Volume 2, Chapter 15: Struggles and Consequences

{262 Days Remaining}

Most of the panic about the fire last night had calmed down a little, and it was now early morning. The news of the fire had spread like wildfire. Sections of the city of Avea had seen messengers of the Council of Merchants who announced the message that Merchant Zafer and other noteworthy people had perished in the fire.

The details of the cause of the fire, however, had not been announced. After all, it would not have been wise to panic the people with unfounded suspicions—the council themselves did not know who had dared killed one of its seat members.

Inside the expensive room of the inn, I sat on the high straight back chair, one arm resting against the seat's arm, and the other arm holding a glass goblet high up against my mouth. The black wine, surprisingly called Dragon's Fire, tasted sour and was like fire poured down my throat. Although it still lacked the heat similar to a real dragon's fire breath. I should know.

The inn had sold them at five gold coins a bottle, and I had bought it to try it out. I had wanted to try it out since I only had memories of my counterpart drinking alcohol; I did not have the experience of truly tasting it for myself.

I put the half-drained goblet on the black, trestle table, letting it sit beside the bottle, before looking at the three assassins who stood in front of me. Their figures looked stoic, silently and patiently waiting for me to speak.

“I want each of you to kill a member of the Council of Merchants, so that only one will remain. Do this by midnight tonight, and it shall prove your usefulness and your lives. If you fail, do not bother coming back, as I will personally kill you. I do not wish for useless slaves, especially since I have already memorized the things you have told me about Malice. That is, if you were telling the truth about them, though I have confirmed a few facts.”

“You want it done by tonight?” Ilana asked. “Do you also want us to bring you a fallen star?”

I ignored her sarcastic remarks, giving only a small, indifferent shrug. “Your only alternative is to die. And this shall prove to me that you are in fact the elite assassins you three make yourselves out to be.”

Gwen pursed her lips, a small frown showing. “The mansions of the four seat members will have increased guards and everything. They shall be wary, especially since it has only been one night after you killed Zafer.” She took a deep breath, before continuing. “It is barely doable, however.”

“I shall show you what it is to be called the elite of the elite assassins!” Kal declared boldly, the task before him somehow giving him courage. He had a strange personality.

“You can leave now,” I said. “That is all.”

The three assassins quietly went out my inn's room, leaving me alone with my thoughts while I sipped at the Dragon's Fire.

Already, I could feel my counterpart struggling against the chains of darkness. And as each hour passed, I could feel the barest slivers of his personality influencing me. Had I was fully myself, I would have never cared for such a measly thing as trying out the wine. I would also not have spared the three assassins.

It was strange, some of the new emotions I was feeling—I did not know what they were. The only things I could feel prior to this unexpected “merging” was self-preservation, indifference, and dark vengeance.

My counterpart's struggles for the moment, however, was still weak. I still had some time before he would break free, perhaps six days at the most.

I concluded.

I did not like the new emotions I was feeling. They felt too weak, too sentimental.

Putting these thoughts aside, I had more things to contend with. Based on the information supplied by the three assassins and what Veena's father had said, I knew there were shadowy plans in motion. They were plans which would affect the kingdom on the whole.

I came to a likely assumption: the organization Malice wanted to rule the kingdom and bring its shadowy power to light.

The four Guardians of Shail Kingdom, the barons of the eastern, western, southern, and northern regions were most likely riddled with spies, assassins, and other people working for Malice. The north, I thought, would most likely be the focal point where their plans would begin.

The unrest of the belligerent and greedy nobles there would be a good place to start, looking at it from the organization's perspective. The northern region was like dry grass waiting to be sparked by a rebellious fire, its lesser nobles not content being under Baron Serle.

Meanwhile though, I would cause unrest of my own to offset their probable plans. The Council of Merchants was a good place to start. It would make the eastern Baron more wary, making it easier for my plans to rid Malice and kill Veena's father come into fruition.

And though my counterpart and I did not see eye to eye, he would most likely take up the reigns after breaking free. It was the most practical thing to do. For that, I could count on him.

I did not like it, though. I was sure that I was better than my counterpart in all aspects. It would have been much easier to take control had he fully embraced death and indifference. But now, I had not expected his personality to seep into mine.

I knew, however, that we would not fully integrate with each other just yet, if we could even. The next time my counterpart was at death's door though, I could not guess as to what would happen. Perhaps we would merge with each other.

Or perhaps I would take control.

It would not go like last time when my counterpart had been almost killed by the lich. When I could only take control for a mere moment to preserve our life.

