With a hopeful smile she didn't quite feel, Lady Vorenna paced in front of the assembled criminals.
"I selected you for your abilities and your… unique connections. Your chaos is unpredictable, yes, but don't think of this only as a path to freedom. Don't just think of this as a means to an end. You may find yourselves becoming better people. To change. To—perhaps—redeem yourselves. To have hope that—"
She was abruptly cut off.
"Excuse me, ma'am?" Garruk rumbled.
Vorenna blinked. "Yes, Garruk? I was about to give the speech of a lifetime." Her voice cracked with disappointment.
"Nah, not really," Lorian snorted.
"Yeah, it was kinda corny," Ako rasped from inside her cage.
Lady Vorenna's cheeks flushed. She bit her lip hard, fighting back the sting of tears.
'I spent all night working on that speech…'
She exhaled, steadying herself. "Yes, Garruk?"
The giant lowered his head slightly. "You said we were the rest of the Deathforged. Where is the fifth?"
Vorenna rubbed her temples. "Over there. Sleeping."
All eyes turned. Atlas lay slouched in the stolen chair, feet up, head tilted back. His black hair spilled across his face as he snored softly. The shackles he'd entered with were already on the floor—discarded at some unknown point during the introductions. His hands were folded behind his head like a makeshift pillow. Vorenna's patience snapped. She slipped off her pristine heel and hurled it. Atlas caught it without opening his eyes, sighed, and stretched.
"This… is the fifth member," she said. "Your leader. Atlas."
A stunned silence followed before Seris finally spoke. Her voice was surprisingly low, deep for a woman, and carried the weight of someone who'd long since stopped caring what others thought.
"The assassin?"
"Who's that?" Garruk asked earnestly, head tilting like a confused boulder.
Ako, however, looked starstruck. Her red pupils widened. "A—Atlas The Unseen? Holy shit… in the flesh…"
"Are you a super fan?" Seris muttered.
"Shut up, woman," Ako shot back without blinking. Her beastly hands gripped the iron bars of the cage.
Lorian, typically the first to run his mouth, went pale. His voice shrank to a whisper. "…Shit."
Atlas finally opened his eyes. Without a word, he raised his left hand. A long serrated black dagger rested in his palm. With a flick of his wrist, it shot across the hall. Gasps erupted as it embedded itself in the wall—pinning the shoulder of a man-shaped smoky silhouette. So faint in perception nobody noticed it. Slowly, the smoke solidified into a perfect image of Lorian. Back on the dais, the illusion flickered, glitched, and dissipated into mist as the magic dampener around his neck—clearly missing on the real Lorian—failed to suppress his spell.
Then all eyes swung to the real Lorian… who stood at the door looking very guilty.
"LORIAN!" Lady Vorenna snapped.
He trudged forward, plucking the dagger out of the wall, unpinning his tunic.
"Sorry, sorry…"
"When," Vorenna demanded, "did you take off your magic dampener?!"
"Since the moment I got thrown into prison!" he said, hands raised defensively. "I could've escaped anytime. I was saving it for my execution day—big dramatic escape, fireworks, a whole performance! And then this happened and they cancelled the execution. Completely ruined the bit. I kept that form for 6 months!"
The hall groaned. Some guards cursed. A few representatives muttered, "Unbelievable…"
Lady Vorenna glanced at Atlas, silently asking how he'd seen through the illusion. Simply, he shrugged.
"Illusion resonance doesn't work on me."
"Yeah, yeah, I heard the rumors, you bastard. I was gonna escape," Lorian muttered like a child caught cheating. He handed the dagger back, grumbling under his breath, "Asshole…"
"Atlas, come over here. Now," Vorenna ordered, sounding like an exhausted mother.
Atlas finally stood and was about to walk past Ako's cage. He paused, sighed, and used his dagger to unlock it. Ako sprang out immediately, tail twitching and wagging, eyes shining. She craned her neck up toward him.
"H-Hi…" she said breathlessly, like a shaky teenage fangirl.
"Hey, kid." He said before standing in the spot next to her, at the end of the horizontal line.
Ako nearly vibrated. "He called me kid! He called me kid!"
"Enough already," Lorian groaned, smacking the back of her head. "He's not that cool. He's ugly…and suprisingly short…what is he like 5'5"?" Ako let out a growl and rubbed the spot that Lorin smacked.
Now gathered together, all five stood before the hall—misfits from every corner of the world, united by nothing but crimes, talents, and the threat ahead. Lady Vorenna stepped before them, lifting the ancient tome with both hands. Its golden edges shimmered under the courtroom light.
She took a breath.
"Let us begin the first ever Deathforged Contract."