Daud could not believe his eyes. No matter how much he tried to.
Rabbit. Cat. Wolf. Bull. Bear. Mostly bear. Those were just the few he could recognize. Extra pairs of ears. Tails. Horns. Even scales. The list seemed to just go on.
Everywhere he looked, he would always find a pair of non-human ears, or a tail, or both. He could've swore he even saw a humanoid rat passing by, not able to decide if it was just him hallucinating, or the Void actually made rats bigger over the past thousands of years.
The girl wasn't lying about what she said earlier. But to think, this was the permanent change brought upon by the Void's rampage thousands of years ago? That endless, primeval force outside of reality, turned everyone alive into human-animal crossbreeds? He honestly could've imagined much worse to have happened.
Now, there were few things Daud would not question the Void would be capable of. Altering reality in ways he could understand, and even replicate with the Mark. Stopping the very flow of time? Sure. Shifting through space at near-instant speeds? Indeed, magical. But giving birth to humans with animal ears?
The Void itself must either be crazy, or have an absurdly twisted sense of humor. But he never thought of the Void as a place for the sane anyway. And trying to make sense of it all, might just be a fruitless labor.
He kept looking around, thinking to himself that eventually, he would find someone.. normal. Someone like him. But as more time passed, the more he began to realize that he might actually be the last "pure" human alive.
Even as he pulled his eyes away from the people, the feeling of alienation did not completely go away. The nearby buildings composed of concrete looked somewhat familiar to the ones he was used to seeing in the Isles, but the architecture itself was much less detailed and more... plain. But as he looked over the horizon, the true scale of this place hit him like a wave.
A strange mixture of glass and metal built in rectangular shapes, extending upwards hihher than any building he had ever seen in the Isles. He assumed some of those buildings must be at least 100 to 200 feet high, probably much more.
Daud had never faced problems scaling up buildings before. Much less so with the powers he was gifted through the Mark. But he doubt even his Blink would be capable of reaching up that high. Or if it would even be possible to climb up such smooth glass walls.
Furthermore, the roads that separated the city blocks are large in width, and the vehicles traversing through these roads looked sleeker than the coaches found in Dunwall. They also seemed to move.. by themselves, without horses or any kind of animal pulling them forward. Such advancements in technology he could only imagine ever existed in the minds of fictional book authors and aspiring inventors from back during his time.
He really should've grilled that black-eyed bastard further about this world before making his choice.
"-anyway, those are all the main roads and streets that you should be familiar with... uhm, sir?
Mr. Daud, is there something wrong?"
Zoya stared at the stranger named Daud who had apparently ignored her for the last minute. The same stranger whom she found by accident around half an hour ago in an empty alleyway with a seemingly severe case of amnesia. Now with a troubled look on his face, and acting like a fish out of water.
Needless to say it got her very worried. Was his concussion so severe that he truly forgot everything about Terra and all its people? Not even knowing what countries like Ursus are? If that was the case, then a trip to the nearest hospital should be the most logical thing, right?
"No, I'm fine. I'm just.. gathering my thoughts, that's all."
The man's voice sounded dull. She had a feeling he wasn't telling the whole truth for some reason.
"You don't sound very convincing. Is there something you're trying to hide, sir?" Zoya further asked.
"It's not important, so don't mind it." Daud answered vaguely, avoiding the question. The girl noticed this, which made her slightly more irritated at the thought of not being taken seriously by the stranger.
"I may not be an adult, but I can still tell when adults are keeping things hidden."
The former assassin, in response, raised an eyebrow. "You know you're still too young to be playing the detective with me, right? Sometimes adults don't have to tell you everything."
The latter's expression turned sour. "I'm not a kid!.. I mean, I'm old enough to understand certain things. I could even live by myself if I want..."
"Well, do you?"
"... No, I'm still living with my parents..."
Daud was initially slightly surprised at the young girl's sudden change in attitude. But then he realized he was conversing with a teenager. A teenager standing at just a little over 5 feet, who might feel a little intimidated towards a person of his stature, him being around 73 inches tall after all.
"Listen, I get that you probably feel the need to make yourself look and sound stronger than you are, because you're afraid of being sidelined by people older than you.
But the truth is, being young isn't a bad thing. We've all been there. Most adults like me? We get jealous of you youngsters too. Being older isn't as fun as you think.
Time is a gift. So try not to waste it. Appreciate what you've got now. You'll never know when it would go away."
Daud never thought he could find it in himself to be lecturing a teenager about life. After all, he screwed up his own life. He wouldn't consider himself a great role model. But perhaps his mistakes would allow him to help others not to do the same.
