the King, the Mercenary, and the Assassin

one month ago-

King Bradley Manley was walking around of the garden of his palace. he looks at every flower and every bird that flies around.

the king sits on a golden chair. he looks at a young boy standing in front of him. the young boy is his youngest son, prince Saer Manley. the prince wanted to say goodbye to his father before leaving to take care of some business.

"son, can you stay for dinner? I believe I won't have again the opportunity to have dinner with all my children ever again."

said King Bradley with a soft smile.

"father, Theobald is leaving tomorrow in the morning to fight the savages once more."

said Saer sounding like an innocent kid.

Bradley Manley hugs his son and he whispers on his ear telling him that he trusted him. he tells to his son that he is going to need the help of the mercenary. Saer smiles gently as he leaves.

Bradley walks to a private room in which no one is going to listen to his conversation. he takes a bottle of vodka. he drinks it on the rocks.

"I want one. on the rocks too, please sir."

said Cole as he walks inside of the room with pride.

Bradley serves on a glass vodka on the rocks to his employee. he gives it to Cole. the two of them look at each other. Cole sits on a sofa as he drinks with joy and peace.

"so what can I do for you, your majesty? I am at your service."

said Cole with a huge smile.

"do you know something? I don't let people who aren't loyal near me or my people. those who are unable to offer loyalty are deserving of my wrath without mercy. the reason why I have so much trust on you, is because you are loyal. other mercenaries offer their service to the one who offers more money, but you offered your service to me, because I saved your life."

said Bradley confirming his trust on him.

"every man has to have a line marked on their books. even the strongest ones knows this and they are always marking a line somewhere. they do this because they know that a person who's personality or commitment to the job can lead to their personal, mental or physical destruction. my line that I marked is simple, I don't betray my employee no matter the job or the payment. loyalty is important to live longer lives."

"on the day of the festival I am going to be murder by some assassin. I want you to make sure that both my boys are going to be far from the castle so they don't get killed."

"I know is tradition from your ancestors to open the gates of the castle for this festival. for what little I know, this rule or tradition doesn't apply on times of war. so I was thinking, why not use war as an excuse to not follow the tradition."

"I want you to know something. the oracle is absolute truth. when the oracle gives details of murder, the more you try to avoid it or change fate. the more blood that will be spill. you don't defy destiny, or else the outcome will be worse."

there was a moment of silence. Cole was trying to find an error on said 'oracle' and on the words of the king. as a man of 'honor.' Cole can't allow his boss to die, not when he has the opportunity to do something about it.

"what about the young Ms? she is a kid. if we are keeping her brothers away, then maybe?"

"sorry, but by the words of the oracle was made clear that she is going to die if she leaves the castle before the day of the festival. by the words of the oracle, her life is on the hands of the man who is meant to kill me."

"at least recommend for the girl to have someone of your trust by her side, just to make sure that she is going to make it out alive."

"yes, I have the right man for the job on mind."

"sir, no matter what happens. if you die or survive, if your kingdom becomes stronger or falls, if I become a nobleman or a wanted man. no matter what I promise to cut off the head of Logan Cromwell. my job is to find who wants to hurt you and to kill them."

"thanks, I like your honesty. you are a good man and I wish you happiness."

the King was finishing his third glass of vodka. he is starting to feel dizzy. Cole was in his seventh glass and he was feeling pretty good.

"Mr boss, a true man drinks alcohol like water. I true man doesn't show any weak sides in front of a bottle."

the two of them are starting to talk about other topics. after a while they were on their second bottle of vodka. Cole was already kind of drunk, but he seem unaffected.

.....

that day.....

on Eartho, a prison cell.

Maxwell Altham is taking a shower. a man looks at him with a creepy smile. he walks towards Max. he hits Max's right hand making him drop his soap.

Max looks at him with a gentle smile. with one single hand Max grabs that guy of the back of the head and he smashes his face on the floor. Max puts the soap inside of the guy's mouth and then he steps on his mouth twice. he broke that guy's jaw.

there are other stronger looking guys watching him careful. Max whispers something and most of the strong guys kneel looking at the floor. one of the bigger guys gives a new soap to Max. he thanks him with a fake smile.

