With a subtle rustle from his coat, the warden's body dropped towards the ground with a loud thud. Viscous blood ran from the puncture wound from his neck, creating a pool of blood around the area.
The warden's eyes were still open—signs of shock and pain, evident on his eyes as he laid down the floor—lifeless.
A sharp tearing sound filled the air as the assassin ripped a part of fabric from the warden's coat. Placing the fabric on the blade of her dagger, she began to wipe it in one singular motion—cleaning it, and dropping the fabric towards the floor once she's done.
After a few moments, she then lowered to one knee—before raising one of her arms towards the warden's body.
The assassin then went on to chant a mysterious language unknown to Jinn.
"Vikz kaver, ine' krevor moraita"
Dark energy-like mists began to flow around her hands—and finally, towards the dead warden's body.
The dark energy wrapped around the warden's body, like how snakes wrap around their prey.
The dark energy continued to wrap each corner of the warden's body, until he was fully obscured by the dark energy.
Curling all her fingers, the assassin clenched her fist—making the energy that wrapped around the warden convulse, before consuming his whole body entirely.
Not even a speckle of blood had remained, his entire body—no, entire existence had been consumed.
Jinn was speechless and could not utter a word of what he just saw with his very own eyes. He only knew these power-like abilities from the stories he had heard from Nevi, but to experience them first hand?
Jinn was truly in awe.
After fully consuming the warden's body, the assassin's gaze shifted to Jinn. The assassin then lifted herself as she stood, before walking towards him with a blade still on her grasp.
"W-What are you doing?" Jinn's words faltered as he saw the assassin walk towards him—with seemingly maliciously intent in his point of view.
"Shh…" The assassin puts a finger on her lips before raising the dagger high above.
"You've got to be kidding me…" Jinn's eyes darted upwards, fixated on the blade.
With the dagger's blade pointing downward, the assassin's arms snapped as the blade perfectly cut the iron bindings on Jinn's hands—making a loud thud as they fell towards the ground.
"Mhm." the assassin smirked as she put the dagger at a hilt attached to the belt upon her chest.
She then gave her coat a quick pull, fixing it—before grabbing a nearby chair to sit near Jinn, crossing her legs.
"Lady Venedix have high expectation for you, boy." remarked the assassin as she started to grab something from within her coat—it was some sort of small metal stick that created smoke as soon as she clicked it.
Taking one of the ends of the stick towards her lips, she began to inhale and exhale the smoke—filling the air with a mysterious smell.
"Another one of Venedix's lackeys?" Jinn coughed as he started swatting the weird smoke coming right at him.
The assassin chuckled and scoffed as she shook her head at the idea. "Trust me—I'll never want to associate myself with House Sorellia."
Jinn furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "Then who?"
The assassin then leaned in closer to Jinn's ears, her voice a whisper. "Oh, Venedix—I just hate working for her." she shrugged before standing up, taking a whiff on the metal stick once more.
"Are you making fun of me?" seriousness painted all over Jinn's face. "I might be a child, but I'm not as naive as you think."
The assassin sighed. "I'm a contracted assassin—I'm not associated with any of the houses." she then flicked her finger towards Jinn's forehead, making a subtle thwack.
"I work for others, for the benefit of myself." the assassin shrugged. "Think of a mercenary that specializes in infiltration and silent killings!"
The assassin then walked around the room. "Anyways—my contract says to kill anyone who tries to pry information on you." She then pressed both of her hands on her face, making an exaggerated binocular shape while looking at Jinn.
"So I'll be seeing your face a lot!"
Jinn sighs before he darts his eyes around.
"What now? The warden's dead" Jinn asked. "And I'm the only one here—assuming you'll be disappearing into thin air."
"That's simple!" The assassin replied with a snap from her fingers.
The dark energy from earlier once again flowed around her body, wrapping around her—until her appearance changed from that of the warden.
Jinn shook his head in disbelief, his eyes widened that the assassin from before was long gone—what appeared before him was the dead warden, breathing and standing before him.
"From now on, I will be the warden." the assassin smiles, her voice the same as the warden.
Leaning downwards, she picked up the fallen sword from the warden, and attached it on the strap of her belt from the side.
"Time has passed for too long—you must go back to your cell." remarked the assassin before adding. "You have a big day tomorrow—slave ritual day!"
"You—what's your name?" Jinn questioned, brows furrowed.
"My name is not important for you to know" The assassin's head tilted before continuing. "But you can call me evakhell—dawn in Zerafhon tongue."
"Evakhell, tell Venedix to wash her neck." Jinn scoffed as he narrowed his eyes. "I'll be the one to kill her—when I get stronger."
