It was always rainy in this part of Asa, the thunder clouds hung loosely over the entire city, lightning rampaging through the skies, releasing flashes of light that illuminated the barely lit streets. This was iron fortress, the city of metal found deep within what was once the domain of the storm empress Annika, one of the close companions and leader of the sect of the storm callers. The cobbled streets paid home to over a thousand homeless people, all within the lower walled streets of owned by the vassal of the storm callers.

At one time, it would be impossible to have seen such a sight, the benevolent yet watchful eyes of the storm empress would had seen her rage fall down as fast and deadly as a lightning strike on those who would reduce their fellow humans to such a state, but much had changed since the titan and his clan left Gaia. Ife, the bastion and once proud home of the titan still stood like an unmovable mountain, home to few of the clan members of the titan, mostly the sentinels and dawn archers who left a few of their members behind to watch over the domain.

Of course, no one stupid enough would come for Ife, not if you thought going up against a team of peak gold rankers trained by the very vassals of the titan themselves was fun. Still, it hurt the figure who faded through the shadows of the hundreds that walked the street that the continent was slowly losing the touch of the titan. Ra'khmet Thothari, gold ranker and assassin moved like a literal ghost as he got closer to the gates of the city itself, watching with barely visible eyes at the two iron ranked experts who manned the gates.

Pausing at the entrance, within the shadow of a merchant who haggled the price of entrance into the city, he sighed, activating a skill of his despite the slight drain to his core,

* Shadow Illusion: By invoking the power of Anubis's guidance over the threads of reality, the user can create intricate illusions that manipulate the perception of guards and surveillance systems. These illusions can mimic the appearance of harmless entities or objects, diverting attention away from the assassin's true path.

Stepping cleanly out, he walked quietly passed the guards who saw nothing, heard nothing and felt nothing. It was like a realm within a realm and the drain on his core grew progressively larger with every second he kept the skill up. Entering the smoky and congested city, he dropped the skill, fading back into the shadows as easily as he appeared. Ra'khmet Thothari had been but a college student when the Archailect happened, hazed out of his dorm room by what had seemed like larger than life roommates who were the literal definitions of frat boys.

He had grown up on legends, spent his holidays with his Gedo, a loving term used by Egyptians for their grandfathers, in the sandy Gaza strip. He had grown up on the tales of the old gods of Egypt, great Ra, humble Osiris, vengeful Horus, but none had resonated with him like the messenger of the god of death himself, Anubis. Being bullied all his life had created a sort of bond between him and this discreet child of set and Isis, two Egyptian deities as well. When the Archailect hit, and things went astray, he had faded into the shadows of civilization.

Watching as things went to hell, watched as people were killed for resources and for literal experience points like this was some fucking game. Of course, he had adapted, he had killed the man who attempted to rape him in the dark, stabbing dual knives through his eyes and into his skull in so quick and efficient a fashion, that he had been given a rare path by the Archailect,

The path of Anubis's shadow,

Ra'khmet Thothari couldn’t had been happier at that point, deciding to avenge those who had been killed in the slums of civilization, he decided to learn, adapt and become what his path needed him to be, an assassin. Of course, to those living under the might of the titan, or the other world powers that grew to light during those days of terror, such things happening at the fringes of society were practically unheard of, but to Ra'khmet who had watched as a pregnant woman was almost raped, it was a daily occurrence for him.

Slowly but surely, he dived dungeons, facing terrible beasts and playing to his strengths, and soon enough, tales of the ‘jackal’ began to spread, his calling card, the blood of his victims drawn into the visage of the favored beast of Anubis himself. Many had sought him out, some to come under his banner, others to end him in order to make a name for themselves. The former he vetted, picking out those he thought could be useful what his plans, the latter, he had slain, carving the image of the jackal on their chests and delivering them back to their sects or clans.

It had been a wake up call for those who thought him easy prey, the jackal becoming a bed time story for those who resorted to a life of crime, even within the Archailect. And the best part was, all these were happening right under the nose of the titan blade, the man, the legend, and to some people the god. He had watched the titan, he had judged him to be a good man, hoping he wouldn’t be forced to end him, and the only time he had came close to even attempting it, he had gazed into the eyes of a monster.

Practically shivering within the shadow of a woman who hurried towards the giant doors of the castle, he remembered the gaze of the woman who had sighted him even as the titan gave his speech in front of the thousands who had come from all over the world to watch the tournament. Her gaze as cold and feral as a chained beast who knew something he didn’t picking him out within the sweat covered crowd with precise efficiency,

Martha, sect leader of the hands of Anansi,

He knew there and then that it wasn’t the titan he should be afraid of, oh no, it was the woman who saw all. While he knew now that should he even attempt to kill the titan, he doubted anything he threw at the monster would even graze his skin, his life ended before he even moved it, it was those that surrounded him he should had been wary of. The spiders, the unseen sect whose actions drove even the toughest criminals into hiding on Asa, no one wanted to get on their bad sides.

