I stared at Richard who stood opposite me on the other side of the room against a bookshelf.
“Shay. I know how you must feel right now but that ability was a necessity to split you off from those two.”
“Richard, what are you doing here? Why are you here?” I replied, stepping into the dimly lit room as I spied another door that lead to an adjacent room.
“Just let me explain. We don’t have much time until her ability will wear off.”
I stood silent for a moment as my anger seemingly dissipated in reunion with my friend.
“Let me start with this.”
“The guards and council of Aero City is not your friends nor your allies. That includes Diablo.”
…
“Diablo, isn’t my ally?” I said in a questionable tone.
“Just trust me.” Replied Richard.
“7 years ago, when your sister murdered your grandfather…”
“What about it?” I muttered, startled at the topics sudden bring up.
“Your sister was set up by the government to kill him and you.” He spat out quickly.
“What?”
“Your sister wa-“
“No I heard that but…” I interrupted.
“But what?”
Richard sighed as he looked down to the floor.
“Do you know why you lived in the mountains?” He asked.
“N-No…”
“Your family was hiding from the government. Your father was an exceptional knight who fought for the kingdom however, after finding out a secret the council of Aero City wished to remain secret, he was… Murdered…”
My hand twitched as those words left his mouth.
“The council ordered the assassination of all who could possibly know, your mother, grandmother, your grandfather, two brothers and of course… You.”
I felt myself becoming dizzy as I felt vomit rush up my throat.
“S-Shay are you okay?” Asked Richard
I fell to the floor in disarray.
“I- I’m fine… Continue.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look fine?”
“CONTINUE!!”I exclaimed as Richard was taken aback by my outburst.
“Uh, if you insist…”
“The council noticed your sister’s latent abilities to control Magicka and spared her life as long as she could pledge her loyalty by having her carry out the murder of your remaining family.”
My nails scraped across the hard-wooden floor in anger.
“That bitch!”
“Shay-“ Said Richard before being interrupted by the daunting presence of footsteps from behind me.
I turned around to see the menacing figure of Anzu, not even a squint of damage done to him as he leaned against the door frame behind me.
My eyes widened in shock as I reflexively jumped back in fear.
“If you’re here, then…” I muttered.
Anzu chuckled. “Don’t worry, your overpowered friend is fine.” He said, walking past me as I sat frozen, crouched on the floor, to stand by Richards side.
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“Shay.” He said. “Don’t let yourself become another tool for them. As soon as they figure out, you’re Shay, the son of the man who knows their heinous secret. They will just kill you and your sister for betraying them.”
“Don’t you want to avenge your grand fathers’ death yourself?” Said Anzu stepping forward and placing a hand on my cheek. “If you want revenge…” He said as he knelt down and whispered into my ear. “We can help you...”
He moved away with a grim smile on his face, staring at me as if I were a toy.
“I leave the rest up to you, Richard.” He said patting his shoulder before wandering through the other door and into the adjacent room.
“Shay.” Said Richard. “It’s as Anzu says. As much as I hate to admit it, he is hardly wrong and as soon as they figure out who you are, they will murder you and your sister; stopping you from getting revenge.”
I pondered while staring into the wooden panel flooring below me.
“My Grandfather meant the world to me. He was the only one who ever done anything nice. My sister was nothing but horrid. The personification of evil. I want everything to best her in a fight and prove I’m no longer absolute crap at everything. Prove I can use Magicka, prove I can fight, prove I won’t run away anymore.”
“So, for those reasons, and those reasons alone. I will join you.”
Richard let out a gleeful smile. “So-“
“On one condition.” I interrupted.
“Tell me how the fuck you know all of this.”
* * *
“What happened with Diablo, Anzu?” Asked an unknown man, who stood with half his lower body inside the wall and half out. He wore a completely black plague doctors mask with a baggy cloak surrounding the rest of his body before integrating into the wall with everything below his waist.
“Well, Corvo. He beat me. I would be dead if not for my Demonic regenerative abilities.” Replied Anzu.
