John Constantine is, first and foremost, a man of mystery - but in this self-contained special, one of his darkest secrets is revealed at last. A seemingly random encounter with an old man triggers painful memories of the day a teenaged Constantine narrowly escaped a horrific death at the man's hands. In the shadows of a London church, Constantine learns a terrible truth about the old man's relationship to the First of the Fallen, ruler of Hell, who holds Constantine's ultimate fate in the palm of his hand.