Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Tales of an Assassin - Chapter 7

    The silence was deafening as a battle of wills contested in darkness. With knees drawn to his chest, William fidgeted violently with his face. Fingers gripped at the skin roughly, pain flaring at the facial piercings. His bottom lip wiggled back and forth causing a metal ring to clink audibly against his teeth. Before he knew it, he was bodily shaking and his breath was bated. Sweat began to bead upon his brow as he stared into the darkness. His eyes focused heavily upon an object of both desire and hatred; salvation and destruction. A small metallic inhaler; Crucible in vaporous form.
    "You think you own me? Is that what this is about?" William questioned aloud. He paused for a few moments and continued shaking and twitching. "I don't need you!" he said through gritted teeth. His hands ran across his temples, fingernails biting into his shaved scalp. "Fuck you!" he seethed as he finally pushed himself to his feet. The room spun ever so slightly, reminding the man that he needed to eat; yet another string holding him up.
    William pulled a simple black shirt over his heavily scarred, yet very defined torso. Kicking the door open he stood in the doorway, pausing as if reminded of something. One of his legs began to twitch quickly. Finally he balled a fist a smacked the inside of the door frame. With an angry glare and now both hands in fists, William crept ever so slowly toward the inhaler. With each step his anger flared, eventually drawing low growls from him.
    Addiction won over willpower as William snatched up the metal tube and took a hit. The metal tube hissed its venom into William's lungs. He blinked a few times and looked at the cold metal. He tried to take another hit but there wasn't even a hiss that time. Enraged beyond ration he threw the tube into wall, breaking it into pieces. He screamed at the top of his lungs for as long as he could, emitting a range of responses from the nearby locals. 'Stupid junkie, shut up!' was the common one. Expending the little energy he had left, William collapsed and trembled a while.
    Eventually the pain of facial piercings pushing into the floor brought the kultist back to reality. Pushing himself up slowly, William grabbed his cloak and immediately pulled the hood up over his head. The ends of it were frayed and worn with both time and violence. He strode out into the street intent on seeing his pusher contact as the first of the day's agenda. His stomach groaned at him the entire trip though he ignored it further.
    The kultist assassin found himself in front of derelict apartment. It was dirty, missing concrete bricks in many places, several windows broken. Many tenants had rather take their chances elsewhere, as crime began to centralize in the empty rooms. As William roamed its halls, he found no families. Instead, wicked parodies of the family dynamic replaced them. Junkies, dealers, gamblers, thieves and whores all made their nests here. William was neither repulsed nor threatened as he went to the fourth floor, 4C specifically. If one were to witness the event from the outside, it would be obvious that the scum of the building were, in fact, repulsed and threatened by William's presence.
    The 4 had long since disappeared leaving behind a dirty outline of itself beside the C. A single knock was answered with a, "The fuck is it?" The kultist's hood covered his raised eyebrow. "William. I'm buying." The door unlatched and slowly opened to reveal a thin punk 20-something with a modified Class 1 Ordnance. It had a long clip, easily doubling the number of available rounds. William knew this kid would fill him will bullets if he gave him an opportunity. The punk backed off, allowing entrance. As he walked inside, William he made straight for his pusher. The contact was a portly man, easily 100 lbs. overweight with greasy, slicked back hair and a thin goatee.
