Chapter 1, part 2

Alexander Hale was formerly a military man for the US Army, during his time in the army he was famous for getting satisfactory results on missions and coming back from these missions with the lowest mortality rates. Hale had an unorthodox way of approaching his assigned missions, so unorthodox that many of his superiors were often left baffled upon hearing how achieving success in these missions. Often Hale would go in to missions that bore a high hostility level unarmed and resolve the situation without combat or any conflict. His comrades found it very ironic how often Hale evaded combat considering how staggeringly high his armed and unarmed combat abilities were. When in base training sessions he would often humiliate larger soldiers in the ring. Often men weighing up to 250lbs, standing at heights ranging from 5,11 to 6,4 would feel inclined to challenge Alexander to a fight. Alexander Hale, standing at 6,1 weighing around 185lbs would prove to his fellow soldiers that his combat skills were not mythical nor exaggerated, rather that they were very much real.

What made Hale differ from other soldiers other than his unique ways in which he could complete missions was that he had an affinity for not taking life. He would avoid it whenever he could and if he were to take an aggressor's life it would be have always been a last resort thing. The source of Hale's hesitance in taking life was rooted in a belief Hale had.

Hale believed that no being was inherently evil, and that no being could ever condemn another, for one can never know what truly resides in another's heart. Hale believed evil was something people became through no fault of their own, rather people's perceived evil actions emanate from events that led them to act in the way they do. Therefore according to Hale's belief to kill another with regards to their evil actions was futile, the reason being is that one is not eradicating the evil in doing so rather one is just putting an end to the physical manifestation of the evil. This belief is where Hale's unique ability to resolve conflict arose. Hale found that during missions where conflict had to be resolved, if he could identify the leader or head person and make them realize their evil then they, on occasion, would put an end to what they were doing thus completing his mission, completing this mission without haven taken a life or incurring injury. However, Hale was willing to whatever it took eradicate the "evil" by any means necessary if he was unable to apply his preferred way of resolving issues.


Hale's philosophy created a rift within his squadron. There were those who believe in him and those who scrutinized him claiming he was taking the necessary killer instinct out the soldiers thus jeopardizing their lives during missions. The only thing keeping Alexander in his squadron were his results upon his embarking on missions. Other than that his superiors didn't care for the maxims to which he acted under to achieve success in the field. Hale's ability to apply his method of dealing with threats was something that was unique to him and it was also something that seemed to improve each time he had the chance to apply it.

2017 was Alexander Hale's last year in the service and this was the year Alexander Hale's life changed. It was this year that Hale inexplicably survived a point blank range gun shot that should have killed him whilst on a mission. Hale's mission was to maintain peace among two small towns in an Iranian city in Isfahan. Whilst Hale was on this mission he and his squadron often found themselves warding off hostile aggressors who demanded money and resources that they felt they were entitled to. Hale, with his reputation proceeding him was the natural candidate in which his squadron entrusted with the responsibility of absolving these threats. Hale most of the time was successful in making these people go away without to much harm coming to anyone, however on one occasion a pick up truck with several men wielding fire arms approached the boarder of this town. Upon the leader of this group exiting the vehicle Hale walked forward unarmed to go greet this person, upon his walking within four feet of this man, this man raised a Desert Eagle in Hale's face and promptly fired before Hale could even say a word.

Just as promptly as this man fired at Hale, his squadron members that were with him fired at this man killing him by way of three rifle shots to the chest. The men in the pick-up now panicked thinking Hale was some sort of demon and drove off into the distance. Alexander began to touch his face feeling for holes or broken skin, either of which he found none. He knelt down next to the corpse and picked up the bullet casing to see it it were a blank round. Upon his examining of the bullet shell he discovered that it was not, it was very a much real bullet judging by the casing. At this point Hale started to feel very strange, confused with regards to his apparent survival. He reached over to the corpse's right hand and pried away the fingers that still clutched the gun and gripped it. Hale needed further confirmation that this gun was firing real rounds, so he aimed at a small boulder 10 or so feet away and fired. The bullet cracked the boulder sending shards of rock into the air. Once Hale saw the affect the bullet had on the rock began to feel sick contemplating the notion of how he survived.

