Chapter 65 - The White Prism

[268 Days Remaining]

“So let me get this right, master. We are just going to sneak in and kill everything and everyone that moves?”

I gave Veena a small nod.

“Sounds plausible,” she said. From the tone of her voice, I could not tell whether Veena was being sarcastic. Well, okay, perhaps I could just a little, though her noninflected tone and face gave me no clues.

“We shall start with this hideout, Veena.” I did not need to turn to my left and look at Veena to know that she, at the very least, agreed with me on this point.

After traveling for two days in which I carried the squirming Veena for the majority of the journey, and through uncommon paths to remain unseen, we had arrived at our target location—one of the branches of Malice. It was located in the edges of a forest, close to a major city in the eastern region of Shail Kingdom. We were in the deep south of the region.

“You know something, my Dark Master?”

I didn't reply, for I knew that it was not really a question. I merely waited for her to continue.

“This place brings back memories,” Veena said, her voice containing a mix of emotions I could not sift through. Close beside me, she looked onward at the small hut down below from the branches of the large tree. “It was the place where I had first trained, one of the two Shadow facilities; the facility for initiating Novices.”

There was a small pause before Veena turned to look at me, her eyes sparkling. “Now then, shall we go cut off some heads? I brought some of my most beloved weapons along for this occasion.”

I was no longer surprised at Veena's emotional state which could, at any time, change in a one eighty degree direction, and then back to three sixty degrees. That is, if one could ascribe emotions into the degrees of a circle. I digress though.

I watched with a little mirth as Veena nimbly climb down from the tree and head toward the hut, a scythe-like weapon held in both hands. The weapons' edges were two feet wide and stopped short in front of her hands.

Before the two men escorting the small child even knew what had hit them, they were both down, each with a deep gash on the back of necks, which drooped down lazily. The weapons had not went through all the way, so the two men were only half-beheaded.

Next to die was the small child. He was killed almost instantly after the two men had hit the ground. Not even one of them had the time to scream before they died, their bodies lifeless and their mouths still forming the words they were about to voice in their conversation.

When I arrived at the place where Veena was cleaning her weapons on the clothes of the fallen man, I heard her muttering to herself.

“...used a damn child too...”

I briefly wondered what Veena meant by those words. It was most likely nothing though, probably just a small regret for killing the child.

“So, you never told me how old you are, Veena. Twenty-three?” I ventured a guess.

Sheathing her scythe-like weapons to the sides of her custom-made sheaths, which were bound near her waist by leather straps, Veena looked at me in a strange way. “You should never ask a woman her age. It is in the assassin's code.”

“...”

I could not tell whether or not Veena was joking, so I remained silent. I looked at the lifeless body of the child and the two men, looking for any interesting items on them. I found nothing worth of note, but I did notice a few strange things.

“These two men were probably just some small guards escorting the child; an initiate, by my guess. They had no skills to speak of, not even able to defend back when they saw me. Slow and clumsy, just small guards.”

“I see. What are those marks on the child's hands?” I asked, looking at the black, snake-like marks.

Veena came over to look at them. “Strange...I do not recognize it. It does not look like a mark of the Shadow or any belonging to Malice. Something else, perhaps...”

“Very well. It is of no use figuring out the unknown. Let us proceed.”

We entered the small, empty hut. I looked around, observing the barely furnished room. The hut was small, only two rooms to speak of, one smaller room for sleeping, and one for eating and various other tasks. Although the larger room was barely furnished, there were many, many food items. Too much for a small hut such as this.

Veena stood at the middle of the floor which was covered by the hides of various small animals. Then she removed the hides, revealing a hidden trapdoor. She put her fingers in the small gaps at the edges and opened the door.

Looking at the opened door, there was an iron ladder leading down to the underground facility of the Shadow branch of Malice, or so Veena had told me. I climbed down the ladder, following Veena.

At the end of it, we arrived at an underground chamber, which was a circular room. There were four evenly spaced doors in the chamber. There were no enemies present, however.

“Not to worry, this place does not really have much people. They are all most likely in the other rooms overseeing the novices. Let us eradicate this branch now. I agree with your point that to destroy an organization, we must first start with the roots.

Veena went toward one of the doors and carefully opened it. The door led to a wide underground passage, which branched off into two different directions. That was all I could tell from the end where Veena and I both stood.

