*Tap Tap*

Mephis, Romy, Elina, and finally…Meera. I’ve had so many teachers. Yet I never truly learned the way of an assassin. Perhaps because I never truly wanted to kill someone. But this man…this pathetic excuse for a human being. After what he did, I want to kill him. His Qi resists my magic like an iron shell, but I don’t care. He’s been stabbed twice. Hit by an Icebomb. Surely, he’s almost done-

Even the Stranger has to have a limit!

*Whoosh*

Running forwards, I instinctively gather my own Qi into each step. Killing intent floods everything, and the red in my vision pulses as I condense my rage into Mephis’s dagger. This knife…it is special. My father’s blade. I know it will not fail me. It cannot fail me. Not now, when I need it most. That is why, against the man before me, I trust not my magic, but rather this blade. In any other situation, I would whisper words, and change the world. But today, in order to slay a monster, I find myself unable to use Glacia’s gentle teachings. No…for once, I choose to rely on the way of the assassin-

“Myrr…my boy. I’m sorry!” The Stranger dodges around my wicked crescent swing. He doesn’t have a weapon. His sword is still on the ground beside…Meera. She gave me this chance. I won’t waste it. “Stop this! I didn’t want to kill her-”

“Do you even remember her name?” I growl, swiping viciously for his neck-

“I…” He sways out of the way, but just barely. My dagger’s edge almost catches his throat. “I’m not your enemy! Your girls attacked me-”

“Always excuses! I’m sick of them!”

“Please, Myrr!” The Stranger seems to realize he’s misstepped. But I don’t care. He puts up his hands, trying to catch my blade. But the dagger is just a feint. Got you! I throw myself forwards while he’s distracted and tackle him to the ground. “Don’t!”

*Crash*

Pulling myself on top of the bastard, I get my legs to either side and lock him down. Mephis’s dagger goes directly over his heart. The Stranger scrabbles, grabbing my wrists, he tries to keep the blade from coming down. All his strength, all his power. And yet…just like I was… now he is helpless. I just need to do it. Finish it. Shifting my weight, I lean on my knife, and his hands tremble. Their strength is fading. The bloodloss is getting to him.

“Give me one good reason I shouldn’t!” I snarl as the blade slips down. But then-

“Myrr…enough. You’re not a killer.” The Stranger says it calmly. Almost like he really believes what he’s saying. Suddenly the pressure on my wrists disappears. He just lets go. What?

I barely catch my dagger before it plunges into his chest. “The hell are you playing at?”

“You won’t do it,” he tells me again. Spread-eagled with his arms out to either side as if nailed to a cross, he repeats, “You won’t do it. It’s not in your nature.”

“Tch…you think, I’m not a killer?” My confused expression makes him chuckle. “You’re wrong.”

“You’re not.” He affirms. “I know you.”

I should just kill him. But now that he’s not resisting, it’s harder for some reason. I’ve trained all sorts of killing techniques. Even had my blade at people’s chests before. He’s wide open, practically begging for it. But something’s stopping me from pushing my dagger down and finishing it. Come on…just press, damnit!

“There. See?” The Stranger watches me strain. The knife-tip always stops right above his heart. “Even after everything, you know I’m not your enemy.”

“Liar…you’re a backstabbing liar!” I growl. Taking deep breaths of air, I try again to kill him. Even though his Qi defenses are down, it’s like there’s an invisible barrier. My dagger refuses to go past that last little bit. Why?! “You killed Kisa! I need to…get revenge!”

“Echo killed Kisa,” he replies, frankly, “I’m sorry, Myrr, but that’s the truth. I ordered her to check the situation, but it was your pet that decided to make the kill. Not me.”

“So, you do know her name.” I feel tears coming from my eyes. It’s hard to see. But my target can’t be missed. Just do it! Strike! My whispers are tortured, “Why has everything gone wrong since I’ve met you? It all comes back to you. I should just finish this…”

“But you can’t,” the Stranger finishes.

“Why can’t I…?” My hands loosen on Mephis’s dagger. I…I can’t kill him.

“You’re not like them, Myrr,” my target relaxes. “We’re men of reason. You understand that I’m not really your enemy.”

“Not my…enemy?”

