Chapter 4: The Virus Spreads
Eight years later…
Flash of darkness flew through the corridor silently. It ran past guards, patrons, and open rooms without so much as turning a curious eye from them. Only for an instance did it stop, hanging upon the roof. This figure was an assassin. With near skin-tight cloths died in a pale black, along with a light green belt and taped shoes, she almost looked more like a dancer then a hired killer. Her hair was a beautiful jet black, and her eyes a fiery blood red. The only thing the betrayed her beauty was a horrible scar along her left cheek just below the eye.
As she clung to the ceiling the way only those trained in the deadly arts know, she surveyed the wide hallway. Four exits available. Doors at the end of the hall, the ones she came from, and the two windows. She also took note that she was on the fourth floor, and that the window on the right led to the third floor bridge roof, and the window on the right was a 200m drop onto solid rock. She waited…
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"Yawn. This is so boring," said Joe, one of the palace guards, "We always get stuck on night shift."
"Yeah well, least you haven't worked twenty-four hours straight yet," wearily replied his partner as they patrolled the dark hallways of the palace.
"Whoa…did you hear that?" inquired Joe.
"No, nothing, these hallways do play tricks on your mind at night Joe, so settle down."
"Wait…there it is aga-" Joe's voice trailed off as he pointed to a darkened corner where the lights did not shine.
From the shadows, an extraordinarily gorgeous woman stepped into the light. With medium cut jet-black hair, blood red eyes, and combat monks form fitting outfit, the guards knew in an instance that she was not one of the maids in the palace.
"What-cha doing here girly? You know its not safe sneaking around here at night, you mi-" Joe's partner was abruptly silenced by the glint of the girls combat fists, and before he could draw his sword the last thing he saw was a silver streak colliding with his face.
Joe was not so ill prepared. He lunged at this mysterious attacker with only revenge on his mind and he swung horizontally. However, his sword only managed to contact with was the corridors wall, and he looked up in time to see the woman's bladed grieves cleanly plant itself into the side of his head and he never had to worry about those pesky night shifts again.
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The lord knight and king of the palace, followed by his elite honour guards, strode into the hallway unknowingly aware that they would soon be amongst their ancestors. For as soon as the last guard entered the passageway, the assassin dropped from the roof and slit his throat, making an effort to make as much noise as possible. As the other guards spun around weapons drawn, the lord drew his own blade of the finest emperium and stood fast…but no attacker was visible. The guard whose fate was sealed still stood as if planted to the ground, only a blood-spattered blade imbedded in his neck gave way to his lifeless state. Too their astonishment, the blade suddenly moved as if on its own, leaving the guard to fall. A second blade, this one unblemished with blood appeared at the firsts parallel. One of the honour guards took a stab at the area between the blades but only managed to have his head removed. Before his body crumpled to the ground, too faintly glowing knives appeared and flew into the necks of the remaining two guards. These knives were imbued with poison, and as such, began to quickly dissolve those unfortunate souls' very essence and the collapsed to the floor writhing in pain before liquidating completely.
"Who's there?" demanded the lord knight; clearly frightened.
"I am she who silences those who trouble my master," said an invisible voice.
"As am I," a second voice, this time from behind, replied.
It was in this moment the Lord Knight suddenly found himself with a fist through his chest, and a blade through his neck. And the invisible voice that was wielding the katars suddenly had a face, and turning slightly around, the second voice had the same. The King then discovered the laws of gravity first hand, and through his freefall, those blood red eyes of his attackers haunted him until the ground met him with a merciful release.
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"What took you so long Venumn?" Toxik, the assassin, asked her partner.
"Oh you know, flirting with the night guards," Venumn, a monk, sheepishly answered, "one of them was cute."
With an audible sigh, Toxik reprimanded her sister for a few moments on the etiquette of "stealth" and was interrupted by the arrival of more palace soldiers whom were alerted by the King deciding to 'drop in' the guardhouse.
"We'll finish this later." Toxik scolded, and guided her sister out the other window, onto the roof, and into the night.
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It had been a long, cold night for Haide and Daioo in the Dark Wizards keep. Deep within the great castles of Glast Heim, he had made their lives worse then any hell thought possible. The first week in the keep, the Dark One had given them nothing but a few cups of water and no food. Then he began their training.
At first he let them feel like they escaped their cell, allowing them to develop their ability to sneak around in a hostile environment. After a sufficient time, he then began their combat training. He let his troops, who had long desired to kill the girls due to their "special" treatment, into the Sakshuro sisters cell (he knew the name from the engravings on their weapons which he had gathered and stored for the time being). None of those few who entered the cell left with souls attached to their bodies.
During the many years of torture he had succeeded in shaping both Haide and Daioo into ruthless killing machines, loyal to his cause. They took their place among his personal shadow guards. To make them look the part, he gave them each a jet-black uniform along with green taped boots and belt to signify their rank in his army. The Dark Wizard next, decided to give them their codenames; Haide became Toxik, and Daioo Venumn, as they had become the embodiment of his will. A deadly toxin to those who opposed him that would do what ever his orders demanded, his and his alone…