There were seldom things he knew that truly excited Lati. As the half luin stumbled lifelessly into the guild staff’s break room, their gills accidentally opened into the dry, frigid air as they spotted the leftovers of last night’s feast. The bang of the door behind also did wonders to his partner, an audible groan describing completely her pain, muffled by the table which she was failing at wrapping around her head.
“Keep it down, fish lips, not everyone can handle their liquor like you,” Alex remarked loud, purposely causing even more whines to emanate from his hilariously hungover friend.
Lati silently sat down on the table, joining them in their wait for the Council to assemble, happily receiving the tiffin that he slid across. His handler had already popped open the prison of the lasagna, steam rising from the metal tin, before realising it was probably more considerate to ask his partner first, “Would you like some? Something rich like this would probably help with the headache.”
Elyza finally ceased her attempts, lifting her head, wincing at the light streaming down, answering as she readjusted the medicine he had given her for the hangover with her tongue, “I tried to enjoy the dish this morning, unfortunately its acidity the way in is too similar to when it came out.”
“Don’t blame my food, Ears,” Alex remarked, offering Lati a fork as he used his own to rip a pillar of cheesy layers from the tin, adding, “Nobody told you to challenge a lamia, especially one who’s a renowned foodie, to a drinking contest.”
“I was dared to do so,” She retorted as if that was a good excuse, her voice going unusually defensive.
Chomping down on his fork, he let the harmonious mix of red and white sauce wash over him. The tart of the tomatoes cut through the richness of the cheese, the pasta, and vegetables giving him various textures to keep his mouth occupied, enjoying his own creation before remarking, “Well, maybe you wouldn’t have fallen for said dare if you hadn’t literally downed a barrel of cider with Kurven moments before.”
Lati’s chuckle broke through their banter, chewing the mouthful of lasagna in their mouth before commenting, “Seems like I missed a pretty eventful day. Did you win against Mon?”
“Barely.”
“We stopped, or were forced to stop at the same glass, though since she ejected the contents of her stomach first, I was handed the victory,” Elyza clarified, accepting his flask filled with lemon water to settle her grumbling stomach.
Scoffing, Alex riposted,“A short-lived one, considering I had to teleport us both to the bathroom before you spewed into the remaining food, and comfort you through the process of emptying your stomach.” The words invoked unfortunate memories of the night before, forcing him to shudder as he tried to forget them.
I am so glad I could not smell that.
Don’t you worry, I’ll create a special dream to share my pain.
You really are the biggest bastard in the world.
Technically, I'm not.
“This is really good,” His handler stated, their flowery voice disappearing without the need to keep it up in the company of friends, silencing any further words from his freeloader
“Of course it is,” He grinned with his utterance, his mind was bombarded by the haunting of a bell beckoning him, its echo vibrating through his soul, alerting its position to him. However, there was no need for him to sink into his shadow and follow its call, it was just a message, one whose messenger would soon arrive.
Flipping up his hood caught the attention of them both, Lati continued to enjoy their meal, but Elyza tried her best to return to how she usually was, lifting her mask in response. As she rested the magic laden cloth on the bridge of her nose, his partner asked, “Is it time?”
“For me,” He replied, standing to stretch his bones, cracking his neck and fingers before continuing, “You’ll be called after we’re done with the discussions.”
“By whom?” He was planning on timing her question to fit his theatrical tendency, but the door opened nonetheless, a guild hand refraining from entering the room, unable to study or gaze upon either’s face.
Once the man had utterly failed at studying his or Elyza’s features, he beckoned, his head bowing as he spoke, “Mr. Nemo, if you would follow me, the Guild Master wishes to speak with you.”
Alex followed, patting his partner’s red hair as a final act of annoyance before he slipped through the closing door. Fluffing up his cloak to be even more superfluous, wisps of darkness emanating from his shadow to make it flutter in unperceivable wind, he followed the guild hand. It was just a formality at this point, he could reach the Council’s room, bound, blind, and deaf. But the members found it unsettling that a man trained specifically to assassinate could find their super secret meetup so easily.
There was a specific path to follow in the innards of the Guild, one monitored by the eyes of the portraits of the many heroes that the association had birthed in the past, some of those that had formed it. It was a maze at its core, walking through a winding path, getting permission from the spirits trapped between the frames. It took a minute or two, depending on the pace the guide thought you could handle, till the door decided to reveal itself.