<><><><><>

While the assassins were planning on how to kill their targets, I spent the morning and afternoon strolling around the streets of Avea. Even if I had a month's time, it would not have been enough time to browse through all the sections of this expansive, major city.

I observed the humans on the streets, most of them walking with purpose toward some destination, others haggling and bartering with merchants, and a few milling around aimlessly like lost lambs.

Nearby, a young black-haired male was striking up a conversation with the woman vendor. His face looked expressive and full of confidence. He was richly dressed and looked to have too much free time in his hands.

“Ah little kitten, you are a rose among roses. What is your name?”

The pretty woman vendor replied back with an annoyed face. “It is Jasmine.”

Their conversation soon became distant voices, mixing with the din of friendly greetings and merchants haggling with each other.

A weapon shop caught my eye. A few steps forward and just as I was about to enter the weapon shop, I was stopped by a small tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see a young male of perhaps eighteen or so. It was the black-haired male who had been flirting with the woman vendor. His advances had most likely been rebuffed.

“Hey!,” he said cheerfully. “You look like a pretty interesting character. How would you like to be my coxswain?”

“Coxswain?”

“Yes, that's right. Coxswain. A wingman, to be precise,” the young man said, emphasizing the word .

His words did not make any sense to me. What in the world was a wingman? Even with my dragon's gift to understand all languages, I could not figure out the meaning of that word. Did he mean for me to become a coxswain, a man who steers boats?

“So do you accept or not, eh?”

“Yes,” I said, wanting to know more about the word. I felt a little curious, my counterpart's influence, no doubt. It was also best to make sure why my dragon's gift for language comprehension was not working.

To my annoyance, I found out after accompanying the man in his many conversations with women, all of them somewhat beautiful or at least good looking.

After his advances had been rebuffed by three women, I had learned that a wingman was someone to support his flirting, an interesting character to further increase his chances. He had chosen me from the many crowds in the streets because of my white hair and other physical traits.

The human soon died after we separated, burned by a huge pillar of flame that had sprouted out of nowhere from the ground. There were two other casualties, an unlucky woman and a man who had been nearby coincidentally. All three ran around like chicken that had their heads cut off, before falling to the cobbled ground, the flames crackling atop their lifeless bodies.

This had caused a street-wide panic and a few guards had shown up instantly, their patrols and vigilance increased due to last night's fire. Other than the three dead, there were no more casualties.

A shame—not really.

I suppose the result was somewhat informative though. I had learned that my gift for language comprehension had limits; it could not comprehend made up words, or strange, uncommon words.

I had also learned something about myself.

My appearance felt off to the human women who had been closely staring at me during our conversations. They had commented that my eyes—disregarding the scarlet hue—were unfeeling. They were like cold, red specks of light. Emotionless and indifferent, with just the barest hint of something alive. Almost dead looking, really. And the way I had moved. It was a ruthless and graceful efficiency. A predator.

Of course, the human women had put it in better, kinder words, but in blunter and simpler terms, this was what they meant. Strange though that my counterpart had never faced that kind of problem. Perhaps he just had more emotions than me. More human than me.

After I got back on track and distanced myself away from the gathering onlookers, I stood at the front of a weapons shop—far away from the scene of trouble and corpses, obviously.

With the thought that I had made the assassins' nightly task more troublesome, I entered the shop. The first thing that hit my sight was rows upon rows of racks, each of them filled with various arrays of weapons. Shortswords, longswords, falcatas, spears, axes, flails, maces, and a variety of other weapons which I did not recognize.

All of the weapons had small price tags attached to them, each one starting from twenty silver coins. The weapons shop was a mess, an unorganized sprawl of weapon racks. Apart from the clutter of common weapons, there were the more expensive weapons. They were expensive looking and the shop owner, along with his two bodyguards, informed me that the weapons were all enchanted by an expert magic enchanter.

There was this one weapon that stood out from the rest, hung on top of the wall behind the counter. It was an enchanted longsword of dark sable color. The weapon was simple, yet elegant, giving out a cold glint.

The weapon, the shop-owner had told me, did not have a price-tag as it was not for sale. The longsword was a memento of all his forefathers and all the shop-owners that had come before him. Its history was priceless, a gift from the dwarves themselves, a race who had suddenly disappeared centuries ago, no longer mixing with the humans.

Most humans, the shop-owner continued lecturing me, did not know or either care about the dwarven race, as they had been too long gone to stay in the memories of humans. We only treated them as legends, the dwarven crafters who had mixed and walked hand-in-hand with us in our lands. It was at the age when the human lands were mostly in the southern region of Valian continent, barely still starting out in what was now known as the central region of the human lands.

