After stealing the letters, gaining entry into the competition was really no challenge. The following morning, Talon and Arno rose early and made their way to Les Invalides where the tournament was being held. Crowds gathered in the streets, all eager to witness the trials first hand. Immediately, a massive set up of tall wooden structures caught both Arno and Talon's eye. The whole monstrosity was covered in a series of red, white, and blue flags, and seemed to be a center of attention for many of the gathered citizens.

"You don't suppose that they intend to use that for one of our trials, do you?" Arno asked with almost a laugh, "That's almost unfair to the other competitors."

Talon smiled beneath his hood, and as they approached the structure they saw a man attempting to run across and climb it to gather the flags. He seemed to be doing well, but when there were only four flags remaining for the man to gather, a horn was blown and the man climbed down from the course dejected. He handed the flags he had gathered to an official standing on a podium, who promptly counted them and wrote something down in a book on the podium. When he was finished, he passed the flags to another man, who went about resetting the course for the next participant. Talon and Arno approached the man at the podium, who looked up from his list upon noticing them.

"Are you here to participate?" He asked.

"Yes," Arno replied, "we registered yesterday."

The man looked at the pair before him and said, "You are smart to compete together, not a single individual has been able to complete this challenge."

"Most soldiers only rely on their weapons, few truly rely on each other," Talon said softly. Arno glanced at him, mildly stunned at the poetic statement from the usually introverted assassin.

"I suppose so," the man at the podium said, "that would certainly explain the success of many of the teams that have competed."

The man went on to explain the rules of the challenge. They had two minutes to collect all thirty four flags that were hung around the course. Then they were put on a list and told to wait their turn for their chance to prove their mettle.

Two groups ran the course before they did, and both fell short, neither even as remotely close to finishing as the first man they had seen. Eventually, their wait was over and it was their turn to run. Neither one had doubts about whether or not they could complete the challenge; they were both experts at parkour and while they knew that they could each have likely done it on their own, they were both secretly grateful to have the other one there.

Together they stepped up to the start of the course, and the man at the podium counted down from five. At the end of the countdown the horn sounded, signaling the beginning to their run. Immediately Talon and Arno separated, Talon headed up the nearest tower to the left while Arno broke for a low obstacle to the right. They had strategized beforehand about how they planned to run the course, and they hoped that their prior planning would make their challenge all the easier.

Talon ran along two thick ropes that connected heavy vertical poles, collecting the flags from the tops of each with ease. When he came to the end of the line, he turned and climbed the center tower to take the flags that hung from each side. Meanwhile, Arno weaved his way over and under the short wooden walls, each holding flags both above and below. When he had collected all of the flags on the ground, Arno joined Talon higher on the course by climbing the tall wooden pole on the right side of the course. The time flew by quicker than they had prepared for, although it was still no challenge for either of the assassins. They finished together with fifteen seconds to spare.

Triumphantly, the duo turned in their flags to the man at the podium, who retrieved a note from a box underneath certifying that they had passed the challenge, and guaranteeing their entry into the next. They then began to walk to where the next challenge was being held just down the street.

"No surprise we smoked the competition in a climbing contest." Talon said.

"Yes," Arno said, "but Marcourt is looking for fighters. Let's give him what he wants."

They arrived at the next challenge, where they found a rectangular, open arena, with flags in each corner and in the center. They found that the challenge here was fairly straightforward; to raise the flags that were being defended by teams of foot soldiers. This, too, would prove to be an easy task for the experienced assassins.

When the horn signaled the start of the challenge, Arno and Talon stuck together as they ran toward the first corner flag. Together they fought off the soldiers guarding the first flag, and Talon defended them from any stragglers while Arno raised the flag. They prodeeded to complete the rest of the challenge in this fashion, and in the end they managed to win with only minimal injuries to themselves.

After the duel, Arno and Talon went to meet Alexandre Dumas, who not only worked closely with Marcourt, but was also an Assassin.

"Congratulations, citizens," he said to the pair when they approached, "you have fought bravely. Follow me, warriors, and you will receive your honors." Together they started down a covered walkway, "Seeing you fight reminds me of my days in the Free Legion. I was hoping you'd be a little more discreet, the fatalities you have cause have raised some suspicion. Marcourt has summoned his bodyguards, it won't be easy to get close to him. You're in for a fight, but you must do what you can to make sure Marcourt and his allies don't succeed. Good luck." With that, he left them in a small courtyard surrounded by buildings.

They knew from previous reconnaissance that Marcourt would be inside the building to their left, so they took to the rooftops, intent on reaching a window near the front of the building that would allow them access to the interior. They climbed onto the rooftops and Talon stealthily dispatched the sole guard that was stationed on the roof before they found the window and entered the main room of the building. For the most part, it was completely open inside, with a narrow ledge running all the way along the top of the wall. It was from here that they would make their assault.

