Chapter 21: Assassin

Assassin, No Name

Imperial Calendar: Year 1596, Month 2, Day 8

City of Valenwood, Assassins Guild, north of the Imperial Territory

-Steal the silver.

-I don't want any bad news, remember this is your only option.

-The first thing you need to do is enlist in the squad. You have no name, no last name, no parents. Remember, you are nobody. Your name will be... It doesn't matter, make one up yourself.

-Yes, sir.

Unpleasant smell, this place is the worst I have ever seen, sealed in just four walls and two chairs in the center. The small lamp flickered slowly, giving a little warmth and light to this melancholic and sad place. Orders after orders, that's all I know. Since I was young, well trained and conditioned, I have no parents, I have no one. The only thing I have is a girl. I don't know when it happened, but it just happened. I met her on an assassination mission. She is 9 years old. Since that day, she never left my side. She is just like me, a simple girl who became an orphan and was sold as a slave to a lord.

Steal the silver, the only option, it's true. I didn't want this lord, the closest thing to a "father" I've ever had in my life, to find out about the girl. Blackmail, it's clear... that's how things are, that's how they've always been.

She was like a light in my dark life, a small change that grew over the months. I fed her and gave her a home... Why? I don't know, but something inside me moved. My heart, I thought I didn't have one. My emotions? I thought they were never there.

-If you don't bring the plant... that girl you've been hiding will die, do you understand?

I understand perfectly, damn it.... I have an expressionless face, I can't kill him, he is a monster beyond my imagination, he is very strong, he is the current leader of the assassins guild.

For as long as I can remember, I have always seen death and agony, torture and despair. It doesn't matter what age you are, as long as you have information.... that is the rule of this place, the golden rule that everyone follows. Orders from above are absolute, that's what it means to be below them... that's what it means to be weak.

I don't want the girl to die, I have to protect her....

-Yes, sir....

Leaving the four walls, I saw her outside. She is small, very cute and adorable, a dwarf. She has orange hair and looks at me with fear. This place is scary in itself, it's very dark after all.

-Brother.... let's leave this place....

Brother... it is a word with many meanings, a lot weighs on me, it is a responsibility, it is my burden...

-Yes...

The small lamps went out as we moved away. As if the shadows of the place were slowly devouring us....

******

Twilight Initiator, Zed, Son of Shadows, Shadow

Imperial Calendar: Year 1596, Month 3, Day 31

Riverland Mountains Interior, north of the Imperial Territory

Hunched, tall, and deformed, those were the first impressions when looking for the first time at the horror inside the mountains. It was very frightening, my skin tingled, and my body trembled slightly. It was horrifying, stuck to a wall, about 7 meters high. It resembled a plant, its petals seemed to have red veins that throbbed and writhed, opening and closing, with a large amount of green substance behind them that fell to the ground, melting the black stone.

It had vines that swayed gently in the air, as if in a dance. Its vines occasionally descended to the ground, very quickly, and in the moment it lifted them, it held a human limb... brutally torn off. Beneath them, the soldiers, in total panic, ran like headless chickens. Some even killed each other, while others simply knelt on the ground, crying.

It was a total massacre, blood was spread all over the ground. The vines took the bodies, alive or dead, to its mouth, devouring them in seconds.

The silver monster was on a wall. Zed felt a great amount of mana filtering through the rock's fissures. He suspected that behind that wall was the Dragon Stone. Beside the silver monster, there were different types of glowing plants, their shine completely invisible in the darkness.

No matter how much chaos and screams resounded around, it remained eerily calm, as if nothing was happening. I was hidden in a place far from the battlefield, looking for the plant I had descended into this hell for. I couldn't quite locate it.

It was a time I couldn't afford to waste, after all, the soldiers were giving their all in a more literal sense.

Bang! Bang!

There were sounds of swords clashing. Looking in the center, a man advanced forward, his sword firmly gripped in his hands, his armor stained with blood, and his complexion somewhat pale. There was fear in his eyes, but still, he didn't stop moving forward. He was the captain of the soldiers.

He swung his sword at each attempt the silver monster made to catch him. The man was old, the man.... just died.

The hundreds of vines floating in the air broke the sound barrier and descended on the man's body, filling it with holes everywhere, killing him instantly.

At that moment, I saw it, a red glow in the middle of all the darkness, as bright as the sun itself. Its beautiful petals swayed elegantly with the movement of the air, then disappeared.

It was behind the silver monster's body, extremely close to that thing... Frowning, I saw with slightly open eyes, a small shadow moving silently, cautiously approaching the plant.

An assassin... a real one. The skill he was using was true stealth, yet it wasn't as perfect as mine. They are totally different skills.

-This might be better than anything else, he can't see me, but I can see him.

The assassin approaching the flower was the 17-year-old boy... He will do the job for me...