How does one know their time is up?... when the world grows quiet? When even your heartbeat sounds like a countdown?...
The rumbling clouds were subtle, yet the rain was already drizzling. Splashing the dirt with wet dots of rain.
The bloodlust in the air, however, couldn't be masked.
Maraye stood, weak and wobbly, staring at the five shadow men before her.
Her time was up, she knew it. Five years of living in the shadows partaking in one of the shadiest business to ever exist in the empire.
Did she regret it?
"Maraye! Thieves are meant to die like dogs! Why did you do it, you selfish child?" Her mother's strict voice echoed endlessly in it's scolding.
"I'm sorry Mama" It was all she knew to do, deliver an insincere apology.
Maraye smiled despite the tears threatening to fall. She didn't regret it—not the theft, not the blood, not even the lies. Only that her ending came before her purpose did.
A deafening silence stretched, so deep even nature held it's breath.
Nobody moved. But Maraye knew the game, predators always waited for prey to blink first.
It was enough time for them to move and then the person's gone…for good.
They seemed lifeless like statues, no emotion no thoughts. Just endless dangerous energy, so powerful they could wipe out an army.
But Maraye had made up her mind tonight, just like all other times where she had to make difficult decisions, she had always made a selfish one.
She wouldn't accept this fate…
I don't want to die… I won't!
Her gaze shifted, slightly to one of determination. They noticed this, and the grip on their swords tightened.
"You will die!"
The rain paused at his words, and thunder answered in the distance.
"I won't" Maraye protested. Stubborn. She couldn't pinpoint where this courage came from, but she would definitely make the first move.
She spun on her swollen heels, and ran, not from death but from the cruel way it waited for her.
The sharp whistle sounded again, this time louder.
Running— wet, heavy, the smell of blood and wet grass stinging her nose, Maraye looked behind her but saw no one.
Oh no! She panicked.
Now it was hide and seek. They were definitely watching her, waiting for her to realise.
She didn't stop running, her breaths coming out as foggy air to mix with the atmosphere.
A dead end?
She stopped, heart pounding. She was now standing before a cliff.
"No…no, no," She whispered, but the cliff didn't care. The abyss was patient.
"Aye!" She heard her captain call her and immediately spun around.
"Captain, please let me prove myself one more ti—"
"Aye!"
"Why did you lie?" he demanded, raising his sword. His dark eyes had always been his terrifying trait, they seemed like they'd swallow the onlookers.
"Lie?" Maraye froze. The secret she'd guarded for years had finally betrayed her.
"You...You are a woman." his voice dripped with more horror than hatred, as if her existence had personally deceived the gods.
"I can explai—" A sword cut deep into her chest. She gasped.
Time stilled.
Thunder cracked, and the rain returned harder, angrier. Raindrops slicing through everything like blades.
Everything around Maraye had blurred, and sound was fading.
For a heartbeat, shock rippled through her, then her vision dissolved into nothingness.
The sharp whistle pierced the air again, but this time it sounded muffled. Through the darkness, it stung her ears then began to fade.
"You are a fool Aye! If that's even your real name."
Her captain hissed, pulling the sword out without Mercy.
Maraye groaned, her consciousness a waning mess as she dropped to the ground. In her own pool of blood.
Gone.
The captain stood straight, his face grim.
"Liar's should meet a horrible end" He deadpanned. With one of his legs he pushed her off the cliff.
He stood watching her fall deep into the mist and icy cold water below.
His face stoic, but deep within his black souless eyes something dark and disturbing stirred, something he knew very well.
He heard a small thud behind him. One that stirred a feeling he couldn't yet admit to himself.
He turned around, expressionless. These men as dark as the shadows definitely were trained and finely skilled. Which meant the small yet subtle sound they made was deliberate.
As though to remind the captain they were behind him.
A subtle power move that only the threatened would understand.
They were under his command yet…this unease.
They never spoke unless needed, yet they see much more than they should.
Five gaze locked onto the captain's. The rain still hadn't stopped, but the tension between them too thick it felt as though everything had stilled.
As though trying to pass a message, they continued to stared.
"Sheath your sword and leave!"
The captain murmured, before walking away in another direction…..
***
The forest went eerily silent again, as everything returned to normal.
A slow drizzle was all that disturbed the calm night.
Mages pounced through the forest, leaping from tree to tree. The sharp whistle sounding again. It was a mage blowing it about.
Three mages, came to stand before the cliff. One crouched down to touch the blood that was almost wiped completely by the rain.
A mix of mud and blood, between his fingers before he brought it to his nose.
"It wasn't long ago General." The mage spoke, and the tall one nodded. He moved towards the very edge before looking down into the abyss below.
He frowned, moving closer. Apart from the chilling cold, it felt as though something was staring back at him.
Something deep that made his skin crawl.
"Ladi," he called one of them. Stepping away from the cliff while trying not to shiver.
"Report back to the estate." He commanded, walking the opposite way.
"Yes Master. But sir, where are you going?" The other mages questioned, and their master paused.
He turned to give a pointed look.
"To speak with the dead." he said, and the forest held it's breath.
The other mages paused, wondering if they heard wrong.
There were times when unusual things happened which called for unusual actions.
They took one step back, slowly unsheating their sword.
The whistle pierced the air again. A call for other mages.
Something wasn't right.