Chapter 21

As the sun sets Nyx gets up and goes for a walk. As she is walking someone bumps into her. Turning to locate the person she starts to follow them silently.

Following the person, she uses the crowd to blend in as much as she can. As she is running she urges a mana core. As the guy turns the corner she sits on a bench next to someone.

Shaking his head, he continues moving. Getting up she continues to follow him. Through the street she follows him. As he gets to a busy street he picks up his pace.

Picking up her speed as well she manages to keep up. After a few minutes he picks looks around. As he does she starts running to her left. With his forming a scowled look he continues at double the pace of before.

Thinking of how she is to in the open, she tries to disappear. Instead of disappearing, a darkness covers her body, allowing her to descend into the shadows.

Within the shadows she starts to freak out. As she moves her arms she sees them slightly brighten up and dim back down. Calming herself, she turns her head around to see just darkness littered with patches of light.

Some patches of light are brighter then others. She walks to the light. Upon touching the light, she appears outside of the shadows. Looking around she notices she barely moved within the shadows, and yet she appeared way further ahead.

Looking around she locates the guy and sees that she is somehow ahead of him. Activating another core she dives back into the shadows. Looking around she sees how the shadows move.

Wandering which shadow could belong to the guy she searches. Wandering how she could check, she tries to invasion the outside within her mind. As she is trying this, the guy looks around in a panic.

After seeing nothing out of the ordinary he continues forward and a much faster rate. Back in the shadows, Nyx sees one shadow unnaturally pick up speed. 'That should be the guy. It's the only one that picked up speed. I must come to a better understanding of what this shadowy area is.'

As she follows the shadow, the guy keeps on moving. As she acclimates to this new darkness, she starts to be able to hear the footsteps around her. Confused as to why she is able to hear the footsteps she continues forward.

Up above the guy stops and looks around. Wondering if he is just imagining things, he continues forward. After several minutes of zipping through the streets, he comes to a halt. Backing up from the shadows, she comes out. Listening from the corner of a building she hears him say, "From the darkness we strike, in the light we are hidden, let all those who hear our names tremble."

A door opens and she hops into the shadows and quickly follows after him. She waited cause she isn't sure if she can just enter buildings through the shadows. Following the one shadow it stops in front of someone and bows.

Looking around the person in a midnight blue wearing a blank mask looks around and asks in a deep voice, "Are you sure you weren't followed?"

Nyx is confused as to why she could hear him ask that when she could barely hear footsteps. The guy looks around and says, "I thought I was being followed, but I couldn't ever locate the person following me sir."

"I would be shocked if someone like you, who hasn't studied up on shadow magic at all could locate our little friend here." he responds.

"Great. I only started feeling like someone was following me after I bumped into one certain person."

"You should know better then to bump into people while on your way back from a mission. Before you continue asking anything. Come out of the shadows there, he may not notice someone there, but I certainly do," he says.

With a sigh Nyx comes out of the shadows, "I was originally interested in having him apologize for bumping into me, and no I wasn't always in the shadows."

"How did she learn how to enter into the shadows while following me then? Also does she even know where she is?"

Laughter fills the room, "Of course she doesn't know where this is. She also only has a white mana core as her highest mana core. Unlike you who has failed to form another mana core in time, she already has several. She is also naturally in tune with the darkness element."

"So where am I? Doesn't seem a place someone of my age should be," she looks directly at the man in the midnight blue robes.

"You are right someone as young as you shouldn't be here," the first guy says.

"Flareath, out you go."

"But sir, what about?"

"We will talk later. You are dismissed for now. Or perhaps you need a reminder as to why you should leave when told," the guy in midnight blue robes says.

The other guy hurriedly leaves the room. "Now then. You young Nyx are in the lair of assassins."

"I shouldn't be surprised you can figure out my identity. This is definitely not the right place for me to be," she shakes her head.

"Don't be so distraught. I know you are still in school. Otherwise you would be able to hear even what he says in the shadows. What are your views on assassins though?"

"A frontal assault is far to dangerous, why wouldn't one want to sneak up on their enemy. Assassins are masters of stealth and information gathering. They are great at making sure an enemies family isn't able to retaliate.

"The best of assassins are masters of poisons, stealth, backstabs, deflection, implanting false evidence, disguise, and all sorts of other skills necessary to stay in disguise. Assassins aren't inherently evil. To the outside they may appear as evil, due to how willing assassins are to let others take the blame, how willing they are to disguise and stay hidden, and how willing they are to kill someone. But none of these are inherently evil traits. There are other profession that have one or many of these same traits.

"So in short assassins are great at what they do. Assassins aren't inherently evil, and are capable of doing deeds that are to the benefit to the area they are in. That isn't to say, that all assassins don't just take up any and all assassination requests, but a lot choose carefully which ones they go on," Nyx responds.

"So would you be willing to be trained by an assassin yourself? Don't worry you will still be able to attend school."

"I would be able to more quickly understand the shadows, mana cores, and other things. Honestly I am tempted by this offer. Not just anyone can say they have found someone to each them beyond the school," Nyx replies.

With a nod he says, "Come back before school starts up again to signify that you accept the offer. I suspect that you already know what you have to say."

Nyx walks out and goes home, thinking about if she should join or not. For she doesn't know what it exactly means to be taught by an assassin.