The green shallows in the beach sparkles under the bright moonlight of the moons. Yet, it’s still dark as the night as he had remembered. All he could sense was hearing the rough waves eroding the shore, bats flying around in the night, crickets mating, and owls howling.

He enjoyed this relative peace. A peace that he didn't sought but realized he needed. Darkness surrounded him, yet he could still feel the mixture of warmth from the campfire and cold wind from the beach. His long black beard that reached his chest with his malnourished state made him look older than he actually was. Making the people who knew and met him refer him as a blind sage. His knowledge in herbs, plants and antidotes made him a valuable part of the communities nearby who had no access to the mages of the Empire.

The locals in the area was also understanding on his desire for solitude. Making only contact with him in trading and small talks with stories about events that’s happening here in Morrowind and the neighboring provinces.

Just yesterday, he heard a fellow fisherman talked about the Civil War in Skyrim that happened more than a decade ago. How all of the worst thing that could happened had occurred at the same time. During the war between the jarls and the imperial forces, the dragons have returned, vampires started appearing en masse, cults of daedric princes began attacking settlements, Dominion Justiciars purging the helpless villages, and otherworldly monsters walked their lands. Some of these have crossed the borders of Morrowind, few dragons have attacked nearby border settlements and cities causing panic and destruction.

It was a great tale of tragedy and despair but as if the world itself was trying to even the odd, it sends a hero to save it, the Dragonborn. And one by one, this hero ended every threat. But he disappeared just as quickly as he had appeared. His last appearance was on Solstheim to stop another threat that’s budding on the island. Since then, no one saw him again. He enjoyed every stories like this as it helped him cope his solitude as he imagined the great tales in his thoughts.

The fisherman however told him that it would be his last meeting with him as their local ruler was mobilizing all adult males. When he asked the reason, it seemed that their neighbor on the south, Argonia was starting to make threatening movements near their borders. He would miss the man’s tales and as his fishing companion.

He was now enjoying his time in the campfire while remembering the previous stories he was told then also remembering his past life. He actually should’ve been dead. But it seemed the world have other plans for him as it refused to take him. So in this new lands, he awaited what was planned for him while awaiting the peaceful visit of Death.

Then he sensed approaching footsteps towards him. He felt no hostility but he still had put up his guard up. As far as he knew from the locals, slavers and bandits were common in the region.

He felt dozens of hostile entities around him. Hidden in the sands, they slowly stood, armed with daggers and crossbows. Although he can’t see, he knew from the sounds that they were wearing cloak with probably covered face due to their muffled voices. He stood using his cane and said.

“I am an old man. I have no desire to be in conflict-”

He was interrupted with several daggers flying towards him. He dodged in time and used his cane to hit the two opponents who flew towards him. If anyone would see them, they wore in all black clothes as the night. Their quick and almost silent movements made him remember the people in his hometown. He strangely felt something moving underground and stepped in to counter. As the new opponent appeared, aiming for his neck, he leaned out which only cut his the sides of his long black beard. In response, he aimed and struck his cane at the most vulnerable part of his opponent’s chest which successfully immobilized him for several seconds. And assuming that they were assassins and not bandits, he struck his opponents body points with his fingers to paralyze any sort of suicide mechanism in his body that may activate. After all, it was a norm from which he came from.

This efficient and sound resistance from a seemingly weak opponent made his attackers surprised for a moment before inquiring his identity with themselves.

“This is no old man. Are you sure this is the target?” a coarse voice asked, that was probably altered to cover his true identity.

“Confirmed. His identity is the same as the description.” Another one replied, he couldn't tell much but he could sense that it was most likely from a woman.

“Could he be someone else that replaced our target?”

“Not impossible.”

“Did the empire found out?”

Empire? I heard how this region was actually a province by a powerful empire. But with their dialogue, it seems that they were agents by the enemies of this empire. He thought.

“Or worse, did the contractor made a mistake?”

He slowly and subtly leaked out his skill to sense other’s presence around him. And he counted fourteen assassins, including the two lookouts outside the conflict, watching them. But he can’t ignore how they all sounded the same. Which made him realize that the assassins that came for his life weren’t third rate but professional. And he can’t remember or even think of any reason of why someone would want his life. He never exceeded his contact with others aside from just the usual exchanges of talking. He never even took anything that may be stolen or cause bandits to target him, having only a minimal life in the coast.

“You spoke of wanting die… yet, you resist.” a new voice spoke out, this time it wasn’t hidden in course but someone whom he felt familiar but he can’t remember. But his mind narrowed it down to several people he probably talked in the past.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“That will not be important to a dying old man, but what is important is to confirm whether you are truly the man who calls himself, Shin.”

That’s interesting, he thought. With the mention of his name, he narrowed his subjects further as it was the name that he only used after living here.

They must have been spying on him for a very long time for them to know this. After all, only the people lived nearby knew of his nightly rants for death.

