Assassination House

"Sovak failed to assassinate Master Noah." 

The words hit me like a hammer to the chest.

I froze, my breath catching in my throat.

But the guard wasn't done. "Not only that," he added, his voice trembling.

"His life crystal has… stopped shining."

My stomach twisted, and a cold knot of dread formed deep within me.

Sovak was dead.

One of my best assassins—gone. And the target?

Alive..?

I forced myself to remain still, though my mind raced.

Sovak had never failed before. For him to not only fail but to lose his life… It meant one thing.

All the rumours, the things everyone said were false.

Noah wasn't just some exiled brat.

No.

He was something more.

He was a monster in hiding.

That had to be the reason Sovak died—

Slowly, I rose from my chair, my movements deliberate.

I turned to the dealers, fixing them with a look that brooked no argument.

"Gentlemen, our discussion will have to wait. I trust you can see yourselves out."

The dealers exchanged uneasy glances but didn't dare protest.

They rose and left the room in silence, their cloaks trailing behind them. 

As soon as the last of them disappeared, I shot to my feet, my expression dark and stormy. 

Motioning for the guard to follow me, I strode out of the conference room and into the winding corridors of the Assassination House. 

"Post another quest," I ordered, my voice low and dangerous.

"Double the reward.

No, triple it.

Noah must die, and he must die quietly.

I don't care how many men it takes. This cannot be traced back to us.

Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes, Master," the guard stammered, bowing deeply to me as he scurried away to carry out my order.

I knew that the reason he was so terrified wasn't me.

No.

It was the fact that we were indirectly biting from the same hands that fed us.

As I continued down the dimly lit passage, my mind reeled in a storm of thoughts.

The pale green flames lining the walls flickered as I passed, casting erratic shadows that seemed to dance to the rhythm of my mood.

My fists clenched at my sides as I replayed the events in my mind.

Sovak was dead.

Noah had survived.

The implications of this failure were too much.

Sovak's failure meant only one thing: Noah was no ordinary target.

The boy had survived an attack from one of the Assassination House's best operatives—and killed him.

It was a feat that few could claim, let alone someone so young.

I began to pace again, my boots clicking against the marble floor.

No.

I couldn't let this failure spiral out of control. Noah had to be eliminated before he could retaliate, before word of the assassination attempt reached the Patriarch.

This can't go wrong, I thought grimly.

It won't go wrong.

The memory of a Romero clan member played out in my mind.

The man had come to the Assassination House in person, an act that spoke volumes about the importance of the contract.

He had offered a sum so vast it could buy entire kingdoms, and his words had been as sharp and uncompromising as a blade.

"The boy must die," He had said. "And it must be done quietly."

I had accepted the contract, despite the risks.

Noah wasn't just any target—he was an heir to the Romero Duchy, even if he was exiled. And everyone knew that the Patriarch of the Romero clan doted on Noah.

If the patriarch discovered that an attempt had been made on his grandson's life… my whole being shuddered.

The Assassination House would cease to exist.

Every assassin, every guard, every servant would be hunted down and exterminated.

Staring at the huge hall in front of me with hundreds of our members looking at the quest board for missions, I realised one thing.

"Noah must die,"

"There is no other way."

But even as I spoke those words, a shadow of doubt lingered in the back of my mind.

Was this the beginning of the end?

Was the Assassination House, my whole life's work, doomed to fall?

I shook my head, instantly removing the thought from my brain.

I couldn't afford to dwell on fear or doubt. Failure was not an option.

The green flames of the hallway flickered around me, their light casting long, distorted shadows on the walls.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for what lay ahead.

The Assassination House had survived countless challenges, countless enemies.

It would survive this, too.

Right? 

*** 

_______________________________

"It's all a mess-" I sighed, looking at the scorched walls and the staircase that looked like it would fall apart any moment.

Tracing the corners of my study table, I thought about what I should pack for the 'summoning'.

After all, I knew we were never gonna come back here again—

I had seen it all; some things I understood…and some I was sure would come to me in its own, weird way.

Well, at least Ma was safe—

I had overcome the first challenge.

I had saved my grandmother's life..as well as the trigger that was supposed to 'tilt' me to the darker side.

Packing a few pairs of garments along with an empty diary, I was planning to write everything I remembered from the Book of sin, a feeling of nostalgia unknowingly crept under me.

