I…am an assassin.
I know it always surprises people because I’m a Ventus. Most assassins and bounty hunters are either Ignis or maybe Aqua.
But never Ventus.
Like me.
I guess I am technically a bounty hunter, as well, but most of my jobs are assassinations.
I am small, silent, and deadly.
I am silent like the wind and can get in places others can’t.
The perfect candidate for an assassin.
You could say I get paid well, but supporting a family of 7 isn’t exactly easy. So, I’m an assassin/bounty hunter.
But because I’m a girl, I’m not paid as well. My stupid employers think I should “take it easy” and “not get greedy”.
Uh-huh. Yeah, I’ve seen their giant estates and diamonds embedded into their clothes. Their parties cost more than any house for my family.
Don't get greedy. I’d like to see how they’d react if I shoved my blade up their-
Never mind. You want to hear my story.
It all started on a regular day at work. Or so the saying goes. My work is very exciting.
My mission: Bring an aristocrat to justice. At least that’s what my employer told me.
I’m outside the aristocrat’s window right now. I see his large form in his bed, his chest slowly rising and falling. He’s asleep.
I use the winds to open the window, and I slip inside.
This man-so I’m told-has embezzled government funds and is in hundreds of thousands of ducats in debt.
He has guards posted around his estate, but they are on the other side of the estate right now.
Putting my blade to his throat, I turn to light the candle at his bedside.
He wakes with a start but sees my blade at his neck.
“You are under arrest for embezzlement of government funds. I’ll take you in.”
He glares at me, brings his arm out, and punches me in the gut. I double over as he tries to get out of bed.
I jump on top of him, bringing my hands around his throat, trying to knock him out. His arms instinctively go to his throat, but then he reaches behind himself and throws me over his back as I crash into the wall.
God, he’s stronger than I thought. I thought I was just coming to bring a fat, lazy, rich man in debt to justice. Not some massive killer.
As I try to get up, I feel his giant hand around my throat. I kick my legs, but he lifts me, using my body weight to strangle me easier.
Just before I go unconscious, my mind clears enough for me to use the winds to push him away from me, causing me to land on the ground in a heap.
If any of that didn’t alert his guards, I don’t know what will.
As I study my unconscious target, I realize what he is. He is a Lux, his white hair and pale skin making him look old.
Considering what I just experienced, I would say he’s anything but old.
The only problem with him being unconscious, I still have to get him out of here.
Taking advantage of him not fighting me right now, I bind his hands behind his back. He won’t be the one fighting me now.
I hear yelling voices getting closer as his guards are coming this way.
Taking a deep breath, I pop my knuckles and prepare myself for them.
I put the aristocrat in a kneeling position, holding my blade right up to his throat as he regains consciousness.
The door is blasted open as 4 guards rush into the room.
“Sir, we heard-” one of the guards starts to say, but then he sees me holding his master hostage.
“Listen up,” I say, glaring at each of them in turn, “I will walk out of here with your master. And if any of you get in my way, I will slit his throat right here, right now. Then I will stop at nothing to kill every one of you. Understood?”
The guards glared at me, ready to fight.
“Do what she says,” the aristocrat I’m holding says, “I’ll die either way. Just get this over with.”
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“Well done, Aella,” my employer, Lucius, congratulates me as I practically drag in the aristocrat, “You must be the best assassin I have.”
“You say that every time, Lucius,” I grumble as I give the aristocrat to Lucius’ men. “Now, where’s my pay?”
“...About that,” Lucius said, flashing me a smile with his sparkling teeth, “See, I won’t be able to pay you on time just yet. Come with me.”
Just great. I’m infuriated. He promised me ⥉50,000 for this job. And I almost got myself killed because of it.
We come into Lucius’ extravagant bed chambers, with the canopy bed and the balcony overlooking the city below. We’re in Mixta Civistas, a city mixed with many Ignis, Aqua, Ventus, Saxum, and the many other lesser-known tribes.
This is the only place where if you’re different, no one notices or cares.
So, it’s perfect for someone like me, a dark-skinned Ventus.
Most Venti are lighter-skinned and either blondes or redheads, but for some reason, I’m as black as night.
Most people don’t pay me any attention, but the way you can tell I’m a Ventus, is, well, my eyes. They are a pale white, almost with no color.
And it’s not like my parents or the rest of my family are dark, either, they’re as pale as the snow and have light blonde hair. A lot of people don’t even know I’m related to them.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you, Aella, you are quite the woman,” Lucius says as he pours a drink.
“Excuse me?” I don’t know if I should be offended or flattered. Should I thank him? Or punch him?
