Legends

"tick-tock-tick-tock" The sound of the consistent, mesmerizing swinging of the pendulum in the ancient clock rebounded off the dull walls of the dreary , dimly lit one-window room.

A lone man was slouched on a rickety -old rocking chair, the creaks of the chair as it rocked joining the eerie sound of the pendulum.

Said man was shirtless and wore a simple pair of brown pants, stained with dark, red patches. His skin glistened with sweat due to the unnaturally humid surrounding air. His arms hung, lifeless, at the sides of the chair,and his head was lolled to one side.

If one had seen him from the back at a distance,  they would have assumed that he was merely a pitiful, old frail man who was slumbering. But, if they were to go closer and observe him, they would find out that he's already dead.

The man's eyes were as wide as saucers and his jaws were slack. he had a split lip, and dots dried blood was splattered across his face, most likely coming from the big, bloody hole at the left side of his chest.

Needless to say, he was dead.

The method- gouging out his heart.

Now,that wasn't to say that assassinations were uncommon. In this current age,ninety percent of deaths were caused by assassination.Seeing an old man murdered was quite common. It was considered a treat to many assassins-to be able to slowly snuff out the life of helpless victims, seeing the utter terror and fear on their victims' faces, watching the life seep out of their victims' thrashing body as their weapons buried deep into them, causing blood to flow like rivers.

This man, however, was not any typical old man.Even though he looked frail and even weak, he had been, and still was when he was assassinated, one of the most powerful,deadly and renowned assassin of all time.

In that current year of 2380, the seventy-eight year old man was still as feared as he was by others back in his prime, which had been during the war between the holy magical acrobats and the demonic shadow dancers more than four decades ago.

This man had been the prime commander of the Holy acrobats back in the 2340s. That war had been the bloodiest war recorded in history. About a quarter of the human population was killed- three quarters of the casualties being innocent people caught in the devastating crossfire between the two greatest factions in the world.

When the body had been found, the whole world went into an enormous uproar. Smaller factions once again started taking sides as the holy acrobats blamed the shadow dancers for the assassination, whilst the shadow dancers blatantly denied it, accusing the holy acrobats of purposely betraying their own commander simply to make an excuse to start another war. To "satiate their thirst for blood."

Once again, after almost half a decade of peace, war was on the horizon.

It is a wonder how the prime commander of the holy acrobats- the one who knew every single assassination tactics and techniques the shadow dancers could ever come up with- fell victim to those very things.

The very fact that he had been assassinated by one of the shadow dancers tactics instilled terror in people's hearts. If even he could not stop his own assassinations, how would they- people at least twenty times less knowledgeable and powerful as this man- prevent themselves from ending up like him?

What everyone didn't know, as they started preparing for another bloody and chaotic war, was that it wasn't the shadow dancers who did it.

Deep underground, piercing, god-like eyes opened, showing blood red irises as   he grinned cruelly, his rows of canine teeth sharper than the most refined swords made on Earth. Excitement and anticipation was written all over his face.

"Success," his manic voice echoed throughout the dungeon with barely concealed glee. Snickers and giggles of twisted humour followed, thousands of eyes with different colours glowing in the darkness of the place.

"This is going to be one hell of a ride."