A Lifes Journey

Na’amah’s Point of View (POV):

An indescribable pain clawed at my inner organs as if trying to burn me from the inside. I guess it really did.

“Kiyoko… Please, I-I beg of you, please take this chil-d and raise him as your own. I wish not… for him to become a killer, but, I would wish even less for this innocent child to… Die… before he ever gets to live.”

As I was pleading with what was apparently the last of my strength my body sunk back to the burning floor.

Strangely, it didn't hurt anymore, it didn't feel like anything, really, except for a cold chill maybe. Ironic.

Kiyoko’s lips moved as my vision slowly turned into a blur but no sound came out…

In another futile attempt I smiled at her desperately trying to ask if she took the baby.

I mustered enough strength to move my lips but yet again, no sound came out, or rather, the world fell silent. The flames around me danced as if reveling in my faith, a constant reminder of the sound I was oh so desperate to hear, if only I could hear the crackling of fire around me or listen to my sweet baby cry once more, or even hear Jake’s nagging one last time. I guess you only know you miss something once you lose it.

Oh Jacob, how fragile life is, a lifetime of choices, it only makes sense that it would end with one, so why then, why did I not get to choose…?

How come a life is so fragile, how is it that 20 years of experiences have no value in the face of a single moment of tragedy?

How come life is so… unfair?

The metallic taste in my mouth slowly grew bitter as did the bitterness in my heart. The thought of my boy’s bleak future. The thought of what Jake would say when he finds his house burned to the ground, wife dead, child gone?

Have I made the right choice? Would have death been the better option for him? And many more questions, to be left unanswered ran through my pounding head.

As my consciousness was leaving me for the last time, a single thought sliced through my barely beating heart – “I’m… sorry, my ch..…..”

***

16 Years Later – Inoshi/Lifes’ POV:

“Boy, it has been 16 years since I took you in. Today is the day for you to become a ‘Slayer’.” Whatever you say…

“As I do hope you comprehend by now. Slayers are faceless assassins that work in the shadows, as such, you will complete your first mission as you remain unseen, is that clear?” What’s with the serious tone, is this really such a big deal?

"As a cloudy day…" I retorted.

"Your sarcasm is not appreciated, you little snob." Her gray eyes turned a bit brighter for a second.

“Your slayer name carries the meanings of both life and death in a long forgotten language, forget that for but a second, and there will be consequences. When you go out to kill a person, you go with the priority of keeping yourself alive at all costs.”

How many times do I have to listen to this lecture.

With a metallic, dim, yet loud thud she slammed the table between us with her hands for added dramatic effect “AT. ALL. COSTS.” It worked…

Her stern tone and sharp gaze sent chills down my spine as my face tensed up in an attempt to seem serious.

“Your first mission will be a rather simple one, to dispose of the count Lofer Sniles.” Pausing for a second, she… smirked at me? “Head of the Sniles family.” She concluded.

“... an-” It suddenly dawned on me.

“HUH?! Simple?? THE Sniles? are they not like, super, extra, duper unreachable? And the family head at that?!” I stood up and looked at her before hearing a familiar voice.

"Hahaha, whatsa matter Lifey bro? Got yarself a big first mission eh?" My friend looked at me from the hallway with his disgustingly smug face.

"Shut the fuck up Ostel, your retardation is not appreciated!" I threw a small rock at him as he laughed at me.

Kiyoko stared daggers into the kid's golden eyes and said "Shiawasu you'd be wise to shut your trap if you wish to keep it".

Ostel’s body visibly shook and he took off after apologizing half-assedly.

Serves him right, braindead chocolate boy.

“Now, back to the matter at hand, wide awake, are we? Certainly, the count Sniles is somewhat of a difficult first target, but you are no ordinary Slayer either. Is that not so?” Her face became serious again, “Would this mission really prove to be too much for a genius such as yourself?”.

Ha! As usual my teacher knows what she’s talking about, I am a genius.

“But… I just… I-I don’t wanna…" I whispered to myself "Pardon? A bit louder if you would."

"Do you know how much planning it will take me to kill the head of Sni-, OW! What was that for?!” I snapped at her after she flicked my forehead.

“You WILL obey, is that understood?” my hair was standing from the frightening aura around the slim woman.

“Yes master…”

“I can’t quite hear you.”

“YES MASTER!”

Fuck! Why so serious?

“Good boy, now go and start making your preparations, you have but a fortnight to complete the job, use this time wisely.” With that, she concluded the too long of a briefing and left me to my thoughts.

“14 days, 14 days to kill one guy, how dull… It's like she thinks im incompetent” Murmuring to myself I started going through the paper documents Kiyoko left for me.

First thing I gotta do is learn his schedule, right? Kinda sucks to have to follow someone like that, he's probably some pervy old man, all rich people are.

***

“So this is Sniles' mansion. Bahh, rich prick.” An impressive-looking, middle-aged man came out of the white, fancy front door surrounded by a group of guards. It was hard to see how he looked behind all of the plants around him and underneath this big green hat, was he trying to be a… Greenen was it? I hate those lizard people…

“Nevertheless, yep, that’s the guy, looks just like in the picture Kiyoko gave me.” I concluded with a whisper.

His brown hair is sorta hard to see under that stupid-looking hat, but with this disgusting, frowning smile, it has to be him.

