Ultimate Assassin Saga: Woodlands

The Chaos Demon was drawn from his reverie by a hand softly touching his shoulder. He didn't flinch, gasp, or even change his expression. He controlled himself and he turned to see who had touched him. It was the Elf girl who'd been leading him, and once he realized that, he realized something else: she was smiling. Her smile was soft and elegant just like her, but there was also a hint of sadness in that smile as well. He found himself wanting to ask why she was sad, but he curbed the impulse.

"Come. The King is waiting." the young woman said softly, sparing a glance at the painting just before turning away and beginning her walk again. The Command Assassin frowned as he watched the Elf walk away, the sway of her hips drawing his gaze to the outline of her well rounded buttocks. Yes, most definitely she was a woman and a curvaceous one at that, but she wasn't his type. Besides, he was on this journey to find the woman that he loved and protect her with his life. He didn't have time for idle flirtations or any dalliances with other women.

That thought clearly in his mind, Acheron set off after the girl, following her down each hall, but he didn't keep his eyes on her. No, his gaze went to the walls and the amazing scenery that was captured on each painting, the detail in abundance with vivid color. However, when they walked past the paintings of different scenery, he noticed two things about them: they were of scenes that he'd never seen before and they had two suns - one gold, one crimson red - hanging in the sky as a background, seemingly looming over the scene with a somberness that he couldn't put his finger on.

That became moot though as they rounded the next corner. They were still in another hallway, but he could hear noise. It wasn't the common bustling around that you expected from every single household or palace across the entire world, on all five continents. No, this noise was one that he was actually quite accustomed to in large number: talking, laughing, and joking. There wasn't just one, but several voice and they all seemed to not be concerned about anything at all which surprised him greatly. It wasn't like a Demon just walked into the home of the Elf King so he didn't see how it was that they could be as happy as they were. They should've been quiet, reserved, and suspicious, but they weren't.

The Chaos Demon stopped at the end of the hall and looked into the room. It was a large dining area of sorts with a long metal table that stretched for several feet from one side of the room to the other. At the table were several different Elves, some looking like nobles, others like soldiers, and others that simply looked like peasants. There were servants scurrying around, carrying plates of food and goblets of different liquids to replace or carry away what had been eaten or drunk. It was an amazing sight and not one that he'd been prepared to see.

The Command Assassin blinked a couple times, not exactly certain what he was seeing here. There were more than fifty Elves at the one table of all different types of backgrounds of that he was certain, but none of them looked down their noses at one person and seemed to be conversing with one another. They were so loud it was nearly deafening and all of them were talking or laughing, blending together to create a powerful crescendo to make the sound carry that way. These Elves didn't come off as stodgy or regal like their cousins, the Sun Elves or the Wood Elves. No, they were more like the rabble rouser Moon Elves who all had a warrior background and didn't care about much, especially propriety or regal attitudes.

The female Elf walked further into the room, taking no notice of his hesitance, and as he watched, she walked right up the head of the table. Seated at the head of the table was a powerful looking male, but he looked no different from the rest of them as he held a chicken leg in one hand and was talking with a demure looking Elf maiden at his side, seemingly uncaring that she was dressed like a peasant in poor clothing. Ignoring the Elf maiden that the man was talking to, his guide walked right up to the head of the table, bent down, and placed a kiss on his cheek.

To Acheron's surprise, the man didn't turn and berate her or strike her for interrupting him. In fact, he turned, and with a genuine smile on his face, he opened his arms up to her with a wide smile on his face. She didn't even hesitate. His guide climbed into lap and hugged him tightly around the neck as if she were intimately familiar with this Elf. By the way he hugged her back, he would have to say the Elven man did know the woman quite well and was on very good terms with her for some reason or another. He didn't want to jump to conclusions about their relationship, but that was made harder when his guide pulled out of the hug and continued to sit in the Elven man's lap, happily chatting with him as if they didn't have an audience.