Zoya was stunned by everything the stranger had said. Maybe he had a good point. She had always felt insecure for being the daughter of a police officer and a physician, as naturally those like her teachers would have high expectations for her, even when she was still a child. She wondered if that was where her compulsive need to help out other people arose from. A desire to feel more capable, more mature, like she assumed an adult would.
Regardless, she couldn't help but notice the faint feeling in the man's words, like a sense of painful loss. Perhaps he was simply speaking from experience. If so, it only made her more curious as to whomthis man really was.
"... Thanks for that, I'll... keep that in mind."
The sun had already set. She should be home by now. But both her parents tend to work late shifts anyway, especially during these troubling times. Her school had already issued a reminder that it will be closed down for an indefinite period of time due to concerns for the growing Infected riots risking the students' safety. Her mother might still be busy in the clinic, and her father might have to stay at the police station overnight.
That thought suddenly reminded her. She hadn't determined whether this new stranger was a victim of Oripathy. And he hadn't said anything at all about it.
Should she ask him? But what if it makes her look rude? Is it possible the man actually forgot about his own Oripathy status? She wouldn't want to accidentally drive him away, or worse, turn him against herself. But so far, Daud had not displayed any unfriendly behaviour towards her, or anyone. However, it might all just be a facade to hide something he wasn't willing to show.
"Uhm.. Mr. Daud, if you don't mind me asking... are you... infected?"
She was probably going to regret asking this.
The aforementioned Daud turned towards her, raising an eyebrow. He was hesitant to answer the girl's question. Not because he had something to hide, but more because he didn't even know what she meant by "infected".
Infected by what? Was there a pandemic happening? Daud was no stranger to plagues. He lived, and survived during the time of the Rat Plague, after all, and had witnessed the horrors of it firsthand. But he had never been infected by it, strangely enough. Maybe it had something to do with him bearing the Mark, thus the connection to the Void granted him a sort of immunity to disease. So maybe this time, it would be the same?
"Oh don't worry, I don't think I am, I'm completely fine. But I appreciate your concern."
"... Really? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure."
In truth, he wasn't even sure if he was right about it, but he didn't want this girl to think of him as an ignorant fool or a very unfortunate amnesiac by questioning her back. He'll figure it out himself.
Hearing his answer, Zoya immediately let out a small sigh of relief. She figured the man might be trustworthy enough to find his answer acceptable. But there came another problem. She still didn't know what to do with this man, as it seemed like he had absolutely no idea about where he was. So how did he even get here to begin with?
"Anyway, Mr. Daud, I've shown you all the places and roads that I know around here, so.. I hope you can find your way around now. But just to be sure, can you.. recall where you live? Or maybe you're not from.. around here?"
The former assassin realized that he still needed to find a place to crash. A city this large should definitely have a cheap motel somewhere. But then there was another issue. Money.
He was logical enough to figure out that a civilization built 10,000 years after his time would not use the same currency that he was familiar with. And unless silver, copper and gold coins still had some monetary value here, any semblance of cash he possibly still have on his being would probably be worthless now.
He could make up a lie and said that his wallet's missing, and have the girl possibly lend him some actual cash, assuming she was old enough to be given ger own allowance. But that just would be... despicable of him.
No, that would be shameful even by his own standards. He would not take advantage of an unsuspecting teenager by tricking her out of her own money.
"It's alright, young lady. I.. think I remember now. My place is somewhere around here. I'll find my way back."
Zoya raised both her eyebrows. "Oh, really? So you don't need me to guide you around anymore? Well, I guess that's a relief..."
The sun had already set, and Daud didn't want to keep this young girl around for long. Her parents might be looking for her, and he wouldn't want to arouse any suspicion as an adult stranger walking around with a teenager. He somewhat appreciated her company, since such kindness in the streets of Dunwall and Karnaca was rarer than diamonds. But it was time for them to part ways.
"You should go back home now, your parents must be worried about you. Anyway... thanks for all your help."
Hearing his thanks, the girl suddenly had a faint red tinge on her face, and her bear ears slightly perked upwards. "Ah, you don't need to thank me, it's nothing really... all I did was show you around the nearby blocks. I'm familiar with this part of town anyways. So it wasn't that big of a big deal..."
Out of the blue, the former assassin pulled out a single gold coin from his pouch and presented it to the Ursus girl, surprising her.
