Chapter Four - Leá Monde Revisited
Silently, he moved over the rooftops, watching the two as they traversed the streets below him. They were unaware to his presence... at least, he thought and prayed he was. While information on the man had been scarce, he knew enough to know that this was the cream of the crop, the best Riskbreaker that the VKP had ever made and that made him dangerous. Add to that the fact that he was purportedly one of the very few survivors of the Leá Monde incident and that had included people such as Jan Rosencrantz and Romeo Guildenstern, it made Ashley Riot a veritable messiah of fighting.
Smoothly he drew his crossbow, looking down the sight to see whether he was still in range. To his shock, he realised that he could only see the woman standing stock still on a crossroad, not moving at all except to breathe. Whirling around, he couldn't see his mark anywhere. Placing his crossbow back in the grip on his belt he started moving across the rooftops again. Seeing the large gap between buildings, he took two steps backwards before running towards the ledge and leaping over it to the other side. As he reached halfway across, time seemed to slow down, the jump taking forever as he slowly floated over to safety on the other side and then...
Riot was there, standing on the other side right where he was aiming to land. If he could have gone back, he would have but there was no stopping him now. Soaring across the street, he flew towards Ashley who raised up his right hand. He promptly dropped straight onto the VKP Riskbreakers hand and was lifted from his feet. He cocked his head as he looked at the man who was now in his hand. With a quick wink, he let go and... disappeared.
The sniper stretched out, just catching hold of the ledge with his fingertips, his arms nearly pulling out of their sockets as they went to full stretch. Looking around desperately, he saw a drainpipe to his right and started to inch his way across to it, praying his fingers would keep their grip. Droplets of sweat poured from his brow and armpits, drenching his clothes, rivulets streaming down his limbs. He felt his palms and fingertips becoming slick and losing their grip on the terracotta roofing tiles. Salvation was only half a meter away from him and he knew he could make it if he had just a few seconds more grip... changing his mind, he started to swing himself side-to-side, trying to build up momentum. Finally, his fingertips gave up and he flew through the air, his momentum carrying him towards the drainpipe. Sweet glory came to him as he felt his arms wrap around the plastic length of tubing, even more so when his legs got onto it as well. Clasping onto it for dear life, he let out a large sigh of relief.
Knowing full well he wouldn't find them again today, he slowly clambered down the pipe; hand under hand, foot under foot as he made his way to comparative safety on the floor. Jumping from about seven feet from the floor, he landed on his haunches, forcing himself into the Tumblers Roll to prevent any serious damage and got to his feet. Dusting himself off, he looked side-to-side to see if anyone had noticed his dismount, glad that there seemed to be virtually no-one about. He would have to write this one off to laziness on his part... a flaw in his own execution of the plan. Not that it mattered, he was his own and thus had no-one to report to or be admonished by. Normally he'd do these things for money but he had his own reasons for this job...
"It's time you found out what the hell was really happening at Leá Monde. It's only fair since you got caught up in it and it'll explain what I'm going to do."
Leaning forward in her seat, Callo Merlose looked intently at Ashley, a loose strand of her jet-black hair falling across her face. In annoyance, she blew at it, sending it around to the side of her head. "So... tell me what you have to tell me."
"Where do I begin? There's so much to say... well, here goes. It all started five years ago with a picnic. A man and his wife sat underneath a big green tree with their son. It was a beautiful day, the sun high in the sky and the woman, the most beautiful woman in the world, goes to get some water from a nearby river. The man is left talking to his son when he hears a cry out loud. He turns around and sees two strangers near his wife, one of them plunging his sword through her chest, blood billowing out across her white robe. Getting to his feet, he starts to move towards the two strangers when a crossbow bolt flies past him. Spinning around, he sees his son slump over, the arrow deep inside his chest. With a cry of rage, he runs towards the two brigands, he kills them both in a fit of rage."
Callo sat there entranced, not even noticing the single tear running from the Riskbreakers eye.
"That man was me... at least, I thought it was me. So angered by this act, I signed up to become a Riskbreaker, the elite crack troops of the VKP. Nothing left to live for, I didn't care whether I lived or died. In a way, all I did want was death but I always seemed to evade it. And five years later, there was a raid on Duke Bardorba's mansion. I was sent in and inside I found one Sydney Losstarot, the leader of the religious cult Müllenkamp. We fought and I shot a bolt into his chest, killing him on the spot. Or at least, I thought I had killed him. Instead, he was far from dead and he summoned a Wyvern, a kind of guardian wyrm. I fought and defeated it easily but Sydney had escaped to Leá Monde. Naturally, I followed as was my duty as a Riskbreaker.