I spent the morning and most of the afternoon browsing through the city, while improving my plans on what to do next. Day turned into night quickly as time passed, and I was back in the inn's room. An hour or two later, the three assassin turned up inside my room after a soft knock against the door. All three of them, Gwen, Ilana, and Kal, were breathless as if they had ran for miles and miles.

Dressed in black garments with a baldric, small belts and straps, and many pockets, they presented to me with proof of their deeds. I had not made this a requirement, but they still took it to heart.

Gwen presented me with the bloodied ears of one of the human in the Council of Merchants. Kal presented me with a gouged eyeball, and Ilana presented me with a finger. I told them all to dispose of those parts, as I had no interest in the body parts of humans.

In just one night, three of the seat members in the Council of Merchants had been killed, the fourth seat member being burned to death the previous night by me. The city of Avea was in an uproar by now, no doubt. Its governing body, disregarding the puppet noble, had been mostly eradicated.

Only one out of five seat members remained. It didn't really matter who remained as long as it wasn't Merchant Zafer though. It suited my plans to create chaos and dishevel in Shail Kingdom so that the organization Malice, the Dark Brotherhood, would not see me coming.

It was a good start too, because the Council of Merchants had a far-reaching influence in the kingdom, as it was the organization for almost every merchant in Shail Kingdom. Father and I had been part of it too.

My next plan—creating even more chaos and to carry out my vengeance—involved another assassination.

Shail Kingdom's Guardian of the East, who was known as Baron Gerald Trelmont.

He was the likely suspect after Merchant Zafer in perpetrating my death and father's death. Not that I really cared about my father's death, unlike my counterpart. I only cared because I had suffered death from him, most likely.

After I had killed that baron, my personal vengeance would be completed.

There were only five days remaining until my counterpart's struggling would break free of the chains I had bound him with.

Plenty of time to kill.

<><><><><>

An intense pain tore through me as I struggled against these chains of darkness biting against my body. Time would have become distorted in this pure blackness were it not for my vision and memory being connected to my other self.

It was strange how that worked—receiving two memories at the same time, one my own, and the other from my counterpart. There was also a portal-like vision in front of me, a view from the perspective of my other self. I could see the many deaths my other self had caused. The only thing I was glad of, other than the assassins he had killed, was Merchant Zafer's death.

The other three seat members in the council were relatively harmless. They had been beneficial to the merchants, helping them out considerably. It was a waste and a shame that their lives had been taken so suddenly.

I also disliked the fact that he had chosen to abandon the caged children inside the underground facility, choosing instead to bury everything and everyone alive.

I grimaced again as the chains sank its fangs against the skin of my body, my blood falling freely down their black lengths.

I bore the agony with determination though; I could already feel the dark chains slowly weakening as I struggled. Like my counterpart had estimated, I would break through in perhaps five days. All of it depended on my will.

And I had plenty of it.

My green eyes glowed with willful light in the darkness, one of the two sources of light in this dark crevice of my mind.

<><><><><>

{261 Days Remaining}

The next day brought many problems. The city of Avea was in an uproar, and the only remaining seat member in the Council of Merchants was protected by heavy guards and mages. The city guards were fervently patrolling every section of the city and the entrances to the city were also being checked thoroughly. Messengers were also being sent to major cities.

Normally, only one council member dying would not have warranted so many messengers, as that one member could be easily replaced or his duty taken up. But since four members had been killed, many messages were being sent out by fast riders. The four deaths of the merchants would have far-reaching effects in the kingdom.

I didn't bother asking how the three assassins had managed to infiltrate and kill their heavily protected targets. They were, after all, elite assassins. I was sure they had their own ways of doing things, and they were proving to be useful tools.

After getting back our horses from the stables and after undergoing a thorough examination at the city entrance, the four of us left Avea on horseback.

Our next destination was the capital city of the eastern region of Shail Kingdom.

Lapis and its ruler, Baron Gerald Trelmont. He was the next on my “to-kill list.”

It would take us two days to arrive.

<><><><><>

{259 Days Remaining}

Lapis, obviously, was comparable in size to Asolance and Avea, its city gates standing at fifteen feet tall and almost as wide. The walls, I won't even mention since I could not estimate it properly. If I had to guess though, the walls were probably close to thirty feet tall. There were also ramparts and all sorts of defenses on top of these walls.

Weapons were allowed in the city, and like every other city, there was an iron-clad law that forbid you from drawing your weapons to harm other people. You could not even use the weapons to gesture threateningly at someone else. If the guards caught you, the offender would be thrown into jail and would have one or more of their fingers cut off depending on the seriousness of the crime.

