January 10, 4:32 PM
Adam looked at the paper given to him again, making sure that the address was correct. He double checked it and folded the paper before returning it to his pocket. Clients were picky about their meeting places but Adam thought they were understandable since they needed to be careful. Normally, a client would meet with Adam in a local building within the district, sometimes clients would invite him in their homes instead. He went to different places and none of them bothered him at all, except this one. The address written on the letter led him in front of a graveyard.
The gate stood tall at ten feet as well as the fences connected to it. Adam never felt so creepy about something. Why would someone want a graveyard as a meeting place? Either they're incredibly careful or they're just weird.
Adam abandoned his thoughts and swallowed his remaining emotions. He was there to be professional as he was expected to be. He levelled his eyes and looked for the handle, only to found it pulled away from the lock of the other side of the gate. Maybe the client was already in there.
Adam pushed the gate slowly and carefully. He didn't want to wake up any spirits resting inside their own graves and he definitely didn't want dead bodies moving about. As the gate creaked, a cold wind embraced Adam's face and body. It gave him a chill but removed it off. The creaking stopped and followed by silence. He went inside the graveyard and pushed the gate behind him but left it open. He looked around and couldn't see anything clear, only clouds of mist. Adam took a step forward then another. Each step crunched against the grass mixed with gravel and each step broke the quiet atmosphere. His movements were cautious not to bump into anything especially the tombstones erected around.
Adam saw a dark figure six meters from his spot. He stared at it for a minute but it didn't move nor make a sound. Assuming it was just a statue, Adam turned around and a hooded and robed figure was in front of him.
"Adam Frost. I am the one that requested your assistance. You can call me Mantis." It said.
Adam couldn't tell if Mantis was a girl or a boy, the voice was disorienting, like a busted radio that managed to play a song, but understandable. Adam even doubted that this figure was a human.
"So," Adam started. "What's the job about?"
"My," it paused momentarily then continued, "associates and I detected a void extremist lurking within the City of Progress."
'Piltover' Adam thought.
"This extremist has been suspected that he will open a Void gate and cause destruction in the city tomorrow midnight. The reasons are unknown but extremists will do anything to spread the word of what they believe in. Maybe that is a reason enough" Mantis reached inside its robe and held a stone in its hand, indicating for Adam to take it. "This stone is created for sealing purposes. There is a possibility that the extremist will succeed in opening a Void gate. Presuming he did, throw this stone at the gate itself and it will disconnect the link between this world and the Void's."
Adam grabbed the stone from Mantis. He gazed at the stone and realized that there were several symbols carved on it. He admired the stone briefly then put it inside his jacket.
"Can you tell more about the extremist?" Adam asked.
"The extremist is a male," Adam obviously knew that. Mantis was already calling the extremist him earlier. "He has brown hair and he's visually impaired, meaning he's blind. Though he is visionless, you must not underestimate him for his senses are keen. He is usually sighted inside a bar named Hextech One. That's all I can provide you with."
"A bar huh? I'm guessing that he's a sex addict as well? Hiring prostitutes from time to time?" Adam questioned, "Unless he goes there for fun."
"You are right about the hiring of prostitutes but he does not buy them for sex. He buys them so that they will be sacrificed. A Void gate cannot be opened by a mere human without sacrifices."
Mantis's reply made Adam think and in the end, it made perfect sense. Most prostitutes in Piltover didn't have any family and when provided with enough money, they will do anything their patron requested. Maybe this was connected to the rumors across the city involving dozens of women that disappeared in a week.
"I must go now, Adam Frost." Mantis said, "We have deposited twenty thousand dollars on your account and we will deposit the remaining money if you have succeeded on killing him. We have eyes and ears everywhere so do not worry. Tread carefully, Adam Frost."
With that, Mantis dispersed with the wave of cold wind passing through. Adam watched Mantis disappear into nothingness before moving on.
January 10, 6:49 PM
Adam inserted his room's key inside the keyhole and turned it. The sound of the door unlocking made him sigh with relief. The place he rented was not expensive nor cheap but his room did contain a few minor problems including the lock of the door. It rarely opened in one try but Adam guessed he was lucky.
