The twin’s birthday

Dead bodies lay everywhere, the largest storm Adonis had ever seen, with rain pouring so hard it could have created its own lake. There were five carriages, Adonis stood on the path. Soaked through his clothes, but he was far too curious to leave and find a dry place.

The middle carriage looked different than the others, with gold and ruby on it, giving it a majestic look. Suddenly a big lightning bolt lit up the air, and there stood the assassin from the farm.

The same mask, same weapons and same evil nature. He walked over to the carriage door, then he tilted his head in an angle, staring right at Adonis. Fear surged in Adonis, he began to run the opposite way as fast as he could.

The road was very slippery, he nearly lost his footing as he booked the opposite way of where the assassin was. Suddenly he lost his balance and fell, head first into the mud. Feeling disoriented he slowly got up, wiping the mud out of his face he looked up to see the mirror face assassin standing right in front of him.

He grabbed him by the throat, lifting him off his feet and said in the most cold blooded voice he ever heard, " Happy birthday"." Happy Birthday Adonis!"

Adonis jolted from his sleep, skipping the whole drowsy part of waking up and going right to full wakefulness. It was only his girlfriend Julie standing over him, the voice had been a loving one, not that of the assassin’s.

Before he could speak she put a finger on his mouth and kissed it, he kissed her back. He layed over her as they began to make out, his tongue in her mouth and his hands rubbing her back.

They were going to go further when the door burst open and there stood the assassin, long machete in hand. He walked to the bed and decapited Julie in one shot, before Adonis could react he kicked the bed to the side, pinning Adonis to the wall.

Before he could do anything the assassin laughed maniacally, looking into the air as he laughed loud enough that it could be heard throughout the house. He called for help, but then he seen his parents hanging from the roof.

He wanted to scream but contained himself, then Jolene stood beside the assassin. He asked, " What do we do with this one?"

She ignored Adonis, pulling the mask off to expose his face, but Adonis could not see it for his vision was fogged. She kissed him and said, " Go wait outside, I’ll kill him."

The assassin walked out, leaving him with his sister. She simply stood there, machete at hand. She smiled that beautiful smile, her eyes suddenly flashed yellow for a second as she swung the machete at his neck.

Adonis woke up, sweating with fear. He looked around the room in panic, unsure if this was but another part of the nightmare. It felt very real now, he inhaled the air refreshing his body with life.

He stepped out of the bed, feeling the wood on his bare feet. It felt very real, suddenly his sister came walking into the room. He wasn’t dressed but she hardly noticed, she said, " Happy birthday Adonis"

He thought for a minute and then said, " Thanks, you to sis." As he put his pants back one he said, " I had the strangest dream, more of a nightmare. You killed me in the dream."

He had said it quite normally and she replied with a big grin, " Hey, you dreamed my favourite dream of all times."

He punched her in a playful manner as they raced down the stairs, he knew he would not receive presents or have a ceremony or anything. Not even when he reached adulthood at 15 had he received a ceremony like everyone else did.

Jolene had made him breakfast, she may have been his twinsister but she looked very different than he did. Her beautifully curled hair going down to her mid back was as brown as the earth Adonis worked with every day.

Her eyes were brown, not dull brown but a rich brown full of life. As she served him breakfast she said, " I heard about what happened to Ronaldo, it was a horrendous execution wouldn’t you think?"

She sat down calmly, eating her own eggs. She was not crying because there had never been any love, he asked, " Yeah, I seen it happen. Where’s mom and dad?"

She smiled and replied, " Out, its all they told me but I know where they are. Dad’s at the purple lion drinking himself to death and mom is with her friends studying this book called the bible, written by some God himself in some far away lands."

Drinking a glass of orange juice, Adonis said, " I got a present for you, well its no good anymore but it was a free romantic dinner for you and Ronaldo. At that fancy restaurant with ten utensils and nice floating candles and voodoo like that."

She smiled and walked over to him, kissing him on the cheek saying, " We can go, just because were related it don’t mean we can’t eat together, were eating together right now aren’t we?"

Adonis nodded and said, " True, you make a valid point. I guess we will, I hear the food is the best of the best. What do ya got for me?"

She shrugged, putting her empty plate in the sink. She pumped the water in, rinsing the metal plate she replied, " Well, I know how much you want to get married to Julie, so here is some money to help you buy that ring."

