Prologue

In a barren place found in between the mountain ranges of the Himalayas, a woman whose skin was as white as snow was on her way to enter a secret passage that would lead her to a hydraulic platform that would bring her 2000 meters below the ground.

Her face had a deep and ugly scar on her forehead caused by a blade which she got when she was only ten; the age when she had her first mission. She was also wearing an eye patch as she had lost her eye when she was sixteen as a fragment entered on it during an explosion.

But despite all of these, no one could deny the fact that she's beautiful. In fact, the scar and the eyepatch even added to her appeal.

She had endured the cruel weather just to reach that place to get her freedom.

As soon as the hydraulic lift touched the ground, the door opened revealing a bunch of familiar faces who were curious on who was boarding the platform.

When they realized who she was, they were all stood rooted on the ground.

"Ana's back!" A nine-year old girl shouted that brought the people present to snap out of their daze and turned vigilant pointing their armed weapons towards her.

Yes, two kilometers below the ground was a community where she had spent most of her time. This was her home. Their basecamp.

Ana or Anastasia raised both of her arms and showing off that she had no weapons concealed in her body.

But the group of young men became aggressive and apprehended her like they were apprehending an enemy.

"Hey what are you doing? Ana had just gotten back to us!" The child named Carmella tried to push the people who tried to detain Ana.

The man got irritated by her actions and pushed the little girl away. His action did not skip from Ana's sharp gaze. Though they had already contained her hands, she broke free from the handcuffs and guarded the child not minding that her wrist was probably broken because of what she did.

After she secured that the child was safe, she approached the man and threw her deadliest glare back at him. The man uncontrollably shivered and almost peed on his pants. Her oppression was too much to handle that he turned gravely pale and beads of cold sweats formed on his forehead.

Ana did not recall seeing this man from the past. The same with those who tried to restrain her earlier.

The people who had been watching the commotion as it commenced shook their heads because these boys were doomed.

They dared to anger the Evil Incarnate herself.

Their doomed.

"New recruits?" She asked however only silence answered her.

"Does our mercenary group's standards had become this low after I went missing?" She added not expecting that someone would answer her.

"They're new trainees. Leader had assigned them to stand guard on the main entrance."

Carmella innocently answered her. Ana turned her attention to Carmella this time and the tone of her voice changed.

"Are you okay? Tell this sister if you're hurt somewhere else."

The child pouted and then displayed her smile.

"I'm not hurt. I've been training while you were gone. Have you not returned, I will surely ask Leader to let me out of here and find you."

Then suddenly Carmella's eyes moistened with tears and this struck Ana's heart as soon as she saw them in her eyes.

Ana stooped to level with her and hugged her tightly.

"Don't worry, sister's here now. I'm sorry for not coming back earlier. But I'm here now, am I not?" Carmella nodded while Ana was wiping the former's tears using the back of her hand.

The scene was indeed heart-warming.

After Carmella calmed down, she turned her attention to the group of men who were now trembling in fear because they had just realized they had offended someone they should have.

They wished that the ground could swallow them whole if this means could save them from her wrath.

In the outside world, justice and human rights exist. But in their world, they respected the strong and trampled on the weak. However, as long as that person was under her wing, they would never dare touch that person.

Ana raised her right hand and with the flick of her finger, the man who pushed Carmella collapsed on the ground with both his eyes open not realizing that his life had long been claimed by her.

This shocked the remaining members to the core.

However Ana did not mind their reaction and held the hand of the child and then softly said, "Let's go and see Mother." The child nodded in response with a beautiful smile plastered in her young face.

The two then made their way towards the huge building where the Leader and the Elders of the Faction stayed.

"Asia!" Compared to those bunch of newbies who were guarding on the main entrance, the man who was the head of security in this building immediately recognized her. He was a man on his early 50s but his age did not show that on his face. He looked ten years younger.

"Mr. Phillip." Ana greeted with a nod.

"Hello Mr. Phillip! See? I told you Ana would be back!"

"Yeah. I know you're right all this time." Philip cheered Carmella.

"Are Mom and Dad inside?" Ana cut the chase.

"Yes, Leader and Mistress are inside. They were having a meeting with the Elders." He replied.