Adam would remind himself that he should live somewhere else or maybe own a house someday, living peacefully. He had the money to be luxurious and he had the job to keep him flowing with money. He knew that and yet he kept a room with defects.
The room was spacy and clean. A combination of red and blue furniture and decorations filled their own respective areas. It was not that perfect but it made him happy. He entered and closed the door before removing his jacket and hanging it on the clothes rack behind it. The stone fell on the floor and Adam picked it up. The stone had an eerie feeling when he held it again. Adam paid no attention to it and put the stone on the glass table. He sat at the couch and questions appeared in his thoughts.
"What the hell is up with Mantis?" He asked himself. "What is he in the first place? Can I trust him? He did give me money."
When questions begged for answers, Adam developed a habit of talking to himself. He never had anyone to talk to about this kind of stuff and he only had a few friends but none of them were good enough to sympathize with him. At least that was Adam believed in. He moved on from the Mantis question and a different question arose.
"An extremist?"
Adam faced different targets before. From giant cockroaches to animal human hybrids. He never faced an extremist before nonetheless. He possessed small amount of knowledge about extremists and only laughed at the thought of facing one, not yet anyway. He groaned knowing that this will be a hard task.
Adam's stomach rumbled, intruding his moments. A sign of food lacking. He stood up from the couch and accessed the kitchen. He anticipated that the fridge would be full. Realizing that he had been observing his own habits, he knew that the fridge was empty due to his laziness.
"And I was right." He groaned again when he saw the contents; a jug of water. "Time to go shopping."
Adam hurried inside the bathroom and took of his clothes and threw them across the side of the bathroom. He did a quick bath, removing all the stains and germs all around his body. Once finished, he snatched his semi-wet clothes from the floor and put them inside the laundry basket located beside the bathroom's entrance. He moved inside his bedroom and chose his attire in his cabinet.
January 10, 8:02 PM
He was dressed in a relaxed black t-shirt and jeans followed by a pair of rubber shoes. His thin yet fine snow white hair was still wet and droplets of water met his shoulders and back.
The streets of Piltover were safe in the areas of the rich meanwhile the common and ordinary areas were somewhat dangerous and local criminals roamed them. Adam lived in the common area ever since he was a young lad and he was fairly known amongst the rich and the poor. Many had made their attempts to rob him but ultimately, they were badly injured and put into jail.
He noticed a number of eyes watching him. He simply ignored them and kept on walking to the market. The market was not that far. It was only a couple of blocks away from his home. Each of the buildings he passed by had their history in Piltover and the last building he always caught with his eyes was the Hextech One bar. If the market provided him with nothing and the foods were not his likings, his last resort was to go inside the Hextech One. The bar appeased his hunger with delicious cuisines.
Something dripped at Adam's head then another. It was starting to drizzle and he forgot to bring his umbrella with him. Adam clicked his tongue in annoyance and went to the porch of the Hextech One. The light shower turned into intense rainfall quickly after his arrival. He could try and run for the market but the risk was not needed. He was a survivor but he was still human. A human that can go ill.
"You're such a handsome man, sir." The door opened and Adam glimpsed a man with long brown hair, so long it covered his eyes, dressed in a black suit and pants and two girls, wearing kinky outfits, stood beside him.
'Prostitutes'
"We are pleased that you have chosen us to be your," the prostitute at his right said, "friends today. For a blind man, you know how to pick up beautiful ladies such as us." Adam nearly choked on the nothingness when he heard that the patron was blind.
'Is this the extremist? He doesn't look like one.'
Anyone's first impression about an extremist is a person wearing a robe not a person wearing a formal wear. Adam had a suspicion that this guy was the extremist but he had to be sure. The ladies took out their umbrella and covered themselves, including the blind man. They walked outside the porch and continued in the rain. Adam convinced himself to follow them even if the risk would expose his health to sickness as well as danger since he had no weapons on him.
