Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-3293219-20140210211511/@comment-3293219-20140216174830

The Black Argonian's eyes, slowly, opened as they took in the torch light. The light, though ever so small, was blinding and he struggled to face it every morning. He'd squint for several minutes before being able to fully open his eyes and accept the light into his retina.

Kaizen sighed as he opened his eyes and everything came into focus, he saw that someone was looking down on him...

"Morning, sleepy!" The breton girl said, blithely as he shook in his bed as he jumped out of his skin. The instinctive reaction to reach for the knife, under his pillow, came and went as he settled down. She was a young, breton girl in her late teens, blonde hair and quite noticeable blue eyes.

"By Sithis, Belecha!" The Argonian snapped as he sat up and his quilt rolled off of his shoulders. "You know that I keep a knife under my pillow!"

"So you keep saying..." Belecha smirked, seriously doubting it.

"One of these days, I could end up stabbing you in the neck. That would be a great way to wake up, wouldn't it?"

Belecha giggled, "Nah, that won't happen. I'm safe here; I'm in your blind spot."

"Belecha... you're right in front of me."

"Exactly!" She grinned as she took a seat on the corner of his bed. "Now, get dressed! Caius has a task for us."

Great... do I have to wipe the dust from his bald head? Kaizen never insulted Caius aloud as Caius would still beat him now, in fact, he'd probably kill him. Even as leader of the sanctuary, Kaizen was, in many ways, under Caius' thumb.

The argonian groaned and sat up, rubbing the last of the blurry, sleepiness from his eyes.

"What does The Old Man want, now?"

"Dunno, you'll have to go and ask him." Belecha smiled, cheerful as ever. Kaizen always managed to like this about her; somehow, she always kept her smile and her wit, no matter the situation.

He finally sighed and gave in, grabbing his leather armour from under his bed and putting it on. His office was virtually empty, just the bed and desk and the desk didn't have much on it. He never spent any time here and Caius always insisted on doing most of the administrative work. That was fine with him, it wasn't beyond his mental capacity but why waste your life filling in books, when there were contracts to fulfil?

Kaizen slipped into his suit and looked up at the breton, opposite him as he finished. He could tell that she was trying not to laugh at something.

"What?"

"Remember when that suit was too big for you?" Belecha giggled at the memory, he was fifteen at the time and he had been waiting for the chance to wear the suit for several years. The shrouded armour was, as she stated, far too big for him at the time. It took them the best part of ten minutes to put his arms and legs into the sleeves and even then, it didn't look right. They decided to have another one crafted for him, which would fit. It was a rare occasion as Kaizen usually despised being laughed at but upon seeing Belecha's face turn red and watching her bury her it into her hands as she eventually struggled to breath, he managed to see the humour in it.

"I remember how red your face got." Kaizen finally said, unable to hide his smile.

Belecha giggled, in response as they approached the door. It felt weird for Belecha, this room being known as 'Kaizen's Office' was still a lot to take in.

"So... do I get my own office? Chambers at least?" She asked, pressing her luck. She knew that Kaizen had an almost infinite amount of patience for her and often brushed any attempts off with a smile.

"I'm... not allowed to play favourites." Kaizen reminded her; he kept his focus on the hallway ahead. She rolled her eyes, even at his most patient, Kaizen had little by way of a sense of humour.

"Though... if I could, I'd give you The Old Man's office." The Black Argonian added, deciding to try and keep her spirits up.

Belecha smiled and turned to him but then a look of concern appeared on her face.

"Where would Caius sleep?"

"I'd get a nice dog house for him..."

Belecha couldn't help but laugh as he finished, her chuckles echoed throughout the sanctuary, causing Kaizen to grin.

"You definitely aren't allowed to do that." She scolded him, playfully.

"Why not? You get his office..." The Black Argonian tried to reason, though it was all for the sake of humour now, it was honestly starting to appeal to him.

"Gee, I see that loyalty doesn't seem to rub off on you." The breton girl rolled her eyes in response.

"What makes you say that?"

