Stay in the shadows.
Sneak.
Wait for the right opportunity.
Strike when least expected.
Hide as quickly as possible.
Leave and remain unseen.
The assassin lost a sliver of her tension once she'd slipped away from the scene in the darkness of the night, but stayed alert. Another successful kill.
She stopped near a river, pulling her two trusty blades from her back to clean and then sharpen them. They had to be in top condition at all times.
During that process, her eyes drifted towards her reflection in the rippling water...and like countless times before, she paused, staring at her mirrored pale self looking back at her.
Things had never been easy for her. Becoming an assassin at quite a young age, dying while still a teen and becoming a Graveborn, the separation from her sister... Anyone else would've gone insane. But not her.
When her dilemma had begun, she'd always forced herself to push through, never allowing feelings or memories to resurface. Those things just slowed her down.
She was always stoic, cold almost, only spoke to people if absolutely necessary. She did her job as an assassin and that was it. The target didn't always matter - but no ten horses could drag her into killing a child or a young woman.
In her early days, she'd done everything in order to keep her sister as safe as possible. Determination was her middle name back then.
Yet now, with only the haunting memories and lingering uncertainty remaining, she could only do that for herself. Not that she cared much.
She'd given up her naive hope of finding Isabella again herself a long time ago, the stoicism turning into a strange sort of cold numbness. And even then, there was always a nagging voice in the back of her head telling her to keep an eye open from time to time.
Her hands clenched around the handles of her weapons when thinking about that. Why was she doubting herself so much? Hadn't enough already happened? Would she really let emotions win and weigh her down?
But she's your sister... Don't you still love her...?
Damn that voice, it just wouldn't leave her alone! With a frustrated scoff, she set her blades down on the floor and stared off into the distant night in hopes of distracting herself. Eventually, she picked her weapons back up, took out her sharpening stone, and got to work.
The more often this happened, the more desperate her attempts of distraction became. She was literally fleeing from her own self, yet refused to admit that to herself or even do anything about it.
She was getting tired of this. Always these stupid thoughts making her second-guess her own actions. Who was she, a cowardly little girl that was too afraid of looking at an old photo?
No. Oh no. She was far more than that. The world was just starting to find out. And she would make sure she left her imprint on it.
The people would know her, remember her, fear her.
Word would go around day and night of the one Graveborn assassin they shouldn't have made the mistake of underestimating.
They'd already given her an alias. "The Taken Breath".
Oh, she would take their last breaths from them, alright.
They would learn an unspoken rule.
Don't ever mess with Silvina...