Several minutes later, the Elven male turned his head, and upon seeing the Chaos Demon standing there alone, he smiled. Then, he moved so that the female sitting in his lap got to her feet and he pushed back his chair, getting to his feet. The Chaos Demon cleared his throat and he held his head straight up, staring at the Elf as he made his way towards him, moving slowly, but walking with long strides.

The way the Elf walked gave him away as someone important if sitting at the head of the table hadn't done so already. This was most likely King Taro and he was coming right towards him. The Elf was tall, over six foot tall, and whipcord thin, though there was quite a bit of muscle on the Elf. He had long silver hair that fell just past his shoulders in a high ponytail and dark eyes set in a golden, ethereally beautiful face. He wore a long sleeve black leather tunic with a silver star embroidered on the right breast, black leather pants, knee high black leather boots with silver buckles on the side, and a heavy black leather belt with a slender silver rapier sheathed at his left hip.

Despite the Elf's gentle smile, it was obvious to the Command Assassin that he was a warrior, and judging from his fluid movements, quite the good one. He was usually able to tell if someone was a good warrior from the way they moved and this Elf moved like a man who knew what he was doing. Every step, every swing of his arms, was calculated beforehand and the way his dark eyes seemed to glow hinted at a keen, watchful eye.

"You must be Acheron." the Elf said as he stopped in front of him. His voice wasn't filled with anger or rancor, but there was a wide smile on his face. He seemed genuinely happy that he was there and he couldn't understand that. Why would an Elf be glad that a Demon was in their midst, and above all else, seem to trust him without a second thought? It was a very foreign thing to him, and because of that, he stared uncomprehending as the man continued. "My name is Taro, King of the Star Elves. Please, come with me and I'll answer any questions you might have."

The Chaos Demon frowned, his brow furrowing as he tried to figure out just what a Star Elf was. He'd never heard of the Star Elves before. Were they some kind of new caste of Elves that was yet to be discovered? Or had they simply been in hiding for centuries? The latter seemed more likely, but when the Elf moved past him, heading for the hallway off to the right, he didn't want to get left behind so he followed quickly after the Elf.

The Command Assassin walked a step behind Taro as he lead him through the hallways, taking twists and turns that seemed to have absolutely no set routine at all. There were several lefts, a few rights, move straight ahead, and then another few rights. With every hall they walked down, he looked upon the walls and studied each painting as he walked down the halls, noting that they were much like the others: the two suns were in each one. Again he found himself wondering where they'd come up with the concept of two suns, but he supposed that he would learn that soon enough. After all, the Elf King had told him that he would answer any questions that he had and he could bring up that in his many questions.

Suddenly, they came to a stop in front of a large door. The Elf King turned to look back over his shoulder, obviously trying to figure out if he was with him or not, and when he saw that the Chaos Demon was there, he smiled. It was still strange to him that this Elf would greet him so kindly and not show even a second of hesitation. It was odd and he was going to get to the bottom of why they trusted him so much.

The Star Elf turned back around and reached down, gripping the knob of the door. Swinging open the door, he stepped inside and obviously expected Acheron to follow which he did. Stepping into the room, he stared around at the room, noticing that it was obviously the office of the Elf King and he found himself amazed by the furnishings within. He stared around at the room, taking note of the large desk, the luxurious chairs in front of the desk, the book shelves up against both walls, and most especially the paintings hanging on the walls.

One of the paintings drew him in like a moth to a flame. The Chaos Demon frowned, and forgetting where he was for a moment, he walked behind the desk, staring at the painting that hung above the chair of the Elf King, taking in the painting. The painting was of a strange silver craft that looked like it was in flight, but not through the sky. No, there were stars, planets, and other things surrounding it on all sides. It looked like some sort of craft that could travel beyond the skies and into the heavens beyond. He was struck by this idea and he continued to stare at the painting in awe of the colors.

A throat clearing drew him from his reverie, and realizing what he was doing, the Command Assassin turned around to look at the Elf King. He was standing by his own desk, smiling patiently at him and his dark eyes continued to glow with his own kindness. Sheepishly, he walked from behind the desk and he stopped in front of the Elf King, looking down into the man's face, but his expression never changed.

