Ultimate Assassin Saga: Woodlands

Straightening his spine, Acre walked across the floor until he reached the front door and he opened it once again. He stepped out onto his own porch, and after taking a few seconds to look around the bustling village, he stepped off of his porch, heading for the palace in the very center of the village. It wasn't that long a walk from his home, but he didn't want to go slowly. He wanted to get there as fast as possible and find out just what the hells was going on.

It was definitely important, that much he knew, but other than that, he knew nothing. The Warrior Lord walked faster, his long legged strides eating up more and more ground. When he got there, he knew that he wouldn't have to wait long to get an answer, but then again, the King could be as roundabout about it as he wanted. He was the King after all and King Taro could do whatever the hells he wanted to.

Only one way to find out though.

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Taro sat calmly in his throne in the audience chamber, waiting. The thirteen Warrior Lords would be here soon and he had to be prepared. If he allowed any of them to see his weakness, they would eat him right up. They weren't exactly well known for their good will towards others and that included even their King.

The King of the Star Elves was meant to be strong and invulnerable, never showing his emotions for his enemy to take advantage of. The King couldn't be weak, he couldn't feel, and most especially, he couldn't be afraid. A coward was a lot worse than a traitor was what they believed, and to be honest, he believed that too. Cowards ran away and left their brothers to die. Traitors at least did something brave, even if it was for the wrong reasons.

Before the Star Elf could really begin to wallow, the door to the audience chamber opened and the first of the Warrior Lord's began to file into the room. Not to his surprise, Acre was at the head of the small group of men and he felt his heart speed up. These were the thirteen most dangerous men in all of the village and to have them all in one place was quite intimidating, even for the one who supposedly ruled over them.

He knew better though.

Taro knew that each one of these men ruled themselves and they just chose to follow him. They didn't accept orders from anyone, much less a King. They might follow requests, but these thirteen men were stubborn and hard headed, not caring what anyone had to say about them. In their minds, they were right one hundred percent of the time, and ninety percent of the time, they were right.

The Elf King wasn't really on a first name basis with the other twelve Warrior Lord's, but he knew them all. They were all of similar coloring, build, and wore much the same clothing. He knew that each of these men wore the finest of armors and their weapons were always razor sharp, ready to cut down anything that stood in their way. That included Kings who didn't know their place.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself, the Star Elf tightened his grip on the arms of his throne and he slowly pushed to his feet. Each one of the Warrior Lords watched him, their eyes blanked of all emotion and their hands carefully away from their weapons, not wanting to appear as would be assassins of their ruler. Once on his feet, he straightened his spine and he crossed his hands at the wrists behind his back. Then, his silver eyes cut over each and every man, being careful not to spend too long on each man.

"I have called you here for a very simple reason." Taro began, his voice strong and firm. His voice echoed off of the stone walls, sounding back to them and he knew that they had their full attention now. Taking a deep breath, he began again. "Acheron, our Demon guest, has sensed something in the Jungle. He believes that it is the source of the Undead, and if he can slay it, he believes the Undead will be vanquished. All he asks is for a few volunteers. I have called you here to ask for your people's assistance. Will you help Acheron rid the Star Elves of the Undead?"

The audience chamber was silent, none of the men speaking, shouting, or volunteering. The Elf King found himself worrying over what would happen if none of them volunteered. He'd told the Chaos Demon that he would have to go alone if no one volunteered to go with him, but to be honest, he'd thought the Warrior Lords would jump at the chance to end the plague of the Undead upon their people.

It looked like he'd figure wrong.

Sighing in defeat, the Star Elf allowed his spine to go soft and he sat down in his throne. He closed his eyes and rested a hand over his face. He'd thought that his people would rise to the challenge and happily pledge their numbers to help, but not one of them were stepping forward. It looked as if they'd rather live with the Undead than face down the source of the Undead.

