be there for him.

Soon he approached the train station, the familiar sense of dread settled in his gut. The station was old, its brick facade weathered and cracked, the paint peeling away in strips. The few people waiting for the train seemed as worn down as the building itself, their faces expressionless as they stared at the ground or at their phones. Tyler sighed, rubbing the back of his neck, scratching it.

"This place...it's like the whole world's just given up on progress," he said,"stagnant, never moving and conceited on their so called merits and Powers. Tch, cocky and arrogant bastards."

He glanced at the clock hanging above the entrance to the station, old and rusty just like this entire station. The hands ticked away, indifferent to the lives of those who moved beneath it. He shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned against the wall, his eyes downcast as he tried to make sense of his thoughts. But before he could dwell too much on the hopelessness of it all, something strange happened.

He felt a sudden, forceful push against his back, sending him stumbling forward onto the tracks. Tyler's heart skipped a beat as he tried to catch himself, his mind racing with confusion and fear.

He spun around, his eyes wide, searching for whoever had shoved him. But all he saw was the back of a figure walking away—a tall man dressed in a black trench coat, a fedora perched on his head, the collar was high covering their features. The man's steps were slow, deliberate, and Tyler couldn't shake the feeling that there was something...off about him.

"Hey," Tyler called out, his voice shaky with adrenaline as he fell,"who are you? Why'd you—"

But the man didn't stop, didn't turn around. He simply kept walking, his figure growing smaller as he moved further away, eventually disappearing into the mist that seemed to rise from the city itself.

Tyler stood there, frozen in place, his mind struggling to process what had just happened. The sense of unease that had plagued him all day now twisted into something darker, something that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. He groaned as he looked down and saw bone sticking out, he couldn't move and the people around him didn't even bother helping him