    "Well if it ain't the old man, back for more Crucible. Am I right, old man?" taunted the hefty man. "I'm not that old. Just give me another fucking inhaler," William demanded. "Woah there chief, let's calm down, alright? So there's been a lots of raids recently; someone got promoted if ya know what I mean? You get cubes or nothing. You fucking get that old man?" replied the pusher, this time less than amused.
    William grit his teeth and glared from behind his hood. "Fine, as long as its not cut with-" "Fuck off, you know I sell you the purest shit I got. You're the only one that buys it..." "Excuse me for not wanting to trip in three dimensions too; I can hardly fucking handle one dimension. Just... give me sixty cubes."
    The pusher almost questioned William's ability to pay but thought better of it. He could feel the 'murderer for hire' vibe emanating. The large man's meaty fingers squeezed the ironically tiny, metal cubes as he handled the order. Handing over a larger metal box to William, the man's pudgy digits punched a series of numbers into a credstick. "4500 creds." The kultist pulled out a reformatted credstick and slide the devices together, taking the box with the other hand. As the pusher's credstick cleared the transaction, William had made his way to the door.
    As he stepped through the door, William stopped and pulled down his hood. He turned and stared at the punk that guarded the door like a faithful hound, still baring his 'teeth'. William stared at him, turning his head in a maniacal glare. His colorless irises and facial disfigurements gave the correct impression as the punk took a step back, disgust clear on his face. Pulling the hood back up, William strode the building with purpose in his steps.
    William exited the den of scum and hit the street. He made his way home quickly, making sure he wasn't followed as best he could. He was more concerned about inspecting his merchandise in private. Inside, he kicked the door shut and dropped down in the middle of the floor. He pushed some of the trash out of the way and turned up the lights. Pouring the contents of the large box onto a table William began to look at the small cubes carefully, finally deciding all was well. As he opened a cube and lifted it to his nose he heard a sound; his door opening. He looked, making sure not to spill his precious drug.
    "Oh, please don't let me stop you. Here, let's both get high," said a voice. A woman wearing a see-through, tight-fitting dress with black latex over the naughty areas in a sparing amount. Beneath the dress, black lingerie accompanied with black latex thigh-high boots. She wore her dark, brunette hair in short pig-tails with large black bows. She was pretty and had blue eyes.
    "What the fuck do you think you're doing!?" William shouted. "Calm down, calm down, I'm just here to talk," she replied. "Seriously, I didn't mean to stop you. I thought it might ease you if we both do something," she added. In a fit of rage, William snorted two of the cubes. Tranquility washed over the kultist and he was able to be himself once again.
    The woman had taken a seat across the small table and pulled out a small box of her own. Inside was her stash, filled with patches of Nueroacid, Beetles and syringes of Liquid Silver. She immediately slipped a patch onto the inside of her bicep. She smiled at William as his outlines began to become neon  and pulse like waves. "Look, obviously you aren't here to kill me. You realize I can kill without notice. That's smart. Walking into a killer's lair, isn't. I'll ask once. Why are you here?" William asked. "Can't a mysterious killer have a mysterious mistress?" she playfully taunted. William raised an eyebrow.
    Morning came soon enough as William was awoken by a frisky and kinky woman named Whisper. William was sure her name came with ulterior motives but he didn't mind. She rolled on top of him and kissed on his neck a bit.
    "So lover, can you tell me why you killed my pet? And don't tell me you don't remember Telly. Hard to forget a man-sized spider what spits acid." Whisper was no longer playful.



