Michale J. Cobb was born into a relatively simple homestead. His father worked the fields with his older brother while his mother would tend to the house. The family lived a short ways down the road from a small town. There wasn't much to it, a bar, a small general store, a sheriffs office, various other smaller shops. Once in a while the town would receive a small group of traveling caravans. Michale's father would sell his excess produce among these groups, selling off whatever was left over at the general store.
Michale grew up to be a fine young man, eventually taking over the farm from his aging father. He settled down with a beautiful young woman and started to raise up a respectable family. It was soon after, that a stranger showed up to town. The man had flashed a shiny piece of metal affixed to his jacket to the local sheriff, and it wasn't long before he and the sheriff had rounded up all the able bodied men to the center of town. They were all informed that a war had broken out; Michale didn't much care to listen too intently on the hows or whys of the situation. In a swift fashion all the men were handed guns, ammunition, and badges, thereby making them official deputies, the Marshals. Michale said his goodbyes to his family, entrusting the farm to a long-time family friend who had been passed by due to a bum leg.
The war was brutal, both sides believed fiercely that they were right, just, and moral. In the end, one faction prevailed, and unfortunately for Michale J. Cobb, it wasn't his. To the victors go the spoils, and in this case the Law was for the taking. Michale and other Marshals who had survived the war were quickly branded as outlaws, bandits, traitors, and desperadoes. Michale tried to return to his family, but the law was waiting for him. They took him, as he kicked and screamed, to the center of town, strung him up, and watched him hang. As Michale's vision left him the last thing he saw was his wife and newborn daughter screaming, just on the edge of his quickly dwindling sight.
Hell is not an enjoyable place - the torture, the fire, the screaming; it's all terrible. To Michale J. Cobb, the worst part was the feeling of hopelessness. At first, he had not broken, he could resist the torture, he could withstand the fire, he could dull the screaming; it wasn't easy, but he could still stand tall. After a time, the demons got smarter, and started to drag him to the foot of a giant lake. The water was so still, and so deep, it resembled a giant mirror. There, at the lake, they would force Michale to watch his wife and daughter live their lives without him. Soon the pain of it all began to tear away at his very soul, changing him, twisting him.
Years later, while at the reflecting lake, he was forced to watch as a desperado came riding to town. The man wore a long leather duster, and his face was obscured by a dark black bandanna. He road a large white warhorse and on his coat was pinned a new, bright badge, much like the ones Michale had seen on many of his enemies during the war. The man ransacked the town single-handedly and was in the process of tying up the women, when Michale saw his daughter - now in her early 20s - try to sneak up on the man and save the women. Michale watched as the villain whipped around, hitting her across the face and shooting her in the leg, before tying her up and tossing her on the back of his horse.
Michale was furious. His anger seethed and his twisted soul riled up, burning straight through him. His eyes melted into a solid black and yellowed smoke poured from his mouth and nostrils that smelled of sulfur. He turned his back on the reflecting pool and, catching his demon tormentors off guard, tore off towards where he believed the "exit" to this plane was, a narrow slit in the middle of an canyon. Along the way he spied a sturdy steed being saddled up. He jumped at the chance and stole the horse right out from under it's stable hand. The demons were in hot pursuit of the escapee, but Michale was tearing up ground faster than them, and he could see the "gate" straight ahead. He had noted the slight ripple when he first arrived and only hoped that it would lead home, never thinking he would actually have the ability to chance it. He took one last look behind him, seeing that the demons were gaining on him. He had his horse jump off the cliff into the abyss, aiming directly for the subtle wavering. He closed his eyes.
When he had opened them there was the grave stone.
MICHALE J. COBB
LOVING FATHER
He looked down at his blackened duster, and his tarnished star. He smiled, as the smoke curled slowly out the corners of his mouth.
"Daddy's home."
