45 Vienice Aramon

_Vienice Aramon_

"Vienice." Brandy, the guard he had met on a few occasions now called at the doorway to his dorm room. Vienice sat up, having not slept. He didn't need sleep. In the night he would often lay asleep staring at the ceiling and occasionally reading- his eyes slowly working better in the dark then they had before. "It is time to go," He instructed the boy who looked at him with blank violet eyes.

Vienice climbed down from the top of his bunk, ignoring the questioning look from his only awake roommate as the other two continued to sleep soundly. Although Vienice had been here for a good few months now, he made no effort to get to know anyone, and no one made any effort to know him. Vienice did not even know the name of one of his roommates, though the three of them had at one point beat Vienice to the floor and kicked him around. It was not uncommon for Vienice to be attacked even here of all places. Luckily his roommates had only done it once. Not that he cared, however. As the days ticked on pain only seemed to mean less and less to him.

Grabbing his shoes and quickly putting them on, the pale boy followed after Brandy down the elaborate hallway. The only light came from Brandy's own torch as he led the way. "Yer being shipped off to look for that one brat," Brandy hummed out. "Can't believe they trust ya to act on such little training and so little time here. Haven't even taken a test of loyalty. Tch. Yew really are spoiled aren't ya?" Brandy grumbled on.

Vienice had heard of this test of loyalty. It seemed the organization gave very strict tests that were hard to pass to their students and new members. It varied person to person but he knew the roommate of his that had taken one had come back in tears, traumatized. He had heard similar things from some others. Exams that played with your mind, put you in hard situations that seemed so real... They tested if you would desert, betray, or reveal any secrets from the organization. Apparently they valued loyalty greatly.

Vienice wondered now if perhaps this whole mission to go after the boy with all this power was a farce. Was this just his test of loyalty? Put him out into the field to see if he would desert? The boy could not be sure but he would remember to keep that in mind.

"Yew better not get those two goin with you a hard time," Brandy started up now. "If they die, that is on yew, ya know. We don't take too lightly to those who so easily let valuable members die. We're a family here."

Vienice shot him a dead stare, void of emotion. "A family?" He repeated but it was rhetorical. The people here were no family, that was for sure. "Do not so easily feed yourself lies," Was all Vienice warned him.

"Excuse you, boy," Brandy spat with irritation. "It seems you've gotten a little too comfortable here. Remember just who you are and who you belong to. You have not been here for long, I do not give a rats arse what it is you think."

"If you did not care you would not be as ruffled as you are now," Vienice said, keeping monotonous eyes focused forward as they walked.

"Yew watch yourself before I drive my sword right between them ribs of yers. I'll not have you makin bad of this place after we've taken you in."

Vienice stopped walking and looked at Brandy, whom he had once perceived to be a good man despite his comments. It would seem that now he was not so kindly tempered as he had been before. Or perhaps Vienice himself had just changed... He couldn't be sure. "What good would that do?" He asked, not agitated the slightest bit which in turn seemed to frighten Brandy. "I would only get right back up again. If I wanted you dead, you would not be able to stop me because I always get back up." He said as he leaned closer to Brandy who took a step away.

Vienice turned away, satisfied with that reaction. Brandy was scared of him, though he hardly showed it. The man was old enough to have the experience in keeping himself apparently unafraid on the outside, however, that step said it all. "What is stopping yew from taking out everyone here? Killin us all?"

Vienice raised a single brow but did not bother to look at Brandy as they started walking again. "I have no desire to kill anyone," Most of the time, he thought. "Besides I am not invincible. If you can restrain me well enough then there is nothing that I can do. Just have the strong boy do it and then no one is hurt- or have Wymon kill me again, it seems it was very easy for him." Vienice said, easily giving the man such ideas.

"Somethin tells me yew are a bigger threat than anyone here truly knows," Brandy grumbled now.

"I do not know. But I do know that I have no plans of doing anything that is not first asked of me," Vienice said with a shrug as they exited the building.

Brandy only hummed in response as the man led him over to two strangers and Wymon, accompanied by three horses seemingly caring what would be needed on their journey.

"Ahh Vienice," Wymon said, beckoning him closer. Vienice made his way up to the three as Brandy bowed to Wymon before leaving back the way he came. The redhead gave his attention to the robed man before him now.

"You will be travelling with these two acolytes. They are only here to guide you and give you the information you need to kill the target. They have been instructed to stay out of any altercations with the boy unless they deem it safe. We do not know how powerful he has become. They will fill you in on the rest." Wymon informed him. The two acolytes, a man and a woman, both nodded to him before climbing onto their horses.

"Alright," Vienice said now, suppressing the many questions that found their way onto the tip of his tongue.

"And Vienice," Wymon said in a serious tone. "Do not let me down. This all relies on you being successful."

Vienice gave him a long look, curious to what this all was. Wymon knew something, that was sure. But what was it that he knew? The man always knew something- perhaps Vienice was only paranoid now. He gave the archdruid a nod before he climbed up onto his own horse, a bit unsteady. This was going to be a long trip. Vienice did not get along with animals. His horse was no exception. To prove this, his own horse seemed agitated now, as it neighed and huffed, stomping its hooves. To his luck, it had not done anything drastic.

