Chapter 6: The Evil Seed

Tira and Toren ran to the base entrance to see that guards and sentries were posted all along any and all entrance points. Tira immediately recognized one of the guards and ran over to him asked frantically, "Jakob, what's going on?" Jakob continued to face forward without even glancing at Tira as he replied, "About two days ago, a mysterious rock was found out in the woods by our leader. It cased him to go insane just yesterday and the end result was not pretty."

"Is he alright?" Tira asked.

"No," Jakob replied. "He's dead. We've been put on high alert in case of an attack. Our main suspect is of course the Swarm of Shadows, but don't have any confirmation as of yet." Tira hesitated before asking, "Where's the rock now?"

"The mystery rock is currently behind held in the safe box in the lower level protection room. The Swarm of Shadows—or who ever put the rock in the forest—is never going to get their rock back," Jakob replied, still facing forward as if Tira wasn't even there. Toren walked up to Jakob and asked, "Can we see it?"

"I'm afraid not," Jakob replied. "The rock's on high security and clearance has been denied to everyone. As a matter of fact, I'm on guard duty tonight." Toren pulled Tira away so Jakob and the other sentries couldn't hear him as he whispered, "Did you sense it?"

Tira nodded in agreement as she added, "Whatever that rock is, I sense the same evil that resonated from the castle." The twins returned to where Jakob was standing and pulled him away from the other. "What's going on?"

"Listen," Toren said. "Listen carefully. That rock is evil. It's possessed the leader and it will only get stronger. We need you to destroy it before it destroys the Bird of Passage."

"Hrm," Jakob mumbled carefully. "Since when do you two care about what happens to other people's fate?"

Toren chuckled before responding, "I don't kill if I don't get paid for it."

"Yeah," Tira added, "and if the Bird of Passage is eliminated, I won't be able to kill anymore, and ever since this last trip, I fell like I need to kill to survive."

"Well," Jakob murmured. "Your story makes sense, but it's not protocol for me to destroy it without any solid proof." Tira shook her head in disappointment as she responded, "I knew it. You believe us, but you're too by-the-book to help us. That's going to lead to your death sooner than you think." Jakob was shocked into silence before returning to his post. Tira turned to Toren and continued, "We can expect no help from Jakob, so let's plan on how to get down there ourselves. Toren nodded in agreement as the twins remained outside to plan.

Hours passed and Tira and Toren felt they had a foolproof plan. "Okay," Tira said. "Let's see if we've got it. We'll be able to walk pass the guards until after the ladder. Then we'll drop a sleep bomb down the shaft and go down the ladder unnoticed. Last I was there, there were metal bars beyond that point, but there also was a fake wall for escape. We'll use the fake wall to go around the bars and continue to the door. We'll ram it down and knock out the Jakob. We'll destroy the rock and leave without a trace." Toren nodded as they waited until dark to execute their plan.

Tira and Toren walked without any suspicion passed the main guards and the guards stationed in the hallway. Toren passed the corner and tossed the sleeping bomb down the shaft. After a couple of seconds of coughing and dropping, all the guards in the lower lever were asleep. Tira and Toren hopped down the shaft and proceeded to the metal bars barring their path. Tira began to knock on the wall, but failed to find the fake wall. Toren tried, but me with the same results.

"Can't find the fake wall, huh," said a familiar voice. Tira and Toren spun around to see Jakob was standing on the other side of the bars.

Tira's eyes widened before responding, "If there's no fake wall, how'd you get in?"

Jakob chuckled before responding, "When you left, the wall plastered and a ladder was installed to go directly into the safe room. There's no need for the fake wall anymore, but there is a fake bar, but it's only accessible from this side."

Toren stepped forward and asked, "So are you going to let us in?"

"What's in it for me?"

Tira stared right into Jakob's eyes and replied, "Your life." Jakob was clearly frightened and immediately pulled out eh false bar. Tira and Toren squeezed through and followed Jakob to safe room. "So," Toren asked, "Why the sudden change of heart?"

"I don't want to die." Jakob replied. "I'm selfish and anything I can do to prolong my life, including breaking the rules, I'll do." Toren smirked but Tira hadn't even looked at him. The threesome entered the safe room and Jakob said, "Destroy the rock and get out. I don't want to be implicated if you're wrong."

Tira walked up and pulled out her kunai. Tira moved her hand, but hesitated. Toren was confused, but Jakob hadn't noticed. Tira swung her kunai at the rock, but stopped her hand right in front of the rock. Tira hesitated again, this time for a whole minute.

