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Chapter 3: Great Awakening
"Edge, we are proud to have you in our organization." A man in a dark navy cloak speaks to me from atop the highest pedestals along side his brothers. The one to his left wears a crimson wine cloak and the brother to his right wears a dark green. Those are the only distinctive factors of the men before me. They could trade cloaks everyday and I wouldn't know the difference, but it's a symbol for what assassins are supposed to be; hidden in the shadows or in plain sight. No one has ever seen the elders without their hoods shadowing their faces.
"Thank you Master." I bow my head low in respect for the men who have taken me into this life.
After a couple of moments, I raise my head to peer up at the elders as they look down upon me from their positions high above the great hall. "You've become our champion Edge and at such a young age too." It's true, I was only fifteen when I earned the title of champion while most assassins under the Master's were much older than I. It makes me a threat with a target pinned to my back.
The head of the Masters steps down and bestows upon me The Ring of Shadows. An artifact only given to those who have brought greatness to themselves and the organization with no name. The cool metal sent chills up my arm as I slid it onto my finger where it fit as if it was made to be there; which it was.
"I'll continue to please my Masters." I had made my usual promise that day, though it held more weight to it than it ever had before. The shadows man nodded before returning to his spot beside his brothers. "See to it that you do. Goodbye Edge."
I nodded at my dismissal out of respect and fell backwards through the unknown portal. If I had to describe it, it's like a falling angel mixed with what mortals call sky diving.
I won't be coming back to the place I've been raised and trained to be everything I am now. Because if I'm ever within those walls again, it'll be my death day.
I close my eyes and allow my body to plummet towards the bottom. That's why the portal is called the unknown, because no one ever reaches the bottom to find out what lies there before they're transported to another realm. I keep my eyes closed and feel the wind roll past my fingers and cheeks before I landed somewhere.
"Show time."
I don't know how long I've been unconscious, but now my mind is awake and wandering while my body is very much asleep.
This isn't an unusual occurrence for people like me to experience. It's like a defense under extreme circumstances where if our bodies have fallen without our will, our mind will awaken and allow us to know our surroundings before we awaken.
All I can feel are the vibrations of a wagon or something of the sort. With my senses heightened, I can feel every little pebble, every tiny insects life we end, and even the patter of feet as the wagon drags me along. I can't hear much over the racket of these wheels and the horse hooves, but I can make out the sound of a man's voice, though no words sound distinct enough. I can also smell, but I really wish I couldn't. This is why my location was a city and not a farm.
I can feel my body slosh and shake with the wooden vehicle; I'm going to be even more pissed off if I wake up with a back full of splinters.
In situations like this, I'm allowed to kill whomever is in my way of escaping. By normal code we are only instructed to kill our targets, but my mission has been compromised and requires lawlessness.
Once I'm up and Adam, I should have some nice exercise with these pathetic life forms who don't know what they're dealing with. For now I just have to play the waiting game.
I closed off my mind and allowed thoughts to wander to pass the time, though I soon grew impatient with my body.
I felt the wagon come to a stop and I did my best not to start panicking; though it would be convenient if I woke up right... NOW!... NOW!... Now?
My still limp body flops like a noodle across someone's shoulder. "How much gold did he say we'd get for him?" A man with a deep baritone voice booms from behind the man carrying me, rather roughly might I add.
"Enough for you to shut up before I stab you and take it all for myself." The man grunted as he adjusted me on his shoulder.
My eyes slowly flutter open, though the action is hidden by my glorious hair. A devilish smirk spreads across my lips.
"Show time." A say as I spring into action. I wrap my arm around the man carrying me's neck as I use my weight to pull him down to the ground by his neck before flipping and cracking it inward, killing him. I was right about the splinters in my back. I frown, I felt the suckers bury deeper into my skin when I had taken down the first one. My eyes snap up to the other man who roars and comes at me.
I leap to one side as the man charged at me, smiling. "Aw, is someone not going to get paid? Who hired you?" I ask as the man's face reddens with rage before charging at me again. I leap to the side as if dodging a bull. My smile drops as I continue leaping while the man comes at me. "Alright fine." I grumble before sliding between the man's legs on his next charge then bringing my leg up to snap his legs, crippling him onto the ground in a howl of pain.
I pant just a little bit as I kneel down my his head and lift his head up by his dirty hair. "Who hired you?" I pressed, hoping I wouldn't have to make the man suffer even more because it's just a waste of my time and energy. The man glares up at me with hatred which doesn't even make me flinch as I held a look of disinterest.
"I ain't telling you nothing." He spits, making me roll my eyes before climbing over his back and pinning his arm to his shoulder. He groans and hisses in more pain as I continue lifting his arm, threatening to snap it too. "Who hired you?" I ask again in a more demanding way, losing my patients.
"I don't know!" The man cried out as snot and tears leaked from his face onto the matted dirt path below them. "Don't lie!" I snap his arm with a loud crack, hearing the man howl like the swine he is once again. I reach for his other arm and he cries like an infant. "Please! I really don't know! He wore a mask! I swear!" The man hollers, making me stare down at him before getting off his back and kneeling by his face once again.
"Did he say where he was from?" I ask as he continues to blubber. "No... He promised us a wagon full of gold for your capture, that's all I know, please don't kill me." The man returns to a crying mess as he coughs and wiggle like a fat worm. I can't help but roll my eyes at the pathetic life form in front of me.
I stand up and search my person for any of my knives, though finding they were at least smart enough to remove weapons from an assassin. I sigh before kneeling back down and gently stroking the man's head. "There, there. No witnesses, no mercy, no emotions." I turn the man's neck to the side with a loud crack like the first and stand up tall just as it begins to rain.
