Chapter 18: Life of an Assassin

It soon came to pass that the human race had finally found the sanctuary they were looking for. We found a single solar system capable of supporting human life that was not already inhabited. What’s more, the planet seemed to be perfectly suited to mankind’s needs. The gravity was mysteriously just right, despite the planet being larger than Earth. The atmosphere had a perfect oxygen and nitrogen ratio.

It was as if the universe itself had made this planet especially as a refuge for the human race. And to make the world even more enticing, the aliens finally seemed to cease their attacks as they had been badgering our fleet from the very moment that we came into the new galaxy. Things finally seemed to be going right for a change. But our trials were not yet finished. Before mankind could finally step into the golden age of Elemency, he would soon have to be tested one last time.

In a dark corner on the streets of Tarrus during the night cycle of the sector, a well-dressed man stood in stark contrast to his surroundings within an abandoned demolition site. His environment consisted of the littered wasteland of a decimated playground. Some children’s rides still stood among the ruin, which only contributed to the overall lonely visage of the atmosphere.

The man in question chose this specific location for his meeting place with the creature because it was one of the few places completely devoid of life. Not a living soul in sight for miles, making interruptions all but impossible. Lord Gregory checked his holo-watch again as the holographic image of a classic golden chained watch floated before his face.

He’s late. It’s not like him to be late.

            As if on cue, a shadow suddenly materialized out of the darkness behind Lord Gregory and slowly took on the shape of a humanoid creature with green skin and yellow eyes. It took Gregory a couple of seconds to realize the intrusion. As Gregory beheld the ghastly creature, a very undignified yelp escaped his noble lips. Then, without further ado, Lord Gregory backhanded his creepy companion across the jaw, and a second time for good measure.

            “Merde! Would you kindly not do that again, Galzar? And while we’re on the topic of your incompetence, why are you so late?”

            The Goblin just stared at Lord Gregory with a blank expression as if he didn't even feel the injury. “Apologies, sir. I was unable to find a suitable location to dissolve the body. It took approximately 2.33 minutes longer than calculated.”

            “I couldn’t care less about the inconveniences of assassination. Just do the job that I pay you for and let’s keep the complaints to a minimum, shall we?”

            “Yes, sir,” replied the creature in his whispering voice.

            “Speaking of which, have you spoken to our contact in the Ministry of Fire … that Mystic you hired.”

            “Indeed, I have, sir. He has already dealt with that gang member we supplied, so there is no chance of the Ministry tracing the incident back to you. However, he reports that he is having a little bit of trouble securing his latest target, but it is only a matter of time before he succeeds. Our man is very passionate about his work.”

            “Très bon,” said Gregory scratching his chin properly. “Let this be the last one we pick up. We have more than enough test subjects to experiment with my anti-elemental weaponry. Besides, if too many spawns went missing, it might look suspicious, and I can ill afford to look suspicious. Especially now of all times when I’m on the verge of making my move.”

            “As you wish, sir. So then, shall we proceed with the plan?”

            “Not quite yet. I have received a summons from the Emperor. He wants me to deliver a message or something. But afterwards, I intend to put all weapons manufacturing into overdrive. We're about to have a great demand, and I wouldn’t be much of a businessman if I didn’t increase the supply.”

            The nobleman turned to leave, but before he did, a cruel smile crossed his lips as he remembered something that brought pleasure to his lecherous thoughts. “Oh, by the way, how is young Silvia coming along on her assignment?” 

            “I should hear from her within the hour. She has never failed before, so I do not expect there to be any complications.”

Silvia controlled her breathing, steadied her racing heart, and quieted her thoughts.

Always control… always maintain. I am the shadow on the wall. I am nothing, so therefore, I feel nothing.

            The mission had proven a little more strenuous than previously calculated. Her target, a rival weapons merchant of Gregory Industries, proved to be more cunning than his profile had suggested. However, that's not to say that Silvia felt worried. She was an assassin, a mere arm of her teacher. She didn’t get worried. To worry was equivalent to acknowledging feeling, and she had been trained to act otherwise. At least, that’s what Silvia kept telling herself these days, and yet there was no denying that feelings somehow seeped their way into her heart at times.

            Goblin Assassins of the old order were taught to crush all lingering emotions within their psyche. Only then could one attain the true power of the perfect assassin. The perfect shadow. Only then could one become heartless. Silvia’s teacher, Galzar, had already attained this enlightened state of being. He had effectively smothered all emotions from his spirit, thereby, achieving a state of living that no other creature could scarcely even imagine.

