Soon, when their masters were done completing the ceremony, it would begin to rain harder, it would get darker, and they would finally be released.

  The would-be assassin exhaled, more as a reflex than anything they needed to do at all. It wasn’t like they were breathing. And they hated that. They hated it so much. They couldn’t believe how many of the others had willingly joined to follow the masters, even leaving behind the promise of being released from these constructed prisons and back under the earth, were they were resting.

  They didn’t remember much of their past, any time they tried they could only get images, many of them of happy days, some of a little girl, others were of the collapse of it all, of the dead crops, the darkness, the rain and the dead walking through the streets. They couldn’t recall anything else, neither their name, nor their gender, or least of all, their face. They were merely a consciousness trapped in a body of clay, forced to be a slave in a world that hadn’t been the one they knew for so long.

  When they had woken up, nearly a year ago, they couldn’t even accept that any of what they were seeing was real. Not that the world had changed so much, that what the least of their worries, but more along the fact that they were now servants of the very evil that they had tried to resist. It had been like going to sleep and waking up inside a nightmare. And despite how much they tried, at the end, there was only compliance. If they didn’t do it on their own, the masters would command their body to do it anyway. And since everything got in movement three months earlier, they hadn’t stopped doing things that were so deeply unpleasant. At least they hadn’t been sent to kill anyone yet. Others had, and how fortunate they were that upon completing those missions, they were released. Others could replace them after their cursed harvest.

  For the sake of their sanity, they had decided to call themselves Norve. It was a name that existed within their mind. A very old name at that, given some records they had managed to read, and a noble one at that. Apparently it was the name of one of the companions of the old hero. Perhaps unfitting for a cursed thing like them.

  Their mission was simple, they were to place a certain device in one of the exterior walls of the palatine complex of Lastria. Activate it. And ensure through that action that the later operations there would be undisturbed. They were to receive more orders later. The device in question was a small wooden block, with a pink crystal in one of the sides, but otherwise completely smooth and perfectly cubical. They didn’t know what it did, and they didn’t want to know.

  It was in position and they had activated it merely three minutes earlier. Part of the activation process consisted in that they had to keep touching it constantly, which was annoying to do under the rain, but again, it’s not like they had any choice.

  Norve had been observing the place for a handful of days, having taken the identity of one of the palace’s guards, who one of the others had killed and made disappear. It was unfortunate, but they no longer protested the methods of the masters. It only made things so much more difficult than what they were willing to tolerate at this point. Being like this was cruel enough, and they so wanted it to end already. They had never believed in Hell, or however the people of this time were calling it. But it seemed like this was it.

  “Guards are supposed to be receiving their final briefing right now, what are you doing here?” A female voice spoke at a distance from them. They couldn’t see well through the rain and how dark it was, even with the shine of the lights in the garden below, but just a moment later, as they adjusted their position to seem slightly more casual, the speaker revealed itself to be a young woman wearing what seemed like a military uniform, although one that was clearly not designed to be worn in battle. It wasn’t that of a palace guard, that was for sure.

  They coughed. They didn’t quite remember what voice this identity had but decided to go with something rather standard-sounding. “Not all of them, miss. The bosses said that someone should patrol up here a bit, so that not everyone is there, you know?”

  Her expression didn’t change. “Is that so?”

  They nodded. Something was wrong, and they cursed to themselves, internally. They didn’t want to have to kill the woman.

  “Then why are you just there resting, sir?” She said the ‘sir’ with venom in her voice. It suddenly clicked to Norve; the girl hadn’t realized they were an intruder and had come to hunt them down, she was just checking for incompetence!

  “Because, miss, I began to walk this round on the other side of the wall, do you know how long that is? This isn’t even my normal position! You don’t know how much my feet hurt right now.” They complained. It was good acting, hopefully.

  “I’m going to need you to give me your name and badge number. I will be reporting your presence here to the captain. If he confirms it, there won’t be any problems, if not, I assume you will be arrested.” She stated, as if it was nothing. Her face, although rather soft-looking, was completely inexpressive. Just a mask of seriousness.

  Norve cursed to themselves and faked a smile. Well, no losses, they would disappear or get a different face before any of her threats could even begin to be made real. “Sure, I guess. Mario Cresata. 554.”

  She blinked, in silence.

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  “Very well then, Mister Cresata. Now, I’d like to ask you a simple question, if you’d be so kind to answer me, and I’ll get out of your hair.” She covered herself more with her greatcoat, shielding herself as much as she could from the rain despite not carrying an umbrella. Something quite unfortunate. “Do you know who I am?”

