Volume 2 Chapter 15 Sanctuary of Assassins

Chapter 15 Sanctuary of Assassins

I

Inside the sanctuary was a world of mystery. Not only Aislina but also the others could sense the energy of streaming magical power lingering in the air.

Walking past several corridors, they arrived at the central chamber of this sanctuary of assassins.

The floor of this chamber had been enchanted. The surface of the floor was turned into images depicting star sky of the night. It was some sort of magical illusion, and because of it, walking inside the chamber was like walking above a sea of stars.

Clearly, the floor had been twisted by the magical power inside the Arcane Orb which was floating at the centre of this chamber, which channelled the images of the psychological cosmos into this room. The Arcane Orb was a small glowing crystal ball with visions of the outer space inside it.

When walking on the floor, some illusional ripples would appear under the feet.

Around the Arcane Orb sat a group of assassins in a circle. Their eyes were closed and their minds were absorbed in the ritual they were doing. There was a grand magic circle beneath the assassins, which kept turning infinitely.

This chamber was not a normal chamber. It was a bridge between reality and a greater astrally magical domain, a domain that existed in the conscious of the great thinkers.

Past, present, future. All those concepts were materialized inside this room. They were big enough to dominate the whole universe, but they were also small because they were sometimes tied to the fates of the mortal humans and the secularity.

Obviously, the assassins were more like thinkers instead of fighters. They were philosophers and the power from Arcana was only a small part of them. Although their power was no match for the power of elves who were real magicians, they thought more highly than them.

When Ramsesys entered the room, the assassins stopped doing the ritual and looked at him respectfully. Though Lower Desertia had been destroyed, Ramsesys was still a king.

The leader of this group of assassins was an old man with long beard. He must be Chophys, Ramsesys’ master.

He looked at Starsha and smiled. With just one look, he knew who Starsha was. After that, he turned to Aislina, and his expression was changing. Upon seeing Starsha, his mouth was opened in surprise unconsciously.

Leaving the magic circle, he walked up to Starsha and looked at her.

Chophys was pretty tall, even taller than Yanni. His eyes were as vigorous as a flame of burning fire. There were lines and wrinkles on his face, which were marks of his old age.

“אֵי מִי הוֹנוֹרֵי הַ קוֹנוֹשֵׁירְטִי, פְּרִינְצֵיסַהַה אַסְטְרַאנְדְרַה.׃” [It’s my honour to meet you, Princess Starsha,] said Chophys, bowing.

“גְרַאזְיֵי… מַאֵיסְטְרוֹ… קוֹפִּידֵי.׃” [Thanks … Master … Chophys,] returned Starsha.

After greeting with Starsha, Chophys turned to Aislina.

“You’re an elf, aren’t you?” asked Chophys.

“Yes, I am,” Aislina nodded.

“My name is Chophys. You can just call me Chophys, my first name. Assassins don’t like politeness which we think is a sign of hierarchy and discipline,” proposed Chophys.

“OK, Chophys. It’s nice to see you. My name is Aislina,” whispered Aislina shyly.

“Aislina. That’s a fantastic name. I have only seen pictures of elves in books. All those who have seen elves say that elves are a beautiful race devoted to protecting the world of nature and wilderness. I like nature too. You must have seen my garden outside this Sanctuary. I’ve planted all kinds of colourful flowers there,” commented Chophys.

“It’s a beautiful garden, Chophys,” Aislina praised.

“For sure it is. I can foresee many things. I’ve told Ramsesys that he would reunite with his daughter one day, but he has never believed me. Now, my prediction has come true. However, I haven’t foreseen the arrival of you, Aislina, the last elf,” narrated Chophys.

“I may not be the last elf, Chophys. There may be other elves in the Sanctum of Life,” argued Aislina.

“Sanctum of Life. It’s the most glorious place in this world. Some people think that it has existed since the dawn of history. However, I always doubt its existence. It may be unreal, just like the solarite weapons,” drawled Chophys.

“So the Sanctum of Life is unreal?” breathed Aislina.

