Amos...An Assasin? / First Kiss?

Amos got his hand repaired by the one Demihuman mechanic in the blacksmith shop, namely Annie. She had caught a fairy on the way home from school, and she ordered it to heal Amos for her. However, the fairy's healing magic seemed to be rather feeble, and it failed to radically heal his hand, leaving a marginally opened hole still in the middle of his palm.

After being impaled, the pain still failed to deliver Amos's feelings back. Yet again, he was still lacking the ability to feel pain.

As he sat down on his bed at his dorm, he heard knocking, and he promptly knew who it was. Only Liang knocks six times at a slow pace. Amos then got up, walked in front of the door, and held the handle. Then he revolved the handle to the maximum and heard a 'Clicking' sound as the door opened. At his door stood Liang with a rather serious look on his face.

"Amos, " said Liang, "Come with me, the Queens would like to speak to you, " Liang turned around and started walking in the direction of the huge castle in the distance. It was a bit dark at the moment, as it was almost at the consummation of day.

Amos followed Liang's brisk footsteps. Then Liang slowed down a little to be beside Amos, "Amos, when you go in there, they're going to question you about going to a top mission, feel free to say no if you like. But if you say no, " he looked at Amos, "I won't be getting back my comrade."

Amos eyed him back.

"Do you remember Han-Geol, Amos?"

Amos shook his head.

"He is my comrade, the one who tried to eat you. Remember now?"

Amos nodded his head.

"Well, he died. And I made a promise to my comrades that I'll never let them die even if they're dead, so I must live up to that."

They then arrived at the Kingdom, and inside sat Queen Catra on her throne. Queen Suzy was standing next to Queen Catra.

Liang and Amos walked up to them.

Liang then bowed, and looked at Amos, as another way of telling him to do the same. So, Amos bowed as well. Considerably, Queen Catra did not like this at all.

"Amos, is that your name?" asked Queen Catra.

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"Your Magical Ability?"

"I think it is Mana Absorption."

"What about your age."

"Ten."

Queen Catra then strangely looked at Suzy after Amos lied.

"There is a top objective which Suzy's teams are going to finalize. And you are on Liang's team, are you?"

"Yes."

"Amos, frankly speaking, I already despise you. First of all, you have to be told to bow and you don't address me as a queen—no respect for loyalty, and secondly, you're a disgusting liar! I should just prosecute you here and now. But you're lucky today. Are you going to work alongside Liang and his comrades or not? Can we trust you? If you fail, just know that your prosecution begins.

Amos glimpsed back at Liang, and focussed on the Queen again, "Yes, my queen. You can trust me. I will be finalizing this objective along with Liang and the others."

"Okay, the mission commences after you build a reputation. I see innocence on your face and it disgusts me, let's put your heart to the test—a monstrosity test, " she looked at Suzy, "Your Queen, Suzy, will give you missions to do that will help build your reputation. So far you have a record of zero missions completed. Please complete at least five before the due date—I am putting off the objective for today. You have until the end of the week to complete those missions on that list."

"Okay, my queen."

"Come with me, Amos, " commanded Suzy.

Liang also followed them to another room in the castle.

"Amos, you will not be attending school for a week. Instead, you will be assigned missions to increase the completed missions on your name."

"Okay."

"Get your sword ready, Amos. I hate to say this but, you're going to have to murder someone for the first time in your life—absolute slaughter."

Amos immediately dropped to the ground and started holding his head after hearing the word 'slaughter'. He heard a loud screeching sound in his ears and his head started to agonize. His thoughts were all twisted as he kept seeing quick flashes of 'that' house, and he smelt fresh blood.

"Amos!" was the word that quickly cured his pain, and he returned to the here and now.

"Amos, it seems that you are not in for this mission, I'll let Catra—

"No, " Amos stood, "I'll do it. I'm fine now, I'm fine."

Suzy contemplated him.

She then gave a paper to him, "On that paper is an inked depiction of a lolicon living in the human village of Ruxford. This man gives little girls candy, and other sweets to lore them in. He has Witch Lessons at his house and he teaches his female students witchcraft, but this is not what actually happens at his house. This man is secretly responsible for the deaths as well as the raping of these little human girls. Your job is to slaughter him and bring back some of his blood in this tube for us, " she handed the tube to him, "Also, from today, you are temporarily an assassin. The mission starts now, Good luck, " she left with Liang.

Amos looked down at the tube.

Amos was ready to do what he had to do after hearing the bad deeds of this man, and the fact of this sick man being alive at the moment bothered him sickeningly. He clenched his fist, and was ready to murder this man, starting in the morning.

"Hey Amos."

He turned around and saw Annie, "Hello."

"What are you doing here? I thought you went home."

"Oh, no. Liang brought me back."

"Ohh. So how are you going?"

"Fine."

"Hey, " she looked down at her fingers, "Can you give me some company for a while, pretty please?"

"Ah...no problem."

"Come with me, " she walked up to him and grabbed his hand.

She carried him away from the castle and stopped when she was at an old house.

"Up there, " she pointed, "How good is your climbing skills?"

"I don't know."

"Look at this, " she knelt, and jumped up to the roof.

No normal person could have leaped over twenty meters into the air.

"Climb?" asked Amos.

"Well, I already know that you can not possibly jump as high as this, so you're going to have to climb the walls. It's easy."

"Easy for you to say."

she chuckled, "Oh just start climbing already."

Amos slowly climbed the house. But unfortunately, he put his foot on a loose brick and fell back down to the floor.

"Ow! That probably hurts!"

Amos got up, "I'm fine."

Amos kept trying over and over again, but kept falling back down to the ground. And Annie kept laughing at him—she made fun of his failure.

"Hey um, Annie, a little bit of help will be awesome."