The problem with a security system run entirely by spirits, important and unimportant, is that they tend to create their own biases and preferences. An issue exaggerated due to his, using the fewest words possible, strong personality, though most gelled with his idiosyncrasies. Though, as the guild hand tried to push the door open, it refused to budge, Alex clearing his throat in order to tell him to step aside. Instead of trying to open it, he dissolved into umbra, taking a short step in the sea of ink before emerging into the real world again, bypassing the door’s tantrum.
The path forward was illuminated by torches that spit out red flame, flaring as with each step he took. However, the intimidation tactics usually fall flat when you have intimate knowledge of those that hide behind them, Alex taking the more entertaining route of matching his footsteps to the beat he liked to snap on his fingers. The brilliant vermilion that flashed through the corridor was a spectacular addition to the music in his head. He soon came across the door, the door where there was a definitive boundary between him and who they expected him to be. Crossing it means Nemo takes the helm completely, the only time he was at the whims of the most creatively antagonistic and terrifyingly efficient voice in the world.
He took in a deep breath, sizing up the stone doors, specifically made of boulders that had enough conductive material to withstand a point-blank bolt of lightning. Mist made from his mana seeped into the surrounding air, a switch of his focus turned it into a swelling swirling inky fog. His shadow opened to grant access to the horrors within, tendrils of darkness multiplying by the hundreds as they waited for Nemo’s command, resting on the doors like a carpet of tentacles.
He waited. Waited for the fog to penetrate the gaps within the towering doors, for the thousands of tendrils to fester in inaction, for his ears to catch the creaking of the wooden doors behind. A small spark in his hand exploded outwards in a blinding flash of white, streaks of purple bouncing off of the stone as the lightning stream thrust the doors ajar, the midnight fog following in its wake. Smoke produced smoke, the bottom of the room behaving like the deepest depths of the ocean, light barely pushing through it. From it rose a sea of swirling tentacles, forming a cyclone that touched the far stretched ceiling, their fervour calming only with their commander's will.
As they died down, melting into the dark floor, Nemo stood alone under the glaring eyes of the Council, sitting with crossed legs on a seat he had made himself. Silence swelled in the room, the air using the stagnancy to calm itself, along with the smoke disappearing into mist, his mana having expended its theatricality.
The look on their faces is hilarious.
“Evening, my overlords,” He declared, his smile restrained as he added some apprehension for the newbie. Panting came from behind him, no doubt the guild hand running to catch up to the man he was supposed to be guiding.
Their eyes said all that needed to be said, well, until their own theatrics were done at least. The man reached out to Nemo’s chair to stop himself, only for his hand to melt the shadows, stumbling on his own feet, staying upright only because of a helping hand. Yanked up by the collar, he cleared his throat to regain some semblance of composure before beginning, “Master Nemo has arrived.”
“Good job, Prometheus, can we get this done quickly? I want to meet the newbie before telling them all what I’m going to do and what I need from them. He faked a yawn to get under the skin of those that despised him, and earning a silent chuckle from those already under his charm.
“Of course,” the guild hand replied, raising his hand to point towards the first seat. It was one of ten, all carved into the ground, rising ten metres or so from the ground, casting shadows which fell right beneath Nemo’s feet, helped by the fact he had done so deliberately. Each bore the visage of a hero from the world’s past, essential in the formation of the nations and organisations represented by the Council.
“From your left, sits the representative of Luin, Mataiapo Hawae, having guided the merpeople for two centuries, a spiritist of the highest order” There was no face to attach to the name, but he knew who was being projected in the seat, whose spirit to threaten if need be. Thankfully, the man saw him as one of his grandkids, so he bowed in his seat as the Chief’s title was spoken.
“Yngvi Blað, a warrior revered by the highest ranks of the Elves and Drows alike,” the words caused a twitch in his smile, quickly hidden to ensure her sharp eyes didn’t catch it, even worse since his aunt didn’t know his heritage. Though, he could see a twitch mirrored by the one who gave him his views of the complicated history of all elves.
Could’ve sown so much chaos if I was passed onto her.
“Official of the republic of Dwarfs, Fakhr-e-Taishana,” He was one of the few there in person, and Nemo gave him the most respectable smile you could to a person that hated your guts, winking to add salt into the wound.
The crack of stone echoed through the room as a panther made of metal adjusted itself into its seat, its eyes burning with a blue flame. Gears whirring as it settled, shifting its weight so as not to damage the throne any further, and the guild hand waited for it to stop moving, “Through the eyes of the panther watches Lifebrether, chosen by the Orcs.”
“Then we have our own Guildmaster, representative of humanity,” A man Nemo knew all too well, the most trustworthy member of the guild, behind Lati of course, and the nature of his job meant that the trust was hard-earned. However, that didn’t help him in this room. Theodorus Philetus, Uncle Theo, the reason his father was able to escape this life, and a descendant of the hero that started the rebellion, much like the one who took him in.