"Very well." The assassin slightly smirked, before exclaiming. "Soldiers!"
From outside the room, footsteps echoed as the boots from the soldiers hit the stone as they grew closer to the warden's room. With a subtle creak from the door, two soldiers entered to salute Evakhell—not knowing that the warden they were saluting towards was already dead.
"Take this child back to his cell—the interrogation is finished" Evakhell flicker her wrist, just like how the warden would.
"At once sir!" exclaimed the soldiers before tightly gripping Jinn by his arms to drag him outside.
With a subtle beep coming from one of her ears, Evakhell raised her hand to press a button coming from the device on her ear.
"The boy is rebellious as you've stated, contractor." Evakhell smirked as she spoke to her earpiece.
===
Deep within the parts of the main city of Zerafhon, in the main household of Sorellia—sat Venedix inside her office, listening to Evakhell.
"Mhm" Venedi'x hummed as her eyes narrowed while the corner of her lips smirked slightly. "I shall meet you tomorrow at the coordinates that I will send you."
With a click from the earpiece, Venedix turns it off before placing it down at the table in front of her.
Raising herself, she stood to walk towards another room.
With a subtle flick from the button, Venedix turned the lights on—Illuminating what was within the room.
An array of gorgeous swords of varying sizes, displayed on each corner of the room—protected by what seemed to be a transparent energy field that only Venedix herself can operate.
Each blade from the displays gleamed with sharpness and danger—combined with its deadly elegance and sophisticated design present on both blade and hilt.
This was Venedix's personal collection of blades she cherished.
Venedix's hills subtly clicking on the ground, she continued to walk towards the farther end of the room where there was a chest filled with blades that were both dirty and poorly managed.
Scanning through the chest, Venedix leaned downwards to grab a short sword among the assortment of poorly conditioned blades.
Venedix then turned the sword to various angles and sides before running her fingers across the blade to check its figure—her eyes sharp as she inspected every nook and cranny.
With a tight grip on the sword's hilt, she then began to swing it around to perform a series of slashes upon the air. The force of her swings created wind distortions that created whip-like sounds inside the room.
"Mhm." Venedix mutters as she sheathes the sword. "This would do."
She then began to walk out the room after grabbing what seemed to be a whetstone.
===
The soldier's footsteps echoed throughout the hallyway as Jinn was dragged across, passing through multiple cells of other groups of slaves.
A familiar voice then exclaimed.
"Jinn!"
Jinn's head shook to look around until he found Hector's face on another cell—along with the rest of his friends.
"You good man!?" exclaimed Hector
"Jinn!" exclaimed a familiar voice, making Jinn's eyes widened before shifting his gaze towards the direction of the voice.
"You good man!?" exclaimed Hector as he gripped the bars of the cell.
At the left side of Hector was Vox, also shouting. "We're doing just fine over here!"
"G-Guys!" Jinn replied, before furrowing his brows in seriousness, "I'll try to get us together!" before shifting his gaze towards Hector.
"Until then," Jinn further yelled. "I'm counting you—Hector!"
Hector's eyes widened, before narrowing as he nodded in reply, his eyes following Jinn before he disappeared deep into the other side of the hallway.
With a loud metal bang from the cell door, the soldiers tossed Jinn inside the chamber—before closing it back once again.
Kain, with relief over his face, ran towards Jinn, stumbling across the way.
"'Jinn! A-Are you alright!?" scanning his eyes all over Jinn's body to look for injuries.
"Seems alright to me." said the old man who was beside Kain—his towering muscular body loomed over Jinn like a mountain.
Raising his eyebrow, Jinn looked up to the towering man before shifting his gaze back to Kain.
"Nothing much, the warden just gave me an earful."
"Enough about that." Jinn swatted his hand as a gesture, before putting it on Kain's shoulders. "We haven't even eaten yet! Let's go find—"
"I already gave him some—and the other slaves that got their food taken." the old man cutted in, before handing Jinn a whole piece of bread. "This one's for you."
Raising his eyebrows, Jinn asked the old hulking individual. "Who are you?" his gaze drifted as he caught something from the corner of his vision.
A pile of bodies, unconscious, were at the corner of the room.
It was the Throns that Jinn faced earlier.
The old man laughed, ruffling his long grey beard. "Don't worry about it kid." his expression then turned serious. "You should hurry up and eat—we all need to get some rest before tomorrow."
Jinn's expression then shifted in a serious manner, before taking a large bite on the already cold bread given to him.
"The slave rituals…" Jinn muttered.