Revolution

Prologue

"I still remember the world
From the eyes of a child
Slowly those feelings
Were clouded by what I know now.
Where has my heart gone
An uneven trade for the real world
Oh I... I want to go back to
Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all."

- Field of Innocence, Evanescence.

Sometimes, I wonder how I had gotten to this point in my life. All of the hatred – all of the death that surrounded me was suffocating. It felt like I couldn't breathe in this deep, black abyss that I found myself in. It was like a sinking pit of sand. The more you try to escape and struggle against it, the quicker it drew you into it's clutches.

War seems to do that to people. You always came back from a battle with a new perspective and a new-found love for being alive. It was startling how much you could appreciate the laugh of someone you cared about or the cool water that touches your parched throat. But sometimes... You came back with a bitter realization. Realization that this war is bigger than yourself or your kinsmen. That there was nothing you could do to change the way things happened. It makes it so that even the best of friends cannot recognize each other anymore.

Again, I wondered how I got here and for some reason, I cannot get rid of the words that The Grandmaster had told me the last time I had saw him. They replayed in my mind, over and over.

He told me that life was just an illusion. Nothing was real but yet... Everything was permitted. I knew the basis of what he was saying but I felt like the true meaning was avoiding me. It was right there, on the tip of my mind but I could not seem to comprehend it. You could change the world – twist the hands of fate in your favor, he said, it all just depends on who to kill first.

I clutched the quaint tiara that I held in my hands a little tighter. I never truly realized how important I would be to everyone. Yes, my time in history would come and pass but if my efforts changed the world, even if only a little, it was worth it.

But was it? Killing all of those people, despite what they had done in life... The Grandmaster always said it was ironic how we killed for peace. It went against every single thing we were taught. But what could we do? The would would be corrupted if certain people were allowed to live. It was the only way, right?

The tiara slipped from my fingertips and landed on my plush carpet silently. I stood, stepping over it as I gather up my dual swords and slip them into the sheaths hanging at my sides. I paused as I passed by my grand, ornate mirror that hung on the stone walls of my room.

I looked up, at my eyes. They used to be so green and full of life but now, they were dull and haunted. Dark bags were underneath them and I sighed at the sight, rubbing them gently. I did not sleep so easily, not as I once had. The faces of my victims never left my dreams in peace. They were always there – always taunting and cursing me. Always saying the same thing. Who was I to determine who lived and who died?

It was worth it, I reminded myself in a desperate attempt to keep calm. I closed my eyes as I pulled up my hood, concealing my face from view.

I looked back at my reflection, shuddering at the merciless woman that stood before me now. This was what all my marks had last seen before succumbing to death. This Assassin with no fear of the consequences – no remorse for the death on her hands. A single tear slipped from my eye and I stopped it with a finger, pulling it away to study it.

Please God, I thought as I clenched my hand into a fist and straightened my spine, let it be worth it.