"Didn't Caius raise you, from birth?"

"He's not my father, if that's what you're asking." Kaizen explained, he rarely spoke of his upbringing to Belecha as she rarely asked and there few, if any pleasant stories.

Belecha giggled to herself, "Well, I kind of guessed that, when I noticed that he didn't have a tail." She mocked.

"Or a sense of humility..." Kaizen added.

Belecha rolled her eyes, again, there was a bigger chance of the sun and moon kissing, than there was of getting Kaizen to say Caius' name.

-

The two of them entered Caius' office; the old dunmer was sat at his desk, reading from one of his ledgers. Kaizen knew for a fact, that this was just to impress Belecha as he never read them, when he entered the room.

"Ah, Belecha my dear..." Caius folded the ledger and placed it into his drawer, Kaizen smirked as he noticed that he hadn't bothered to save the page. "I'm so glad that you could come."

Kaizen just glared at him, he had no 'unofficial words' for The Old Man. The only 'personal' thing that he could give him, was a look of contempt.

"Waif..." The Old Man stated, acknowledging his existence with a nod and an evenly matched look of contempt.

Belecha stood in the middle of them. She felt like a dog walker, who had gotten herself trapped between two, vicious dogs as they started to attack eachother.

"Erm... do you two want some alone time?" She asked, nervously as she tried to break the tension.

"What do you want, Old Man?" Kaizen finally uttered, being the 'mature one.'

Caius glanced away and turned back to his desk, with a heavy sigh.

"It’s Jee'da." He managed to say, sounding quite pained.

"The khajit?" Kaizen asked, he wasn't very close to him as he had only been there for six months.

"Yeah, he left for a contract a few days ago." Caius handed the contract to Kaizen, to take a look at. Though he favoured Belecha, he knew that Kaizen was the stronger mind. "It was a simple one; he should have been back yesterday morning."

Kaizen said nothing and began to read...

Jee'da

You are now reading your first dead drop note, here at Cadlew Chapel, this contract is of a delicate nature and therefore discretion is needed.

''You are to journey to the Talos Plaza District in the Imperial City. There resides an altmer nobleman by the name of Umbacano, who is widely known for his collection of ayleid artefacts. He is weak and feeble but he is also, very, powerful and influential. He hires two body guards, who take it in shifts to ensure that one of them is always guarding his property and his life. ''

''You may kill them, if necessary but I imagine that you would find a way to avoid them; however, I leave it to your discretion. There is a bonus in it for you, if you are able to make it look like an accident, during a burglary to deflect our involvement in the atlmer's demise.''

When he lies dead, return to the sanctuary for your payment and I will give you the location of the next Dead Drop.

Serve me well Murderer and I will see to it that you are truly rewarded...

Kaizen folded the contract and gave it to Belecha as he kept his gaze fixed on The Old Man, their cold eyes met as he awaited the question.

"Sounds like a simple job..." Kaizen began, his mind whirring away in and effort to think up and discard all possibilities.

"Aye, it does but..." The Old Man looked away, his face looked somewhat worried. "I... I'm sorry, Listener..."

Belecha looked up in shock, he called him... 'Listener?' This hadn't happened before, something was wrong.

"What have you done..." Kaizen inquired, firmly.

"I... I think it was a trap." Caius explained, unable to hide the shame in his eyes. "Umbaccano has been dead for... Well, since before your father became the listener."

"Shit..." Kaizen raised his hand to his face and rubbed his eyes, ''who would set such a trap? Unless...''

The door burst open and a bosmer ran inside, he looked like he was going to cough up a lung.

"Caius!" He wheezed as he doubled over and held his body up, by putting his hands on his knees.

"Orc... here... speak... to you..." He was so out of breath that he could barely even force the basic point of his message out.

"Orc?" Caius asked, looking over at Kaizen, with a confused look. "So... it's not the empire."

"The empire recruits orcs..." Belecha reminded him, timidly.

"Perhaps in Morrowind but it's rare in Cyrodiil..." The Old Man countered, respectfully.