            Galzar saw the world without bias, without prejudice. He viewed things in a light impossible for normal, emotionally flawed beings, and therefore, made the right decisions accordingly no matter what situation he faced. Silvia knew all this, and yet, she found it hard to eliminate the small trace of doubt that permeated her thoughts.

Silvia was not like her teacher. She had been raised outside of the order … had been given the opportunity to feel. She had been tainted. Only when she grew older did she come to realize the truth of this world, the truth that her teacher imparted to her. And that is why she became tainted, that is why she still had doubts … that is why she still felt.

            This was an old argument, an old train of thought that sometimes took hold of Silvia in her moments of weakness. She was a Goblin Assassin, not some teenage human girl with identity issues. She had better things to do with her thoughts, namely focusing all her efforts into killing her target, Governor Olrick Tras, a leading voice in the Imperial Senate and a high-ranking weapons contractor, much like Silvia’s own employer. Like any seasoned assassin, Silvia had gotten to know her target intimately

            Silvia crouched in the shadows, carefully staying out of the light. In the dark corners of any living space, no matter how secure, there were always shadows. Thanks to her training, Silvia bent those shadows around her to hide from prying eyes, but only if she stayed absolutely still.

            Movement! The steady rhythm of military-grade boots on the metallic surface of the secret bunker. Just from listening to the man’s footsteps, Silvia gauged the weight, height, and general mental state of the guard as he steadily moved towards her position. Judging from the echo of his feet hitting the floor, the man was at least 99 kg. Heavily built for a typical human male, and with adequate muscle tone derived from years of training within the Imperial Core.

Judging from the amount of time between his steps, Silvia reasoned him at approximately 1.86 meters tall; 6.1 feet according to the common measuring system. But the most important factor to consider was his mental state. The emotional state of his mind translated into his body movement and would tell Silvia the best time to attack.

His steps were methodical and purposeful, but not wary. This guard had been well-trained at feigning discipline, but his experience didn't go far beyond that. Judging from the carefree tone of his movements, this man had obviously not experienced much trouble in his work.

He was probably a few years out of the academy; since working in the plant, things had been quiet, so he probably had no reason to expect any problems tonight. For this man, today was just another boring, uneventful shift. So what reason could he possibly have to suspect that this shift might be his last?

            Unfortunately for him, this guard stood between Silvia and her target. Tras had been clever up to this point, devising dozens of traps and obstacles within his bunker, making it nearly impossible for any normal assassin to infiltrate unscathed, let alone undetected. But thankfully, Silvia was no normal assassin, so she had infiltrated unscathed and undetected. No mean feat to be sure.

There came several times when she'd been tempted to eliminate the guards posted in previous rooms instead of sticking to the plan and quietly making her way to the bunker’s interior. However, her experience had taught her that she should avoid killing until the target was within her grasp. The governor’s room lay just at the end of the corridor where the inexperienced bodyguard did his rounds. She had already taken more time than she had wanted in sneaking past the other guards and defenses. Silvia could not afford any more delays. She had held herself back long enough.

            Taking a deep breath and silencing her thoughts, Silvia concentrated on the four tenets of assassination.

Wait for your target to drop his guard.

The thud of the boots drew closer.

            Become nothing … feel nothing … think of nothing.

            Closer! He was barely ten steps away now.

            When you are truly nothing, then your enemy thinks he has nothing to fear.

            Five steps away.

            When he believes that he has nothing to fear, that is when he should be most afraid!

            One step away. One step away from death.

“Mason? Mason? Are you there?” asked Olrick Tras into the projected screen showing the hallway outside his secured room.

            For a moment, he lost sight of his young bodyguard. Olrick Tras was not a paranoid man, but he opted to be a careful one. He would never have made it to his position of power otherwise. The Empire was becoming an increasingly more divided place ever since Chissler became Emperor, and any smart politician knew that if one didn’t adapt, one became obsolete.

            However, Olrick’s worries were put to rest as the large figure of Lieutenant Mason appeared in the holo-projection. A tall man with a youthful face partially hidden behind the glass visor on his helmet. He wore standard military-grade armor as well as an energy rifle just as all of Olrick's security sported. So far, there’d been nothing too distinguishing about the young man, but Tras took a liking to him. He was one of the few security guards unafraid to speak his mind.