"Forgive me." Acheron said in a calm, cool and collected voice. He stepped around the Star Elf and he walked over to the chairs before the desk, taking a seat. He sat back in the seat and waited for the Star Elf to take his own seat before he spoke again. "I have never seen anything like what is described in that painting. If you don't mind my asking, what exactly is that craft?"

The Star Elf turned his chair slightly to stare at the painting himself as if he'd forgotten about it being there, but he couldn't see how that was possible. The Chaos Demon waited for the other man to speak, but he continued to stare at the painting with a speculative look on his face. Then, he shook his head and he turned his seat back around, facing him with a level, calm look on his face as if he had nothing to hide.

"The craft is tide in with our very origins." Taro replied, his voice musing and filled with whimsy. He sat forward in his chair, folding his hands on top of the desk. His long fingers pressed together on top of the desk and he stared at his own fingers for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. Then, he looked up from his fingers, and this time, his face was devoid of all emotion. "The Star Elves are just that. We come from the stars. Or to be more precise, we come from another world. The craft - as you call it - in the painting is how we came to this world. Powered by magic, it took our people among the stars and to this world. This is where we made our new home while our old home was in total and complete chaos. We had no choice but to come here and we find this world to be much better than our old world."

The Command Assassin stared at him in complete and utter shock. What the man had just told him seemed far too fanciful - and to be honest - impossible to be true. However, the Elf had just told him all that he'd just said without a blink of an eye and without any twinkle of an eye that would hint at deception. Also, his aura was devoid of deception, and in fact, radiated with honesty. What he took from what he the Elf had just told him was that it was the truth, no matter how fanciful and impossible it sounded.

The Chaos Demon sat back in his chair and he rubbed a hand over his face. He was quite drained from what he'd just learned and he was nowhere near done with his questions. He had many more questions, but now he wasn't so sure he wanted to know the rest. For all he knew, he could be on another continent instead of the Wilds, but he knew that he had to push on. He had to learn all that he could from the Elf and hope to bring them under his wing as allies.

He sighed quite audibly and he couldn't find a care in doing so. He trained his eyes on the Elf King and he composed himself before asking the one question that was most prevalent in his mind.

"Where are we?" Acheron asked and he sat back to wait for his answer. He watched the Elf's face carefully and he searched his aura, but he could find no deception there. Instead, all he found was puzzlement as if he didn't understand the question, but he was fairly certain that he had been rather succinct and direct with the question.

The Star Elf sat back in his chair, narrowing his eyes. The longer he sat and stared at the Chaos Demon, the more he began to wonder about his intent. Was he trying to find a proper lie without lying? Or was he simply trying to bring together his thoughts and put them together in a proper sentence that would answer his question correctly? Since he could sense no deception from the Star Elf, he would bet on the latter, but he couldn't allow himself to grow too comfortable with the Star Elf to think that he wasn't lying and he had to make sure that he kept up his guard when dealing with these people.

They could be very disarming after all.

"We are in the Whispering Jungle of the Wilds." Taro replied finally, his voice filled with his amusement, but it didn't show on his face. He unfolded his hands from atop the desk and he sat back in his chair. He sat ramrod straight in the chair and stared at him, seemingly trying to think of what to say, but then, he shook his head. "However, we are not in the Whispering Jungle at the same time."

The Chaos Demon frowned at the cryptic comment, unsure just what that was suppose to mean. How could they be in one place, but not be there at the same time? In his experience, you were either in one place or you weren't, it was that simply. However, this man was saying that it was possible and that lead him to his next question.

"Just what the hell does that mean?" Acheron asked, a little annoyed by the cryptic response, but not allowing it to show in his voice. He blanked his expression as well, but he was fairly certain that the Elf would be able to sense that he was a little irritated.