Silently, Talon and Arno creeped along the ledge until they were just above the first of the four conspirators that they would need to eliminate in addition to Marcourt. Just when Talon was ready to leap from the ledge and strike the man down with his blade, Arno put a hand on his shoulder to hold him back. Arno shot him a look that seemed to say, "I've got this." Then he proceeded to ready the blade on his wrist. Talon raised an eyebrow, but otherwise had no objections to Arno's movements. Then, Arno readied his blade, and with the miniature crossbow that seemed to fold out from his bracer, he shot a blade that deftly killed the target when it sheathed itself in his head.

Talon had to admit that he was thoroughly impressed. Not necessarily by the actual execution, the same end goal would have been achieved just as easily with a gun, but the fact that the only sound was the target's body hitting the marble floor.

The man dropping dead in the middle of the room attracted the attention of the other people, causing them to come over to gawk at the dead man. This made it all the easier for Arno to finish off the other three. To cover their escape, he used a special blade which made one of the guards attack his allies. In the midst of the commotion, Talon and Arno made their escape out of the same window and back to the rooftops. Their grim task was done, and Paris would be all the safer because of it.

They stuck to the rooftops for as long as they could as they made their way back to see the council, mostly because they both truly enjoyed it. Eventually, they made their way to the sanctuary, and once they were inside its halls, Talon began to mentally prepare for whatever his induction would involve. Arno had not told him what to expect, so despite himself he was more than a little anxious to get it over with. Before he was truly mentally ready, they reached the Council chamber.

"Marcourt is dead," Arno said simply.

"You have done well," A man in the center said. "now, I suppose it is time to uphold our end of the bargain; you have proven your worth and loyalty to us, now we will allow you entrance into our Brotherhood."

Talon smiled beneath his hood.

"Are you prepared to walk the eagle's path?" the robed elder spoke.

Talon nodded, "I am."

"Then drink." He said, gesturing to the chalice in the altar below him. The goblet was silver and ornamented with jewels. The whole scene reminded Arno of his own initiation what seemed like so long ago, and had little sympathy for the trials that Talon would face.

After some hesitation, Talon took the chalice from the altar shaped like the symbol for the Brotherhood and drank. The liquid within had a sickeningly sweet flavor and odor, and almost immediately after drinking it, the room began to spin and go dark. It was almost as if he was being forced into the Shade against his will, and he had to admit that the whole ordeal was quite disorienting.

When his vision steadied, Talon realized he was still standing in the Council chamber, only there were some significant changes. The room was significantly darker, and the shadows had an almost blue hue. Second was that there was an earthen tunnel and a set of stairs leading down into the ground beneath where the altar had been. A force from within told Talon to descend, so he complied. At the bottom of the steps was a hallway, which led into an open, well lit room. It all appeared to be yet another room in the sanctuary, only half of the floor was missing, instead in its place was a gaping hole leading into darkness.

The force that had guided him whispered to jump into the abyss.

They have to be crazy. Talon thought, looking off of the edge of the precipice before him, unable to see the bottom for it was shrouded in darkness. He knew a fall from that high would kill him, yet still that strange force that had beckoned him thus far urged him to take the plunge. He didn't know what would happen if he died in this strange place, but he didn't really want to find out. Talon turned away from the edge, ready to walk back the way he had come, only to find that the path he had come from was breaking apart.

Talon weighed his options and decided after a moment's hesitation to make the leap. He ran forward, diving off of the cliff before him, instincts he didn't know he had taking over as he neared the now visible ground. His target became a mound of what looked to be transparent hay. Again the forces that had guided him moved him as he extended his arms and flipped mid-air onto his back, awakened senses telling him that despite all of the doubts he had, he would somehow be fine. At the last moment, Talon closed his eyes, not wanting to witness what he feared would be his demise at the end of his fall. Instead of death, the fall knocked the breath out of his lungs, and with the shock of it all, he opened his eyes. He lay in that pile of hay, breathless but otherwise unharmed. He didn't quite know how, but somehow he had lived. Now he rose, climbing out of the hay and brushing lingering strands from his clothing. As he looked around, Talon noticed that a new path had formed, leading him off into a new direction.

The path along which Talon walked changed, becoming something more familiar. He realized that he was in a familiar stretch of the sewers of Noxus. He had called this area home for the first years of his life, before the General had found him. A dim fire lit the scene before him, revealing in its dim, flickering light two all-too familiar figures. The first was himself, although more than fifteen years ago. The second was someone who Talon had not seen alive since his childhood; Kavyn. Although Talon was still a distance away from the scene, he still saw the glint of the firelight reflecting off of a pair of shoddy daggers that Kavyn had pulled out of his bag.

