There was nothing but blackness everywhere. Jared floated in the middle of that infinite abyss. The place was illuminated with a light that seemed to come from no apparent source. Jared knew this place…it was his nightmare.
A figure moved at his side walking like a wraith. The figure, in fact, looked like a wraith, skin with no tone, eyes with no life. Jared knew who this was; it was the first person that he had brought down with his saboteur skills.
Turian Nogard was a bard…Jared's teacher. They had both belonged to the Suldam guild under Lord Irutalde. Turian had long since wanted to change Suldam, turn it into a guild of virtue and honor rather than the tyrannous and malevolent one in Irutalde's hands. He had planned an underground rebellion within Suldam to usurp Irutalde from his position. Everything had gone according to plan until Lord Reginald had somehow gotten wind of the rebellion and summoned Jared to his quarters.
Like the loyal subordinate he was, Jared diligently obeyed. He entered the quarters of the cold-hearted knight and found that another man had come before him. An oily-haired rogue only known as Sikhak, which was not his real name, stood beside Lord Reginald. They stared at Jared like predators about to pounce on an unwary prey.
"I understand you are a pupil of Turian's correct," said+ Lord Reginald, clapping his hands together as he leaned on his desk.
"Yes, guild master." Answered Jared submissively to the man. Lord Reginald's eyebrows shot up with satisfaction or suspicion, Jared could never tell.
"What would you say if I told you that I know of his underground rebellion?" asked Lord Reginald leaning back on his tall backed armchair. At this point Sikhak had drawn a Damascus and began sharpening it in front of him, an act of intimidation; the weak willed would have broken by now. Every whisk of the stone through the blade broke the silence in the room. Jared remained steadfast an avoided to have his gaze hover at the Damascus.
Jared didn't know anything of any rebellion; he suspected Turian had kept him in the dark protect him, not knowing that this situation was probable. "I know nothing of a rebellion, guild master." Said Jared honestly " And I assure you that Master Turian is loyal only to you my lord."
Lord Reginald met Jared eye to eye before he suddenly pointed a gauntleted finger at him. In less than a second Sikhak had rushed to Jared, kicked him in the stomach and held the Damascus at his neck. Lord Reginald walked towards him, his heavy boots thumping on the carpet.
He forced Jared's mouth open and poured a vial of clear liquid down his throat. Jared, thinking it was poison decided to die a quiet painless death rather than have his throat slit but to his surprise he didn't die.
Sikhak pushed him down the visitor's chair and stood guard beside him while Lord Reginald took his place back on his armchair. The knight had a sneer on his face and he positioned his hands like a pyramid over his mouth.
"Now, my young bard," began Lord Reginald. "Let's hope you were telling the truth, for your life's sake. Tell me everything you know about Turian Nogard."
The vial had contained a potion to make Jared tell the truth against his will. He told Lord Reginald everything he knew, proving that he knew nothing of rebellion but revealing that over the last few months Turian had been talking to certain members of the guild and made it a point to leave Jared out of their conversations.
Once the questioning was over Jared collapsed on the floor gasping "No more. Please, no more." That was when Lord Reginald walked up to him and tasked him his first saboteur mission, to destroy Turian's underground rebellion.
Jared succeeded in his mission; Turian was killed together with the other leaders of the faction, frightening the other members into hiding or suicide. After that Lord Reginald was so impressed with Jared's natural skills at sabotage that he had Sikhak, who turned out to be the guild's previous saboteur, killed and replaced with Jared.
That started Jared on his new life. Sabotaging all of Suldam's enemies being responsible for the deaths of now fifty-three people. He had this dream to remember them all. Every night a reminder of what he was, whom he turned into.
In the dream Turian had stopped walking and was staring at Jared in that black abyss. Why Jared? The words echoed in the darkness in Turian's voice. Suddenly another man appeared and walked beside Turian and the same words echoed in the darkness now in that man's voice. Jared didn't know how many times he kept saying sorry. All fifty-three people started appearing out of nowhere and taking their places around him all asking him. Why?
Turian Nogard, Noitima Aujourd, C'est Taohl, Royem Kapkalap, Etney Wabalak…The Litany of fifty-three names played over and over again in his head.
