The Four Territories: The Dark Assassin Book One

by Stevie Collier

  “I can’t.” Esh said finally.

  “You can and you will,” said Rift, climbing down the rope and into the dungeon. “The Order has no need for weak agents who can’t even stomach the murder of fake humanoids.”

  “But it’s breathing! And its eyes… They follow me.”

  “What if your life were at stake at this very moment? What if you were trying to save a comrade? Could you not rise to the occasion? Would you let them die?”

  “I don’t know,” Esh said, “I’ve never been in any situation like that.”

  The Elder walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “But one sun-cycle you will be needed and sadly I find that sun-cycle has come.”

  “What do you mean? I haven’t been accepted to the Order yet, why would they need me now?”

  “This has nothing to do with the Order. The reason why I’ve interrupted your lesson this sun-cycle is.. Because… Well, I have just learned of some terrible news.

  “What?” Esh asked, cocking his head. What could have been so bad that his mentor interrupted his lessons. He’d never done this before.

  The Elder closed his eyes, his bottom lip trembled a bit. “That sweet caretaker of yours, the elderly one. She’s dead... I’m sorry.”

  Esh couldn’t tell if he had heard the Elder correctly. It wasn’t possible, fake mother had been in perfect health when he had left, it didn’t make sense. Surely Korp had done a number on her face but it wasn’t near enough to kill her!

  “I’m sorry, lad.”

  Esh looked at Rift and shook his head in disbelief. “No, I don’t believe you. You’re lying!” He pushed his mentor hard on the chest but he didn’t budge. Xep began to walk over but Esh held the pointed end of the dagger at him.

  “Are you in on this?”

  Xep didn’t answer. His face was blank.

  Rift put a calming hand on Esh’s shoulder. “I know it to be true… because I am the one who found her.”

  “You’re lying!”

  Rift’s eyes rolled to the back of his head. He then raised his arms to the ceiling and called upon his abilities to descend a lifeless figure he had wrapped in his own robes. Esh recognized the hair dangling from the humanoids head. His heart climbed into his throat.

  Rift let the body float to the sandy ground where he gently placed her.

  “Mother!” Esh cried, running up to her. He removed the robe from her head and stared at her bruised face, her once dark skin already beginning to turn blue and pale. He let the dagger fall into the sand as he remembered how Korp would beat her for the smallest of reasons or for no reason at all. Esh had let himself think that the beatings would stop once he had left the orphanage… but he could see now that they did not.

  His body was shaking and he felt cold.

  “How did she die?” he asked through gritted teeth. He felt no tears, only a brewing anger as he stared into his mother’s corpse’s eyes.

  “I don’t think—”

  “Tell me!” Esh screamed, tightening his fists. “Tell me! Tell me! Tell me!” He was now banging his fists on his legs, his shoulders rising high with his barbaric heaves of breath.

  I believe Korp tortured her and pushed her out of the window. She was probably dead before she hit the ground. I’m sorry, lad, but I won’t keep things from you. As I said months ago, you’re free now and you deserve—”

  “She is the one who deserved freedom! She did everything for me and I wasn’t there to protect her like she was there for me! It’s my fault for leaving!”

  “Esh… It’s not your fault, surely you see that.”

  “Piss off! All of you!” Esh fell to his back and started to go wild with hatred, flinging his arms and legs out in a child’s tantrum. Rift and Xep walked out of the room and climbed the rope back up to the top without saying a word.

  Esh sat up and stroked her hair and noticed one of her eyelids had opened itself. He closed it gently and lifted her up into his arms. He thought this would be the moment where he started to sob but he didn’t even feel the desire.

  Why? Why? Why? Why had he been born! Why does the creator take everything from him? His parents, his childhood, his fake mother and even the skin on his chest! Ever since his birth he had known nothing but pain and sorrow. There were no good sun-cycles in his life, just ones that were a little bit less worse than the last only to be beaten out by another really bad one.

  Korp had ripped the last piece of Esh’s heart out of his chest.