"Now be off, all of you. Make haste before the target moves too far." The two robed acolytes and Vienice nodded before they started off.

They rode for quite some time, the sun fully rising from behind the mountains in the distance. The redhead had very little horseback training but with what little he knew from his childhood and what they had been teaching him recently, he was able to keep on the back of his horse and follow close behind the others. Neither of them talked for the longest time. Vienice supposed they weren't too friendly. It was not out of the ordinary for people to ignore Vienice so he thought little of it for the first few hours.

Soon, however, they came to a halt at a small stream so they could let the horses rest and take a drink.

"So you're that red devil?" The man started up.

"I have been called that," Vienice said now, looking over to the robed man who let his hood fall, exposing his shaved head and scar that lined the bottom of his jaw.

"What are you anyway kid? No one has told us yet, it seems as though they aren't even sure yet. You ain't any demon I ever came across."

Vienice shrugged. "Human, Demon, monster...What does it matter? I do not know,"

"How about a dog then? All willing to walk right into this after being brought in like an abandoned puppy," The man said now.

"Sure," Vienice said flatly. He was not going to react to this man's words.

"Why harass the boy?" the woman spoke up now, turning to the both of them with her arms crossed. "He's just here to do his job, same as you and me."

"I don't like the look on his face, all relaxed and all; like nothing bothers him. Tch,"

"So you're still a bully? After all this? My my, not even getting stripped of your name is enough to humble you? What a shame." The woman teased.

"His name?"

"Acolyte." The woman answered. "Me as well,"

"I'm afraid I don't follow," Vienice said, his brows coming down in confusion.

"You don't know? Grand. They must not tell you much do they, kid? After you graduate you get stuck in ranks. At rank four they become fairly strict on you- very easy for one to make a mistake. When you do they take your name away, strip you of your Identity and call you acolyte. See the red bands on our arms? That indicates our Acolyte status." The woman explained to him now.

"All because of one mistake?" Vienice asked aloud, thinking back to his own mistakes. Many of them. The biggest was taking out his hometown. All those people... Surely he was not fit to have his name either?

"We get new names, rest assured. All we have to do is prove ourselves to the institute. Taking down this bastard we're after is a sure way to do that so we're practically counting on you."

"Oh..." Vienice looked out into the distance now. He did not like being relied on like that.

"Let us start up again, the horses are rested now." The man spoke up and so they began on their path again. It was silent for some time longer as the group merely basked in the sunlight and the scenery of trees and wildlife.

Vienice thought to this boy they were after. How old was he again? Surely he was not that old... Vienice did not want to hurt anyone anymore. He had taken countless lives, and not long ago did he lose control and try to take another. He did not want to do such a thing any more than he already had... but wasn't this boy dangerous like that too? How many lives had he taken? How many more would he take?

"How much do you know about this boy we are after?" He found himself asking.

"Well his mother was an easterner for starters," The woman started, thinking to herself as she effortlessly balanced herself upon her horse, whereas Vienice found himself constantly adjusting himself.

"Eastern? Isn't that continent rumoured to be fake?"

She laughed at him now. "No, I assure you it is quite real. The leaders there just prefer isolation. Very few get in and out. This boy's mother got out because she was some sort of nobility or something, she had the connections to escape. Could not tell you why though, at the time she was not even pregnant. Only once she came here and eloped with some former noble houseman did she find people after her."

"Why?"

"We have some special individuals who can track down those with abilities. When she became pregnant that baby, our current target, was revealed to our people. They cannot know exactly what ability an individual has, only if they have one, where they are, and how dangerous it is. But it is spotty, it does not always pick up on the same person. However, this boy has a distinct signal." She explained.

"So it is like Wymon said then. This kid has strong abilities- dangerous ones?"

"Aye. Right on the dot. He is one of the very rare few that are born with extreme power. Most people can only use one or two abilities, and find it impossible to learn any more. People like him can learn anything they set their mind to and thus are very dangerous."

Vienice took in this information seriously. "Wymon said they always go mad, these people. Because they were not blessed with this power by the elder god. Said it was stolen."

The woman hummed thinking of this. "The archdruid loves talking about his beloved elder god. I do not know if any of that is quite true but I do know that these dangerous individuals do indeed go mad. They are under constant stress from the mass of their abilities. If they do not use their abilities, then it builds up and stresses out their bodies, leading sometimes to explosions among other catastrophes. But it is like a double-edged sword as the more they use it the more it roasts their brain. They slowly go mad, and even if they seem fine on the outside and are able to hide it, they will eventually hurt people."

"Yes, Wymon did say that in all the organization's records, every single one had gone mad and hurt others..." Vienice mumbled out now.

"Indeed they have. I hear you are a monotonous fellow. Don't feel much? In any case, once we come across this boy you have to kill him. Perhaps he has not hurt anyone yet, but soon he will. They never make it into their twenties sane."

"How old is he?" Vienice found himself asking now, processing all of this information.

