Assassin's Adventures Ch. 01

And that`s when her head exploded.

A mighty boom tore through the hallway and flung me hard against a wall, splattering me with a fizzy green liquid that stung my skin. I fell to the floor, gasping for breath, and took a look at the girl-creature. The body was rapidly shrinking into green light again, but this time the clothes vanished as well, and soon there was no trace at all that a girl had been lying on that spot. There was no ring either, I noted in the back of my mind.

"Didn`t I tell you to stay away from her? But no, you just couldn`t listen. Typical!" a melodious voice rang out above me.

Still dazed, I slowly sat up and looked at who had spoken. I traced long, lithe legs up a short skirt, which belonged to, as it turned out, to an annoyed looking Melissa.

I waited for my pulse to slow down before answering.

"Not like I had much choice in the matter."

She frowned. "Whatever. However, she picked you as her prey, and they only prey on beings with at least some magical power. Are you magical?" she asked frankly.

I processed this. "Who`s they?"

"Demons," she said shortly. Huh. So she and the other creature had been demons, that made some perverse amount of sense. But why had the first one given me a ring?

I stood up slowly, taking her offered hand. When she saw how unstable I still was, she propped me against the wall.

"I have to bring you back immediately. They always hunt in herds, and right now a breeze could knock you over."

"Hey!" I said in mock indignity, using all my strength lightly punching her shoulder. God, that took more effort than it should have. "Who`s fault is that?"

Her deep blue eyes bored into mine, but I didn`t look away. Eventually, the corners of her lips turned up slightly, barely noticeably.

"Yours, of course."

Before I could protest, she spoke a strange word, grabbed my hand, and everything went black as the world spun away.

The fabric of space and time itself was wrapped around me as I was lifted into weightlessness and infinity, before gravity claimed me and had me coming down on hard floor again.

I would have immediately stumbled onto the floor if it weren`t for Melissa`s strong grip on me. I put an arm over her shoulder and looked up to see where we were. I was left speechless.

I was standing on a hill overlooking a village, more like a small city, with an ocean sparkling enticingly behind it. To the left of the village there was a large lush forest that spanned as far as the eye could see. Several areas were cleared of trees in favor of large constructions that looked a lot like arenas. To the right of the village there was grassland with an enormous castle just on the edge of the village, complete with guard towers and iron gates. There were lots of figures running around in what looked like medieval armor, but that wasn`t the weirdest part. Large, inhuman creatures lumbered around amongst humans, chatting and even playing some sports with small children.

Fairies with wings flew in the sky, their milky white wings glittering as the sunrays bounced off them, and everyone was laughing and cheering, having a good time.

There were some small dwarf-like humans that, unlike everyone else, looked as if they were attending a funeral instead of being in a village that was, well, alive.

I took all of this in in several seconds, and turned in amazement to Melissa.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"This," she started with something close to pride in her voice, "is my home, Algronda. There is much you must learn."

I turned towards her, but her eyes widened as they focused on a fast-moving object behind my back.

I reacted instantly and pushed her out of the way as I swiftly dodged at the same time as my hand reached out behind me and caught a metallic object that slammed into the space my head had been just seconds before.

I held the pose for a second before slowly bringing the thing in my hand in front of me. It looked as if a mad scientist had dunked a Frisbee into liquid metal and then carved random lines onto the hardened surface.

"Are you all right?" I asked Melissa who was looking at me and the object in shock.

"I`m go-good," she stuttered. I had never seen her so startled as now.

A figure came jogging up the hill.

"I`m so sorry! I hope I didn`t hit anyone," he began to apologize. He was a tall, sandy haired guy who, despite his strong physique, had a sympathetic face. I took an instant liking to him.

"You nearly killed me, you little assassin," I chuckled.

"And more importantly, you could have killed me!" Melissa nearly shouted.

He turned to her and saw her for the first time. He paled immediately.

"I`m so sorry princess, it won`t happen again, I promise!"

"It damn better not!" she exclaimed, and pointed towards me.

"If it weren`t for his impressive reaction, you would have killed him. I should have you executed for this!"

The guy went white as a sheet. Deciding to intervene, I stepped between them.

"But hey, I am still here, so no harm done. What is this thing anyway?" I gestured to the object in my hand.

He looked relieved that someone was taking his side. "Oh, this is a modified version of a Frisbee. It`s a weapon I`m currently testing."

I nodded. If that thing hit you, I don`t care if you`re wearing a helmet or not, you`re a goner.

"What were you aiming for, then?"

He pointed to a tree that was 30 meters to our left. I raised both eyebrows.

"You aimed for that, and hit us?" I asked incredulously.

"I`m not very good yet," he grinned.

I grinned back. "Next time, aim for me! I`ll be less worried of you hitting me that way."