  He looked to the left and saw the dagger still stuck in the ground. He picked it up as he stood.

  “Ughh…” groaned the old sand humanoid still swaying in the middle of the training grounds. Esh jumped on him like an animal and slipped the dagger between the male’s ribs and straight into its beating heart. They both fell to the ground, Esh still on top of him. The ancient one’s mouth opened wide and Esh watched his pupils dilate one last time before shutting down completely. He was dead.

  Esh would have his revenge.

  26 - Revenge

  Esh was in the middle of struggling with a strap on his armored chest piece when the Elder walked in.

  “I had a feeling you would come to this conclusion.”

  “Don’t try and stop me,” Esh said, not looking up.

  Rift entered into the secret room and gazed up and down at all the ancient artifacts he had collected over the years. “I’m not going to stop you.”

  Esh stopped trying to strap on the armor, “You’re not?” he said cautiously. “Because my mind is made up.”

  “I agree with you, lad. I think the male deserves what he has coming to him.”

  Esh only grunted and was finally able to get one of the straps to its holding place. Only nine more to go.

  “Here,” Rift said, walking behind him and strapping him tightly inside the armor.

  Without a word from either of them, Rift helped Esh equip all of his armor which was still stained with the Elder’s blood. This was the first time since that tragic event that Esh had donned the armor.

  “Don’t try to follow me either.” Esh stomped out of the room awkwardly in the heavy armor.

  “One last thing!” Rift called after him.

  Rift followed Esh out of the secret room and walked over to the wall of weapons with his hands behind his back. He grabbed the granite sword, the one made with a wooded hilt. The one his mother had forged. “I think you should have this… It was wrong of me to keep it from you.”

  Esh took the weapon and the familiar coolness rushed through him just like the first time he had wielded the weapon. It felt even lighter after the months of intense training.

  Esh, feeling guilty for the way he had treated his mentor and Xep, looked up from the weapon deciding that he needed to apologize, but there was no one to apologize to. Rift had disappeared.

  He strapped the sword to his left hip and pulled his robe over the hilt to hide it from view.

  No one paid him any attention as he walked down the streets. The Elder’s hut was situated in the part of Zel that most try their whole lives to escape from. Every once in a while he would come across a few black charred bodies meaning there must have been a recent molten rain. He was accustomed to this natural disaster taking innocent lives but he couldn’t help but notice the large amount of victims Gurgamosh had taken this sun-cycle. He passed by a female screaming over her child’s blackened body, her face contorted with absolute misery.

  These deaths only fueled Esh’s hatred. He wished he had never been born in this horrible territory. Why couldn’t he have been part of the Blue territory or even the dead? Any place was better than this feverish land.

  The heat reminded him that he probably should have waited for the cover of the sun-cycle to make his move but his mind wasn’t working properly. It was only focused on one thing. He didn’t feel like he or his fake mother could rest until he got his revenge. He felt no sadness at this time, there wasn’t any room for it. All he felt was hate.

  He turned onto
the familiar street he used to play on and stopped in front of his old home. The screams of children’s laughter broke through the walls and brought him a little closer to his senses. Before him was the two story hut he’d spent fourteen miserable years in. He’d never noticed how run down it had been. Although the dungeon wasn’t much better, at least it was safer. The orphanage was made of cheap supplies, all fitted together with sloppy craftsmanship. The head of nails stuck out halfway and bent just waiting for a child to slip across it and cut themselves. The hut tilted more to the left due to poor foundation work. Esh wondered how long it would be before it came down.

  Now that he was here he began to doubt his capabilities. Perhaps he should actually come up with some sort of plan before bursting through the door.

  He felt something sticky underneath his boot and lifted it to see he had stepped in a cake of dried blood. Stuck to his boot was a lock of hair, his fake mother’s hair. His primitive hatred flared once again in his stomach and he made his way through the front doors of the orphanage. The kids stopped their playing to look up at the dark robed child that wasn’t much older than them.