Taro felt his hope waning when he first heard it. It was small, nothing that big of a deal, but to him, it was. A single foot step forward. A heavy, strong foot step that spoke of confidence and maybe even a little bit of arrogance. He felt his heart sore in his chest, but he dared not look up just yet.

Unable to hold back his curiosity any longer, the Elven King removed his hand from his face and he looked up. He saw that Acre, with his back straight and his head held high, had stepped forward. He was resting his left palm on the hilt of his broadsword and he looked positively confident in what he was doing as if there wasn't a second thought in his mind. If he knew Acre like he thought he did, there wasn't a second thought in his mind about what he was doing. He was was the loyal soldier, and if it meant his life, he would help to end the plague to the Star Elves, to the people that he loved with all of his heart and soul.

"I pledge the First Wave to the cause." Acre said in a strong, confident voice. His dark eyes glowed with confidence and determination. There wasn't a single second of hesitation in his eyes and the older Star Elf felt confidence grow in his chest as he saw this. "We will go and we will fight side by side with Acheron to end the conflict. The Undead will leave us be under the threat of violence."

As those words left his mouth, another of the Warrior Lords stepped forward, his long black hair sliding over his shoulders. He stood side by side with the other Warrior Lord and was standing in the same posture, his hand resting on the hilt of his longsword. He looked completely and utterly confident in what he was going to say.

"I pledge the Eighth Wave." the Warrior Lord said in an equally strong and equally confident voice. As he said that, more and more of the Warrior Lords stepped forward until all thirteen were standing side by side, pledging their warriors to the cause.

Taro eyed each Lord and he finally allowed a smile to grace his lips. He felt confident in this mission for the first time since the beginning. With all thirteen Waves of warriors at his back, there was no doubt in his mind that Acheron would be able to find and wipe out the source of power that he'd sensed. There was nothing that could stop these men when they put their forces together.

Sitting back in his throne, Taro smiled and his confidence filled him once again. It was over and he knew it. The Star Elves were free of the Undead. There was no way the Undead could stand up to such a powerful, confident force. Simply no way.

Acheron sat cross legged atop a roof at the corner of the village and stared out at the dark trees in the distance. He knew that these trees could hide just about anything, but he wasn't worried. He was a warrior after all and warriors didn't feel fear. Or at least, they didn't show it. Many people believed that courage was those who felt no fear, but in reality, courage was acting despite the presence of fear.

Those who had true courage were rare indeed, but the Chaos Demon was one of those men. He'd never allowed his emotions to get the better of him, no matter what the odds. For some reason, he found his fear harder to quench now that he was here within the Whispering Jungle though. He didn't know why, but he hoped that it didn't prevent him from doing what he'd promised.

He was going to rid the Star Elves of the Undead soon, whether he did it with the armies of the Star Elves at his back or all alone. He didn't care either way. The Command Assassin had pulled many great feats off alone and this might just have to be the next one. If he were honest with himself, he knew that the Star Elves had no reason to trust in him, but at the same time, he had the foolish hope that the prophecy that they'd told him of would be enough for them to believe in him.

Acheron had seen many things in his lifetime that he couldn't readily explain away, but he'd never been a personal believer of the possibility of foresight. It always seemed a little far-fetched to him that someone could see the future and speak of it. After all, wouldn't that person seek to influence the future, to stretch it to their whim and end up changing their vision all together? It was a difficult quandary and not one he could put to rest with a single thought or a single belief. No, it was something that would escape him, possibly to the end of his life and beyond.

That was something else he was unsure of. Just what would happen to him when he died? Would he return to the Abyss as a spirit or would his soul be destroyed forever? He knew that he hadn't done enough good deeds to earn his right into one of the Upper Realms with the Gods so that possibility never even entered his mind. It was something that he wouldn't learn of until he finally died, and to tell the truth, he wasn't so eager to learn the answer to that question.

