Warning: contains depictions of gore, abuse, and torture! NOT FOR THE SOFT-HEARTED!
Dark of the Humbling Night
PROLOGUE
The night. How it suits me.
The dark skies, the eerie silence, and the moon shining on the earth. The time where children are sleeping, where pretty much nothing happens.
Night does things people despise, and I've grown to be one with it.
Who am I, you ask? My name's Link Audacia. I'm sixteen years old. I'm an assassin from a rival kingdom of Hyrule's: Voya Mata.
How did I become an assassin? My childhood wasn't an easy one like most children. My home, the village of Skyfall, was torn by war by a rival village. I was orphaned, and all because of those bastards that started it all.
I remember that when I was six, I was a prisoner and abused to the rival village. Beaten to a pulp, rarely fed, and tortured, I was a forgotten child. But hope came to save me.
The Voya Mata Army came to level the warfare in Skyfall down and rescued a handful of orphaned children, including me. I was raised by a soldier from the Voya Mata Army, whom later adopted me, teaching me that blades were a "noble weapon" compared to other weapons all the while force-training me. He was right. All of that training really changed me.
Blades carry honor, pressing the steel metal against one's neck, feeling their pulse from the steel, and savoring their screams. How the lust flows through my veins.
A man ran to an alley, grasping his side as blood leaked out, showing bits of bone. The wound was there a few minutes ago, caused by a blade.
"Thought you could get away?" A voice cackled as the man turned, horrified.
A man in a dark cloak with spiked bracers on his arms approached the injured man, drawing a knife. "You've got nowhere to run." He let out a bone-chilling laugh, darting up towards the other man and pinning him to prevent escape.
He drived the knife into the shoulder, a cry of pain leaving the victim's throat as metal dug deeply into it. Bones snapped like firecrackers, blood escaping in a fine spray. The victim cried out as the cloaked one let a smile across his face. He enjoyed seeing his victims like this.
"That nickname you love SO much..." He pressed his blade to the throat. "Want to know how I got it?"
"No... no! Stop!"
"Actually, why don't I give you a demonstration?" He grabbed the man's throat, pressing the edge of his knife against it. The faint beats resonated on the blade, assassin savoring it. He grinned evilly as the man's eyes widened in horror.
"NO!"
The blade fell into warm flesh, ripping apart the organs like a knife through butter. Veins were severed, blood falling out of place, and the victim's breathing gone with the wind. The sickening smell of fresh blood filled the area, smelling sweet to the assassin where others would faint or gag from it.
Another laugh tore through the dead air, wind whistling as the assassin continued cackling.
I loved how the blood would leave their owner. I heard that only 1 in 50 people that's a merc or a soldier can kill with zero hesitation. Guess it made me a two percenter.
Regular guys, they couldn't handle it. All that blood and flying body parts. The fear in dying eyes.
Me, though, I like it. A lot.
The younger you learn a thing, the better you retain it. I remember Skyfall like it was yesterday. All the blood, the screams, the abuse; next thing, I'm ripping men and women to shreds.
White Demon, and my nickname, "Link the Ripper", both of them were what I had after Skyfall. Earning "White Demon" for being a relentless killer, and "Link the Ripper" for my killing technique.
All my life, I was just an assassin. A hired merc and praised for my dispatching the target. A legend among the criminal underground. For once, it started to bore me.
All of my assassinations were people my employers hated. Where's the challenge? The trickiness? All of those, I could get it done easily. And I HATE easy. Easy's for chumps, and I'm no chump.
After the forced training and moving to Wolf Valley, a village to the south of Skyfall, I tried to shut out my childhood abuse and past. I would grow up to suppress the memories about my terrible childhood, burying the memories of my bloody past, though I still suffered from nightmares of my past nearly every night. Because of Him, I can't live a normal life.
Am I a troubled teen?
Yeah, you can say that. I could start at any point starting from when I moved to Wolf Valley in my short, new miserable life.
Here I am, in my room that I call my hideout. Hiding in a bar, the attic became my home and shelter. Leaning against the window-frame that I can leap out of, I watched as the sun begin to set. Daylight isn't my sort of thing. Sure, I'm an assassin, but I need a place to relax.
All of my gear: dark cloak, knives, spiked bracers, hood concealing my identity in the night, and my favorite blade, were ready for another night of assassination. All I need is someone to come in and hire me.
The sound of footsteps reached my ears, unsurprised at another employer as I gazed out into the setting sun.
