Artemis

After

Out of nowhere, a blood curdling scream filled the air.

It was time.

Surrounded by my fellow assassins and thieves, I watched as the village in front of us began to stir in panic. We were all darkness and death incarnate, carrying silence and shadow with us save for the torches that many held to houses-setting the thatch roofs roaring in flames. A number of the townsmen came at us with petty weapons drawn. They didn't stand a chance. I took in the events from the trees as the assassin's that Theriion had permitted for this contract pummeled through the men like livestock come for slaughter.

This was easy. Too easy. Something isn't right . . . -

We all have a choice.

A familiar voice from a history barely recognized as my own struck the pieces of my mind that I didn't realize were there. All of a sudden, lines that I didn't realize existed before were being crossed in front of my own eyes. Staring out into the village, I saw a small little girl with dirty skin and ratty blonde hair tremble at the edge of the surrounding forest. Her cheeks were damp with tears as she watched everything she had grown to know get burned and cut down for the sake of gold coins and precious labels of greatness.

We all have a choice.

Damning the consequences, I suddenly found myself turning against everything I was raised to be.

"Just this one time-"

Yes. Just this once, the girl who was raised into a wolf temporarily changed her heart to that of a doe.