On the day of my seventeenth birthday, I was given my first hit. My life had all come up to this moment, all the training, all the fake missions, it was all for this.
The target was the chief engineer of the city, a corrupt official who demanded ransom to fix problems he made. My guild had been watching him for a while and finally caught him "fixing" the heating in the slums by turning a single valve only after receiving a hefty sum. He was greedy, corrupt, and overconfident, perfect for my blade.
I stood atop the generator building, looking over the city. The Aetherlight was dimming, and I could see him walking up. I crouched down to the building, nervous I might be seen, even though I knew my uniform blended me into the dark cavern walls perfectly. He was being followed by the generator guards, men who I would rather not come into contact with. They were the best trained guards in the city since the generator was pretty much the only important thing here. He walked up to the front doors, swiped a badge, and walked in. Now it was my turn. I fell back to the cavern wall and slipped alongside it until I came across my entrance, a vent already unbolted just for me. I pushed it aside and dropped in without a sound.
Not that it mattered if I did make a sound. It was loud in here. Pipes rumbling with hot steam, gears turning and whirring, workers getting ready to head out for the night, it was too perfect a time for me to slip in undetected along pipes and rafters, following my target's slow stroll across the ground floor. Some workers tried to talk to him, inform him of daily happenings but he just continued walking, seemingly uninterested in anything but his destination, his office. He swiped a badge again and this time left the guards outside the door as he slowly stepped inside, the door sliding shut behind him. Now for step two. There was supposed to be a window in his office overlooking the main heat sink of the factory, an area with tons of pipes, gears, sharp bits and gizmos that I would have to navigate. I dropped from pipe to pipe and squeezed around a few walls and batteries until I was down below the ground floor, a tiny crawlspace that got hotter and hotter as I approached the heat sink.
I popped my head out of a vent at the end of the crawlspace to see a giant fan slowly spinning, directing a massive pillar of hot steam from this room to the next, the main mechanism that was cooling the lights around the city. The steam stuck to my face and drenched my clothes before I was even out of the crawlspace. I wiped my brow and quickly looked around. There were a few windows, some had blinking lights going off, some were already dark, but there was one, way high above me that flicked on as a figure slowly crossed its frame. That was the one. I quickly moved to the fan and grabbed on, feeling the heat burn right through my thick, drenched gloves. The fan picked me up without issue as I rode up to another pipe. I grabbed on and pulled myself up and slipped instantly. I caught myself with my arm and chin, feeling the burn deeper before pulling myself back up slowly. Everything was covered in the hot steam, inside and out. I stood up, balancing on my heels as I made my way across the pipe toward the window. It was a long drop, and the heat was starting to make me dizzy as well. I wiped the steam from my face again and remembered my training. I looked forward, crouched down and stepped forward. I felt the vibrations through the pipe and adjusted myself. I moved without thinking and before I knew it, my face was against the wall again, the window directly to my left. I peered in; the target was gone. I pulled out my knife and cut the hole just big enough for me to get through. I pulled the glass out and put it in my bag, no noise, no mess, and crawled in.
I slipped my way to the floor and let the cold sink in for just a moment. The room had six large consoles and one even larger in the center. A control station of some sort. They were all marked with strange symbols and lights, but I couldn't make any sense of it. Tech was never my strong suit. There was a small staircase to the right and, peering down it, I could see someone was obviously hiding around the corner with a rifle. Further past them though was the target, standing motionlessly by the exit. They knew I was here; they were waiting for me to make my move. There was no alternate path; I had to set off this trap. I pulled out my knife and a dust bomb and stripped off my drenched cloak. It would only get in the way now. I looked into the reflection of the window to the symbol on my chest. The veiled flame. This was for the good of the city. I threw the bomb and charged in. The smoke filled the room instantly as I grabbed the guard's rifle and bucked him in the head with it. I heard the thud of the guard's body and the swish of door opening and I ran towards it. I exited the smoke and leapt at my target, striking him in the back of the chest right in front of another guard. The guard staggered back and yelled for assistance. As I pulled out my knife, leaving a dark blue stain in his shirt.
Blue? I flipped him over to revel he had no face. Not only that, but he was melting, slowly seeping into the cracks in the floor. I stood up, trying to piece together what happened before a blast shot off behind me. Pain seared through my face, and I turned around to see the guard from the smoke crawling out with another pistol in hand. It had just missed my eye, and I realized I needed to leave. Another voice rang out. "Hey! We still need her!" I turned back to my target, but he was gone, and ahead of me was a large group of guard, all of their rifles aimed at me. "You're lucky you missed dipshit. Now follow me lady or I get to try out this fancy new gadget." He displayed the rifle to me. A blue energy surged through it and strange wires stuck out all around the trigger. Looks like it was his lucky day. I bolted to the side instantly, launching myself up a wall, onto a ledge and sprinted away. "Heh, my lucky day." He muttered to himself before aiming and firing. The sound was unworldly, as if the cavern walls had split in half. He had missed, but the world was suddenly silent, and I was losing balance. The sound had deafened me. I gritted my teeth as I ran up another wall, pulling myself back up to the rafters before another shot went off, cracking the ceiling and splitting my eardrums again. I ran back to the vent I came in through and burst out, ripping my gloves off and covering my ears. The pain rang through every inch of my body before I steeled myself. I wasn't safe yet.
I slowly pulled my body to the edge of the building where I saw my fate. I was surrounded. Guards lined the building waiting for me to make my exit. There was only one more option. I reached into my pouch and pulled out a syringe labeled Nethermoss. It was my only way out of here. I stood up and prepared myself. With the extra energy I would be able to make the jump from here to the warehouse across the street, then a mad dash back home. I threw up my arm and slammed the syringe into my thigh. Slowly I felt it crawl through my body, the pain just eased away. Then I started to feel the shakes, my eyes started to focus. Without another thought, I sprinted up to the edge and launched myself off the building. Instantly the guards saw me, but in the same instant, I was gone. I slammed into roof of the warehouse and threw myself back up. I sprinted off the roof and onto another, and jumped to another, until I was a bullet flying through the air, racing across the dark city.
It didn't take long before I was at the secret entrance. A small crag in the wall of the Farmview district. I could feel the effects of the Nethermoss wearing off and the crash setting in, but I needed to make it back home before then. I clumsily squeezed my way through the crag, tripping on the uneven floor and scratching my face until I was there. The bridge to the Assassin's Guild. I made it. I stumbled over to the bridge and started across it when I heard a yell in front of me. I looked up to see... nothing. Then I was falling.
The deafening crash of the rifle sounded out through the cavern once more and blood sprayed from my shoulder.
He followed me in, and I had been shot.
My body went stiff as I fell from the bridge into the Downs. I couldn't move. I couldn't hear. I was losing my vision, and my body was burning from the Nethermoss. This was what it was like to die.
But I couldn't die. Not yet. I needed to live. The hit wasn't complete. My guild needed my help.
Through the pain I reached out toward them and I clutched. I took hold of something. Something that was never there before but had always been by my side.
The world slowed and I could suddenly see the air around me. I could touch it. I could move it. With one swift turn I threw the air down at the ground just in time to throw myself to the side. I wouldn't die today, but I couldn't keep going on. I felt a crack as my back hit the wall and everything went dark.
