A lot of my memories are lost to time. Forgotten, because I have died before. Yet, something keeps pulling me back to the mortal realm. That aside, these lost moments somtimes come back to me. But it seems as though I am always fighting either an external darkness or my own. I have no peace in my life, it seems. However, the mystery ends now. I will find out what happened to make me forget.
"Are you ready for this?" The voice of Miles K. Prower asked me. I was preparing for the scan that would reveal my past.
"Whatever it takes." I replied.
"Alright, I don't ask because it will be physically painful. I ask because some mysteries are best left mysteries."
"Not this one."
"Agreed."
Miles flipped a switch and a blue field of energy surrounded my head. About ten seconds later, the process was finished. Any memory that may have been locked away was about to be revealed.
"Interesting." Miles said. "You can step out of the machine now, by the way."
I walked away from the apparatus that scanned me and looked at the computer screen.
"It appears to be that what you thought was your past was a Fog Memory." Miles stated.
A Fog Memory is a false memory implanted in a subject's mind to hide a truth from them.
"Who put them there?" I asked Miles.
"This machine can't tell that. But it can find the real stuff."
Miles pressed a few buttons on the control panel and the screen changed to reveal a name. A name that I remembered immediately. All of the memories flooded back. Light, dark, and everything in between. Who I thought I was turned out to be a lie, and now I knew the truth.
"Are you alright?" Miles asked.
"Yes, I'm fine." I replied. "Thank you."
I walked away, collecting my thoughts and memories around that one name. Shadow Sinnaryt: The Lone Assassin.
Seventeen years earlier
A single figure stood upon a rooftop, with a rifle in his hands. The weapon he held was an AZP-621 Sniper Rifle, capable of penetrating five feet of reinforced concrete with ease. His target: a man codenamed "Nexus". His real name was unknown, but that didn't matter. The mercenary on the rooftop didn't question the motives of the highest bidder. He looked down his scope at Nexus, adjusted for windage and distance, and by his calculations, the bullet would hit the center of mass of his target. Finger on the trigger, the figure concentrated on his tactical breathing, ready to fire between hearbeats. The figure exhaled, and collapsed, dead. a knife stuck out from his back. Another figure, tasked with protecting Nexus, pulled the knife from the dead body and allowed the dead mercenary to disintegrate.
"Overconcentration has been the bane of many assassins. Clearly, you were not an exception." The knife-wielder said. He pulled a radio from his belt and spoke into it.
"This is Lone Assassin. Target is down." He said into the radio.
"Excellent work, Lone Assassin." A voice replied. "That's one less assassin Nexus will have to worry about."
"Assassins are like hydras. Cut off one head, two more take its place."
"Return to base, Lone Assassin. Your work here is done."
The entity with the knife's name was Shadow Sinnaryt. Codename: The Lone Assassin.
When Shadow returned to his headquarters, his friend Verakai was there to greet him.
"What's Nexus's status?" Verakai asked Shadow.
"Good to see you too, Verakai." Shadow replied. "Nexus is safe, for now."
Shadow and Verakai were two operatives of a group of assassins called Chaos Control. At least, that was their name. They were known by others across Mobius, some more complimentary than others. Verakai and Shadow sparred regularly together, both of them at equal skill, so a victor never seemed to rise, they would just tire out before either could land a knockout blow. They were the closest of friends, because they came from similar backgrounds. Shadow and Verakai were both orphans, but the only difference was Verakai knew his parents, as briefely as he did. They were almost a mirror image of eachother, as far as personality and morales went. Verakai, however, was a Felinian, a race of cat-like beings, the same species as the entity Blaze Terra.
As Verakai and Shadow trained, they often discussed their latest contracts, whether it was an escort, kill, or bodyguard-type contract. There were more types, but Verakai and Shadow specialized in kill contracts due to their combat expertise. But today was different. Neither assassin spoke to the other. They knew why. It was because Shadow knew that Verakai had almost failed his last contract. Even though it was a success, Verakai releasing another operative from a prison, the resulting battle left three guards dead, and it would have been preferable to not kill anyone.
A Felinian named Otharos approached Verakai.
"I need to speak with you, Bloodrunner. You too, Lone Assassin."
Bloodrunner was Verakai's codename.
Verakai and Shadow followed Otharos to his quarters, and Otharos sat down in his chair.
"I'm not calling you to discuss your latest contrats, so relax, you two. You're not in any danger." Otharos reassured.
Verakai breathed a sigh of relief.
"You're my best operatives." Otharos explained. "The backbone of Chaos Control. That's why I need the both of you right now."