"A mirror dimension." the Elf King replied without hesitation as if he should've already know that. If he was honest with himself, he should've thought of that himself. He knew what a mirror dimension was and he knew how they worked. Mirror dimensions were dimensions forged of old magic that directly mirrored another place and allowed people's on the other side of the mirror to go about their lives without having to worry about the one's on the outside. However, the one's on the other side did tend to see the one's of the mirror dimension and often mistook them for apparitions or spirits of some sort.

Finally understanding that, the Command Assassin could finally calm down. He knew where he was and he had a feeling on how to get out. It revolved around the trees of the Whispering Jungle and their strange runes. It was obviously magical portals that the Star Elves could pass through to get through to the Mortal Plane if they wanted to, though he had a feeling that they didn't leave very often. With this realization, he sat forward and he narrowed his eyes on the Elf King, daring him to lie now.

"Can I leave?" Acheron asked in deadpan, daring him to lie. If the Elf lied now, he would abandon this whole thing and find his own way out. If they tried to stop him, he would cut them down with his bare hands. At this point he didn't care. He was tired of being messed with and left in the dark when he needed to know certain things. He felt like a time period was coming that could bring him to his end and he wanted to be as prepared as he could be for it.

"You can leave any time you wish." Taro replied easily enough and there was no deception in his aura. He was being completely honest, and because of that, the Chaos Demon was able to finally calm down. He sat back in his chair and relaxed a little, though not completely. "However, I was under the impression that you would come for an alliance with the Star Elf people. Is that not why you are here?"

The Command Assassin stared, shocked. How had he known why he was here? Had the Star Elves been spying on him? No, that wasn't possible. If they'd been spying on him, he would've surely sensed them. Then again, maybe they had some sort of special skills to escape being detected by magic. After all, they were from another world and there was no telling what people from another planet could've developed that they didn't know about on this planet.

He composed himself quickly and he straightened in his seat. He held himself ramrod straight and he raised his chin, seemingly looking down his nose at the Elf, but he didn't want to appear to be a snobby noble. No, he was trying to convey danger, and from his experience, most people shuddered just from looking at him. Also from his experience, he knew that his voice could be very intimidating and very few people - well, very few people that weren't of Demon blood - were likely to tell him what he wanted to know if he asked in the right tone.

"How did you know that was why I've come?" Acheron asked, suspicious and he didn't even bother to hide his suspicion. There was no point in hiding his suspicion because anyone would be leery of someone who seemed to know everything about you while you knew nothing about you. It wasn't right and this Elf's foreknowledge was quite suspicious to him, hinting at their spying on him, but he wanted to hear it from the other man.

"Simple." Taro replied, his smile brightening his face once more and he sat back in his chair. The smile stayed on his face as he stared at the Chaos Demon, hands folded in his lap. Then, he shrugged one shoulder nonchalantly. "It was foretold to us more than ten thousand years ago."

Acheron stared.

Azrieal wasn't very happy at the moment. He was sitting in his office behind his desk, stewing over the latest report. It would seem that the Ice Demon clan had deserted Dalkia as well as the Blood Demon clan. There wasn't a doubt in his mind as to where they had deserted to. They'd gone with the Blood Demons to the Wilds to stand beside their former General who had lead them to many victories while spreading the borders of Dalkia.

He was tall, over six foot three, and whipcord lean, though he did have light muscle packed onto his frame. He had long golden blonde hair that fell to the small of his back unrestrained and emerald green eyes set in a bronzed, regal face. He wore a long sleeve white tunic, tight fitting white pants, knee high black leather boots, and a black leather belt. Unlike his brother, he wasn't a warrior of the blade. No, he was a Mage and there wasn't a single person who would dare challenge him in a duel of magic.

He had done many things over the years to show his people that he was the one who ruled the Empire and that he wasn't growing complacent with his power. However, in the last few years, he'd grown soft and he'd stopped making displays. After his brother had left Dalkia never to return again, he'd seen just how easy he'd been taking it on his subjects, allowing them to see that he wasn't as dangerous as he actually was. So, to put that false thought to rest, he'd gone into the capitol and anyone that was on the street at that time was vaporized by his magic.