A Crimson Tainted Past (On Hold)

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2!!!! Hoping you all like it! This chapter adds a big turn in the story, so hope you guys are prepared for a good twist! And don't forget to comment and vote!! Let me know what you think and if I'm going in the right direction with this!! ;3

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            I made my way out of bed the next morning, soaked as usual. When they said that they were going to dump a bucket of ice cold water on you, they weren’t just kidding around. The only thing is, for some reason I kept getting woken up at unbelievably early times. If classes didn’t start until nine, then why did I have to get hypothermia at four in the morning to get ready? Once all set, I grabbed my belt and attached my new twin-bladed sword to it, then slipped on the black metallic gloves and headed out towards the training hall.

            I got there with four and a half hours to spare before my lessons actually started, so I took the time to start training with probably the most powerful weapon I had ever held. I always got annoyed about being the first one in the training room. There was no real point on fighting a training dummy. I mean, it doesn’t move or anything, so whether I’m fast enough for a real opponent is for me to judge on my own. I took out the dummy and the equipment I needed from the supply room, which luckily was usually unlocked at this time in the morning for us so called “early risers”. I had thought of locking my door at night, but since I would get in late, I usually never bothered to do so, and never ended up learning my lesson for that. There were always those few people that thought it was funny to wake me up so early in the morning, and those few are the ones that I so easily defeated in the arena… even if they were three times my size.

            I got about an hour of training on the dummy before I heard something. Someone was creeping up on me from in the shadows, but they obviously didn’t know that I heard them. I kept on swinging my sword as if I hadn’t heard anything, waiting for the perfect moment. It didn’t take much for me to notice the presence of another in the same room as I, even if they didn’t make the slightest noise. Once I felt the person at about two feet from me, I quickly spun to catch his sword with my own, the both of us at the full extent of our arm’s length. I obviously caught him by surprise, I heard him laugh under his breath as though he knew I’d notice him.

            “How’d you guess?” he started, his voice sounding dark and mysterious, as though he was hiding something. “It’s not like I didn’t know you’d notice, though, but still…” Of course he knew I’d notice. Almost everyone did. I had developed many senses that a true assassin should have, and one of those was to be able to detect the presence of another with the slightest noise, even if there were none.

            “If you already knew I’d notice, then there’s no need for me to explain.” I stated bluntly. I didn’t find that he needed an explanation, since he so obviously knew of my high senses. “Why are you here? I thought I had the place to myself for at least another hour or two.” I honestly didn’t think that there was someone else crazy enough to be up this early, let alone not even appearing the slightest bit tired. And then it dawned on me, as though I should have expected him this early.

            “You may be intentionally woken up, but you should know by now that I always try to have an early start to the day. My training comes first before anything, or anyone else.” I suddenly felt the pressure between our swords lift, then our swords both came down to our sides. He came up closer to me, coming into the light from the shadows he was originally in. His uniform was completely black, a cloak was shielding his eyes from me. His black hair was also coming down in front of them, making it nearly impossible for me to recognize him, yet with the voice, I was already able to determine his identity.

            “How long has it been now?” I asked curiously. “I know it’s been less than a year, yet sometimes it feels like it’s been forever since you’ve graduated.” Knowing that he had already graduated was also starting to get on my nerves as to why he was here. He should’ve been gone and out, and shouldn’t be allowed on school grounds at this hour. Something was up, and I need to find out what.

            “You’re right, it hasn’t been a full year. I’ve only graduated about nine months ago, so that’s why it feels that way. I kind of miss my time here.” He sounded pretty sarcastic about it. Anyone that had ever graduated were thrilled to be gone, and I couldn’t wait to begin my expert classes and get out of here as soon as I could.

            “You enjoying it? I mean, you have your code name and all now, right?”

            “You bet! I’m starting to get my popularity now, having travelled quite a bit over the past few months. I’m now known as Nightmare Wing. It’s got a good ring to it, don’t you think, Daemon?” Well there’s a name I hadn’t heard in a long while. I had gotten used to calling myself Cerberus around school that my name actually sounded weird coming out of his mouth… wait, did that sound right? No one knew of my real name, so how did he know that?

            “I don’t think your purpose here is to brag about your code name, now is it? Anyways, why are you here? You know you aren’t allowed on school grounds unless you have permission from the Headmaster, and I highly doubt he’s even awake yet.” I gave him a glare, readying my sword in front of me. I didn’t know what to expect from him at this point, so I got myself in a defensive position to be ready for whatever was to happen, even if he were just here to talk.

            He just stood there and smiled, again laughing under his breath. “I’ve been here for a few days now, and was actually invited here by Valkynhein himself, so don’t go worrying yourself about that. I even got to witness your match yesterday, and I’m quite impressed! I didn’t think you were as skilled as you actually are. I don’t think even I was that skilled at your age.” If he was trying to soften me up with his complements, then it wasn’t going to work. Yet I was surprised that he was actually invited to come. It wasn’t everyone that got to stay around for a while, even by invitation, and the reasons were minimal. The reason behind his stay became clear to me once he spoke again.

            “You still don’t know, don’t you? Do you know why Valkynhein didn’t tell you who your next opponent was?” I looked at him confusingly, bringing my guard down slightly, seeing as in he wasn’t going to use me as target practice. I shrugged, knowing that he would probably ramble on and get me even more confused anyways. “Do you not see where I’m going with this? He greatly admires your skills and thought that, with this next weapon of yours, he’d test you on an already graduated assassin, and chose me. You are currently looking at the challenge that awaits you.”

            He smiled at me wickedly, and I knew exactly why as well. I wasn’t too thrilled about going up against someone I knew, much less a true assassin. If he so wanted to, he could’ve killed me in a matter of seconds with the many skills he had acquired. But that wasn’t the only problem that I had to face. The problem was who I had to fight, and not because he was a highly trained assassin. I finally found a fear of fighting someone. There still remains the fact that he was, after all, my elder brother.