"Why of course, Amos. What took you so long to ask?"

She jumped down, held his hand, and jumped up to the roof again.

She let go of him, "There you go, you're welcome."

"Thanks."

"You're one funny lad."

"You think so?"

"Yeah of course! I see you as a very funny guy. You are also very cute at times, " she realized what slipped her mouth, "Sorry, Amos. I'm so sorry, I said that by accident."

"No problem at all Annie."

She smiled.

She sat down on the roof, "Sit, this roof is sturdy, even though this house was abandoned due to age."

Amos sat.

"You're probably wondering by I brought you here, are you not?"

Amos looked at her, "Why did you?"

"To see the stars," she looked up, "It is sun set at the moment, but soon the night will come."

Amos looked up as well.

A few moments later, it became dark, they both ended up laying down and looking up as the day ended.

"There comes the glitter in the sky," she pointed, "If you look next to the moon, you should be able to see another planet."

Amos saw it, "Another planet?"

"Yes, Planet Axonia. You probably already know about it, I mean, you are an Archerian."

" Actually, " he looked at her, " I've never seen Axonia before."

"Really?"

"I haven't."

"Oh, that is rather strange, isn't it? Well, legends have it that a god who carried the title 'Aracrath' created Axonia first, and then created Archeria with elemental crystals."

"Elemental crystals?"

"Yes, seven elemental crystals. Though none up to this date ever saw those crystals – only the elders claimed that they've perceived them. My grandfather once told me that the seven crystals are Aracrath himself. Just think of him as the God of Axonia and Archeria. The people of Axonia possess technology far from our understanding, and they are rather peculiar figures who never reveals the identity of their true physique. They come to Archeria in these abnormal masks and long clothing. And we only see them once a year when they come annually on February 16th to trade with our people. They exchange some of their sophisticated technology in return for our Magic. And yes, they are the ones who've created the MTS."

"Waw. Strange beings."

"That's not the strange part yet. Every 360 days, all the stars seemingly point at Planet Axonia. They form a complete circle that hovers precisely above the apex of Axonia. The finding of a reason for this anomaly remains unprecedented. And the new generation of Archerians only thinks of the Circle Of Bright Stars as an annual festival of lights."

"That seems so strange."

"Amos, you know I've come to this exact rooftop every single day since I was a child?"

"Waw. Must be a very nostalgic place for you then."

"What about you? Do you ever reminisce?"

"To be honest, Annie, I don't remember much. But there are constant flashes of strange imagery, and I can't seem to remember no matter how much I try. It just seems so familiar."

"What about a nostalgic place?"

Amos then started to hold his head, as another series of flashing images appeared to his mind. He kept seeing a flight of stairs. But after neglecting it, the pain stopped.

"Amos? Are you okay?"

He put down his hands, "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You know, you're one strange guy. I mean you're a blondie, yet the edges of your hair are pitch black. You look so serious and bored all the time. Even your eyes seem lifeless. And you speak so softly and slow. What's the matter?"

"I don't know. I've been like this after I've dark-gloomed."

"You dark-gloomed? You know a dark gloom only happens when you go through severe pain and come close to death so many times that it made you habituated, and you never feel pain again? This means you become broken, and only emptiness and memory of the dark times rest in your heart. I can't picture a ten-year-old going through that, " she looked at him, "Amos, you said that you were ten years old. Is this true? You don't seem like one at all. Please tell me the truth. Are we not friends? If it is so personal, I promise to keep it a secret."

He looked back up at the sky, "Well. I am not ten at all. I am over that by a few years."

"So how old are you then?! I won't tell anyone, you can trust me!"

"I was sixteen. But something happened and now I'm just a living confusion."

"That makes you both taller and older than me. By the way, " she looked up at the sky as well, "How are you growing so fast? I heard Liang speaking about it privately. He said that you started at the height of his waist, now you're reaching his lower chest. And you know, Liang is a very tall man."

"To be frank, I'm not sure. As I said, I am a walking anomaly."

"I like that, " she looked at him and smiled, "You seem to steal my interest even when we are not speaking."

Amos could see her golden-brown hair blowing gently as she smiled with her beautiful eyes closed. Her pink lips were so small, yet Amos thought of it as a trait of her beauty. One can tell how smooth her glowing skin was without having to touch it, and her eyes were meant to be monstrous, but all Amos could see is red elegance. He did not notice how beautiful she was until now.

"Your smile, " he looked up at the sky, "I like your smile. You should smile more often. It really brings out your beauty. I often see you serious all the time – but your smile, is treasure. Even if I try to smile all day, my lips would fight my happiness and form a frown again. I've been going through a lot lately and I couldn't see myself smiling even before I dark-gloomed. Just living seems to be a difficult task for me, obstacles just keep coming my way no matter where I go. But...I want to smile even though I can not, " he sat up, and she did the same, "So, before you lose your smile, keep smiling from now. Don't let anyone steal your happiness even if you are a villain, smile, just smile. You are beautiful, " she stared at him with sparkles in her eyes, " and I've only come to realize that when you smiled. Thanks for being here with me, I really needed someone to remind me of a real smile. Sometimes, Liang smile. But that's not his heart smiling. It's just his lips — but you're an exception, " he was looking up into the sky, he then looked at her and saw her gawking at him, there was silence until he said, "I have a mission early in the morning, so I think I'm lea—

He stopped as he saw tears coming out of Annie's glittering eyes.

He decided to be the gentleman and put his hand around her shoulder, "What's wrong?"

She was blushing while crying, then she stopped her sobbing, wiped her tears, and stared at him. Amos looked at her as she brought her face closer to his. He was a bit nervous, as he knew exactly where this was going. Her soft lips then eventually reached his lips, and he closed his eyes.

Is this what a kiss feels like?