He laughed out loud, a loud, healthy laugh that originates in the belly and makes it way up until it escapes the mouth, and I couldn`t help but chuckling as well. Melissa looked torn between being furious and laughing as well, so she did something in between that ended up as a very cute pout, which made me chuckle even harder. She glared at me. "What?" she asked, still pouting.

"You`re cute when you`re angry," I said, and her mouth dropped open. I turned back to the guy. "Hey, what`s your name?"

He held out is hand. "I`m Robert Schubert, but you can call me Rob." I took his hand and shook it firmly. "Alexander Red, but you can call me Alex."

We nodded pleasantly at each other. "Well, see you around, Alex!" Rob said as he took his Frisbee and jogged back from where he came from.

I watched him leave, and then turned back to Melissa, who was haughtily throwing her blonde hair behind her back. "Do you want to show me around?" I asked her. She considered briefly before shrugging, as in why not, which had the pleasant side effect of making her large boobs jiggle in her shirt, and then started walking down the hill. I followed her as I remember something Rob had said.

"Hey, what was that about you being a princess? I asked. Melissa looked as if she had been dreading that question, and sighed.

"I`m the daughter of the King, that makes me a princess. Satisfied?" she said quickly.

"You, a princess? Hmm, I don`t know. You don`t seem very... princess-like, shall I say" I teased.

She put her hands on her hips and turned to me.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

I winked and kept on walking, feeling her stare daggers at the back of my head.

"Don`t you dare walk away from me now! I can have you executed, you know."

I kept walking, and I heard her light footsteps catch up with me. "I guess you could, but then who would save you from flying weaponized Frisbees?" I said.

Before she could answer, a voice rang out. "Melissa!"

We had reached the edge of the village and a well-dressed guy came towards us. He beamed at Melissa and completely ignored my existence, which made me frown.

"Oh, hey Dellen," she responded dully.

"I was wondering when you`d be coming back to me, baby," he said, grinning stupidly.

"I`ll say it one last time, Dellen, I`m not interested in you! Now scramble off, I`m busy."

A look of hurt passed through his features before it vanished. "Doing what? Showing this new puppy around?" At this, he turned towards me. "Well let`s get something straight, buddy. She`s mine." He poked my in the chest.

My eyes narrowed and I stepped closer to him, so that his eyes were at the height of my chin. I stared down to him and smiled, but there was no warmth in my eyes. "Yes, I agree. Let`s get some things straight. No one tells me what to do or what not to do, especially not some little spoiled brat like you."

His mouth opened, but I was faster. "Second of all, Melissa decides who she wants to date, fuck, or even be around with. Now, I don`t know what`s going on between you two, but it`s pretty clear to me that it`s one-sided, so back off, buddy," I growled.

His eyes narrowed, but I could see a bit of fear in his eyes. "You don`t know who you`re messing with," he threatened.

"No, I don`t. But I know your kind, and you`re all the same. All talk, all show."

With that, I poked him in his chest with considerably more force than he had me, and he bent over, gasping for breath.

I motioned for Melissa for us to go on, and we did so in silence.

"You shouldn`t have done that," she said.

"No," I agreed, "but I did it anyway."

We passed a group of small children playing in mud, and we took a wide berth around them.

"Thank you," she finally said.

"There`s nothing to thank," I said firmly.

She opened her mouth to argue, but I grabbed her shoulders and spun her towards me. Her full lips widened as I held her like that, dominating her with my presence. "When I say there`s nothing to thank, I mean it," I insisted. Her sapphire eyes bored through mine as I didn`t let go, but she didn`t make any move to release herself either.

I am said to have very enchanting dark eyes, and as she stared at me my eyes swirled mesmerizingly, drawing her deeper with each passing moment. Finally she blinked and noticed she was staring, and promptly entangled herself from me with a slight blush. We continued to walk in silence, but there was a most delightful tension between us that needed no words.

Finally, we came in front of a huge man with a massive dual-handed axe strapped to his back.

"Molnjir!" Melissa shouted as we stopped in front of him. He was currently hammering a glowing-hot sword with a hammer like a blacksmith, creating a tremendous amount of noise. "Molnjir!" she shouted again, and this time he heard her and stopped swinging. He wiped the layer of sweat off his brow and bowed deeply.

"Your highness." Melissa giggled.

"I brought you someone new to show around, Molnjir," she said. He turned to me an appraised me quickly. "He looks strong, this one. Nice catch." He smiled.

"I`m Alexander Red, but you can call me Alex," I offered and stretched out m y hand. He completely ignored it and squashed me in a bear hug that made me worry about the integrity of my ribs.

"You`re killing him!" Melissa laughed.

"Ih.. all... UGH.. right," I managed to squeak. The giant gently put me down. "You`re new here? Let me show you around. I got it from here, Melissa."

She lingered around though, indecisiveness written plain on her face.

