White, as she woke up all she saw was white. She knew she was not dead because she was an atheist so heaven or the afterlife where not existent to her. Her body felt heavy as she rose, even after a long rest in a comfortable bed could not make her regain the energy, she needed to eat.

The room to which they had transferred her was pure white including the furniture and bed all in a royal imperial style, there was a window but by the look of the light she knew it was artificial. She was taken underground, here it was easier to control the environment and was secure if anything happed above ground.

The door opened, it was Jacob wearing a pure white suit, white tie, white shoes.

“Don’t worry there is nothing to be afraid I am not going to hurt you I am here to give you an explanation on your situation, your abilities and your future” He sat in a small table of pure crystal crossing his legs and serving two cups of dark liquid.

“That explanation is long due, you prick. I am NOT going to accept anything from you, least of all your weird herbal tea” She was now self-conscious of her body and her attire, trying to cover herself Jon sat across from her old roommate.

Due to the incarceration, she had lost most of if not all the extra body weight accumulated because of her unhealthy lifestyle. She however was not in shape, or healthy; her body was weak and had extra skin hanging from her arms and stomach. Her attire consisted only of a silk pyjama pure white as expected. Thin enough to feel the breeze but thick so Jacob could not see underneath.

“I was not sure you could make it so there was no need at the time, about this…” He lifted the cup and took a sip of the liquid “It is hot cocoa, and I do know you would never drink tea or coffee” He smiled before taking another sip.

Now that he mentioned the cocoa her stomach growled and her head felt light at that hot sweet aroma.

“I got no proof that … cocoa has no poison or other things”

“Now you are being paranoid I am drinking and it’s not half bad, not something I would drink in a daily basis but I understand why you like it”

“You are a psychopath; you could have taken the antidote before getting into the room” She was starting to drool; it had been more than a month since the last time she had a good meal.

“If I wanted you dead, I would have killed you before, and there would have been no need to drug you, we could have transported you anywhere in the continent during the six-day period of your sleep” He smiled.

Six days she had slept not sure if by exhaustion or the use of a drug but the result was the same there was no reason to distrust his word now. Without thinking it for another second, she took the cup from the table. The delicious smell and the glorious flavour took over her.

“Then again it could be a lie to drug you” A clearly fake laugh made it obvious he was trying to mess with her head.

Taking a long sip of the sweet liquid she responded.

“Fucking worth it”

“Any specific questions you have before I start my monologue?”

She looked at Jacob as if she could not understand what he was saying for a second, then as if the silence was her cue, she stopped purring her second cup and answered.

“Obviously, why is everything white?”

He looked back at her, puzzled he waited some time before answering as if he expected it to be a joke.

“Really? After all that has happened to you that is what you ask? Why white?”

“Yes, I mean I want to know everything but you just said you are going to explain most of it. But I’ve got no idea if you are going to explain this place to me.” She acted calm as if this was just another day in the apartment. Cting this way helped maintain her composure.

He could not stop himself from laughing.

“You know you are way too weird, normally I spend the first hour or so trying to avoid violence and you go ask for information on the decorations.” He continued laughing with his left hand over his eyes.

After a deep breath he continued.

“Fine, that information will be part of the monologue so let’s get serious. As you may already deduce from the situation I lied about my name, well at least my last name, good thing Jacob is a common name so I have no need to change it when I hide.”

“We are part of an organization, it is not big, it is not well known to the public but it is very powerful, wh…”

“So, a mafia” She interrupted before taking sip while crossing her legs.

“Not a mafia, which would imply other things. We do duel in the underworld but…”

“So, a mafia” She interrupted again this time with a grin on her face.

“Once more and I will electrocute you for fun.” He made a pause to emphasise the threat.

“We work in different areas, there is a total of ten men and women working under a single boss, and I will not explain all as you only need to know the one. Each has what you could call area manager, which would be me, and under him he has ten main members called the fractions, you will come work for me if you are considered worthy replacing Bartolommeo that, as you know, has been forcefully retired.” He made another pause.

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“Our area is assassinations, all of us are trained and our abilities are enhanced specifically to kill. In my case is electricity” He stopped and placed his hands in front of his face palms facing each other, as he took them apart an electric arc was created between them. She almost fell out of her chair with surprise, but she felt no fear, it was more a feeling of excitement.

“It is really good to make it look like an accident.” The smile he made gave her a chill, it showed deep enjoyment in the act of killing.

“The abilities appear at random, there are ways to find out who is going to develop them by events on their childhood but only around one in one to two hundred thousand people actually are able to use them. Normally the abilities are independent of each one and there seems to be no connection between individuals, genetically or otherwise. There is no general characterization of the abilities as no one we know of will study them in depth, we have a rough idea so we divide them in four groups. I will not give you the theory as I don’t know much myself, that part will come during your training”

“So… how do they call us? Something cool as ‘Mages’ or maybe ‘the altered’ I mean we got powers we should go public” There was a spark of hope on her eyes, she felt as one of the heroes on the games she played, at first it all looked like a nightmare but now it seemed like an opportunity for the fantasy life she always dreamed of.

