Chapter 8 (This new theme is cool and all, but its so bad. It keeps quitting my work and I’m having to rewrite everything. So sorry for the massive delay. Gave up so many time on this)

A figure clad in darkness rushed by the rooftops of the city, unnoticed by the thousands beneath his feet. The figure had only one thing in his mind, to find out who had stolen his kill.

What took him a day to travel by wagon, now only took him minutes to travel as he ran through the city and forest to his destination. He felt 4 presences ahead of him, 4 senior assassins guarding a side entrance to the guild. He spoke the password as he arrived and entered.

Through a series of long twists and turns through tunnels and crowded hallways, he had arrived at his destination. He turned back and looked behind him. Dozens of assassins and informants crowded the area. ‘Strange… ‘ he thought as he pushed open the over-bearing door to his master’s room.

“Welcome back, I heard from the brand head that the target was killed. Good work.” She said as he made his way down towards her.

“I didn’t kill him… Someone else did.” He stopped staring intently at the two infront of him.

“…Ah…” She closed her eyes and heaved a sigh. “It’s not uncommon for assassins to steal targets. Though it is bad manners to do so. Next time, be quicker. Find the target and kill him. If other people get in your way, kill them too.” Raizel showed an expression that was not satisfied.

“Do you know who did it?” He refrained from yelling out.

“I have an idea… but you’re no match for him. Yet.”

“Who?” Raizel now curious at the development.

“Well… lets have a little history lesson.” She sat up in her seat and began. “Our guild has existed for a great number of years, where there’s a city, town, or anything important, we have people there. Not a secret goes past us. Kings and Queens have to lay their heads at our feet if we wanted to. But a powerful force does not go without its enemies.” She finished the last sentence looking at Raizel expectantly.

“Um… there’s… another power at play perhaps?” Raizel replied guessing at the question his master posed.

“Yes… sort of. A guild as powerful as ours are not without internal strife. There’s a grandmaster who just returned, and well… he’s always wanted to be the head. He’s trying to undermine me by going after you, my disciple.” Raizel nodded in understanding.

“Don’t fight him just yet. You’re not ready. Train some more, see the world and then come back when you’ve grown.” She looked at him for an acknowledgement. He nodded. “But wherever you are, never let your guard down. Got it?” He nodded again.

Suddenly a glatter of footsteps rang through the hall, Raizel turned around to meet the origin of the noise only to be tackled by Adra in the stomach. The dog innocently met his eyes, tail wagging like a fan.

“Adra, what are you doing here?”” He turned and said to his master whose eyes showed a surprised expression. One very rarely seen. “I’m so sorry master.”

“Where did you find him?” She asked still staring at the dog.

“Um… I don’t know. It just… followed me.”

“huh… it just… followed you. Interesting.” She turned to Gus who was standing beside her chair and had a silent conversation. Raizel took the chance to sit on the floor and patted Adra as he sat on his lap. After several minutes, they finally finished.

“Raizel, you should try and make him your companion.”

“My companion? What is that?”

“Like a pet. But by contract.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Ask it. It’ll understand.” She gestured towards the dog.

‘It’s a dog… how can he understand…’ Raizel thought. But the expectant gaze from his master gave him no choice but to try it. He rubbed the head of the dog as he stood up, and tilted his head until their eyes met with each other.

“Um… do you want to be my companion?...” he asked awkwardly. Adra merely tilted his head. ‘Like I thought’ As he was about to straighten himself, Adra bit his hand, small droplets of blood flowed from Raizel’s hand. “God damit!” he exclaimed.

“Amazing…” Sakiko remarked.

“Unbelievable…” Gus whispered under his breath.

“… It’s done.” She said to Raizel.

“What?” And he looked at his hand, the little wound was gone. What was left was a burning sensation which suddenly increased. He let out howls of scream as the sensation increased even further, he looked at his left hand. Black tendrils crawled on his skin, the sensation moving with it towards his chest, then his heart. For a moment, his whole body was engulfed in heat and sweat. He collapsed on the floor, the last thing he saw before he fainted was Adra, licking his face.

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Raizel collapsed on the floor with Adra licking his face. The two, stunned was speechless. At long last Sakiko got up from her chair which attracted the attention of Adra who looked at her. Both Sakiko and Gus bowed towards Adra.

“It is an honour.” She said. Adra tilted his head once again, then proceeded to bite Raizel’s collar. Steia who had been sleeping since, stuck her head out of Raizel’s collar and looked questioningly at Adra. They stared at each other for a second and Adra presumed to drag Raizel away. Steia on the other hand, merely sat on Raizel’s dragged body.