I followed Veena as she led me along the dark passageway, which was only lit by a few torches to the sides of the walls. She turned left and almost bumped into a patrolling guard. Before the guard could even yell out, he was quickly silenced with a quick jab to the throat from Veena, and a follow-up with a dagger which instantly appeared from the folds of her clothing.

Before the man, whose throat had a dagger pierced into it, could fall down onto the ground, Veena quickly caught him, softening the fall.

I guess she is doing all the work so far, I thought wryly to myself.

“We can just leave the body there. By the time anyone finds his corpse, we will probably be finished or we will both be dead,” she whispered to me.

“Alright,” I said softly, following Veena toward the end of the next passageway. At the end of it, she stopped in front of the door.

“This door leads to the training quarters where the majority of the people in this branch are at. You can lead now for once, and I shall guard our backs.”

I nodded toward her and proceeded to open the door. I drew my longsword free and held it ready with one hand. Before I could enter though, I felt a slight push from behind me, causing me to step foot inside the room.

“I am sorry,” whispered a woman's voice. It was Veena's.

Then I felt a burst of extreme pain through the bond I shared with Veena.

What is happening?

That was my last thought before everything became dark. Before everything became quiet. Before unconsciousness hit me.

--------------------

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself encased in a transparent, white prism in the middle of an empty room. There was a small measure of space to move around a little, but that was about it. As I looked further at my surroundings, I noticed that the prism was floating, held by some sort of unknown magic. I also noticed that I was naked, stripped of everything I owned. All of this, I could see inside the underground chamber due to the light coming from the torches on the walls.

I punched the walls of the prism, but it was to no effect. It did not even budge a tiny bit even though I used all of my strength. I tried another method, but thinking of this alternative choice, it finally dawned one me that I could not feel my magic.

I looked around the room for any hints of what had happened, but nothing. It was to no effect. The only thing I noticed that was vaguely interesting aside from the prism I was trapped in was the opened door of the chamber. That, and I was beginning to hunger.

Probably half an hour pass by with me uselessly beating on the prism with my bloodied fists before a slender figure in a black garment came walking through the open door, stopping just a few feet in front of me.

The slender figure proved to be a male of perhaps over forty years of age or so. He was dressed in a rich looking, black robe with a loosely tied belt, upon which a dagger was strapped to it. His face, though worn down by age, was reminiscent of the handsome looks he must have had as a youth. The surprising thing, however, was that the man's eyes were similar to Veena's eyes. They were violet, slit-like eyes with a twinge of golden.

“I see you have been up to some useless things, Verath. Do you mind if I call you by your name, oh bodyguard?” the male said in an emotionless voice. A cruel smirk formed on his face as he continued speaking. “Forgive me if I am being too familiar with you. But we do have a relationship since you have exchanged a Dark Fealty with my daughter.”

His words confirmed my suspicions, and I hid my surprise underneath my indifferent exterior.

“I also suggest that you cease hitting the prism. It is resistant to all physical attacks.”

“Why have you not killed me?” I asked.

“Hmmm...let's just say I found it surprising that I could not skin you no matter how much I tried.”

“You were trying to skin me?”

“Why so curious? You have never skinned the fallen foes who have given you much trouble? I would have thought you would also take delight in that, seeing that you are a monster.”

“When did I ever give you trouble?” I said. With that one word, I realized that Veena had spoken of my secret to her father. She had also most likely set up this trap after I had spared her life and made the bond with her. Bloody ashes, I swore to myself.

“When the assassins I sent after you failed in their tasks,” Veena's father coldly said. “It is a shame that my daughter failed to kill you even after using death magic. It must have been weak due to your nature. Nevertheless, I was prepared for that small chance of failure, so it is why I had her bring you to this location. That, and I was interested in seeing your appearance for myself, instead of just hearing it for myself. You seem smart, monster, so I do hope you can figure out the rest yourself.”

His words told me much as to what had happened to me. Or at least I could fill in the scenarios from that. I did not know what death magic was, but it was probably some magic that had attacked me through the bond I had made with Veena—her Dark Fealty.

I had felt an extreme burst of pain through that bond before I became unconscious. And now that he had mentioned it, I could no longer feel the bond between Veena and I.