"Why don`t you come along?" I asked. She looked at me with an eyebrow raised as if I had just said that pink giraffes where just funny looking popsicles, but I persisted.

"Unless you have a date with a hot young stud that you don`t want to miss..." I trailed off.

"If he`s half as boring as you are I`d still be wasting my time, so I`ll be sticking with Molnjir instead," she shot back.

I beamed a smile at her. "Then it`s settled."

Molnjir looked at us with a curious expression, but said nothing. "Well, let`s get started, shall we."

He walked us towards the edge of the village, just towards the entrance of the massive castle. He waved at some guards stationed there, who waved back.

"This is Castle Highgrounds, the home of King Cathara, Melissa`s father. You can explore it later."

He walked us towards the center of the village, where a big space had been cleared. Two thousand people could have stood here comfortably, I realized, and reevaluated my perception of the size of the village. There were a lot of tables set up, and Molnjir explained that this was where everyone ate.

Moving on, we came to four big, very different houses. They were next to each other, and each had a different characteristic.

"The house on the left is the House of Greens," Molnjir started. "In there, all those with green powers sleep."

"Green powers?" I interrupted. He shot a quick glance towards Melissa, who smacked her forehead. "I forgot to tell you, he knows nothing of the Order of Four," she said.

I stared at her curiously.

"In that case, let`s start with that!" the giant declared. "There are four main forces in this world. The force of Evil, which is black, the force of Good, which is white, the force of Life, which is green, and the force of Death, which is grey."

My mind wandered back to the Demons I had encountered. "Aren`t demons evil? How can they have green eyes," I asked.

Molnjir nodded approvingly. "Excellent question. Their real eyes are pitch black, but as mockery they decided to all use green eyes, a perverted image of Life."

I nodded, that made sense. "And what happens when you kill a demon?"

A warm breeze passed us, playing with Melissa`s golden hair, adding even more to her surreal beauty. I was so distracted by this that I almost didn`t hear his answer.

"When you kill them? They die, and go back to hell, from which some can escape again."

"They only die?" I wondered aloud. "Don`t they sometimes... leave something behind?"

Molnjir`s eyes narrowed. "Why, what are you talking about?"

I decided to take a leap of faith "I ask because the demon Melissa killed wasn`t the first one I ever encountered."

Both their eyes widened at this. "And you survived it? How in the world is that possible? We can`t even touch them without appropriate weapons which are very hard to get!" Melissa exclaimed.

I swallowed, maybe this wasn`t the best path I could have taken. I was already committed, however, so after a brief pause I continued.

"I may have... crushed it`s windpipe. And when it died, it left something behind," I said and willed my ring to be visible to them.

In a flash of light it appeared on my finger, and I looked at the almost comical expressions Melissa and Molnjir had. I saw amazement, confusion, wonder, and... fear.

"Where did you get this," Melissa whispered.

I looked at my green pulsing ring as well. "When the demon died he left this behind," I said. "Why, is it special?"

Molnjir found his tongue again. "Make it vanish!" he hissed at me. Taken by surprise by his harsh reaction I did as he asked.

He started pacing up and down in front of us, mumbling to himself. "What`s going on?" I asked Melissa who was looking at me in an unreadable way.

"That ring... it`s from one of the ten original demons that existed before even Hell was created. That means they are inherently powerful, but once killed, their powers get transferred into a green ring that obeys its new master unconditionally," she said with a serious face.

"Somehow, you killed a huge player in the eternal battle between Light and Dark. The loss of one of its most powerful generals will ring far and wide in the underworld. They will want to find out who was responsible, and if possible eliminate the new threat before he masters the ring." She looked worried.

"That means that you are in grave danger," Molnjir finished for her.

They both looked at me, waiting for my reaction. So that creepy mafia boss had been a high ranking demon? No one could touch them, except me, it turned out. And now they would hunt me down?

"Wait a minute," I said. "I killed that demon years ago. Why has it taken so long, then?"

Molnjir raised an eyebrow as Melissa shook her head in amazement, obviously stunned by the fact.
"The ring protects its master from most threats, and makes you virtually untraceable in the human world. Here, however, they have more power, and will find you with less difficulty."

I stared at him. "You mean I`m not in the human world now?"

He laughed at my ignorance, but it was a chiding, good natured laugh. "No, you are in the world of Demons and Angels, not Gods little human playground.

So I was in a different world entirely!

Fuck me.

~~~^~~~

AUTHERS NOTE:

Thank you for reading the first story I published here, I hope you enjoyed it so far. This story has a lot of potential, and I already have the rest of the plot in mind, I`ll only need to flesh it out. How fast the continuation gets released depends entirely on the feedback I get, so if you liked the story or the direction it`s heading, do leave a comment below, it means a lot to me.

Take care, and see you in the next story!