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The Big Oof! Volume 2 Chapter 68: Wake Up Call
🕑 Added 2023-11-07 06:28:43 +0000 UTC“BLARGH!!!”
A sharp, stinging wake-up call came in the form of cold water slapping against roughened skin. The female assassin sputtered, gasping as she was rudely brought back from the throes of unconsciousness. Her eyes fluttered open, greeted by the small gleaming face of a pixie with a flaming head whose delicate wings bore no sign of the hostility hidden within her diminutive frame.
The pixie leaned in, her large sharp toothed smile seemed to fit in with the cozy looking room. The smile didn't reach the Pixies eyes which were flickering with an eerie violet light that seemed to dance in the gloom.
"Good morning!" The Pixie chirped, her voice echoing sweetly in the enclosed space. “Did ya sleep well!? Did ya have nice dreams!? Did ya get a crick in your neck!?" She excitedly fluttered around the Assassin’s head. “What's your name!?”
The assassin groaned, blinking away the sting of water from her eyes. The discomfort was real, but the pixies erratic behavior left her momentarily dazed and off-balance. "Where am I?" She croaked, trying to gain her bearings.
“You’re in my special room!” The pixie zipped over to a corner and gestured with both arms towards a collection of knick-knacks. A lot of treasures this being was presenting seemed to be just peculiar oddities that one wouldn't associate with a being of her nature. "It’s full of tribute! See that?” The pixie pointed to a glittering feather “That’s a Raklik feather! And this, this is a moonstone from the Northern Caverns! But never mind that now,” she zipped back to the assassin's face, peering closely, "You haven’t told me your name!"
The assassin hesitated as he peered around the room. Her mind raced when she saw the two thugs she brought were unconscious, bound and gagged not too far away. However, turning her attention to more pressing matters, the assassin turned her head to this… small being and gulped. Who was she? And what did she want with her? "A-Aldena," she finally responded, deciding there was no harm in giving her name.
"Oh! Aldena! That’s a nice name! I once knew an Aldena... Or was it Alton? Or Aldric? Maybe Alda?" She pondered for a split second, a distant look on her face, before snapping back. “Doesn’t matter! I’m the Great Yanaiyániuoa! Goddess of Winter! First Judge of the Verdoran Court! Nice to meet you Alden!”
Yana’s name and titles rolled off her tongue like the tinkling of bells, ringing with an age-old magic that seemed to resonate in the very foundations of the room. Aldena felt a shiver of unease, a sudden sense of vulnerability before this tiny being who bore a name that echoed with an old wives tale that she had heard as a child, whispered by the fireplace during the dead of winter.
Aldena blinked, trying to shake off the entrancing effect of the pixie’s voice. "The...Banished One?" she stammered, incredulity etched across her face. Pixies were known to take up names from stories meant to scare children for their own bemusement.
“Yana, did you wake her yet?” A voice from another room interrupted, cutting through the mystical atmosphere that Yana had woven around Alden.
With excitement in her wings, The pixie spun around and darted to the door and greeted Elijah that was emerging from the stairway. “Yep! This one’s named Alden and he looked a lot less stupid than the other ones!”
Aldena wasn't sure whether to take that as a compliment or an insult, but under the circumstances, she kept her mouth shut after seeing Elijah's face clearly. The recognition hit her like a punch to the gut. The man walking down the stairs had been accompanying the very individual Aldena and her gangsters had been tasked to eliminate.
Elijah walked in with a plate of meat as he meandered to the other side of the room and set it down. “The other will be down in a bit,” He said as he wiped his hand with a piece of linen and glanced over at the other two unconscious thugs.
His nonchalance was an art, a finely tuned balance of indifference and attentiveness that kept everyone around him on their toes. He finally noticed that Alden was constantly peeking at him and turned his gaze towards the prisoner. A slight smirk pulled at the corner of Elijah’s mouth as he pointed at the plate, “you want some?” He asked, his voice carrying an innocent tone.
Shaking her head, Aldena's eyes shot back to the ground and she shifted herself to her knees. "N-No thanks..." the woman said, nervously taking in the room's surroundings."
The room was an enigma, a juxtaposition of the dire situation Aldena found herself in. It bore the cozy aesthetics of a lounge, hinting at casual gatherings and relaxation. There were a series of rooms that skirted the outer perimeter, each having a comfortable bed and personal space, separated by rich, thick curtains that provided a semblance of privacy. It was oddly reminiscent of a dormitory style living area one might find in a hostel for workers or perhaps a more homely inn.
Elijah's voice brought Aldena back to the present. “Why did no one take off her mask or even her hood?” He said as he grabbed a chair, spun it around and sat in it backwards.
