The suddenness of it caught me off guard.

I rolled off my bed, landing on the ground in a crouch.

My eyes darted about in the darkness, one I was still not used to, looking for a threat.

I relaxed slightly when the attacker I expected did not show. Moving to the corner of the room, my hand gripping the unfamiliar hilt, I unfurled the cover that wrapped around my blade.

I stood up to full height. The blade, much longer than I was tall, scraped itself against the ground; Straining slightly, I hovered the blade above the ground, my feet moving silently across the wooden boards as I journeyed out into the hallway.

The darkness barely impeded me; My body moved with the familiarity that came with 10 years of residence, and I moved down deeper towards the clashes.

The sounds of clashing grew louder. Readying my blade, I turned the corner, ready to lunge at the first threat I perceived.

I barely ducked under the flash of silver. I could feel the blade cut off strands of my hair, and I rolled backwards in panic, creating distance between me and the attacker.

Scrambling to my feet, I held my blade in a guard, eyeing the masked figure in front of me.They were dressed in all black, their skin covered up completely. Their cold blue eyes stared down at me, widening slightly in recognition.

My grip tightened on the hilt. It was obvious that who this was, was much more skilled than me. The only way for me to actually win would be through a stroke of luck or a stroke of divine intervention.

Though, I highly doubt the latter would happen.

“What are you doing here? Why have you invaded my home?” I spoke out, trying my best to mask the nervousness I had at my prospective death beneath a calm exterior.

They didn’t reply, not that I really expected one. While it was not obvious why they were here, it didn’t matter; They were here to hurt my family.

On an unspoken signal, the attacker dashed forwards, and I barely brought my blade up to defend myself.

My arms shook beneath the force of their blow. I barely held my guard, pushed down to my knees as I pushed back as hard as I could.

I could feel the strain on my muscles, the pain increasing in intensity as I pushed my body to its furthest.

I could barely defend against the kick that impacted against my side.

The blow drove the breath from me, sending me crashing into the wall. The searing pain I felt in my side occupied my thoughts, and I hadn’t noticed how close the attacker was until I felt their shadow loom over me.

I looked up, frozen. My mind reached for the possibility of me using my blessing.

I waited for the blade to descend upon me, but it didn’t. They raised their foot, poised to kick me, and my eyes noticed the way the ground shifted when they stepped closer.

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I snapped into action. Ignoring the searing pain I felt in my side, I lunged forward with a yell, my attacker flinching for a moment.

Wrapping my arms around their leg, I pulled back and lifted their leg up. With the difference between our stances, it was easy for me to leverage their weight against them, something they didn’t expect.

They fell backwards, slamming into the ground. A hole formed in the ground upon impact and the attacker was stuck in it.

I scrambled for my sword, which had been knocked to the side upon my landing, knowing that they must have been dazed from the impact.

Grabbing the hilt, I limped as fast as I could to the attacker, lifting up my blade overhead and preparing to swing down.

I could see them scrambling to get out, but they had no way to leverage themselves out with the way they were stuck. They couldn’t even hope to block my blade from descending down, splitting them from the top down, before the blade was stopped by the base of their neck.

I watched as the blood seeped out from the split between their face, the way their grey matter spilt out and onto the ground.

I turned around, bending forwards and puking my guts out at the nauseating sight. The smell of blood and vomit mixing together made me even sicker, and only served to prolong my agony.

Wiping the remains of the vomit from my mouth, I stood back up, using my blade as a crutch as I stumbled my way out of the room.

Finding my parents were of the utmost importance at the moment, though I had no clue of where they even were. The most likely place they would be is at their bedroom, and I made my way there, careful to make detours around any sounds of fighting I heard; The way I was now, I would definitely die if I had to fight another one of those assassins.

Sticking to the shadows, I could only grit my teeth silently as I passed by my servants fending off the attackers. Though they were personally trained by Father, they were all felled one by one, and I could only berate myself for being so powerless at the moment.

My condition was steadily worsening, the edges of vision blackening slightly as I felt faint. Thankfully, I had managed to reach my parents' room in time. The door frame to their room was cracked, the door itself missing, and I couldn’t help the pulse of fear that ran through me.

I rushed over, leaning onto the door frame and peering in.

The thing that caught my attention was the numerous bodies laying around, namely, those of the attackers. I fought down the nausea that struck me, my view snapping to the two people in the room.

I let out a gasp of shock, wincing slightly as I felt the pain in my side flare up again.

“Alice?” My Father let out, having sprung up from the crouch he was in as he was tending to Mother’s wound.

I let out a sigh of relief. I’ve found my parents.