Later that night Hale was seated by himself in his tent, still reeling from his experience earlier he pondered how it was he was still alive. He sat their with the bullet casing in his hand just as a constant reminder that it was real. He talked to himself in an attempt to try and figure out what happened. He was thought along the lines of "I was startled when he fired and i didn't fully see where he aimed the barrel of the gun..." or "firing a desert eagle one-handed will never get an accurate shot...". When he got tired of trying to figure out the physics of it he then opted for a more spiritual angle of looking at it. So he took out a crucifix from his pocket. A crucifix his mother gave him when he was a child, It had always been something he carried with him for good luck and protection. He gazed at it and spoke hesitantly "maybe, just maybe it was you, I've always believed... to a greater or lesser degree" It was during this sentence that Hale was startled by a young girl who answered his question, a beautiful young girl at that too, who look to be in mid 20's, he had never seen her in this small town where he was situated and she obviously wasn't part of his squadron. "Maybe it was him, or something along those lines" she said as she entered the tent, she continued to talk as she took a seat next Alex. "That weapon was 3 feet from your face with the barrel pointing right at you as it fired." Hale was speechless, he was either taken aback by her sheer beauty or he was amazed that she confirmed his very thought. "You saw it right? he fired a real round right at my face and I'm still here." Hale exclaimed, the girl stared right into Hale's eyes and said "I definitely think some sort of... divine... energy is at work within you Alexander, don't think otherwise... okay?" She got up made for the exit. "Wait... I've been in your town for 3 weeks now I haven't seen you before." The girl responded with a smile and a tone of humor "That doesn't surprise me... I wouldn't exactly say this is my town". Hale let out a little laugh out of confusion and asked "Well you know my name, what's yours?" The girl hesitated a moment then looked at Hale and said "Sara, my name's Sara". Hale naturally desired to talk more with the girl but could sense he anxiousness to leave and responded with "Well Sara I'm sure i'll see you around this town... that's not really yours." Sara concluded upon her exit by saying "I'm sure I will see you again."

It was from this moment onward that Hale knew that he had the means to make a greater impact in the world doing what he was most passionate about, he acknowledge that his experience with the gun was one that ore significance and that his time as a soldier for the USA was done. This thought of his was further confirmed when he told his superior officer that he was done with the service, only to find that his episode with Desert Eagle angered his superiors and he was discharged for being careless and jeopardizing lives. According to his superiors of course, his superiors for the longest time where jealous of the success Hale yielded with his unorthodox ways of dealing with things and their inability to do the same.They would were just waiting for the day they could get rid of him.

Upon Alexander's leaving, three men of whom were Alex's fellow soldiers and friends named Michael, David and Raphael refused to say goodbye. Raphael, Michael and David were there and had front row seats to the Desert Eagle incident. They saw that the gun was at point blank range and they saw Hale survive and incident that should have left him absent of a head. They rest of the squadron merely dismissed Hale's survival to shooter having a shaky firing hand, whereas these three knew what they saw and could tell that Alexander was something special. Alexander Hale warned them that he wasn't sure as to what his plan was and that going with him may not be what they expect, yet Raphael, Michael and David knew what they were going to do and they joined Alexander and went with him.

Chapter 1, part 1

"They call you and your men angels, guardians, heroes. They claim that you're going to save them from our so called tyranny". The man exclaimed with a face that was both stern yet amused as he addressed Alexander Hale and his men. "You have a reputation that proceeds you, you are the one who claims to supposedly free oppressed people from people like me. Or at least thats what the rumor from the town-folk is, correct me if I'm wrong". Alexander Hale,unintimdated by this man's threatening tone replies in a very non-chalant manner and equally humorous tone."Well... There is one slight inaccuracy, you've left out, these guys right here". Hale acknowledges that he is referring to his friends "Michael, David, Raphael. They also do what you and your town-folk just described". This man and his guards glare at Hale with amusement as they pridefully wield they're large guns."I assume you plan to do the same to us right?" Hale responds,"Not necessarily, I'd rather you guys just left so we need not get our hands dirty." The man and his henchmen start laughing."Is that so... If my eyes are not mistaken it seems as though you and your men are carrying swords." the man continues laughing. Hale says nothing he just keeps his gaze fix on this man not showing any emotion in his face as the man's laughter dissipates into silence.

Hale breaks the brief silent pause. "So you really want to keep going the way your going?" Hales to becomes a little more serious. The amused face of this man's face begins to scorn with offense. Hale, waits a few moments for an answer. He doesn't get one, just an intimidating scorn "Times have changed my friend, the world doesn't need government. All those who craved power have since perished or are perishing. You're no different. Even if your people did need government whatever it is you claim to be doing isn't government. It's good old fashioned dictatorship." The man, looks at Hale with a blatantly angry stare and explains."There is nothing wrong with my people. My family for generations have provided for them. We've given them land, tools and resources by which they could make a living..." Hale cuts him off mid sentence. " Thats right isn't it, land you're family un-rightfully stole from them. The resources you speak of were the tools to which they operated to provide you and your family product for trade. Oh and the land which you gave them, would bare an excessively high rental fee every month practically ridding them of the wages you would seldom give to them. Yea the reason why they begged us to come here was because they appreciate the way you govern just oh so much."

