Year 21

"So do you think you'll be going on the assassination mission?" Talia asks.
"I dunno, I think I'm still under watch for my past indiscretions." You reply.
"Oh come on, even Master Ebon can't believe you're going to find some Felkan trollop to lay with while on your way to kill the king!" Murk laughs.

You give a small chuckle and go back to poisoning your bolts. When Mr. Mol explained to you that the plan was going through, you wondered if you were going to be one the assassins. Mr. Mol said he was leaving it up to the Shadow Guard to pick "their best" as requesting you, might give you away especially given the mess you told him that followed with Shade. Mr. Mol congratulated you on how you handled that and as far as that event is concerned to the Shadow Guard, it's still a mystery. His body was never found and it's known he didn't start a war with the Felkan Kingdom. The general consensus is he just left never to return due to his disagreement with Master Ebon. Brother Murk remarked on the irony that if he'd only waited a little longer, he could've been one of those sent to kill the Felkan King now.

In any event you know the plan on both sides. As soon as the assassination mission is underway the Empire is going to start purging the shadow safehouses and all known dissidents before moving on to Gloom. From what you know, orc troops are going to be used liberally in this. Mr. Mol said it will thin out the ranks and put their restlessness more at ease. He also mentioned that he's going to be sending in some of your former classmates as well. Your mission will differ depending on where the Shadow Guard send you. If you're going on the assassination, then you'll carry that out, but it will also be you job to eliminate all the rest of the shadows with you. If you're left at home, then it'll be your job to start sabotaging Gloom and taking out any shadow that gets in your way in the process. Mr. Mol mentions that some allies that owe the Empire a favor will be taking down the brunt of Gloom.

Master Ebon has decided to make the move when the Felkan War is in full swing. Fortunately their plan to destabilize Rask was abandoned as all shadows were "suddenly" transferred out of there by decree of the Emperor. The Shadow Guard's plan won't even get off the ground if all goes well, at best, there will be a few major battles and then the hunting of escapees.

Everything should go well for the Empire. The only perpetual pain is Cyrus. He's only gotten more hostile since the Shade incident and even more so when he found out he wasn't being sent to Rask. He claimed it was your fault and the pair of you had to be separated. He didn't make any more accusations further than that, but he knows something is going on. You're guessing he'll probably be one of those on assassination mission. If he's not around and you're left behind, it'll make your job a whole lot easier without the possibility of him spying on you.

Then again if you're both on the mission, it'll give you an excellent chance to kill him, because at this point you want to as much as he probably wants to kill you and that idea certainly appeals to you. Later that day you pay a visit to Brother Gray.

"Can I help you brother?" he says looking up from his desk.
"Brother Gray, I know you're still disappointed with my indiscretions, but I would like to prove myself that I am dedicated to Dendrin's laws and commandments and I feel the best way to do that is to be on the assassination mission. I've even been practicing my shadow magic and while it isn't as strong as say Sister Talia's, I'm confident that it will be sufficient for the mission."
"Hmmm, well you were being considered, but you were still on the fence as it were. As for me being disappointed, you shouldn't have been concerned with that, so much as you should've been concerned with offending Dendrin. However, if it puts you at ease, I ceased being disappointed a while ago. I've noticed that you've been more focused lately, so I know you're trying to atone for your actions. It's mainly why I was considering you for the mission. As for your skills, I'm still baffled to as why your magic abilities aren't as strong as they should be, but I suppose your combat abilities make up for it and I think you'd be more than suitable for the mission in that regard, but I'm a little more concerned with sending you on any mission with Brother Cyrus since he is being considered as well. I'd rather not risk jeopardizing the mission, so I need to leave one of you here."

It's apparent that whether you stay here or go on the mission that you probably won't be dealing with Cyrus, which is a little disappointing and a minor reason to as why you wanted to go on the assassination mission in the first place.

"I understand brother and I accept your judgment." You say humbly.
"Well I don't have the final say, that honor belongs to Master Ebon and he ultimately answers to Dendrin as do we all. He will determine if you're worthy or not, but I'll see what I can do for you. So is that all brother?"
"Yes. I shall take my leave and return to my duties."

You leave Brother Gray's office, shaking your head at it all. Not about the mission, but more about the fact that Brother Gray still believes very much in you. In fact other than Cyrus and perhaps Draven you still can't believe how you're so accepted here, it never seems real to you. You can't be exactly sure, but you think Talia has been examining you as a potential mate. Especially after all that business of you sleeping with countless whores became public knowledge. You can only guess she figures you've got a lot of experience, well that and the only other Eternal around is gay.