“Yes, we’re in this together. All of these terrible things are just unfortunate byproducts of a broken system. We are both victims! Now that Selena is gone, we can work together! Don’t let yourself get held back by a few pathetic, backstabbing, women-”

*Thunk*

The Stranger chokes, and his expression is just as confused as mine. It seems that someone has driven a dagger into his heart.

Huh. That’s weird.

“Boy…you actually?!”

“Guess you really didn’t know who you’re dealing with.” I whisper the words he uttered to me outside the Undercanals back to the Stranger as he dies. Though I stabbed him in the heart, his end…feels slow. He…lingers for some reason. And I don’t have it in me to twist the knife and send him on his way. I…I really did it?

…

…

“Damn.” The Stranger doesn’t even seem mad. Just resigned. “So this is how it ends?” He starts to hum a little tune. It sounds like a lullaby. The same one he recited in the sewers a lifetime ago.

…

…

That tune. It sounds so familiar…

Eventually he stops and chuckles to himself-

“…Are you waiting for me down there? Or am I going ahead first…?”

The Stranger starts humming again. And this time, I realize where I’ve heard it before. Wait. The memory is faint. But I will never forget it entirely. Because it is the very first thing I ever heard in this world. My heart shakes. It was the night of my rebirth. In that castle. My mother and I…we had so little time together. But I’m certain of it. Lian hummed a single lullaby. And it sounded like this-

“You…how do you know that song!” My eyes open wide. An awful sense of wrongness overtakes me. The Stranger continues to hum, oblivious as I reach over and rip off his mask. “Who are you!”

“Huh?” The Stranger’s humming ceases as his face is revealed. His skin is pale, and thin like tissue paper. Beneath the surface, there is a nightmarish process taking place. Shadowy black hands twist and turn, a vile corruption spreading through the very inside of his face. He doesn’t seem to care. I take a good look, trying to understand who he is beneath the rot. His hand reaches up to me, and I recoil. But he merely touches his index finger to my cheek. A tear drips down his face. I catch sight of the Stranger’s eyes in the light, for the first time. They’re a piercing shade of green. “Myrr…my boy. Have I ever told you? That you look like her? My beloved Lian…ehehe…”

“You…you!” My heart shudders. There is precious little I know of my mother’s family history. But I remember one thing. Mephis let slip our family name once. “I am the child of Lian Blackrose! Who are you dammit!”

“What?” The Stranger’s finger freezes on my cheek. He shudders, staring into my face. “It can’t be…I sent Selena to kill the child. Unless…that damn whore lied to me! She didn’t kill the boy…which would explain why you hate her so much.” Recognition flashes across his face. He looks at me with new eyes, “But that means…I caused all this by sending her after you, didn’t I? All this time, you wanted revenge on her…but you were looking for me…”

“Who are you!” I shake his dying body, but he ignores me completely and utterly, lost in recollection. Suddenly, his eyes snap to me. And he stares.

“You…know Myrr. I never noticed before. Perhaps it’s been too long since I saw my own face. But we have the same eyes. Green…it’s strange, isn’t it? Lian had brown eyes.” The Stranger shudders, seemingly unable to look away from me. Shadowy hands reach up under his skin, twisting their fingers over his cheekbones as if he has demons inside him. He screams as they try to tear their way out of his face. “Your hair too…it’s not hers. It’s not…it can’t be mine! Impossible, I-I can’t. No…I can’t have been wrong! She lied to me! Cheated on me! I’m sure of it. But why? Why do you look like me!” Agony takes over and he rolls about underneath me, clawing at his cheeks with clawed hands. But then…something changes. His tormented eyes focus on me with a burning passion. “Myrr…my boy. There’s no time. You need to finish me. Now.”

“Who are you! Damnit, tell me!” I yell, but the Stranger just shakes his head.

“I’m nobody now.” He closes his eyes. The dark hands squirm, trying to break free and he clenches his teeth. “Hurry, Myrr! Your magic, use it! Scour me away with fire and flame! While I can still hold it! You must burn the seed!”

“I don’t understand!” My voice feels small. Nothing makes any sense. I’m so confused. But the Stranger just smiles.

“Do it, Myrr!” He yells. “Burn me now! Or don’t you have the guts? Come on! I made you this way! I brainwashed your little Demi! I killed Meera! Everything comes back to me, doesn’t it? End this! END ME!”

