Young Writers Society

"All right, you've been so excited to hear my story, haven't you?" said Kilian. Despite the tone of his words, his expression became somber and he sat up straighter in his seat.

". . . I am Kilian Artavel, of the empire of Ennis, the third country on Ardal. I have the ability to make illusions to change my appearance." He briefly shifted, into the sailor shape he had been wearing before to stow away on the ship, which some of the others may have recognized. He released the illusion, letting his normal features reappear. "And I am--was--one of Ardal's most skilled and deadly assassins."

Kixig stared wide-eyed, gawking as Killian shifted from one form to the next. "You were an assassin?!"

Kilian had only felt this hesitant a few times in his life. "Yes," he answered slowly, feeling his hands begin to shake, an uncharacteristic thing. "I was the second-best. My--my master was the first." His voice started fading as he spoke. The memories began to flood his mind like a waterfall, and he felt his whole body begin to tremble. He hated himself when he was feeling weak. And his master was the one who made him feel the weakest.

Kixig noticed Killian's shaking, and his awe filled gaze took on a look of concern. "Are... are you scared? Did I ask something wrong?"

Kilian shook his head, not daring to speak just yet. He wanted to reach for Rin's hand but didn't. He had to do this himself, or who was he, after all of this?

After a moment's silence, he continued, "My younger sister, Ena, and I were orphaned at a young age. Somehow we couldn't find our uncle, our only other family member, so I had to find a way for us to survive.

"So one day, this man came up to me when I was begging on the streets. He looked so strong and sure of himself. He knelt down, tossed a little sack full of gold coins in my lap. It--it felt like some sort of miracle." Kilian let out a short, mirthless laugh, and rested his head in his still-shaking hands. "Then he said, 'You won't get very far in life like this. Do you want to be like me? You will earn lots of money and be able to defend your sister from anyone who wants to harm her.'" And goodness, was I stupid. "I said yes right away. I--I was so young . . .

"Things changed quickly after we entered his household. I learned that he was the premier assassin in all of Ardal, and a cruel, merciless man. He went by no name other than . . . Nihil. And I found out early on that no matter what I could claim, he owned me. My life and Ena's were in his hands. He used to threaten me quite often with all the terrible things he could and would do to her if I didn't live up to expectations. I went through vigorous training, in combat, assassination techniques, spying, disguise. This body was broken and scarred by him, many times over. I suppose I should be thankful that he never knew when my illusion power just manifested in me and changed my features to this." He gestured at his silver hair and ice blue eyes, and the corner of his mouth quirked up. "The first illusion I learned to make was black hair and brown eyes."

Kilian found that just continuing to talk without letting himself stop helped him from breaking down. He drew in a ragged breath.

"I became second only to my master, in his Assassin's Guild and anywhere in the continent. But my life was built on lies. Nihil lied to me, I lied to him, we lied to others to fulfill our clients' requests. But no matter how good of an assassin I was, no matter how much money I made from our mercenary work, it was never enough. He told me that Ena and I could only go free when I surpassed him in skill. It was never, never enough.

"Later, I was helping Aeronwen's army. All of Nihil's guild was helping them in their conquest of Cynbel." He grimaced. "It was then that one night, I witnessed a helpless healer being killed by a soldier. They tried to hide it, but I knew the crown prince was gravely injured. They left him in the forest, and as I was leaving, I took a look at the body. And of all the healers in Ardal, he was--he was my uncle. My uncle was here, and I was too late to save him. What's worse, his adopted daughter saw me. She believed that I killed him. All I could do was run away, since she had seen my true hair color, which isn't quite common, where we're from.

"After the conquest, a few years later, one day . . . I returned from a mission, and Ena--Ena was gone. Our small home was ransacked. There was blood--" He broke off. "All signs pointed to Aeronwen. They somehow found us. They wanted me to serve them. I couldn't live as a mercenary for anyone, anymore. I had no more there to live for. So I ran. I decided to go to Cynbel and fight for the rebellion there instead. I don't even know why I chose to do so. 'Maybe they would be able to help me get back at those who stole Ena, my life, from me,' I thought. Perhaps I thought it would be a good way to get back at those people, to help their enemies and the ones they sided against.

"I joined the rebellion and met Rin. For the first time, I made friends. And yet, I lied to them all. Why? Because my cousin was there, with them. I didn't know how to face her. Eventually, as we'd been fighting together and they'd already trusted me so much . . . my cousin discovered who I was, and she--her portrayal of me to the others was not favorable." Actually, she'd tried to frame him and kill him, but he didn't really blame her, nor would he say that out loud to those who didn't need to know.

"But eventually, they forgave me and we fought to victory for Cynbel. I found Ena again. We took down Nihil along the way. I gave up being a mercenary and assassin for good. And that's that." He finished rather hurriedly. "Exuse me."

He got up from the table and disappeared among the bookshelves to sit alone, collecting himself again. He felt weak on the inside, not mentally, not anymore, but his breath came fast and his limbs felt limp.

There. I told my story, whole and unfiltered. Hope you liked it, Kellach.

Well then. Monster? Not really - Kilian had cared about quite a few people in the past, given how poorly he had taken their deaths. Besides, Kellach knew at least two assassins; both of them had also done their jobs out of necessity, and eventually broke their original contracts out of either a change of heart or infuriating their bosses.

Still, Kellach felt uneasy. "Give me a sec," he said as he jumped off his seat and stood up. He then turned and wandered among the shelves, looking for a quiet place to sit back and think. Kilian had told this sad story for the sake of Kellach, and Kellach hated hurting good people.

So, assassin, then. Wouldn't be the first on Tasha'd met; she'd never gotten into the practice herself, always preferred to simply steal over taking the higher-paying work of a killer. Not that she hadn't killed plenty, however, it was just in war instead of for pay.

She watches both him and Kellach go without much of a reaction, icy gaze cold and detached.

"So . . . what about you?" Rin turned her gaze on Tasha. She wanted to go see if Kilian was all right, but she knew that he needed space to be on his own.

She doesn't answer for a couple moments, carefully choosing her words. "I'm just someone who does the best she can in a world filled with sorrows."

Suddenly, a tall man with a bottle of rum in his hand barged through the floor, he was clearly drunk.

"What are all you staring at!" shouted the drunken man.

Rin stood and cautiously approached him, making sure to keep a safe distance between them. "Sir, no one here means you any offense." She almost added, "And this is a library. Please keep quiet." but remembering all the grumpy librarians constantly shushing her as a child, she decided to hold back on that statement. For now.

The man placed his rum on a chair and pushed himself out of the ground.

"Let me introduce myself, my name is Kai and I like alcohol and stuff like that" uttered Kai

He grabbed his rum by the handle and picked it up off the chair.

"Sorry about the floor" whispered Kai as he walked to a chair to sit down on so he could finish his rum.

An angry librarian came stomping up to the group, with an eye twitching. "This is a library, not a place for a social gathering, nor is this the tavern. If you want to resume your conversation and your drinking please do so at the bar across the street, or someplace else. All in all, I'm asking you all to leave."

Kilian jumped to his feet, his melancholy momentarily forgotten. He came out from the rows of shelves and smoothly stepped between Rin and the drunken Kai. As to the librarian, he had nothing to say, but he fixed the person with a hard stare.

Tasha's in the background, icy gaze boring into the newcomer.