DotA 2 belongs to Valve. I don't own anything about it.
The planet where the moon once had crashed laid many forms of life, from human beings to elementals. In each race, there would always be fighters and warriors who brought many lands, loots, and peace back to them. Assassins were one of them.
The Sisters of the Veil, or whom they called was a perfect den of assassins, trained only to kill. But what made it differed was, they were all female. Separated from their parents in their youth, only to be trained into a deadly weapon. Now, one among them was on a mission.
Moonlight shone onto the ground, piercing the foliage while raindrops fell onto the grass; a rainy night it seemed. A shadowy figure could be seen under one of the trees, blending in with the darkness while the rain continued. Looking closely, it was shivering but tried to withstand the cold the best it could.
"Damn the rain..." muttered the phantom leaning against the tree. When the moon shone onto it, it appeared to be someone in a leather outfit; black in color as to be one within the night. It wrapped a cape around itself, trying to make itself warm. Behind the cape draped its black hair, tied into a pony tail coming out from a spiked helmet. A breastplate and shoulder guards also covered the shivering figure, soaking wet along with the leather armor inside. Judging by its appearance, it appeared to be a fighter, female.
The lonely fighter reached behind her back before pulling out a sharpened glaive. She then turned to face the bark before striking down onto the surface. Slowly, the blade cut the bark down while carving the innards out. With effort and hard work, she managed to make a hole in the tree, big enough for her to fit in. She didn't hesitate of fitting into the hole, hiding from the harsh night outside. Still, her wet clothes made her uncomfortable.
"At least." she said to herself, staring out into the rain outside. She couldn't sleep or else, with wet clothes and shivering weather, she would never wake up. Trying her best to stay awake wasn't an easy task, but a well-trained assassin must be able to do it.
Rain continued as the night fell, stars crept away while the twilight dawned upon the land. The storm had dispersed when the morning came. The night was over, now it's time for her to continue on what she was doing.
She didn't expect a night in Nightsilver Woods to be so harsh; it could be of what the intruders would face as the woods was blessed by the Goddess of the Moon. Her task wasn't easy as she thought. Somehow, she survived the night.
The lone fighter came out from the hole she had made; sun rays stabbed her eyes when she did. Her garments were still damp, but that wouldn't stop her from continuing on her mission. She had entered the woods the night before and made her way through it; she wasn't sure when she would find her target as the woods was very big.
Despite how hard one trained, an empty stomach could be a problem for many. Her eyes searched for any signs of something she could eat; an apple tree nearby should do the work. Seeing the fruits, she went towards the tree and got her stomach filled.
Trekking in the woods was one of the things she had learnt about and it helped her a lot. Where she should step, where she could hide, how to survive in it, an assassin must know these things as their targets could be in the wilderness. The other thing was hiding her presence from her enemies.
It could be magic that blurred her body and erased her presence. The Veiled Sisters' secrets were untold to the outer world. Only the ones who were part of them may know them. Striding from tree to tree, passing through some bushes, she made only a little sound which one wouldn't hear from a distance. She decided to avoid the road at all costs as someone might see her.
Yes, she was part of them; a female assassin she was. She had been on many missions given from the sisters themselves and sometimes hired by outsiders. She didn't know the purpose of why to kill, but she gained loots and fame for it. On this mission, she had been tasked to end the Princess of the Moon's life who roamed the Nightsilver Woods as a guardian of Selemene, the Goddess of the moon. Mirana was the name of the one she needed to kill.
The day went passed quickly; the sun had already begun to set. In front of her was the Temple of Mene, the sanctum of the ones under the service of Selemene. The temple was short but round-shaped like a dome with a big hole in the center roof. Concentrated beam of moonlight was connecting the night sky with the ground, like a pillar coming out from the opening she saw. Maybe rituals or blessings were practiced in there. The lone assassin hid her presence and blurred herself to blend in with the night when the stars were up in the sky.
