Anima di Nerezza Chapter 4, Haste Options

[Sirin]

Anima di Nerezza
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Part 1-Names for faces

I stood in absolute darkness. Or, more correctly, I hovered in absolute darkness. I felt no ground, but nor had I any feelings of weightlessness. I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face, but I could see for miles in front of me. Mass confusion clouded my thoughts. Through my mental discord, however, a voice spoke.

“Mortal, you have done more than you know,” spoke Mehrunes Dagon. “By setting forth in a quest to restore balance to your precious little faction, you have embarked on a journey to rival the greatest of heroes, or the most notorious of villains. You have made me glad that I have restored the gift of life unto you. Continue to do so, and you will be granted many things.”

Feeling somewhat bold with the Daedra’s compliments at my back, I asked a question of the Daedra. “My lord, I have encountered several obstacles in my path, yet I know nothing about them. Can you tell me anything of them?”

As if thinking for a moment, the Daedra paused before he spoke again. “I know of these obstacles. The Redguard, be wary of him. You may never truly know of his allegiances. As for the mysterious woman whom you despise, she is… a servant of another. Sheogorath is her master.” Having satisfied my meager wishes, the voice of Dagon vanished, as did the darkness. When my vision cleared, I was still seated at the Leaping Lion, staring at my half-empty mug. The conversations still continued. Nothing seemed to have changed. But as I gazed into the dark liquid of my mug, my reflection showed something different.

My eyes: one red, another blue. I hoped that it was just the alcohol, but after staring for some time, I concluded that it was real. Ah, but another sign of the Daedra’s control of my life. Angry, but at the same time excited, I got up and left the tavern.

Can’t you see? He’s helping you. He has given you gift after gift, said one side of my mind.

No, what he’s given me is multicolored eyes! What help is that? said the other half.

People don’t have to see you eyes. You could wear a hooded robe all of the time, and no one would know the difference.

No, if I wore a hooded robe, someone might mistake me for the Thing, the servant of Sheogorath.

Plenty of people wear robes and cover their faces. She isn’t the only one.

Maybe… maybe you have a point. After finally ending the psychological warfare going on in my head, I walked over to the nearest clothier. The shop was a small, bright haven of clothing. The shop keeper was a short Imperial woman. The radiance of her blonde hair was only magnified by her ruby red lipstick.

No…no… it can’t be her… it isn’t! I stared for a moment at the lady, until the mirage faded into the actual shop keeper, who had brown hair and no make up whatsoever. I really needed to quit drinking.

“Are you alright, miss?” she asked worriedly. “You look… by the Nine! What’s wrong with your eyes?”

“Er… just a problem from when I was born,” I lied, and ducked my head. My face must have turned shades redder than the Thing’s lipstick, for I certainly felt humiliated. I hastily picked out a midnight blue robe, for they had no black, and took it to the keeper. I persisted in locking my eyes to the floor, but I could still feel her curious stare.

I dashed out of the store and ducked into a dark alley to put on my cloak. Pulling it on over my head, and consequently blinded, I was nigh helpless when the rough hands grabbed me. They picked me up, slung me over the shoulders that they were connected to, and took me into a vacant building.

I was rudely dropped on a table while the robe was ripped off from over my head. The face that hovered above me can only be described as hated. Despised, loathed, reviled. Anything would do the trick. But still, for a minute, words escaped me. The hands tied me to the table with strong ropes, and finally I yelled out.

“It’s you, the Thing!” I screamed with the anger rising in my voice.

“My, my, you could at least call me Maria,” said the Thing, or Maria, as she wished to be called. She raised a jagged dagger above her head without another word. As she curved it towards me, I found myself squeezing my eyes shut.

This post has been edited by Sirin: Mar 8 2006, 11:37 PM

[Sirin]

Part 3-The Next Target

When finally inside of the Lion, I discovered an unfamiliar place. At this hour, I discovered that the Leaping Lion was next to vacant. I was close to expressing my surprise, but held my tongue. My business was not to notice such trifles. My business was to bury a blade in the face of whoever needed to die.