Fan-fiction for Obsidian: The Age of Judgement

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Tales of an Assassin - Chapter 6

    Daemonic steel cut deadly swaths through the air toward William's face. A brute of a man swung a massive sword repeatedly, biting at the leather trench-coat the kultist wore. One of the swipes caught his arm eliciting only a frustrated glare.
    "Its more fun when you scream! So scream already!" cried the huge man. "Don't you know? I like pain," William retorted.
   The dance continued for another minute, the large man becoming enraged as the smaller continued to dodge the sword. Luck ran out as William retreated backward and toppled over a pile of trash. Quickly the sword plunged its way into his right shoulder, pinning him to the ground. The swordsman loomed over his prey wriggling against his blade, grinning widely as he damned a portion of the soul within the daemonic metal. "And now I Draw the Breath!" howled the man as pain coursed anew within William. Blood poured freely from his wound as a cold shiver ran through him.
    Gunfire erupted from down the alleyway, finding purchase in the sword-wielder's ribs. The man growled fiercely, as if not completely human. He turned and damned the entirety of the spirit left him, pulling the massive weapon out of William as he did. As he brandished the bloody blade his body transformed in a matter of seconds, doubling in size as muscles rippled with mass. His clothing was torn to shreds leaving only plates of metal stretched across his form. His face looked to be filled with terrible rage and pain as daemonic power filled his muscles and bones.
    "I...what the..." blurted one of the two men that stood in the alley's mouth. He could speak nothing else, instead turning to flee in panic upon seeing the daemonic man's visage. "THERE'S NO ESCAPE!" cried the daemon-man as he sprinted down the alley, torn clothing trailing behind him. The remaining man had the fortitude to hold his ground, kneeling down as he opened fire with a large two-handed Ordnance. The bullets hailed through the air with trails of light, giving the man an advantage as he corrected his aim. With inhuman celerity, the swordsman darted side-to-side taking only little damage as he closed the distance. In a display of strength the man swatted the gun to the ground with a backhand, following up with a fluid sword thrust. The metal was buried to the hilt, allowing the hot blood to flow over the daemonic man's hand. The gunman looked down at the sword that had found purchase straight through his stomach, expiring only a moment later as his spirit entered the kult sword.
    It was a matter of a mere minute for the daemon-man to hunt down the other man, torture him and consume his soul. For William, that was time enough to escape. It would use the rest of his trapped spirit but a strategic retreat was in order. Damning the soul from his ringblade, William passed through a black portal that grew from beneath him, transporting him safely to the floor of his hovel an instant later. The kultist breathed a sigh of relief and stared at the darkened ceiling.
    "That was too close. I'd heard stories about the circle of Lost, but that was incredible. He transformed into...something. I'll have to research their powers more closely." William crawled across his uneven cement floor to a small box in a corner. Inside was a plethora of advanced medicines. Leaning against the wall he began to treat his injury. The final step was dousing the wound with alcohol, sending him into a state of unconscious shock. Dreams crept into the man's brain as he found respite.
    Half a day passed as William recuperated, though his mind was plagued with nightmares and visions of daemonic torture. Awakening in a very groggy state, the kultist lit a syntharette and leaned against the wall sideways. A few minutes passed in silence as he finished off the cancer stick, stubbing it out on the broken cement. Touching his wound brought a racing pain that helped to clear some of the fog from his mind. Pulling out a flask from his coat, William drank the small amount of booze left in it before taking care of his bandages. The alcohol and pain managed to pull William's senses to the forefront, giving him clarity of mind.
    Taking to the streets, William spent the next several hours tracking down gangers or bums or some scum no one would miss from Sub-Level 4. He would interrogate each one for details about the swordsman before taking their life for the spirit left behind. His ringblade nearly full, William decided to rest for a moment in a small alcove. His questioning had turned up nothing solid, bringing him frustration. Clenching his jaw, he let out a heavy sigh. Mindlessly his hands pulled out another syntharette and lit it, letting the nicotine calm him a bit. While contemplating his next move, there was a sudden clunk of metal to his left. Snapping his head to the left, William had played right into the trap. From behind him, mere inches away, came a deep voice.
    "What's wrong? You seem nervous," taunted the swordsman. William's eyes went wide and he slowly turned his head until he could see a massive maw of grinning teeth. The man began to laugh, his hand swiftly gripping William's throat. He stood up, lifting the kultist into the air. While he was occupied choking his prey, the large man did not see the Ordnance slip out of the coat and press into his stomach. There was a moment where the two's eyes met in silence, realization setting in. Pulling the trigger, William blew a hole through the daemonic man, throwing him to the ground. Gasping for air he searched for the man, knowing it would take more than three bullets to put him down. His vision was blurry and the world threatened to become black.
    "Fuck this shit. There's only one way to put him down," William said as he damned a portion of spirit in his ringblade. The lining of his coat became a daemonic portal, allowing the kultist to remove a small device from the safety of his home. The large man on the ground groaned, attempting to sit up. With vengeance burning in his eyes, William snatched up the sword and shoved it through the swordman's pelvis, pinning him to the ground. Howling in pain, the swordsman tried to reach for his prey with no success. William grinned wickedly at the man before pulling a pin out of the device and tossing it onto his lap.
    "Give my regards to Hell," William said as he stepped away. A moment later the alleyway erupted in white hot light, instantly melting and vaporizing anything within a five foot radius. The kultist lit another syntharette as he made his way home to his dank hovel.



Fan-fiction for Obsidian: The Age of Judgement

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