Morgan took measured breaths to calm himself, his breath misting up in front of him. He glanced up, looking at the men and women seated in the glass observatory, looking down at them.
"It seems this ceremony is more of a big deal than I ’d originally thought."
The aspirants stood in neat rows facing the glass structure.
Snowflakes slowly fell to the ground, turning it white.
The aspirants were dressed in specially designed suits that were intended to keep them warm despite the chilly temperatures.
"We’re all gathered here to send off the next batch of aspirants," Lilia Snow began.
" This sacred ritual has been passed down for generations among the assassins. We do this so that the next generation may grow together and be stronger together for it. We do this to preserve the legacies of each of the great houses passed down for generations."
She turned to the aspirants.
"You are a shield that will stand between the world and whatever horrors may one day escape Tenebris and make their way into this world. Take courage."
She rapped her chest with a fist, and the aspirants followed her example in unison.
The leaves rustled as a slight wind blew through the trees.
I’ll now introduce the instructor who will lead your excursion into Tenebris. This is a journey of self-discovery, so work together and survive together. Put the knowledge that you’ve received here at the academy to good use."
Morgan’s eyes widened in recognition when the instructor arrived.
The old man from before materialized before them.
Lucas Ash was dressed in a sleek back suit with red lapels that highlighted the red accents in his brown eyes.
His brown hair was fashionably parted to the side.
He wore a long overcoat over the suit that reached down to his legs.
Lucian grinned subtly. " Grandfather."
Cedric shifted slightly in his seat in the observatory, a faint smile lighting up his face.
The assassins and Talented rose to their feet in unison.
"There’s only one thing I’ll tell you, young aspirants," Lucas said, his voice booming through the forest.
" Watch your backs out there and godspeed."
Lucas tapped into the dimensional rift, imposing his will on it. He manipulated the umbralis in his body to flow into the rift.
The rift widened considerably, expanding inside.
The rift began to hum with power. Large cracks formed in the space as Lucas forced the two dimensions to overlap, sparks of electricity crackling about in the air. Snow swirled into the air, forming a small vortex of ice.
Faint light began to filter through the opening from the works beyond the rift.
The sky of the world within the rift was gray.
It looked eerily similar to Earth but quite distinct from it at he same time.
Bare ground stretched in all directions for miles as far as the eye could see.
Lightning flashed across the sky from time to time, sharply contrasting the dark evening sky on Earth.
This was the moment of truth.
Murmurs erupted among the Talented.
" What’s the old man doing?"
"He’s just standing there gesturing in the air."
Victoria Goodison observed the process intently but found she could see nothing.
"That’s interesting, even I can’t perceive this dimension they speak of."
Apart from the increase in energy in the air, even her paranormal senses could barely pick up anything, and yet the Council of Assassins focused down on something only they could see.
Morgan gasped, shock written on his face.
"I can see it, I can actually see." He furtively glanced around; the Talented were whispering furiously among themselves.
Emily, too, could see the rift. She was seeing the wondrous world that they’d been studying about.
Samantha gasped beside her.
" So that’s a dimensional rift, it looks beautiful but also quite scary at the same time."
Emily smiled. "You can see it?"
Samantha nodded and smiled back.
Edmund threw her a quizzical look.
" What are you talking about?"
Emily turned and stared at him.
Edmund looked at her in confusion.
" See what? There’s nothing to see, apart from the snow swirling in the air."
" The old man is standing in front of a huge portal of some sort. There’s a world within it."
Edmund scoffed derisively.
" If you don’t want to tell me what you’re talking about, then at least don’t lie to me."
Emily stared curiously at him, then turned her attention back to the portal.
" Aspirants, you may step through the rift one at a time."
The aspirants began to walk forward, but in that moment, time seemed to come to a standstill.
The movements of the aspirants became sluggish, their feet slowly shuffling forward.
A slight chill crept down Morgan’s spine.
"What’s going on? Why can’t I move my body?"
A masked man appeared in the sky above the Black Forest, gazing down at the people gathered below.
His dark cloak fluttered in the wind. Golden eyes glowed in the slits within the mask. He was dressed completely in black, almost seamlessly blending in with the starless sky.
His golden eyes sharply contrasted with the night sky, giving him an ethereal appearance.
" Who are you?" Lucas asked, stepping forward.
" Where the hell are the guards? Are they dead?" He thought inwardly.
His eyes frantically darted around, peering into the distance for the guards that had been guarding the ritual grounds.
A maestro’s eyes were capable of seeing objects at incredibly long distances, in some cases even kilometres away.
What Lucas saw gave him pause.
"The guards, they’re all dead. But how?’
"A presence dark invades the fair, and gives the horses ample scare," he quietly whispered.
Every maestro heard what he was saying.
" Chaos reigns, panic numbs, when something wicked this way comes," Damien whispered.
The mysterious figure remained motionless for a while, then in the next moment, all hell broke loose.
Emily screamed shrilly, the sound rousing everyone out of the mysterious stupor. She frantically tugged at her sweater.
The mark on her arm had begun to pulsate strongly, burning through her flesh.
" Emily, what’s wrong?"
Before Emily could respond, the man stretched out his hand, and a bolt of lightning that had streaked across the sky in Tenebris, flew through the rift into his outstretched arm.
A split second later, the man hurled the bolt of pure energy at Lucas.
Lucas moved to escape the incoming bolt of lightning, or rather, he tried to.
His eyes widened in surprise when his body refused to move despite his attempt to dodge out of the way.
The bolt of lightning hit him squarely in the chest, hurling him through the portal.
The kids screamed and began running.
"Nobody move." The man spoke, his voice cutting through the pandemonium.
Every single aspirant, initiate, and novice present froze in their tracks, unable to move a muscle.
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The council of Assassins broke through the glass structure.
Luke resisted the man’s mental compulsion, leaping through the sky to meet him head-on.
" Kneel, "The masked figure commanded in a voice that refused to be denied.
The power behind the voice was overbearing, unyielding. It rammed into his body with finality.
Luke gasped in surprise when the umbralis in his own body resisted him.
His mouth was still open in surprise when his body hit the ground a second later.
The ground exploded with a thunderous explosion, raising a cloud of snow.
Luke staggered to his feet in a daze, glancing up at the masked figure with a wary look in his eyes.
"This fool, he’s awakened."
Marco Dark and Cedric Ash attacked the masked figure in unison.
The man seemingly flickered in and out of existence around them, phasing through their attacks.
" Marco and Cedric are both heads of family, even without using their family techniques; no ordinary maestro could keep up with one of them, let alone elude both of them attacking simultaneously. Just who is this guy?"
" Do you need help dealing with this?" Thrain asked.
The darkness stirred at the sound of his voice, flowing towards him.
Damien slowly shook his head. A confident smirk appeared on his face.
" They were still testing him out. I think they’ll take this more seriously now."
Marco Dark flew back, steadying himself in the air.
" Cedric, I’ll handle this. Leave him to me."
Cedric frowned, then sighed.
"You’d better make sure I don’t regret that decision. That was my father, he hurled through the rift like a ragdoll."
The black of his irises spread throughout the whites of his eyes.
The veins in his body pulsed, turning completely black, then the darkness spread to his skin as well, turning it an inky black.
" You know, there’s a reason we’re called the Dark family. The Dark family, you see, can embody the very concept of Darkness. We’re able to bring forth the darkness within ourselves, and once we amplify that with umbralis, our foes are treated to quite the exquisite experience."
Marco inhaled deeply, a dreadful wave of energy pulsing outward from his body. His muscles grew taut, then bulged outward.
" Let’s end this farce."In the next moment, he disappeared.