“I…I can’t.” A flame lights on my hand. The rage is fading from me. All I see is a broken man. One who wants to die. His face is pained and full of grief. I don’t want to kill him anymore. I just want to understand who he is. But he goads me to let loose my magic, even as the shadows consume him from the inside out-

“NOW MYRR!”

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

I chant the words without conviction. A small, confused flame winks into existence above my palm. The Stranger nods as I hold it over his face. His eyes bleed darkness. Shadowy fingers dig around under his face. Like purple spiders, they climb around his nose…poking through his nostrils, trying to find a way out of his skin. I’m afraid. None of this makes any sense. But the Stranger doesn’t hesitate. He reaches up and takes my wrist. Just like that, he pulls the magic flame in my hands to his chest. As the wisp of fire touches the handle of Mephis’s dagger, it ignites. My fiery magic runs along the handle into his heart-

“More, my boy!” He shudders, as the heat courses through his body, “More! Punish me for my sins! Save your women!”

“Why!” I ask, but he forces me to keep casting. Why? WHY?!

“Do not stop, Myrr! Or you’ll regret it!”

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

…

…

…

“More. Until it’s finished. You can’t stop now, my boy!” He won’t let me stop.

I fire again, round after round, punctuated only by his encouragement-

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

“Come on! Is that all you’ve GOT?”

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

“I told you! Never leave any witnesses!”

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

“More flames! More flames! More, more, MORE!”

[Flaming Ember of My Desire, Burst Forth-Burn]

“That’s it! Almost done…” The Stranger’s entire body is aflame. He reaches out to me with a fiery hand. But stops short of my face. The heat scorches my cheeks. “Gods, your face…it’s hers. For sure…it’s hers. But why do you have my eyes? It’s impossible. Even if he lied. I checked. You can’t be mine. It’s impossible...definitely impossible…” His gaze unfocuses as his arm drops. He looks past me, staring off into nothingness. “Lian…what have I done? I’m so sorry. If you’re out there…please…will you see me-”

*Glug*

Something hideous and screaming bursts from the back of his flaming body-

“MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINE!”

The thing sounds almost like a woman. It rises up over his shoulder, a horrific melting mess of shadows and darkness. Some sort of twisted abomination growing atop the Stranger’s body, like a flower sprouting in a bag of fertilizer. Squirming tendrils of black rot suck out the nutrients from his corpse. White bones rise from the goop, trying to outpace the flames. But the Stranger is melting away just as fast as the monster grows. I watch as the parasitic black tendrils grow countless hands at the end. These tendrils in turn, grow fingers that interlock together. Everything fuses until the end result is a giant man-sized flower bulb. Its fleshy petals are made of linked human hands, and it pulses as it feeds on what’s left. For the briefest moment, the bulb opens and as the petals peel back, I see Issel’s howling face through gaps in the gnarled fingers. But then flames spread up the rotting stem and the recreated Witch ignites with a scream,

“NOOOOOOOOoooo….!”

She is rapidly consumed. The monstrous flower melts away into nothingness as the flames run out of fuel. What remains of the Stranger is but black charcoal. Wind rushes in as the dying fire greedily gulps up oxygen from the throne room-

*Tsssss*

Once both Witch and Stranger are gone, the last of the body crumbles to dust. And then it’s over.

“Who are you?” I whisper. But there is no one left to answer. Just flecks of scattering black ash. Like a shadow fleeing the light, the Stranger has disappeared. He is gone. And I still don’t understand a single thing about him. “You can’t have been…?” Looking down, I see my dagger lying on the ground. Picking it up, I hold it numbly in my palm. Its weight helps me cast away my doubts. “He was just insane. And even if he wasn’t…it doesn’t matter. I only have one father. And his name…is Mephis.”

…

…

*Flicker*

Something brushes against my hand. My vision dims as if someone turned out the lights.

“Huh?” I say, but then my eyes narrow. Now I remember. Why I had to kill the Stranger. And why his death is not nearly enough. My rage returns as my heart begins to thump loudly-

These assassins...this damn city…

They all need to pay!

For some reason, I take out Raingod Adam’s book, even though there are no more enemies. Grasping at the clasp, I struggle to open it.

Come on…I just need…that-

SPELL-

Behind me, someone coughs. The killing rage swelling in my heart is swept away like summer rain as I whirl around-

“Still...think I’m selfish?”