The Chaos Demon sighed and shook his head. Thinking such thoughts did him no good. They only worked to distract him from the matter at hand and the severity of the problem. However, there was no reason to wallow in his problems either. There was nothing he could do to make them better after all, so whatever came he would just have to deal with like he'd dealt with the rest: with indifference and confidence in his own abilities.

A slight wind blew across the village, the cool lengths sliding across his face and blowing his midnight black hair out behind him. He closed his eyes and relished in the feeling. There had been little wind as of late and he enjoyed the coolness of mother nature doing her job. However, he knew that this mirror dimension was without the power of mother nature. This was just the magic of creating the dimension from thousands of years ago and there was nothing he could do to make it different. He didn't want to change it to be honest.

The Command Assassin didn't know how the person in the hut that he sat on would feel about him being up there, but it was late at night so he doubted that he would be seen. He thought of going back to Rachel's hut and seeing if he could bed down there, but he dismissed that thought. He didn't know how she felt about his abandoning her in the morning after their night of lovemaking, but he imagined that her feelings towards him weren't very good. He feared that he'd made an enemy of her and he truly regretted that.

Acheron stared up into the sky and he stared at the night sky. Once again, he found himself amazed at how different the skies were here than Dalkia. True, they were in a mirror dimension, but this night mirrored the other side of the dimension, and thus, was the same. The velvet sky with the silver twinkling stars and the waxing moon in the sky casting its silver light down on the village.

It was simply amazing.

There was no other word for it.

The Chaos Demon listened to the sound of crickets chirping in the night, telling everyone around how hot it was as if anyone needed the update. It was hot yes, but it was manageable. It would give those who walked the Jungle a light sweat, but it wouldn't soak them through and make them curse the heat. No, it was a comfortable heat. One that those like himself who liked the warm would hope to have every day.

The sound of an owl hooting in the distance filled his ears as well. The Command Assassin knew of the owls well. They were truly intelligent and wise creatures, not given enough credit for what they did. However, he believed that that was the way they wanted it. They disguised themselves behind their foolish antics to make others believe they were innocent and soft in the head when in fact they were deadly tacticians. It was a good cover, he had to admit, but he himself could never pull such a thing off.

Acheron was simply too large for something like that to work for him, that much he knew. Even if people assumed he was a fool by his speech and his actions, they would still be afraid of him based on his size entirely. He was one of the tallest and most muscular men there were after all. He knew that that was something that he was able to use to his advantage again and again, but he didn't like being seen as that. He was large, this much was true, but just because he was a very large man, it was assumed that he was deadly and mean. He was neither of these things and anyone that knew him knew that.

The Chaos Demon reached down wish his left hand and he touched the hilt of his Diamond Blade. It was true that he was a dangerous swordsman and that there were few who could match his skills in battle, but there was something else he knew as well. The Star Elves had no fear of his blade. They had no fear of his blade because of two reasons: one, they knew he wasn't going to turn it on them and two, they had the technology to counter it if he did happen to turn it on them.

He thought of their Pulse Rifles and a little shiver went up his spine. He wasn't afraid of the weapons, but they were something to be awed over. It was rather ingenious really to combine technology and magic together to create a weapon that could not be stopped. He would have to remember that when he faced his brother's invading armies and he hoped that he could bring other technologies to bare as well.

Maybe the Star Elves would help him with that.

The Command Assassin heard another sound, but it wasn't one of the Jungle beyond. No, it was from right inside the village. It sounded like someone that was trying to sneak and sneak up on him at that. Instincts razor sharp, he reached out with his aura and touched the other person's aura with his own, trying to see if he had anything to worry about. When he realized who the aura belonged to, he pulled back his own aura and relaxed, not worried about who it was that had approached him.

Acheron heard the foot steps again, this time growing closer. He listened for a moment as they came closer and closer to his position, but then, he blanked them out. He had no reason to worry over the foot steps and the one they belonged to so he could return his attention to the night sky. His emerald green eyes glowed in the darkness as he looked straight up and ignored all else.

