The Beginning
My target Salvatore Armando was speaking to his apprentice unaware of the fate that he was about to endure. Cloaked in the shadows, I watched intently. Salvatore dismissed his apprentice and sauntered around his library. He probed through his collection of books and finally adopted a Latin bible. He slouched down on a chair to his right and scanned over the pages. This was the perfect chance. I left the darkness around me and strolled over behind Salvatore. I reached for my gun then paused. I wanted to do this the old fashioned way. The wooden floor crackled and screeched as I walked. “Who’s there”, Salvatore protested. No answer. Salvatore started to get up. “Who’s there”, he said angrily. He stood up and turned around. He stared right at me, and his eyes widened. “Who are you”, he said as his voice trembled. In one, swift motion I seized his skull and twisted. His neck cracked and he fell to the ground.
Salvatore’s body was limp and lifeless. My dark deed was done. I analyzed my surroundings. There was no sight of Salvatore’s apprentice. A window to my left was the quickest way out of the building. It was about fifteen feet high. I quickly dashed up the wall to the window and yanked myself out of the room. I arrived onto the roof of the building. My coat blew in the wind. I bolted to the end of the roof and leaped. Rolling as I hit the ground.
I dashed from the house and came to a stop at a nearby alley. The night was dark and cool. The sound of music filled the air. Men and women strolled past the alley laughing and shouting. After a while I decided that my break was over and I climbed up the alley wall. I was on the roof in less than a few seconds. I darted across the rooftops, leaping over gaps and spaces between buildings. Shingles from the roof cracked under my weight. I heard voices and I crouched down. I slowly came to the end of the rooftops and stared down.
A group of guards were standing around laughing and talking. They were so happy and joyous. I wanted to fix that. I pulled out my bow and fixed an arrow into place, targeting the first guard. I let the arrow fly and in one quick motion I fixed another arrow into place. The next arrow flew and two guards lay dead on the ground. Before the other guards could react I leaped down with my sword in hand and stabbed a guard through the temple. I yanked my sword out of the lifeless body and looked over to the last guard. The gutless guard dropped his sword and fell to his knees on the cold, hard gravel guard His sword clattered on the ground and the sound echoed through the streets. I slowly walked over to him. I holstered my sword and pulled out my knife. The guard whispered prayers and then he looked up upon me. “You are the devil”, he said angrily. I whipped my knife across his throat and he fell to the ground.
I stared at the body in pleasure, pleased with myself. I started to walk away when a sharp pain shot through my body. My sight went blurry. There was a flash of light and I fell to the ground, out cold.









I opened my eyes. Black tendrils swirled around me. I tried to move but there was no hope. The tendrils were holding me too tightly. I looked around but all I could see was darkness. A long silence lingered until I heard a strange sound. I made out a shape coming in my direction. It was the outline of a person. It came closer and I made out large protrusions coming out from the shoulders. It walked with a steadied pace. Then its arms started to change. The fingers morphed together, the forearms stretched out and curved, and the arms grew aciculate.
I stared at the face of the creature. It was cloaked in a shroud of darkness. It stopped about ten feet away and stared at me. It raised a blade-like hand and pointed it at me menacingly. There was a blur and the creature was gone. I felt the tendrils ease up on me and then they were completely gone. I looked around frantically but I couldn’t find the creature. I heard the strange sound again. This time it was behind me. I spun around and gazed at the creature’s shrouded face. The creature lifted its blade-like hand and held it ominously over my head. Then, it whipped its hand down. My eyes flew open. I gasped for air. It felt like the wind was knocked out of me. I relaxed my breathing and staggered up from the cold, hard ground.
I looked around. The bodies of my recent victims were scattered around me. I made my way past a few bodies and looked behind me. The faces of my victims haven’t changed since their deaths. Each one had the same facial expressions from their demise. Each one was wearing the same horrified stare. I turned my face from the bodies and walked away.
The Darkness
Darkness surrounded me, but in the distance I saw a pillar of light. A girl in a light blue dress stood in the center of the light. She was twirling her light blonde hair in her delicate hands. She was humming and spinning her dress. Her beautiful hair was shining in the light. I started to meander over to her. The angelic girl was spinning and twirling around in the light. Then she spotted me and beckoned to me with her hands. I caught a glimpse of her gorgeous face and then the ground started to rumble. A huge crack cut through the dead black ground. The crack rushed towards the girl. I started to run to her. She didn’t realize what was happening. “Run, run”, I yelled. The girl couldn’t hear me. Then the crack reached her. She was yelling and running. The crack pulled her down. She was yelling at the top of her lungs. I couldn’t help her. Her hand reached out from the crack and then she was gone.
I woke up. I was lying on the cold, unforgiving gravel. This was where I fell asleep last night. This is how I wake up every day. I picked myself up off the ground and lazily walked over towards the busy streets of Florence. I wandered around the bustling streets and as I walked I took in every detail. Men, children, and women were scurrying down the road. Merchants were calling out to the crowd. Guards were trying to appeal to women strolling past them. They weren’t having much luck. The whole city of Florence was scrambling around with excitement.
I felt a slight tug at my waist. I spun around and saw a man darting off with my money. He picked the wrong man to steal from. I took off running. The man was at least twenty feet in front of me. He was pushing through groups of people. I looped in and out of the crowd and came within arm’s reach of the man. Then the man jolted right and sped down another street. I was done with this. In plain sight of everyone, I took out my dagger. Aiming directly at the thief, I flicked my wrist and the blade flew. It impacted with the thief’s upper back and he dropped to the ground. Men, women, and children just watched in disbelief. I walked over to the body picked up my money and yanked the dagger out of the thief’s back. The thief yelped and then everything fell silent.
Everything stopped. No more talking. No more playing. No more sound. Every single person was completely silent. Well, only for a while. It wasn’t very long before the guards once again called out “Assassino” and I was running for my life. Twenty guards were hot on my trail and there was nowhere to go. There were no alleyways, no places to hide. I was trapped.
I had my back against the wall. The guards were surrounding me. Each one was ready to fight. They were going to kill me. They started to close in on me, step by step. My hand inched to my sword hilt. I knew I couldn’t take out these guards. There were just too many but I’m going to die trying. My hand clasped my sword hilt. I slowly drew my sword. Then a strange sensation started to overcome me. I couldn’t feel my legs. The sensation started to progress to my upper body and then I couldn’t even move. My whole body was overwhelmed by something. Something was inside my head. It was changing me.
I dropped to my knees. My whole body was changing and I couldn’t do anything about it. I stared down at my hands. Veins were bulging out of my arms. My hands were morphing together. The bones in my arms cracked and thinned out. My arms became sharp and pointed. My skin grew dense and metallic. Each change hurt more than the last. I strained myself to look up at the faces of the guards. They looked with wide open eyes. My eyes flashed back to the rest of my body. Armor plating morphed out of my chest. The plating slithered down my body until it reached my feet. My whole body was covered in armor.
I forced myself to get up. It felt like I weighed five hundred pounds. The guards were in shock. They were staring at me like I was the devil himself. Then in the distance I saw an archer. He had his bow raised and he had an arrow fixed into place. He pulled back, stretching and straining the bow. Then in an instant the arrow was flying through the air. The arrow whistled through the air, passing over the guard’s heads. I heard a clank and looked down to see the broken arrow lying on the ground. I didn’t feel a thing. I could get used to this.