“May this old man, ask a question?”

“Although we don’t talk with our prey, unfortunately, we have to confirm your identity first, so speak.” The first voice that he heard earlier replied. Making Shin assume that this was the leader.

“Could you provide me the reason why there’s a contract for my head?” Shin asked. “Dying as a bounty target without knowing the reason is something I don’t want to feel in the afterlife.”

“Is there any other reason other than money?” another coarse voice smirked.

“From what I can surmise from your skills, you’re all probably professional assassins who have very expensive rate for expensive targets. Now that made me wonder, how that made me expensive. If your employer wanted to retrieve some shellfish that I found yesterday, you can take it from my shack right there.” Shin pointed at his right. “I dislike conflicts after all.”

“Like what you said, we are assassins. But what made us expensive is because we don’t ask questions. We just do.” The coarse voice replied.

“Just confirmed,” another voice interrupted them. “This person and the target are the same with 99.67% similarities.”

Shin turned to that voice and realized that someone from them have skills to identify fake from the original. He also found out that they were actually stalling for time to confirm his identity, not from talking with him but from some sort of identifying spell.

With this, they quickly moved in for a kill in silent cooperation.

“I wanted to die, yes.” Shin raised his staff to defend himself and took a stance.

With his cane at his back and opened his hollow eye sockets, he added.

“But a silent death. From what I could understand from you, my death will become the first deaths in the coming millions. And I don’t want my corpse to be used that way.”

Then he struck his cane on the ground making a massive blast of sand and wind. With now their formation destroyed, he breathed fire towards them. Causing several of his opponents to burn to death in agony.

This didn’t made his attackers stop, instead they used allies’ deaths to cover their attacks with feints and counter. He prepared himself by breaking his staff into two and using them on each hand as a weapon. The assassins, sensing also how their target will defend himself, made a resolve in entering the exchange of deaths.

But something happened which caused the attackers to start falling like lifeless flies in an instant. All of the assassins that he detected earlier had dropped dead. Even the two lookouts who were just observing the fight were now lying on the sands. A wave of danger was sensed by Shin and he leapt out, facing the new participants walking towards him.

He could hear the footsteps of three people. From the light steps of the two, he could sense that they were probably short or even children. Only one of them in the middle that he could confirm to be an adult, and with his breathes and aura, probably a man.

“That kind of movement isn’t obviously from an old man.” A voice from a young boy rang out of silence.

“I’ll hit you again if you aren’t polite. Didn’t auntie ever told you to respect those older than you?” a girl’s voice followed. Crumping her fist as if to threaten the boy. "By the way, did you have to kill them all?"

"I heard they have more worthy as dead than a living headache." The boy replied.

These voices confirmed his early thoughts.

“How may an old man help you?” he asked but didn’t let his guard down. After all, a contract could be taken by any assassins or bounty hunters. Just in case, he was assuming that they were another competing group of assassins.

Shin couldn’t see it but the man in black cloak just silently looked at him with strange strained face as if he was holding something back to say.

Instead it was another person who answered.

“Good evening. We apologize for disturbing your rest. I am Kisara. This is Saru and that man is Usagi. Are you Shin-sensei?”

From the voice, he could hear that it was from a young girl. Probably 13-15 years old.

But he was struck surprise on something else.

Sensei.

To hear the word “sensei” in this part of the world got him complicated feelings of nostalgia and alert. This was even made complicated when he can sense through the unsettling air that these three were wearing masks. The girl was wearing a crow mask, the one who was named Saru was wearing a fish mask, and the tallest of them was wearing a rabbit mask.

He thought for several seconds in trying to choose which answer was the best; should he pretend that he doesn’t know the word as this may be a trap or something… or continue with the dialogue to know the identities of the people who came for him.

With resolve to know, he replied.

“Yes, I am Shin.” He cast a spell to fix his cane then used it as a support as he stood. “But I am no sensei.”

“I didn’t know he would be this old at this point.” Another young voice, probably from a boy of the same age as the girl.

“Probably because of the beard.” The girl replied.

Somehow, he sensed that they knew more about him that he know about them.

“I can safely assume that you are not with these people?” he tapped his cane to the foot of the unconscious assassin earlier. The first one he knocked down.

“No.” the man in black cloak replied. Then Shin felt something which made his body tremble.

It was a sense of familiarity, as if he knew this man.

From his old life.

“Who are you, young man?” Shin asked with cautioned curiosity.

“I will be the result of your fate. Should you decide to let it flow than waiting for it to be prematurely, cut off.” The cloaked man answered.

“To be honest I was expecting a lot from you” the boy disappointedly shrugged and leaned on the wooden pole of the beach.

“Hey!” the girl scolded the boy.

An eerie scene in the middle of dead and unconscious bodies. Then the man continued.

“Your fate is not here. The God of Death needs you somewhere else.”

“God of Death?” he frowned.

“My master, Mortred seeks you and he will give you… your path.”