"Thirteen. He is just a boy, he has only killed one of our men but that is warning enough that he could kill more in the future. We would like to keep as many people as possible alive. He will look scared and innocent when you find him. But when you are killing him do not hesitate. He can and will kill us all in self-defence. He will look terrified and possibly beg you not to hurt him because he does not want to hurt you but..." Vienice could not see her face from where she was riding but he could tell she was holding back tears. "But you cannot stop. You have to kill him in order to save hundreds, even thousands,"

"Waterworks? Really?" The man spoke up now. "Gods, she kills one of these things one time, years and years ago, and now she cries every time she talks about it. Tch,"

"You've killed one of these people?" Vienice was curious now.

"Ahh, no I did not, but I helped find her and I gained her trust long enough to have someone capable come do the job... but sometimes I just cannot get her face out of my head. She was so terrified... " The woman's voice seemed to be uneven for a moment before she cleared her throat. "But it was better she be taken out like this than rabid and fighting after hurting so many,"

"How old was she?"

"Eight," She answered simply, her voice an octave higher than it had been previously, so she cleared her throat once more. "It does not matter who they are, how old they are, or who they will be. None of it. Do not spare him no matter what happens or how badly you may feel. No matter how emotional he gets, you must kill him." She told Vienice seriously. "They always go mad. Every single one of them."

"What was her name? She was still a person," He reasoned.

"They are not people, they are monsters just waiting to kill people. Wolves in sheep's clothing," The man interjected irritably, but he was ignored.

"Henna," The woman answered.

"Henna will be remembered then," Vienice voiced now. From now on he would remember as many of the deceased as he could. It was just one more way to repent what he had done.

"And this boy, I believe his name is Nyka," She told him now.

"We will remember his name," Vienice said with a nod.

"Oh who gives a damn what their bloody names are?" The man said with a snort. "They're psychotic freaks for fucks sake. You lot are a bunch of sorry sacks. Makes me sick," He grumbled out.

"I'll make sure to never remember your name, " The woman shot back.

"I don't give a damn. I don't even got one right now,"

Banter like this carried on off and on for many more hours. They slowly made their way south until it was dark signalling it was time to rest.

"I will keep watch. I do not sleep much," He declared to the group.

"Freak," The man muttered as he started up the fire in order to start cooking tonights dinner.

The woman nodded. "Alright. We continue south for a few more days, soon we should be close enough to his location for my ability to pick him up,"

"What is your ability?" He asked her.

She hummed, thinking of a way to describe it. "I like to call it the hunter. I can sense all sorts of things far off, though it works best close by. I can usually sense what animals are in the area, how many if they notice something by how their hearts are. I can also sense those with abilities quite like our special persons within the order. However, mine is weaker and covers less distance." She explained to Vienice.

"What do you sense now?" He asked her.

"The birds, a rabbit not far off, him among other things," She gestured to the man who was struggling to start a fire.

"And me?"

Her eyes narrowed at him. "I was not going to say anything," She started, looking to the side for a moment before she met his eyes once more. "You're less noticeable than the birds, at least like this you are. It's almost as though you are dead,"

"I am dead," Vienice said matter of fact, as if it was something normal; because it was for him.

A small laugh graced her features. "You are not, you have a faint heartbeat,"

"You can hear it?"

"No, I just know. The heart can tell a lot about a person. If they're lying, or if they're scared... but yours... it's so faint that I would never know. If I was looking for you I doubt I could be able to find you in the condition you are in now,"

He tilted his head only slightly, curious once more about what this woman had to say. It seemed she had many things to tell him, answers to questions no one else wanted to answer. "My condition right now?"

"Ahh yes..." She looked away from him once more, seemingly uncomfortable. "The other day when you were sparring with one of the other students I heard you lost control of yourself. Witnesses say it was scary..." She seemed a bit uncomfortable recounting the story. "I hadn't seen it, but My abilities cover the entire manor. I could not feel your presence with all the others around, especially since most people at the manor have abilities... but when you lost control at that time your presence was the most overwhelming thing I have ever come across. It was... terrifying, to say the least,"

"Oh..." Vienice found himself looking off into the distance now too. "I'm sorry,"

"Right now you don't even register as human. Nor do you come off as anyone with an ability; not now and not then... You don't even register as a demon. The feeling then was similar to demons but it was different. I don't quite know how to explain it. I was not even going to tell you any of this, it seems I have rambled on enough for one day," She concluded with a sigh just as the man let out a noise of joyful relief.

"Fire's started," He called over to them.

Vienice swallowed and looked away from the orange flames. "I'll start watch early," He said to the woman as he went to sit on a log some ways away from the fire pit.

"Scared of fire, Aramon?" The man called him by his family name but Vienice paid it no mind. Teasing was not something that easily got to him, especially when it came from nameless strangers.

The group would rest for the night and carry on in the morning. It would cycle like this for a week, perhaps longer. Vienice found himself not looking forward to finding this boy... Something about this mission gave him a rotten feeling in his gut. He would do best to remember three things. This was likely a test of his loyalty, he had to kill this kid without hesitation, and he could not forget his name. It was all a matter of time now.