The next four were purposefully without personalised titles, “Then we have representatives of the West and the East, the Golden Road, the Silver Seas, and the Voice of The Ground.” Their faces were just as ambiguous as their names, masked by a spell that bore his own handiworks, but his eyes were trained to gaze through the illusion. It unsettled them to no end, and he enjoyed watching those that thought themselves better than others squirm, but one met his gaze.
“And finally…” The man sighed, and the grin on his face grew wider, standing from his chair and curtsying as the voice continued, “Nemo, platinum rank holder, assassin.”
“You forgot the Greatest assassin in the world, the Grim Reaper, Fatebreaker, Faithbreaker, known also to many people as their worst nightmare, the person in the corner of their eye, an excellent lover, and for you lovely people, the Executer.” Nemo remarked, flicking a ball of lightning between his hands.
“That’s enough of boasting,” The Guild Master reminded, his voice wry of anything that could make one untrustful of him, something he had been taught years before by the same man questioning him. “There will be time after you brief us on your thoughts.”
“Simply speaking,” Nemo began, replacing his dinky little wooden chair with a throne that matched the rest’s, forged from an even darker umbra. “I have enough reason, and my own excellent instincts, to suspect the Cyllenius trade has embroiled themselves in trafficking, and a minor but significant suspicion that the Temple of Hera is involved with the slavers as well.”
“How sure are you that the family is involved?” The question came from the right side of the chamber.
Stolen novel; please report.
“Not the family, but their resources are implicated to be involved to a greater extent then they should be,” He corrected, his ears perking up as he continued, “If not that, then the head dumbass’ new initiative to franchise their name is causing problems, as we predicted it would.”
“Your… partner’s report mentioned the church attached above the slaver’s was not officiated by the church, if you stand by it, why suspect the biggest religion in the world of unsanitary conduct, and conduct of such egregious ethical matter?” This time the voice came from the right.
“The church was not just dressed up to look like an official one, it was constructed in the same manner that every single one I’ve set foot in, down to the swirl of the towers’ stairs all being clockwise,” Nemo remarked.
“But why?”
“I have a few theories, but I can whittle them down quickly. All I know is, and what’s troubling, is that they are purposely exploiting those not from this nation.” he remarked.
The Guildmaster smiled, “What do you need to scout out the trade?”
“Time and no restrictions.”
Just once, I wish you would say a lake of blood to see how heartless they can be.
Maybe next time, or when I have to negotiate with a family of vampires again.
“The usual then? Nothing specific?”
“I’d rather not be indebted to the likes of the Council, but I’ll drop by if the situation calls for it. After all, I know where to find you,” his tone carried his threat perfectly.
“Is there a reason to pursue this further?” A voice unfamiliar to his ears spoke, the tone ignorant of the acts of who it was addressing.
“A mass amount of Mana has been harvested, so has a lot of blood by the victim’s account. Bodies were tested upon, families ripped apart, so forgive me for wanting to track down the fucks who are responsible and providing them with their own personal Tartarus, courtesy of mich,” The tone of his voice had turned harsh, but it would be best for the child to realise the realm of the world he had entered, his instincts forcing Nemo to add, his voice losing the charm he put through it as the words came, “I recognised some of the slavers as they begged to be saved, or killed, hard to remember each plea, but I had seen a few before, back when I was tasked to handle that stint of the navy that had turned xenophobic.”
There were murmuring between the sitting members, but the previous voice continued, arms pushed into the light of the gems above, impressively steady and calm for someone new to this side of the surface, “It may be so, but it is still risky to go on the offensive against a company that is considered the backbone of the world’s trade. If there is a chance that the organisation is uninvolved with the underlying threat, should we not be focusing on other possibilities? I may be new, and I mean no disrespect, but I have not heard anything about your activities to instil unquestionable trust that you won’t fuc–cause more harm than good.”
There were seldom times he had been questioned on his skills so directly, mostly because there were few who knew him on the first night they met. Though, it didn’t help that there was an obvious flaw in his argument, and there was a chance for him to gauge the newbie, so Nemo began, “And you believe that having heard nothing about the actions of an assassin, makes them lesser than the ones famous for their killings? So, Baron, till you understand your position in this hierarchy of ours, I suggest you not question the methods of those above.”
Through the darkness, gazing into the eyes of the Baron, they were unwavering. Even, as he pierced through the thin veil the man showcased to the world, they stood firm but still relented. “No more questions.”