  “Where is the female caretaker?” Esh asked them.

  The kids shrugged and lost interest in him. They continued to play their game of seeking the others out of their hiding spots. Esh smiled, he was playing the same game only victory involved death.

  He climbed the stairs, the children’s laughter below him made an excellent cover to his heavy boots on the metal tiled steps. He moved onto the second floor and didn’t take the time to marvel at how much nicer it was in comparison to the bottom floor. This stage of the building was off limits to all orphans and was the living quarters for Korp. The help was allowed up here but only to clean it.

  He had imagined that there would have been more doors up here but there was only two. Esh opened the first one he walked up to which turned out to be a lovely tiled bathroom which smelled like it had just been sanitized. He stalked down to the next door but stopped when he heard noises coming from inside. He put his ear to the metal frame.

  “—good, now wiggle for me,” said Korp’s familiar voice.

  Esh heard a child’s whimper and kicked in the door. A very small male about half of Esh’s age stood in the middle of the room in his underpants, his back covered in new blazing red belt lashes. In front of him was Korp lounging on a large soft chair puffing on a fume stick. The kid turned to Esh with a face red from tears and slimy from snot.

  “What the hell are you doing here!” demanded Korp, standing in a furious motion. “Get outta here, now!” He was pointing at the door with a shaking hand. The orphanage caretaker wasn’t wearing any pants.

  “Leave us, now,” Esh said to small child.

  “He’ll go when I’m finished with him!” spat Korp, pulling up his pants while trying to hobble over to Esh. “As for you! You will be dessert!”

  Korp made a pathetic grab at him and Esh had merely to take a small step back to dodge the attempt. Esh then brought a knuckle to his own mouth and bit a small chunk of skin off. Concentrating on the blood, he was able to call upon his dark power turning the room into a black whirlwind. His Wisp twin appeared by his side as usual.

  “Push the child out of the room,” Esh commanded.

  The Wisp crawled on all fours out of the way of the oncoming Korp who was now making another lunge at him in slow motion. The dark clone grabbed the kid by the wrist and threw him hard out of the room. The young male landed hard on his side, Esh would have to work on his evil twin’s subtlety.

  He kicked the door behind him shut.

  “Restrain him.”

  The black goo formed around Korp’s wrists and ankles and shoved him into the large soft chair.

  “What is the plan… Master?”

  This took Esh by surprise as he was not used to the Wisp actually saying anything outside of its usual diction.

  “I want to make this male pay. I want him to suffer.”

  “I have a few ideas…”

  Esh shook his head, “Not yet. I want to talk to him first.” He looked down at the blood dripping from his finger and knew he would need more blood if he was going to be able to pull off his sick ideas. “Bring us back to real time,” he demanded.

  “I’ll get --. What the fuck is this!” Korp screeched, spittle flying from his lips. “What did you do to me!”

  Esh walked up to the struggling Korp and kicked him hard in the shin making the pedophile cry in agony. “What have you done to the female caretaker?”

  “That bitch? I don’t keep around useless humanoids!”

  Esh gave him another kick only this time with much more force, aiming the blow at his knee. There was a loud crack and the knob of the knee was now not where it should have been.

  “Ahhh! You bitch! I’ll cut you! I’ll cut you up just like I did that whore!”

  Korp screamed for help with all his might, veins popping up on his neck.

  “Oh no, no, no,” replied Esh. “We will have none of that. Brother, will you please?”

  The twin ripped off a piece of Korps robe and fisted it into the male’s mouth. Korp, still struggling to release his bindings, was now crying with either fear or anger… Or maybe both.

  Esh sighed, darkness had taken over his mind. He was seeing only through tunnel vision at the moment and felt apathetic to the whole situation. He allowed himself a gander around the murderer’s room. Each wall was hung with one large painting, each depicting a fictitious battle between the army of Reah and another territory.

  In the corner of the room was a large desk made up of the same material Esh’s hilt was made out of. How did this pathetic male come by such an amount of wood?

