Get up!
A call from the darkness echoed in his mind, as he felt hard and cold surroundings.
I said! Get up!
The voice sounded louder this time, as if the person calling was standing less than a meter away.
I said! Get your ass up prisoner!
Feeling pain in the chest area made him realize what was going on. Slowly regaining his vision before heeling more pain from a second kick to the stomach. A guard standing over him with an angry look on his average prison guard face. The guard grabbed the prisoner by the hair and pulled him up to a sitting position, where the light from the torch in the hallway could illuminate his face. The guard let go of the young prisoners brown hair, grabbed him by the collar of the dirty looking prison rags and forced him to stand up.
Your sentence has been decided
Give me a break replied the prisoner knocking the hand holding his shirt away I was only in here for a day and you already decided what to do with me.
The guard hit the prisoner with the back of his spear into the gut Shut up! The commander wants to speak with you
From the poorly illuminated hallway footsteps were heard echoing along the walls of the empty cells. Shortly after a shadow appeared on the wall opposite the door, followed by a figure that seemed important. It was a man in his forties wearing a red and blue uniform with a blue hat and black boots, the five medals on his chest were shining in the light of the torch flames and the rank on his shoulder identified him to be colonel rank. He was accompanied by two guards shearing the the same chest-plate with a helmet that served more of a decorative purpose than a defensive one, brown knee high boots and red uniforms underneath their so-called armor .
Man, it stinks of mold in there! said the commander when he reached the door to the cell Whats the status of the prisoner Williams?
The guard stepped towards the cell door pushing the prisoner in front of him revealing his own uniform, that was like a copy of the other guards The sleeping ugly is ready to talk
Hey I never said... the prisoner was interrupted by a hit in the back of his head.
You don't talk unless spoken to! continued the guard.
That will be enough. the commander stopped further words I need a word with him in the private interrogation room. He looked at the young prisoner Any last requests before we behead you?
Well you could give me my clothes back
Very well the commander looked at the guard on his right Bring his armor to the interrogation room.
Williams shoved the young man though the door and the remaining guard put handcuffs on him. Then the commander gave the sign to take him away. As they started to walk down the hallway towards the interrogation room memories started to appear in the young mans mind.
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Dawn has broken the long night over the boarder town named Feistos after the third emperor of the Holy Empire, Martin Feist von Lanterange. The Lantergange dynasty spanned the throne of the country for over a thousand years and in its history of conflicts it had only recently declared a peace treaty, with the neighboring republic of Germania, that was signed only half a year ago. The people were still weary from the war since they were a boarder town so some tension was still felt in their everyday lives. The streets and buildings were still being repaired and the people were slowly returning to their homes trying to regain their lives. A man on a motor bike drove into town wearing a strange looking brown cloak and an armor underneath, with dark clothes separating his skin from the armored pieces. He drove up to a building that was waiting to be demolished and rebuilt due to damages exceeding repair possibilities. Due to some freak miracle it was still standing though, but it was declared a danger zone. He went behind a building into a small alley with a couple of wooden crates and some boxes lying round.
Guess this is it he thought to himself as he saw a box with the number 23443 painted on its side. He opened the lid and pulled out a silver suitcase.
Lets see the combination for this thing is five, five, nine if I recall
As soon as the suitcase opened a phone from inside started to ring, and the man opened the case and picked it up.
Your mission is to steal the object in the photo. You will be compensated for all your troubles
Before the man could reply the caller hung up and the phone had been altered to not record any calls. The man looked into the suitcase and saw only two more items, a picture and a note.
The note read Your target is located in the empires royal palace next to the emperors sleeping quarters.
The picture was of a small diamond said to be owned by the first emperor himself and had become a national treasure over the centuries and stealing it would not be to easy.
The man got back on his bike and drove off to the place where the first emperor deemed that the empire will last an eternity, and thus named the city Ethernia. The city was blooming with life since the war had not reached it. The buildings round the castle seemed like they had rich owners and all had fancy stone decorations and portals with the empires crest sculpted into the very top of the arch. The castle walls were surrounded by a mote and some rare trees. The castle itself had one big bate to the west and four towers and walls going from tower to tower. It had seven floors and looked pretty much like any other Celtic castle.
Upon arrival he started to inspect areas of the castle where tourists had access to and also made a mental image of the castle ground map that was hanging on the wall showing all possible escapes in case of a fire. The tourist areas were more of a museum with pictures of the empires past, portraits of past emperors and also armors worn by the empires soldiers through history. He then waited until nightfall before making his move.
He climbed the highest tree growing in the northern most area and waited there for the guards to pass the spot, he then used a grappling hook and a rope to climb up to the top of the wall. He double checked for any guards and proceeded to move to the northeast tower and hid himself in a beam supporting the roof structure. Shortly after two guards came along on their regular patrol. He dropped down and shot the first guard into the head with a silenced pistol and then with swift move grabbed the other guard by the head. The guard let out a quick and shallow voice before fell to the floor silently. The thief then disguised himself as one of the guards in a small flash of light using his illusion ability. He hid both bodies behind some crates and moved out of the tower along the wall and into the castle itself.