Adam, drenched from the rain, followed the trio for twenty minutes in secrecy. The trip was not amusing to him. They kept on talking about what dirty things the man will do on those two and the ladies couldn't help but giggle. He squinted his eyes and hovered a hand in front of them. He saw the trio entered a large warehouse like building. He ran in an alleyway and stopped behind the building. He looked up above and smiled.
"Fire escape."
An assassin would never go in the front door, an assassin would find another way. A way where he cannot be seen and noticed. He aligned himself and the ladder hanging from the fire escape. He stretched his arms and legs before taking off and extending arms onto the ladder. Chin up and hands firmly holding, the rain irritated his eyes and made the bars slippery. Adam worked his way up and reached a large glass pane. Purple light shimmered from the inside, producing purple rays on the glass pane.
He looked down the glass pane and saw a portal inside the warehouse. Purple and dark creatures came out of it. Their body structures purely asymmetrical and resembled nothing like the animals. Adam saw the extremist chanting a weird language and stopped to look at him.
"Adam Frost!" The extremist shouted. "We are expecting you!" Followed by a laugh.
Adam turned to get off the roof but several void creatures were blocking his escape. Three flying voidlings and four walking ones. The situation went from bad to worst. The flying voidlings emitted a sound with such frequency that it pierced Adam's ear and rendered him unstable. He covered his ears from the screech like sound but he was tackled by a hulking void creature that was twice his size. The creature grabbed him by his waist and slammed him against the glass pane, smashing it and sending Adam inside the warehouse. His body crashed the ground. Most of his bones broke when the impact began and some of his limbs went numb after that. Adam's vision became blurry and all he can see were the pile of bodies scattered everywhere, the portal that was even larger than before and the extremist himself.
"Oh Adam," The extremist approached him and crouched to look on his ruined body. "I betcha you remember this voice." The extremist coughed and said,
"Adam Frost," Adam's eyes widened and his body trembled with fear. The voice that came out from the extremist's mouth was the voice of Mantis. "It was not hard to manipulate the field, Adam. All I had to do was lure you in."
"Why you might ask? Well, before I wreak havoc across this city I wanted someone to take the blame."
"Me?" Adam managed to say a word.
"Yes! You! The assassin! Can't you see that you are the perfect suspect here?" Mantis laughed horridly, "You are number one on the list of the Sheriff and you have escaped them for how many times. Oh how the mighty has fallen. They will not bite at first since you're just a mere money maker but when we're done. They will definitely blame you."
"What," Adam hacked with blood, "are you going to do with me?"
"I am not going to do anything to you yet but I will give you an offer of a lifetime! Quite literally since your life depends on your decision." Mantis said, "I will heal your wounds and return you to your normal self. Moreover, I will grant you a tap of the powers of the Void. You can use them whenever you want. In return, I want you to sate the Void's hunger." Mantis suddenly hacked with blood just like Adam.
"My body is not capable of serving Her Majesty anymore. I must pass the legacy to someone else." Mantis wiped the blood on his mouth.
"If I refuse?"
"Then die."
Adam experienced life threatening scenarios and split second decisions. He came back alive from them, beaten but alive. He made poor choices in his life but it didn't stop him from doing what he wanted. He had dreams that needed to be caught. He believed that if he made out of this alive, he can pursue those dreams again. His mind was made and his body was prepared.
"I accept." Adam looked at Mantis's eyes and his vision was distorted. Eventually, he passed out.
January 15, 10:45 AM
Adam abruptly woke up and found himself situated on a white bed in a small room painted in white. He raised his upper body and slouched. He let out a big yawn and stretched his arms. His vision was still blurry and he was still sleepy.
"Goodmorning, snow white!" A voice said and a head appeared from the bed above his. Their faces inches away from each other. "The name is Jinx!"
Hi readers. This is my second attempt at writing. My previous story was deleted because of personal reasons. However this story will shine on through and hopefully I will finish this one.
I only know the basic English words and I might cause repetition. I may even cause grammatical and spelling errors.If you spot a mistake please tell me so I can fix it.
Reviews, comments, suggestions, and criticism are appreciated.
Thank you for reading!