Chapter 1 – The Prodigal Son
The earth is filled with sin. It was cleansed not too many generations ago from the control of evil, but mankind has a habit of not learning from its mistakes. The people that were once trusted with keeping the earth holy have betrayed God and now serve themselves and false gods. There are remnants of the people that still serve God and do good, but they are few and far between with no unifying structure to them. Few souls receive salvation in Heaven while entire cities burn in Hell. Hope is all but lost.
This is historically when God raises up a champion to save souls. A man by the name of Urban the Second walks the earth in a black cloak that obscures his face and ragged pants. His hands are bandaged not only to keep them clean but because also he held God in his hands. He doesn’t wear any shoes because he had walked with God. Because of this, anything sinful he touches suffers from the simplest of his touches. He carries a small symbol of the past. A cross with two smaller lines above it. He was given this at birth as a birthright, but the meaning of the cross has been forgotten for a while. Despite having a dark past, Urban is the man God has chosen to bring goodness back into the world. Good that appears to be evil to the world it’s trying to save.
As he walks the deserts of the barren world, he comes across a ruined city from years ago. There was once a war between good and evil as there is now to reclaim the world where good won. Ruins of the technologically advanced cities still remain along with some of the technologies, however, not that many people know how to read the ancient languages to know how to use them. It is said in some legends that the great people that brought back good into the world rebuilt all of the technologies from the past because they had the knowledge of how to build it. Other legends say that some kind of demon alien race built everything back to the way it was after a mass sacrifice of infants and children. Regardless, people scrap what is found and repurpose them for the new age. A gang of bandits have some of this technology and are using it to make armor and weapons. Their armor is nearly impervious to fire and lasers while their swords, maces, and daggers can cut through anything with their laser blades once used for surgery. They’ve even managed to scavenge laser weapons for long ranged battle.
These bandits have dozens of slaves captive to use for labor, pleasure, and as a product to sell to others. Urban tries to avoid these people, but his conscience forces him to engage them. He used to do jobs for people like this as a mercenary and regrets every second of it. It was only because God directly intervened was he able to redeem himself and now he works out his salvation in fear and trembling but faith and hope.
He approaches a bandit that is selling off the slaves. “Please, stop selling these people and let them go.”
There are legends that are going around that talk about Urban. Because of these legends, people are told to watch out for a person that looks like him and is him. The bandit is wary of Urban and thinks for a second before responding. If Urban looked like a normal person, then he would’ve been killed or beaten then sold as a slave, but his appearance and aura about him gives the bandit the creeps.
“We can bargain about what price I’m going to sell them to you for.”
“People aren’t products.”
“In this day and age, they are. So, what’s your starting-”
Urban slaps the man’s face off then assumes a fighting stance.
“I’ll take your lives for theirs. That’s your price.”
A few of the bandits run away while most of them fight against Urban. They think their advanced weapons and armor can protect them, but they turn out to be wrong. Urban’s fists tear through their armor and flesh as if they were moving through water. He moves fast and loose so that they can’t touch him. Many faces, torsos, and appendages are crushed into paste with little effort. The slaves that watch this in terror and are unable to move due to their chains.
They say things such as, “This man is a monster!”
“That man is God’s wrath personified.”
“Can someone break these chains?”
“May God have mercy on us.”
Several bandits use their long-range guns to shoot Urban from a distance. He dodges the lasers and throws the dead bandits at such high speeds that torsos fly away with the corpses. One of the bandit bosses throws down his gun, sword, and armor.
He falls to his knees and says, “Here is the master key to all of the slaves’ chains. Please take it and let me live!”
To make sure he is telling the truth, Urban puts his thumb on the forehead of the bandit leader. He squints his eyes then turns around and walks away.
“You-you’re not going to take the key?”
“It’s a fake key.”
“But you’re going to let me live?”
“You’re already dead to God.”
The bandit’s skin begins to contort and twist before his arms fall off, then his legs, then his head. The slaves are absolutely frightened to their core as their hearts are stricken by the fear of God. Urban breaks their chains with his own hands. Nineteen of them run away while one stays. He bows to Urban and honors him.
The freed slave says, “Thank you so much for freeing me. What can I do to repay you?”
“Nothing. Your faith has forever freed you. Go in peace.”
Urban blesses the man then notices that one of the bandits has escaped and is blending into the crowd of slaves. He takes the decapitated head of the bandit leader and throws it into the chest of the escaping bandit, killing him. The freed slave makes the sign of the cross and silently says a prayer before heading in the opposite direction. Knowing the hearts of unthankful men, Urban follows the nineteen freed slaves. They think he’s following to protect them. They’re right, but only partially.
A dust storm kicks up as something approaches. Four heavily armored vehicles decorated with spikes and the decaying bodies of their enemies. There are two monster trucks and two sports cars. These vehicles run over five of the slaves. The bandits fire their laser guns and kill three other slaves to scare the rest.
The leader who is wearing skull armor comes out of his massive vehicle and says, “We were going to get rid of that small nuisance in the ruins and take their slaves, but it seems like you’ve done it already. I have to thank you, Urban. Do you want the same amount as always?”
“I don’t do that kind of work anymore. Let these people go.”
“I don’t think you recognize your disadvantage in this negotiation.”
“I don’t think you recognize it either. Repent and I might let you live.”
“You’re still the same man you were from before. Let’s get him, boys!”
Two cars go after Urban and run over two slaves in the process. They try to run him over, but he grabs them, picks one up and smashes it into the other. The leader holds out a detonator and presses it. Urban manages to avoid the explosion, but three slaves die in the explosion and two die because of the fiery wrecks.
“The man you knew is dead. God killed him.”
“I’m going to kill you more than once!”
The big monster trucks run over three of the slaves before driving beside each other to run over Urban. Their passengers use their laser guns to shoot at Urban trapping him in place.
“Try to dodge this you dead freak!”
Urban moves his hands through the air as if gaining the energy from it before punching in between the trucks, which destroys them down the center. The other drivers are dead. Only the leader is left alive, but he plays dead. The two slaves left alive kneel before Urban and thank him.
He blesses both of them and tells them, “Go in peace.”
One of them turns back and goes the other way where the first freed slave went. The other goes to kick the leader’s body and spits on him. Urban goes up to the slave and touches his throat.
“Liar,” he whispers in the slave’s ear before the slave pukes out his guts.
The leader then opens his eyes in fear and sees that Urban already knew that the man wasn’t dead. Urban then strangles him to death with the rotten guts of the lying slave and hangs him on the destroyed monster truck before resuming his journey.
The Wrath of God by Demon Hunter is a good song to for this story especially since it's one of Urban's nicknames.