"What would you have us do?" Shadow asked.
"I know that the circumstances of Bloodrunner's last contract were rather unfavorable, but it is not your fault. Someone tipped off the guards at the prison, which accounted for the heavier resistance. What I need you two to do is find the mole, and kill him. I would avoid torturing our own operatives, just... be subtle."
Verakai and Shadow agreed to take on the mission, while completing other contracts to avoid drawing suspicion from the mole, whoever it was.
weeks passed, with Shadow and Verakai having increasingly more difficult contracts to undertake. Not because of the outright difficulty, but because the mole was getting bolder. Shadow had been following a target as part of a contract, but saw one of the Chaos Control assassins, codenamed Last Whisper, wander into an alleyway. Shadow had to make a decision. If he followed his target, Last Whisper could kill dozens of Chaos Control assassins, but following Last Whisper would draw suspicion to what Otharos had asked him to do. The target was a local warlord who had been supplying weapons to some less favorable types. Shadow quickly weighed the options and chose to follow Last Whisper. watching from a nearby rooftop through binoculars, he saw and read the lips of Last Whisper, but couldn't see the one he was talking to.
"Operative Siegebreaker... Ceron City... Contract... kill Truelight... weapons delivery... take on Chaos Control... three days."
Seigebreaker and Truelight were two operatives of Chaos Control who were currently bodyguarding Nexus, who was at the moment in Ceron City. Shadow realized that Last Whisper and whoever he was talking to would be ready to launch an assault on Chaos Control's headquarters in three days. He had to warn Siegebreaker and Truelight first, and then return to base to tell Otharos his findings. Out of anger towards Last Whisper, Shadow grabbed his rifle and trained it on Last Whisper. He was looking down the alleyway, and the one he was talking to had left when Shadow pulled the trigger and dropped Last Whisper.
"Lone Assassin to Siegebreaker and Truelight." Shadow said into his radio.
"Siegebreaker here. Truelight's next to me."
"We've got a mole. He's taken care of, but someone plans to attack the headquarters in three days."
"Define 'taken care of'." Truelight requested.
"Last Whisper is down." Shadow replied. "Your cover's blown, fall back to base, Nexus was a secondary target to get to you two."
"Copy that, returning to base." Siegebreaker acknowledged.
Otharos was waiting for Shadow, and so was Verakai.
"Seigebreaker just told us." Verakai said. "We've got three days to prepare for battle."
"No time to waste then." Shadow said.
But word of Last Whisper's death had reached the ears of the unknown enemies of Chaos Control. Three days after his death, something hacked all frequencies of communication at the base, so every assassin was hearing what the enemy had to say.
"I will have the entity Shadow Sinnaryt delivered to me at midnight tommorrow, alone at Red Tide Bay. If he is not surrendered, I will take him by force." A voice said, and the signals were released.
"What do we do?" Verakai asked.
"I go to Red Tide Bay, and meet our enemy. He never said I couldn't come unarmed."
Shadow equipped himself with his best weapon, an Obliterator Minigun, which was capable of firing for an hour non-stop, due to Temporal Engineering, resulting in the clip being much bigger on the inside. Shadow also took his sword, Ikbis, and when the time came, he arrived at Red Tide Bay. A single figure appeared before him out of the thin air. Shadow's weapons were cloaked, so the figure could not see them.
"It's a shame you came unarmed. It might've saved you." The figure said, drawing a large, two handed, jet black sword.
"I didn't." Shadow replied. He uncloaked the Obliterator and fired at the figure, but the assailant teleported out of the way after saying a strange incantation. The figure appeared and disappeared whenever Shadow opened fire on him. Shadow threw down the Obliterator and drew the golden sword Ikbis. Shadow stabbed the air behind him, and sure enough to his theory, the figure teleported right into Ikbis's blade.
"I've faced teleporters before. They're so far all the same." Shadow said.
"It's a shame you couldn't protect your friends." the figure said with his dying breath. Shadow's eyes widened in horror. He kicked the figure off of his sword, stabbed him in the head, and ran back to base with Ikbis and the Obliterator. However, the keypad on the door was broken. Shadow blasted the door open with the Obliterator, and saw exactly what he feared.
The dead bodies of countless Chaos Control assassins and their enemies were strewn across the ground. Shadow saw a severed arm that belonged to Otharos, and his body was on the other side of the room.
"Verakai?" Shadow yelled. "Verakai!"
Shadow heard someone cough, but it didn't sound like Verakai. Shadow ran over to where the noise came from, and saw the wounded body of Siegebreaker.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Shadow asked with urgency. "Where's Verakai?!"
