Chapter 2

Torma

Meanwhile, in the outskirts of the great northern city of Denningrad, a farmer named Torma just finished his chores for the day. Torma looked up at the sky, figuring that he had about an hour of daylight remaining. He went into a large wooden barn, grabbed an empty sac and a short sword he had stored there then headed for a part of an evergreen forest that adjacent to his farmland.

The forest, which most people simply referred to as "the evergreen forest," was a very peaceful place – although Torma brought his sword just in case. He had started walking for just a few minutes before he found what he was looking for: medicinal herbs. He dropped the sac and started gathering as many as he could, eventually filling up his entire sac. Torma walked briskly home, there was hardly any daylight left. Within minutes he was walking through his back door, and found his parents there preparing a vegetable stew for dinner.

"HEY!" Torma shouted, "what are you doing? You both should be in bed!"

"Don't be shouting at me, boy!" Torma's father scolded him.

"Neither of you are in any condition to be walking around, and you both know it! How are you even up? It must bring you both great pain."

"If it brought me too much pain, I wouldn't be doing it" said Torma's father.

"Sweetie," Torma's mother started "what you have to understand is that we feel so useless in bed all day, and we'd both rather die than be completely useless."

"All right…" Torma gave in. He knew his parents were in bad condition, but he didn't want them to wish death upon themselves.

"Sit down and we'll finish up in the kitchen," she told him.

Torma sat down at a large wooden table that was in the corner of the kitchen, thinking about how much he didn't want his parents pushing themselves. For years, they had been told that they had some strange and fatal disease that the local doctor knew nothing about, although that never stopped his parents from their usual work. It wasn't until about a year ago that his parents started to feel pain in their muscles and joints from moving. From there it escalated, until now where just breathing sent a ripple of pain throughout their body. Now Torma's parents spend most of their days inside the house, doing simple tasks.

"Oh, by the way," Torma remembered his herbs "I was able to pick up some herbs before I came in." Torma went over to his sac and started clean off what he gathered.

"Ooh, you know those things never work" Torma's father moaned.

"Thanks, Torma" his mother weakly smiled.

"You don't think that they work?" Torma asked his dad

"Of course not! It's not logical…" his face shrunk in pain, then relaxed "it's not logical, how can you prescribe something…" another contortion "that's supposed to cure a mystery-disease?"

"It can't hurt anything, dear…" Torma's mother replied.

After a dinner filled with similar arguments and ranting, Torma's parents – to his relief - finally went to bed. After cleaning up, Torma sat out in front of the house, under a tree, quietly waiting for his parents to actually fall asleep. A few hours after dark, he went to the side of the house, and dug up a sword from underneath a pile of logs. He then lightly jogged to the city of Denningrad in the dead of night.

Torma, who wanted nothing more than to see his parents get better, had been making these secret trips to Denningrad for weeks, trying to get some extra cash in order to send his parents to Fueno – a city near the sea famous for its healing hot springs. He would pull second rate assassination gigs and do the dirty work of any mobster who would trust him. About 30 minutes after he left, Torma arrived at a bar where he met most of his clients. Bill, the bartender, and a very muscular man, greeted him as he walked in.

"Hey, kid." He said, getting Torma a drink. "How's your parents?"

"Dying. As usual." Torma said frankly, "know of anything going on?"

"Not tonight, kid," Bill told him, "I thinks that everyone is usin' Claire again for they jobs."

"She takes small jobs, too?"

"Dunno, most people who meet her usually leave the scene in a casket."

Torma grunted and went to sit by himself to finish his drink. He was starting to think that it was for the best that he wouldn't have to murder anybody tonight. Torma could hardly keep a cap on his sanity, knowing that he had killed exactly 8 strangers, and beat 16 more to a pulp just to send a message. The worst part for him was that he never knew what message he was sending, he just followed orders because it got him the gold. Torma could usually swallow his pride and think of Fueno, but not every night. He was just about to leave when a stranger, who was completely hidden in a long, hooded robe, sat down at his table with a thud.

"Need work?" He simply said

"Depends on what you want done" Torma glared at the darkness of the hood

"Two alley ways west of here, there is a man I want to get rid of." The stranger put a small sac of gold on the table "the down payment…" the stranger offered Torma a handful of the sac.

"Alright," Torma took the gold "I'll be back"

"Good…." the stranger's trailing voice sent chills down Torma's neck.

Torma rushed over to the alley that the Stranger indicated only to find emptiness. He looked around for a few minutes, searching for anybody hiding inside a barrel or something of the sort. When he found nothing, Torma waited. He waited for almost a full hour, and was ready to give up when he saw a young boy of about 15 enter the alley way, followed by the hooded man. As Torma came out of his hiding place, the hooded man whispered something into the young boy's ear. Torma could see a glisten in the boy's eye as the hooded man passed on his little secret.

"Yoouu!" The young boy shouted, grabbing a hidden sword as he did so, "you killed my brother!"

Torma noticed that the hooded man rushed over to a stack of barrels that was between himself and the boy, sitting down on them as if he were about to see a show unfold

"If it were daytime," Torma drew his own sword, "I would have offered you my sympathies. But it seems you have a vengeful blade…"

The boy rushed at Torma, holding his sword high in the air, the boy tried to bring the sword down on Torma's body, but Torma had jumped back, dodging the blow. The boy then ran at Torma again, swinging his blade upwards this time. Torma blocked the blow with his own sword, holding the young kid in that position for a second. While they were in that position, Torma brought his foot back behind the kids leg and kicked him to his knees. Torma took the boy's sword right out of his hand, and finished by kneeing the poor boy in the chin – causing the boy to fall on the floor, belly up.

"I know it's hard," Torma said with his foot on the kid's chest "but you have to swallow your pride and deal without your big brother…Revenge generates nothing…"

The young boy looked back up at Torma with great fear and hatred. Torma felt like he hadn't said the right thing to this boy whose life he ruined. Just for more gold for Fueno.

"It…it was nothing personal against your brother…" Torma said "I would have killed anybody that I was told to kill…it's a money thing. Your brother just happened to be the one I was asked to kill…"

After hearing Torma speak, the boy got a second wind and threw Torma's foot off his chest. He then got up as quickly as he could and once again ran at Torma with everything he had – this time with just his fists.

"It looks like you're going to have to kill him to get him off your back…" the hooded man interjected

Torma glared over at the sick figure that he was starting to despise, which left him open for a slight second. As a result Torma took a punch to the gut, falling back a step. Torma responded by bringing up the blade in his left hand, the boy raises his hands to guard his face and Torma's blade slit the boy's wrist. The boy let out a scream of pain. Torma knew that he only had minutes to get out of there, without thinking about what he was doing Torma slit the boy's throat and ran, only to be caught by the hooded man.

After being intercepted by the hooded man, the next thing Torma remembered was being in a foreign room alone with his mysterious new client.

"What just happened? Who are you?...And WHY did you WATCH the fight?" Torma felt a deep disgust against this man.

"I teleported us out of there…I am me, and I watched because I wanted to. Simple enough, right?"

"Teleportation?..." Torma had never heard of it "is that magic?"

"Yes, fairly advanced magic at that."

Torma grunted "well, I did as you asked. You owe me a remaining sum."

"That I do…" the faceless man walked up to Torma, and handed him a heavy sac of gold coins.

"This much…." Torma had never been so heavily paid "for….that…kid?..."

"It takes a lot of guts to kill someone like that. A young boy who wanted vengeance and you slit his throat like it was nothing! HA! You've earned it"

Torma felt sick to his stomach, but he quickly realized that he would now be able to send his parents to Fueno. Although he still felt like a monster.

"Unfortunately for you…" the man started "assassination isn't a business that you can get out of as easily as you can get into. You've killed 9 people, so that's at least 9 vengeful swords waiting to cut your throat."

Torma's heart sank. He realized that he would have to disappear without a trace.

"Luckily for you, I think you'll soon be one of the best assassins in the city. I've been watching you" Torma's spine went cold "and I think you've got some real…spunk." The man saw that Torma was itching to get out of this place

"I have a job offer" the man went on "I'll supply you with cutting edge swords and armor, in addition to cash payment, if you'll continue to kill for me. And ONLY ME." The man saw Torma's mixed expression, seeing both denial and prospect "I know it's a big offer, so I'll give you a few days to think it over. But…wait too long, and I may key in some revenge seeking…characters…in on your location" the man laughed to himself.

"How do you know where I liv-"

"I like to know everything I can about someone before I consider taking them in as a personal assassin." the man interrupted.

Torma sighed, not liking his situation "will I only work at night?"

"Yes, of course…and" the man chose his words carefully "I believe that I'll be able to send your parents to Fueno, for an extended stay…"

Torma's face went white, he only talked to a select few people about his parents and as far as he knew none of them had ever seen this stranger around before.

"HOW….DO….YOU….-"

"Once again," the man interjected "I like to really know my clients" Torma thought he saw a grin past the dark hood.

"Fine" Torma sighed "Count me in…" he glared at the hooded man "…at least for now."