A soft chuckle emanated from Yana, now floating beside Elijah. "Oh, I thought it'd be more polite to let her do it herself when she's ready, ya know!" Yana said, zipping over to hover in front of Aldena.
Aldena couldn't help but eye the fairy with a mix of apprehension and intrigue. The tales she had heard as a child about the mischievous nature of Fae creatures were not lost on her. She had grown up hearing tales of their deceptive contracts and lethal games.
So when Yana floated over and yanked down the cloth covering the majority of her face, Aldena flinched and yelped involuntarily. She was unprepared for the pixie's abruptness, the rush of vulnerability that came with the sudden exposure of her tomboyish face with a scar running down her cheek. Aldena’s eyes locked onto Yana, now filled with a conflicting storm of resentment and confusion.
Yana giggled in glee as she instantly flew over Aldena’s head and pulled off her hood, exposing the assassin's very short and messy hair.
With her identity fully exposed, the assassin hung her head and gritted her teeth as Elijah sat there staring at her with a bored look. “I don’t know why you’re so upset, it’s not like I’m torturing you or anything,” he mused, leaning back with an air of nonchalance that only added fuel to Aldena's bubbling anger.
The would-be assassin jerked her head up, anger igniting in her gaze, her voice cold and bitter. "Oh, you think this is a joke? A tooth of the Ebon Fangs captured and unmasked by a giggling pixie is supposed to be... what? Entertaining? Fun?"
Elijah huffed in amusement as he stared down at her with an infuriating smirk. “ A ‘tooth’ of the ‘Ebon Fangs’? Really?” He couldn't hold back a snicker. "Next you’re going to tell me that you were contracted by the Syndicate to assassinate a kingpin from the Dark Alliance or shit," he continued, unable to stop the incredulous smile on his face from spreading further. His humor rang hollow in Aldena's ears, her honor and that of her faction being dragged through mud with every chuckle.
Aldena’s eyes narrowed, her lips pressed tightly together as she fought to maintain a semblance of control. “Uncouth mewlings from a simpleton," she retorted bitterly, her voice echoing in the high-ceilinged room. “You have no understanding of the powers that you so frivolously mock!”
For a moment, the room charged with an electrifying tension as the assassin stared blood daggers at her captor. Her gaze shifted from this infuriating giant of a man to the nonchalant and uninterested pixie who was fussing with their possessions.
A more contemptuous chuckle left Elijah’s lips as he leaned forward so his chin rested on the back of the chair. "Oh, let me guess," he started, raising a hand as though ticking off an invisible list. "This ‘Ebon Fangs’ is a secret society of cutthroat assassins and spies, bound by contracts written in blood and sealed with dark oaths, right?" Elijah's voice dripped with sarcasm, his eyes twinkling with mirth that seemed so misplaced in the heavy atmosphere of the room.
"And I assume, every member is highly trained, bound by a code of conduct and secrecy, possessing remarkable skills or magic abilities.” Elijah sighed and spat out overused tropes that were iconic and persistent in every piece of fantasy related entertainment, ever. “And to join this ‘elite’ circle, one probably undergoes some sort of twisted initiation, right? Perhaps a trial where they have to prove their undying loyalty, maybe by severing ties with their own family or perhaps even being made to..."
Silence reigned as Elijah drifted off for a moment while he clicked his fingers as if he was trying to remember something specific, "Oh, I know! Being forced to kill a loved one or a close friend, showcasing that the organization comes before anything else, even their own conscience. Classic!" One last click rang out as he pointed at the captured woman.
Elijah leaned back, a triumphant grin spreading across his face. Aldena, on the other hand, looked as if she had been slapped, her face a blend of rage and disbelief. Her heart raced wildly as if trying to escape the surreal and mocking scrutiny of this man who dared to strip the honor and grandeur of the Ebon Fangs down to something so... trivial.
"Oh, let’s not forget the hideout!" Elijah chimed in, his arms swaying gracefully as though sketching an elaborate portrait in the air. "A long forgotten catacomb that melds with the city's sewer system, that your little organization conveniently turned into a base of operations," he conjectured with theatrical flair. Rising from his seat, he cast a larger-than-life shadow across the room causing Yana to eagerly flutter to his side and playfully mirror his grand gestures. "A maze of shadowy corridors and rooms, reverberating with hushed accounts of the sinister exploits perpetuated by your brothers and sisters!"
With calculated slowness, Elijah prowled towards the restrained Aldena, his posture curling into a sinister hunch, lending an air of ominous intimacy to his next words. "And let's not neglect the chamber of secrets, ya?" he murmured while drawing closer, his voice sank to a menacing whisper.. "A sanctuary where the elite gather amidst the shadows, weaving intricate webs of deciding the very fate of individuals under a flickering flame!" Elijah’s eyes narrowed to imitate a malevolent entity sharing its dark secrets.
