Age Of Adventure

Agnaris is a mysterious man. He liked to wear gray robes and he talks in riddles and puzzles.

He is always speaking half-truths and his lie would never get discovered unless he wanted it to be discovered.

He hired Tatiana to pretend to be a pleasure lady in some pleasure house in Veva.

He promised Tatiana the men will not touch her.

She was instructed to bring the men to the bedroom and Agnaris will do his job. At the time she did not know who Agnaris was and what he does. She only knew that she will make easy money doing it.

Agnaris was an a.s.sa.s.sin.

But he is not just an ordinary a.s.sa.s.sin. He is an a.s.sa.s.sin of the Blood Brotherhood.

The famed Brotherhood that will kill anyone with the right price.

Emperor and Kings. n.o.bles and peasants. They would kill anyone as long as you have the money.

Every time Agnaris kills a person in the night, he will then give one third of his profit to his mother, one third to her, and one third for himself in the morning.

He only kills people at night which prompted Tatiana who at that time has learned of his ident.i.ty to ask for the reason of this weird behavior.

She was expecting it"s because it"s easier to kill in the night but his answer was different and was shocking to Tatiana.

He said,

"I pray that the G.o.ds are blind at night, and so I do my deed hoping whatever G.o.d is watching could forgive me, for I pray every morning and do all sort of kindness in the day to redeem what is done at night. I give to the Temples, burns offering to Zeus, Poseidon and Hades, treat people kindly and respectfully in the day and I reap lives in the night. Then a dream came to me one day when I was sleeping. Lord of the Death heard my earnest prayer and promised that if I never killed a single soul of mortal life in the day, he will close his eyes upon my deeds in the night."

"Then?" Tatiana asked curious.

Agnaris smiled.

"So I asked the Lord. Will I be permitted to enter Elysium?"

Then he continued with his theatrics

"He replied to me. You have taken so many lives in your lifetimes in the dark and in the shadows of night. Souls in the Underworld speak your name. Those who don"t know that you killed them live in constant puzzlement wondering who it is the one that killed them. It was terrible. Terrible but great"

"And the Lord smirked at me"

"So?"

"He promised me Elysium as long I do not kill people in the day and do kindness during the day. That is why, my graceful cat, I only kill at night," he told Tatiana.

She never knew if he was telling the truth or it was just another of his tall stories. She did her job and she lived a different life than before

Then as she kept being acquainted with Agnaris world Tatiana wanted something else. She knew she could not always be a hireling of Agnaris, so she sought another path.

She did not want the gold, the copper, or the silver.

She wanted Agnaris to teach her the art. The art of killing

Agnaris was conflicted at first.

He said "I make my own sins; but I would not let others inherit mine" But after constant begging finally he relented.

Agnaris taught her how to be stealth in her movement, to be fast without people noticing, to creep without a sound in the night, to stalk in the shadows and taught her where are the places that can inflict pain and places that will give a person instant death if stabbed.

She was taught everything Agnaris knew

Finally, after being acknowledged by the Blood Brothers she was allowed to join.

She was then ordered to kill many people. Much blood was on her hands.

Innocent or not, she did her job.

Beautifully, flawlessly. Like Agnaris, she was talented at her job. Very talented

But she did not care anymore. This is her path. This was the only thing she could do.

And how happy she was when she got the order to kill her own aunt.

She knows that it was her aunt that planted the news that her uncle was a traitor.

Her aunt was having an affair with the Count of Dritri and her aunt wanted her uncle gone out of the way.

Killing kin is a dishonorable act, an act that would bring the Furies wrath unto the perpetrator.

She smirked and thought to herself

But, isn"t her job kind of serving the Death Lord in a sense just like the Furies? The Furies torture. But it is the Blood Brotherhood that delivers.

So, she killed her aunt with delight, savoring every moment of her cries and screams in an abandoned cave near Derka.

She pleaded. Everyone pleads and begs in the face of death. Tatiana thought. But the pleading of her aunt did not move Tatiana heart.

Because of her, Tatiana uncle, her kind and gentle uncle were executed for treason.

She thought to herself as she keeps torturing her in the cave

"Plead all you want, aunty. My wrath will not be satisfied until I heard it from yourself that you would rather die than live"

And after three days she broke. She pleaded to be killed. And what use is a broken doll? So, Tatiana killed her and dumped her body in the Sea.

From then on, she killed as many people as her mentor. It was an easy job.

Then, the adventurers came. They are from another world.

They are different and special

When they die they felt the pain, but they will always come back.

Weaker but still. They keep dying and then reviving

Of course at first the Brotherhood doesn"t know how to deal with this kind of creatures or beings.

But then they created their own Temple.

Temple of Death.

People who are killed by the Blood Brotherhood can only sp.a.w.n from that Temple, effective to hold them captive or to kill them repeatedly to make them weaker every time they come back.

There are some adventurers that pay the Blood Brotherhood to kill someone repeatedly to make their rival weaker.

Years pa.s.sed.

Her name as an effective killer spread.

She is one of the Brotherhood prolific a.s.sa.s.sins. She has never failed to kill a target. Then one day the Blood Brothers gave her a task.

Probably one of the toughest tasks in her career. Someone pays a lot of money to see the Chancellor killed. Lot of money is an understatement. The reward could fund the entire Blood Brotherhood for years to come

Tatiana knows the Chancellor. Or at least what the stories told about him. Even she is not that out of touch with the real world. She heard the news, heard the songs and poems about the Aero of the East

Eastern Aero, Northern Zeus.

That is how they are known to the people of the Continent.

Chancellor Aero is known as the hero that saved the Kingdom from an Orc invasion and the attack of the Vetten Kingdom.

he is also a good close friend of the King.