Siegebreaker looked over to his right, and Shadow did the same, to see Verakai with a bullet hole in his head.
"He was the first." Siegebreaker coughed. "Everyone else... followed."
"I'll get you out of this, then we'll bring those sons of bitches down." Shadow said.
"Not this time, Shadow."
"Don't talk like that Siegebreaker, you've been through worse."
"No, I haven't"
Siegebreaker grabbed Shadow's arm.
"Don't give up, Shadow. Bring them to justice."
"I will. I promise."
"Remember where you came from, Lone Assassin."
Siegebreaker breathed his last, and the arm that had a hold of Shadow went limp.
Shadow's grief turned to rage, and rage became a lust for vengeance. He truly was The Lone Assassin now, alone, with nothing to lose, the most dangerous kind of vengeance seeker. Shadow saw a green glint of light coming from Siegebreaker's hand. He grabbed the source, and it appeared to be a light green gem. An emerald of some kind. Its energy flowed through Shadow's arm, and the rest of his body. Shadow then in his mind was given the knowledge behind what he had just picked up, one gem of seven known as the Chaos Emeralds, and as long as he held it, he could gain access to its raw power, derived from a realm called the Great Chaos. The final requirement was an incantation, and Shadow knew what he was going to use, to honor those that had fallen today.
"Chaos Control!" Shadow yelled. He then fired a bolt of red and black energy from his other hand, blowing up a nearby wall.
Shadow then walked out of what was once his home, now destroyed, and went to Red Tide Bay. Using the power of the emerald, Shadow saw through the ground, and saw a massive underground complex filled with those who killed Shadow's friends. Shadow then used the emerald to teleport into the complex in an unpopulated area.
"CHAOS CONTROL!" Shadow yelled. He then started to bend space around him and sent a shockwave through the facility, killing several operatives and breaking the legs of many others. It also let them know he was here, and ready to kill. Shadow drew his sword, Ikbis, and using the power of the emerald to slow time, began laying waste to his enemies without mercy or remorse. Shadow was a brutalizer. As far as the assassins he was killing could tell, he was moving incredibly fast, when they were in truth moving slower. Shadow eventually could only detect one life, and it was fleeing. He teleported over to where it was, and saw what should have been impossible.
"Verakai?" Shadow said. "Who was it at the base if you stand before me?"
"A decoy." Verakai said. "Let's get out of here!"
Shadow used the emerald to read the mind of Verakai, without him knowing it. Shadow was in disbelief, but it was true. Last Whisper was a pawn. Verakai was the mole, and in fact, the leader of this group that killed everyone at Chaos Control.
In his rage, Shadow cut off one of Verakai's legs. Blood poured from the wound, and Verakai screamed in pain.
"What the hell, Shadow?!" Verakai yelled.
"You, you organized it all. You killed everyone. I thought you were my friend!"
Over the pain, Verakai had the nerve to say one last remark.
"It's funny how your friends seem to die around you."
Shadow then stabbed Verakai through his head, killing him.
While Chaos Control had been avenged, Shadow still killed his best friend, who had betrayed him. No one was left in his life that he cared about now. He wanted a way out, a reset button. Something that could make him forget. Emerald in hand, he told it to ressurect him in two days, with the only memory being his name: Shadow Sinnaryt. He then walked into a cave near Red Tide Bay, took a pistol, put it to his head, and pulled the trigger.
Miles stood across from me as I collected my thoughts.
"Well?" He asked.
"I remember now. Chaos Control wasn't just a phrase, it was were I came from. The assassins called Chaos Control. I was The Lone Asssassin. And the one who was like a brother to me... betrayed me."
"I can see why you would want to forget that." Miles said.
"How do you live with it?" I asked Miles. "All the pain and suffering you've been through... The death of your race, the wars... How do you still, at the end of the day, want to remember that?"
"How we survive is what makes us who we are, Shadow." Miles said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "And as long as we remember where we came from, we can still be us."
"I didn't though." I replied. "I forgot, and dishonored my friends."
"What you did can be forgiven, you had just lost everything. I still wonder how I didn't go mad in the Sanctuary."
Miles was referring to the Santuary Of The Species, where he had fled to avoid the meteor that destroyed his people.
"Shadow, I don't expect you, or me, or anyone to take what others give us gracefully. All I do and can expect is for us to survive through our own means. Back then, you weren't ready to take the loss. But now, knowing you, I have full confidence in your ability to accept your past, and go into the future."
"For Chaos Control." I said.
"No, Shadow. For you."