5 White?

Mustafi walked out of the room and into the lobby. He moved briskly but appeared to be walking leisurely. Something Poison found particularly annoying. It seemed like she was about to catch up to him and walk side by side with the Patriarch like Gersham was doing, but it also seemed like no matter how fast she moved, she was always left trailing behind.

At this point a realization struck her, 'these men are on a completely different level. I'm running but can't even catch up when they are just walking'. She immediately stopped chasing after them and instead just decided to follow, she was getting too tired to keep up with these old men.

As she stopped running after them and simply walked, she noticed that the distance between them did not increase. It was as if those cheeky old bustads had slowed down. Poison ground her teeth in anger, she had been running constantly for ten minutes but these old bullies were playing her the whole time.

She was steaming for a few minutes while staring at their backs with a cold glare. That was all she could do though. She continued walking behind them and they were going for what felt like an hour. At this point, her mind settled down, she noticed for the first time that they were still in the hallway. She halted her steps and was about to ask the seniors what happened but felt a dizzying feeling overwhelming her. She instinctively closed her eyes.

Unknown to her, she had been standing in the same spot in the hallway for only a few minutes. Gersham and the Patriarch were watching her intently. 'Why would she be trying to chase us? We weren't even walking that fast', they both thought as they waited in silence for her to break out of her reverie.

Poison opened her eyes. She saw the faces of the Patriarch and his assistant looking at her with stern gazes. She didn't understand what had happened. When had they stopped walking and why were they looking at her like that?

"What were you trying to do just now?", Gersham asked while staring at her with the gaze of a sage reprimanding a peasant.

"What were you doing trying to bully me?!" Poison screamed back in return. Her face was red with anger. She was higher up in the hierarchy than this old weasel and yet he was looking down on her, how unbelievable.

Mustafi sighed. This little girl was not ready to be an assassin. She already disregarded three of the most important unspoken rules of the Assassin Code in less than ten minutes. But she had so much potential, he could just continue to train her. At least no real harm has been done.

"Z903, kneel." Mustafi said, it pained him greatly to belittle his own disciple but she needed to understand the way the world worked.

Z903 obeyed immediately, despite the humiliation of kneeling in the presence of a subordinate. It was a direct order from the Patriarch, she could not bring herself to show pride in front of the most powerful man on the planet.

"Do you know why I asked you to kneel?" Mustafi asked with a calm voice, the voice of a father speaking to his child.

Hearing him speak this way, all the anger and humiliation she was feeling suddenly vanished. It was replaced with a feeling of guilt and a different type of shame. "..."

"You need to understand something because it will help you a lot in the future. You see my dear, power and authority have nothing to do with strength or capability. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of strong capable people who are in places of authority. But at the same time, you have to know that being the king doesn't mean you are the best person in the kingdom, it just means you are the most favored or the most acknowledged person. Are you following?"

Z903 looked at the Patriarch with a deep expression. She gradually comprehended his words. As the comprehension dawned on her, she nodded her head then shook it. Why hadn't she ever thought of something as obvious as that. It was common sense now that she looked at it, there were so many people in the world who were her age and better than her, but she was the one here now in the presence of the Patriarch. She wasn't better than them, just more favored by the heavens.

"Z903, are you following?" Gersham asked again in his master's stead. He didn't like arrogant children, they didn't have anything to be arrogant about but were still arrogant.

"Yes, sir", she said with her head still lowered. Her answer and behavior made not only Gersham, but even Mustafi to squint slightly.

"Now that we have settled that, why were you trying to chase us?", Mustafi asked through squinted eyes.

She slightly raised her head. "I wanted to walk by your side, but every time I tried to speed up it was like you were moving away faster and faster"

"You wanted to walk by my side?", Mustafi laughed, "What makes you think you have obtained that privilege?"

Gersham frowned slightly but on the inside he was laughing his heart out. 'She wanted to walk by the Patriarch's side? Who does she think she is? Even Bin Laden did not dare.'

"I thought that since I'm your direct disciple I should be able to walk by your side. Sir Gersham does so and I am higher in hierarchy than he is"

Gersham's face froze. He had never been so insulted in his life. This girl really considered herself an equal to him.

"I've come to realize now that simply being higher in the hierarchy doesn't mean I am better. And I apologise for insulting Sir Gersham" Z903 said as she bowed low.

Mustafi saw this and sighed. 'Why is she bowing to Gersham. She still has so much to learn'

"Rise and follow behind me." Mustafi said as he turned and continued walking.

___________

The walk didn't take as long this time. They quickly made their way into a large room. Inside this room looked like a library, complete with shelves of different sizes. But instead of books, there were weapons on the shelves, hundreds and thousands of weapons. There were all kinds; ranged, melee, sharp, blunt, conventional and non-conventional. This was the weapons hall of the White hand.

" Stay close. Don't wander off", Gersham said as they began twisting around the hall. It was a huge place, it took them almost half an hour to get to their destination.

___

They soon stood before the 25 foot tall brass door which seemed to be their destination. The doors bore a carved image of the six handed god sitting in the lotus position with his middle hands together as if in prayer. The upper hands were apart but the palms were facing each other, and in between them there was an image of two overlapping triangles with a dagger in the center of the hexagon. Its lower hands rested on top of its knees facing upward with flames rising from them, a katana lay across them.

Mustafi walked up to the door, he pulled out a small knife and cut his palm till it drew blood. He then placed his hands on the handle of the katana on the door. A golden glow shone from behind the door, so bright that they had to squint. The door started to rumble and the glow gradually faded as, before their eyes, the door began to open up.

When the door had opened sufficiently, they walked in and found themselves in a large golden room similar to the library but far smaller in size. There were weapons in here too but these weapons had auras that showed they were of a far higher quality than those outside.

"Poison, close your eyes" Mustafi said as soon as they entered. Poison did as instructed. "Now feel your way into room"

"I don't understand, sire"

"Just walk while following your instincts and stop when you feel you need to", Mustafi replied.

With the clarification, Poison began walking into the room. At first she didn't know where she was going, but as she moved she felt repellent forces pushing her all around. She kept moving till she didn't feel the repelling force.

"Impressive"