            “Yes, sir. Is there something you needed?”

            Olrick blew a sigh of relief. The governor didn't really feel all that worried. These kinds of petty threats happened to him all the time. He was a powerful man after all, and powerful men attracted dangerous rivals. However, Tras always had the right response to these kinds of situations, and so far, no one had been able to even lay a finger on him. Not only was his bunker an impenetrable fortress, hardly anyone knew of its existence. Not even the Emperor knew its location, though not from lack of trying.

            “I’ve waited patiently for five hours now. I’m eager to see my daughter.”

            “I’m aware of that, sir. However, protocol clearly states that in the event of a bomb threat to your facility, you are to remain within the safe room until the explosive is found and the perpetrator captured.”

            “I’m aware, since it was I who made that protocol. However, I learned a long time ago not to take these things too seriously. Why, I can count at least a dozen times in my life when someone has threatened me because of my status in the Empire. But most of the time it was a mere hoax, and the other times, it was easily handled by the authorities. I’m a weapons manufacturer as well as a governor. These things do happen. Besides, my daughter is just graduating from the Academy. What kind of father would I be if I didn’t dote on her?”

            Mason paused for a moment as if taken aback, but quickly recovered and responded, “Even so, I must recommend that you remain where you are until the authorities have given the all-clear signal.”

            As if on cue, an icon appeared on the holo-projection. Tras read the note with a nod of satisfaction. “I just got an invoice from the patrollers. The bomb squad has located the explosive and disarmed it. According to them, it was a crude, homemade device and wouldn’t have caused serious damage to begin with. It wasn’t even in a vital area of the facility.

“They have identified the bomber as one Mr. Charles Lector, a low-paid worker in the factory. Just as suspected, another disgruntled employee who decided to throw his career away in a fit of drunken stupor. Oh, well. I should still have time to meet with Evie before she makes it home tonight. Any objections?”

            Mason smiled pleasantly. “None that I can think of presently, sir.”

            “Very well, then. I’m opening the door now. We can enjoy a cup of tea before returning to the mansion.”

            Tras hit a few buttons on his console to allow entry for the wayward soldier. As the young man approached, Tras hit another switch, which caused two porcelain teacups to appear on the table with piping hot liquid already brewing within the delicate containers.

            “You really should learn to lighten up a bit more, Mason,” said Tras, happily sipping his beverage. “It’s not healthy for such a young man to be so tense.”

            Suddenly, Tras felt a strange sensation in his neck. He scratched his throat and felt a hot liquid running down from his Adam’s apple not unlike the tea that he had just swallowed. Bringing his hand up, a warm, red liquid ran down his fingers. Then Tras looked down into his cup and saw blood mixing with the black tea.

            Olrick Tras was confused. He raised his head to find some explanation for this hallucination from Mason, but the guard had vanished. In his place stood a slim, young girl with yellow eyes and green skin who held a curved, black dagger with blood dripping from its tip. The last thing on the governor’s mind before he closed his eyes was that the girl, though alien, couldn’t have been much older than his own daughter.

Silvia stared down at her handiwork without feeling. She always felt that way after a job had been finished. Empty … alone … isolated. As if she weren’t really alive at all. As if she were just as lifeless as the figure before her eyes. Like she existed as some inanimate object, similar to the black knife she had used to end the governor’s life.

            The mission had gone off without a hitch. Silvia herself sent the bomb threat implicating Charles Lector, a known drunkard. All a ploy to lure Tras into his bunker which Silvia had already infiltrated by the time he arrived. A wise assassin seeks out her prey in a place that she is familiar with. A wiser assassin makes her prey come to her.

Silvia had been a little unprepared for all the traps that Tras had placed in her path. She hoped to be within his safe room by the time he arrived, but in the end, it proved inconsequential. The only thing Silvia had to do after the tedious infiltration of the bunker’s interior was to take on the guise of the now-deceased Mason.

Then she waited for the authorities to signal Tras that the bomb had been found so that he would open the doors. She should’ve felt at least some tremor of satisfaction after completing her mission, but so far, she only felt a deeper sense of emptiness. No matter how many times she had to do it, killing would never satisfy her.

            Her assignment done, Silvia turned to leave, but something caught her eye. A flashing light on Tras’ console followed by an insistent beeping noise. Someone was trying to contact him. Being a secure facility, it would take a while before anyone even suspected something to be amiss.

