Author: Hydras First
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Well I've decided to just release all of it, including the first three parts I already released, mainly because of some typos and parts I didn't like, so here you go. I may be making an epilogue, dunno yet
The Way of the Assassin
I lay here, on the wet corn stalks of my next victim’s farm, a man by the name of Xeng Jo. Names are irrelevant to me. To me to I see them as a pair of lung, arteries, and organ systems. I’m an assassin in training, and my teacher, Panaku, told me there’s only one way to become a true assassin. “The way,” Panaku said, “is to kill without mercy, to become one with your twin daggers.” I drank every word he said, without question, without criticism. Why? Because he is my master, my role model, whom I am going to be when I grow up. As he taught me the ways of silent kill, he brought me out on his next assignment. A simple farmer who stood up to the Crimson Skull, not a very wise thing to do actually, but that was why we were here. We were to do some surgery on Xeng Jo, but not with a scalpel, but with two daggers sharpened to perfection. Panaku also taught me to never say the “patient’s” name, it personalizes him, gives him identity. He taught me that it’s harder to kill when a person has an identity, so his name will be Farmer. Farmer walked through his field, I held my breath; it would be my first kill. Panaku said it was tradition to kill alone when it’s your first. So Panaku left, to go back to the Monastery. So I lay there silently, watching Farmer tend his crops, digging holes for new plants. I thought grimly that he is the one going to be in a hole, not his crops. Oddly enough, I take in all the details except those of Farmer. Personalization. That’s was Panaku said, that’s what I heard. I heard the birds, singing their melody, the insects, buzzing. I even notice the pile of chicken feces ten steps away from me. The only thing I didn’t notice was that Farmer was not alone. Farmer had little girl next to him, possible six or seven years of age. I cursed; I couldn’t kill my subject with witnesses around.
Three hours passed since my last thought, which was that the daughter of Farmer is ruining my entire assignment. If I don’t kill Farmer by the end of the day, I would fail Panaku, and might even be failed, and sent back Tyria, the country of my birth. Grimacing, not back home, not Ascalon. I prepared to attack Farmer, daughter there or not.
As I moved up, to my silent relief, the daughter went back inside her shabby home made of adobe and stone. I prepared my attack: a dagger slid silently between the ribs, straight into the heart. I considered my options, but with the sun falling into the West, I decided. As fast as a thought, I shadow stepped behind my target, and as he spun around, he was impaled through the chest with my dagger. It was not a clean strike; the blade severed an artery, causing deoxygenated blood to flow freely from the wound. I panicked, and slide my second dagger into his throat, making more blood to flow. While in my frenzy, I never noticed small fists pounding my back, screaming for me to stop, and for Daddy to wake up. As Farmer was thinking his last thoughts, he breathed a single word: daughter.
That was many years ago, but I can still see his horrified face when he saw blood spurting from his chest, or the eyes of his daughter. Panaku says for me to forget it, but it will remain in my memories forever. Her eyes, eyes that showed nothing but pure torment, eyes of fear, eyes of rage, eyes of pleading. Her eyes, they haunted my memories for weeks, months, years. Since then, I’ve become a soulless killer, killing more then forty people. People with daughters, with family, with brothers, and their families would no long see them, no longer annoy them, play with them, comfort them, for they’re just wandering souls now. I’ve become a shell of was I once was, an emotionless killer who does anything for money. Panaku said joy would come later, but he doesn’t know I surpassed him, as student should. But now, because I surpassed him, I’ve lost all hope, joy in Life. It is the way of the assassin.
The Way of the Assassin – Death of a Master
No one, in all the people I’ve met-and killed- would have ever thought of my forty-seventh victim. A man I’ve looked up to, idolized, never criticized. A man that was like a father to me for my own parent was swept aside by the plague. A man I’ve never doubted never lied to, never was angry at. That was then, and this is now. My next victim was my old headmaster, Panaku.
I believe I should begin at the beginning, before I was expelled off Shing Jea Monastery, before I began my malicious self-given quest of retribution. After my successful assassination of Xeng Jo, Panaku wanted to “introduce” me to his victim, a Tengu named Swift Honorclaw. Swift Honorclaw was an old Tengu-Wars veteran, and was somehow targeted by a man by a man named Dao Weng. I was told something about unfair grain price, but that was pointless to me. Dao Weng wanted him dead, and I would show him the crestguard of Swift Hon- Raptor I mean, for that is the name I’ve given him as my new “subject”. Not technically me, for Panaku would be raking in the reward.