When he reached the fifth floor he noticed an increased guard presence.
Make way for the emperor a man yelled accompanying the current emperor Ludvik von Lanterange the Fourth.
He stepped aside and saluted along with the others when the emperor passed them and then secretly followed the emperor to where his sleeping quarters were. He waited round a while pretending to be doing his rounds and then when there were only a few guards before he made his move. He made an illusion of a man coming round the corner who looked just as the first emperor himself. With the guards in confusion he sneaked into the treasure chamber.
Just when he was about to take the diamond he felt a presence coming from the ceiling. It would seem that there was a hidden door that led to that place from the roof and it was disguised as part of the ceiling decoration. A man jumped down through that door wearing a black suit and a red tie, along with black shoes and sunglasses. Immediately after landing the man pulled out a gun with a silencer and aimed it towards the thief.
Who are you and what are you doing here?
The name is Grega the thief replied while turning to face the unknown aggressor And what I'm doing here is none of your business
The moment he finished speaking he threw his left arm straight forward with an open palm and the man standing in front of him pulled the trigger, but the bullet deflected as if hitting a wall. A fraction of a second later his right arm emitted a glow that took the shape of a throwing knife, and he threw it directly at the hitmans face but it was swatted away by the gun he was holding. Before anything else could happen Grega was already up close with a short sword leaned against the opponents neck.
Now you introduce yourself and your business here for me up close he was also able to identify the gun, which was a black ruger Mk-1.
I'm an assassin with orders from the organization. My name isn't important, though people call me the Ruger man.
Before Grega was able to react the assassin took out a hand grenade with his free hand and pulled the pin out with his thumb. Sensing danger Grega jumped back and his short sword changed into a one handed medium length sword and his other hand got one that was like a duplicate. Ruger threw the grenade over the thief's head and charged forward firing exactly two shots, that were deflected by the swordsman, and then smashed into Grega sending him flying backwards into the wall with the grenade landing in front of him and exploding. Grega had just enough time to let go of the swords and point both hands forward materializing a large metallic shield, but the blast still made him fly though the stone wall into the emperors bedroom. Alarmed by the sound, six guards dan into the bedroom, but there was no sign of Ruger anywhere and only Grega was lying on the floor amidst the rubble.
IT'S AN ASSASSIN! screamed one of the guards as the intruder got up.
Grega quickly materialized two swords and charged the guards running past the first one and stabbing the one behind him, letting go of the sword he made a turn and cut don the one do the left and with the other hand materialized a gun shooting the one on the right and kicking the one he charged past towards the emperors bed at the other side of the wall. But before he could continue the remaining two guards charged him one after another from behind. While he was successful in dodging the first guard he got hit on the head by the second, falling to the floor and loosing consciousness.
He was then tied up with his hands behind his back and taken towards the dungeon below the eastern tower. From the roof the assassin looked down at the guards hauling the captive towards the dungeon, picking up his phone and pressing the redial button.
Status report said the voice on the other end.
Mission temporarily suspended due to unforeseen problems. There was another intruder and thanks to his interference the guards are now on high alert. Though it seems he was caught, it would be a problem if I had to face him again. I don't know if I can handle him in an all out fight. replied Ruger.
Thats misfortunate, but we will give you one more chance. He will probably be publicly executed as an enemy of the empire before tomorrow ends. The target will be there. Eliminate the target or face the consequence of failure. the person hung up right afterwards.
I know... mumbled the assassin to himself placing his hand on his chest above where the heart is located.
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Arriving at the interrogation room the commander and the prisoner entered and minutes later came out with the prisoner having a gag in his mouth and the commander dragging him by the collar and throwing him to the guards.
He knows to many national secrets and is therefore considered a national risk. Make sure he does not say a word until he parts with his head. ordered the commander and the guards grabbed the prisoner taking him towards the execution grounds.
The prisoner tried to resist fiercely with his face showing desperation, but he could not break free from the guards grip. Walking down the hallway towards the courtyard where the guillotine was already prepared for him the prisoner was becoming more and more desperate to the point of tears coming from his eyes, the commander just watched him struggle and smirked a bit when the prisoner saw a glimpse of his face returning to his normal serious look right afterwards. Upon reaching the end of the hallway the guard opened the door and the dawn light shined in exposing the guillotine an an audience consisting of the emperor and a full regiment of guards. As they dragged him towards the final stop of his life the commander left them and headed towards the back of the public saying he has a special place he wants to see the execution. The prisoners head was placed onto the guillotine and locked in place, moments before the command was given by the emperor to drop the blade separating the head from the body. In shock the guards realized the head that fell to the ground was not that of the prisoner, but instead head and body were switched to those of the commander.....