She tossed him a bag full of coins, as he looked inside he said, " Thanks sis, this means so much. I can almost afford it now. I love you so much for this."

Now he knew it wasn’t a dream, he went out to begin his chores when their parents finally arrived. They were arguing as usual, as their father got into the room he looked at them and said in his drunken voice, " You and yer sis ar’ goin to the market, we be getting an ox to replace the ox killed by those god damn wolves. And while yer both there Get some food, water and most importantly, get me a week’s worth of ale"

His mother walking in the kitchen said angrily, " Harold, that’s blasphemy! Don’t use the Lord’s name in vein like that!"

Harold turned to her and said, " Marie, I talk any damn way I please. He aint my God, ya hear!" Without hesitation he slapped her hard across the face. As he was about to continue he turned to them and said, " Well, get yer buts moving, ale don’t buy itself ye know!"

Adonis rushed out of the house, Jolene following. Grabbing the wagon and putting it over his shoulders he said to Jolene in an irritated voice, " Look who woke up on the wrong side of the bed again, bloody pig."

Jolene glared at him and replied, " He is piss drunk, and he is going to beat mother. And all you can do is joke around, you idiot!"

Adonis wondered what he had done to anger the Gods to leaving him with such a family, as she walked ahead he grabbed the wagon by the front and mumbled, " Sheesh, no need to get all pissy" And proceeded to walk to town.

That day Leando was sparsely crowded; a few early risers walking around or standing at food stalls getting everything ready. Adonis grinned at his luck, his family had been going through hell with all the arguments and he had anticipated the village to be full.

Suddenly this surge of happiness evaporated into the sky with the apparition of the Turtle gang.

They began to pick on a poor elderly who had spent the last five minutes struggling just to set up his stall of shaman charms and voodoo stuff. Adonis recognized the leader, although no one knew his real name.

Everyone in the community as well as himself had tagged him with the nickname Bane due to the ruckus and destruction he afflicted in the small community. Letting the wagon fall to the ground, he told his sister to wait as he approached bane.

" Can’t win fights in your usual drunken brawls anymore, so your picking fights with seniors? Just when I thought you couldn’t get any lower. Why don’t I just toss you in the wagon and you can live with my pigs, if your lucky they’ll teach you how to get up to their level."

Bane turned to him and said angrily, " What ya saying Silvers. Ya think ye can beat me and me gang do ya?"

Looking at the thugs and then at Bane, his response was swift, but straight to the point. He punched him square in the jaw, sending him sprawling to the ground."

For an instant no one knew what to do, Adonis awaited for an inevitable attack and Bane’s cohorts stood idly around not being certain what to do. Rubbing his jaw in pain Bane growled, " Well don’t just stand there like the bunch of moronic inbreeds ya all are, get that bastard!"

Just then the four thugs went at him. Adonis managed to punch one down and kick the other but the two remaining guards grabbed him by the arms. Bane walked up to him and punched him square in the jaw, returning the favour. Adonis grimaced in pain, as Bane savoured the moment and prepared to punch him once more he heard a whistle behind him, when he turned to look he saw Jolene smiling at him.

He smiled at her, a lustful look filling his eyes as his eyes felt her body. Freezing on her breasts he looked back into her eyes grinning, " So Jolene, how bout we let me thugs take care of yer bro so we can have some... private time."

She smiled and brushed his face gently with her fingers. As he let his guard down succombing to his lust she punched him hard in the nose.

The two thugs who weren’t holding Adonis went after her. With agility and precision Jolene kicked one hard in between the legs with all her strength. As he fell to his knees in excruciating pain she ducked under the punch from the second thug, elbowing him in the gut and then doing a quick 360 and punching him in the nose breaking it as well.

Adonis took advantage of this unlikely distraction and elbowed his captors; he hit one in the gut and elbowed the other using all his might, cracking his ribs. They doubled down over in pain.

He stood triumphantly beside his sister and said, " Where did you learn all those fancy attacks?"

She responded, " Believe it or not, I didn’t date that knight just for the lovemaking, he was very apt at the martial arts and sword fighting. Not that he had much of a chance to use his skills."

The defeated rose painfully to their feet and Bane smiled painfully, blood smeared his face and oozed from his mouth. He wiped the blood from his face, motioning for the duo to look behind them.

