Just a note, when I transferred this from word or something it got rid of all my ' and " thingys (forgot their name) so if you see a word without one don't hesitate to tell me!
Novelia had a simple task, yet she managed to mess it up big time. What was supposed to be her only chance at impressing the captain of the guard and proving her undying loyalty to her beloved kingdom, ended with her abandoning her job and watching over the comatose body of a world-renowned serial killer.
She was ordered to find him and dispose of him without mercy, then return to the captain with his head as proof of his death.
At first, everything was going smoothly. She found his log cabin deep in the woods a few hours away from the kingdom with relative ease. But when it came to the whole killing his part, she couldnt do it. There was something strange about this assassin that made her confidence dwindle like the weak flame it already was.
When the tip of her blade touched his throat all he did was smile wryly and mutter, "Well...I guess this is the end for me, eh? Fair enough. Go ahead and finish the job. Im ready to leave this world." The fact that he was so unnaturally calm about the idea of his demise freaked her out immensely. Before she entered his house, she mentally prepared herself for the fight of her life. She was ready to do whatever it took to bring this evil man to justice.
Novelia Sokora, imperial knight of the great and mighty king was ready to die for justice but faltered when the black-haired man surrendered almost immediately. Upon thinking about the moment that was about to happen later she concluded on why she dropped her sword and told him she couldnt and wouldnt kill him. This was her first mission.
Even though she was told thousands of times during training that blood will be shed and lives will be lost by her hand and she had to be prepared to deal with the floodgate of emotions that opened up after you killed someone, she couldnt do it. At this point it felt as if she already killed the man.
Through her moment of weakness, she dropped the sword and felt pure dread and fear wash over her as the man picked It up. At first, she thought that he did this on purpose, he surrendered so willingly to a fresh recruit to try as a last resort to throw them off and get the upper hand. She expected at any moment to feel the cold steel of her own weapon to enter her body...
...but things did not go that way. In fact is was so unexpected and fast that she had to sit down afterwards and think.
First, she heard the gut-wrenching sound of her blade entering flesh, but felt nothing. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the man had plunged the sword deep into his abdomen. Before she could process what just happened, he muttered, "Coward. If you won't do it, then I will..." then crumpled onto the ground with a thud.
Soon enough his breathing slowed and was seemingly dead. What Novelia could've done was cut off his head and be on her merry way, but something stopped her. No matter how hard she tried to ignore her thoughts they kept intruding in on her. She couldnt just leave him like that, even if he did kill all those people.
Without too much thought, she grabbed all the medical supplies she could find around his small cottage and got to work on patching him up. After 30 minutes of medical attention, the man was seemingly stable so she sat down next to him as a wave of reality hit her like a kick to the stomach.
"What the hell am I doing?! Why am I preserving the life of a criminal?" She exclaimed out loud in shock.
Novelia stopped what she was doing and sat down to clear her jumbled thoughts.
As her mind raced, she felt a cold winter breeze seep into the cabin from the small cracks in the battered door. Her eyes wandered around the cabin and paused at a small nest of sticks high up in the corner above the mans bed. Whatever made a home in his house was leaving behind large, black feathers. There were feathers on the bed, feathers on the floor, feathers in the washing basin, feathers everywhere. She reached out for a feather that was in her vicinity and examined it throughout. "Raven feathers? Bleugh. Gross." She said out loud as she tossed it to the side and watch it float delicately in the air.
When she had enough of looking at his bed, she turned around and saw what she presumed was his kitchen. There was a small metal box on the floor. Next to the box was a large bowl filled with water that was possibly frozen from the cold. Condensation coated the bowl in a white film. Her heart skipped a beat when something twinkled from behind the bowl. Whatever it was, beckoned for her to come closer and she reluctantly obliged. She got up slowly, being extremely careful not to shift too much weight on the rickety floorboards beneath her and moved the bowl aside.
Knives. Lots of them. Sharp and shiny knives and daggers clumped together in a pile sat behind the bowl. To her dismay, one of them even had a dried spot of blood on the blade. Novelia quickly shoved the bowl back in place and leaped back over to her original spot on the floor. I got to get out of here. She thought nervously. Now's my only chance to escape. Hes unconscious, he wont know. The door was right in front of her and she already planned out what was going to happen next. Either she stayed here and got murdered by this assassin, or she returned to the kingdom and lie about what happened. The worse that will happen was they would insult her, complain about how women shouldnt be in the army, and call her a failure...
The word failure stuck with her and somehow restricted her movement. They're going to call me a failure again. She bit her lip and looked down at the man. He was still in the same position as she left him, his black hair covering one side of his face. He was vulnerable right now. She could kill him here and he wouldnt even know what happened. But she couldn't do it. She failed her mission just like the captain of the guard said she would. She tried so hard just to prove to all the soldiers that just because she was a woman, that didn't mean she couldn't be strong. But she was weak in the end and screwed up everything. Just like the woman she was.
Novelia suddenly felt exhausted, as if all the energy was just sapped right out of her body. Memories of the past started resurfacing. Back when she was in training, all the men picked on her. They claimed that the army was no place for a woman and she belonged in the kitchen. At first, these insults had just been just a minor annoyance. But after a while, the slander started to become more debilitating. However, there was one night that destroyed her. It was when none other than the captain of the guard who sexually assaulted her. This moment stuck with her so much that it caused her to cut her long, white hair so short that people now mistake her for a man. This sadly did not stop the captain from continuing his horrible treatment of her.
A lump formed in her throat. Did she really want to return to that? Was it really worth it all anymore? What was she trying to prove to them? That they were right all along and shes nothing but a weak slave to them? No. No she didnt want to go back. She'd rather die than go back to that torment. She flopped down onto the ground and cried. She cried long and hard like the emotional baby they called her. Finally, being able to release those bitter tears and raw emotion felt amazing to her. She held them in for years. The crying ceased when her face was puffy and her head throbbed with each heartbeat.
Sniffling, she sat up straight and unexpectedly locked eyes with the now awake man. "Are you finished yet?" He bluntly stated. "Also theyre crows, not ravens. But thats ok. Its difficult for everybody to tell the-"
Before he could finish, Novelia landed the sole of her boot directly into his nose.