“Well, I’m just saying, you are a rare kind of Ventus. Not everyone sees someone as dark as you.” Lucius pours me a drink, although I’m not old enough to.
“What are you saying?” I narrow my eyes at him.
“I am saying…” he says as he walks slowly up to me, “that certain people may find you…” he lowers his eyes to me, twirling one of my braids, “valuable.”
That’s it. I’m out. I step away, slapping his hand away from my hair. “You stay away from me,” I say to him, walking to the door. I try the handle but…
It’s locked.
He’s locked me in his room.
From the inside.
With him.
“Aella,” Lucius says, “I’m not going to hurt you.” He gives me a tentative smile, but I can’t even look at his face right now. I knew he liked me, but I didn’t think that way.
“Lucius,” I warn him, “Unlock this door.”
“I knew you wouldn’t agree with me at first. Just…hear me out.”
“I don’t want to hear a word you say right now, Lucius, open the damn door!”
“Aella, hear me out.”
“Lucius!”
He’s grabbed my hands now, but I twist out of his grip. I don’t want his disgusting hands touching me.
“Aella, let me offer you a deal.”
“I don’t want to-”
“It can help your family!” he pleads, looking at me with his pale yellow eyes. Lucius is a Lux, like the man I just brought to him, but he’s never raised a hand. Never started a fight. Never questioned anything about me. Why is he suddenly so interested in helping my family?
“How?” I ask although I don’t want to.
“I have been lonely for quite some time now, and need a wife. I know you need money, and a place to live other than that shack you call home.”
“How in the hell do you know where I-”
Lucius holds up a hand for me to stop talking and says, “I just do, alright? That’s not important right now. My deal is, if you marry me, I will give you and your family a place to live right here in my estate.”
I cross my arms, pondering this. “What if I don’t want to marry you?”
“You could always entertain me every so-”
“Yeah, no, that’s not going to happen.” I couldn’t imagine being Lucius’ mistress.
“At least think it over.”
I could never marry Lucius, but I need to help my family. They almost starve to death every day, and our shack is barely enough to keep a roof over our heads.
“Fine. I’ll think it over. But I have to tell my family first.”
Lucius smiles again. “Great. I can’t wait to hear your answer. Remember, it can help your family.”
But there’s one thing that keeps repeating in my mind. “How old are you, Lucius?”
He raises his eyebrows as if surprised that I would ask such a question. “Eighteen.” he smiles and begins to unlock his door.
Huh. Not too bad. I’m sixteen, so two years difference isn’t so bad. Sometimes Lucius seems like thirty, other times he seems five. I can never tell.
Still, eighteen surprises me. You’d think someone a little older wouldn’t be giving me so many jobs to assassinate or bring people to him.
Unless, of course, he’s lying to me about his age and is thirty or something.
“I’ll give you a week,” Lucius tells me as I walk out of the estate, “then you have to tell me your decision.” His expression is earnest, but I see that there is darkness in his eyes. If I don’t tell him, he will hunt me down.
As he said, he knows where my family and I live. Lucius is a dangerous man, and his jobs always involve criminals.
I’m not afraid for my own life, it’s my family’s lives that I’m afraid of.
I feel like this isn’t as much of a choice if I should marry Lucius or be his mistress. He will stop at nothing until I’m his. I could run away. If I’m away from him, he can’t hurt my family. He can’t have me.
But I know that if I run away, he’ll just threaten my family in some way. I’ll have to tell them.
As I walk through the streets of Mixta Civistas, I become self-conscious about what I look like. Lucius’ voice comes to mind again.
‘Certain people may find you…valuable.’
“Hey girlie,” I hear a voice behind me. I look around, not moving my head. My heartbeat picks up. My breath hitches in the back of my throat.
“What do you want?” I demand, trying to sound tough.
“You don’t look like yer from ‘round these parts,”
“I’ve been here my whole life. I know I don’t look it.” I can see him through the corner of my eye now, a gruff-looking Saxum, his green eyes twinkling. He’s gotta be at least 40 years old. He staggers through the street, so drunk I’m surprised he hasn’t passed out yet.
“You know where yer going? I can help you,” he says and puts an arm around my waist.
I wriggle out of his grip and say, “I’m fine, thank you. I know where to go.” The Saxum glares at me, but I speed back to our house.
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“I’m back,” I say to my mother who is cooking dinner.
“How was work, Aella?” she asks, brushing bits of her blonde hair away from her face.
I scoff at the way she calls my job “work”. My four siblings don’t know I’m an assassin, but a long time ago my parents found out. At first, they were angry and scared, but now they’re just fine to have something to put food on the table.
