Author: Hydras First
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First off, I want to thank Peloma for his/her great idea of the ...well, I won't spoil things to you, but Peloma, if your reading this, THANK YOU!
Secondly, I probably will be expanding the story, although I stopped playing Guild Wars, its still fun to write the story. Oh well, enjoy :)
Way of the Assassin – Hunter, Hunted
I lay here, a gaping wound in my shoulder and chest. I already realize I’m dying, there’s a glassy look in my eye, I’ve seen it many times enough in my victims. The assassin that stabbed me was an expert, a master of shadows and daggers. The assassin was an absolute master of assassination, I had a feeling that assassin could get past the Imperial Army and kill Kisu in his sleep. I knew this assassin lived in Shing Jea, and had a well-rounded education in the art of death. But the only thing was, the assassin wasn’t Panaku.
While I was dying, I wondered if a flashback would occur, like in the books and scrolls I read. Then again, sometimes the hatchet should stay buried, especially in my…occupation. Ironically, I died in the same way I wanted my next victim to die. I had the exact address, time, time of day set. Everything. Only problem was, so was the assassin that stabbed me. I should begin at the beginning, earlier this week, were it all started, my favorite place: the noodle shop.
While ordering some rice and beef noodles, I overhead a few people talking. Of course, so was everyone else, but for some reason they stuck out to me. Maybe the tone or pitch of the old men caught my attention or something. When I first walked over there with my beef and rice noodles forgotten, I noticed that the current one talking was a war veteran, you could tell, with the medals and bandage on his head.
“Sunjiang District, where his next assignment was supposed to take place, something about a loose-cannon guard named Shen or whatever.” Said the veteran, to his friend, a Luxon be the look of it.
“I heard that too, though his name was Shen, it was Shiro. Shiro Tagachi!”
“Shiro? Like the same Shiro that caused the Jade Wind thing?”
“No, the other guy named Shiro Tagachi and happened to cause another Jade Wind, stop the sea from moving, and petrifying the forrest!”
I was done listening, they moved on to something about a vacation in a northern country named Tyria. Besides, I now knew where my next victim was. Vicious, murderous, and thoughts filled with retribution flooded through my head.
As soon as first light came, I set up transportation to the Sunjiang District, first a horse, and if I was lucky a caravan might be going the same direction as me. I was lucky, a wagon was just leaving as I asked for a ride.
“Sure, but I ain’t gonna stop at Maatu Keep or something like that, so you gotta walk to that.” Said the wagon driver.
Days passed in that wagon. The drivers name was Ethan. He had two sons with him, named Elliot and Luke. Elliot was a master at archery and could get a game easily for the caravan. Luke was an expert at medical things, something that bored me to death. Although I had to admit it was pretty cool to see him heal the horses to keep them moving. Life on the road was dull and drag, most of the time the brothers and I chatted, they were two or so years younger than I, 24. Once Elliot mentioned about teaching at Shing Jea since Sujun was killed in a yeti accident. Luke must have seen me tense, because he suggested some sort of therapy. The tension was so thick, you could stick a fork in it and eat it. The boys told me about their mother, who lost her life to a paid assassin, only to die because she was holding some sort of information for a friend. When I heard that, my heart skipped a beat, the boys’ mother was my 5th victim, a women named Sue Anna, who was holding information she learned from Informant Tanzhen. I tried to hold my guilt, but it was coming up to fast I physically shut my mouth to stop spewing the truth about their mother.
On the fifth day of travel, it was my time to get off, Maatu Keep was only a hundred yards or so away. I thanked Ethan and his sons and spirited before my conscience forced me to tell the boys the truth. At Maatu Keep I actually saw Panaku, but was to crowded to actually do something.
“What if you miss?” said a raspy voice beside me. I almost jumped out of my own skin at that moment, thinking I was discovered. But no, the man who spoke was ancient looking, and must have known of my assassination, but showed no sign of knowing except the words he spoke.
My only reply was, “I don’t.” and sped off before he could speak more.
I found Panaku at an old worn down shack, made of falling boards and foggy windows. I walked into his home and looked around, a painting of a falling sunset as red as blood was on a wall, a mirror on another. But it was the table that reached my attention; it had five knives on it, all crimson red with freshly spilled blood on the blade of them. I hated Panaku, but I had to give him credit, at fourty-five he could still carry a job that was meant for someone twenty years younger than him. Once he walked into his shack from a back door, he stared right at me. I threw icy daggers at him with my eyes, as if they could actually kill him.
“I was wondering when you’d find me, Ghost.” Panaku said without emotion. I tensed when he said that. When I was at the Monastery that’s what the other students called me, Ghost. It was a compliment, “Silent as a Ghost” was the saying they spoke that earned me my nickname. Ghost was also the name I used for assassinations. But when Panaku said it, it made me have a old, familiar hatred come from the depths of my mind.
“You ruined my life!!” I screamed at him, “You gave me both those assignments and lied to the headmasters just to save your own damn hide! Well now its different, like I said, you killed my life that night thirteen years ago, but now its time for my revenge. You aren’t going to leave here alive.”
As I spoke the words, the shadow stepped behind him and plunged my daggers down, but Panaku was just as fast. He must have known I was as deadly as him now, perhaps better with the daggers than him. I feinted and swung towards his arms but was only stopped by his already bloodstained daggers. Then, he stabbed towards my arms, but they were already gone, in fact my entire body was gone, behind Panaku again, and slashed down. Panaku ran forward to dodge daggers, but he wasn’t fast enough; I left a cut that was from his shoulder to the hip and about half an inch deep in his back. I swung my arms towards his temple as he turn around. The strike was a clean shot, but was blocked by his headband. While he was still dazed from the strike to the temple, I shoved Panaku into the wall and watched him crash to the floor like a grotesque, bleeding doll.
As I readied myself for the final strike, a felt a cut appear on my shoulder. It wasn’t one of Panaku’s, this dagger looked forgien, as if made by a northern country rather than Cantha. Then, a hand spun me around and I was met with a dagger stabbed into my chest.
“Looks like this “ghost” can die twice,” a voice said behind me. Female. That was strange, I knew almost no female assassins. As she looked into my eyes I could watch her face. She was beautiful, more gorgeous than any girl I’d ever seen. I felt as if I knew her, she looked somewhat familiar. But when she spoke her words dripped with venom.
“My name is Niki, I thought it would be great for you to know before you go to the Underworld. Maybe you can meet my father, as I recall you know him. His name is Xeng Jo.”
Of course, I had thought, she was the seven-year-old daughter that was with Xeng Jo when I killed him. She was about twenty-one, and with pure hatred in her eyes. Just as she readied herself for the finishing strike, something came up from behind her and pushed her out of the door and walked over to me. The last thing I saw was a pair of black canthan boots walking towards me. Then, nothing.
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