“A bit older I expected of you,” when he saw me through his yellow eyes.
I fell back a step, as if physically hurt by his remark, but quickly composed myself.
“It does not how young I am, for I let my daggers do my talking, not my size, and definitely not an ancient bird” I remarked calmly, but as my mind was anything but.
As soon as my last word snapped out, I shadow stepped to his back, and plunged my twin daggers into the brown feathers in front of me. I was promptly rewarded by the shrill scream of a damaged Tengu. But before I could jerk out my daggers, Raptor turned around with his buckler and cleaver in his hands. As he did so, I recalled back to my original position, and threw four daggers at him, the aimed at his chest, and the last for his legs. Raptor was dead before he fell to the ground.
“Older isn’t always better,” I said to the freshly made corpse.
I returned to the monastery at dusk, right in time for an accumulation of headmasters and teachers talking in the main building of Shing Jea, the only problem was that they were talking about me.
“Aha! It is good of you to “gust” by,” remarked Kai Ying cheerily.
“It is no time for jokes right now,” one of the headmasters said. I couldn’t figure out whom, my head was spinning to fast. It was unreal that all the headmasters gathered here for me. The worse part of it all, they were probably here to talk about my two assassinations.
They were. In fact they were as angry as possible, killing a strong vocal leader against the Crimson Skull, and threatening to break the Tengu-wars treaty.
The lecture lasted more than two hours, until Professor Gai remarked, “Through and through, you should be expelled, without any questioning why you did it”
“But under these circumstances,” Headmaster Lee said, “We will let you speak freely”
“I believe he was influenced by Panaku,” Talon Silverwing said in my defense, “He has done it before, and Panaku should have been watching him all day.”
“Balderdash! There is a two hour break between lunch and evening and night classes, he could have easily kill him during that time,” lied Panaku, “Ask him yourself”
I was to stun to talk; here was the man I looked up to, selling me out!
“See? He can’t respond because he knows what he did and it was wrong,” Panaku said flatly.
“Panaku could be lying,” Headmaster Greico unconvincingly said.
“Let us take a vote on it, he is innocent, he is suspended for four weeks and does not walk at the graduation. If we vote he is guilty,” Su said, then she said her next four words in a dark and ghastly manner, as if it show who is actually is, “He will be expelled.”
I can’t lie about this part; my heart was beating as fast as a pig away from a butcher. Talon Silverwing, Kai Ying, Headmaster Lee, Headmaster Quin, Headmaster Greico, Zho, Headmaster Vhang, and Master Togo all voted me innocent. Headmaster Zhan, Headmaster Amara, Headmaster Kuju, Headmaster Kaa, Lo Sha, Sister Tai, Professor Gai, and Headmaster Kaa voted me guilty. Only Panaku was left. I was secretly going to help me out, and admit it was his wrongdoing.
I was wrong, Panaku was only out to save his own hide, and voted me guilty. For that moment, my life fell into a void, the man I worshipped, voting me down. That was for a brief moment, the next was purely anger, pure hate thrown at Panaku. If I could have, I would have stabbed his eyes out with a rusty dagger.
In a low undertone, but still so everyone could here me, I muttered “You kill my life, and one day I swear I’m going to return the favor.”
That was six years ago, since then I am getting closer and closer to my revenge, and one day soon, I am going to slip my own daggers into Panaku’s chest, and watch him bleed before me. And I would have filled what my life was for. The other forty-four victims were just exchanges, they get a death. I get my information.
I can only wish the day I meet Panaku comes soon.
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’m dieing 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 forest!”
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 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 amusing to see him try to calm the horses when a gang of Kirin strutting past startled them. 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 woman named Sue Anna, who was holding information she learned from Informant Tahzen. I tried to hold my guilt, but being connected to the brothers I almost couldn’t control myself from spewing the truth of 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 forty-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 an old, familiar hatred comes 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 good 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 his 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.