“But I was so enjoying your ignorant inquiries…” Nemo replied with a grin, his throne returning to a chair with a snap of his fingers, adding, “All in agreement?”
“Master Nemo,” The Guildmaster remarked, “I need not remind you to refrain from proceeding Council procedures without my approval. However, the question is sound, all in favour of proceeding with the presented plan of action?”
There was a cohesive bang as the members struck their hands against their thrones, but his ears picked up only eight bangs out of the noise, and surprisingly one from the man he had just berated. “Good,” The Guildmaster remarked, quickly adding to ensure he wouldn’t have time to protest, “Now, time to introduce your new partner.”
Nemo faltered, unwilling to discuss his partner in front of those prying eyes of theirs, giving a smile as he bowed, a pulse of mana already revealing his partner arriving at the chambers. “Of course,” Alex remarked, ensuring his eyes still displayed his loathing of them all, while hiding the worry that had surely bubbled up in them.
He sat there, his hands propped up by his crossed legs, his ears giving him all the information that was required. Footsteps echoed through the tunnel before, growing with each second before they quickly became an undertone of the ambience of the Council’s chamber, as the murmuring began again.
It wasn’t that he had never noticed the aura that his partner possessed, even when she had the confidence and the anxiety of a fox in the middle of a barren summer field. The proximity and duration of their relationship, and especially since the only thing he was focussed on was improving her skills, had nullified the effects that the members were currently experiencing.
Out from the doors, just before the murmuring began, walked in a 1.77 metre tall elf with piercing emerald eyes. Half her face was covered with a mask that emanated wisps of smoke that wrapped around her now tanned skin, the same magic that gave his cloak its magnificent liminal fluidity. She already looked like a wandering knight in gleaming bronze armour, still spotless even after the ordeals of the past week. Her clothes freshly pressed courtesy of Kurven, her half-cloak hugging the arms of her muscle, gauntlets resting on her waist as she stopped next to him, readjusting her bun to tighten up her gleaming ginger hair.
Elyza maintained her stoicism, tapping the side of his chair, yet he already knew what her question was, Alex remarking, “I doubt they’ll keep us here so long, Penelope.”
“Any questions for my partners will be broached through me, understand this, or I will disappear in a manner not befitting of my entrance,” He added, knowing that they’d try to bend the restrictions any way they can.
“A reminder that you can refuse to answer any of our questions, but that refusal will not stop us from assuming your responses,” The Guildmaster stated, only a moment passing as the questions began flying.
“If you do not mind me asking,” Lord Blade began, her voice booming over all others, too deep for someone who shared his own blood, “What is your heritage?”
“My mother was a fore– Elf, and my father, I have recently learned, was a Dwarf, I do not know his own heritage,” Elyza navigated her question perfectly, and even impressed her questioner in the process.
“How did you meet Nemo? And in turn, why did you consider partnering up with someone of his nature?” The question came from the dwarven representative.
His eyes immediately started studying his partner's reaction. It was a question he had refused to ask for a long time, even when at moments it gnawed at him mercilessly, but a part of him was afraid that even she hadn’t thought about the question much.
She took a moment, hopefully only planning out her words, but as her ears perked up, he knew she was giving it proper thought. Her voice betrayed nothing as she began, “It was unnatural circumstances, nothing about which I can reveal lest you be friends with the offended party. And as for why I continue, I have not experienced any reason for the contrary.”
He had to restrain himself from grinning so hard his mouth fell off, even when he knew that was one of the expected answers from the Council, but they were not done. “If, perchance, Nemo was involved in something that would threaten the public or the goals of this coalition, will you be able to eliminate the threat?” The Baron was the one who spoke, his voice carrying some resentment, but not as much as Alex expected.
“If his actions do not follow either rational or his own morals, then yes, I would put him down,” There was no hesitation in her voice, and even Alex believed that she meant what she was saying. No doubt crossed his mind that she wouldn’t at least give him a worthy fight if such an event came to pass.
It satisfied most of them, the murmuring becoming whispers, but one last question came, the Guildmaster asking, “What is the nature of your partnership with Nemo?”
Elyza thought for only a second, “A friend I can rely on.”
Aw, how wonderful, she thinks she can trust your backstabbing ass.
There was a battle of stares, something his partner seldom lost. Today was no different, Theo was forced to proclaim, “Any more questions from the Council?”
There was silence, and he added, “Then it is finished, and with this, we bring this day to an end. May you be forgotten by the pages of history, and may your grave serve the earth in the end.”
