Secrets of the Crown Assassins

04

DAMIEN

The three of us snuck through the streets of Cressida. It's supposed to be the most secure city in the world and here we are, a couple of Heir assassins sneaking around like the annoying giggling first years of Evandor. God, I'm so happy I'm out of that prison.

To be fair, Cressida is also a prison, just one with deadlier things and less teen drama. All "City of Gold" drama is usually more serious and world-ending, which is more my taste. Plus, there's just something about being in a city hovering a mile above a former city of great renown and dumps all of its sewage into said former great city while also being planted a gold so bright, it's practically a second sun that really strokes your ego.

And, honestly, I can't resist such compliments to my ego, no matter how blinding the place is in daylight.

Xavier, Arielle, and I swerved to the right and into a small street leading through the sprawling Assassin houses. Their walls and towers reached the sky, each house with its own unique design—something I could appreciate—though the base colors of the designs stayed the same blue and gold. It was a shallow way to show one's appreciation for the Crown as if just spraying colors on a wall would show their innate loyalty. And it was more idiotic for the Unassailable crowns to eat it all up. 

But what a waste of good design it is. All of them trying to blend in with the rest while covertly sticking out, trying to seem special in the vast sea of assassins kissing our asses. I had respect for the Assassins of Cressida's covert plea to power, but the fact that they wasted a perfectly good blank house on the same exact shade of blue and gold as everyone else irked me. There were so many other designs one could use, so many different colors, so many ways to represent themselves and their beliefs. It was a giant canvas of innovation and ideas wasted.

The three of us passed by a few late-night walkers without giving them a second glance. I don't think they recognized us in the dark. The grand glass walkway leading across the skymoat to the golden palace came into view. Four guards stood at the ready, guns drawn and visible, protecting the only entrance to the most powerful place in Concorde. The grand golden marble doors rose in the distance.

But, instead of walking towards the main glass walkway, we veered to the right and down a backstreet for the houses surrounding skymoat. We were emptied out into a courtyard lined with houses and a fountain in the middle. Scurrying across the courtyard, heads down, we entered another alley, though this one was more narrow and not quite as sophisticated. In the distance ahead, the drop off the floating city was visible. Numerous doors in the sides of the houses faced into the alley, each with one obnoxious light hanging above it, flickering. These were the servants doors where the Streeters entered and exited and took out the trash among other things. Halfway down the alley were steps leading underground. We bounded down them and there was a moment of darkness until we reached Level 2 of Cressida.

Level 2 was where most of the vegetation was produced alongside sprawling gardens and underground estates. Some of the lower Assassins and wealthy Streeters living in Cressida preferred to stay down here as it provided more space for each house, more plantlife, and cover from the blinding light of the gold. I personally though it was the most fascinating level.

The architects built small windows into the level 2 ceiling, so small that no one would notice them on level 1 unless they were looking for them. The windows were placed in exact positions where the golden structures on level 1 would reflect light down through the windows. The windows were shaped almost like a prism, so that when light passed through it shone brighter and extended over a large area of level 2. The whole layout provided the underground level with almost as much natural light as an open sky, allowing the large gardens to blossom.