The Way of the Assassin – Answers
I woke up, which was actually a nice surprise, on the edge of the Jade Sea. But after I took notice of my surroundings, I noticed a shadowy figure moving towards me. I reached for my daggers, but was surprised that they weren’t there. The figure was walking towards me, and I could make out some characteristics. Metal headband, black, slicked back hair, eyes with no pupils in them. Panaku. Familiar rage welled inside of me, and I surrendered to it, but once I started running towards Panaku, who was a few yards away from me, I felt a searing pain in my shoulder and chest. Then I stumbled and rolled and landed in a sprawl in front of Panaku’s feet. Once I got up, I reached for my daggers, but they weren’t there, so I started flailing my arms towards him, but were promptly in a headlock.
“Now, that wouldn’t be a very nice way to thank the person who saved your life,” replied Panaku with a smirk, “Besides, if you work yourself too hard you’ll open up those wounds again.”
“If it wasn’t for you and your stupid selfish self I wouldn’t have a cut in my shoulder and a hole in my chest,” I said out-of-breath.
But once I stopped trying to get out of Panaku’s headlock, I noticed something different this time. There was another body next to where I was sleeping. I would have thought that it was a corpse but then I saw the body rise and stretch. Once I saw the body stood up I stared in complete awe. It was the female assassin that tried to kill me, Niki. Like me, she took noticed of her surroundings and looked around. Once she started to look in my direction, Panaku whispered for my to find cover and watch. Strangely enough I listened to him. Whether it was old habits or that fact he saved my life, I didn’t know. Once Niki saw Panaku, she did the same exact thing I did, she ran towards Panaku, landed a few punches, then was in a headlock by Panaku again.
“Come out here Ghost,” Panaku called to me, “this is the assassin that attempted an assassination on you three days ago.”
“I was out for three whole days?” I asked in awe, but then I walked towards Niki, bent down and looked her in the eyes. The oddest pair of eyes I’ve ever seen. A shade of green and brown mixed together with a splash of blue across her irises. I only replied to her, “Why did you try to kill me?”
Once I asked she scornfully replied, “Why were you trying to kill my master? Why did you kill my father? Why did you kill so many people so you can get your stupid revenge?”
I stopped and started thinking about those questions. Panaku let Niki go, it was obvious she wasn’t going to hurt me until she got her answers. I thought long and hard about those questions until I thought of an answer.
My only reply was, “Can you really say you did any different?” After I said that she sat down on a fallen tree trunk and also racked her brain for an answer. I knew she wouldn’t find an answer to my question, because in all honestly she thought she was the one on the higher level, the hunter. But when she started making her first murders for information, she started down the same path I took to find information on Panaku
“This is getting a little to odd for me, I’m going to go hunt some dinner,” Panaku called over his shoulder as he left camp.
“You know, you and I are a lot alike, in many ways too,” Niki replied.
“I won’t deny that.”
“But there is a single difference between the two of us, a difference that makes us worlds apart.”
“Oh? And that difference would be?”
“You wanted to kill Panaku, and I wanted to kill you.”
“Niki, I’ll tell you something. You must think I randomly chose your father as a target for something stupid. Or the Crimson Skull had me kill your father for sport?
“Guess what, there was a reason that out of the hundreds of people that hate the Crimson Skull your father was killed. It wasn’t a roll of the dice, a draw of the hat. It was because your father, my first target, was leading. He lead a rebellion against them, making them lose face, which is the complete last thing the Crimson Skull can afford.”
And I paused a few moments to let her absorb all that information before moving on. “There is a sole difference that DOES make us worlds apart, and it’s why assassins are used. Assassins are merely tools used for the art of assassinating. Why are you mad at me? I was a tool of someone else that wanted your father dead. Let me rephrase this. Say you’re a wild animal, and your hunting prey, but before your start to pounce, a human hunter kills your prey with a sword. Are you mad at the sword because it killed your prey? No, you’re mad at the hunter, who used the sword to kill your prey. Well in society, assassins are the hunter’s sword. So if you want to be mad at someone, be mad at the hunter.”
Niki’s life was thrown into a void, either her facial expression or her eyes showed it. It was obvious to anyone; she couldn’t handle what was going one. Her life goal –killing me- was completely shattered over a brief lecture of her once-was victim. After a few long minutes, she regained her composure and asked the question I wish I didn’t answer.
“So if you’re just the sword, who is the hunter?” Niki asked with eagerness. I could see she forgave me, but that didn’t mean she still wasn’t seeking vengeance.
