James Terrano.

A man of few words. Whether it was before the events that changed the entire solar system, or the life-twisting times James had after the end of Treya even started.

With having experienced the vicissitudes of life far earlier than most, James had evolved into something beyond just above-normal human levels. Those of similar mentality are often seen as special forces, secret agents, and even mastermind businessmen, yet even they couldn’t be equal to James’s mentality that has been forged through hundreds of years of blood-thirsty flames.

Throughout his past life, James had been given many nicknames by his few close long-lived friends. Spector, Phantom, and Nightmare were often the mainstream nicknames, however, those that really knew him all decided to give him the “ultimate nickname” as his friends teased him.

The Watcher.

…

A built and fit man was seen walking down alleyways between tall skyscrapers, shadows of flying cars could be seen strawn against the endless sky-high buildings, some hitting the cement-filled ground. That was until the young man turned down an extremely long alleyway, where only the blue sky could be seen by looking straight up.

The alleyway seemed to go on for an entire mile, the left walls and the right walls were filled with hundreds of small food stalls, doors that led into unknown areas, and neon signs giving off a light glow alongside their advertisements.

Even though it seemed to be closer to noon with the sky holding a fiery giant above, the alleyway seemed to be in a grim sad dystopian darkness, only the neon lights gave off enough light to see, with the occasional dim colored light Edison-style light bulbs.

The young man had long black hair, it was tied into a ponytail behind him, similar to that of the almost forgotten martial artists of ancient times, there were only a handful of dojos left on Treya, nearly all of them run by hidden organizations intentional on either training elite security personnel or gang members.

The handsome and fit figure had dark dull blue eyes, his face somewhat slender, not drop-dead handsome, however, the young man’s looks could’ve given him a comfortable mid-tier celebrity position, if he was willing to go down that route of course.

Too bad the shitty world is about to end. The young man’s thoughts about being a celebrity cycled in his wandering mind, he remembered his fair share of troubles of hiding from the media and running away from potential sponsors.

Then he would become a corporate slave. Nah, not for me, not this time.

Of course, this young man who was wearing casual simple clothes and walked down an empty and oddly extremely long alleyway was James Terrano.

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James left his house to stop at the final area on his bucket list, the black market.

On Treya, black markets were as common as regular markets, just as popular as well. People from all walks of life are usually seen, except since it was noon, the area seemed to be a ghost town.

James casually walked at an easy pace, his hands were in his pockets, that was until he walked up to one of the random doors that led to a mysterious place.

*Dunk* *Dunk*

A deep metallic knock sounded out when James used his knuckles to knock on the rusty metallic door. There was no sign or indication of where the door might lead to.

The door cracked slowly, only an inch of room was given, and a metal chain could be seen tying the door to an unknown locking mechanism on the inside.

“The Arbiter weeps for the unseen shadows.” James' voice sounded out, it was a gentle and calming voice.

“Who?” An elderly woman’s voice sounded out in response, her voice was shaky and it could be understood that the woman behind the door was quite elderly.

“Grandma Teresa, it's me, James, you know… your favorite kid, like ever?.”

The door closed immediately for a second before opening, the metal chain could be seen flinging around with the rushed motion, even rattling against the door as it came to a stop.

There in the doorframe was a short black woman, her hair was a shortcut afro filled with grey, and her back was slightly arched. Even more eye-catching… was in fact her left glass eye.

Without even words being said, James entered and followed the grandma, the door shut as James locked it behind him like the polite gentleman he was.

The hidden alleyway door led to a large warehouse, it was mostly open with scattered metallic objects littering much of its space, like that of a junkyard.

“Good morning nan,” James said with a smile.

“Brat.” The woman said without any fluctuation of tone. She then went through another side door on the far left side of the warehouse. Only James and his friend who was publicly in charge of the warehouse knew Grandma Teresa, the real boss of the black market of this alleyway.

Or so James and his best friend thought.

I still fear this short old woman, her hands are in too much in this city, yet she does absolutely nothing but sit in that oddly nicely kept security room. James thought.

His steps were still graceful and calm, yet his right hand was shaking slightly, something that even he couldn’t control after coming back, his relief and excitement were just too large to quell even its been three days since he last saw him. That time was even worse.

James made his way to the back of the warehouse where a huge workstation was set up. Taken apart floating cars were on the left, and in front were various mechanical contraptions of similar size. On the right, however, were shelves of guns, ammo, explosives, and boxes containing various powerful devices.

“HOUND DOG!” James yelled loudly, his voice still oddly soothing even though it was in large volume.

A single engineer who stood behind a dozen floating glass screens was welding something, the sound of a laser could be heard hitting metal with a buzz. Beeping could be heard from various devices littered around signifying different uses.

The laser suddenly stopped as an engineer who was fully clothed in blue auto mechanic clothing whilst wearing a welding hat turned around. With the sudden stop, the entire warehouse suddenly became much quieter.

“James?” A somewhat deep voice sounded out.

“Hey Puppy Nuts, have you been good?” James said with a shit-eating grin.

The welder took off his helmet revealing a large black man, his figure could be seen to contain a hidden power, his eyes similar, with an odd ability to garner respect just from a mere glance.

“Puppy Nuts, huh? That's a good one… Sup, I’m whiter than a ghost, it's been three days, why the hell are you here again? I don’t have any more workout equipment.”

James and his friend chuckled before they grasped each other by the hand and came in for a quick hug.

“Charles, it's about time.” The young-and handsome physically built James said with intense seriousness.

The room became silent for a second, the burly engineer before James sighed before letting out a breath, he took off his wielding helmet entirely before looking at James.

“Fuck. I’ll get the equipment then.” Charles, the Hound Dog of Treya said.