I had been ousted from the Romero house, along with my grandma and forced to live in this rundown place that was nearer to the mirror dimension than it was to proper human settlement.

I was 9 years old then.

And now?

Now I was 17.

"Noah!!" I heard Ma shout from downstairs, urging me to pack faster.

I sighed, running a hand through my hair as I gave the study one last glance. The air smelled rotten, the aftermath of battle still clinging to the walls.

A part of me wanted to stay longer, to take it all in one last time, but I knew better.

Steeling myself, I threw the bag over my shoulder and turned towards the doorway.

As I stepped out, the floor beneath me creaked.

Every sound felt heavier in the silence.

The staircase was barely holding together, the wooden railings splintered and cracked.

A part of it had collapsed entirely, leaving gaping holes where the steps had once been.

Each step downward felt like walking through a graveyard of memories—memories that were still fresh, still bleeding.

The main hall was in even worse condition. Large pieces of stone and debris littered the ground.

Smoke still rose from the scorched walls, faint crackles flickering where the fire had yet to die out completely.

The chandelier that once illuminated this house lay in ruins, shards of crystal scattered across the floor.

The once-polished wooden floors were now scratched and marred, stained with mangled pieces of flesh and blood.

Blood.

I swallowed, my eyes briefly flickering to the spot where the assassin had stood.

His body was gone, but the damage he had caused remained, an ugly reminder of how close I had been to losing everything.

How close I had come to losing her.

I shook the thought away and pressed forward.

The weight of my bag felt insignificant compared to the weight pressing down on my chest.

At the entrance, Ma stood waiting, a small bundle strapped to her back.

Even with the exhaustion lining her face, she carried herself with the same quiet strength I had always known.

Her pink hair was pulled back into a simple knot, strands falling loose around her sharp eyes.

She had already packed everything we could carry, and I could see the tension in her posture, the urgency in her gaze. 

"We need to leave before anyone comes.

If we stay, we'll have to answer questions we don't have time for.

Or worse, we won't get the chance to answer at all."

I hesitated, turning back toward the ruined house. The place we had spent years in exile. The place that, despite its worn-down walls and broken foundation, had kept us safe when no one else would.

"But, Ma... the house?" My voice came out like a soft, tiny whisper.

She finally looked at me, her expression unreadable.

Then, with a sigh, she said, "This house was never truly ours to begin with, Noah. Your Grandfather bought it for us. And besides…"

Her eyes softened. "This place has already served its purpose. It kept us hidden when we needed it to, but now it's time to leave it behind.

We have bigger things to worry about."

I clenched my fists. She was right. I knew she was. But that didn't make walking away any easier.

Still, I forced myself to nod.

Without another word, we stepped out into the cold evening air.

The silence outside was eerie, the only sound coming from the distant rustling of leaves and the occasional crackle of dying embers inside the house.

The sky stretched endlessly above us, dark and cloudless, as if the world itself was holding its breath.

My grandmother reached into her cloak and pulled out a scroll, its edges glowing faintly with inscribed runes.

"This will take us near the empire's inner forests," she said, holding it up to inspect it. "From there, we'll have to travel on foot to the nearest city and use the teleportation gates to reach the duchy."

I frowned, shifting uneasily. "And you're sure this thing works?"

She gave me a sharp look. "Have a little faith, boy."

I sighed. It wasn't the teleportation itself that bothered me—it was what lay beyond it.

The Romero Duchy.

Our home.

The place we had been forced to leave behind. The place where my name was still spoken in whispers, where people either pitied me or scorned me.

I didn't get a chance to voice my thoughts before Grandma extended her hand towards me. "Hold on tight."

I hesitated for only a second before gripping her arm. The scroll pulsed with energy, the runes lighting up in a sequence too fast for me to follow.

Then, just as I opened my mouth to say something, a sharp 'ding' rang in my ears.

The world around me twisted.

Colours bled into one another, shapes stretched and distorted.

My insides spun as I felt my body being pulled through space itself, the sensation unlike anything I had ever experienced.

My mind barely had time to register what was happening before everything was swallowed up by darkness.

The last thing I saw was the flickering remains of our house before it disappeared entirely.

Just then, the mention of a particular name in the Book of Sin made me smile.

Azazel, right?

Here I come. 

***