My heart skipped a beat as my eyes met with those of a guard that looked straight at the roof I was laying down on.

“Coincidence? Absolutely not. Kiyoko always says that coincidences are meant to happen...” Should I stop talking to myself?

"Those idiots are sharp".

***

After tailing the lively corpse for 7 days, I understood his schedule thoroughly.

Organizing the information made me realize something as I looked down at the same metal table in the small, dim-lit Box room.

"Oh how the purple eyes of the handsome boy remind me of an Iris blooming in the black sands of despair. Extravagantly so!" A feminine voice that always made me feel on edge teased from the hallway.

"Fuck off crazy witch, go trick yourself into some happines and leave me alone."

Slamming the door I turned back into the room as the silver-haired witch giggled in the hallway.

On the table I wrote everything with a small piece of white-stone.

Every morning he picks a different colored hat and walks for 10 minutes to Archi's range with his guards to shoot arrows - maybe to practice Sy manipulation, maybe just for fun, can't tell – for about 2 hours, during which he’s basically invulnerable due to the heavy security around him.

“Next is coffee with milk in the closest bakery right? Guards go to have breakfast at this point.”

I don’t even need to know any more than that, It’s obvious how I should kill him…

“Wasn’t this supposed to be hard?” Doubts came to my mind, but my nerves dissipated a bit.

I decided to keep collecting information on Sniles.

***

“Master, what is this, it’s so stupid, he’s just drinking coffee in a public place with no guards, is this really what you want me to do? It’s way too easy, no?”

After 13 days of looking at that Lofer guy there’s just no way to ignore that this is the easiest way to kill him.

“Hmm? Whatever might you mean dear student?” sarcasm was practically spilling out of her voice. Condescending bitch.

“Isn’t it supposed to be a test? Why did you give me such an easy task?” I asked, kind of pissed at her.

“Are you ‘kind of’ pissed at me right now? Do you think this test is not much of a test at all for you?” Geh, her mind reading abilities again.

I felt the color draining from my face as I remembered calling her a condescending bitch just a second ago.

“*Sigh* Don’t be silly, I can’t read minds foolish child… You’re just far too obvious.”

Phew, safe… I hope.

“Eh-hem…” I tried to bring the topic back to her explanation.

“If that’s the entire test, is there a purpose to it? Do you think because I’m only 16 it means I’m dumb or too young?” Her brow raised and she let out another sigh.

“The objectives for this test were as follows:” She pointed one finger at the ceiling. My eyes automatically followed in the direction just to see a small Light-Stone flickering inside of its frame of glass before she said “1.” which made my face burn with embarrassment.

“To see if you would dismiss the blatantly obvious option only because it is ‘way too obvious’, binary thinking must not exist in the mind of a Slayer." “2.” She added another finger.

“To test if you would do the opposite and take the easy way out, ignoring everything I ever taught you in the process. Not being thorough enough could lead towards an unfortunate end. And finally, 3” Master continued, wearing a mix between a smirk and a serious expression.

“It is quite clear to me that you’re a coward, thus you also need to understand this fact and act accordingly.

Being afraid is not necessarily bad, forfeiting your goal in front of your fears is, you will learn how to carry out your missions without ever facing the opponent head on, is that clear?”

What? I’m always so calm and collected, I’m not a coward!

Her expression hardened again before she continued with her lecture.

I don’t even want to keep listening, can’t we just finish this thing already?

“Whilst carrying out an assassination, one must enter the target’s mind, think from their perspective, comprehend their disposition and embrace their entire ‘self’. You must learn how to be a different per-.” The grayish eyes of my master flashed for a second as she sighed deeply before flicking me on the forehead to wake me from my daze. Leaving me alone, she left, closing the door behind her with a quiet thud as I rubbed the pain away.

In the barely-lit small Box-Room I started planning my next step thoroughly.

***

2 days after the short lecture, master Kiyoko woke me up with a grin that felt incredibly un-natural for her.

She showed me an ink-stone paper article that talked about the death of the head of the Sniles family, Lofer Sniles.

"It might please you to hear you have passed the test with flying colors."

“Bread&Butter Bakery, a Death Trap?” The nobleman ‘Sniles Lofer’ entered the bakery ‘Bread&Butter’ and ordered his usual morning coffee with milk, the man is reported by witnesses to have taken but a single sip of the beverage before collapsing to the floor.

Experts say that poison was found inside of his body but not in the coffee, meaning a well-planned assassination had taken place in the modest bakery, ‘there are currently no suspects’ captain of the investigation unit tells us.

For more details on the case, please follow our extra issue - ‘Crime’ that is relea-“. “Are they fucking stupid?!" Looking at my master in disbelief I exploded in anger. "How can they NOT find traces of poison on the cup? I purposefully made it obvious so they don’t think it’s some master assassin, is this real?!” Her stupid grin changed into a more serious expression as she prepared to lecture me. Again.

“It matters not if they know that a master assassin carried out the job, so long as you have not been seen, nothing else matters. Like I said before, your life comes before anything else.

4 years from now you’ll attend the Mil-Ansk military academy for the purpose of perfecting your fighting capabilities and achieving a secret mission, until then, you will steal and kill without ever exposing yourself to meaningful danger.” She concluded another lecture before letting me go back to sleep.

School huh? Ostel always talks about how fun it should be...