Recently he was given that t.i.tle Chancellor, giving him almost the same authority as the King himself.

Tatiana knew from the get go that killing him would not be easy.

After all, if anyone can survive a war, and emerge victorious from two p.r.o.nged attack of an Orc Great Tribe and a large invasion force from an entire Kingdom, Tatiana knew that it takes no ordinary person to achieve such feat.

But Tatiana wanted to be on the Council of Blood and the Blood Brothers promised if she could kill the Chancellor she would be granted a chair in the Council.

So she agreed after few days of deliberation. And then she made her preparation. She moved to Vanheim a few weeks before she attempted her a.s.sa.s.sinations.

First, she scouted his movement, his routines and his behavior. She waited. Then when she heard the Chancellor is in his residence, she prepares herself.

She already made reconnaissance of the residence of the Chancellor many times before

The guards and his captain is lax in their surveillance. Using this to her advantage she hid in the Chancellor study room.

The Chancellor study room is huge. On the walls there is a painting of himself slaying legions of people like a raging G.o.d.

They also have this behind the Throne Room of Vanheim, Tatiana thought to herself, remembering that she once herself sneak into the palace to observe the Chancellor.

"The lives of Kings and n.o.ble men" she snorted.

She never liked Kings, more so n.o.bles.

Pigs all of them.

One n.o.ble tried to rape her during her rookie years of being an a.s.sa.s.sin when she was caught in her attempt to kill him.

He did rape her, but Tatiana never forgets a debt.

When she was rescued by Agnaris, she did not cry nor did she wail.

No she said. She"s not that girl anymore.

Agnaris offered to kill the n.o.ble but Tatiana refused.

Tatiana brought him back to the Brotherhood hideout.

She cut the n.o.ble man parts and healed him.

The n.o.ble thought that Tatiana would let him go, but his hope was quickly dashed.

She forced the n.o.ble man to eat his own man parts or he will suffer her torture.

A n.o.ble? What n.o.ble? Facing death everyone is a coward.

So the n.o.ble man did what any craven man would do.

He ate it. He puked but he ate it.

Then and only then did Tatiana kill him.

None the other brethren after that dared looking at her with s.e.xual intention.

Why? Because they were invited to watch Tatiana torture.

None want to die that way. Even the dirtiest man would want to die with a bit of dignity.

Then a sound alerted Tatiana.

Footsteps, she whispered to herself

The Chancellor entered the room.

He sat down at his study and unloaded many books onto the table. He was looking at all the books, clearly taking his time choosing which book to read.

Then he decided. He picked up the book and opened for a few pages and nodded.

Then he started reading.

Books were sprawled on the desk. He muttered things, trying to remember the details.

Most of it is about Karak federation. Why the sudden interest? Tatiana mused

One Book

Two Books

Three books. The Chancellor kept reading while jotting notes. Sometimes certain pages held him entranced, sometimes he just glanced over some pages.

This is frustrating. She thought to herself.

Then after waiting for a long time Tatiana decided to act.

She saw that the Chancellor is concentrating on the books; this is the perfect timing she thought to herself.

She jumped from her hideout. He noticed but Tatiana knew that it"s too late. The moment they locked eyes, he seemed shocked.

Her blade will pierce him first. She was convinced of this. And the life of the Chancellor will end.

At least that"s what she thought.

Her knife shattered the first moment it came into contact with the Chancellor.

She was confused. Looking left and right, she noticed the window.

She intended to flee through the window, but the Chancellor noticed her intent. He grabbed her quickly, holding her from escaping.

She tried to break herself away from his grab but his strength was too much for her. It even bruised her.

What is he? She looked at the Chancellor. It"s not like he is wearing s.h.i.+eld.

Tatiana was sure she stabbed the flesh, yet it felt like she was stabbing iron. She was easily captured. She never felt weaker in front of a person as she did when she faced the Chancellor.

That power that hold her is like something that is outside human ability. The Chancellor body is like an iron fortress.

The guard then put her in one of the cells. The Chancellor on the other hand went to Karak early in the morning.

Then, she was tortured by Antilus. For days she was tortured but she did not speak a word.

She was tortured before. She will not tell this man anything.

Even killers have a code.

She was stripped naked so that she could feel the cold winds at nights. Her hands and feet"s were chained.

Her ears were cut off.

She was pierced with a sharp rod every day and beaten by Antilus.

She was denied water and food.

Sometimes Antilus would cut her flesh, and watch the blood flowing all the while forcing her to tell everything.

Another day she was whipped with a whiplash until the skin on her back was numb.

Blood traces the outline of her back.

Scars formed and her wounds festers with pus and yellow fluid

Antilus also seems to like piercing her arms and hear her screams.

Today was the worst of all. She heard that the Chancellor is coming back home today.

She was punched by Antilus smas.h.i.+ng her nose.

But she shuts her mouth.

"But never" she thought to sheriff in this dark moments "that she would surrender"

Then she fell unconscious.

At that time she thought she will die.

But she did hear some shouting even though she was about to lose consciousness.

Something is happening, she thought.

Then she felt like she was carried off gently and she was put into a fluffy bed. She was being spoon-fed something.

It was nothing like anything that she ever tasted in her life

It was like all good flavors in the world are filling her mouth. Then energy coursed through her veins.

But still she felt tired.

I want to sleep. I want to sleep. She thought to herself

So she slept.

However, the moment she opened her eyes, the scenery was foreign to her. It was a luxurious room and her body felt light like a feather.

A man greeted her as she opens her eyes. Correction: A target greeted her.

"Finally you woke up" That man said with a smile on his face

"We have a lot to talk about"

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Second part of the chapter. It is a bit longer chapter this time. Hope you all enjoy it