Adonis and Jolene turned back with confused looks on their faces to soon answer to their own confusion as they seen at least twenty thugs approaching.

The thugs were so numerous they filled the whole town square. They had come for their revenge, surrounding the duo until they heard a cynical voice from behind them, " You fight like a bunch of monkey cowards, The Coronian Empire despises cowards. As a matter of fact, they hate them more than they hate traitors and liberals."

Bane turned around, white with rage for this was the last straw. It was the assassin with the mirror mask, Bane was only 5 feet tall and was considerably shorter than the assassin. Looking up in his yellow eyes, his rage reflected in the mask no fear was apparent.

Despite the fact he was armed with two falcata swords, two halberds and at least ten daggers and the fact he wore armour of ultimate quality, Bane did not fear him. When he was in one of his rages, he could face a giant tsunami wave without fear.

" This is my town to terrorise, I ain’t scared of ya with your mirror mask and mighty weapons or anyone else."

Using his remaining strength enhanced by his anger he punched the assassin in the face. Or at least he tried to, the assassin grabbed his fist saying, " You should be scared, I’m your worse nightmare kiddo"

He flipped him hard, letting him land hard on the ground. Breaking his arm simultaneously, still holding the broken arm he swung him into the air and let him go at the department store window.

The impact of Bane against the window shattered it upon impact, he landed on the counter, sliding all the way to the end. As he slid he grabbed the cash register in hope of stopping himself but it only came with him as he crashed against the wall.

As the cash register spat out golden coins a plenty, an emotion far more powerful than anger or lust took over him. Powered by greed he began to stuff his pockets with as much gold coins he could fit.

Not seeing this the thugs thought him dead, and they wanted revenge. Before they charged the assassin said, " Wait, lets make this fair. I’ll put my weapons down."

They watched as he put his weapons down at a deliberate slowness, completely unarmed they all charged him, forgetting Adonis and Jolene altogether.

The assassin raised an arm as if praising the sky and murmured strange words into the air. Suddenly all the thugs were lifted into the air, each reached for their throats, gasping for air. All their veins began to throb violently, blood gushed forth from each one of them until they imploded upon themselves.

The unrecognizable corpses floated in the air like blood soaked scarecrows. Bane walked out of the shop, his pockets full of gold coins, wearing a smug look on his face. Suddenly he heard a splash, there hadn’t been any rain and the streets had been dry.

Looking down, still wearing that smug face his eyes widened in terror at what he seen. The smug face disappearing as the blood drained from his face he seen the blood pooling from his massacred band of thugs everywhere.

Looking up he saw what had once been his cohorts, shapeless corpses with guts hanging out, shaking in horror he ran into the nearest alley, tripping on something the gold fell all over the ground. A terrified scream was the last thing heard coming from the dark alley, the last scream the Turtle gang would ever make.

Looking at the alley for a second he turned to face Jolene, his head turning so fast they hadn’t even seen him turn it. He looked her over with his yellow eyes, he asked in a eerily calm voice, " You look so familiar to me, perhaps we’ve met in another time and place, or another life?"

This was terrifying for Jolene, she had just witnessed him kill all the Turtle gang without even using a weapon, and was talking so calmly. Despite her fear and the distraction of floating corpses she replied in a cordial tone, " You must be mistaking me with someone else. However my brother and I extend our thanks for saving our lives and ridding the town of the Turtle Gang, they were quite a nuisance to the town."

Putting his weapons back in place he said without looking at her, " My mistake then, and it was nothing. I am after all the law in these parts of town."

With that he walked away casually, weapons clanging against his armour. The light reflecting from his mirror mask. The assassin stopped in front of the stall where the shop owner Adonis had fought for shook in fear.

Chuckling to himself the assassin kicked the stand down, sending the shaman and voodoo stuff in the fresh shallow pool of blood. Doing 180 degree spin he faced them again and said comically, "And I almost forgot about them corpses, sorry."

Mumbling something all the corpses fell hard to the ground, followed by a loud splash as the corpses fell on the ground, bones cracking like twigs being broken. He turned and walked out of town, leaving the mess he had made behind.

Once he was gone, as they stared at where he had left Adonis said without turning, " I don’t know what’s worse, getting beat up by the Turtle gang or owing them to a cold blooded killer with no face."