You could see the sentinels coming from a mile, the storm callers would raze you down in a flash, the archers the very definition of siege firepower, and the hammers with their toys would make short work of a city in a matter of minutes. It was the spiders that scared him the most, and that was saying something as Ra'khmet had seen a lot during his time in the Archailect. He removed every thought of the terrifying woman from his mind, focusing on the job.

Isiah iron blade, gold ranker and ruler of the iron fortress was a beast of a man, a gold ranker who had grown to strength after subjugating an entire dungeon by himself. It was a lie, Ra'khmet knew that, and as much as the bastard had sought to keep the true story hidden, the eyes of the jackal had caught him. A hundred silver rankers had entered the dungeon along with Isiah, none had returned except him, a newly forged gold ranker, brimming with untold wealth and a rare ranked dungeon core.

He had gathered lowlifes to himself and in one fell move, slain all those related to the ascenders who had followed him into the dungeon, attempting to silence the truth. As fate would have it, one silver ranker survived, a woman, who had fled into the undercities of Asa, hiding till Ra'khmet had found her, curious of what sort of beast could kill a hundred silver rankers. What had followed was a tale so terrible it shook the jackal himself.

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Isiah had abandoned them to the trap they had fallen into, a creature the woman could only describe as a wraith, ensnaring them within its lair and feasting on them one by one,

Alive,

Luck was what saved her and Isiah, seeing as they were the last to enter the lair, and while it had begun to make short work of her companions, Isiah had looted its lair filled with gold and then exploded the entrance, killing the creature and the rest of the silvers. She had only escaped due to a rare ranked relic she had bought a few days before the dungeon run, escaping for her life and running with her daughter, the only family she had left.

Ra'khmet had gathered his sect members, the oppressed who had fallen under his banner, who had carved a place for themselves underneath the splendor and brightness of the Archailect and had gone to work, it was time for the jackal to move. Investigation showed that Isiah had gotten a lucrative contract with clan titan blade, shipping resources to Anubis knew where, probably somewhere the titan was busy battling as none of the clan heads were on Gaia any longer.

Ra'khmet wondered why the spiders hadn’t realized they had a monster working for them, all he knew about the titan blade suggested Isiah would be dead the moment he found out. He wondered, was the clan decaying?, was it becoming like all super powered empires where they begun to engage in illicit activities with dirty characters?. Still, he could care less for repercussions, he would do the right thing, plus, the amount of wealth he could steal from Isiah would boost his network of informants across Gaia.

There was a reason he made Asa, the continent of the titan blade his headquarters, the relative ease of movement, away from the eyes of the other factions of the world made it a hub for him, and the wealth accumulated could go into financing the actions of his sect, shadow scarab. It was a bit on the nose, but Ra'khmet was nothing if not a sucker for a good name, and it was going to come into play tonight.

The first to die were the guards outside the bedroom chambers of Isiah, fazing into reality in front of them, his two rare ranked blades, Shadowslicer went to work before the bronze ranked guards could even react, cleanly decapitating them as he caught their heads gently, pushing them into his shadow, a spatial space he stored bodies to be disposed of later. It made assassinations terribly convenient for him, no need to waste time on clean-ups. Then he activated another skill,

* Ethereal Step: Once per day, the user gains the ability to phase partially into the ethereal plane for a brief period. This allows them to pass through physical barriers like walls, doors, or locked gates. However, they cannot fully interact with the material world while in this state.

Phasing through the door, he prepared to strike almost immediately, Shadowslicer brought up, sighing as he realized the ease with which had had killed the leader of an entire city. The moment he stepped through into the room, he knew something was wrong, feeling it on a fundamental level as he attempted to leave, feeling reality lock him out as his Ethereal step was cancelled. Ra'khmet chuckled bitterly to himself about the irony of life, staring into a pair of eyes he thought he wouldn’t see in a long time,

In his existence really,

Martha web weaver, matriarch of clan titan blade, leader of the sect of the hands of Anansi and at one point, the nightmare that haunted his dreams. He stared into her cold eyes, seeing the smile on her face as he flicked his eyes to the bed where a decapitated Isiah lay, soaked in his own blood as his eyes betrayed the look of surprise in them. He faced the web weaver again,

“Make it quick” he said softly, his dark short hair rising on end,

He saw his brown skin reflecting in the mirror, fear running down his spine as he realized the chair on which Martha sat was empty, yet she was there, right before his eyes. The web weaver raised one eyebrow,

“Why would I want to kill you, Mr Ra'khmet?” she asked,

Ra'khmet looked through his options, assessing the web weaver, the diamond ranker who could rule the entire continent and effectively did if she wanted. Attacking would be beyond stupid, if he hadn’t felt her, what about her spiders, her first hand, an ascender whose identity no one knew, and he had searched. Trying to get her to talk could work, but he couldn’t help but feel that he was playing into her hands, still, it was his only option.