“We need to talk about Lucius.”
My mom raises her eyebrows. “What, what’s wrong? Is Lucius okay?”
“Oh he’s fine,” I say with distaste as I remember the way he looked at me, “Mom, he wants me to marry him.”
My mother drops the glass she’s holding.
Hearing the glass breaking, my dad comes limping into the room. “Don’t move!” he shouts, “I have shoes on!”
“So do I,” I say, annoyed by the fact that he freaks out anytime anything breaks. He says you can never be too careful, especially after the time he had to have his foot cut off after an “incident” on the farms.
That was what made Dad lose his job. Which made us lose our first house. We built this second house a few weeks later, and when Dad couldn’t find work, that’s when I trained myself.
Trained myself to be a killer.
Dad limped over to the broom, his peg leg pounding on the wooden floor, and began sweeping up the glass shards.
“Naseem, did you hear what Aella said?” my mother asked my father.
Dad finished sweeping and picked up a glass of water, taking a drink. “What?” he asked and took another drink.
“Naseem, Lucius wants to marry Aella.”
Dad choked on the water, spitting it out. “What?”
I crossed my arms, annoyed by how they were breaking things every time someone mentioned it.
“He said that he could help you guys afford a better life, and in return, I have to marry him,” I said as if it weren’t a big deal, still confused why it was such a surprise to them. They were constantly telling me what a great man he is, and that I would be a lucky woman to find a man like him.
“Hmm…” my father thought, stroking his light blonde beard, “Well…maybe it wouldn’t be that bad of an idea…”
“Naseem!” my mother yells at him, angry now.
“What do you want me to do, Makani? We can hardly get by as it is?” My father sighs in sadness. “Maybe it’s best for Aella to marry him.”
Now I’m mad. I don’t want to marry Lucius, no matter how much I want to help my family. I’m sure I could find another way, anything but marrying Lucius. He seems much older than me, and I don’t like the way he thinks I’m “valuable”. Like I’m some prize to be won.
I don’t care what the world thinks of me, but I want to make my own decisions and not become some rich man’s pet.
“I…I don’t want to,” I realize, pleading with them.
“Aella, please,” my father says, pleading with me as well. I am too much like him. “I don’t know how much longer we’ll last with the money we make. Maybe this is for the best.”
“Naseem, it should be up to her! I thought you were over the idea of arranged marriage!” my mother tugs on his arm. I remember a story my father told me about how his own sister was caught up in an arranged marriage, one set up by her own parents.
“I know, Makani, but that was before we were in a situation like this. If we don’t pay the city soon-”
“The city?” I ask, the breath in my lungs barely keeping me from passing out, “What do you mean you have to pay the city?”
My father limps over to me, putting his hands on my shoulders. “Aella, don’t freak out, but the city says that our taxes have been far overdue. If we don’t pay them soon…they’ll evict us.”
I freeze where I stand. My father continues arguing with my mother, but I can’t hear them. It’s like I’m far away. If they evict my family, I’ll lose the will to live. My family is my life, the only thing I live for. The only thing that keeps me going each day. Every moment of my life is given to my family.
And I’ve failed them.
That’s when I hear it. In my moment of shock and panic, I hear a voice. It’s quiet at first, like a silent whispering. But as it grows louder, I hear what it says.
Aella Sefarina, child of the wind, assassin great and warrior true, you have been chosen.
Everything was dark as I heard the voice, but when it finished its statement, I could see again. And I panicked.
I’m high in the sky, above the clouds, wuth the city below. As I look around, I don’t see anyone who could’ve said anything. I turn around until I do see someone.
It’s a tall figure, made of darkness and shadows that are constantly shifting. It floats closer to me, each inch closer making the panic worse. As it’s right in front of me, my stomach turns and I realize I’m falling.
Falling, falling, falling. I scream as the ground comes closer, closer, closer. I try to use the winds to stop myself but my powers are rendered useless. I’m going to die…
But I don’t.
My eyes open and I see the beautiful night sky. The city lights are far away and when I look around the house…
Gone?
In the place of my house is a crater, which I am at the center of. My parents walk out of the rubble, planks of wood, metal, and glass.
“Aella?” My father asks.
My siblings are all around me, alive but shaken up.
What did I do?
“Aella, what happened?” My mother’s face is pinched in concern, and my father holds her close to his chest.
I don’t speak, I just run. I turn around and angle my hands toward the ground, focusing my concentration on the winds. I launch myself, flying above the wreckage I’ve caused. I don’t know what I’ve done, but it’s bad. I’ve failed my family.
What should I do?
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