“They called us freaks” Was his response his face pale and grim, “People hate what is different, you of all people should know they hate and kill all that is not what they want it to be and we are no exception, if you are captured, they will either kill you or run experiments. And think about it, will governments accept someone that has that kind of power run free with the other citizens?” He stood up, a sensitive topic, he might have started as positive as she was.

“So, you train me, I work for you and that it?” It seemed like a really good offer, she only needed to learn how to boil people out as she did Bartolommeo.

He laughed.

“You wish, you are just a candidate, there are other nine that want that spot. The best two will get the job one to replace Johnathan who died at the end of last semester and one to fill the place you’ve opened. Other three will become workers providing energy and other commodities, this is not a bad job just a little repetitive and not a really good pay. The worst five of you guys will end up in the arena as gladiators to entertain some of the rich and powerful.” Jacob had been walking on circles as he talked but now placing himself behind his chair, he seemed ready to finish the conversation.

“Wait, when you say gladiators, you mean acting right? Not the coliseum, lion, chariot stuff, right?” All her motivation was going away, she was no longer the hero, just expendable.

“I just told you; you are a candidate to become an international assassin with special abilities at your disposal and you are surprised that the underworld has fighting pits?” He finally sat down on his chair again.

Him standing up had made her uneasy, made her feel as if she was supposed to do something but could not figure out what.

“Fine” She responded at last. “When will this competition begin?” She tried to sound confident she was going to destroy them all but she knew better, if this thing started soon, she was going to go down fast.

“Don’t worry normally we have a year time from the time of death of a member before the competition begins, after all we got others to do the job. All participants have to go through the initiation phase you just passed, most are still on their cells as they came in a better condition or are way more resilient.”

So that is what they did, they showed hell to the candidates taking them the absolute limit until they can no longer oppose any order, until they understand they are property not people. In that condition anyone will either fight for a chance of power and freedom or wait to die; so, they train them and give them a chance making the victors feel grateful and loyal while the ones that are not useful as working force are used as circus animals.

She understood the concept as it is effective, completely heartless, but effective.

Joan had to be in the top five, being a grunt in this ‘organization’ of theirs was no big deal, but the ideal spot was to place herself as one of the assassins. She never liked people and would always go in the dark path in every story she wrote but she never thought she would need to take a life; she might be able to make it after all she had taken down that guy.

“For the next ten months I will be in charge of your training, at least I will train your body, your ability will be trained by Cadem; he is our freak expert around here. You will do what I say; that includes what to eat, this is the last time you are having cocoa until the competition so enjoy it” He gave her a smile; he knew how to make her work.

Taking away food was the best motivation and the fastest way to gain her hate; he was not messing around during his time at the apartment, his mission was not only to take her away but to study and get to know how to control her.

“Ok, can I ask a couple of questions?” She asked before he could speak again. “I know, I know. You gave me an opportunity at the start, I just didn’t think on this before now, besides you haven’t answered the one I did ask”

“Go ahead, and I WILL answer the first one, just be patient” He said with some irritation in his tone, he wanted to end this conversation soon.

“You went to my home to spy on me and get all the information possible before taking me, right?”

“And to verify your power, if you had been a dud, we would have killed you” He ended this with a smile, it was not cold but not comforting either.

Joan gulped.

“Fair” She answered with more confidence than she actually felt. “Then you were acting all the time? Are you really a vegetarian and what happened to Frederick?”

“By Sithir, no” Joan backed a little at the sound of the god’s name. “I ate meat almost daily when you were at the university. As for the turtle We made soup with it when we left Brimish”

The casual tone made her hesitate before she continued.

“Ok that was creepy, you ate your pet and used the darkest of gods name in such away”

“I thought you were an atheist; why would it matter to you what god do I favour? Besides it was just a turtle. I got it before I entered your apartment the first day; people normally trust someone that has a pet” Before she could continue this discussion, he raised a hand and continued.

“Finally, to your original question, why all this white. To be honest I hate the concept, it is annoying for the eyes and anything will make it look dirty; but it’s all for symbolism and the boss loves that so we have to make it work. Today is the day your old life dies; this room is your first step towards your new life. This is the afterlife for Joan Collins and you are about to be reborn from now on you can be whoever you want, after the competition we will give you all papers and any other necessities required to start your new life with us. So, the first question I will make you as a member of our organization is, who are you?”

Jacob was not very convincing as if the words were not his own; he made this final speech making some movements that where clearly rehearsed, it seemed like he was being forced probably by the boss.

Joan did what she could not to laugh, it might look like she was not taking it seriously but it was the exact opposite.

For years now she’d wanted to start a new life far away from everything she knew and her chance had come to her, not in the way she wanted but it was here.

No matter how much she desired this she never actually thought it through, the idea of a new name was intriguing, she wanted one but as in any story she wrote it could be hours before she chose the right name.

The obvious grand names of fantasy came to her ‘Titania’, ‘Alice’, or ‘Aelin’ but none of them felt right.

After a minute or so she rose, looking Jacob in the eye she gave him a smile.

“You can call me Astrid.”