  The top of the desk was speckled with bits of dried blood with a tray of assorted fruits positioned neatly at the corner. Esh guessed that some of that blood belonged to his fake mother and imagined Korp figuring out a way to strap her hands to the desk as he cut thin slices of skin out off of her body. That gave him an idea.

  “Lift him up.”

  The black goo hoisted Korp up by his hands and into the air. The leg with the broken knee popped as soon as it straightened. Korp made a muffled howl of pain, tears now flowing from his closed eyes.

  “You think that’s bad?” Esh asked with a smile. He pulled his robe off and threw it into the corner of the room. He then unsheathed his father’s sword and handed it to his twin.

  “Master, I need… We need more…”

  Esh saw now that his knuckle had stopped bleeding and brought it to his mouth to bite out another chunk.

  “No, Master… That will not be enough.”

  “Then what do you suggest?”

  The twin pointed a bony finger at Esh’s forearm. “That will do.”

  Esh pulled out one of the smaller daggers off his chest armor and cut the top layer of his arm.

  “Now, can we continue?” he Esh, trying his best not to wince from the new source of blood that trickled down his fingers.

  The twin nodded and walked up to Korp who had been staring at Esh talking to the pale anorexic looking monster. There was panic in his face and he was trying to talk through his gagged mouth. Esh couldn’t understand most of the jabber but figured that he was just trying to bargain his way out of the situation.

  “I saw what you did to mother.”

  Korp shook his head like a wild humanoid, his eyes bulging from their sockets.

  “So, you are denouncing the charges?” Esh asked, trying to sound older than fourteen years old.

  Korp nodded in the same wild fashion, his eyes pleading.

  “Remove his clothing.”

  The twin tore the male’s remaining garments off and urine sprung from the genitals. Esh jumped backwards out of the way of the stream. His twin, however, was obviously enjoying himself for there was a slight spring in the Wisp’s step. He was used to this, he craved this, and Esh was giving him what he wanted. He didn’t even have to tell the twin what to do, Esh just stood ther
e and watched.

  The Wisp stuck the sharp edge of the sword to Korps shin and moved in a slow downward motion peeling the top layer of epidermis off the leg, revealing bone and muscle. Korp was now writhing in suffering, his eyes rolling upwards into his skull.

  The Wisp twin was just about to cut Korp’s thigh right where the femoral artery was located. Esh reached out and grabbed the twin’s hand. “Stay away from the arteries. I don’t want him to die too quickly.” Xep was right, physiology was important.

  A small pile of bloodied skin was beginning to form on the floor as the dark twin did its work. Korp begged for mercy through his gag the entire time but Esh simply ignored it. In fact, his mind was in other places. He was trying to figure out a way he could keep the male from going unconscious but by the time his twin had made it to the abdomen it was too late. Korp was quiet, hanging nude in midair. The male before him was carved up like roasted meat and was even missing his member. Esh didn’t recall seeing his twin remove the genitalia, but he wasn’t complaining.

  “You may leave,” Esh said to it. The goo disappeared and Korp fell to the ground. He could feel fatigue flooding through his body. He tried to wrap his cloak around his arm to stop the blood flow but only managed to slow it down. He would have to be quick.

  He wet the top of his finger with saliva and placed it under Korp’s nose. Good, he was still alive. Without waiting another moment, Esh put the tip of the sword on the monster’s temple. He then pushed the blade down, brain matter mixed with blood seeped through the top of the skull. Korp’s eyes shot open but the lids drooped not a half second later. He was dead.

  The work was done and Esh was feeling weaker and weaker by the second. If he wanted to survive this assassination he would have to make his escape now and hope he could make it back to the dungeon before passing out from blood loss.

  Placing his boot on the corpse, Esh wiggled his sword out of the its head, the dead eyes jiggled in their sockets. He wiped the splatter off his sword onto Korp’s cheek before sheathing it. Making his way to the window, he stopped. He couldn’t leave. Something felt… unfinished.