Hero

New Recruit

The sun had just barely curled over the horizon when he came for me.

    I was sitting in Lifeshire Central Park with my girl, Winrey. She told me she was ready to call it a day and that her mother had just arrived to collect her for the evening. It was unlike her to leave our dates this early, especially since we'd been apart the last week or so due to work schedules never quite lining up.
"I could have dropped you off," I stated as she pecked my cheek and smiled that brilliant smile of hers.

    "It's alright. I'll see you again before you even miss me." I couldn't help but feel like this wasn't the full truth, but had no chance to question it. I didn't even consider texting her about it either. The last thing I wanted was to start an argument after finally getting to see her. Instead I watched her raven dark hair disappear from sight as she got into her mother's old sedan and left, not a second glance my way. I exhaled deeply through my nostrils and lingered a moment longer, closing my eyes briefly.

    It was sudden. The sky shifted into darkness and a tormenting wind whipped at me, forcing my arm up in defense. It curtailed, but I still hesitated to shift my arm away from my face. And then he spoke to me. His voice was something ethereal; unnatural and unnerving.

    "Pan, it is time for you to join the heroes."

    Heroes? The only heroes I knew about were from comics or movies. I shifted my arm lower just enough to peek over it, still determining if I was losing my mind instead. There, several feet away was this man with skin that was coated in night sky and stars. A pair of iridescent wings framed around him, making his presence feel like a void of reality. His eyes were a hot-white glow that reminded me of a camera flash, and I felt as if I was seeing multiples of this man with each blink. I had to damn near shut my eyes just to look at him at all, as if he was some kind of thing I'd get in trouble for peeking at as a kid.

    "What, and who the heck are you?" I could only hope this strange man wasn't really there. Maybe I'd been blinded by a security guard with a flashlight, or some punk kid trying to get under my skin for kicks. As much as I wanted it to be either of those options, I knew it wasn't. In that moment I'd regretted leaving my pocket knife back at my place.

    "We don't have all day. Come along, kid." As he turned his back to me, his body transformed and he seemed like a normal older man, casually limping towards the park gates where Winrey had just left from. I didn't plan to follow this stranger, but it was never a choice. Before I could run in the other direction, that familiar whipping wind hit my entire backside and I was forced into a staggered run right to him. I'd almost rammed right into the guy, but the wind smoothed out on the last couple of steps, placing me right beside him. My heart was pounding, I swore I could feel the pulsing in my neck. Then he turned to face me, and I winced at the thought of being blinded by his glowing eyes while standing so close to him. I was gratefully mistaken in my assumption, and brushed off my hallucination when I met the cold glare of a normal, average 50-something year old man with an arm in a sling and a cane bracing the other.

    "Why are you smirking at me, kid? You want to get your lights knocked out?" I honestly hadn't realized I'd brazened my signature smirk on this man. I abruptly felt my jaw tighten at the reprimand of an elder. I cleared my throat and shook my head.

    "No, no... but what the heck was that back there?" I was steadily growing more and more concerned, my voice becoming angrier in tone as it always did when I got nervous. "Look old man. I don't know who you are, or what you exactly want from me, but I'm not interested in any of it." I adjusted my jacket that had been disarrayed by the earlier winds, then walked past him and headed to my car. Thankfully he didn't stop me, come after me, or shoot me...

    As soon as I had stepped away from him though, I felt my backside turn cold. Something like the feeling of standing against a block of ice. It almost burned, like a stinging. Even through my clothes I could feel it. I kept moving towards my car. With each step I could feel that coldness slowly creep around my sides, slithering up my chest like snakes. I felt it coiling my neck, then back down my arms, then my legs. I had to stop moving, because it was getting worse by the second. Back up again that icy sensation crept to my cheeks, my eyes and ears.

    "You should have stopped sooner." I couldn't turn to look but I already knew it was that man. I couldn't speak. My lips felt frozen shut. Every inch of me burned with frostbite.

    "My job is to get you into your new role as soon as possible, so that I can retire peacefully. I'll ease up the hold but don't get any ideas. You're coming with me, end of story." Within a moment my body felt normal again, the coldness falling off of me like rain water. I checked my hands, my arms, nothing at all on them. I looked up again, astonished.

    "What the heck was that!?" My voice had a bite to it, even with my entire body quaking in the aftermath of the icy sensations. The man sighed loudly, mumbling something under his breath in another language I'd never heard before. He turned to look me dead in the eyes. I stiffened, swallowing what felt like a rock in my throat.

    "I get it, kid. It's a lot to take in. We can talk more about it later. For now, I just need you to shut it and come along. I can't keep up this illusion of night for much longer." Illusion of night. I looked around the parking lot, then up at the sky. When did it get so late? Did I have zero situational awareness? "Is that your ride?" I looked back at him as he approached my black sedan.

    "Yeah, but you can't seriously expect me to drive us somewhere. I don't know who-or what the heck you even are, old man." I wasn't going to risk moving just yet. I needed a perfect opportunity to bolt.

    "My name's Cain. I can't say anything else out here. Just get in already." I watched as he withdrew a key from his arm sling and unlocked my passenger's door. How the heck did he do that? I only have two keys, one is mine and I'd given the spare to...

    "Didn't I say to get in? Hurry it up. I've warned you already, next time I gotta repeat myself I'll knock you down so badly you'll forget all about your lady-friend." I felt a strangling pain in my heart. How long had he been following me for to know about Winrey? How long had he been tailing her to have the opportunity to get the spare key I'd given to her? Burning, boiling blood in my veins twisted my hands into fists.

    "What did you do to Winrey?" I had to be as red as my hair by now. Cain spun towards me and I gasped loudly as his eyes fissured back into that white-hot glow. I shielded myself immediately, wishing I had listened to Winrey months ago when she insisted I wear sunglasses to protect my eyes. Cain's voice attacked me with that otherworldly tone from before.

    "Stop hesitating, kid! I swear your lady is safe and nothing bad will happen to her, but if you do not follow my orders now then surely this will be the end for you both." His white eyes diminished, returning to an icy blue that still glowed somehow in the darkness. He coughed a few times and I could hear his voice normalizing again as well. I didn't intend to go with him, but if Winrey found out something like this was happening she would surely panic herself into medical care.

    I fumbled into my pocket and withdrew my cell as a last attempt, only to find that it was covered in frost and entirely shattered. I glared at Cain, waving my phone towards him.

    "Your doing, I presume?" I sighed loudly as he turned his back to me again, ignoring my frustration. "At least tell me where I am supposed to take you." Suddenly that urged his attention back to me with a crooked grin.

    "My office, of course."