Assassin

Prologue:

                                                      Sephronia        

                I looked out of the small square window of my cramped Cell.  I balled my fists in the cot cover as I waited for the bell to toll that signaled Lights Out before I made my escape.

                I was ten years old and an Assassin In Training.  The Assassin Corporation was entirely created by the Commander.  It was created only thirty five years ago, a relatively new yet radical idea that came from the mind of the Commander himself.  The Commander was a ruthless tyrant who looked after every assassin in the corporation.  We revered him.  He was basically like the father none of us would ever had.

                This was so because every assassin was born in a magical fire in the Corporation.  After every League of Assassins In Training became Assassins, another league of trainees was born from a fire, the Fire of Life.  By being born to the fire, every Assassin was bent to the Commander's will.  If we did anything that went against that will we were given a warning burn.  If we completely revolted against him we were burned alive.

                The Commander made sure that the building wouldn't get over-populated by killing every Assassin that passes the age of thirty-two.  Each League training the next, until it was time for their death.  The league behind my own was raised by the Commander since the fire could only produce babies and there was no one else to care/train them.  There has been only one League and that original League trained us every four days a week.

                But today I wanted out.  It wasn't because I felt burdened by all the training, it was because of the way everyone else in my League fought like lifeless clones to the Commander's will.  Even at ten and I had seen none of the outside world but I knew this was not the way to live.

                The bell tolled loud and clear.  I waited, listening as the other trainees resigned to their Cells.  Each of us were given one incredibly small Cell where we slept.  The cots didn't have pillows, only one coarse blanket that none of us actually slept under because it left unsightly red welts on our necks that itched for months. 

                Each Cell door slammed in unison, including mine, magically.  The doors didn't lock, this was part of our training.  Guardians sneaked into our Cells and attacked us.   We had to fight back and kill them or they kill us.  I only knew of one girl in the last league that had been killed by a Guardian, but that was just a rumor. 

                Guardians were the only men allowed in the Corporation, aside from the Commander.  The Life Fire had a tendency to produce males as well instead of just females during the birthing.  The Commander trained the excess  to prepare his pride and joy, the Assassins, to kill.  Like the Assassins the Guardians were bent to the Commander's will.  I took one last look around at the place I was raised and born in.  During my life I had hoped that I was part of another family in the Outside world, someone else to go to if I found a chance.

                I slipped off my cot, pushing my two long daggers into each of my boots.  I wore the standard Assassin uniform, a red tunic, brown trousers, and a thick brown belt made of the same leather as my boots.

                I walked to my door pushing my door opened with so much as a whiny squeak.  I pushed my braid of dirty blonde hair from over my shoulder to my back so it wouldn't be in my way as I completed my mission.

                Walking on the balls of my feet, I made my way over to the main door of the Corporation.  I pushed the two great oak doors studded with metal rings that served as multiple handles.