Disclaimer: All property of the wonderful Gravity. Ahh, RO nostalgia is always the best kind of nostalgia.
Assassin Eremes Guile had been sleeping.
Slowly, he flickered back into consciousness, soft lights dancing hazily around the edges of his vision. His limbs felt leaden and strange.
How long had he been sleeping? He tried to focus, tried to piece together his fragmented memory.
A fire…there had been a fire. The tall man in a white coat who he saw every day had screamed and run, leaving Eremes alone, alone to die. Who was that tall man? He seemed so familiar, but try as he might, Eremes could not recall his name.
At some point, there had been some sort of fusion, and pain, lots and lots and lots of pain, and power. They had transcended him into an Assassin Cross somehow. He flexed his fingers, realizing for the first time that he possessed the knowledge that came with the skills of his new class.
He squeezed his eyes shut, racking his brain for more hints. One name in particular jumped out at him. Retha! No, he corrected himself, High Priestess Sorin. He had been tasked by his guild to safely escort her to Lighthalzen. What had become of her? Had he succeeded? Had he failed? He remembered their journey in crystal clear detail, but after their arrival at Lighthalzen he could recall no more than unreliable bits and pieces.
Be calm, he murmured to himself. Rushing would only lead to amateurish mistakes. Panic would only cloud his mind and hamper his abilities. Taking a deep breath, he steeled his nerves and opened his eyes, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.
Eremes was suspended in a viscous green gel, completely submerged from head to toe. Gasping, the liquid forced its way into and down his throat and he reflexively choked. His body reeled in confusion as his brain insisted that he was drowning while his lungs firmly replied that no, everything was quite under control.
He had to get out before he went insane. The glass tube was slick and frictionless, but his sharp eyes spotted a small crack near the top of the tube. Swimming upwards, Eremes forcefully hit his hands against the aberration, hoping that it would be enough.
It was.
The glass shattered, splintering into dozens of glittering pieces on the floor. The gooey liquid spilled out onto the floor and he gasped in the beautiful nothingness of air. Eremes glanced around the room and blinked as his eyes adjusted to the light. In a corner lay a set of katars wrapped within a clean white cloth, a tightly stoppered bottle, and his thief's clothes.
Gathering up the equipment, he realized how naked he had felt without a set of katars. Though they were slightly rusted, they would be better than nothing. Gripping one in each hand, he walked to a steely mechanical door that lay directly across from the glass tube where he had been held. It was tightly locked, and the metal had melted somewhat. He doubted that picking the lock would even help him in escaping. Still, it was worth a try.
Inserting his lockpicking tools, he gently fiddled with the pins. Patience was key. He felt the pin with the most resistance set and allowed himself to take a breath of relief. Three more pins remained…but he had picked many a lock, and they were easy to manipulate. He twisted his tension wrench to the unlocked position and tried the doorknob.
It turned and slid open smoothly.
He quickly shut it. Pocketing his pick, Eremes examined the stoppered bottle. He had never heard of enchanted deadly poison losing its effectiveness, and though he had no idea how long he had slept for, he prayed that it was still potent. He applied the entire contents of the bottle to his twin katars. Since he did not know what lay on the other side of that door, he thought, he had better be prepared for it.
It was time. Whatever lurked on the other side of the door might have seen the doorknob turn. They could even be investigating it by now, and Eremes was as prepared as he would ever be. He glanced around the room and checked his gear and weapons one more time, making sure that he had everything.
Turning the door and wincing at the squeak of the rusted hinges, he clambered through the twisted and melted metal and landed lightly on his feet. Looking around, Eremes found himself in a room full of mirrors.
A/N: Some drabbling to take my mind off of my other RO fic. Writing in present tense is near impossible for me D: