Antipolo, September 27 2013

Antipolo Church Underground, Eastern Assassins HQ

05:31

The sunlight flashed over Nox's eyes as Master Juan opened the metal door. Nox opened my eyes and saw many men and women wearing the Assassin robes but not like the others. "Why are their robes different from those guys?" Nox asked as he point out a certain man teaching some aprrentice. He appeared as wearing a black long-sleeved coat with buckles to carry his sword and knives. He had black leggings and black boots along with a metal gauntlet on both hands and a black hooked hood. On the other hand, the apprentices were wearing white robes and white hooked hoods. I can clearly tell who's the teacher and the student.

"It is because they are Master Assassins now. If you look closely, their left ring finger had been cut off. It ensures the commitment to the Order and for the blade to extend." Juan showed the mechanism of the blade. A circle type of mechanism releases the blade downward once the arm pushes downward and retracts the blade back up when the arm pulls upward. Juan leads Nox through the training crowd, greeting Juan with "Good morning, Mentor." "Alyssa." Juan called a girl wearing apprentice robes.

"Y-You're that girl..." Nox said nervously. She just jumped and killed a corrupt mayor's brother two days ago. Thoughts of her rushing to Nox and stabbing him with her hidden blade makes his knees buckle.

"You're that guy from before. Aming Tagapagturo (Our Mentor), why did you took him in our Order?" She asked. She's a little annoyed seeing Nox's amateur face. At least she's not about to kill Nox. "What good will he do to our order?" It hurt Nox's pride a little.

"I recruited you Alyssa because you wanted to know your parents, Nox on the other hand, wants to know WHY his parents were killed. Be grateful that your parents is still alive, Nox here is now an orphan. To further add the problem, his uncle and aunt are Templars, whom he used to live before I took him." Alyssa's eyes lightened with hope and, murder. Her eyebrows went down as her temper.

"If that is so, we can kill them NOW! Nox can easily go to their house without any problem at all!" She made a point there. Nox can easily kill those guys right now. "If we prepare right now, we can strike them and-" The Mentor placed his index finger on her lips.

"Do you even know who they are Alyssa?" The Mentor stopped her. "They are the president and vice president of the Department of Revenue. If we strike them first, the corrupted members of the Department will not falter but take over the position. We will take their members out one by one and replace them with the Order's allies." The Mentor lowered the hook of Alyssa's hood. The hook covered her eyes, her frowny eyes. "Patience Alyssa. Nox needs training." The Mentor said smiling.

"And what of it?" She asked. She is still mad at Nox.

"You are to train him."

"WHAT?!" Both Nox and Alyssa were surprised. If Alyssa were still mad at Nox, as what Nox thinks of the situation, she will instantly kill him without the Mentor's eyes. "Why me Mentor? You can give him to the Masters!" Alyssa complained. Nox wanted to complain as well but he is also a beginner and he cannot complain much. "The Masters are busy and so is the Mentor. You on the other hand is not doing anything." The Mentor said smilingly again.

"But I just finished eating Mentor! Ughhh!" The Mentor lowered her hood again and left. This left Nox with Alyssa. But from the looks of the Mentor, he seem to be the man who does things for a reason. The Mentor disappeared from the training Assassins. "Hey fresh meat, grab a weapon, anything." Alyssa pointed the weapons rack beside Nox. There were swords, katanas, knuckles, knives and even a spear and a hammer. There was also a two metal sticks lying beside covered with dust. It was an Arnis, a weapon of the Filipinos. No one seem to like using it though. As soon as I grabbed a katana, Alyssa rushed towards Nox and lashed on him. Fortunately she was using a stick. She stroke Nox from side to side, causing so much pain.

"H-Hey knock it off!" Nox shouted but she pushed him and I fell over the weapons rack. She didn't seem to listen and out of instict Nox saw her chest wide open and pushed her away, touching her soft breast but it didn't bother him at first. The weapon beside him was the Arnis. Alyssa jumped, dashing towards Nox and he just grabbed the Arnis and

SCREEEECH!

The impact came from the Arnis. It was incredibly light but he can feel the durability of the weapon. He opened my eyes and saw Alyssa holding her right hand from pain, the sword-stick she was holding was on the ground. It was broken. He looked around for the other part of the stick. Nox heard the other Assassins pointing at the ceiling, the other half was pierced in the ceiling. He used the Arnis to stand up, still holding it firmly in his hands. Everyone was looking at him, even the Masters. The hall was full of whispers and fingers pointing at Nox and the Arnis.

"How did you... do that?" Alyssa asked him.

"If he were to push that button, it could've hurt Alyssa!" Someone from the back said loudly. Nox looked over the Arnis and saw a button. He pushed it and a blade came out from the edge of the Arnis. It made a sharp sound as it ejected, it made the Arnis more flexible to use. "He can use that weapon? Isn't that too heavy Master? Especially when the blade comes out?" A female Assassin asked. Nox was surprised to know that it was supposed to be heavy but it actually felt light, like a stick. "Not to mention he made a simple stick pierce a metal ceiling."

"Ah!" Nox remembered that moment, as she lash the stick to him, he unleashed the Arnis from the ground and smacked her weapon upward. But is the Arnis really that strong for him to pierce it to the ceiling? Alyssa's hands were also sore, if that so, it must have been really hard. "A-Alyssa, I-I'm sorry!" Nox rushed towars her and reached for her hand, it was completely sore and red. She removed her hand aftwerwards and shouted at me.

"Don't show mercy on your opponent!" She walked out from the crowd. Did he do something wrong? Nox's focus on her was disrupted by a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and saw a hooded figure in black, a Master.

"Hey. My name is Mike, Mike Cruzado. Supposedly Alyssa was to show ya around after that training, but she kinda pissed off away so stand up and I'll tour ya around." Nox stood up and the Assassins went back to their work. Nox followed Mike out from the training hall and in a silver hallway. "You did good back there, or should I say, EXTRAORDINARY!" Mike as full of enthusiasm, for a Master to compliment a first time novice. "You know, only The Mentor wielded that Arnis, it was so heavy that none of us were able to lift it, let alone lift it with the blades out. The Mentor told us that the Arnis was a weapon of the Filipinos, our weapon. But since the control of the Templars, we Filipinos lost our power to believe in the country's restoration." Mike said.

"So the Arnis chooses its wielder?" Nox asked.

"Somehow, yes it does. The Mentor said only a true Filipino can wield that Arnis. At first we didn't want to believe him, but when we tried other types of Arnis, wooden or plated or made out of metal and a replica of that Arnis, we can lift it and use it. But that Arnis is completely different, the blade never rusts, nor the Arnis itself. To see a novice like you hold that legendary Arnis, you must be something!" Mike said while looking at him smiling.

"So... where are we going then?" Nox asked him after a little moment of silence.

"Right...here! This is the armory! As you can see we have everything here, from melee weapons to long range weapons, support and other gadgets you'll need. We also have our armor and gauntlets for climbing and greaves for jumping. It's usually up to you if you'd wear a greave or a boot, it depends on which will make you move fast." The two moved along to the cafeteria, it was not that full since the others are in the hall. It was still silver with lots of tables and even the cook is wearing a hood. It's not even hot there, chilly. "And here's the cafeteria, you'd never go hungry here co'z Bianca, our cook, is so good, you'd fall for her even before your Hidden Blade. She serves 3 meals a day." Mike escorted him to a peculiar hallway, the doors were open and as they pass through. Nox can see children, crying, sleeping, looking, and some not even moving. "This is the Orphanage hall. Kids who had lost their parents are taken here, I grew up here actually, and so is Alyssa. These kids will soon be trained into one of us, they don't have any other options rather than to live in the streets and die or join the Templars and be killed by us." His eyes were caught by a despaired boy sitting on his bed, his face was so pitiful that it caught Nox's attention even though they were out of the hall. Mike then flicked his fingers in his face. "Don't worry, we teach them good morals. Look at me." He smiled widely. Nox can sense he's a joker-type of person.

"By the way, Mike, who is The Mentor?" Nox asked him. His face lightened even more with a smile, this time, a smile that brought something from the past, from his heart, a memory. He removed his hood and I saw a 2x3 black hairdo. He was in mid 20s.

"The Mentor, Juan. I accidentally eavesdropped one of his conversations with another man when I was only 7. He bore the name Vitorio." Nox's eyes widened, could it have been his father? Or someone else? Nox didn't spoke and interrupted him, he wanted to hear more. "They talked about the growing Templars in the country and the man named Vitorio complimented him. How he once infiltrated CIA and killed the Templar agent there, and got out like a random janitor, placing his robes inside the mop dryer. How he killed 50 thousand men without being scratched, and it was all true. After Vitorio left, The Mentor grabbed me from behind and made me sit in the chair. Telling me stories of his missions and travels. He didn't talked about his past, just his adventures. I asked him who was that man..." Nox listened closely as he is about to explain the man named Vitorio. "That man was Lucis Vitorio. He was a former Assassin back then and his son was just born so he had to quit from the Order and The Mentor made sure of his family's safety." The name didn't rang a bell in my head, he haven't interacted to a man named Lucis.

"And what of that man Lucis? Where is he right now?" Nox asked, trying not to be noticed that he is interested in Lucis Vitorio.

"His family was ambushed by the Templars, two Templars during midnight. Lucis' body was stabbed 50 times and so was his wife, Allea. Their body was found still lying in the bed, showing no signs of struggle, meaning they had been killed while sleeping. As for the newborn, he wasn't found in the crib nor anywhere on that house. The next morning, I found The Mentor on the rooftop, crying. I sat beside him, looking at his face with tears falling on his eyes but his face didn't show any signs of despair, only tears. He told me that if only he made them stay on the Headquarters, if only he suggested that before Lucis left, his family would still be alive, especially his son... I forgot the name though. The Mentor values us as his family and so is his friends. That's pretty much what I know from him." Now Nox have an idea, Lucis and Allea Vitorio and an unknown missing child.

"The Mentor, he's a good guy huh." they went into an elevator and reached somewhere that felt like the usual ground. Nox can hear cars just fine.

"He sure is. And here we are, your room!" He opened the door and it wasn't any different from a normal apartment room. One bed, closet, a table and chair and my own bathroom. Nox looked outside the window, thinking that we must've been back on the ground. I saw the Cathedral a litte farther in the north, they are in a subdivision. "This aparment is disguised as an ordinary apartment and this building is supposedly for "permanent guest" so don't worry about a thing. Open your closet kid." Nox did as he ordered me and saw the novice robes inside, placed in a manequin. It is only then that he remembered he was still holding the Arnis. "Hmmmmmmm, I think you should keep the Arnis kid, no one's using it and only you and The Mentor can. So you might wanna hold on to that. There's a bell that'll ring 30 minutes from now so get dressed and keep the Arnis away for now, breakfast time will come. See you there kid, don't get lost!" Mike's presence made Nox feel that he wasn't in a place where there are people trained to kill. It made him feel safe as if he's staying at a hotel, but looking at this robe as he wore it, looking at his hand and the Arnis, it made him realize the future in store for him, how blood of corrupted men and women will spill onto his hands. It made him realize the severity of his decision, but "Nothing is True, Everything is Permitted." After Nox wore the robe, he lied down to his bed, his hands on the back of his head, looking at the silver room being lighted by the rising sun. Nox's life as an Assassin finally begins.