Marcus bolted up and his chair went clattering across the room. He put his M4 in the mans face, about an inch from his nose. "Where did you get that eye!?" Marcus shouted, his eyes changing into the Soul-sight. The man stood up slowly and silently, his soul as calm as ever, and stared at Marcus. Marcus felt as if he could barely breathe, the air was thick with the mans black intentions, and as he rose his intentions grew darker, Marcus realized that it was all directed at him now, he realized that only one of them was going to leave alive. He pulled his trigger and bullets exploded from the end of the barrel. The man leapt onto the end of Marcus's rifle, Marcus let go and slid back, kicking the stock into the mans chin, the man tumbled away. Marcus reached into his jacket and removed brass knuckles for both hands and slid them on. The man slid to a stop, pulled a KA-Bar from his boot, and launched himself at Marcus as the M4 thumped against the dirt floor. He stabbed at Marcus, but Marcus stepped in with his right foot spun his left foot, raised his arm over the knife and used the mans momentum against him by slamming a right hook into the mans temple. The man fell down and Marcus dropped his knee into the mans neck, shattering it. Marcus watched as the mans soul began to fade before he turned and walked towards his rifle, sliding his brass knuckles back into his pockets. He was reaching down for the gun when he heard a shifting sound behind him, he spun around in disbelief to see the mans fading soul come blazing back like a rekindled fire. The man rose from the ground without using his arms and laughed. "Really Mr. Fields, is that the best you can do?" Marcus was shocked "Who is this guy?" Marcus thought "How does he know my name? How is he even moving!?"

The man stood strait, his soul as calm as the ocean on a clear day, and ran at Marcus, laughing hysterically. Marcus slammed his fist into the ground and shouted "Gaia Hasta!"

With a thundering roar a sharpened log shot form the ground, rammed through the mans chest, and lodged itself in the ceiling. Marcus watched the mans soul vanish, and when he could no longer feel the weight of the mans intent he knew that it was over. Marcus retracted the log and threw the mans body over his shoulder. "You're coming with me." He mumbled under his breath as he turned to make his way out of the encampment.

Times Square, New York City, New York; 5 days later.

Jesse Treiv, a girl standing 6'2" her skin bore a light tan, her hair was a shinny black, and her eyes where a soft blue. Jesse is the Soul-seer of the wanderer, she sat atop one of the buildings on the edge of time square, looking down at the mass of people partying at ground level. She laughed lightly to herself "Looks like fun." She said with her smooth tone. Jesse closed her eyes for a moment and when she opened them her Soul-sight was active. It was hard to read the intentions of all the people, quite a few of them were, less than pure, most were drunk, but none were evil. Jesse flinched and pulled back her Soul-sight when she heard the sudden loud resounding chant rise from the ground, counting down from 10. A large grin crossed her face and she chanted along. "5, 4, 3, 2, 1, HAPPY NEW YEAR!" She crossed her legs, leaned back and laughed hard. She loved New Year's Day, there was always so much hope in people's souls around that time, and when she spotted despair or sadness in someone she would do something to brighten their day. It was 2018 now, she ran the past year through her mind, she thought about the good and the bad, 2017 was the year of of her 20th birthday, she was running though the Mohave desert to celebrate, when she came upon a man resting on a boulder, when he sat up he sat up she flinched because his eyes were discolored, they reminded he of her own eyes when she used what she had taken to calling "truth-vision." The man stood, approached her and stuck out his hand, he shut his eyes, and when he opened them they were normal again. Jesse was infatuated with the stranger, it was more than his appearance, his soul was pure and full of joy, and there wasn't a hint of negative in his intentions. The man introduced himself as Ken Rook, The Soul-seer of the Hero, Jesse almost laughed at him, Soul-seers were legends, story book characters, they weren't real. She giggled "Ok, "Hero"." Ken smiled "You think you're laughing at me, when, in fact you're laughing at yourself, for of all the people within 100 miles of us, in all directions, only two are Seers."

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That's when she started taking Ken seriously, she went with him and met the other Soul-seers, they accepted her and became her friends, which was odd, she was never too good at making friends. She worked with them and got stronger, she learned the Hidden art, and tried to get closer to her new friends, but only about four mouths after she arrived, Jacob vanished, and cities the world over came under attack. Jason always called Jacob a "true serpent" even though Ken scolded him for it, he never did trust Jacob. Ken left a week after the attacks started, believing that he knew the next target, and he never came back. Everyone knew it was Jacob, especially after they found piles of notes in Kens office at HQ. Jesse's train of thought came to a screeching halt when a bad feeling draped over her, she pulled herself back to reality and looked around, she couldn't see anyone so she switched to her Soul-sight, a couple of miles to the east, at the very edge of what she could see, through the crowded streets of New York City, three lone souls stood out clearly. These three serpents were impossible to ignore, it was hard for her to make out details at this distance, but these people where giving her a serious case of the creeps. She began leaping from rooftop to rooftop making her way closer and closer to the Serpents. She slid to a stop about a half a mile away from her destination the air around her had grown heavy, after she stopped she noticed the space in front of her begin to distort and with a flash of light a six foot man was standing in front of her, he had shoulder length black hair, he wore a long sleeve black shirt and blue jeans. No mistake, the man was Scott Turner, the Soul-seer of the Messenger. Scott was out of South Georgia, and his voice reflected that. "Happy New Year Ms. Treiv, how is your night?" Scott always confused her, he was way too nice, to everybody.

"It's been good Scott, I was just on my way to check something out." She knew she sounded surprised, and she hated it, she still wasn't used to his Transportation art, it never failed to catch her off guard.

"Really?" Scott sounded intrigued. He turned around and flinched.

"Well would you like a hand with that ma'am?" Jesse rolled her eyes, she hated when he called her "ma'am" but she definitely thought she could use the help.

"Yea Scott, I would." She said.

"Good."

Scott placed his hand on her shoulder and mumbled, "Vade."

In an instant they where standing on top of a building directly above the Serpents. Jesse backed up and whispered "Defluo." She faded from sight, invisibility was always a handy trick. Scott stepped off the side of the tower and floated down, landing softly behind the strangers. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end and he felt goosebumps run up his arms. These... things, they had intentions darker than anything he had ever felt. In front of him stood three men, all around 6 foot 6, wearing black hooded cloaks.

"Excuse me fellas', ya'll mind if I ask you a quick question?"

The one on the left turned to face him, the face was heavily scared, his left eye was a deep emerald green but his right eye was grey, it was empty. Scott couldn't believe it, he recognized this guy, behind the scars was the face of Jacob Kergin.

Jacob replied in a deep scratchy voice "Sure Scotty, anything for you man."