"I don't know how much this is worth around here, but... I assume gold is still somewhat valuable today, isn't it? So, consider this a gesture, of my appreciation. An ancient coin from a bygone era." Daud surmised.
Zoya could not believe what she was seeing. A coin made out of gold? Pure gold is a rare enough material by itself, and also quite hard to come by, especially in the city of Chernobog. Gold handiworks, probably more so, if factoring in its additional value in its quality of craftsmanship. The coin didn't seem like it was recently manufactured anywhere. And as the man said, it might be quite old and prized.
Wait, why was she thinking so hard about this? She wasn't poor or anything. She shouldn't need this. But the man seemed genuine enough to offer her something as a token of appreciation. Wouldn't it be rude for her not to accept it? But if she did, would that not make her look like a cheapskate?
"Uh.. thank you, but.. I'm not sure if I deserve this. I didn't help you that much at all... this looks like something of great value to you, and I don't want to take anything valuable if I don't need to.."
"It's alright, I want you to have it. I'm not one to accept favors for free. This is the least I could repay you."
Truth is, he got plenty more of those coins in his coin pouch, one of the few things he still possessed in his jacket. And since this was the far future where currency has changed, he doubted they would do him much good in the long run.
The young girl hesitated for a while, but she finally decided to accept his gift.
"... Thank you, Mr. Daud. I will remember this."
The aforementioned Daud gave a small, but noticeable, smile.
"Don't mention it."
Zoya held the coin between her two fingers. The coin itself isn't a full circle, rather its shape resembled a heptagon with 7 sides. There is a woman's face carved onto the middle of the coin, with minor engravings on the side and the words, "Empress Protects Us". The language looked Victorian, but something about its wording looked quite odd.
That's strange. She didn't know of any ruling empress anywhere in Terra. Ursus itself is currently ruled by an emperor, and Victoria's leaders were referred to as King or Queen. She was also well aware that this country haven't used gold coins as currency for centuries, neither had it ever been ruled by an empress. Then again, her knowledge in history wasn't the best. Unless.. this coin was really that old. Could she possibly be holding a lost relic of the past? But how could this random stranger procure such a thing?
"Excuse me, Mr. Daud, where did you get- huh?"
Zoya lifted her eyes away from the strange coin in her hands, only to discover no traces of the man whom she just met that evening. He was already gone.
She looked around frantically, but found no signs of him. Did he disappear into the crowds? Did he just entered some random building? How could he have simply disappeared that quickly?
Eventually, she realized that the stranger was really gone, and she may not see him again. She didn't even know where he supposably lived.
A sudden wave of sadness hit her deep inside. It was an odd feeling, especially for someone whom she barely knew. Zoya only knew the man named Daud for a very brief period of time, yet her emotions didn't lie, she had already missed him. He was... quite a nice person. But she would've appreciated at least a goodbye.
_
A lone man stood over a rooftop, observing those under him.
It seemed like even after sunset, the city of Chernobog was almost just as busy as during the day. People from all walks of life, all with distinguishing animal features, reminding him that this was not his world anymore. They went on living day by day, still blessed with the ignorance of the common man.
Daud almost envied them in a way. He couldn't know whether his life could've gone any better, were he not to take the Outsider's offer that day, and receive his Mark. But he'd no doubt that he would've made a different choice.
The retired assassin glanced at the back of his left hand, as he observed the faint glow emanating from the Mark. It was not the same mark he was once familiar with, as it had a different arrangement of letters. Understandably so, as this was the Mark of a different Outsider.
The former assassin also realized how he was no longer able to comprehend the meaning of the mark itself. He still remembered they were meant to be an ancient language predating even the known history from his era. But wasn't he able to decipher and even pronounce the Mark of the previous Outsider before?
But then he recalled the specific conditions which allowed those circumstances. A language only the dead can read. Was that the reason he was not able to understand the Mark anymore? Because no longer was he a mere soul, but now flesh and blood?
Or was it a ploy by the current Outsider, a move that ensured he wouldn't be a threat? After all, without the Twin-Bladed Knife that Billie Lurk once used, and the capability to speak a dead language, there was nothing he could do against the black-eyed god. But now that he thought about the consequences of his choice 10,000 years ago.. maybe it was for the best.
At least he was still able to use the powers of the Mark, whether he liked it or not. As much as it pained him to admit it, being able to Blink upwards multiple floors at once without the need for stairs was simply too convenient.