Even Master Ebon hasn't doled out any harsher punishment on to you more than what he did during your false confession. If you were in his shoes, you would've had yourself executed for the slightest possibility that you were involved in Brother Shade's disappearance. Strange that the shadows' treacherous nature would be so blind to someone so close to bringing them down.

Their deity Dendrin hasn't spoken to you in any dreams lately, or for quite awhile actually. Perhaps he got tired of taunting you or whatever game he's playing. Though
perhaps he's lulling you into a false sense of security. You still always expect him to visit you any time you sleep. Of course maybe that's part of his way of fucking with you as well.

In any case, you return to your room and engage in your routine fake behavior of friendship. You'll be so glad when this will be over, it sickens you when you actually start feeling like you're actually friends with these traitors rather than crushing them under foot in the Emperor's name.

A couple days pass and you get called to Master Ebon's office and when you get there, you also see Talia, Murk, Bianca and Dusk. He mentions that you've been chosen to go on the mission. He wasn't sure at first, but after Brother Gray's recommendation on your behalf and after consulting Dendrin for a sign, he says that you were chosen instead of Cyrus. He goes on to say he hopes that the pair of you straighten your feelings out soon, because there is going to be a great need for solidarity more than ever after this mission.

Master Ebon also goes on to explain that Sister Dusk will be in charge of this mission and that you all will defer to her experience. Ebon brings up a bit of a change in the mission too, a change you're not too pleased to hear.

"We're not assassinating the Felkan king. Dendrin showed me that our cause would be best served by deliberate incompetence."
"What?" you ask out loud, feeling a very real sense of having heard this plan before a year ago.
"Killing the king would only throw the Felkans into disarray. We want them to be focused when they declare war on the Empire. Instead I want you to infiltrate the palace, kill a few guards and then get out as if it was a failed assassination attempt. This will definitely alert the Felkans to start beating their war drums and it hinders the Empire's own plans. You all will be assumed dead by the Empire for obvious reasons, but in reality you will just return to us and will have to stay out of sight… which shouldn't be too hard given our nature. When you do return, we shall put the final part of our plan in motion when the Felkans retaliate."

Maybe he's not visiting you in your dreams anymore, but he's definitely still fucking with you. Now you've got two things to take care of personally. You have to kill the shadow squad AND the king.

Master Ebon tells you that the mission will be underway in the next few days and dismisses the lot of you.

"Hey you got in after all!" Murk says after you leave the office.
"I'm glad, you certainly deserve it." Talia adds with a smile.

When you return to your barracks, a death glare comes from Cyrus and Draven doesn't look too happy with you either. The pair of them immediately leave the room. You can only imagine that he's super pissed because you've been chosen to go on the mission rather than him. You wouldn't be surprised if he tried to kill you in your sleep tonight.

Not that you're going to get any sleep, since you're going to be up all night trying to figure out how you're going to pull off your additional assignment.

The day soon arrives and everyone gathers in the assembly hall to see you off. Master Ebon makes a small speech.

"Brothers and sisters of the shadow, today is truly the beginning of the end for the Empire. These five have been chosen by Dendrin to carry out his plan. May their mission be a success and may all of them get back safely so that they may help the rest of us continue the fight at home. And if they should fall, know that they fall for a worthy cause and will pass from this world to serve in Dendrin's shadow realm forever and there is no greater honor."

"Death to the Empire! For Dendrin!" Master Ebon shouts and everyone else follows suit, then the five of you leave.

The first part of the trip to the Arat province is fairly laid back and the usual friendly banter goes on during this time, though Sister Dusk is consistently telling the rest of you to knock it off as your minds should be more focused on this mission. You've never really had too much interaction with Dusk before, but it is apparent to as why she was Shade's lover. She seems very much like him in some ways.

Yes, this mission is starting to feel all too familiar.

In between the party banter, you've been coming up with various potential plans. One plan involves continuing the mission and during the infiltration of the palace you'll try to kill them or get them killed by the guards. This allows you to get inside the palace with their help and you're still in a good position to try to kill the king, of course this also means you're going to have to be quick if you want to kill everyone without anyone getting away.

The other plan would be to try to convince Dusk to split up the group and meet up at the Felkan palace. This would allow you to pick off a few of them before you get to the palace and perhaps make it more manageable. The problem is you're going to have to come up with a good excuse, not to mention you'll be a few bodies short in case you do run into trouble with the Felkan soldiers. Never mind the fact you're going to have to convince Dusk of this in the first place.

You try to convince Dusk of your plan

Felkan soldiers aren't going to be a problem, but you need to get rid of Dusk and perhaps a few others before you get to the palace because you aren't going to have time to do it when you need to focus on assassinating the king. You approach Dusk as she stands away from the rest of the group examining the map.