“Your “hunter” is your master, Panaku.” I replied.
Then, Panaku walked into the campsite.
Way of the Assassin- Survivor
Author’s note: From now on I’d like to take a shot and turning this into an omniscient point-of-view.
Silence. The moment Panaku walked into the campsite no one dared to breathe. It even seems as if the world itself stopped turning. The birds stopped singing, crickets chirping, gnats buzzing. At that moment in time, the world was dead.
The world was dead to Niki at least, for her entire world was thrown into a third void. It wasn’t the first time she looked like that, the second time actually. Niki was so still that her entire body just stopped. Her heart skipped a beat, her muscles tensed, her blood stopped pumping through her body.
And all to quickly that changed.
Niki rushed Panaku, charging at him without any care for technique, and jump at Panaku. Panaku might have been tired from carrying a corpse of a boar on his shoulder, but he didn’t show it. As soon as Niki ran towards him he dropped the body and disappeared. Niki then started to think and drew her daggers; she knew that Panaku would show himself sometime, for he was probably behind a bush or a tree.
Or running for his life, Ghost thought as he watched the scene with growing horror. Once Niki heard the crackle of a twig she shadow stepped behind the noise. Then, appearing out of nowhere three daggers came to her and almost stabbed her in the back, but she was just as fast and blocked them with her daggers. Panaku took advantage of the distraction and rushed out of the bush he was hiding in. Niki was a dead one; Panaku couldn’t miss with less than a few yards in front of him. And with Niki with her back turned was a one giant target. Panaku threw a dagger at Niki’s back, a dirk dipped in poison.
Clang. The dirk fell from the air as Ghost blocked it with his own daggers. Ghost wanted no slow death for Panaku, and him killing Niki would only make him smile, something that he didn’t want Panaku to do. Ever.
“Panaku, you’ve ruined to many peoples lives, today you pay the ultimate price,” Ghost replied while rushing him. Niki knew she gained a new teammate for the time being, and used that against Panaku. Niki shadow stepped behind Panaku and stabbed foreword, but only into thin air. Panaku was behind Niki now, and would have killed her but there were two daggers thrown by Ghost coming towards his face. Then Ghost dashed towards Panaku, jumped over Niki in the process, and had his daggers plunging down for the final strike. But once Ghost’s daggers were a hairs breath away from Panaku’s neck, his foot was grabbed by an unknown force and was thrown in the opposite direction. For a few moments Ghost was confused, and Niki battled Panaku once more.
Only once Ghost saw that Niki was battling his victim, he realized that he and Niki were no longer partners. They were two vultures fighting over a single dead deer. Once Ghost got back up he was already in the battle, fighting both Niki and Panaku. Panaku realized this and used this information to his advantage.
“Well which one of you is going to kill me first? I only have one life, and since both of you want to kill me, only one of you will get what you want.” Coaxed Panaku, forcing to have Ghost fight Niki. The horrible truth was that he was right, he had one life, and since he knew it was inevitable to live unless one of them died. Niki dashed behind Ghost and shoved him down, and as she was about to stab downward Ghost kicked up and hit Niki in the shoulder, and made her drop her daggers.
“Too bad it ended this way, but I’ve been waiting much to long to have some amateur show me up in a battle,” Ghost spoke while slipping behind Panaku. But he was ready for it, he jumped foreword dodged an attack from Niki. The three of them attacked so flexible they looked like acrobats, trying to gain leverage while keeping the other two down. They used the environment too, while they were tackling and stabbing.
The battle lasted long, longer than any other battle should have between assassins. But each fighter was equal to the other, and they all knew that. They ignored their wounds, forgot their faults, and battled. It was until a while when the conclusion started to show. Niki was hit in the head and was in a daze, and Ghost charged her. Panaku saw the opening and shadow stepped behind Niki, plunged his curved daggers downward, but was stopped by Ghost’s daggers. Only during this split second Niki jumped through Ghost’s legs and held her dagger out, cutting Panaku’s Achilles’ heel. As Panaku screamed, Ghost brought his daggers in an upward thrust to Panaku’s heart; he was stopped as Niki’s Elonian dagger was impaled into his back. And with his last thought, he used what was left of his energy and lunged towards Panaku’s chest.
Ghost died with a smile on his face.
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