Faaris sat alone in his study, his face entering in and out of shadows as the candle flickered in the darkness. He gazed introspectively at his hands, rough with calluses from constant use. He stared across from him at his armor, his Black Armor. It too had seen more wear and tear than normal. He regarded himself, and relefected on what he had been almost a year and month earlier.
He was weak then, unable to take gunshot wounds. Now, he was like an elephant, his skin tough as nails. In those first times, before his powers developed more, when he was shot with a gun, he was bed ridden for days. At one point, Faaris focused all of his powers into healing himself, and he did. The open wound magically healed itself before stopping at a scar. Faaris was amazed as he had gained the ablility to heal himself.
That was only in the past year, Faaris thought. He was powerful now, he was strong. Guns for the most part didn't do any damage to him, and the ones that did he healed. Smaller animals followed his every whim, and told him the secrets of the wind. Faaris was like a God among men, and that power had corrupted him dearly. The wishpers of the populace of Istanbul spoke of a man who held a persons life, and death in his hands. He began to assume that was his purpose, and Faaris soon believed that men and women lived and died at his whim. And in a sadistic way, they did.
*******
There was constant construction at Faaris's house these days. A project to transform his modest home into a powerful base for himself, and his minions. There was a large pit being dug all around the house, the base plans for an expansion of the formerly modest basement. The basement would be expanded to have a training hall, an armory, a forge, a barracks, and a mess hall. The expansion was costly, but, it was needed for Faaris's operations to expand to overwhelm Istanbul. As the construction occured, all of Faaris's henchmen were assembled in a cave a little bit south of his house. The spacious cave was lighted with candles, as Faaris stood atop a leadge above his followers. "Apostle's of Death!" Faaris cried out. "You are gathered here to learn of our mission, our expansion of truth! We are the Haribringers of the Final Truth, Allah's Judgement!" The gathered black garbed men murmured in agreement, their leader's words making sense to those already brainwashed by Faaris's dogma.
The newer members tried to rationalize their doubts and fears, reasoning with themselves that the man before them was truly a messanger of Allah. How else could the man have the powers he did? He could control animals, heal wounds, and his skin was as tough as an elephant. How else could he have those powers. As the men rationalized their plunge into the world of Death, Faaris continued his impashioned speech. "We will grant Death to those who have earned it, and we will bring Death to men out of time. We hold the scales of life in our hands, brothers, and we will judge the living, and grant them Death!" Insanity burned in the eyes of Faaris, the Harbringer of Death, the Black Horseman. His dogma born of the difficulties of his families Death, and the increasing darkness in enjoying the suffering of criminals, of lesser men. Faaris, had lost all thought or reason in his control over the lives of men.
"My brothers," Faaris continued, "We will train ourselves to be swift and silent, and bring Death to those we deem. We will wear the Dark Armor of the Horseman (ie-the armor Faaris wears), and spread our Final Truth, the final truth of Death!" At the end of the speech. Faaris unvieled a sequence of ten sets of Black Armor. There were also ten sets of a Dark leather, and Black robes. "The best ten of you, my followers, will wear the Dark Armor and go forth with me to bring Death, while the second best will wear the Dark Brotherhood Leather armor, and act as this base's defenders. The worst of you will wear the Robe of the Apostle, and manage our estates and business. Now....let us begin our training. I will make you strong yet." The gleam in Faaris eye grew strong, sadistic pleasure gained from his followers impending discomfort. The darkness in his soul grew darker still.
*******
"What do you mean we don't have enough money to finish the building project?" Faaris asked angrily to the Black Robed Apostle. The man facing Faaris sweated nervously before swallowing and answering the irate man.
"Sir, I mean that we just don't have enough confiscated funds. We already might not have enough to even finish the excavation layout. The construction companey you own is would go deeply into debt if we took funds from it. Just using it puts it in a tough finacial spot." The man paused, pulling at his suddenly stifling robe. "We just need a bit more money sir." Faaris looked progressively angerier throughout the entire report, angry at his constructions set backs. He looked ready to kill, before he sighed deeply, and smiled. The apostle looked even more nervous at the sight. A smiling Faaris was a sure sign that someone was about to die.
"What is your name?" Faaris asked with a jovial smile on his face. Fearing for his life now, the apostle answered shakily. "Yesmen....Yesmen sir." The Dark horseman smiled even wider then. " I'll remember it. Yesmen, what possible ways could we gain more money?" The dark clerk smiled shakily at Faaris, "Well sir, we could rob a few banks, contine killing and stealing from criminals, take a rich man's son or daughter for ransom, or flesh out our construction company." Faaris got a distant look in his eyes before finally answering.