He wasn't wearing any gloves when he came to in that alleyway, so he'd no doubt the girl, Zoya, would've seen his Mark. But hopefully her immature mind wouldn't think too much of it. It would be... troubling to deal with someone in this world who somehow recognized the Mark he bore. Hence why he had now worn a pair of brown gloves, which he sneakily grabbed off from some clothing store, by the way.
He may have retired from killing, but the young petty thief inside of him had never really went away.
He continued to run across the roofs, leaping from building to building with his supernatural abilities, swiftly so without attracting any unwanted attention. Even in the far future, people still never bothered to look up. He supposed the darkness of the night also helped a little.
He felt more invigorated than he remembered, even though it had been a long while since he last worked his body this much. He stopped for a moment after hearing his boots getting wet. He had stepped on a puddle.
Looking into it, Daud saw a reflection of his face. He looked... much younger than ever before. This would've been what he looked like during his early 30s. Unfortunately, even with the gift of de-aging, the scar on the side of his face, stretching across his eye and down his neck, never went away. It was a constant reminder of a past he had tried so hard to get away from, yet always remained, forever imprinted on his being.
He shook that thought away, his old life shouldn't be tied to him anymore. He continued running, analyzing every single thing he laid his eyes on. Taking mental notes of locations that he might need to remember, the way he had always done it in the old days. He still needed to find a place to crash for the night eventually.
Daud stopped in his tracks.
He heard and saw cries of unrest, a few blocks away. There was a violent protestgoing on. Not an uncommon thing to witness during the time of the Rat Plague, but during the more severe parts of the epidemic, most people tend to protest behind closed doors rather than on the streets, to avoid the disease themselves, and a bullet to the head.
But this was... different. There were a few of what looked like patrol officers, or policemen, armed with glass shields and trying to hold off a large mob of several dozen. But there was something off about the mob themselves. About their appearances.
'Are those... rocks?' Daud thought to himself, as he observed the revolting crowd. Some of them had.. black crystals protruding from their skin. Were those considered normal here?
He moved from his position to get closer to the ensuing civil unrest, while carefully Blinking across several rooftops. As he got closer, he began to hear the protests much more clearly. Also visible were the signs held up by the protestors,
"You can't keep treating us like this!"
"We're human beings too!"
"It's not our damn fault for becoming infected!"
Infected? With what? Was there really a plague ravaging this city? Were those rocks protruding from their skin considered some of the symptoms? But how could it spread? Could he get infected as well?
And now, these people were being treated as subhuman, because of their infection? Why was this all too familiar?
"Shut up!! Do not go further beyond this line, or we will be forced to open fire!!"
There came a warning, or rather a threat from one of the police officers present. His warning caused a few among the rioting crowd to shut their mouths, but it didn't do much to silence the rest.
Daud was unsure of what to do, other than to simply stand back and observe. Things might take a turn for the worse. It was just a matter of which side would cross the line first.
As the protests raged on, hundreds of bystanders simply stood by and watched, a myriad of emotions on their faces. Some had expressions of fear and suspense, some others remained apathetic. And most of them, a look of pure disgust.
He didn't like how it looked. It felt too similar to Dunwall. Furthermore, none of the bystanders were even shocked at the display. It was like such a commotion was now considered normal, to the point that part of the citizens simply accepted it as something unavoidable in this city.
As he continued to observe the action, he noticed one of the officers talking to... someone? Or something. She was holding what looked like a rectangular device close to her ear. Was it some sort of handheld communication device which goes two ways? Now that was something far beyond anything he had ever seen in Dunwall, or anywhere in the Isles.
But as he continued to pay close attention, it was clear that something sinister was happening. The police officer held a look of surprise, before immediately becoming stoic. As she stopped talking to the handheld device, she gave the other officers an order. One that would make Daud's blood ran colder than ice.
"We've been given the permission to use lethal force! Prepare your arrows!"
He stared in complete disbelief. They were actually willing to kill these people, right in front of so many bystanders? He would call it madness, but it wasn't the first time he had seen them. It nearly felt like he was reliving an actual event from the actual time of the plague.
The rest of the officers, almost simultaneously began drawing their weapons, those being crossbows, and aiming them towards the supposably infected rioters. The latter in response, began retreating away from the line of crossbows aimed at them, but their cries never went away.
Crossbows? How come these officers were not issued their own firearms? More questions for later, but now was not the time.
Daud hesitated on what to do, or if he should act. It seemed like there was indeed an epidemic of some kind happening in this city, and those infected were now treated with a level of discrimination that he was not unfamiliar with. Should he stop the officers from committing what might be a massacre? Was this a fight he was prepared to get involved in? Not even a day in this new world, and the former assassin was going to make himself an infamous name once more?