Suddenly, the Chaos Demon heard the feet land right next to him and he curbed the impulse to smile. He was suppose to be pretending to not notice the steps, but he was finding it harder and harder to do. All he wanted to do was turn and look at the person who had joined him on the roof, but he knew that he couldn't. He didn't want to make that person feel bad for their lack of stealth skills after all.

"I know that you know that I'm here." the familiar feminine voice of Leera called at his side, and this time, he was unable to hide his smile. He turned his head to look at her just as she stepped up beside him on the roof of the hut and she sat down beside him, her knee touching his. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?"

Her question did surprise him, but he didn't allow his surprise to show on his face. He had to appear at all times to know what the other person was thinking and what the other person was going to say. He had to appear that he was this great savior that they'd made him out to be. If he didn't appear to be that man, they might lose faith in him and he couldn't bare it if that happened.

The Command Assassin looked at her, his emerald green eyes taking her in closely. The slight light of the moon shined down on her face, making her even more beautiful than he believed he'd ever seen her before. Her long hair was caught up in a loose ponytail on top of her head and tendrils of it fell into her face, framing her young, girlish face.

Despite her looking young, he knew better. The Star Elf sitting next to him was probably centuries old and had probably seen many things in her life. However, short of asking her how old she was, there was no way for him to tell how old she was, not that it was really all that important.

Sighing inwardly, he turned his eyes away from her and he stared back up at the purple sky aglow with silver.

"It is at that." Acheron commented, his voice light and airy. For some reason, he felt safe enough to show some soft emotion, though not much. He didn't know why, but it was easy to talk to this woman and not worry about showing too much emotion. Maybe it was because of her gentle demeanor or maybe it was something else deeper, but he tried not to think about it too much. "We didn't have nights like these where I come from. Our skies were always blood red and filled with black lightning."

There was silence after he'd spoke, and for the life of him, he didn't know why he'd mentioned it. Why would he tell her about Dalkia? He was trying to put that life behind him and here he was speaking about Dalkian skies. It made no sense to him. All he wanted to do was close his eyes and banish all thoughts of the Demon Empire from his mind, but he knew that he could never do that. He'd helped to create the Demon Empire, and as long as it stood, he would forever remember it. Even upon its eventual fall, he would remember the blood, sweat, tears, and lives that he'd shed to create Dalkia in the first place. It was a part of him that would never leave him as long as he lived.

It was his greatest accomplishment and his greatest mistake.

"You speak of your home. The Demon Empire of Dalkia." Leera mused out loud, her voice filled with her surprise. He knew that if he turned to look at her at that very moment, he would see that same surprise written on her face, but he didn't want to see it. Maybe he was a coward in that very moment, but he didn't want to see her surprise over his mentioning his home.

Instead, the Chaos Demon closed his eyes and tried to banish that world from his thoughts. Try as he might, all he could see was the blood red skies and the black lightning. He could remember a time when the sky of Dalkia hadn't been so large, but that was before he'd fought to make it larger and to make the Empire more feared. He'd gotten that fear alright.

"I created that horrid place. It was through my battle skills, through my own power and magic that the borders of the Empire was forged." Acheron replied as he opened his eyes, not sure why he was speaking to this woman. However, he didn't seem to be able to stop himself and she wasn't about to stop him. "I personally killed thousands and the men with me millions to create the Empire. No matter how much good I do in this world, I will never be able to erase all of that blood from my hands. My hands are permanently stained with the blood of those that did nothing to me other than exist and stand in my way."

The Command Assassin stopped talking and he hung his head, shamed by what he'd done. He felt the guilt eating up his chest and tearing at his heart. He wanted to cry, but his eyes refused to fill up with the precious liquid of pain and grief. He simply couldn't bring himself to grieve for those that he'd killed. Maybe it was because he felt that he didn't deserve to. After all, it had been him and his armies that had wiped out millions of people, even an entire species of people without a second thought. All they'd wanted was power and they'd gotten it through the destruction of peoples that had done nothing to them.