In the meantime, Silvia could just teleport back to the safety zone with the Gateway Ball that Gregory had supplied her with. She was in little danger of being discovered, but neither did she have any need to linger. The logical thing would be to ignore the message and return to her masters. But for some reason, Silvia held her ground.

As if beckoned by a force greater than her own understanding, Silvia stood still and waited to see who contacted the governor within his final hour. A face soon appeared on the projection. The person had left a recorded message for Tras. The message was a one-way view, leaving no possibility of the person seeing what transpired within the room. But still, the face that appeared on the screen left Silvia with a haunted feeling nonetheless.

            The face of a young girl appeared in holo-form on the console, probably fourteen or fifteen. She had greenish-brown eyes and blonde hair, the same as her father, and Silvia could detect the faint, noble features of a girl born to a life of privilege. Silvia found herself surprised by the sheer delight and innocence displayed by the young girl. She beamed into the projection with a smile of pure, girlie giddiness. The girl's youthful exuberance seemed in stark contrast to the bloodied man slumped lifelessly within his chair.

            “Daddy. It’s me, Evie! Guess who just graduated top of her class.”       

            The dead man did not respond.

            The young girl giggled. “I know I should have told you sooner. But I wanted it to be a surprise.” The girl frowned for a moment. “Anyway, I heard about the bomb threat. They’re at it again, eh?” However, her frown instantly transformed into a beaming smile of pure joy. “But it’s not anything you can’t handle.”

            At that moment, Silvia became struck by the young girl's beauty. Although such a thought had never occurred to her, by human standards, this teenage girl was a model of eloquence.

Would anyone think me pretty?

Silvia had no idea why she should think such a thing at that moment and quickly shoved the thought down as fast as it had come.

“Remember, when you get home, I expect you to put all your efforts into paying attention to me. I’m almost fifteen years old now, which means that I’m about to become a proper lady. What kind of lady would I be without an adoring father to pamper me?” The girl giggled again.

It seemed like all the girl did was smile and giggle. Silvia wondered what kind of face would appear if the girl could see her father through the projection.

“Speaking of being a proper lady, I know this is kind of sudden, but I just can’t keep it from you any longer. Are you ready to have your mind blown, daddy? Okay, here it is! I met a guy!”

A high-pitched squeal escaped from the girl’s lips and she fanned herself off. “I know what you’re going to say, but I just want you not to worry or anything. Daniel is a sensible man and he would never think of taking me out without your consent. He’s rather traditional like that. I find it both annoying and fascinating. I’m sure the two of you will be thick as thieves once you take some time to get to know each other. So maybe after our reunion, I can introduce the two of you, but only as long as you promise not to be mean or weird like dads get when their daughters go out on a date for the first time.”

The girl frowned again as if considering something distasteful. “I know you’ve been busy, and I know that this whole bomb fiasco is a big bummer.” The girl paused as if considering her words. “But just knowing that you still want to spend time with me after all that … well, I just wanted to say that I couldn’t have a better father. Since mom left, I know things have been hard, but it makes me love you all the more just knowing how hard you’re trying.”

Silvia was entranced now. She couldn't take her eyes off the screen … couldn't stop listening to this girl spout off her love to her father.

“I wouldn’t have done so well for myself if it wasn’t for your love. I’ve never told you this, but I want to thank you, dad. For everything, really.” The girl seemed to blush slightly as she waved her hand in front of her face as if fanning herself off again. “Listen to me, spouting on and on into the answering machine. I wanted to tell you all this in person. Well, I suppose it’s not too bad. If you’re not answering in the safe room, it can only mean that you’re on your way home right now. I can’t wait to see you. Hopefully, I can find a way to erase this embarrassing message before you get home.”

            The image vanished and so did the girl. Silvia breathed rapidly now, borderline hyperventilation. Something wet traced down her cheek, and when she wiped it away with a finger, she realized that it was a tear. A soft beeping noise interrupted her thoughts, and Silvia turned to answer the communicator on her wrist.

            “Silvia,” said the whispering voice of her teacher. “Is it done?”

            “Yes, master,” said Silvia without the slightest hint of feeling in her voice.

            “Then return to base immediately,” said the voice before cutting off.

            “Yes,” said Silvia in a low voice, knowing that he couldn't hear her. “Father.”

            And without looking back at the dead man, Silvia dropped the silver Gateway Ball to the floor and disappeared in a flash of white light.