He reached into the various hidden pockets under his red longcoat, looking for anything useful he might still possessed. He couldn't find his assassin's sword anywhere on his being, but he did manage to find... something else. Pulling it out, Daud had the most dumbstruck face, his mind suddenly going into a screeching halt.
Memories began flooding in, very unpleasant ones. It was a mask. But even more than that, it was the mask that haunted him. That reminded him of the moment he changed, from the one trying to hide from his sins, to being forced to confront it. He had never, in all his mind, expected to see it again. Yet here it was, in his grip.
It was the ghastly mask of the one Corvo Attano, the former Royal Protector of the empress whose death was caused by Daud.
He was baffled by how it came to his possession, but now he came to the unavoidable conclusion. This place he was sent to. The timing of the soon-to-be manslaughter. And now him possessing this mask. It was all too much of a coincidence.
This black-eyed bastard really had an awfully wicked sense of humor.
He couldn't believe that even after all these years, once again his fate would be decided upon by this very mask. Except this time, there was no one to make that decision, but himself.
Well, it wasn't like he didn't already knew what choice to make.
The armed officers continued aiming their weapons against the protestors. They all held troubled looks in their eyes. They knew this was a terrible thing to do. But in their heads, this was a duty needing to be upheld.
"Ready to fire!"
The protests began turning into a riot. The raging mob turned to picking up nearby rocks among other hazardous objects, prepared to throw them towards the armed officers.
There was a sudden shift in atmosphere among the bystanders. A large proportion of the other civilians who stood by and watched began cheering for the officers as well, hatred echoing in their voices, all directed towards the same target.
"On my mark!"
Some of the infected protestors were now struck with fear, as they realized their lives were on the line. A few decided to run the opposite direction, ditching the ensuing riot, some were too scared to even move, and simply dropped to their knees and cowered in terror.
"Fire!"
The crossbows did their work well. None of them were broken or malfunctioning. Every arrow fired was already examined before and were in good condition, thus it should've done its job just as well.
Except, it didn't.
Everything went silent. Something completely unexpected happened right in the middle of what was nearly a massacre.
A man stood in the middle of the officers and the infected mob's line of sight. He wore an unusual mix of clothing which presented him as more of a soldier than an ordinary civilian. Most notably however, was the mask.
There was nothing like it. The skull-like design, the bits of unknown machinery attached to it, the odd imperfections in its craft, the inhuman glass lens where the eyes were meant to be. It was a mask that symbolized fear, and it served its purpose very well.
The masked stranger held all of the arrows that the officers fired in his grip. From their perspective, the masked man just appeared out of thin air, and then grabbed all of the arrows in midair, after they were fired. This seemed practically impossible to everyone else. How was he even able to do so?
In the midst of the confusion, Daud took the time to reconsider his approach. He had no qualms about what might happen next. The police officers were going to target him now. He might be able to steal a crossbow from one of them. Worst case scenario, he'd have to resort to just using these arrows as throwing weapons.
It was then the former assassin stopped himself. Why was he thinking of lethal ways to approach his goal? Wasn't he supposed to have retired from killing? There shouldn't be any need for him to kill these people. If there was one lesson he'd learnt from the previous owner of this mask, it was that there is always another option.
"Wh-who the hell are you!? Identify yourself!" One of the officers yelled, while the others were busy reloading their crossbows.
"Hold it, look at his clothes! And that mask! This man must be part of Reunion!"
Reunion? What was that supposed to mean? And what was it about his looks that would make him part of it?
"Surrender now, or we will use lethal force!"
Ironic hearing them shouting that, since they already tried doing just that earlier, to a group of unarmed civilians no less.
He glanced at his left hand, the Mark faintly glowing under the glove. He already used his ability of stopping time earlier, which should've taken up a considerable chunk of of his mana, a fancy word to describe mental energy. Yet for some reason, he didn't feel very mentally exhausted after using it, and it wasn't like he had any remedies or solutions to alleviate spiritual exhaustion.
Whatever, he'd take any advantages he could get. His main problem right now, is dealing with 10 armed police officers with crossbows and shields. He might need to get slightly more creative.
"Tch, he's not listening... whatever, just fire!"
The moment the officer in charge yelled the command out loud, Daud vanished from view. Unbeknownst to them, he was already one step ahead.
Rashu Grhaya.
Time once again went to a standstill. The entire world froze, except for Daud. It turned out those arrows he plucked from the air was going to be useful after all.