"Sister Dusk, why don't we split up and meet at the palace?" you ask.
"For what purpose, brother? It would be more efficient to just all go together." Dusk replies.
"If we run into major trouble during our journey in Felkan territory, it would be better if some of us still got to the palace in a timely manner. Besides a larger group will attract more attention."
"And neither of those things are going to be a problem since we'll be cloaked the whole time."
"Well how do we know the Felkans don't have something to prevent that? Wouldn't it be better to remain on the side of caution?"
"I think it would be better for you if you had more faith in Dendrin's protection and stopped speaking nonsense. I'm in charge and I'm telling you we're all going as a group. Besides I don't want all five of us running around separately, because as you say if we do run into trouble, we'd be stronger as a group."
"I didn't mean all five of us go separately, we could still be in groups. Like you and I go as one group and the other three go as another."
"You and I? Seems like you've thought this out."
"Despite Murk constantly failing to impress Bianca, they work very well together, so they should stay together and I assumed Talia would be the logical choice as a leader. Her skills are better than Bianca and Murk's so she could lead them. Granted my combat skills are probably better, my magic is not. I believe I would be better off with you where your magic and my combat abilities can complement each other. We're going to have to split up when we get to the palace anyway if our intent is to sow as much chaos as possible before escaping, better that we do it now before we get too comfortable with a larger group."

Dusk still doesn't look entirely convinced, however she tells you to wait and she goes over to speak to the others. After a few moments of discussion, she turns back to you.

"Okay, you might have a point. You'll come with me and we'll approach the Felkan capital Dessle from the north, Talia and the rest will approach it from the south. Neither of us are going to reach it today, but we'll definitely make it by tomorrow night where we can meet up and I'll relay the next course of action. Try to stick to the wilderness and non-populated areas until then. May Dendrin guide us all."

Dusk and you set off, about five minutes in she states that she forgot to mention that the area Talia is suppose to be heading into is supposed to be have regular patrols, so she should be warned about that. You wait for Dusk to return pondering when the best time would be to kill her. Probably not until you a good ways into Felkan territory, maybe just before you get into Dessle. Eventually Dusk comes back and you're on your way again.

Crossing into Felkan territory is very easy. The outposts aren't nearly as well guarded as they should be and combined with sticking to the wilderness and using magic to cloak yourself it's incredibly simple. You eventually camp out in a secluded wood where Sister Dusk becomes more talkative.

"We made pretty good time, with minimal problems. I guess you had a good idea. I suggest we both get some rest, tomorrow will be the big event."
"Yeah, hopefully the rest are doing just as well." You remark.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about them. I'm sure they're fine."

Nodding in agreement, you decide this would probably be the best place as any to get rid of Dusk. You figure you'll pretend to go to sleep, wait until she's asleep and make your move.

After waiting for about an hour, you finally get the impression she's asleep thanks to the sounds of snoring. Not very quiet for a shadow, but it helps you any way. You slowly get up and make your way towards her.

Your blade is drawn and just before you strike, you feel a bolt go into your side.

"Ah shit!" you cry out and fall to the ground. Another bolt goes into your leg and Dawn "wakes up". She wasn't the only one faking sleep it seems.

"I knew it! I knew Brother Cyrus wasn't just ranting and I knew you probably were involved with killing my mate Shade. Filthy traitor!" Dusk exclaims, kicking you in the face.

Talia, Murk and Bianca all come out from the underbrush. Dawn must've told them to follow you the whole time. They all look on in disappointment at you, but Talia especially.

"I didn't want to believe it…how could you betray Dendrin like this? How long have you been a traitor?" Talia asks while reloading her armbow.
"Me a traitor? No, it is YOU who is the traitor! All of you! All of you have betrayed the Emperor for your pitiful god who cares nothing for you!" you shout in defiance. "I know this because Dendrin himself has spoken to me on several occasions trying to convert me to his will, but it didn't work."
"He does care, or else he would not have tried to bring you into the fold. How sad that you did not learn his wisdom and accept his mercy." Murk says.
"How sad that you actually believe that. You're more pathetic than he is. If he really cared for any of you, he would've warned you about having a so called traitor in your midst. He didn't, so that says a lot about your revered deity."
"Enough! I won't hear anymore of these vicious lies! Your treachery ends here today traitor." Dusk shouts back and attempts to finish you off with a sword blow, but you've got enough fight in you to roll out of the way and return with your own attack, hacking Dusk's foot off.

It's a small victory though, the rest of the shadows move in and run you through several times. Defiant to the end you laugh and state that they've won nothing here and the Empire will survive as you die.