He shrugged,

“I came to kill him, seems like you did a fine job, still, I doubt you’d look kindly on me if I did” he replied,

Martha waved her hand as two cups of tea appeared,

“Sit, drink tea with me” she said with a smile,

Ra'khmet sat in a flash, fighting the urge to reply “yes ma’am”, he winced at himself. Here he was, the jackal of terror, the bogeyman of the night, and yet, he was behaving like a child going on his first date and meeting the mother of his intended. Martha smiled lovingly at him, making him do a double take at the dead Isiah, wondering if the motherly woman in his front could had done such a thing. Then again, she couldn’t had kept the streets of Ife clean with just holding hands and singing kumbaya could she?, he wasn’t dealing with just any spider, he was dealing with a black widow, and he knew he’d do well to remember that.

His attention was drawn back to Martha as she spoke,

“it’s a shame what Asa is turning to without the presence of the clan to watch it, isn’t it?” she said,

Ra'khmet nodded gently,

“Much has gone to hell, excuse my language, since he left” he replied,

“And yet, the titan never wanted to inspire terror, only the hope for a better, safer humanity” she said,

“Humanity cannot be ruled by aspirations or goodwill alone, a bit of fear is needed to keep the unruly in line” Ra'khmet said,

“I know that, he doesn’t, he’d rather see the good in humanity than the lurking evil” she said with a sigh,

Then her gaze turned serious,

“Isiah is one of the many filths that has clung to the shadows of the clan, at first, I was content with watching them, keeping them where my eyes could see them” she said,

“But then the clan is busy and to my greatest shame, I looked away, I cannot bear to see the look of shame in the eyes of the titan should he behold this” she said softly,

Ra'khmet swallowed nervously, this was not a woman he hoped to ever get on her bad side,

“Ra'khmet Thothari, ascender on the path of Anubis’s shadow, leader of the sect of the shadow scarab” she started as Ra'khmet went down on one knee,

He was a gold ranker, she was diamond, the gap was as the sky and the earth,

“One of the fabled ten kings of Gaia” she said with a smile,

The title looked ludicrous to him now that he thought about it, the ten kings of Gaia, ten gold rankers who stood at the peak of ascenders, ignoring the diamonds of each faction, something clan titan blade could boast of in numbers mind boggling. She spoke again,

“Hear me, for I speak with the voice of the titan blade, lord of clan titan blade” she said as he bowed lower,

“We have seen your good deeds, and we have acknowledged them, you have passed our tests and we have found you worthy” she said,

Ra'khmet froze, test?, what test?, he looked up to see her smile,

“You didn’t just think that sweet silver ranker made it to your domain so easily did you?” Martha said as understanding flowed to him,

Watching as her features morphed into the shape of the same woman, the same silver ranker, horror dawning on his face,

“She never existed, it was you all along” he breathed,

“She did, at least at one point, she never made it back home, dying just outside of her home” Martha said as she changed back to herself,

“And the child?” Ra'khmet asked,

“a stray child I found, one of the effects of Isiah’s reign of madness” she replied,

Ra'khmet nodded, steeling himself,

“What does the web weaver ask of me?” he said,

She shook her head,

“I am but a woman, the titan is the one asking this of you” she said,

“Right now, he fights a battle you cannot comprehend, on a scale you would find mind boggling” she started,

” Indulge me, but are we at war with another planet?” he asked,

The web weaver chuckled,

“If only it were that simple, think bigger” she replied a glint in her eyes,

Ra'khmet shook his head, he wouldn’t be going down that rabbit hole, not today anyways, she spoke again,

“We cannot be everywhere, but the titan would never abandon Gaia, not when it needs him, swear loyalty to clan titan blade, and you will be the blade of the titan in the darkest corners where his light will not reach here on Asa” she asked,

“I swear” he replied immediately,

Becoming a vassal of the clan?, working under the spiders?, it was what he had dreamed of, Martha smiled,

“Know this, your blade is what the population would see when they see the silent cleansing that would begin from now on, you will face powers that have grown in the darkness, they cannot come for the clan, so they would take out their rage on you” she warned as she handed him a scroll,

He unfurled it, eyes widening at a list of names written in red ink, the title, ‘TERMINATION’ heading the scroll, a hit list,

Ra'khmet Thothari smiled, an almost feral one,

“They can try” the jackal responded.