This was the main reason why expensive shops and services like brothels would have burly guards that were versed in fist fighting. Of course, it also pays to have some extra protection with guards versed in sword-fighting. Just in case you meet a dissatisfied rival or customer who drew their weapon.

Baron Gerald Trelmont was a vain and greedy man. Normally, this would lead to ruin and loss when he governed such a large territory of the eastern region. But in his case, he had intelligence and cunning to back his personality. For the dull-witted nobles who had this type of personality, the result of their houses falling into ruin was almost inevitable.

In addition, each of the four barons also commanded their own personal armies. There were restraints, of course. Even if all four barons rose up in rebellion against the king, their armies would not rival the numbers of the king's army and his royal mages. To govern such large regions, the barons were supplied soldiers and knights from the king's army. That would also make rebellion a hard task to do.

Unlike Asolance, which was supplied food from the nearby cities and towns, Lapis was self-sustainable and had its own expansive farmlands surrounding it. The eastern region having rich soil made it a supplier for the kingdom's food supply. Seafood and all the other related affairs with the sea came from the western region which bordered the ocean.

This was why there were many farmers and commoners in and near Lapis. And since the population of commoners and farmers were high in the eastern region, most of the cities did not have entrance fees. That said, Lapis was a city even bigger than Asolance or Avea, having its farmlands and commoners to consider.

Passing through its huge gates, the four of us entered the city not one coin lighter. It was late afternoon when we finally took up residence inside an inn after stabling our horses, one room for me, and a double room for the three of them.

“Bastard,” I said softly to myself. Inside my mind, I could feel my counterpart struggling furiously against his chains. It was like a soft, rhythmic thudding inside my head, as if a black carrion was tearing at flesh. Well, not really.

The constant thumping was a reminder of my limited time. A reminder before I would once more be stuck inside the dark, cold crevice that was a part of our mind. It was a place where I would once more have to spectate through my counterpart's vision as he went about doing useless shit and tasks.

It took perhaps an hour or two before the thudding in my head died down. My other self had most likely exerted his energy against the weakening chains.

The skies had darkened outside. It was night. It was the hours when dark predators would come alive, when they would hunt for their prey. It was the time for a nightly murder.

I had no need of the assassins to carry out the task of killing Baron Trelmont. I would allow no one to get in the way of my vengeance. In retrospect, I didn't really need the three assassins. I could have killed all the council merchants by myself. It was an easy enough thing to do.

Wearing a black hood over my face, I went out onto the city cobbled streets. There was still enough light out that only a few lanterns had been lit by the city's “lighters,” a group of people, usually commoners and the poor rabbles, who lit the lanterns at nightime for a small fee. Coppers, really. Just enough for a meal.

I stuck to the shadows, only receiving a few glances from the people. It was not really strange to wear hoods at night, as it protected you from the cold. Some people also liked to stay unknown to others. No one would think I was a person about to kill another in cold-blood. Earth-covered blood, if I wanted to be precise.

A half an hour of walking later, I arrived at the city's center, the encompassing towers where Baron Gerald Trelmont resided in. They were the tallest buildings in Lapis city and were also the most elaborate looking structures. Did I not tell you that Baron Trelmont was a vain man?

Surrounding the feet of the two towers were large houses. There was also a seven feet tall wall surrounding the entire area. There were two entrances to this area, which were guarded by the baron's personal men.

The city streets leading to the entrances were devoid of people, as most people did not really have business with the baron, unless it was for urgent matters. Or unless the baron found you unfavorable, and brought you inside his home for a “treatment.”

I took the street leading to the southern entrance of the baron's residence. The two-men wide steel gate was guarded by four soldiers, all of them males.

“Hail, stranger. What is your business here,” a guard said as I came closer toward them.

There was no one else around except for the four guards, two of them on each side of the closed steel gate. I walked closer toward the guards, leaving only a few feet distance between.

“State your business stranger,” another guard said.

Another step brought me closer to the guards, and I could see annoyed looks flashing across their faces. They were most likely thinking the hooded person before them was a drunk of a deaf bastard.

The first soldier who had spoken said, “Do not make repeat myself, commoner.”

It was the last sentence he would utter.

Four columns of the Flames of Interitum shot upward from the ground beneath them, too quickly for any of the four soldiers to even scream out in surprise or pain. They were instantly devoured, not one trace of them remaining. The stone ground where they stood was also unharmed—I had summoned the four pillars of fire perfectly.

My dragon strength easily allowed me to push open the heavy steel gate. It creaked open, and I entered, my sight immediately meeting a beautiful, expansive courtyard with a decorated stone path leading toward buildings and houses which surrounded the connected twin towers where the baron lived.