Suddenly a new figure appeared facing away from Jared. He recognized her immediately as Persha and she began to turn around. Jared couldn't bear to see her as lifeless as the other people. He desperately tried to close his eyes but his body wouldn't follow him. Just when he was about to see her face he woke up drenched in sweat and panting.
That was his worse dream yet, on the verge to see Persha lifeless, it was too much for him. He quickly washed himself, got dressed and headed for the guild entrance.
Jared reached the guild gates and the doorman asked him if he wanted to let anybody now where he was going. Jared gave him a dismissive wave of his hand and continued towards his secretive destination, oblivious to the fact he was being followed, but that's the way it is with assassins, you never know they're following you until it's too late.
Sonon moved through the walls like a swimmer through water, silent and incessant in following Jared. Finally, they entered the business district of Prontera, which by now was flooded with vendors and customers. All the voices were blending with each other combined with the clanks from smithies, explosions from nearby alchemists' shops and the endless racket from the livestock being sold.
Jared turned down a narrow alley and this was when he realized something was in the wrong. As a bard, he was trained in the art of listening as a means of sight, by listening to the echo of sounds he could form images in his head of his current surroundings and beyond, much like a bat. He could have walked his way through the business district with his eyes closed by listening to the reverberations of sound. Now that he was alone in the alley he realized someone was following him, but there was no one to be seen, at least with eyes. Jared realized now that there had been a presence in the walls that changed the sound while he was walking in the business district, too small to notice unless you really concentrated on that spot. Now that he was isolated the reverberations showed him that there was indeed a man going through the walls unseen, and following him.
Assassin Jared thought to himself. Obviously this assassin had faith in his stealth skills enough to try to follow a bard, knowing that bards could see as much with sound as with sight, probably more. But Jared didn't notice the assassin until they were isolated meaning that this assassin was truly skilled.
From a nearby smithy the hammer fell down unto the white-hot iron laid on the anvil creating a loud clang of metal that rang all the way to the alley. That was all Jared needed, the sound created and image of the assassin so close to Jared that he could have reached and touched the assassin if he chose to right now.
Jared placed his fingers on the strings of his mandolin and pretended to not be aware about the assassin's presence. Slowly he started strumming three notes continuously, sending vibrations of sound everywhere.
This assassin was right to trust in his stealth skills, Jared full attention was focused on the man. A slight distraction would make him loose this man and possibly never be able to find him again.
Jared's fingers were strumming the chords so fast that a constant stream of sound was being bombarded around him. The assassin by now had realized his presence was detected and pulled of a trick of his own by vibrating himself as quickly as his agile body could allow and thus distorting the frequencies around the area. Apparently this assassin knew how to handle bards.
Jared and this assassin were so evenly matched; the assassin couldn't completely disappear from Jared while Jared couldn't pinpoint the assassin's exact location unless he managed to get near enough to touch the man, who stayed a good distance away.
The unusual chase had brought them to a road where the cobblestones where completely gone. This far deep in Prontera the law didn't exist anymore; the cobblestones were probably stolen and sold leaving only the dirt underneath
Jared took his position in the middle of the road and continued to play the stream of the three notes. The assassin was still somewhere around him, not prepared to give up the chase. A stray gust of wind blew through the alley and lifted a light puff of dust that gave Jared an idea. He quickly change the position of his fingers and with one strum created a shockwave of sound that brought up the dust giving him a shroud of sand to escape. He masked the sound of his feet by manipulating the sound waves around him and making it seem three different people had ran down three different alleyways. Jared ran as far as he could until he was sure he had lost the assassin.
When the dust cleared Sonon stood beside the wall of a building. He didn't expect Jared to pull off a trick like that. The kid truly was skilled in his art; even managing to notice his presence and keep it up even after Sonon had disrupted the frequencies around them. During the instance when the dust cloud went up Sonon was about to use his grimtooth, but yet again Jared got the better of him. He couldn't even tell the three runners apart. The kid had gotten the best of him and managed to escape and still there was no proof of the kid doing anything wrong. He ran from Sonon yes, but the assassin never revealed himself as a guild mate, would the young bard have stopped if he did? There were to many riddles still hidden in the dark. Sonon made his way back to guild house knowing this chase was futile to continue.