She got a feeling that her target wouldn't be in the palace, but somewhere nearby; her blurred body seemed to trust her mind too. Trusting her own feeling, she went around the palace, jumping from tree to tree and over a small stream. She stopped at the stream as her feelings told her before following up to where the stream came from. It went north from the palace, resulting in a pool surrounded by the woods.
Earlier in the day, she had found some similar pools like this one. All of them had something in common. The water glowed from the lunar energy within, making the pool sparkled like it was tainted in star dust. On the clear surface of water were lotuses floating in the pool, faintly glowing in the night. They must be the sacred luminous lotus which the Goddess preserved. One of the reasons the warriors of Selemene roamed the woods was to protect the lotus. But, she wasn't here to steal them anyway.
She hid in the bushes, seeing something in the night along the pool. A figure was kneeling down by the water, relaxing beside the pool. Moonlight tended to be shone at the figure, making out an image of a woman in a blue night gown. Her face glowed as the moon was within her. She finally found her target; it was Mirana, the Princess of the Moon.
The assassin made sure her gears were ready; her poison coated daggers and her deadly glaive. She moved closer to the target, trying to ambush from behind and instantly decapitate her victim. When the time was right, she jumped on the Princess of the Moon, blinking to behind her back with her blade striking down.
Time slowed down to a halt when the glaive was about to land; its steel surface reflected something up in the sky. The moon was glowing brighter than usual, only to release a strong beam of moonlight on the assassin. Time resumed on normal again as the assassin was now stunned by the lunar beam, alerting Mirana of incoming danger.
"In time, Princess Mirana." A shape sprang from the bushes beside the pool, resembling a warrior on an armored panther back. When she came back to her senses, her target was now beside the panther warrior, taking a bow and arrows from one of the panther pouches. The lone assassin realized she was now fighting against two warriors of the Nightsilver Woods.
"Stay back, this foe is too dangerous to take on." The warrior on the beast back said in warning, focusing on the intruder in every moment.
"If it wasn't you, Luna, the Moon Rider."
"Said the infamous assassin, Mortred."
The one on the panther back was Luna, armored in blue and a pointed helmet. She was one of the Selemene's chosen, embarked with horrifying past. In her hand was a glaive like the assassin, but enchanted by the power of the moon.
Mortred, the Phantom Assassin, had failed on her assassination attempt. On some missions, there would be strong enemies who could fight her alone. Those ones made some of her past missions failed, and now she was facing two of them. She could at least kill one and escape, she thought.
The Princess of the Moon was now in a safe distance, leaving her friend and companion with the fearful assassin. Luna tightened her grip on her glaive, preparing for the first strike to land. On the other side, Mortred also tightly gripped her weapon, readying for an initiate. As the sound of water rippled, Mortred jumped on Luna, blinking to her to start the fight.
Blade crashed with blade, both of the fighters gritted their teeth as the hit landed. With a panther on Luna side, Mortred seemed to be losing on the push. In a second, she quickly stepped back, avoiding a slash from Luna before blinking in again.
Now she avoided clashing with her, but played the dodging game instead. Mortred skillfully dodged Luna's glaive as well as striking back at the same time. With being on a panther back, Luna didn't have much time to block and dodge Mortred's glaive.
After a minute of exchanging hit, armors on Luna were scratched by Mortred strikes; blood seeped through her clothes from some scratches. While on Mortred's side, she had avoided all of Luna's blows. For some reasons, Luna was sure she saw her glaive slicing through Mortred's arm but somehow it didn't. It was one of the secrets Mortred had.
Another minute passed, Luna seemed to be losing as she gained more scratches on her armors. She could see her opponent's wicked smile, seeming to be enjoying the fight. Mortred was waiting for an opening to end the fight, decapitating the Nightsilver Woods' warrior head. It came as she thought, Luna's panther accidentally slipped from a rock hidden in the grass, losing balance for a split second. That was all she needed. Mortred took the chance, jumping straight at Luna's head with her blade swinging.
Before she could cut her head off, she quickly changed her direction or the perfectly aimed arrows would kill her first. She saw Luna regained her balance with someone standing behind; Mirana was aiming a shot at her.