“I don’t know. Although I am an old man, I am just a mortal. My knowledge and wisdom are limited, elf. In the past, I even thought that this world was hopeless. However, hope has come back to me now because I see you, Aislina. You’re the hope to this world,” replied Chophys.

“I am the hope …” whispered Aislina.

II

Ramsesys took out a Future Stone made by the ancient high elves and burnt it with fire. Taking in the smoke, Ramsesys saw the future:

Midnight was coming but no one was going to sleep. Since that exquisite feast, their last dinner, all foods had run out and it would be a make-or-break for assassins.

The magical barrier which protected the sanctuary had disappeared because the Arcane Orb that used to power the barrier had run out of magical energy.

After a mere five minutes, Nephrenbethys arrived at the scene.

The assassins were wating for her, along with Aislina, Floria, Yanni and Starsha.

“:צֵירְקַארֵי דִי קוֹמְבַּאטֵירְטִי אֵי וּנַה שֵׁילְטַה שׁוֹקַה אַסַאס׃יוֹ טִי דִיסְטְרוּגֵיירַה֫ סְקוֹלְטֵירוֹ֫ לַה טְווֹ מַאגַייה אֵי דוֹמִינֵירוֹ֫ טְוַה פּוֹטֵינְזַה” [Trying to fight me is a silly choice, assassins! I will destroy you, drain your blood and dominate your power! ] scoffed Nephrenbethys.

“נוֹן סוּצֵידֵירֵיטֵי׃ לַה מַאגַייה אֵ֫י סַאקְרַה׃מַאקִ֫ינֵי נוֹן אִימְפַּארֵירַאנוֹ מַאיְ לַה סוֹסְטַאנְזַה דֵילַ֫ה מַאגַייה׃” [You won’t succeed. Magic is sacred! Machines will never learn the substance of magic!] argued Chophys.

Aislina cast a rain of spores to attack Nephrenbethys.

All those spores conjured by Aislina fell towards Nephrenbethys like meteors descending from the outer space. When this epic rain of spores fell down upon Nephrenbethys, she looked so small and helpless.

Boom!

The earth was shaking and dust filled the air because of the explosion of Aislina’s spores. The land was tearing and the beautiful garden planted by Chophys was destroyed within seconds.

That rain of spores impacted on the power armour of Nephrenbethys, who was trying to parry this epic attack with her pair of wings.

After this attack, the air at the scene was filled with floating dust. When the dust dissipated, Nephrenbethys was gone.

“דוֹוֵוי סטַה לֵייְ?׃”[Where is her?]

“דוֹוֵוי סטַה נֵיפְרֵינְבֵּיטִידֵי?׃”[Where is Nephrenbethys?]

The assassins began to panic.

“לֵייְ אֵי֫ לִי֫!׃” [She’s there!] exclaimed one of the assassins, pointing at one of the balconies of the sanctuary. Upon seeing Nephrenbethys, Floria began to shoot arrows towards her.

Nephrenbethys dodged those arrows while jumping from one balcony to another and parrying some of those arrows. Nephrenbethys was so dexterous that she wasn’t hurt by Floria’s arrows at all.

Now it was the time of slaughtering …

Elegantly and swiftly, she moved through body of the assassins. Slashing her wings, every strike of her aimed precisely at the vital parts of the assassins:

Nephrenbethys’ sharp wings moved quickly through the necks, heads, and hearts of the assassins. They were falling down, bleeding and dying one by one. The ground was dyed red by their blood and Nephrenbethys just kept slashing and killing.

No one dared to fight back, because those who tried to fight back would get Nephrenbethys’ attention and die faster …

Within a minute, almost all the assassins were killed, except Chophys, the strongest one among them.

Starsha looked at the corpses in anger.

Ramsesys had been killed too but Starsha didn’t even know when was he killed by Nephrenbethys because she was too fast. Starsha didn’t know where his corpse was either because all those corpses, lost limbs and torn organs piled up on the ground chaotically together.