Ana did not wait any longer and barged inside the meeting hall.

***

Inside the hall, a total of fifteen people were having a discussion. The topic was extremely serious as the man sitting in the middle like that of the King was frowning.

However, their discussion came to a halt when the door swung open.

"Asia!"

The woman who was sitting beside the Leader cried out in joy and tears were about to drop out of her eyes but she stopped herself.

"Mom. Dad."

Ana calmly called her parents. Her tone was like she wasn't longing for them. Like she was only gone for a day and not for more than a year.

Her mother was disheartened the moment she heard her daughter's tone of voice. She wanted to hug her but she could not. Not when everyone was around.

Unlike her mother, her father immediately dismissed the rest of the people inside the hall saying that they will discuss the matter next time.

The Elders protested but they had no chance especially when their Leader had already made their decision.

Therefore, they scram immediately.

Like on cue, all the pent up emotions that Layla, Ana's mother had been holding inside her exploded. Ana then ran and hug her mother. She uttered some comforting words to her mother while gently rubbing her back. Her father also came and hugged his wife and daughter. They were his everything. He was so enraged when he learned that his daughter was caught in a drastic accident that they thought had cost her life. He immediately killed the man who gave the task to the faction to avenge her so called death.

Ana knew that her next words would surely break her parent's hearts. Especially her mother.

"Eve, where have you been?" Her mother addressed her with the name that only the three of them knew.

"I'm sorry Mom. I was not able to come back right away after I failed my mission. I lost my memories and had just recovered recently." She explained though she partly lied because she had recovered her consciousness 2 months after her incident.

"Good grief. Now that you're here, you won't leave again right?"

As her father asked her this question Ana's expression changed.

She turn around and looked at Carmella who was sitting on the corner with a puzzled look.

"Carmella, can you go out for a while and play with Mr. Philip." Ana was glad that Carmella obeyed her without asking any question before she left.

"What's wrong?" Layla asked her daughter as she felt like something was off.

As Ana made sure that Carmella was out of the room and no other people was close by, she beckoned her parents for them to sit on the chair opposite her.

"Mom. Dad. I'm not here because I wanted to come back. Sure! I wanted to reunite with you, my parents but... *Sigh!*... Mom. Dad. I'm here to ask my freedom."

As she said her purpose, both of her parent's eyes widened! They were in disbelief and was caught speechless.

"No!" Her father rejected the idea soon after he recovered.

She already saw this coming but she would not be her father's daughter if she was not as stubborn as him.

"Dad. I knew you won't agree from the very beginning. However, I wanted this!" She stated firmly.

"You wanted to die? Remember we had an oath! To-"

"Killing means Living; Freedom means Death." Ana finished the oath for him.

The only way out for her was D.e.a.t.h.

She had the choice not to go back but she did. She had to face her parents and personally inform them about her decision because she knew that the Elders won't stop looking for her unless her dead body was delivered right in front of them.

She had to do this as to not implicate those innocent people whom had given her shelter for the past year without questioning her identity. This way, she would also help her parents.

She knew the Elders were wary of her. Her reputation as a Mercenary and an Assassin was unprecedented and even surpassed her father's record when he was still taking missions before her grandfather handed over the organization to him.

Also, no matter of how outstanding she was, the fact that she was a woman and not a man was her only flaw. Because of this, the Elders had been pressuring her parents to marry her off to their grandson and nephews or simply appoint a successor had she not agreed of the arrangement.

So, she stated her plan to convince her parents to let her be. She only asked for her parents to never allow Carmella to be one of them.

She didn't want Carmella to experience the hardships and huge responsibility that a mercenary carried on their shoulders during missions.

She somehow blamed herself for bringing her in this dark world. Had she known that it will end this way, she would have left her in the orphanage instead.

The following day, on the day of her 18th birthday, she committed suicide by drinking a powerful drug that she had been secretly formulating ever since she was 10.

In just 0.30 seconds after ingesting, she died.

No one knew what happened to her dead body afterwards.

"You made it child. You're finally free." Her mother whispered on her ears with her tears flowing like a river.

"Till we meet again, Eve."