"Inside I found magic, or grimoires as they're called, at work. Sydney lead me on, further and further into Leá Monde in some kind of twisted game. However, something happened to me. I started 'remembering' killing techniques from my past... techniques I swore I had never learnt in the first place. And then I was into Leá Monde for real, out of the cellars and into the city itself. The Knights of the Blood were there as you already know, headed by the ice-cold Romeo Guildenstern. From there, it all went downhill. The monsters I had to fight; beasts, zombies, ghosts and humans alike, all of the way, learning more and more grimoires and special fighting techniques. And then I learnt my gift, as brought upon me by the wellspring we called Leá Monde. I was a heart-seer: I tuned into the hearts of others and saw through their eyes, heard what they heard, saw what they saw. Slowly, an image of what was going on was filling my head but none of it made any sense. And then I met up with Sydney again.
"We fought side by side to defeat one of the Crimson Blades generals, one that went by the name of Grissom. He had used the dark side to summon a... spirit of sorts to fight with him. Together we defeated them and then Sydney revealed something to me. He showed me a different version of my past...
"A mother and child sat underneath a big green tree in a big green field. It was a beautiful day, the sun high in the sky and the woman, the most beautiful woman in the world, goes to get some water from a nearby river. The son is left sitting on the red-and-white chequered picnic cloth, when he hears a cry out loud. He turns around and sees two strangers near his mother, one of them plunging his sword through her chest, blood billowing out across her white robe. Sitting there dumbly, the child stays right where he is while a crossbow bolt flies towards him, hitting him straight in the chest. The two men walk over to them, one of them half-paralysed in the shock of what they had done. One of them was called Jan Rosencrantz, a VKP trooper. The other was me, his Lieutenant. I had just murdered two innocent people, the very people I had pledged to protect with my life. I was nothing better than those I sought to capture or if the needs be, kill.
"I refused to believe this version of truth that Sydney had given me, believing still that my wife and child had been murdered by vagabonds... and then I met with Rosencrantz, the man who had been with me when I killed them. He confirmed the story, but I'm still not too sure whether I can believe what he said. He told me that the VKP had been unwilling to lose their best agent, and put me under an extreme course of brain-washing, turning me into the cold man you met at Duke Bardorba's manor. He told me that they had altered my memories and used my deep-seated hatred of breaking the law to turn me into the greatest agent they ever had.
"Eventually, my chase led me to the Cathedral at the centre of Leá Monde, the very centre of all the 'evil'. And there the truth was revealed... we had it wrong the whole time. Sydney wasn't trying to claim the powers of Leá Monde, he already had them! Instead, he was protecting them the only way he knew how. He had tired of immortality and wished to pass on his powers but he didn't know who he could trust with the immense responsibility. Rosencrantz, Guildenstern, even the Cardinal wanted the power for themselves but all of them would have misused it. The Cardinal wasn't on the scene and Rosencrantz was already dead, by the hands of a possessed statue of Kali. That left Guildenstern... what he did to Sydney was horrific. He skinned his back, removing the Blood Sin, the key to Leá Monde's power and placed it upon his. Sydney had already made up his mind on who was to be his successor: me.
"I reached the rooftop of the cathedral as Guildenstern reached his ascension, the terrific power of Leá Monde coursing through his veins. We fought and he lost; he died on that rooftop and the power moved onto me and so here we are now. Three days after the fall of Leá Monde, we are reunited in this hovel that I call home... at least for now it is, not that I'll be needing a home for long."
A silence descended upon the room, the air thick with unspoken words as the two stared at each other, neither moving nor uttering a single thing. Finally... it was broken by a reluctant Callo Merlose: "What now?"
"Now... I am cursed with immortality... I cannot die and as such, I am limited to living in constant fear. How long until someone comes after me to take the power of Leá Monde? How long until everyone I ever knew is long under the ground? How long until I can rest easy? Now I understand why Sydney wished to give that power up... I want to as well and there's only one way of doing it... I must die and remove this taint from my body."
"But how do you kill someone who's immortal?"
"I have the power of Leá Monde... I can do anything I wish to and that includes dying, but I can't just kill myself yet, I have to prevent the power being passed on. That means anyone who has taken a power from the wellspring must die..."
"B... but I--" The blood drained from Callo Merlose's face as she realised just what the killer sat across from her had said. "You intend to kill me?"
"I... I don't know... how can I kill innocents? How can I betray what I've fought for as long as I can remember? But this existence is pitiful... I can never love again, anyone I did love would die while I remained eternally young. Any children I had could possibly carry the taint and how can I guarantee that they would only use it for good and not evil? Life is meaningless for me now... all I can hope for is an end." Ashley grunted in pain as the Blood Sin flared up again, all of the nerves in his body on fire once again.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing... it just happens every now and then..." he grunted in reply.
After a pause, the Inquisitor asked the question again: "So what now?"
"Now you go and leave me to contemplate what to do... if I need to find you, be assured, I will find you." Rising to his feet, he opened the door and watched as Callo walked through it. As he started to close it, her foot came back into the doorway, stopping it from shutting. Opening the door wide, he stared her in the face.
"One last thing Agent Riot, the VKP know of you and want your powers for their gain... be careful."
"Thank you for your concern Inquisitor Merlose... now get the hell out of here!"
Slamming the door shut, Ashley strode back to his chair, sitting himself down before the fire, staring at the flickering flames, their life drawing him deep inside...