Talon knew what would come next; the motion made out of anger over yet another failed heist. The motion that only minutes afterward Talon would regret. Maybe this time, he thought, it can be different.

He began to run towards the two boys, even though he knew it was all a hallucination, he hoped that he could change his and Kavyn's fate. As he got closer the ground began to crumble and break apart, and Talon was forced to leap and climb across the ever-changing and disintegrating landscape. The closer he came, the more he began to realize that he would not be able to make it, that he would not be able to save his friend. He reached the boys just as his younger self plunged one of the daggers into his best, and only, friend's chest. The blood covered the boy's hands, yet he did not flinch. Such is the way of things, he remembered thinking at the time, yet now fifteen years later he grieved for a boy who was long since dead.

Talon moved to cradle the body of his childhood partner in crime, only to have the last of the scene disappear before his eyes. When he rose from his knees, a new scene surrounded him.

He was in a hallway in a dungeon, one long forgotten by nearly all in Noxus. Diaphanous figures ran past him, guards rushing towards a battle raging down the hall. This too Talon knew all too well, for it was the place where his father died. Talon ran after the guards, towards the sounds of the battle. Just as before, the floor began to break apart, forcing Talon to climb his way to the end, where he was just in time to watch as a meagre guard managed to slide his sword into his father's gut. The Talon from the past immediately slew the offending guard where he stood, but even his quick revenge would not stop the death that was to come. Talon looked away, knowing what would come next and not wanting to see it again, his eyes fell on the spectral forms of the Kindred.

"Why do you hesitate Lamb?" Wolf said.

"Just a few more moments, dear Wolf," she replied, "he deserves to spend his last minute alive with his son."

"What makes him so special?" Wolf asked, clearly anxious to end the General's life.

Lamb though for a moment before responding, "He is a good man," she said at last, "and there are few good men left in this world. He will not be remembered by the masses as a hero, but his passing will change the world. His death will spark a wildfire in those who are closest to him, burning away many of the foundations of their beliefs and forcing them to find something new. The change will grow in those closest to them, and in the end the world will be all the better." Lamb turned to Talon, the glowing eyes beneath her mask seeming to stare directly into his soul, "You have found your path, Talon. Know that your father would be proud of you and what you will do."

The scene just as before began to fade, the eyes of Lamb the last to disappear. This time when Talon walked forward, he found himself at the back of a crowd of hooded people. Talon made his way up an aisle to a place at the front of the room where people surrounded a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a fire, which illuminated the scene, and at the far side of the clearing stood a hooded figure. He dressed in black, which somehow stuck out to Talon, even though all of the other people in the crowd were shrouded in dark colors. Kill him. Said a voice in his head, which surprised him because the voice was not his own.

Almost against his own volition, Talon moved through the crowd, circumnavigating the clearing. He made his way until he stood directly behind the man. Without hesitation, Talon drew one of the many blades that he had on his person and slit the man's throat. The blood covered his blade, and the growing puddle on the ground reflected the firelight. Unlike every other assassination that Talon had made, he gently lowered this man to the ground and laid him on his back. He looked into the face of the one he had killed and realized in horror that it was himself. He moved to close the dead man's eyes, only to have the body disappear along with the crowd that surrounded him.

When the hallucination faded Talon was on his knees, apparently having fallen during the events of the past few minutes. The four members of the Council stood around him, no longer at the balcony above him.

"These are the words spoken by our ancestors." The first man spoke." The words that lay at the heart of our creed:"

"Stay your blade from the flesh of the innocent." Said the second.

"Hide in plain sight." Said the third.

"Never compromise the Brotherhood." Said the fourth.

Then the first hooded man spoke again, "Let these tenets be branded upon your mind. Follow them, and be uplifted. Break them at your peril. Rise Assassin."

Talon stood on their command, and a hooded and masked man brought forth an item on a cushion. The item was a blade unlike any that Talon had ever encountered, double edged and attached to a mechanism on a bracer. Arno then stepped forward from the shadows and took the blade from the acolyte and gently strapped it on Talon's left arm. With the flick of his wrist, the blade extended past the bracer to slightly more than the length of his hand.

"Talon Du Couteau is dead. He has been culled from this world, with his sins and failures turned to dust. Tonight he is reborn, a novice of the Assassin Brotherhood."

Author's Note:

Talon is an Assassin now! Get ready for some more Assassin-y things coming up in the next chapter.

If you like this story, please favorite, follow, or review, it always makes my day to see that.

I mentioned last chapter that I was waiting to hear back from my first-choice college, and I heard back from them on Saturday. I am now proud to announce that not only was I accepted, but I have committed to it. So this fall, I will be going to NC State (go Wolfpack!)

I hope you all have a great week and I'll see you next Monday!