As they kept on looking, expecting to see the assassin come back and kill them. She replied in a distracted voice, " I recommend we not be here to find out."

Out of shock they ran to the poor salesman with his shaman stall, he was struggling with standing it back up. Helping him put it back up Jolene asked in a genuinely worried voice, " Are you alright Timothy?"

Timothy nodded and replied in a voice that seemed far too fragile, " Do not worry about me, the turtle gang has been ridden from this town, but I do not trust their killer in the least." As they cleaned some of the mess left by the former turtle gang to the store, raising the stall up and placing the food back on he continued, " I’d be cautious if I were in your place Jolene, he said you were familiar to him. He might try to pay you a visit."

Having placed everything Adonis said, " Many thanks for the words of caution Timothy. I shall heed your warning but I think we will be fine. Just gotta finish the shopping and we’ll be done with this mess."

Finishing all errands they left for home, although there were no more ox remaining everything else had been found. As they slowly walked down the path Jolene said, " I hope father did not beat her too badly, he can get very violent at times."

Adonis who was strained by the heavy load replied, " I suppose he did, but she knew she was marrying a drunk and knew the dangers. I am more concerned about this assassin coming after you, if..."

Interrupting his speech Jolene stood in front of him, astounded in anger forcing him to stop abruptly. He looked at her with concerned eyes and asked, " What gives, I could have dropped the whole wagon and the ale would break, then dad..."

Interrupting him again she yelled, " What gives is the fact you talk of mother as though she was nothing but trash. The woman who laboured to bring you into this world, fed you and burped you and raised your entire life!"

Without waiting for a response Jolene stomped ahead furiously, leaving him once more in a confused state. He yelled at her trying to cool down the situation, " She hasn’t burped me for a long time! I do that on my own now!"

He had meant no dishonour or disrespect toward his mother, Jolene had the tendency to over-react about everything. He finally got to the house half an hour later, his mother had two black eyes and was walking with an evident limp although she tried to hide it.

As Adonis began to unload the wagon guilt filled him, he felt like standing up for his mother and stopping these outrageous beatings. But last time he had done so had resulted in him being forced to work with a fractured leg for over a month, it healed in time but that was the most painful month of his life.

He mumbled to himself, " Man my life is whacked, Whatever Gods are up there must hate me."

Finally unloading the wagon he put the wagon away and finished his farm chores as he did every day of his life.

************************************************************************

The assassin had recognized that boy who had ensued a fight in defence of the lowly peasant but he had not been certain at first. However once he saw the girl, he knew exactly who she was and in turn confirmed his suspicions of the boy’s identity, she looked very much like her mother. He teleported to an abandoned path, he said in a demonic voice, " Toran Pal Tonaros"

The earth began to shake violently around him, cracks appearing all over the ground, steam pouring forth like the mouth of a volcano.

The air smelled of brimstone, the temperature rose to a level dangerous to any mortal. Suddenly a dark beam shot out of the ground, producing a bottomless pit. The assassin walked toward it and dived head first into the Cavern of Souls.

As he fell at a increasing speed the hole closed behind him, the steam re-entering the cracks and the ground returned to its normal state. He grabbed his falcata swords and stabbed it into the wall, jerking violently against the wall, rubble hitting his face.

His descent slowed gradually as he used all his strength to stay against the wall. His sword slid through the rock like putting a hot knife through butter, with great agility and effort he landed at the entrance of the base.

The camp appeared to be as normal as any other military camp; tents were set in an orderly manner in ten lines of 7 making a total of 70 tents. Each tent contained 5 people each as was the standard size making it a total of 350 soldiers.

The assassin approached the gate where two soldiers blocked his path; one of the soldiers grimaced at his sight and said, " Follow me."

He led him to Krale’s tent and stood guard at the entrance. The interior of the tent was quite voluminous; furs of multiple unknown creatures covered the ground, acting as a beautifully menacing carpet. In the middle stood a long table made of pure gold. There was a large throne composed of pure diamond, where Lord Krale sat at that moment.

He wore a long black cloak but all that could be seen of his face were glowering red eyes. The rest of his body was darkness. He said in a sinister voice that filled the whole room with death-like chill, " I assume you would not intrude upon my solidarity at this hour of meditation unless you had pertinent news to relay. Am I correct in my assessment Ares?"