Slowly, Nephrenbethys reached out her hand. Blood flew out of the corpses of the assassins and floated all the way into Nephrenbethys’ hand as if her hand were a magnet of blood. Nephrenbethys was draining the essence of the blood as research sample to reconstruct her artificial magic.

The number of samples was nearly enough, but she still needed the last and the strongest sample: the blood of Chophys.

Like a hunting vulture, Nephrenbethys walked towards Chophys, but Starsha walked to the front of him and blocked Nephrenbethys’ path.

Her eyes were brimming with anger.

Nephrenbethys had killed her father. Now, it was time to revenge.

Charged by anger, Starsha’s attack was fast and precise. It was a miracle that she parried every strike of Nephrenbethys while trying to fight back at the same time.

Assisted by Floria and Aislina’s range attack, one of her strikes even hit Nephrenbethys, leaving a ugly scratch on her flawless armour.

Irritated, Nephrenbethys knocked Starsha down to the ground with one kick. Seeing that Starsha was in danger, Yanni charged towards Nephrenbethys in aid of her, his shield held tight in his hand.

Sensing Yanni approaching, Nephrenbethys turned to him and began to shoot flechettes from her wings. There were a hole in Yanni’s shield, which were poked by Nephrenbethys’ flechette.

This time, learning from his mistake last time, Instead of parrying Nephrenbethys’ flechette with his shield, Yanni tried to dodge her attack, because the machinite that composed the flechette was hard enough to pierce through the shield.

However, Yanni was bad at dodging because his advantage was always strength instead of dexterity. Therefore, one of the flechette pierced into his ankle. Screaming in extreme agony, Yanni fell to the ground. Quickly, she walked up to Yanni in an attempt to slash him into half.

At this very moment, Aislina summoned two strips of vines and wound it round Nephrenbethys’ pair of wings. She pulled her vines with full strength in order to take this lethal weapons of Nephrenbethys away from her.

Aislina was so weak in strength that she was no match for Nephrenbethys at all. Luckily, Floria dropped her bow and pulled the vines together with Aislina.

Nephrenbethys’ wings were pulled off her back and sent flying by Aislina’s vines. Aislina conjured a flytrap at the place where the wings were about to fall to.

After the wings were eaten by the flytrap Aislina summoned, she manipulated it to sink under the ground and thus buried the deadly wings of Nephrenbethys.

“I’m going to tear you into pieces, elf!” cursed Nephrenbethys in Normanish.

The instant her voice broke off, Starsha jumped onto her back and attacked her by surprise with the lunarite daggers slashing crazily on her golden armour. Her attack worked!

Some parts of that seemingly unbreakable power armour of Nephrenbethys were pierced through by Starsha’s insane melee attacks and she had even cut a wound out on Nephrenbethys’ skin.

Nephrenbethys was bleeding. She was not invincible. Wrathfully, she threw Starsha over her shoulder, and smashed her on Yanni’s body.

Punching her fists madly on Starsha’s vulnerable belly, she incapacitated her temporarily within seconds.

Floria shot a series of arrows towards Nephrenbethys while Aislina shot a series of sharp magical leaves, but she seized those arrows and leaves easily with her right hand and dropped them on the ground as if they were useless toys instead of lethal missiles.

Knowing that magical leaves wouldn’t work, Aislina shot a bolt of spores instead but Nephrenbethys grabbed the whole spore bolt and crushed it.

Her wound was bleeding but this wound was the best the four could do. Nephrenbethys was still invincible to them.

Bathed in an aura of killing, Nephrenbethys walked up to Floria and Aislina.

When close to enemies, Floria was unable to shoot arrows so she tried to strike Nephrenbethys by her bow as if it were a staff, but being awful at melee attack, she was soon subdued by Nephrenbethys and knocked to the ground.

Aislina conjured a strip of vines and wound it round Nephrenbethys’ ankle in an attempt to trip her, but she failed since her strength was no match for Nephrenbethys’.

While Nephrenbethys was about to grab Aislina’s head and crushed it, Yanni and Starsha dashed up to her.

Suddenly, Chophys shouted: “Stop! Run! Leave here! Quickly! Her target is me, instead of you. Stay alive and you will have the power to change the world in the future!”