As the 3 slowly but surely disappeared from their sight, they couldn’t help but find the situation rather comical. They returned to their places and gathered themselves.

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“Well… that was interesting.” She said breaking the silence. “He was like zoo keeper.” To which she laughed slightly.

“Indeed. The first disciple is rather interesting. And to have been able to be contracted with…that…” Gus replied in a serious tone, his eyes glinted in the light of the candles around.

“Certainly I’ve never seen anything like his growth. Pretty soon, he will have surpassed all those who have come before him. Most probably even after him. Plus when he becomes the head through the ritual, and with… what was it he called him? Adra? He’ll take the world by storm.” She laughed hysterically at the thought. “That’s my disciple!”

“However, he will face many obstacles I believe. With regards to his heritage.”

“So you’ve confirmed it?” She adopted a more serious tone.

“Yes, although his complexion is a little different and close to an ordinary elf, there is no doubt.”

“If that is so… then he’ll have to bare with many things in his life time. He must grow strong quickly. Does anyone know?”

“Not yet. Since after the last great war, not many of their kind are left. And those who are have remained in solitude. There is but only a hand full of people that will recognize them.”

“…Good… lets hope no one recognizes it. Is it a coincidence? To be the same race as our founder. Its not my place anymore to question fate it seems.” She got up from her chair and looked towards the ceiling as if it was a distance she could not travel. “Make sure to take care of those who know. It is still too early for him to bare the hatred of his kind. He must grow more before then.”

“Yes my lord.”

“I do hope that I can witness him at his peak. The power he will possess… unfathomable by human standards.”

“Of course my lord. You will live long enough to see him die of old age.” She smiled hearing Gus’ reply.

“Let us both live long to see him die of old age, old friend.”

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J woke up on his bed, drenched in sweat. He had logged out of the game just before he passed out. The pain was unimaginable. He gathered himself for a moment, and got out of bed to gather his bed sheets and duvets for the wash. He then climbed into the shower to wash away the sweat.

As he was drying himself, he stared at the towel hanging over the mirror. Since he began to notice the changes in his real body from the game, he had been reluctant at looking in the mirror. He was a little scared at the changes within him. Today too, he didn’t take a single look.

He dressed and made his way through the lectures. Before, J was somewhat on the skinny side of boys, but now, people who passed by him would look at him for a couple of more seconds. His body was lean with muscles, trained from being an assassin. Though he could not explain it, his body was exactly the same in game. He found it strange, but he couldn’t come up with an answer. Thus with no answer, he thought ‘What the hell’ and continued playing.

He now stood before a door, contemplating whether he should enter. It was a society he joined, the Atlantis society. Some players in the university formed the society and joined a guild together. He opened the door and was greeted with 15 faces. His eyes caught a familiar face, Sarah. She too was surprise and jumped up to greet him in a hug.

“I didn’t know you had the game!” she bellowed in excitement and blushed. She couldn’t believe that the skinny guy she knew turned into, well, a good looking guy.

“I just got it recently.” J semi laughed it off. Sarah looked him up and down and took a few steps back, alarmed. J returned her look with a question on his face.

“Um.. its just… when did you get a tattoo?”

“A tattoo?” He smiled, preposterous, how could he have a tattoo. He looked down at his body, leaned with muscles. Nothing. “What are you talking about?” To which she stepped forward and grabbed his left hand and showed him. He looked dumbfounded at her and his hand. Rather arm.

A black tattoo in a fiery shape spread from his left hand towards his body. His brain trying to comprehend what was happening, it couldn’t.

“I have to go.” He said quickly and ran at full pace back to his room, without realizing he covered the long distance in under a minute, as if he was still in the game.

He bursted through his room, opened his bathroom door and snatched away the towel covering the mirror. A semi-familiar face greet him, one devoid of the baby fat he still had. One that was older, more mature, handsome, with a trained body. It was his face. He took off his shirt and swallowed a slow, loud, gulp. The tattoo began from his left hand spreading up towards his left arm and shoulders, covering his left chest and ending slightly in the middle of his chest. He touched it, it was real, no mistake about it.

‘What. The. Fu*k’

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Somewhere on the planet, far from the eyes of anyone, hot steam blew from the tea a man was drinking in a white lab coat. He places down the tea and wipes his glasses before returning to his position. He sat down and join the other people with him as they all casted their undivided attention towards the screens before them detailing the playing of the game.