“Am I safe to assume you’re weaker than a house fly right now?” Asked Corvo.
“Well, after healing what I was just inflicted, yes. I am completely drained, that of course doesn’t mean I couldn’t kill you right now.” Chuckled Anzu.
“Of course, Sir.” Replied Corvo. “And you don’t have to remind me to not mention anything about you being a Demon, don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Good, cause I’d kill you if you were so useful, I hope you know that.”
“Of course, sir.” Replied Corvo.
But anyway, everything was going so well up until now…” Sighed Anzu.
“Diablo is even stronger now than he was before.”
“Before? But, didn’t you just fight him the other day? How could he get stronger in that time?”
“Oh, right of course. Never mind. Anyway, it seems Shay will prove to be a useful asset after all. After his performance the other day I was rather disappointed since Zane hyped him up so much but since he escaped Angelica’s Deep Dream ability it just proves my theory.”
“Theory?” Asked Corvo.
“Abilities don’t just form out of nowhere. I am obsessed with how they manifest and have spent the past few months trying to figure out how they appeared after my own manifested.”
“It seems they appear once someone is on the verge of death, hence why only guards, knights and the like have abilities and why they are all almost combat related. For your ability to manifest, you must be on the verge of death and fight it. This is what I wanted to test at Rein Village with Vince.”
“My first encounter with Shay told me he didn’t have an ability, so, my plan was to give him one.”
“So, that’s why you sent Vince and Ark to that village?” Asked Corvo.
“Precisely. By having Vince through Shay into a state of near death, he should have begun to manifest an ability. Strange things will begin to happen, wounds will heal without his knowledge then suddenly open up later. Things that happened to me, which, thanks to Zane we know happened. However, where I start to get confused is how these things happen. Surely just because he has an ability doesn’t mean it will start to heal him for brief periods of time, right?”
“I guess, unless his ability is to do so…” Replied Corvo.
“Exactly, which is where Angelica’s Deep Sleep comes in. Her ability is a mental ability, one that effects the brain. The whole point of the ability is to distress the targets brain so that when the ability wears off, they remember everything, continuing the dementing even once it has ceased.”
“Where are you going with this?” Asked Corvo.
“Basically, the whole purpose of Angelica’s Deep Sleep is to remember the traumatising events that took place, so with that knowledge. Shay should theoretically remember how he broke out of the ability before his friends.”
“Oh. That’s rather clever. Well-done Anzu.” Cheered Corvo.
“Well, I didn’t spend months recruiting the Ability users I needed for nothing. Once Shay joins us, I’ll have him tell me everything that happened to him, now that he remembers. I can figure out why manifesting abilities protect their user, putting me one step closer to figuring out where they come from.”
-Knock-Knock-
“Come in.” Said Anzu.
“Boss, Shay would like some proof of everything we told him…”
“Proof?” Said Anzu as he stood up and re-entered the room, leaving the door hanging open behind him.
“Listen, Shay. How about this. I will fetch you all the proof in the world that the governments of this world are rotten to the core. And in the meantime, you continue to go to work at the guard station, gathering information for us.”
I glared back with animosity glowing from eyes.
Anzu sighed. “And I’ll also throw in Paul.”
“Fine, it’s a deal.” I replied, standing up as Anzu held out his hand to shake mine.
As I reached out mine to shake his hand, he suddenly lashed his hand forward and gripped mine with intense strength.
“If you even think about blabbing to Diablo after you get Paul back, we will just kill you. And you can kiss your chances of even going toe to toe with your sister goodbye. You understand, Shay?” Said Anzu in a demonic tone.
“Y-yes… I understand.” I said as my voice wavered.
“Good. Then go grab Paul, he’s in the basement. Your two friends will wake up in 18 seconds.” Said Anzu as he aggressively let go of my hand and walked back into the other room. Richard following close behind.
I dropped to my knees; the only thing I could mutter as each muscle in my body twitched with fear:
“Fuck…”
* * *