The mission failed.
"Intruder!"
The target got away.
"Protect the lord!"
The assassin would be executed.
"Catch him!"
No, he wouldn't even make it that far.
"Take his head!"
Followed by the whole garrison, the assassin ran across the unfamiliar halls of a foreign castle, doing his best to get away from failure. He used every trick he knew of, but an impending sense of doom followed him like a shadow—like the very shadow he couldn't become. His intuition screamed in the assassin's ear that the end was near.
Oh, how he wished for his intuition to be wrong, but it never was. Especially after he had stumbled upon the power that got him into this situation.
Not long before, he was just an average assassin. Given simple tasks, he would usually take out his targets over drinks at a bar.
He couldn't explain it either, but one day he opened his eyes with knowledge of many types of insane magic. Back then, he didn't waste a second and rushed to his guild, proving to them that he could now control multiple elements at once. All he wanted was better work and more money.
It was only now that he understood the true weight of power.
"I should have kept my mouth shut!" the assassin said as he burned a knight blocking his path.
Blood. Blood painted the walls, the ground, and the ceiling high above his head in a foul color. He had spilled the blood of many guards with his newfound powers, but there were many more to come, and once the royal blood was safely escorted from the castle, the strongest knights would surely make their way back.
"Stop it!" he screamed as he cut away at another guard who lunged at him from the side.
Unfitting of an assassin, the one being chased down the halls hated spilling blood pointlessly. For him, the target was the money, and whoever stood in his way was just another task. This time, the target escaped, and all the tasks he had put to rest became nothing more than a waste of life. It was nothing more than a job. Who in their right mind goes around killing people in their spare time?
For an assassin, he was a good man, but being good wouldn't pardon him for his deeds. It was up to divine favor whether he would get out of the castle alive, and as is often the case, the divine likes to bully mortals.
It was right as he jumped out the window. With a bit of wind magic, he was able to land properly. Had he been seconds faster, maybe he would have gotten away, but as things stood now, he found himself face-to-face with the sole person he didn't want to meet.
It was a man taller than nature should allow, and he was clad in armor nobody but him could wear.
The assassin tried to attack, but every element he used was deflected with ease. He tried to flee, but he was pushed back before he could ever take a second step.
"As if being huge isn't enough, where are you getting that speed from?" the assassin said, trying to use his silver tongue as a last resort, but his joke didn't stick, and another hit to the head sent him flying into the wall, blood dripping from his left ear, which lost its use that moment.
"Scum! Have you any idea how many lives you've taken?" the knight asked.
"Hah… Believe me, I wish I could forget…" the assassin answered, memories of how he panicked and went on a killing spree out of fear weighing heavy on his heart.
Maybe death is too easy of a punishment, he thought for a moment, that thought being interrupted by a smack that left him with no good ear.
Now deaf, he looked up at the giant readying his sword for a final strike. The man said something, but the assassin couldn't hear, so he closed his eyes. Ready to accept his punishment, the man only wished for what little fond memories he had to be the last thing he thought about.
Yet a second later, the assassin opened his eyes again, wider than ever before.
"I remember!" he screamed. "Do it! Kill me now! If it's not them, then maybe it can finally—"
But before the knight's blade reached him, a ray of light pierced them both, only leaving the assassin time to finish his sentence before the fickle, newfound light in his eyes went out.
"…end."