I raise my hood over my head before staring down at the men. "Now I know there's a bounty on my head. I'll have to be more careful. More invisible." I speak to myself in a low voice before covering my mouth and nose with my face mask. I briefly stretch to loosen the tightness in my back and legs from the wagon ride, though I'll have to get someone to remove the splinters for me. With another sigh, I move around the now muddy path and drag the bodies back to the wagon. I release the horses and push it off the path where it splits and tumbles down the steep hill where no one will be able to distinguish the difference in an accident or murder.
I stare up into the dark rain clouds as a few droplets fall into my green eyes only for them to be blinked away like tears; tears with no emotion.
I stand there for a few moments longer, contemplating what I've been created for.
"It'll get easier Edge. Every kill will make you numb to the act of taking a life." My wine colored Master would tell me as I stand before another group of masked people with death marks. Two of them were trembling women, three were men trying to remain brave in the face of their demise, and one of them a child around my age. "I can't do it, Master." I said with giant innocent green eyes that would only belong on someone of age seven or eight. This didn't make my Master happy, though I couldn't see the frown of disappointment, I knew it was there.
My small and frail body trembled and my hands were soaked in sweat that I had to wipe onto my training armor, so I could hold my knife. "Do it like we showed you. Make the slice clean and exact, so the victims aren't left suffering. They were all good people, Edge." My master tries again. "If they were good people, why do they have to die?" I ask this question almost everyday and I receive the same answer.
"Even the good have to die, Edge." My master stood patiently beside me, no longer speaking as he waited for me to perform. I took slow steps towards the first man who could hear me approaching and gulped. "P-please! Don't kill me! I have three kid-" The man is cut off by a quick flick of my knife across his neck. He sputters and gargles blood for all of a second before falling onto his side. A pool of blood soaps my shoes, leaving bloody footprints as I move to my next victim with tears staining my cheeks.
The woman doesn't say anything, but just nods softly as my lip begins to wobble. I open my mouth to apologize to the woman, but remembered what my Masters had told me. 'Apologizing for bringing death is worse than doing it.' I held my tongue and slashed the woman the same; she died instantly. More blood spilled across the room I called the Red Room for this purpose, though it's essentially just the training area.
I continued on this pattern until there was enough blood to bathe the world in a blood storm. I stood with my back still to my Master. My knife dripping with crimson as tears and snot dripped from my face as I finally broke down crying. I fell to my knees, staining my armor and dropping my weapon to the floor with a clatter. I pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes, staining blood across my face like war paint as I sobbed over the people I had just killed.
My master approached behind me and stood there for a moment as he waited for me to stop crying. 'You have to be stronger than your emotions. Emotions will be the death of you.' I sniffed and wiped my face with my sleeve before standing to my feet again and bowing my head in shame. "I apologize Master." I kept my head bowed low until I felt his presence leave, meaning I was dismissed until tomorrow.
That night I had nightmares about the people coming back and dragging me into hell or something of the sort. Back then, sometimes I felt like I was in hell.
"Maybe we're all in hell." I turned away from the rain and walked along the path with wheel marks in the dirt. Kidnapped or not, I still had a grave to fill.
As I retraced the path, I still had the feeling of someone watching me, though it could very well be an animal or my own imagination.
"There he is!" I heard the shouting from behind me. I didn't even glance backwards to see how far they were before jumping up into the sky and willing my shadow into a crow. I flapped just out of the man's reach as he tried to grab for me. Now high above I stared down at the men who looked like they might be buddies with the two that had kidnapped me.
"This bounty is annoying as hell." I grumbled to myself. I dove into the dark trees; their untrained eyes would lose me almost instantly as I dove and spun through the branches. It didn't take long for my body to feel weak and I had to lower down and run on foot for fear of passing out or getting sick while being pursued.
I didn't hear footsteps chasing me, so I knew I was far enough from their line of sight of hearing. "I have to kill that witch before my ass gets knocked out again." I grumble miserably like a worker being told they have to work a double shift when they only had one.
It takes me maybe twenty minutes to navigate through the forest and find the mansion again. The familiar pull is still there, so I know she's inside. I take a few precautionary glances over my shoulder and around the house to be sure no one is going to ambush me.
I don't think they were smart enough for a plan B, so I proceed towards the window as a crow like last time. I squint and can see the couple laying in bed happily. I form back into a physical mortal and take a breathers for a moment in the tree to be sure becoming air won't fatigue me too much. I close my eyes and feel weightless.
When I open my eyes again, I'm inside the bedroom, crouching low and finding every bit of darkness I can get with my shadow clinging to my skin. I silently crawl to the side of the bed and peek up at the woman's sleeping figure to be sure she's really asleep.
One way I prefer killing people in their sleep is by serpent tongue. It only works on someone marked with death, just like quite a few of my other abilities. It's basically like the opposite of Sleeping Beauty or Snow White where a kiss won't wake up the princess, but kill her in her sleep. I stand up straighter and lean over the female's sleeping figure.
I feel nothing emotionally or sexually as I place the kiss upon the woman's sleeping lips. Whether it be the fact I've only kissed with a serpent tongue and it numbs me to such feelings, or I just don't have feelings romantically or sexually for something, I don't know.
I'm an assassin with more ways to kill someone in my little finger than everyone has in their entire bodies. I'm a shadow to never be seen or heard unless death is here to claim you and sometimes not even then. I don't have the time nor the life to have anyone; I barely have a friend.
When my lips pull back from the woman's she is already dead. I walk over with a little less stealth than before and exit through the air once again. As I open another portal back home, a bit of curiosity has me tied up to this realm.
"Where were they taking me?" I ask myself in a hushed voice. My sharp eyes catch on the wheel markings that had left the mansion when I was first knocked out and I begin to follow the tracks.
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