I am retiring!

“Yes, Director. I am sure of this decision of mine. I’ve been an assassin for almost two decades. Five years ago, you told me that as long as I gained enough money for the organization, you will let me leave,” the man replied.

“If it were not for me picking you up from that underground slum, do you think you can still live until today?” the old man asked.

“Picked me up from the underground slum?” the younger of the two sneered. His eyes narrowed, filled with unspoken hatred. “Didn’t you mean that you had hunted my mother to the point that she had to hide in the slum with me who was barely three years old? If I didn’t come across my file in the restricted database five years ago, I would probably still be ignorant of this truth.”

“Did you find that out during your mission in Belgravia?”

“Yes.”

The reply was firm without any hesitation.

"Back then, I heard that you were seriously injured and was in hiding for half a year in order to recuperate. Did you meet with someone who you shouldn’t have?” the Director asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“Director, one way or another, I will retire. The only reason that I waited until now is because of your care for me during my childhood. No matter how twisted the mean of our meeting was, the fact that you raised me still remains true. But now, I believed I have already repaid your ‘kindness’.”

The old man sitting on the chair simply stare at him, not saying anything. After moments of tense silence, the old man finally let out a heavy sigh. “Silas, I raised you as my heir, because you are my son! Whatever it is that you heard in Belgravia is false.”

“Son? If the way you raised me is how you raised your son, then I am glad that I’m your ‘son’…” he said with a bitter laughter. “Because no other child should suffer what I’ve went through.”

“In Belgravia, I met with my maternal grandfather. We did a DNA test to confirm it. And he told me everything. You are indeed my father and my mother truly did love you that she disobeyed my grandfather just to be with you. But you… You betrayed her. When she decided to run away with me, you told your men to hunt her down. You had my mother killed then you fabricated my death so that my grandfather won’t look for me,” he said in a resentful tone. “Whatever you say now is useless. This is the last time I will say it. Director, I will retire.”

The director couldn’t help but feel frustrated but when he looked at the man who looked similar to himself, his heart softened. It might be due to his old age, but lately, he too wished for a peaceful life. He missed the time he spent with his wife. During some nights, he even had a dream where the family of three lived a happy and harmonious life. Even so, this is the choice he made and if possible, he really do not wish to lose this heir of his.

“You know the creed of our organization, don’t you?” he asked, clutching to the tiny hope that the creed would scare Silas from retiring.

“As long as I get my freedom. I do not mind having my tongue ripped out or my eyes blinded.”

“I will refrain from answering.”

“Since you are so sure, just leave.”

And that was the last time Silas ever seen his ‘father’. Now, its been two months since he left the organization. Due to his notoriety as an assassin, he couldn’t directly return to his maternal family. So instead, his grandfather let him live in a small, remote town for a few year as he prepared everything to welcome Silas into the family in a rightful manner.

In the two months he lived in this peaceful town, Silas had found a new hobby. Every morning, he would take a walk in the park nearby his house. There, he would feed the stray cats as he relax on the bench provided. At first, the cats were wary of him. But after a few days, the cats knew he meant no harm. So now, every time Silas sat on the bench, cats would come running towards him, meowing and waiting for their expected treat.

Staring at the cats, a warm smile flashed across his face. He couldn’t believe that he would one day have this kind of serene life. He thought that he would be stuck in that kind of life until the day he died. But by some fate, he met with his grandfather during one of his mission. As soon as his grandfather saw him, the old man knew they were related because he, as his grandfather said, has the exact same eyes as the rest of their family.

Maybe it was his long awaited respite, but after leaving the organization, Silas felt more relaxed. Even so, he still have his guard up whenever he left his house. After all, he couldn’t trust his father. That man could even betray the person whom he married. What if he sent someone to silence him?

Thinking back of his father, he actually couldn’t believe that he would let him leave without honouring the organization’s creed. Maybe it was because the director has a tiny bit of love for him, or maybe it was guilt. Either way, he was thankful for it or else, how could he enjoy staring at the cats that gathered around him now.

Though his life for the past three decades or so was dark, now he’s looking forward to live a good life. But how could he have predicted that he had only enjoyed two months of peaceful life when he made it into the headline the next day for dying from a falcon’s dive to the back of his head.

He had expected that he probably would die from knives, bombs, gunshots… but reality said that is not how he shall die. He only felt a sharp pain at the back of his head before he fell onto the ground. He struggled to reach the back of his head to find it covered with blood and it seemed that he could feel there was a gaping hole. Slowly, he could feel his vision darkened and he could barely feel the cats surrounding him. The last thing he felt before losing consciousness was the tiny warmth coming from the cats who snuggled around him, as if trying to share the warmth to his slowly growing cold body.

Just when he thought that his life would end its chapter right then and there, he awoke from being splashed by frosty water.

“Wake up! It’s time for another training!” a rough voice yelled at him. Silas groggily opened his eyes. He blinked once, twice… then the third times. When he was sure that he wasn’t dreaming, he frowned. When he opened his eyes, what awaited him was not the radiant expanse of the once-familiar blue sky he glimpsed before succumbing to unconsciousness, but a foreboding sight: an oppressive ceiling composed of damp, earthen mud, seemingly woven from the secrets of the earth itself.

‘I must’ve killed so much that the weight of my sin has stained my hands. And now the blood in my hands have sent me to the underworld…’ he thought to himself. After dying, he lacked any motivation so he thought of just laying down. He moved his body to find a comfortable position when he noticed something strange. ‘Wait… this body feels way too skinny and weak!’

Upon realizing this fact, Silas immediately sat up and looked at his hand. They were dirty and filled with bruises and cuts. Clenching both his hands into fists, he could feel the stinging pain rushed through his nerves. But what confuses him the most is that this hand is small and tender despite the bruise and cuts. ‘This hands… belongs to that of a young boy…’

It seems that while he was contemplating, he had taken too long to get up that whoever had thrown the water on him returned.

“Hurry up and get up, mongrel! Or else, I’ll whip you again for being disobedient!”

When he raised his head up to look at the person who came, he couldn’t believe what he saw and ends up cursing out loud.

“Mother-fucker! What kind of abomination are you?!”

Silas had worked as an assassin for about two decades. He never once expected that he would one day see something outrageous. This ‘person’ that stood at the entrance of his cell dungeon, though humanoid, barely resemble humans. In the last two months of his life, he did pick up a habit of reading web-novels and in one particular genre, there was a saying that goes ‘having a back of a tiger, and waist of a bear’, but before him now stood a ‘person’ who he can only describe as a human bull. ‘What were these beings called again?’ he couldn’t help wondering in his heart.

“Huh? A mongrel actually dared to call me an abomination?!”

It seems that Silas had angered this creature in front of him. Because Silas saw that its hand is reaching to his waist where he could see a whip resting. Even the bull’s eyes seemed to have turned red. “As the proud race of a Tauran, I will make sure you learn your lesson you damned Filthborn!”