Aldena stared blankly at her captors as her heart raced in her chest. Each beat reverberated in her ears, drowning out the mockery and the echoes of laughter. The chamber suddenly felt much colder, and the once-distant torches now seemed too close, their flames flickering in tandem with the rhythm of her unease.
The diminutive pixie seized the moment to heighten the drama and appointed at Alden while giggling devilishly, "Oh, and the best part must be the cloak-and-dagger code names you all use! Like 'Raven's Talon' or 'Moonshadow'!"
“They also probably have a super secret and edgy phrase when they greet each other. Like ‘When the serpent strikes, blood drips down the fang’ or something equally melodramatic,” Elijah chimed in, rolling his eye.
“Enough of this mockery!” Aldena snapped, her voice a dangerous hiss. “You may jest now, but you shall rue the day for dishonoring the name of the Ebon Fangs!”
“Ah, the fiery passion of a loyal member!” Elijah exclaimed with mock admiration. “Honestly, it's almost like I've experienced this storyline a thousand times over. It's the gift cliche that just keeps on giving.” He said, sitting back down and resting his chin on the back of the chair.
He fixed her with a smirk that held a hint of cruelty, the atmosphere in the room shifting as if resonating with the change in his demeanor. "But let's be realistic here, Aldena. Aren't you technically already dead?” Elijah’s words seemingly knocked the air out of Aldena, causing her to gasp.
“Not only did you fail your mission, but you also allowed yourself to be captured." He waved a dismissive hand in her direction, a dark amusement twinkling in his eyes. “And if your precious little club works how I think it works, then that means they’d kill you the moment you showed your messy little head.“ Elijah rubbed the assassin’s hair, causing the woman to jerk back sharply, her eyes flaming with fresh indignation.
Aldena’s face was the very definition of strong willed defiance, but her spirit seemed fractured. Her once confident posture now slightly wilted, as if Elijah's words had sliced through her steely exterior, leaving visible cracks. Internally, Aldena went through a gamut of emotions - denial, anger, and finally a creeping sense of fear seeped into her fiery eyes and silence reigned as her eyes darted around the room.
"Being captured is a fate worse than death for an assassin of your caliber, isn't it?" Elijah continued, leaning in close to her face, his voice dipped in venom. "A disgrace, a blight on their feared reputation. You've lost everything - your honor, your status... perhaps even your life, once your brothers and sisters find out about your failure."
“And let’s not forget how simple and easy it was to capture you.” Another voice chimed in from the stairs leading down to the chamber. The footfalls were soft, but carried a weight that demanded attention. Indi descended with a grace that belied the cruel twist of her smile, her every movement a picture of controlled elegance.
Indi’s eyes, devoid of any genuine warmth, focused on Aldena. "My, my, how the mighty have fallen," she cooed, her voice a seductive melody laced with underlying menace. She circled Aldena, her fluffy cat-like tail lightly tracing the air around her, as if caressing the very aura of the broken assassin.
Her laugh, when it rang out, was a chilling symphony that echoed ominously in the chamber. "Oh, don't look so glum, dear," she said, stopping in front of Aldena, tilting her head in a grotesque mockery of sympathy. "You're simply unlucky, caught before you even had a chance to play your hand." Her words were syrupy sweet, but the undercurrent of derision was unmistakable.
The cat-girls sharp, yet dainty nails traced along Aldena’s jawline, forcing her to maintain eye contact. "Caught off guard before you could even approach your target. Tsk, tsk," she tsked, her tongue clicking against her teeth in a sound that reverberated unnervingly in the silence of the chamber. "How pitifully anticlimactic, don't you think?"
Aldena looked down in shame, the sting of those words slicing deeper than any blade could. The humiliation clawed at her insides, seeking to undermine the rock-solid resilience that had defined her existence. But Aldena knew their game, a wicked dance of manipulation and deceit. She had danced it many times before, albeit on the other side of the table.
With grit and determination that had sustained her through countless perils, she forced herself to meet Indi's icy gaze once more, her own eyes now steeling with resolve.
"No matter what you do to me, no matter how you seek to break me," Aldena began, her voice steady and resolute, a testament to the unwavering spirit that lay within her, "know this - I will never give you any information."
Indi leaned in, her lips curving into a malevolent grin. "Oh, my sweet," she purred. "Do you really think I need anything from you? I already know who hired you and why."
A twisted symphony of laughter echoed in the chamber, a sound that mirrored the darkness lurking within Indi. Her eyes were pools of malice as she regarded Aldena, a predator delighting in the despair of its prey.
You misunderstand the nature of this encounter," she continued, sashaying gracefully yet ominously around the defeated woman. "This isn't about extracting information, my naive little assassin. This... is an opportunity.”