There was a beautiful variety of trees as I walked atop the grasses, avoiding the stone path. Along the way, I met a few patrolling guards who were instantly burned out of existence. They did not even have time to scream out a warning. A look of surprise and the guard was dead. Not a trace remained of him.

After walking for some more moment and satisfied with the distance I was away from the twin towers, I stood beside a large tree, shadowed against its trunk. It would take more than a casual observing glance from a patrolling guard to see me in the tree's shadow. It was a shame that the vain baron had made the courtyard and smaller houses so expansive and decorated. An assassin would have his work cut out for him with so many places to hide.

I was perhaps four hundred feet away from the connected twin towers. This distance was a requirement for my magic to properly work. It was also almost three time the distance my counterpart could fully manage to work his magic, since I could use a little more than half of our full magic potential.

This distance limit was also the reason why I had needed to infiltrate the baron's residence. It made me wonder how teleportation magic worked. Perhaps it was not limited by distance?

I sent out tendrils of magic through the courtyard and past the houses, knowing that none of the mages in the baron's residence could sense it. They were just not strong or sensitive enough. Perhaps a few were sensitive enough, but I doubted it.

A dozen or so more seconds later, my tendrils of magic had reached the connected twin towers. These black-colored strands of my magic were directly underneath the foundation of the two towers. Through these tendrils, I could sense that the towers were built on strong foundations. Good, solid earthen ground. There were also a few people present near the grounds of the towers.

The element earth was obviously present under the towers so nothing really impeded my earth magic. I easily ripped apart the foundations of the towers using earth magic. Though I could not view what was happening since my vision was blocked by the surrounding houses, I could imagine the ground beneath the towers being ruptured and displaced by huge earthen pillars and spikes.

Unsupported by the earth, the two towers wobbled for a few seconds before falling down. The two connected towers hit the ground in an earth-shaking noise, each purposely falling down in different directions. Even from here, I could see the storm of dust and materials flying as the towers smashed against the ground and the houses that stood in its way.

The screams of panic started almost instantly afterward. Soldiers, officials, servants, and people of other professions started running away from the scene of destruction. Some of them were unlucky, hit by stray blocks of stone and metal. One sprinting woman and man—they looked like scribes— were crushed by a stone five times their size and height. They became mere blood splatters on the ground.

I left the baron's residence quickly then, having confirmed what I had caused. Outside of the place, all sorts of people were gathering, confused and frightened at seeing the city's two tallest buildings fall down. The noise, no doubt, must have also attracted their attention.

I had gotten out of the residence before the incoming crowd had gathered, so no questions were asked of me.

Lapis city was in a state of shock. The sight of its two famous towers would no longer be seen from far away.

The death of Baron Gerald Trelmont would undoubtedly bring further unrest and nervousness to Shail Kingdom, especially its eastern region which had been left without a governor. At least, most of the eastern region which was governed by Baron Trelmont.

I returned to my room at the almost desolate inn half an hour later, pushing against the people who had been rushing to see the scene of destruction.

Three pair of eyes stared at me with nervousness and with what I believed was fright.

“Did you cause that!” Ilana demanded—no, whispered more like. She was the more outspoken assassin out of the three.

“Yes,” I simply said.

“Could you not have cause less casualties?”

“Yes,” I said, thinking that even elite assassins had morals. I saw the unspoken agreement on the faces of the other two assassins, Gwen and Kal.

“I didn't think you would go through with this...the effects will be wide. All of the eastern, lower nobles will have outright rivalry and compete with each other for the position, and King Balan will have to summon the nobles,” Ilana continued speaking, unimpeded.

“Enough. Your original master would have eventually cause such unrest anyway,” I replied back calmly. My words shut her up instantly.

“He is right, Ilana,” Gwen said. “The suspicion and rivalry the deaths of the eastern baron and the council merchants will also help mask our path and make it harder for Master Celdric—Veena's father, I mean.” Gwen sent a placating look toward Ilana before turning to me. “So what will you do next, Master Verath.”

“Do tell,” Ilana said in a sarcastic voice.

“If your words are to be believed, the next step shall be to destroy the other branch of Malice in the eastern region. On horses, it should take us only about two days or so to get there if we travel fast.”

I left the next part of my thought unspoken. That is, if my weaker counterpart do not take over in the meantime.

I only had about three days left before my counterpart would break free of his chains, I roughly estimated. I could already feel the chains coming undone due to his unexpectedly fierce struggles.

Volume 2 (Chapter 16)