Nexus of Darkness

Prologue

The night is still, which is unnerving in this rather large city. A mist obscures the buildings, cars, and people form my view. A light breeze blows, but it still sends chills down my spine. I exhale sharply and am surprised to see my breath in the air. When did it get so cold? I have no idea. Somewhere in the distance, a taxi honks its horn. It is deadly to drive in this weather, but people are always on the move in New York City. Nobody wants to settle down. I don't blame them. If they did, life would get boring. 

I continue plodding down some street that's unknown to me. I don't have a care in the world where I'm heading. I just want to have something to occupy my time. I'm normally a busy man, and today is the first day in a long time that I've had to myself. I despise the thought of having nothing to do. It is my utmost belief that there is always something to be done. I'm a city man at heart.

I take a sharp right turn into a dark alleyway and stop in the middle, scanning my surroundings. One false move could be the end of me. I can't drop my guard. Not even for a second. 

I'm so on-edge that a rustle makes me jump. My heartbeat quickens as I freeze, tense, waiting. My green eyes flick over to my right, and I see a shadow of a man. From what I can tell about him, he's fairly short and very muscular. I'd most likely lose if we got into a fight. However, he already knows I'm here, so I can't run. My only choice is to stay and attempt to defend myself. 

The man takes a step towards me, and his features are revealed. He has greasy brown hair that's matted with dirt and looks as if it hasn't been washed in weeks, he's wearing a beat-up leather jacket, torn jeans, and brown work boots. His knuckles are scarred badly and so is his face. Shit. This guy's going to be the end of me. 

The man continues advancing towards me and stops ten feet in front of me. He smiles, showing off his rotten, black and yellow teeth. "Ah. fresh meat! I haven't been able to exercise my knife in a while. I'm about to die of boredom if I don't give it a quick workout soon!" His voice is whiny, and he reminds me of a spoiled kid. He whips out a sharp dagger, about four inches long. I have no choice but to buy myself time to think of a solution.

"There's no way a little girly blade like that could kill me! What are you, a seven-year-old girl playing restaurant?" I jeer at him. It's best to get him riled up. It makes it easier for him to blunder, giving me the chance I need.

"I'll show you who the real girl is, you fucking bastard!" He charges at me, a wild gleam in his eye. I do the first thing that comes to mind: jump. I leap onto a nearby dumpster and grab the lid off of a nearby garbage can. I'm about to hit him over the head with it when a thick, black mist coils its way around the two of us. The ominous mist is even more chilling than the normal mist. Whatever's going on here wasn't normal.

The black mist forms a giant hand and grabs the man before me. He's paralyzed and can't move. The hand then drags him out away from the dumpster. I stand there, frozen, watching the scene unfold before me. Out of nowhere, I get the urge to look up. I shift my gaze to the roof of the building before me, and what I see makes me want to cry. A creepy silhouette stands statue-still. Wisps of black mist are curling off of it and dissipating in the breeze. The breeze turns into a full-fledged gust and blows more mist away from the figure. The figure seems to create the mist with its body. 

The figure jumps from the ten-story building and flies down to the Earth at breakneck speeds. Just before the silhouette's's about to splatter on the ground, it's fall slows down until the figure's feet touch the ground gingerly. It made no sound, and it looked almost effortless. Bright red eyes flashed on the rest of the black body. More black mist swirled from the figure's body. It felt suffocating. 

The figure pulled a shadowy scythe from it's black mist and slashed the air with it twice to get some practice. The figure then turned to face my attacker and with one careful slice, ripped the man's body to pieces. Blood splattered everywhere and decorated the scene a vibrant crimson. I watched with awe as the figure pushed off from the ground and ascended through the night sky, black mist trailing behind. I watched until the figure disappeared from my view.

I was a detective; it was odd that I was so fascinated by a murder. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the silhouette saved my life. However, I do know one thing. The next day, I was called upon by my boss to investigate the figure. Apparently, this wasn't the figure's first murder. It had committed a total of thirty murders, including the one I witnessed. Little did I know that the figure deemed "The Red-Eyed Specter", would change my life forever.