Early Fall of 1870, Axton

It wasn't everyday that the little town of Layesen, situated on the outskirts of Axton's capital city, got a visit from any member of the House of Lords, let alone the Head of the House himself—the Duke of Cordoran, otherwise known as Lord Eric Bischoff. Such a grand event called for entire families to drop even the most pressing work and come out to the streets, if only to catch a brief, fleeting glimpse of His Excellency the Duke.

Laborers and farmers all, they were simple people who only wanted a chance to one day tell their children and grandchildren that, once upon a time, they'd rubbed shoulders with the aristocracy…no matter how despised said aristocrat actually was. For, Lord Bischoff was by far one of the most unpopular politicians in the Thelian Empire, notorious for always siding with the ruling class and in the process stomping all over the rights of the working class.

But, no matter, for he was still the people's lord. As such, the smug duke attracted enthusiastic cheers and eager greetings from the good-hearted plebeian as he rode past them on a resplendent gilded coach, drawn by a team of magnificent dappled horses.

Around Lord Bischoff's carriage rode his security team, comprised mainly of wide-eyed young cadets hastily recruited earlier that day from the nearby Fort Halcyon and placed under the dubious command of the Imperial Guard's Third Captain, Randy Keith Orton. The young soldiers-turned-bodyguards-for-a-day rode awkwardly, jiltingly, unused to the sight of so many strange faces peering at them when none had ever witnessed even a skirmish, terrified of making a mistake, their silver-hilted cavalry swords banging against their knees as they jolted along the road.

Their illustrious leader, for his part, wasn't proving to be much help at instilling any confidence in his charges. Just as Lord Bischoff was eliciting cheers from the workers, so was young Captain Orton eliciting shy giggles and fluttering eyelashes from their daughters, and instead of keeping a watchful eye on his troops, Randy had ridden away to flirt and tease with every pretty girl in sight.


The current situation presented to the petite yet curvaceous kunoichi(1) hidden amidst the dark leaves of a nearby tree, in fact, couldn't be more perfect for her mission. She was wearing a typical ninja nightsuit in black and scarlet—the trademark colors of the infamous Kuro Kei clan—and strapped to her feet to help her grip the tough bark of the tree trunk was a pair of steel-gray ashiko, those spiked claws so dear to a ninja's heart.

It is just as the Okashira(2) predicted, she thought smugly to herself as she watched the procession below. Captain Randy Orton was, as always, distracted by the sight of pretty girls whenever no immediate danger was around, giving the diminutive ninja in the tree a clear shot at Lord Bischoff. A clear shot, without any annoying Imperial Guards to stand in her way.

Lord Bischoff's carriage was slowly approaching her post now, and the jet-and-crimson-clad ninja slowly and noiselessly began to straighten up from her crouched position amongst the dense, leafy foliage. Randy was off somewhere, several feet away from the duke's carriage as he leaned down to ceremoniously accept a crown of fragrant honeysuckle from a blushing blonde beauty. He left behind only a squad of apprehensive and barely-trained young cadets ranging from ages fourteen to seventeen: the sole protectors the pompous Duke of Cordoran as he leaned out of his carriage to sneer at the awestruck commoners.

The kunoichi, meanwhile, saw her perfect opportunity for a shot, and seized it.

Her actual attack was unleashed in the blink of an eye, with such fantastic speed that nobody was quite sure of what exactly had just happened to His Excellency the Duke. One moment he was tossing his head contemptuously at the plebeian, the next he had dropped back inside his carriage, dead with a long, slender, poison-tipped dart imbedded two inches into his throat. His valet, who'd been sitting deferentially inside the coach in case his master was in want of anything, immediately let out a piercing, bloodcurdling scream when Lord Bischoff's dead body flung itself upon his lap.

The poor manservant's siren soon proved itself to be a catalyst to chaos. The abrupt and chilling wail of horror sent both people and horses into a frenzy, the upset horses rearing up and neighing in fright while the equally terrified people forgot all common courtesy and stampeded toward Lord Bischoff's carriage, nearly trampling over the helpless Fort Halcyon cadets trying to keep them back.

Randy, for his part, finally realized that something had gone terribly wrong and quickly took charge, riding over to the mob and scattering the luckless workers as he plunged through tightly-packed human bodies.

"What has just happened?" Despite his youth, the Third Captain cut an imposing, authoritative figure amongst the crowds, towering over everybody else atop his fierce, coal-black stallion and looking every bit the perfect commander in his immaculate Imperial Guards attire: royal blue frock coat with proudly gleaming gold epaulets, starched white linen shirt and cravat, brocade waistcoat with a wide cardinal silk sash, mustard-colored breeches, and varnished black riding boots.

A babel of shrill voices swarmed over the dashing young captain upon his question, confused, keening, panicked, neighbor contradicting neighbor, each fighting to be heard over the uproar. Randy, however, paid them no heed, for just then he caught a slight, furtive movement out of the corner of his eyes that explained everything.

The action itself, though lightning quick, revealed to the young Imperial Guard captain all that he needed to know about the assassin's identity. For, with that one glimpse, Randy had caught a blur of black-and-scarlet flying from branch to branch back into the shadow world where it had come from. Black…and scarlet. The colors of Kuro Kei.

"Damn them! Damn ninja! Damn women!" he cursed silently, as he rode over to the carriage and began firing off orders that Lord Bischoff was to be immediately transported to the safe confines of Fort Halcyon.

Alternating a glance from the still-warm corpse of the Duke of Cordoran to the tree the Kuro Kei ninja had occupied, Randy swore again under his breath as he began to ride back to the military fort at a swift trot.

"So it's finally begun," he murmured to himself, narrowing his dark blue eyes before shaking the reins of his horse and riding off in a whirlwind of dust.

In his wake, he left behind a crowd of silent, grim laborers and farmers, who watched the hasty retreat with solemn eyes. A hushed murmur began rippling across the multitude, as they pondered over how such a glorious day could have ended with such a shocking tragedy.

Suddenly, a charming, feminine voice spoke up, rising in clear cadences over the frantic, jumbled cacophony of the commoners until its owner held everyone's attention.

"Somebody should have placed more guards around Lord Bischoff's carriage," pretty, petite, and fair-haired Trish Stratus remarked with doe-eyed innocence, before smiling sweetly for the stock-still crowd and departing back into the woods after offering them a brief curtsey.


1. kunoichi: a female ninja
2. Okashira: the title of the leader of a ninja clan