"I will consider ways to gain enough money to finish our project. Now leave." Yesmen walked quickly out of the room, but before he could leave the room, Faaris called out to him. "And Yesmen?" The apostle turned slowly back around. "Yes my lord?" Faaris's smile grew darker, more sadistic in his instanity. "Send in one of our criminal prisioners. I need to relieve some....stress."
The screams of pain lasted well into the night.
*******
Asalah Zaina was not having a good day. She had just finished moving into Istanbul with her family, and setting up here secret base for her....operations. Asalah was a super heroine with powers over plants. She called herself Ivy, a lack of creative upbringing deciding her alias. Asalah had heard reports of brutal murders of criminals, and while she had no love for criminals, she wanted to stop the person killing sensely, instead allowing the criminals a trial and jail time, instead of death. So, she convinced her father to move to Istanbul because it was 'safer" there. Her father apparently agreed, hearing the decrease in crime. So, her family moved, and Asalah made plans to find and stop the person killing the criminals.
So, "Ivy" was partaking in her fight romp of the city streets when she saw a man in black armor breaking into a home with a bunch of cars in front of it. She ran towards the house as quickly as she could. As she was running several gunshots rang out from the house. Trying to run and faster, she jumped through the window into the house. She saw a man going through the belongings of a bunch of dead gang members, and a handsome man standing to the side. "Stop!" she yelled at the armored man. The man, startled at the intrusion turned quickly around to face Ivy. "Who the hell are you?" Ivy glared hard at the man, trying to ignore the dead bodies stewn around her.
"You are killing criminals for no reason, not allowing them to face trial for whatever crime they committed. You yourself have committed to many murders to count. I am a hero, and I'll stop you from these senseless killings!" The man looked disdainfully at the women before responding. "A foolish girl is going to stop my purpose? You cannot understand the work of the Harbringers, nor the final truth we proclaim." Ivy was confused by the man's words, not understanding the Harbringers reference, or the final truth. Shaking it off, she continued her glare at the armored man. "You also seem to be taking this man hostage. Surrender, or I'll fight you."
The armored man looked quickly at the nearby man, catching his eye. The man's eyes gleaming in the fading sunlight, a dark gleam. The Armored man nodded before withdrawing an axe from his belt. "So be it, girl." the man snarled. Ivy smiled, and gestured with her hand. A plant vine broke through the ground, and snagged the armored man's hand. The axe was thrown from the man's hand by the vine, and the girl charged while the man was distracted. She landed a good uppercut to the man's nose, which cracked painfully. The nearby man raised his arms slightly, and the nose began to reset itself the blood stopped gushing. The armored man swiped Ivy's feet from under her, before retreating a bit. Ivy gasped in pain at the jolt, and waved her arm again. More vines grabbed the man's arms and leg, holding him down. He struggled, but couldn't move at all. "Gotcha." Ivy proclaimed. She sighed, and wiped the sweat from her forehead.
She turned to the well dressed man. "You alright?" she asked. "The man considered something, before waving his hands, "Not really. This guy was trying to hold me for ransom. I own a local construction company." As the man waved his hands, birds broke through the window and broke the vines holding the armored man. The birds then turned to Ivy, and the armored man fled, but not before gaining a look from the other man. A look that promised pain. The armored man nodded and jumped out the window, escaping. Ivy tried to get the birds off of her to follow, but couldn't because of the swarm of birds. As the armored man left, the well dressed man waved his arms, seemingly to get rid of the birds. The birds flew away as quickly as they had come. Ivy was covered in scratches, but okay otherwise. The man kneeled by her before asking. "Are you okay?" The woman shook off her wounds before smiling at the man.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Did they get you?" The man shook his head no. "No? Thats good to hear. What's your name?" The man smiled again, the shadows of the evening flickering across his face. "My name? My name is Faaris Ali Nasser. What is yours?" the man asked in return, a large smile plastered on his face. Ivy looked down, blushing at the man's smiling face. "My name's Ivy." The man looked quizically at her. "Ivy? That's not your real name is it?" She smiled sheepishly. "No, its not my real name. But, I've gotta run. Need to catch that guy. See ya later handsome." At that, Ivy ran from the house in the direction the armored man left in. Alone Faaris smile grew sadistic, surrounded by gore and death. He could here the police coming to the house for the gunshots. He left, the shadows covering his exit.
He had found a new intrest. An intrest named Ivy. The shadow's in Istanbul grew darker, and a chilling laughter echoed in the empty streets.