"He isn't empire..." Kaizen stated, bluntly. He glanced up with a look of fear.

Caius looked at him in confusion as he figured it out, a feeling of rage built up. "Then wh-"

Kaizen didn't bother staying; he marched out of the room and began to make his way to the front door as Belecha trailed behind him.

-

She managed to catch up; making sure that Caius was far behind them both as she began to speak.

"Kaizen... wh-what's going on?" She looked genuinely concerned as he was never secretive, least of all with her.

"I'll explain later, I promise..."

The Black Argonian passed through the great hall as his comrades looked at him with a look of fear, he ignored them as he stepped past. He knew what they were feeling, an unknown holy order had risen up to challenge him and he was the only one who knew anything about them.

The Listener stopped at the front door, his heart was pounding out of his chest as he sighed and looked down at the floor. Rubbing his hand across his brow as he closed his eyes.

Belecha looked at him with concern, taking his hand, firmly.

"It'll be okay." She said with a smile, "I'll be right beside you."

He glanced over to her and smiled as this made him feel better, he gave her hand a slight squeeze to show his appreciation as he placed his other hand on the door and stepped out, into the basement of the abandoned house. Kaizen let go of her hand as the orc came into view, stood next to an altmer with Jee'da knelt in front of them, with his hands in binds, blindfolded.

The Black Argonian looked down at him, noticing the heavy swelling around his face, from where he'd probably been beaten. He looked up and caught the altmer's eye, which gave him a sharp look, a look that he returned.

"I trust you know why we're here." Areldur began, pacing back and too with his hand on the hilt of his sword as Sir Loz just stood there with his arms folded, grinning.

"Y-yeah... I do." Kaizen muttered, he was nowhere near as confident at this stage. He hadn't found his iron heart yet and his spirit still had a hint of mercy’s stench, weakness before it too was hardened.

"What is this about!?" Caius snapped as he stepped out of the sanctuary, the rage was building up in his voice, though he wasn't sure who it was directed at, Kaizen or the holy man.

Areldur looked up at Kaizen as the pain of losing his comrade and friend built up behind his eyes; he managed to suppress his emotions but barely.

"Your... argonian, murdered one of our own and now, I have come to see that justice is brought to him!"

"He got in the way, he had every opportunity to walk and he chose to attack me. My conscience is clear..." Kaizen replied, coldly.

"What are you talking about?!" Caius snapped, demanding an explanation.

Areldur looked up at the old man, he believed that this was a Contract but considering that this, presumably, senior member knew nothing about it...

"So, am I to believe that nobody knows anything ab-"

"No, they know nothing." Kaizen answered, cutting through before gesturing his head back, he knew better than to fully, turn around. "I attacked a member of their order, I wanted the location of their priory."

Caius looked away, clenching his fists in rage at the Waif's stupidity.

"Why in the void would you need to know that?!" The Old Man snapped at the foolish child, who stood before him. Kaizen said nothing; he hung his head and closed his eyes, trying to figure out his next move as the world's focus shifted onto him.

"I... was looking for something, that's all that matters." Kaizen stated, The Old Man didn't need to know what it was. The Old Fool idolised Pilerius and to tell him, would break him and it would make them both look weak...

In front of their enemies...

In front of Belecha...

"I didn't intend to kill that redguard, this was all an unfortunate acciden-"

Sir Loz didn't even give him the opportunity to finish his lies as he drew his spear and ran it through Jee'da's head, the tip of the spear, went right through his skull and out of his mouth. Jee'da died instantly.

"NO!" Kaizen snapped as he ran forward, drawing his hand axe and mace, in an attempt to kill the brute. Areldur, drew his sword and crossed it against Kaizen's chest, to keep him back.

The Black Argonian lunged forward again, smashing his mace against the altmer's shield. He struck it, several times, putting an immense amount of pressure on his shield arm and almost knocking him to the floor. Belecha drew her knives but didn't intervene, she was afraid of hitting Kaizen. She'd be there, if he needed her...