The four had no choice. They had to leave or they would die along with Chophys. Nephrenbethys was too strong for them. However, when Starsha, Yanni, Floria and Aislina were hesitating on whether to run away or not, Nephrenbethys shot a barrage of flechettes.

The flechettes pierced into the hearts of the four. Screaming painfully, Starsha, Floria, Yanni and Aislina died.

Chophys stared at Nephrenbethys peacefully, waiting for his inevitable death. He tossed his scimitars towards Nephrenbethys, but they weren’t useful at all. With a swift kick on Chophys’ chest, Nephrenbethys hit him down to the ground and broke several bones of him. Vomiting blood, Chophys coughed weakly.

Nephrenbethys shot a flechette from her wing, which pierced into the heart of Chophys.

Vomiting scarlet blood, Chophys fell to the ground.

He died too.

The hallucinational vision of future faded in the mind of Chophys.

Even with the help of the four, the assassins could not beat Nephrenbethys …

III

Ramsesys took the four to a balcony where they could drink some afternoon tea.

The sunlight had been weakened by the magical boundary powered by the Arcane Orb so that the temperature was comfortable during the day.

All magic users were great cooks, because they could add some fantastic flavours to their foods using magic. Therefore, the afternoon tea was wonderful, especially the cheese cakes.

Long shadow beneath the four were cast under the sunlight of the afternoon and those weaving lights and shadows formed a temporary scene of harmony.

While eating the cheese cakes, an assassin walked up them and said that Chophys wanted to talk with Ramsesys, so Ramsesys left the balcony. Starsha was not very happy about this since she wanted to spend more time with her father with whom she just reunited.

After finishing the afternoon tea, the four stood up to their feet and looked to the distance.

Outside of the sanctuary was the grassland which served as Chophys’ garden. Although assassins always lived in fear brought by Nephrenbethys, nothing could stop them to appreciate the beauty.

Suddenly, a stream of melodies went into the ears of Starsha. This melody was simple and peaceful, unlike those addicting and flawless contemporary music. The lyrics of the song were rough too, but Starsha could sense that they carried the emotions of the singer.

“Music …” breathed Starsha. In an era when music could be mass-produced by machines and all songs were perfect, this kind of rough song was rare …

Butterflies were dancing in the air above the garden of Chophys. Even though surrounded by sapless dunes and lifeless sands, flowers could still flourish and grow up; even though trapped in a desperate world, assassins still sang for felicity carefreely.

“It’s so comfortable here. When travelling in the desert, I always feel down because surrounding me are infinite monotonous sands. This place is so good. Look at those flowers. They remind me of Dream Forest,” recalled Aislina.

“I am missing the Dream Forest too. After finishing this journey, I want to play in the Dream Forest once again,” drawled Yanni.

“Me too,” consented Floria.

“This world is beautiful,” expressed Starsha.

“Do you think the world will be more beautiful without humans, Aislina?” queried Yanni.

“I used to think so, but now I don’t … The ugliest things in this world are brought by humans, but the most beautiful things in this world are created by humans too. I want to be a human too … I want to age together with you three …” replied Aislina.

“I understand,” Yanni nodded.

Aislina looked to the distance, where lay the endless yellow sea of dunes.

“Does the Sanctum of Life really exist? Even a knowledgeable man like Chophys thinks that the Sanctum of Life may be fictional,” asked Aislina.

“Chophys isn’t omniscient. He can be wrong too … After all, he cannot even defeat Nephrenbethys, a silly woman in power armour,” Floria reassured her.

“Macchina Gloriosa is too powerful. We’ve encountered powerful enemies before, like Master Mortis, but Macchina Gloriosa is totally different. Those mechanists are almost invincible,” breathed Aislina.

“There must be some weaknesses of those power armour,” Floria pointed out.

“Impossible. Those power armours are designed with the Mother Matrix which can compute and analyse every single detail of them,” argued Starsha.

“I feel like as if we were trying to fight against an enemy who is nearly omnipotent and omniscient,” commented Yanni.