"I don't know who he is, but lets make it clear. I don't want to see another new guy playing when I am not on the mood to bite his bullshit. I hope there is no other time. someone take this piece of shit away from me, before I kill him."

yields Max furiously.

the time in which Max was on prison is one of the darkest chapters of his life. Max was a good man before the prison. the first two years were the years in which he saw and faced darkness & difficulties. after meeting his master, Maxwell became powerful.

in his days of prison he change, he change from been another possible dead body to be the one who leaves the bodies. there was one person outside from his lawyer and the journalist, someone who also visited Maxwell while he was on the cage.

the only other person to visit him was the sister of his fiancee, the sister of the woman who put him behind bars. the sister believed that everything was a trap created by Jason and she also believed that her sister was another victim.

maybe she felt guilt for what her sister and actual lover were doing to this man or was probably out of pity, but she use to visit him every Saturday and every Sunday. Maxwell felt relief every time that he saw her. she looks a bit alike her sister, but her personality is so different. she was the light for Maxwell on those days of hell.

like it was said before. there were many gangsters on this prison among some serial killers and other dangerous criminals. the reason Maxwell was put on the most dangerous prison and not on a normal prison is simple, Jason payed good money to make sure that Maxwell will be on a prison with high mortality rate.

on that time in which Maxwell was making a name for himself on prison there was this one time in which Rose decided to visit Max. this was one of the few times she ever saw him behind bars. she only visited him like five times in total in all those years.

that day Rose went alone to visit him. she seem to be doing really good. she seem better than ever. and Max seemed worst than ever.

"hon, well ex-honey. I want you to know that I am doing really well on Jason's bed and on his arms. as you can tell I had never been happier than now."

said Rose trying to make fun of him.

"what are you talking about? weren't we going to get marry and had kids? you and I, we wanted kids. I will be free soon and then we can have our happy ever after. it doesn't matter if I am not hired on a big company ever again."

said Maxwell feeling desperation.

"sorry Maxy, it was never love. I never loved you. all I did was to make sure that you weren't going to get on my lover's way. you never meant anything to me. you are so pathetic believing that there is an us. today I woke up on Jason's body after feeling him inside of me the whole night. I am going to have some fun with him once I go back."

"wait, I can forgive you. I understand that you were on shock for what happen, and maybe he took advantage of you. I don't blame you, love. I can forgive it all and forget it all once I am free from this over-sized cage."

"sorry, I think you don't understand. there was never an us. I am with him because I want to be with him and not you. who do you think was the one who put all the evidence on your department?"

"that can't be."

"I had your keys. now I have to go. my babe is waiting for me. he told me today that he wants to marry me. bye I hope you die a painless death."

Rose laughs in front of him. she starts to make fun of him. she even starts to say some words to hurt his pride. then she turns around about to leave.

"was anything about you real?"

"no, not even my last name. my real last name is Miller, not McCoy. my sister and I, we have different fathers."

Rose leaves. Max falls on his knees feeling the need to cry. he wants to scream till lose his voice, but somehow he holds that desire as he looks at the person he loves more than anything. it was obvious now that he was just a rock on their way.

some muscular guys are approaching Max's cell. one of them shows the keys before he starts to open the cell. Max now understands why she went to visit, it was her way of warning him of what she and her lover, of what they are capable of doing.

Maxwell fought with all his strength. it was a rough fight. those guys aren't the type to play clean and they brought their weapons. it was brutal. when the guards arrived Maxwell was completely covered on blood. the other guys were so brutally beaten up that they were between death and life.

the guards could see Max's wounds and a knife stuck on his left shoulder. Max takes the knife off. he was bleeding so much as he falls on his knees.

that was one of the most brutal fights he ever had on prison. Max went to the hospital where he stayed for some months. the fight was so brutal that the guards were guarding him until they made sure that no one was going to attack him again.

Master Leofwin Hampton was proud of his student. he told Max that he was doing well. at that time Leofwin refused to tell the truth to Max, the truth about why he was training him to fight. about why was he so nice to him.

.....

actual time-

Cole is standing in front of some dead bodies. four guys are surrounding him. Cole holds a knife as he looks clearly at the moves of his enemies.

one guy tries to get close. Cole turns around and he cuts the throat of that guy. the others move forward. Cole takes a gun out. he shoots twice on the face of one of the guys. he stabs multiple times the other one on the stomach.

the last guy is standing frozen on fear. Cole shoots at him twice on the chest. that guy falls dead on the ground. Cole puts his knife on his pockets as he advance.

Cole walks towards the main entrance to the palace. he walks towards the place in which the King is suppose to be.

Cole looks at Logan on the middle of the road. Cole walks slowly towards his prey. he aims at him with a small pistol.

"if I was you, I will care more about protecting the man who is paying for the job, I mean his life is more important than the life of his nephew."

said Logan in a mocking tone.

there is chaos. screams of horror and lost civilians trying to find protection. there are people running away. Cole is paralyzed by the confusion. he is trembling with rage as he thinks about the worse possible outcome.

"I will come after your soul. you are my damn prey, but my boss comes first. don't you dare to forget this. at the darkness of the night, at the howling of the midnight beasts. silent will be your death. and no one, absolutely no one will be there to save you."

said Cole with rage as he leaves.

Cole runs towards the palace, but it was already too late to save the king. all he can do is becoming a witness of Maxwell's rage. Cole felt cold, it wasn't fear. it was disbelief what made his whole body shake. he was trembling at the eyes of chaos.