Ben POV

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I cracked the door to my home open a bit to confirm all the lights were completely off. I used my nocturnal vision to search the darkness for specific characters that I didn't want to collide with at this time of night.

Sensing the area clean, I scurried inside and up the stairs into my bedroom, where I also inspected carefully before entering and undressing. I  proceeded to go under the covers and lay on my back, my eyes staring at the crevices of the ceiling, thinking of the day's events. I smiled as I thought of Lu, remembering entering the cafe with her and having to explain to her boss why she had left during her shift. Thankfully, her boss wasn't tricky to charm with my magic, and I forced the boss to forgive the unexpected break. I even ordered Lu's boss to give her a raise.

Lu, of course, had no impression I was arranging the raise, and she thanked her boss numerous times, even daring to embrace him tightly, squealing and prancing around the cafe. Laughing, I had quickly thanked her boss and broke the incantation, leaving the cafe with Lu in my arms before the boss could regret his actions. As we walked down the sidewalk, Lu and I laughed and joked about her boss and her co-workers. Mainly, it was her complaining and criticizing them about how snobby and slutty they all were. I merely smirked and observed her intently, often not attending to what she was stating. I was converged on her beautiful features and querying to myself: was she the one I was destined to care for?

Even now as I lay on my mattress prepared to rest, I questioned my possible involvement with Lu and how our relationship would progress and develop. I knew she was human, but I believed I would be okay with that fact. I only prayed that my Mistress would accept that fact as quickly as I had.

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As I made my way downstairs, my sensitive ears detected a female voice was singing a lullaby. A lullaby that was sung to me when I had difficulty resting in my youth, and it soothed my nervousness away. I smiled at the memory and entered the kitchen to join my Mistress as she prepared lunch. "Good morning, Mistress," I spoke softly, watching as she turned and smiled at me with her brilliant white smile. I held her outstretched hand and kissed it softly in greeting.

"Good morning, Ben. I expect you slept comfortably with the way your hair is styled?" She teased, and I grinned. I placed one hand on top my head and whispered a spell, my hair responding by arranging itself into the quiff I normally wore. "Much better, Ben. Though you should probably learn to style it manually, seeing as how you are departing for your mission after lunch and will not use your abilities to fulfill such trivial routines."

I froze in my spot and gaped at her. "T-today? After lunch?"

"Yes, Ben. That is what I said." she turned around and proceeded to prepare lunch.

"I-I can't today. I have plans today." I explained, but when she turned around, I looked down, avoiding her cold stare.

"I said you are departing for your mission after lunch. I will not be repeating myself and will not entertain any more excuses. Now, go upstairs and pack while lunch is prepared." she instructed, and I nodded. I left the kitchen and climbed the stairs and walked into my room, heading to my closet for my packs. I said nothing and kept my thoughts at bay as I prepared my necessities and zipped my pack closed. I stood and finally allowed my thoughts to run wild, unpleasant emotions latched on and ripping my mind to pieces. Why hadn't she told me? Why did Mourner never utter a word about this? Did Mourner even know of this? What about Lu? What will I tell her? Will she hate me? Will she never speak to me again?

I decided that I would send her a text message; Explaining to her that I would be absent from this town for a while and didn't know when I would return. I would plead for her to forgive me for failing to fulfill my end of the agreement in meeting with her for dinner. I would promise her that when I returned I would be accompanying a gift for her.

After the deed was done, I grasped my pack and transported it near the front door. Once finished, I followed the scent of food into the dinette where my Mistress and Mourner were seated. I dipped my head in greeting towards both of them and proceeded to seat myself.

We ate in silence for a moment, but the silence was disturbed by my Mistress's voice, "I do assume you finished preparing yourself to part from here?"

I nodded, and she shook her head in approval. "Very good. Your means of transport has been provided. This will be a mission of great importance. You are tasked with a special mission. Like always, you will defeat the enemy using whatever methods you wish and rescue the captive, who you will refer to as 'Majesty,' understood?" I once again nodded, and my Mistress took a bite of her soufflé. "You are to deliver the captive to the village east of the building that holds 'Majesty' imprisoned. You will not use your abilities in the area and will report to Mourner of your progress on the day following tomorrow. Once in the village, you will be obligated to identify yourself, and you will respond with your temporary name: Benjamin Tuskin. If they request a photo, you must show them your Birth Identity pad where it will be modified by tomorrow to include your temporary identity. Do you possess any inquiries?" she finished, her violet eyes settling on mine.

I pondered whether I should ask If I would be returning in a short amount of days, but thought better of it, answering with a brief no. My Mistress would not appreciate that question. "Very well, you may leave once you are finished with your lunch, and do be careful. I do not want you dead so near your birthday." She answered with a soft smile. I grinned and finished my meal, rising from my seat and towards my Mistress. I held her extended hand and placed my forehead on it, wishing my Mistress a safe week while I was absent. I strode towards the front door and exited with my bag without glancing back. I knew I would return. I was confident in my skills and had been training since the day I was separated from my caregiver. Many years of intense preparation were not going to be wasted on this mission.

I had to come back. Maybe not for me, but I had someone to return to, and that thought made me smile.

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Six hours later, I stationed myself in the underbrush near a high, white monastery I assumed was the mentioned building holding 'Majesty.' It was found on the outskirts of the supposed village my Mistress had referred to on the westside, but there was no village at all. It was a large city, the towering silhouette of the numerous skyscrapers peeking above the fleecy clouds traveling lazily through the air. I could hear many sounds emitted from the chaos that was the city with my sensitive ears, ranging from pained shouts, serene singing, drunk maniacal laughter, and hopeless crying. Automotives dominated above the rest with their annoying honks and sirens, making me wish that I did not possess such sensitive auditory senses.