Caius began to charge lightning bolts in his hands, stepping forward and firing them at the brutish orc, who was waiting for a chance to strike The Black Argonian down with his unusual spear.

Sir Loz was hit by the powerful lightning bolts, causing him to stumble back as his armour acted as a fine conductor, sending the electricity shooting through his body. Areldur had finally recovered from the powerful strikes of the argonian's mace and swung his sword around, it was a weak swing, which Kaizen blocked with his hand axe, deflecting it to Areldur's waist and attempting to strike him, around the head with his mace. Areldur raised his shield, almost instinctively and blocked Kaizen's swing, raising his sword again for another chance to strike. He swung it again at Kaizen's waist as the argonian jumped back to avoid it, the tip of sword dragged across his stomach, tearing through his armour and causing him to wince in pain as Belecha gasped.

Areldur raised the sword above his head, ready to strike it down, through The Black Argonian's skull but he was quickly struck by Caius' lightning bolts and sent, stumbling, back. Sir Loz had recovered, grabbing his spear as he got up to end this as he locked the argonian in his sights. He held the tip of the spear in his right hand and tucked the end of the, under his left arm as he charged in. The orsimer lunged forward and drove the spear, aiming for the argonian's heart.

Belecha grabbed hold of the argonian's shoulder as he stumbled back, it was just a scratch but she still worried about it.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine... I-" Kaizen was cut off by the holy orc's battle cries as he ran forward, he felt himself fall back as Belecha pulled him to the floor, unable to get them both out of the way in time as the spear dug into her stomach. It all happened so fast as Kaizen hit the floor and the breton was knocked back, by the force of the spear, piercing her abdomen.

The girl's faint gasp of pain and shock stopped the fighting, spells were dropped and swords were lowered as the orc realised what he had done. He took a deep breath as he took it in and pulled the spear back out of her stomach, causing her to cry out and fall to the floor as the strength in the orc's arms were the only thing that kept her standing.

Kaizen looked up and saw her fall, her black armour grew even darker as the blood soaked through and he caught the seventeen year old in his arms. Sir Loz looked, slightly, pained and stood back; he at least had the decency to stay back...

The Black Argonian propped her up as he felt the dampness on her back, her stomach and lower back were drenched in blood and her armour had gone another shade darker. He looked down at the ghastly wound as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Her pained gasps snapped him back into reality as he looked up at her face as tears welled up in her eyes and rolled down her face.

"I-I told you..." She whispered with a pained smile, "I said that you'd never stab me in the neck..."

The breton sniffed and swallowed as the pain shot through her body, her blue eyes were glistening as another wave of tears came. "Now you'll never get the chance..."

"Shh..." Kaizen whispered as he propped her up again, trying to keep her awake. He would have laughed, if it weren't for the gravity of things...

"I-it hurts..." She told him as if he hadn't figured it out yet, it was all she could think about as she felt the pain shoot through her again.

"I know, just..." He turned back at Caius, ready to yell at him to come over with his healing spells but The Old Man just shook his head. He felt his own stomach sink in recognition, as if his own abdomen had ripped open and given him the chance to join her...

"B-Bel-"

"Shh..." She smiled at him, the pain of the injury and the knowledge that she was going to die, hit her again. "I-I..."

Kaizen listened out for the rest of the sentence but she never finished it as her head fell back, over his arm and her eyes closed for the last time, her last breath was slightly drawn out and broken as all of the pain left her body.

-

The Black Argonian didn't react, no tears were shed and his face stayed fixed as he lowered the girl's broken body to the floor and closed his eyes.

It was at that moment that Kaizen's soul seemed to have...

Suppressed? Vanished? He didn’t know…

He felt nothing else but the desire to kill, the desire to correct the mistake with one death at a time. His blood stained hands wrapped around the hilt of his weapons as he stood up, stopping to face the brutish orc as he glared into his eyes, the cold blue of his iris turned to ice as he approached his enemy. Staring at him as the orc waited for his retaliation, knowing that this was going to be bad...