  Norve staggered, blinking rapidly. If their current face had any family or friends, they had not been informed. And that would be impossible, so whatever the girl was asking was something else. If she had a nameplate, they couldn’t see it. Ah, fuck it, they were going to bullshit an answer and then call it a day. What was the worst thing she could do, kill them again?

  “A police officer. A rather beautiful one at that.” They winked. And cringed a bit inside.

  She stayed in silence for a moment before sighing and turning around, ready to leave. They were ready to sigh in relief, but then she turned back around.

  “Oh, right, I forgot to say it. My apologies, Mister Cresata, but I was quite emotional about having found it out.” She spoke with no emotion whatsoever in her voice, cold and calculating.

  A shiver would have gone through their spine if they had one. Another thing to curse about their current situation. “Yes?”

  “I was in yesterday’s briefing. I’m with the lady’s security detail. And you were not there.” She said.

  “Well, of course I was not there, miss, I was here.” They explained back, too late to realize the mistake. Just early enough to dodge the blade. She was fast.

  She pointed at them with the sword, it glowed in the night. The light seemed sickly, of a blue-ish color so pale it almost seemed white. They had seen, in the far past, people sick with a then new disease whose skin was that color. It caused them to want to puke, even if they knew it wasn’t possible. The girl clicked her tongue, locking eyes with him. A sensation of fear went through his whole body. They had never been a warrior, there was no way they could affront this.

  And then, they realized that they were no longer touching the device. They felt a sensation like if something had awoken, at a distance, and just as suddenly, it had died. It was strange and yet deeply unpleasant in ways they couldn’t even begin to describe.

  “Mario Cresata or whatever your actual name is, you’re under arrest.” She stated, her voice sharp as she walked, step by step, towards them.

  They glanced towards the device. This was bad, really bad, they didn’t know what happened to those who actually failed in their missions, and didn’t want to know. There had to be some way, preferably a non-violent one, to get out of that mess. And they needed to find it fast, before she called for help.

  Because she wasn’t alone, right?

  Norve took a couple of steps back and felt the world around them. They felt the trees below, the cobblestone paths of the garden, the water in the fountain, the birds in their nests on the branches, they felt some kind of commotion inside the wing of the palace that contained the grand ballroom, perfectly visible from there. It was a good thing to not have senses like humans had, even if they hated it. She was alone.

  They smiled. What a fool. This meant that, should they play their cards right, should they move in the right manner at good speed, they’d be able to flee. Even if that wasn’t really what they should do.

  “Arrested for what?” They asked. “For slacking at my job?”

  The police officer didn’t respond, she knew better than to answer to someone who was clearly stalling for time to think. And time was the last thing they had, as every single one of the girl’s swings with her blade came closer and closer to actually hitting them, and that would be a massive problem.

  “Wait, I can explain…” They tried to begin, dodging the sword, but failed. It sliced through the guard uniform, opening a gash and revealing the absence of any flesh underneath. If they were lucky, she would be stunned by it, giving them enough time to get a quick counterattack. They could, potentially, overpower her.

  “What are you?” She broke her silence, but didn’t stop attacking. If she was surprised, it didn’t actually register in her face at all.

  “I’d love to answer that if I myself knew, miss.” They answered, trying to dodge the strikes as much as they could, but it kept getting harder since the moment their hated inhumanity was exposed. And it wasn’t the time for longer explanations.

  “Where is the real Cresata?!” The question of the hour. Her voice was louder but her expression remained the same. Or almost the same, it seemed to them that there was a strange glow inside her eyes that was not at all the same as the blade’s.

  “Dead I assume, and before you say anything, not by my hand” They grabbed the hilt of their own blade, but it was difficult to pull it out without exposing themselves. They, once again, cursed, this time out loud.

  She seemed to come to a sudden stop. They didn’t know why, but she was completely still.

  “Where have you heard that?” She asked.

  Norve racked their brain, not sure at all of what she was asking. Was it the curse? It was an old swear word, from when they were not a monster. Perhaps she had heard it? Couldn’t be, if that was the case, why would she react in such a manner?

  “I’m angry, miss, I just swore!” They answered. Nothing big.

  And yet, her pupils shrunk, her eyes as open as she could make them, her hair, right as they saw it, going up in what seemed to be a mask of pure, unadulterated rage like they had never seen before. That was bad, extremely bad for them, bad to levels they couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Not that they had time, as a horrible sensation suddenly filled their body from inside out. If they had veins, they would have felt like they were burning.

  They felt themselves fading, not fully, but as if they were sinking into the bottom of a well, unable to do anything about it. Their vision went dark.

  Norve had only gone through that once before, it was more than enough to swear for it to never happen again. One of the reasons of their torment. Their body, no, the thing they had them puppeteer had been taking over in direct control of the masters.

  They felt sorry for the girl.