She had forgotten about the other one, now joining the fight. Mortred brows furrowed as she changed her target from Luna to the princess. Mirana was the one whom she should kill, and now it provoked her to do it. Mortred quickly sprint passed Luna, preparing to jump onto her new target. Before she could do so, time froze again; a familar feeling it was. Time then continued as Mortred was now stunned by Lucent Beam from Luna, thus opening a chance for the duo to end the intruder life.
Mirana channeled her magic power, enchanted by the moonlight onto her arrow. It glowed brightly as it was full of destructive energy. When Mortred recovered from the lunar beam, Mirana fired her arrow, aimed dead center at the assassin.
The Scared Arrow pierced Mortred's breastplate, gutting her stomach inside. She cried out in pain as it was more than she could handle; the energy enchanted on the arrow now surged throughout her body, burning her innards. Mortred fell onto her knees, her hand covering the arrow's wound before she heard a nearby voice. All of her plans were now turned against her; she probably wouldn't live to see the morning.
"Let the sky tear down the unworthy!" Luna called down the power of the moon, creating an eclipse. Mortred looked up into the sky, seeing the moon completely blocked the light from the sun. It glowed brightly with concentrated beams of moonlight before they started to rain down onto the assassin, one by one.
Grass rustled as a figure stepped on it, blood dropping onto the ground as it walked. One might not know that a path, north in Nightsilver Woods was covered in blood. There was enough blood that turned a road into a bloody trail. It stopped at the northwest of the woods.
Mortred continued to pull herself up and get out of the Nightsilver Woods; she was badly injured from the fight on the night before. An arrow was sticking out from her stomach, blood seeping out from it. If one could look inside her, they would see her body was very close to a toast as her insides were burned by the Lucent Beams. Every breath sent a pain to her lungs, but she gritted her teeth and kept on walking.
She lost so much blood by the arrow itself; the burning sensation made the blood rushed out. She had made her way out from the woods, seeming impossible as she thought. The two Selemene's warriors spared her life after she took full blows from the Eclipse. They left her alone in the wild, thinking she would not make it.
Mortred continued on her path, going north for a chance to survive. North from the woods, she saw less trees and more rocks. The land seemed to be going upwards also; a highland it was. Maybe she could find something there, she thought.
The sun was shining brightly in the sky, searing heat passed on to the injured assassin. It was noon already, walking for hours began to take toll on her. The trees were very thin in numbers, only more rocks and sand appeared. Tall stone pillars scattered all over the place. She needed to hide from the sun as it drained water from her body.
Deciding to take place under a pillar, Mortred painfully leaned against the hard stone surface before plopping onto the ground. She felt dizzy from the burning sun; her vision began to be blurred by the loss of blood and water. This might be it, her eternal sleeping place. Mortred stiffed a laugh to herself; maybe dying wouldn't be that bad. She closed her eyes, her consciousness began to fade. She would already blackout if it wasn't a sound of a rock rumbling.
Startled by the loud noise, her adrenaline shook her body awake once more, jolting to her feet. Her grip tightened on her glaive, trying to focus on the colors that moved onto her sight. A black, green shape was moving in her direction before tiny stones stuck to it, turning into a boulder. Beside was something red swinging around, a patch of blonde was visible for a while. Enemies, foes or whatever they could be, she thought.
Mortred slowly moved her shaking legs towards the figures; her adrenaline started to fade, leaving her dazed again. Something came out from the black-green shape, moving towards her. She felt the two shapes noticed her presence, but now something was moving in full speed which was about to hit her. It looked kind of like a stone, her mind told her.
Crunching sound emerged when the assassin was met by an unknown object, her bones shattered from the impact. It hurt to the point where she couldn't feel anymore, she was going to die anyway. Mortred fell onto her knees, punctured ribs pierced through her organs. Her vision went black really fast.
Before she blacked out, she saw the two shapes coming at her, but she seemed to notice the red one more. Swinging red thing would be the last thing she would see. Mortred then lost her consciousness.