Inside the back room, however, the atmosphere was no different. Vercindelle was still seated at his large, wooden desk. The thought occurred to me that, save whenever I had almost broken my legs, he was always in his office. A boring life my old friend led.

“Good evening, Vercindelle,” I said upon being seated.

“Why the sudden change in clothing, Mabriel?” he asked curiously.

“Not important. What is important, though, is that the one whom I said was dead truly isn’t.”

“This is grave news, indeed. What makes you so sure of this? You did see her die with your own eyes, correct?”

“Yes, just the same as seeing her alive this very night. I have no doubt that it was the same. I even have a name, now: Maria. She told me herself,” I replied defensively.

“No need to be so edgy, Mabriel. I believe you all the same. It’s just… difficult to take in. Her resurrection, I mean.”

“Well… there is one other thing. She’s…”

“Yes?” he said in anticipation.

“A vampire. Maria is a vampire. She tried to suck the blood straight out of me.” I said, shuddering at the thought of it. Vercindelle sat in silence for some time, musing on this new knowledge.

“This means… this means we need to kill the remaining eight even quicker, now,” he finally told me.

“How do you figure that, Vercindelle?”

“If she’s a vampire, she isn’t going to die. Well, she CAN die, but we don’t have the equipment to do it. This is something the Imperial Cult should handle, and I don’t fancy they would help criminals. If she is so hell bent on killing you, you must take out the rest before she succeeds.”

“If that’s the way things are, Vercindelle, then we must make haste,” I said resolutely.

The Altmer immediately gave me my next assignment, the murder of the second of the bunch. His name was Raziel, or so Vercindelle had told me. He was an orcish man with high ranking in the Imperial Legion. I believe he was said to be a captain, or something of the like. He resided in his personal, grand quarters in the Imperial Castle. I was told to expect heavy resistance, but none from the orc himself. Years of retirement had softened the former warrior.

I was not given any new equipment, but I needed none to begin with. I was more than pleased with my current inventory. The mission was to take place that night, with little room for spare time. If indeed Maria, or even Sirin, were to interfere with this mission, things would certainly go awry. I was certain that, this time, my target would not be murdered for me.

I learned from Vercindelle, who was told by one of his many informants throughout the City, that Raziel was to see a… “woman” that night. Due to the depraved state of this woman’s occupation, the orc would not know who he was to meet for certain. Instead, the woman’s “keeper” would send any random girl. This would be taken to my advantage in the fullest. A dagger in the back, maybe a quick change of clothes, and I would be within killing reach of Raziel.

She would most likely not be guarded, so I would have a straight and clean shot. I had a tip on what the girl would look like, so I set out in the City and began my hunt.

I awaited the arrival of my secondary target atop the rooftop of a smithy, which was conveniently located near the castle. However, due to the proximity of the Imperial Castle, I would need to be tenfold more subtle in the assassination, or seizure, of the girl. A light mist shrouded the brilliance of the full moon and also masked my position. Below me, a guard patrolled the mostly barren street. I was not worried about him, though, for one guard could not stop me. It was unlikely that I would even be detected by him. I was too skilled for such trivial matters. Whatever I stress I harbored against him was soon extinguished, for he rounded a corner and left the road vacant.

This was none too soon, for I spotted my girl approaching the castle, only twenty meters from my spot. I changed my stance, as I was previously sitting, to a low crouch. Ever so quietly, I gripped my dagger and pulled it free from the metal sheathe. Fifteen meters away.

I inched forward until my toes were gripping the edge of the roof. Ten meters. The girl matched the descriptions: medium height, long red hair, human, green cloak. She was no more than six meters away when I glimpsed her face.

“Oh no,” I whispered, dreading the very moment. Maria walked below me. That vampiric servant of the Mad One, she was my secondary objective.