Not being afraid of authority he answered, " Your just too smart Master Krale, think any harder and your brains will boil."

Lord Krale growled savagely, using the control incantation Ares fell to his knees in pain, Krale said, " What have you learnt?"

Ares shrugged and said, " As I was going to say, I’ve found Adonis and his sister. The ones you are now condemned to hunt."

" Very well done Ares, I shall forgive your insolence as usual. You may not have much respect but you are my best assassin. Find out where he lives and kill him, you can do whatever you want with Jolene, she is of no importance in my plans."

Ares nodded and was about to leave when Krale said, " Wait, I believe a promotion is in order here. I know you were of higher rank once, you founded this empire after all. But now you are under my command."

Ares scowled underneath his mask, not much got under his skin. But the mention of his downfall in the ranks was one of the few things that could. Krale resumed, " I am promoting you to master assassin. The best weapons, armour and command of the elite squadron, not to mention the power."

This was good news indeed, personally Ares thought elites were overrated, but everything else pleased him very much. " But first Ares, remove your mask and your clothes."

Ares disliked very much parting with his armour, especially with his mask. He felt far too exposed without them, but as ordered he took it all off. Laying his clothes, armour weapons and his mask on the diamond table.

His corpse pale face and torso were covered with scars. One very long scar started from the top of his left eye and descended to the bottom of the left part of his face. Despite the scarring, he was remarkably muscular. His sharp teeth gleamed in the light and long sharp claws sprouted from his fingers.

Krale pointed into the stairs leading into the underground secret chamber and said, " Go now, down the stairs. There your new armour and weapons shall be."

Ares went without bowing, walking down the stairs he opened the door and beheld his new armour. It was very identical to what he had right now, except it was magical armour. It could change into any colour or design he wanted it to have. Putting it on he moved on to the weapons.

On the wall were two falcata swords made of the highest quality, strange runes marked on the handles. His new armour could take twenty daggers, and on the wall were twenty baselard daggers. To replace his halberds were two warhalberds made of pure silver.

Placing all these weapons in their place he went for the most important part, his new mask. It was a moon mask but it was far more perfect than his other mask. It had no flaws, made of the best metal in the world it could never be destroyed. As he put it on it got stuck on his face, as Ares tried to pry it off he realised it was melding with him. First only his head changed, becoming as mirror like as the mask.

But it spread quickly all over his body, little tendrils starting to move down. His body stiffened for a minute as he fell down in pain. Not only was his flesh transforming into a sort of thin metal skin but his bones began to become denser.

In less than a minute the transformation was complete, Ares’ skin was now made of a flexible metal, it took his every shape as though it was his true skin. His eyes were unchanged, if not glowing more yellow than before.

Ares grinned at this, he felt new power surge within him. It was like nothing he had felt before, flexing his arm he was far more muscular than he had been before. His armour which was now jet black with a silver king cobra on it only accented his new appearance.

Ares walked up the stairs, Lord Krale still sat in his throne. Krale explained what had just occurred, " As the master assassin you must be able to blend into any environment, your skin can and armour can change into any colour. You can be nearly completely invisible. Although your true colour is the mirror metal silver"

This was indeed good, this ability would help greatly. Just as he was going to leave Krale continued, " You also have new powers, they’ve been improved tenfold, for I fear you may yet again encounter Tyranos. Also you are now granted the ability of metamorphosis but your scars shall remain with each form you take. Use your new power well."

Ares frowned at the latter power and asked, " But Krale, if I change into a smaller animal wouldn’t my weapons be a little too large, or my armour?"

Lord Krale answered without any hesitation, " The power grants anything you have on you to change with you, you will have armour wether you are a squirrel or a giant one eyed ogre. Your weapons will be part of you, you can only use them in your real form."

Lord Krale signalled for Ares to leave, for the first time Ares showed respect and bowed on one knee and departed from the tent. The guards stepped back in fear at the sight of his mirrored demonic appearance.

Ares turned to the left guard, grinning his largest most malicious grin he transformed into a giant scarred dragon. Wearing armour as back as his scales he growled into the air, sending emerald green flames combined with amber red into the air. He flew away causing a slight tremor on his departure, leaving the guards in his wake.