Kaizen glared up at him, his grip tightening on his axe, so that it would be easier to draw the weapon from the Knight's skull. He then burst out into a cry of rage as he struck his axe down, the axe caught the spear and the two weapons clashed, though the strength knocked Sir Loz back, causing him to stumble. Kaizen's rage powered a strength, which he didn't know he had. However, like Mikasa's shadows, his rage gave him strength but it also damaged his humanity, the more he used it.

He threw his axe and mace to the floor and lunged at the orc, his weapons were a hindrance as they only slowed him down...

Sir Loz raised the daedric artefact and struck down across Kaizen's face, scratching his left eye and causing him to wince and stumble back. The Black Argonian's reaction was only temporary as he quickly shook it off and went for it again, throwing himself onto the orc, grabbing him by the head and pinning him to the floor.

Areldur attempted to intervene, raising his sword and attempting to stab Kaizen with it but he was knocked back by Caius' spell, who wanted the Waif to kill the bastard who took Belecha away from him.

The orc fell onto his back as his spear flew across the floor, skidding along until it stopped at the wall. Kaizen wasted no time and tried to kill the orc, in the most brutal way he could think of. The orc screamed out as he felt the argonian's thumbs push down on his eyelids, the pain was unbearable.

Areldur got up and saw the brutality, first hand. The Old Dunmer was too distracted by the carnage to try and kill the altmer again, so the knight used this as his chance to strike Kaizen around the head, with his shield and knocked him to the floor. Caius snapped out of his bloodlust induced trance and looked up, firing two more bolts at Areldur, who blocked them with his shield as his hair shot up from the lightning bolt's strike.

He helped the orc onto his feet, who was now clutching at his eyes, unable to see anything but yellow as he was lead away. Caius was too old to run after them and Kaizen was out cold...

The Old Man could do nothing but watch as they got away, it didn't matter to him anymore... There was nothing else that could be done.

-

Caius looked down on the Argonian's body, feeling the urge to kill him in his sleep grow more and more dominant over his desire to awaken him and find out more about this.

The Five Tenets prevented him from killing him anyway...

Kaizen awoke as the throbbing in his head brought him back to reality, he awoke to a face, looking down on him. This time it wasn't Belecha's smile that greeted him to the morning but Caius' frown, a look of loathing and contempt.

"Are they...?"

"No... But she is." Caius reminded him, his tone as bitter as ever.

Kaizen sighed, heavily as her death played back to him in the space of twenty seconds, the sigh broke up as he got closer to the end, closer to the blood stained hands and the pained look in Belecha's eyes.

"You have some-" Caius' voice was drowned out, it became a muffled piece of background noise as Kaizen pulled himself to his feet, picked up Sir Loz's Spear of Bitter Mercy and carrying it back inside the sanctuary.

It made a horrific grinding noise as he trailed it along the floor, behind him. The prongs created three, white lines along the stone as they trailed along, emitting a shriek that made everyone cringe as it echoed throughout the sanctuary. Kaizen didn't hear it... he was too deep in thought, too focussed on the plans that he had for this spear...

It would be their undoing...

The Black Argonian dragged it back to his office, placing the artefact of the Prince of Madness on his desk as he circled it.

That brute's mistake will be the first step, towards the death of their order...

Kaizen reached over his shoulder and removed several black soul gems from his bureau, placing them in a line, in front of the Spear of Bitter Mercy as he, hastily, drew the blue prints in his head...

And the downfall of the Gods they serve...

Kaizen’s office emitted a powerful blue light and the sound if dissolving soul gems echoed, throughout the sanctuary. This would be the case for the best part of a week as Kaizen crafted the ultimate God Killer…

The Spear of Retribution…

-

Kaizen slowly awoke; the room was a lot darker than it used to be. Perhaps the torches aren’t as strong these days or maybe his eyes had just gotten used to them. He moved his head, trying to remember where he was, in time as he felt Petra’s forehead brush against his neck. She smiled and groaned and hugged up to him in response.

The Black Argonian smiled and went back to sleep.