Indi paused, letting the layers of malice give way to a semblance of sincerity, her expression morphing into one of mock concern. “You poor thing, your little escapade wasn’t sanctioned by the Ebon Fang, was it? An operation that was more of a transaction, so to say." Her voice coiled around Aldena, a snake ready to strike at any sign of weakness.
Aldena’s face remained stoic, a statue carved from stone, yet inside, her mind was a maelstrom. She knew too well the perils that lay before her; the Ebon Fang's code was clear - failure could be forgiven, but capture meant death. They would not hesitate to cut ties and eliminate any trace of her existence, ensuring the sanctity and reputation of their organization remained untainted.
“Was it money? Or maybe you owed Einar a favor.” Indi slithered closer, the name dangling from her lips like a tempting morsel, an offering to the gods of deception and betrayal.
The sudden mention of Einar, a name that resounded with dark implications in their world, caught Aldena slightly off guard. The implications were staggering, setting a chain reaction of thoughts cascading through her mind. If word got out that her employer's name was discovered, it would imply that she leaked it, and thus failed in more than one of the core tenets of the Ebon Fang.
Breaking one tenant would ensure a brutal death, yes. But breaking two... She would be handed over to the torturers, the artists of anguish who reveled in dragging out the final moments of their victims over agonizing days, weeks even. Until the broken shell that was left would beg for the sweet release of death.
Seeing the panic in her eyes, Indi’s predatory smile broadened, revealing sharp, pearl-like teeth that glinted ominously in the flickering light. “Oh, the turmoil in your eyes is exquisite, darling,” she crooned, circling Aldena like a shark scenting blood in the water.
Leaning in, her breath caressed Aldena's ear with an unsettling warmth. The words that flowed were honeyed poison, a seductive whisper that sought to unravel the tightly knit fabric of Aldena's resolve.
"But what if I told you," Indi murmured, her voice the very embodiment of temptation, "that there's a way to avoid all that? A way to save yourself from the ruthless clutches of your kin and the abyss that awaits you?"
Aldena's heartbeat hammered against her chest, a furious rhythm that echoed the turmoil raging within her. Every instinct screamed at her to reject the offer, to refuse to be ensnared by Indi's tendrils. But did she really have a choice other than a slow and horrible death?
With a performance worthy of the most cunning of vixens, Indi gracefully retreated, allowing Aldena the space to breathe, to think, to consider the proposition. "Picture it if you will," she cooed, her eyes dancing with malicious delight. “You do me a little favor and no one has to learn that this little stumble had even occurred." She let the words linger, an open secret, a lure into a world of darkness intertwined with a fleeting promise of freedom.
Indi’s hand intimately caressed Aldena’s chin, tilting her head upwards to meet her gaze. A perverse excitement twinkled in Indi's eyes as she witnessed the battle within Aldena, seeing the flicker of temptation, the hesitation, and the seeds of doubt sown deep within.
“Just do what I tell you to and you little attempt,” Indi gestures towards the thugs that were starting to stir. “Becomes, their attempt.”
Aldena’s body tensed, the weight of Indi's proposal pulling at her like the chains that bound her. She could see the outlines of a deadly dance that Indi was choreographing, a plan to be her puppet. The stakes were higher than ever, but the promise of escape from a long and agonizing death was tantalizing. She had always been a gambler at heart with every mission, every kill a calculated risk. But this... this was different.
Minutes passed as Aldena mulled over her choices and Indi’s smile never wavered, but Aldena could sense her patience was starting to wear thin.
“I understand this is a difficult decision and of course, you always have a choice, dear Aldena,” Indi purred, drawing her nails lightly across Aldena's neck, just enough to remind her of the danger that lurked beneath those manicured fingertips. “But I must say, between the two options – aligning with me, or becoming fodder for torturers – I’d think my offer is the more... alluring one.”
With a heavy gulp, Aldena finally met Indi's eyes. The pits of the assassin’s stomach had seemingly dropped out and her once fiery and determined eyes were replaced with a meek and fearful look.
"I… I accept…" Aldena said softly.
Comments
scribbles
WRONG DRAFT SORRY
Wolf_Senpai
"Shaking his head, Aldenas eye’s shot back to the ground and he shifted herself to her knees.”N-No thanks…” the woman said, nervously taking in the room's surroundings." should be: Shaking her head, Aldena's eyes shot back to the ground and she shifted herself to her knees. "N-No thanks..." the woman said, nervously taking in the room's surroundings." (it is in reference to a female assassin yes? also the placement of the apostrophe there denotes ownership. Whose eyes? Aldena's eyes. Whose surroundings? the room's surroundings. Apostrophe placement not super important unless you want to be a grammar nazi but most of the others were properly placed aside from that one.) As always, thank you for the chapter worsmith. This is easily one of my favorite stories ^-^
