Dante’s Immortality – Chapter 58

“Get up.”

The voice was so unexpected that Dante jerked awake, only to be stopped by something pressing on his back and keeping him from sitting up.

He had only been in the Wastelands for one day, and somehow, he had already been discovered in his sleep.

Trying to take his attacker by surprise, Dante blinked behind the person holding him as he created a blade in his hand. Then, without pausing, he swung down on his attacker.

That was all he had time to do before he felt an impact on the side of his head and his body went slack.

Something repulsive seemed to attack him through his nose, causing him to instantly be wide awake. Dante shot up, or tried to. This time he was fully restrained by some kind of rope, even his hands were tied open so that he couldn’t hold a weapon and attempt to cut himself free.

Trying to escape, Dante Blinked. He was careful to keep the mana he fed into the skill away from the rope that was restraining him, but it seemed to absorb the skill’s mana like the rope was hungry for it.

When he finished the Blink, he was several feet away from his original location, but still restrained.

“Finished?”

Dante glanced up to his captor. And was surprised to see a woman who appeared to be in her late twenties standing over him with her arms crossed. She looked somewhat average with her dark hair and angular face, but there was a strange predatory grace that seemed to radiate from her posture. He found it to be disconcerting.

Of course, her gender, age, and appearance weren’t what surprised him. What surprised him was that she seemed irritated. Something that he couldn’t understand given their current circumstance and the roles they played.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, he couldn’t see any indication of whether or not she was working for House Calman by her uniform, and it seemed like things wouldn’t progress until he gave her a satisfactory answer. “Yes, I’m finished.”

The grim humor seemed to roll right off of her. The woman released a sigh, then stoppered a vial that was in one of her hands. “Then I suppose I won’t be needing this again.”

The vial likely contained the revolting odor that had awoken him, and he was more than happy that she put it away. Not only did it mean that she wouldn’t knock him out again… hopefully, but it also meant that he wouldn’t experience that abhorrent smell for a second time.

“Let’s get the introductions out of the way. My name is Victoria Nix, and you are now my apprentice.”

Dante stared at her blankly. He knew that the Wastelands would be different from the noble territory, but things couldn’t be this different.

He was having a hard time comprehending the hidden meaning that he assumed was behind her words while Victoria knelt by his side and began untying the ropes. “I’ll set you free, but if you teleport again, I will knock you out.”

As soon as Victoria untied the ropes, Dante rolled backward and stood to his feet, watching her warily. Other than that, he didn’t struggle, there was no reason to. He had already been captured and had been completely at her mercy. Besides, judging by her earlier speed, running would be pointless.

Dante took a deep breath to collect himself, the entire situation seemed absurd. But he decided that being polite to the woman who could potentially kill him would be for the best. Still, he was unsure of how she would react to the question he wanted to ask. “If you don’t mind me asking, why would you want me to be your apprentice?”

Victoria snorted. “I don’t. Trust me. Let’s go, it’s a long journey to our destination.” Victoria spun on her heels and began moving away with an otherworldly grace. Even though she was just walking, he had never seen anyone, or anything, that moved so skillfully. Her movement could almost be described as feline, but that didn’t do it justice.

Dante cleared his throat. “Could you at least tell me why?”

Victoria glanced back. “You are my apprentice because someone who doesn’t want you to die called in a favor.” She paused, waiting for him to move, and her body language indicated that she was ready to force him if necessary.

He was unsure of whether or not he should follow. But his hesitation seemed redundant, it wasn’t as though she was giving him an option. Letting out a sigh, he followed after Victoria.

He didn’t stop thinking about the implications of her words though.

As soon as the smell hit his nose, Dante Blinked away from it and took large, heaving breaths to try and clear his lungs.

He looked back to Victoria, who was kneeling down where he had passed out, the evil vial unstoppered in her hand.

Dante let out a whimper, there was no escape. He couldn’t even pass out from the exhaustion without immediately being woken up.

Victoria rolled her eyes, and he could tell that the lack of sleep was even beginning to affect her. “Calm down, we are almost there.”

Her words did absolutely nothing to calm him down, she had said the same thing almost every day for the last week, but they were still walking.

“Yes, master.” The formal address that Victoria insisted on still felt unnatural… and unpleasant.

Victoria stood and nodded, then began walking again.

He stumbled after his quiet ‘master’. The two weeks that he had spent traveling with her had been completely torturous. Apparently, Victoria didn’t know the meaning of the word rest.

They walked both day and night, only stopping for infrequent half hour naps when Victoria allowed it. The pace was maddening, and he was more than thankful for the lack of conversation as the exhaustion set in.

Even hunting for food would have been a nice distraction, an opportunity for them to at least rest while they stalked prey, but the hawk that Victoria was bonded to was too efficient. They received more than enough raw meat to sustain themselves from its frequent hunts.

The only bright side to their brutal pace, was the amount of distance they covered each day. He was the one who set the pace, and he didn’t slack off in the slightest. On the contrary, he was eager to have this death march over with, so he pushed himself as hard as he possibly could.

Victoria Nix

There was a lack of movement behind her, and Victoria glanced back at the boy. He had finally passed out again.

Thank the Goddess…

Victoria released a yawn, something that she refused to do under the gaze of her new student.

At first, she had been more than reluctant to take some stray as her new apprentice, despite his rare and numerous Classifications, but Dante was performing well above her expectations. Begrudgingly, she had to admit that he was performing even better than she had when she was tested for the guild.

The ‘eternal march’ was the initial test that all new apprentices had to take before they were accepted into the guild. It was the best indicator for a new assassin’s resolve. Usually, failure to reach the destination in the given time limit resulted in death, which was something that she couldn’t have done with the boy, but she had still enacted the test to get a baseline for his mental fortitude.

They were already days ahead of schedule, even after she accounted for his Agility. She had planned on only doing the march for a week, which was around the average length of the regular test, but to her surprise the boy hadn’t broken down. Now she just wanted to see if he could make it all the way to the Dead Man’s range without stopping.

She was no longer reluctant to train a new apprentice, she was now anticipating it. A feeling that she hadn’t had for years. She was eager to see how far she could push him.

Calling back Shadow, Victoria walked over to Dante’s unconscious body and sat down next to it. An hour of rest every time he passed out was just enough to keep him on the edge of exhaustion.

It wasn’t like she couldn’t use the sleep as well, even if she didn’t show the signs of being tired, she was close to passing out herself. This eternal march was testing her limits.

Shadow’s dark silhouette flew in as he landed on her shoulder, the black nighthawk was alert and ready to keep guard while she slept.

Dante rubbed his eyes as he took in the scene in front of him.

You have got to be fucking kidding me…

He turned to look back at Victoria. “This is a joke, right?”

Victoria shook her head, and any of the satisfaction he may have gotten from no longer having to walk was utterly destroyed by their ‘destination’.

Sure, the mountain range was large, far larger than the others they had passed, but it was still just a mountain range. There was absolutely no reason to rush to a mountain range. “Why did we need to make it here in three weeks?”

Victoria shrugged. “We didn’t.”

He started to laugh lightly, but it somehow turned into a pathetic whimper. It had all been pointless. Completely pointless.

Three weeks with almost no sleep and he was delirious to the point that nothing made sense, but this was over the top. He couldn’t comprehend it at all.

Victoria walked over to a tree and sat against it. “Get some rest, your training starts tomorrow.”

For the first time since he started following Victoria, he truly considered trying to flee. Dante glanced to the black hawk that was standing guard on Victoria’s shoulder, and it stared back at him with intelligent eyes.

Dante slumped to the ground, he didn’t have the energy to try and run.