Instantly, every single officer found their crossbows no longer working. Probably something to do with the arrows lodged in them.
"What!? How the- how is this guy doing this!?"
"He's gotta be an Arts caster or something!"
Arts caster. Yet another term the former assassin was unfamiliar with. The way one of them mentioned it, sounded like a term for a practitioner of magic.
Wait, did that mean there were others like him? Others who bore the Mark? Or were they simply able to use magic without the Outsider's blessing, yet another consequence of the Void's permanent effects on the current world?
Now with considerable fear in their eyes, the commanding officer pulled out a baton from her side, with the others following suit.
"I don't know what the hell you are, but we won't let you Reunion bastards ruin this city!"
"I'm not part of Reunion."
She widened her eyes in confusion, upon hearing the masked stranger's statement. Was he actually trying to lie to her? With that getup, and those powers?
"The hell you're not! Nobody dresses like that and wears a mask and doesn't call themselves Reunion! And the fact you're able to use powerful Arts, only those terribly afflicted with Oripathy could've done what you did!"
Oripathy? Was that the plague that was apparently ravaging this place? And the officer kept alluding to his appearance. Something about his red longcoat, the straps on his chest and his mask probably gave these officers the wrong impression of him being affiliated with whatever Reunion was supposed to be.
Nevertheless, he needed to do something to quell the rising tension. He didn't want to resort into bloodying his hands to achieve his goals. He should be better than that.
"I have no affiliation with this 'Reunion', but I am warning you, to leave these people alone. If there's a way for us to resolve this without resoring to needless violence, then I ask that you take it."
He was never one for diplomacy, but years of being the leader of an entire league of assassins, had taught him a few things about knowing the right things to say.
"Why the hell would we ever listen to you Reunion scum!?" Responded one of the police officers. The rest apparently thought the same way, as they were now holding their batons and shields, hellbent on taking down the masked assailant the hard way, despite knowing what he was capable of.
Of course they didn't listen. These brave, stubborn idiots. Daud sighed to himself. If it had to be done, then so be it.
He wouldn't let any innocents, infected or not, to be killed for something out of their control, by the very system they were meant to trust. None of these law enforcers should be allowed to abuse their power. He'd dealt with enough of those kinds.
Seemed like he had no other choice but to subdue all of them, forcefully. He would not kill any of these policemen, but they should be able to live with broken limbs, right?
Well, maybe not with the inevitable hospital bills, but that wasn't his problem.
_
Author's Note
Yeah, this chapter came out a lot faster than I expected.
Thing is, I reread the first chapter I posted and I just thought that it was too short for an opening. Which was a weird feeling, I used to remember when simply around 2000 words was already long enough for a chapter for me.
I've read some of the comments, and some of you did point out good suggestions. I wanted to say that I had already charted a layout for how I want the story to go, which already included those elements. But how I would include them, well that's something you'll have to wait.
About Daud's height, I could not find any reliable information about it. Though I did found out Corvo was apparently 6'4 (193cm), which would make him rather large for a sneaky assassin. I just decided to look at the perspective of the games instead, and assumed Daud should at least be just a few inches shorter than Corvo. Again, I couldn't find any good sources. Please don't call me out.
I've been thinking of Daud's abilities, and I realized how barebones his power arsenal was. Without his trademark Summon Assassin ability(since he didn't have his Whalers anymore), Daud is currently restricted to just Blink, Stop Time, Void Gaze and Pull/Tether. Now those are already powerful enough, but I have been thinking about letting him obtain powers from other Mark bearers, like Emily's Doppelganger, or better yet, Corvo's Windblast and Devouring Swarm, just to further add salt to the wound that is Corvo's mask. It might happen eventually, if the Outsider wills it so.
In case you haven't noticed, this fic is going to focus alot more on the perspective of Daud than other characters from Arknights. So if you're a fan of Dishonored, you might still continue enjoying this. But don't worry if you're an Arknights fan, just wait a while. I do plan on introducing the other characters from Rhodes Island, Reunion and other factions eventually.
Hell, I've already introduced one of them. If you paid much attention to the background lore, you might already recognize who Zoya is. I had to make up some stuff about her background myself since I couldn't really find enough relevant information that I needed. This is a fanfic after all, so excuse me for some slight lore inaccuracies.
I don't know when the next update will be. These first two chapters to me just feels like the very opening of what is to come. If I'm lucky, I might get another burst of motivation and finish the next chapter within a week or two. Otherwise, well... I guess you'll just have to be patient. Sorry in advance.
Thank you for reading this. And until next time.