The Assignment

Osiris had come here to listen to what the king had to offer, now he was in front of one of his most trusted vassals.

The captain of the guard looked at him expectantly and then began to speak. "Well? Are you going to say anything? Oh, well I need to introduce myself first, my name is Sir. Xavier. You may ha-"

Osiris cut him short before he could continue rambling. "Your king has summoned me, I believe that I am in reason to know why." His blood burned just speaking to a knight.

"Take a seat then," he drawled, seemingly upset he couldn't boast about himself any longer. Osiris showed no open emotion to the knight's comment but if one could peer into his soul they would see a thinly veiled rage. The knight's mere presence put him on edge.

He looked around before sitting at a small table in the center of the room. The hooded man who had led him here could no longer be seen, having slunk out the door as he was closing it.

Documents littered the table.

The knight sat directly opposed to Osiris. "Now on to what you're here for." The knight said as he passed Osiris a piece of parchment. "Those are some of the more detailed notes on the assignment if you want to have a better look, but I can give you a quick rundown." Xavier looked at him expectantly.

"Continue," Osiris's voice echoed from his helmet.

"Not one for manners are you?" He paused and a look of contemplation briefly flashed upon his face before returning to his naturally arrogant visage. "Not that you had any parents to teach you anyway."

This man had delved into Osiris's past, reviewing any files the kingdom had collected, seeing what he could and could not say before pushing Osiris over the edge.

Osiris tensed from within his armour, his fist clenched around his blade, his knuckles turning a bone-white beneath his black leather gauntlets. "Tell me of my query." Osiris maintained a steady tone even while his blood boiled.

The knight sighed, "Very well." He paused. "You shall be on the hunt for the Amulet of Soaric... or well its pieces to be more precise"

"The Amulet is nothing more than a myth, a story to tell children."

"Hmm, you must have heard of it through other means, I suppose."

The image of Xavier's disembowelled corpse blazed its way through Osiris's mind for the briefest of moments.

"Anyhow, what you know as myth is most certainly real. One of the king's oracles has stated so."

"How can you trust their word?"

"We don't, only a fool would do such a thing. We can only trust that he wishes to breathe."

Osiris paused before speaking. "The brutality of your king has not diminished in the slightest, and even if this oracle is telling the truth how does this help me?" Osiris said.

"Well, it would be quite useless if nothing more was said. What is the point of being told that treasure has been sprinkled across the continent if you have no leads as to where?" It seemed that this knight had some wisdom, though the word some may have been a stretch. "The oracle has told us the loose positions of the Amulet's shards, they have been written onto the parchment I gave you earlier."

Though Osiris remained quiet, a question was posed. If they had their locations, why hadn't the king mobilized any troops?

Perhaps sensing his question, or just wanting to talk more, the Knight answered.

"With the kingdom at war with those Endratic scum, not to mention the Solace Seekers who are about to join the fray, resources are spread thin. However, the Amulet could shift the tides of war if any of the stories are to be true. We can't afford to move any soldiers, so you're our next option."

Osiris nodded. The Amulet of Soaric had been spoken of for generations. It was said that whoever wore the amulet would achieve a power that nobody had ever wielded besides the one who crafted the artifact. However, the amulet had been long lost having supposedly been consumed by savage tides of time.

"Now that you have everything laid out, we should go about making this official. Or you could go through the trouble of walking out that door."

Osiris had known that as soon as walked through the door of the small house he would have to agree to whatever terms were made unless he wanted to face any soldiers that had been placed outside to guarantee his agreement. However, Osiris couldn't help taking a glance at the door that was just behind him.

"Very well," Osiris sighed knowing any chance of backing out was swiftly slipping through his grasp.

The knight smiled broadly, appearing giddy at the idea he had managed to secure a contract with a man who was infamous for killing three knights when he was just thirteen years old.

"Here you go," the knight said as he pulled a piece of paper from the table and placed it in front of the Knight Slayer. "You should know the deal, just a drop of blood."

Osiris read through the contract picking up all that he could from the legislative jargon in front of him. After making sure he wasn't signing away his life and making sure he would get what he was owed, he retrieved a small blade from one of his pockets. Osiris removed his gauntlet and pricked his finger, a single drop of blood falling from his calloused hand, staining the parchment.

A moment later a purple glow emanated from the paper. The magic that flowed through his veins had interacted with the magical inscription at the bottom of the page effectively binding him to the contract. "Very good! The King shall be very pleased!"

Osiris removed himself from his chair, grabbing the paper that gave further insight into the whereabouts of the shards. He moved toward the door not sparing the knight even a glance. Just as Osiris was about to open the door the knight spoke up: "Oh, perhaps I should have warned you earlier, but you are not the only one taking part in this hunt. As one of your trade, you should know that word travels very fast."

The Knight Slayer nodded swiftly before walking out the door, surprised he had managed to leave the wooden floors unstained.