"Link!" A feminine sound came from the other side of the stairway door.
"Telma." I groaned inwardly. "What?" I respond.
"YOU GOT YOURSELF AN EMPLOYER!"
"All right! Don't have to holler..." I put on my Assassin's Garb and weapons, opening the stairway door and descended into the basement where I meet my employer. I have to admit, Telma does have one hell of a bar...
As I entered the basement doubling as an employer's meeting place for my assassin usefulness, Telma was already there, standing before where I meet my employer. "Took you long enough, Link."
"You KNOW how I have to keep up a reputation."
"Yeah, yeah. You got somebody in there. She's clean."
"She?" Wow. A woman for an employer. Breaks the record, that's for sure.
"Thank you, Telma."
I threw the door open calmly, letting the darkness of the room envelope me. An oil lamp was the only source of light in this room, not that it was a bother for me. Sitting at the table was the employer, dressed in a cloak and face obscured by the hood she wore.
"Want something to drink?" I started, hooded face turning towards me and shaking her head. I can tell in her presence that she was nervous; maybe of the rumor that if the employer didn't except my offer, I'd kill them. Lies, obviously. "If you insist."
Taking a glass and pouring my usual drink: a martini specially made by Telma, I added a thin lemon-peel slice. "So, what brings you here?"
I can tell the employer was fidgeting in her chair. "I-I want to hire you."
The sound of the voice was registered into my brain, knowing that I'd remember my employer if I forget. "For what? Assassination?"
"Y-you are an assassin, are you not?"
"Yeah, I am. Who's my target?"
The hooded girl glanced down at her hands. "I-I want you to kill the Princess of Hyrule."
I sprayed out the martini from my mouth on the name of the target. The Princess of Hyrule?! As in Princess Zelda Harkinian!?
"Why should I kill her?"
Again, the employer fidgeted as I poured another round of martini. "S-she mocked my family. S-Said it was we were just a bunch of spoiled, good-for-nothing nobles."
"And why should I help out a noble, Princess Rachel of the noble family Farron?" I raised an eyebrow, blowing her cover.
"H-How'd you know who I am? I-I demand to know!"
"You stutter at the beginning of your sentences, and your cloak has the mark of the Farrons even though you tried your best to hide it." I gulped the martini, making the girl throw off her hood. A bundle of raven hair popped out of the hood with literally violet-colored eyes filled with rage alongside her 16 year old facial features. On her left eye was the brand of the Farrons. My prediction was correct.
Ooh, must've touched a nerve right there.
"How rude, you wretched little nothing!" She spat.
I ignored her scolding, brandishing one of my many knives not to threaten her, but to sharpen it with a whetstone. Ripping people apart was my hobby, and people may think it's sick and that I'm a psychopath. That's a fact, but for lust.
"The Princess was right, your highness." I endlessly sharpened my weapon, savoring the metal and stone sliding and waging war against each other. "If you won't give me a better reason, then don't come here again."
"I know who you are, Link the Ripper."
I looked up at her amusingly. Like a princess of a noble family would find out my roots. And so what if I care?
"So?"
Scoffing like the spoiled one she is, she crossed her arms. "I know you're looking for a challenge. You're bored of the easy assassinations."
"Sorry, sweetheart, but I don't do girl problems. Go find some other assassin to do your dirty work."
"I'll pay you! As much as you want!"
I stopped in place, hearing the plea. I wasn't into it for the money; I was into it for the habit of killing people. "...Fine. If you're that desperate."
Goddesses, what have I gotten myself into? Killing royalty is a new one for me.
"What's the deadline?"
"As soon as possible." Princess Rachel held out a hand for an agreement.
"Betray me, and I'll cut up that pretty body and face of yours. That, I can guarantee." I shook hands with her.
Hyrule is 10 miles from here, and takes about a whole day's march to get there. My veins were screaming now, and they want blood. The lust of the veins came to me, and I shared the same lust: blood and ripping apart flesh.
Maybe this assassination wasn't going to be as bad as I thought. But there's one side of me to just call off the assassination and forget I asked for a challenge.
"Good evening." She threw her hood back on and walked out of the basement.
I smirked at her spunky attitude despite being a noble.
Okay, I know what you're thinking: "Why is Link234521 making another when he has others that aren't finished?" Well, this is a side project; not a full-on focus. Hope you enjoyed this, and don't forget to review!