A strangled cry from inside the monastery startled me from my stupor. My ears tuning in and catching noises of struggle and fighting from the nearest windowpane. Curious, I forgot about following the plan, moving inside the building through an opening contiguous to me in a rush. I tracked the sounds to an open room, blood painting the walls of the once gray stone walls. I stared at the crimson liquid, astonished that I had not caught the whiff of it before I had entered. I crouched and caught an unfamiliar scent emitting some animalistic stench. I widened my eyes and strolled to a door cracked open. This time the metallic smell of fresh blood began attacking my nostrils the closer I became from the door, and I knew that I would have to prepare myself for what was inside the room, and I was correct.

Arriving inside, My stomach twisted and threatened to empty itself at the scene before me. Dozens of bodies lay sprawled on the floor, the blood and entrails seeping from them tainting the carpet's intricate colors into a blurred mess of reds. I ran out of the room and frantically searched the many rooms for any living being. Any living thing that I could warn of the intruder, but was disappointed to find more corpses furnishing the floors and often the walls.

My breath became labored and my mind frantic. The intruder was killing everyone! It needs to be stopped, or I'll be blamed for all of this and will be punished.

Suddenly, a thought popped into my head, and I remembered the plan. Majesty! He or she is here as well! The intruder was probably after them! I narrowed my eyes and set my mouth in a hard line in determination. I will not let them be killed. If they die, I will never forgive myself, and I will have failed my Mistress. I know how she deals with those who fail her, and if she doesn't punish me, then she will surely punish Mourner....or worse: Lu.

With that thought in mind, I began to scour the rooms and trailed the stench of the intruder, trailing him up the floors of the monastery. With every room that I investigated, it seemed the intruder was going at a brisk, unnatural pace. Either it was that option, or the intruder had been in action before I had entered. What I began to realize later, as I started to pass floor by floor, was the stench of the intruder seemed to seem more distant. I discerned a bit after that the smell was more distant because it meant the intruder had begun at the top and made its way down, but what seemed to confuse me was the reason as to why. Why was the intruder going down? Was there some basement? A dungeon? I had not seen any doors that lead to an underground region.

Although I saw no point, I jogged to the main floor and began searching the rooms once again, my stomach seeming accustomed to the hideous displays and merely twitched at the scenes in each office and dormitory. I peered and investigated each room but failed to spot any entrances to an underground area. Fed up, I leaned up against a wall untouched by the thick red serum and ran choices through my head. I could report my failure to Mourner and receive my punishment or I could keep searching even if it meant tearing the monastery down brick by brick. If I failed to do so, there was a great chance I could lose someone essential to me.

As planned, I began to tear and devastate the furniture and carpets, carefully moving aside the corpses to search under them. I heaved large bookcases aside, not before taking a few books that interested me, and punctured the floorboards with my fists and feet, but there was no indication of a dungeon or underground corridor. I became so frustrated I leaned against a wall and slid onto the floor. I took deep breaths to calm myself, but I only seemed to be becoming worse. I grew so distraught the only action that seemed reasonable was to shout. So I did. I yelled angrily, appearing more hurt than angry, the sound reverberated around the room, but it was close to how I felt at the moment. I thought about how I had failed in my mission. The only task I had ever failed, and it had to be categorized as a damn "special" one. No doubt I would be punished severely. I was at risk of losing my status. My freedom. My life. Or even worse: Lua.

I felt the moisture form in my eyes but fought against the urge to crumble. I had to finish this mission. This wasn't about me anymore. It was about her.

Enraged I squeezed my eyes shut and tugged at my hair forcefully, "Ngh! Where are you, Majesty?" A pain in my chest exploded into a searing sensation, expanding. Grasping and torturing my every nerve in my body. I felt myself losing control, and the atmosphere around me created a small whirlwind, picking up and discarding any stray bits of paper that were not cemented to the floor and walls with the help of the blood or crammed into a book.

I'm over here...

My eyes shot open in an instant just as a cold wave hit me, bearing witness as the whirlwind erupted into flames, scorching the paper and nearby bodies before evaporating out of existence. I fell silent, my mouth agape and my breathing quiet while I put my sensitive ears to work. Listening into the crackling of the flames feeding on the corpses and paper hoping to capture any remnants of the hushed voice from earlier. I was close to dismissing the whole thing as a hallucination when suddenly a loud ripping noise painfully grazed my eardrums. I flinched away from the hurtful racket and stared into a nearby room where the doorway had become black.

I stood to my full height slowly, staring into the strange blackness that blocked the doorway. Occasionally I would catch a glimpse of some white streaks on the black surface, but they would sink back into the gloom without a trace. I moved towards it slowly and stood in front of it, scrutinizing it.

Help me...

My eyes widened in surprise as the hushed voice faded. I concluded that it had not been a hallucination and that it had come from the black obstruction. I didn't understand what was happening. "Where are you?" I asked quietly, listening for the hushed voice. As if to answer, the murkiness began to fold on itself revealing a white passage.

Before I could look any further, I was shoved violently to the side, my body hitting the wall resulting in a loud CRACK! I yelped and fell to the floor in a heap, barely witnessing the creature through my foggy vision as it made itself visible. I cursed in my head! It was invisible the whole time!

Glancing my way one final time, It quickly dove into the passage, and soon its footsteps began to fade. I immediately panicked. There was no doubt it was after Majesty! I had to get them before it did! With the help of the adrenaline from panicking, I heaved myself up from the floor and ran into the passage, desperate to reach Majesty in case the creature wanted to hurt him. I had been on enough missions to know that it would be categorized as the assassin and if it was planning to murder Majesty, I had to stop it.

This mission was not only my life on the line. Lua was potentially at risk as well, and I couldn't gamble with her life. I didn't want to lose anybody else I cared about.

Not again