The War of Four: Where Loose Ends Meet

Prologue
In the human world, it was sunset. The sky was filled with an orange hue, and its source was just beginning to duck down behind the horizon. On the streets of a city, people were just beginning to file from the outside and into their homes in order to enjoy their peace from the demands of work. There was little sound outside of footsteps on the sidewalk and the roar of the occasional engine, which was in the process of dying down to silence. It was a rather peaceful atmosphere - one that had contrasted heavily with what Arael had left behind in the wake of his conversation with Braeburn.

The man in question was walking down the street with his hands in his pockets, humming a quiet tune to himself. Although as cool as a cucumber, his gait had a bit of a spirit in it as he walked towards a location only he knew of. Like some of the people around him, he was appreciating the peace and quiet of the atmosphere. It was a time where he was rarely allowed in the hustle and bustle of his own profession, a time where chaos wasn't the norm and everyone's hearts weren't racing at a hundred and twenty miles per hour. If they did know of his profession, they would understand the reason as to why he valued a setting like this so much. For him, it was but a fleeting moment he could only appreciate for a certain amount of time.

And little did he knew, that time was about to end sooner than he anticipated it to.

The sound a gunshot was all that was needed to break this quiet atmosphere. As Arael walked past a parked SUV on the sidewalk next to him, both of the front-side windows were shattered, and Arael would find a bullet lodged within his respective shoulder. For one such as him, it wouldn't be a terrible or even that bad of a wound, as the calibur of gun used was not of anything greater than a standard assault rifle, but it was still a sign that somebody here knew who Arael was, and was clearly after his blood. If there were any civilians around, they had all cleared away from the area as soon as the sound of the gunshot had done and gone. They all knew that something bad was bound to happen, and anyone in their right mind didn't want to be around when it did.