The man sits there in stunned silence, fury seeping through his eyes as he stares daggers at Hale. Having been greatly offended by Alexander Hale the man gives the orders to his men to aim their guns at him. "I would say that you should learn from this error of yours, however that would imply that you going to remain alive which unfortunately for you isn't the case". The man acknowledges his men then promptly says "fire".

The guns spray a hail of bullets at Alexander and his men. The wall behind them starts turning into chalk dust as the bullets make impact. The surrounding plant life is getting torn to pieces. The plant pots and decorative statues crumble chucking up bits of clay and ceramic shrapnel into the air, shrapnel that consequently shatters the windows to the man's house. Throughout this chaos the high pitched and innocent sound of bullet casings chiming away provide something a melody line to the percussion of the actual bullets crashing of near enough every object in their way.

About ten long seconds pass before this concerto of chaos came to an abrupt ending with the last chime of a bullet casing hitting the concrete as the event closes with a perfect cadence. Everything in front of these men and their white hot smoking barrels was destroyed. Items were indistinguishable from what they looked like ten seconds ago. Even items adjacent to the direct line of fire from these men were damaged considerably from shrapnel. Everything was damaged or destroyed. Everything except, Alexander Hale and his men, who never moved from where they were, and remained seated in front of these hand held canons at what was a rather nice oak table that had been ruined by hot bullet casings that landed on it's surface, and bits of brick and mortar that had been chipped off of statues and walls and so forth.

Hale looks the mess around him, then smugly asks the men wielding the guns "Was that really necessary now? I mean did you really have to empty your mags? couldn't you see it wasn't working maybe after a quarter of you bullets were gone?.." Hale patronizingly waits for a repose, he doesn't get anything other than looks of sheer fear and defeat from the man and his men. Maintaining his smug tone Hale responds "No?, I mean your bullets ruined everything in your lovely little garden, I mean look at that tree. I really liked that, especially at this time of the evening what with the way the sunlight bounced of the leaves. Now its got barley any branches let alone leaves. You can fix that Raphael right?" Raphael looks at Hale with confidence and replies "easy". Raphael gets out of his chair and walks over to the hurt tree, he picks up a piece of the branch then gazes at the tree. "What have we got here?" exclaims to himself, he maintains his glare at the tree intensely assessing the damage. A look of certainty comes over Raphael's face and the intensity of his glare increases. The tree begins to heal itself, It's wounds begin to repair, it's broken limbs grow back, it's trunk thickens and grows so many feet taller, it's branches extend so many feet further and it's leaves grow in thicker and fuller with a rich array of colors ranging from mixtures of green, brown, golden yellow and silver. The tree begins to almost metamorphose as it's bark begins develop what looks like a silver lining that glistens as the setting sun's light reflects of the trunk and lusters as it sparkles through the leaves.

Hale, not lightening up his smug tone looks over to the man and says "Now isn't that just beautiful. Raphael's something of an expert when it comes to nature, there's plenty more where that came from also." The man finally breaks his silence and exclaims in a defeated and mesmerized voice as he gets up and walks towards the tree. "How is any of this possible?.." Hale responds "like i said, times have changed." Hale addresses his men "come on fellas I think our work here is done." They all get up and make for the gate. Hale in a condescending yet somewhat concerned tone looks at the man before he leaves and says, "you should probably find somewhere else to go, i mean you could stay here but considering what the people here think about you I recommended you go elsewhere. It's just a thought, do with it what you may." The man gazing straight into Hale's eye's reaches around his back produces a sheathed dagger. "Watcha got there?" Hale exclaims, the man unsheathes the dagger and throws the sheath down whilst griping the dagger blade pointing downwards. "Don't do this" Hale calmly says. The man cries aloud and charges towards Hale with the blade high overhead. As the man approaches Hale, Hale in one swift maneuver unsheathes his sword and strikes before the man could even drive the dagger downward. Hale catches the man as he falls from Hales strike. Hale holding the man as death draws nearer utters into his ear "It's okay, this'll all be over soon, i hit you with strike that from what I hear is the least painful and quickest way to death without limb dismemberment. Are you in pain?" The man replies as his life pours out through his veins, "Yes, but you and your blade did not cause it. I did..." The man's sentence dissipates into nothing as he breathes his last breath. Hale lays the man by the tree then hences forth towards the gate, as he reaches the gate he Michael, David and Raphael look towards guards and Raphael in a sarcastic yet friendly tone says "oh yea, don't worry about the whole gun incident we're fine, apart from that tree you guys have got real mess on your hands to clean up." then they left the garden.