He did not wait for them to disperse, or the guild hand to guide them back out of the room. No snaps, no flair, he commanded the shadows to open beneath them, and swallow the two. The stint in the dark depths of darkness was short, willing the surrounding heavy shadows to propel them out as quickly as they dropped in. Shooting out in front of Lati, back in the employees’ break room, who was truly unfazed by their sudden appearance, she stated, “Vanya wants you to call her.”
Before he did, he wrapped his hand around Elyza’s shoulder, hugging her from the side, heaving her up from the floor with strength that even surprised his partner. Before her hand could grab onto him to ensure she doesn’t fall, only to grab onto nothing as he dropped her. Landing on her feet, Alex slapped some of his pride into her spine, remarking, “Fucking amazing Ears! If I didn’t know who you were, I’d think you were trying to cosplay as me.”
“Thank you?” She was clearly confused by his jubilation, but he waved his own explanation aside, instead putting his middle and little fingers in his mouth and blowing as hard as he could. A faint but high-pitched whistle echoed through the room, he and his partner catching the lowest of its frequency, both wincing as the noise invaded their ears. While he was used to the sound, it still hammered nails into his brain whenever he used it, but Elyza had to cover her ears.
A hole materialised in thin air, growing slightly before two grubby thin fingered hands wrapped around its edges, pulling the dimensional hole aside for a head to pop out of it. The glowing iridescent circle briefly failed in keeping the other side obscured, letting him peer between the horns standing above the groggy face of the imp to see her bed filled with three more of her kin. The layer of translucent sea of oil reformed, and his eyes were pulled back to meet Vanya’s blue tinted pupils, squinting at him with an annoyance only his dearest friends could muster.
“Busy night?” He remarked, grinning slightly.
“At least I don’t have to spend an hour every day for my hair to still look like shit,” She retorted without thinking, and immediately he flicked her forehead, causing a groan of pain from his friend, who quickly added, “Alright, I may have deserved that one.”
“Hello,” Elyza greeted, not surprised by the second time she had seen the imp pop out from a dimensional tear, but he did notice her glance down at the loose fitting shirt Vanya was wearing.
“Hey green, nice to see you haven’t ripped his head off yet,” She replied, forcing a grin through her weariness, blinking repeatedly to get the sleep out of her eyes.
“Because you’d miss me?” Alex suggested, his brow rising with the words
“Because that means she can be trusted to control herself in irritating situations,” Vanya remarked within a second, eliciting a snicker from his partner.
A glance forced her to regain her composure, allowing him to add, “I gather you’re here about the party.”
“Careful… Lady Minerva might think you’re gunning for her position,” She teased, her devilish grin reappearing.
Sighing, Alex swept back his hair, “What do you want to know?”
“I’m guessing you two invites and with them two new identities, need to be high ranking to get into the missus gran announcement, can’t obviously be from Luminae, but do you have any other special requirements for them?”
“Would be better to have them from the far east of the globe, less of a chance for any questioning,” Elyza suggested, her ears waving like antennas as she sat down next to Lati.
“Need them to be big wigs in transport as well, especially through the mountains of the elven nation, make them outsiders there…” he added, rapping his fingers on the table
“V.I.P and bodyguard?”
“Works, have her be the employer,” He remarked, pointing to his partner, “More believable the further East you go, and she can pull off the cold, calculating look better than I can.”
“Wait,” Vanya interrupted, “No disguises?”
Bold.
“May need you-know-who’s help in there, and I trust your ability to bullshit much more than I trust the memories of the elite.”
“I can speak for that, your memory is horrible as it is,” Vanya muttered under her breath, “Anything else?”
He thought of the possibilities that they could encounter, any familiar faces in the crowd that would not hesitate to call him out, “That is all.”
“No other specifi–” She cut herself off, worrying him immensely, before quickly adding as she sunk into the tear, “Got it, bye.”
There was a moment of silence, interrupted only by Lati slurping loudly a spoonful of some kind of soup, gulping it down before remarking, “You guys free? I wanted some company for my trip to a bakery, they’re serving some new kind of pastry.”
“Uh,” Alex traced the plan in his head, his thoughts silencing as he realised where he had to go next, “Ears, if you want you could go along with them.”
Unfortunately, his careful wording still managed to elicit some sort of suspicion in his partner, “What are you going to do in the meanwhile?”
You’re not getting away from this one.
His mind raced to find a way to broach the topic in a way that wouldn’t make her think horrible things about him, and then he remembered she had already seen the worst things about himself, “I’m going to the brothel.”
She opened her mouth but nothing came out, her mind taking a second to think of the reason why, before turning back towards their handler, “Could you buy me a piece, while we are away? Though I do trust him, I need to make sure I haven’t partnered up with a degenerate.”