Jakob moved forward and tapped Tira in the shoulder, and Tira spun around and stabbed Jakob in the stomach. Jakob fell to the ground as Toren jumped and attempted to restrain her. Tira easily pushed Toren off her. Toren managed to get up and stare into Tira's eyes. Toren knew Tira was in a blind rampage and he could do nothing to stop her.

Tira moved back into the main building and proceeded to kill the guards on duty. Other guards and assassins came to try and restrain Tira, but all attempt met with death. Toren could only look on helplessly as his sister continued to take to building apart piece by piece.

Back downstairs, Jakob was still holding on to life and slowly climbed up the ladder with blood still dripping down onto the floor and the kunai still impaled in his stomach. Jakob managed to get to the main hallway where the hall was deadly silent. "Where is everyone?" Jakob continued to crawl to the door, but soon found out that the door was on the other side of the building and he new that the one thing between him and freedom was a maniac with a kunai named Tira.

Toren searched the headquarters for something to calm Tira down, but his search came up empty. Toren continued to search as Tira continued to kill the assassins in the building. It was clear to Toren that Tira wasn't slowing down. In fact, she seemed to be speeding up, as if she was gaining power and energy from killings. Toren began to think ad took out a piece of paper and began to write.

Meanwhile, Jakob was able to climb the stairs to the second floor. "Let's see," he whispered to himself. "If I can manage to get to the window, I can jump out and run off. Jakob continued to walk across the hallway only to hear the cries of a baby from inside a nearby room. "I can't. It's my life and I can't let some baby get in my way." Jakob continued to walk, but failed to ignore the cries. Jakob walked back and picked up the baby. Jakob continued to walk to the window and managed to jump out, but broke his leg on impact. Jakob ignored the pain and continued to limp and spun around to see Tira exit the base. Jakob continued to limp until he saw a woman pass by. Jakob limped over to her and said, "Take this baby and keep her away from that girl over there."

The woman was clearly shocked as she asked, "and who are you?"

Jakob handed the baby to the woman before answering, "I'm someone who lived his life incorrectly and is going to end it right. I'll hold her off, you just run and keep him safe." The woman nodded and began to run. Tira noticed her and began to chance, but stopped her pursuit when Jakob through the kunai that was previously in his stomach.

Jakob took out another kunai and rushed Tira. Tira withdrew her kunai and blocked Jakob attack. Tira retaliated with an attempt at Jakob's stomach, but failed. Jakob back flipped over Tira and attempted to stab her in the back, but Tira stun around and blocked the attack. Jakob stared in amazement, as he whispered, "No way. No one is that fast. Whatever's possessing Tira, it's not human." Jakob went in for another attempt, but fell form his leg injury before he reached his target. Tira walked up and stabbed Jakob in the stomach until he stopped moving.

Tira spun around, but saw that the woman with the baby was nowhere to be found. Tira yelled extremely loudly, and began to attack the trees until she fell unconscious.

Tira awoke to a dreaded sunlight and knew that hours had passed since she fell unconscious. She didn't remember exactly what she did, but she knew it was bad. Tira sat up to see a note on her shirt, or what was left of it, in Toren's handwriting. It read.

Tira, you may not remember what happened, but you've killed all the members of the Copenhagen Bird of Passage chapter. What I didn't tell you before, but probably should have, is that the other chapters had already found similar rocks to the one we found, and similar massacres occurred. The only difference is, in the other massacres, no one survived.

Also, I've figured out what the rock was. It's called the Evil Seed. It's the same material of the castle in Ostrheinburg. Something tells me that the old man wasn't truthful when he said he decided not to kill us. I think his plan was to implant the Evil Seed in your mind and activate it with the rock when he's miles away and free from harm. My guess is that Cervantes knew that the Bird of Passage would be a thorn in his side so he ordered the destruction of all of the Bird of Passage chapters. Trust me, if I ever come across that old man, I'll take him down myself.

There's also something else. I haven't got confirmation of this, but I've gotten word that the rocks of Evil Seed rained down after the battle between Cervantes and someone else called Siegfried Schtauffen. The details are blurry, but it would seem that Cervantes lost.

Finally, you're probably wondering why I'm not telling you this in person. Well, because there are still members of the Swarm of Shadows still exist, and if they find out that only two members still exist, they'll kill us faster than you can pull out your kunai. If we were to stay together, the Swarm of Shadows would track us down and that's not what he was. So as far as everyone knows, Tira and Toren aren't related, and they don't even know each other. Goodbye, Tira, and remember, I'll always be your brother and I'll always love you.

Tira shed a tear as she put the note away. Tira stood upand began to walk into town. Tira continued to walk as she mumbled. "I have no family and I have no life, and if I can't be happy, no one can."