text: [Themes: fantasy]
  
  In the past years you've become fairly efficient at tricking your body into thinking it needed to be protected. That way you'd be able to use your power whenever you wanted. Now, however, you realize you do not need to trick yourself at all.
  
  You breathe in deeply, and then let that deep breath out. If anyone wa paying attention, then they might've thought an angel had appeared in the street. The mark on your back glows through your clothes and that familiar heat radiates across your shoulders. You prepare to rush the man, and at the last second pull your sword from you belt.
  
  You rush out into the alley, and head in the direction of the archer. Almost immediately an arrow flies toward your head. You twist your head out of the way, and manage to get out of the way before it can touch you. It was close, but you were still fast enough to dodge it. You feel a surge of success, but you make sure you don't allow it to go to your head as you barrel down the alleyway.
  
  Just before the next arrow flies at you, you manage to make out the outline of your second attacker. The next arrow flies toward your chest, but the feeling of protecting yourself grows even stronger. Thus you feel like the arrow is moving slower. You bring up your left hand (the hand that isn't holding the sword) up and your timing is perfect. You grab the arrow just before it hits you. Somewhere in the back of your mind you feel pain from splinters entering your hand, but that doesn't;t bother you anymore. You've given yourself into the adrenaline that comes from such a life threatening situation.
  
  You gauge the distance between you and the shadowed figure, and realize, with relief, that he wouldn't have enough time to draw another arrow before you reached him.
  
  Unfortunately, he notices this as well, and instead of bothering to fight, he runs. You continue running after him determined to find out who exactly wanted you dead this bad.
  
  The would be assassin is much faster than you expected, so even with your blessing, you're barely gaining on him. He leads you down a maze of alleys and streets until he finally makes a wrong turn an hits a dead end. You cease your running, and the man turns around with a panicked expression on his face. Time seems to slow down as you wait for him to try and dodge past you. He stays eerily still as you walk towards him, and if you didn't have your blessing activated you might not have caught the signs. The signs that you were led into a trap. The man your facing made the mistake of glancing behind you. That mistake alone might not have given it away, but you hear the light fall of a single footstep behind you.
  
  The hair on your neck stands, and you roll out of the way to dodge whatever was behind you. While your roll saved you from that initial attack, you're left on the defensive when you look behind you.
  
  Several cloaked figures stand between you and the exit of the dead end. You quickly count them up. Five. Including the archer from before, there were five more cloaked figures cornering you. All with that symbol of the red sun on their cloak. As you stand up from the roll, you see that the guy who tried to decapitate you looking suitably surprised at your reflexes.
  
  You use half a moment to examine the surroundings. The blessing helps marvelously with this. You take note of each important thing in the form of fragmented thoughts.
  
  Only one archer. Everyone else has swords. They arrived at different times. Must be why only one person attacked you a moment ago. One of the five stands alone in the back. The archer from before looks ready to draw another arrow. Take him out first...situation has changed. Don't try to disable. Go for the kill.
  
  All of these thoughts run through your mind just as that guy (whom attacked you seconds ago) steps forward for a second try. It would be his last mistake.
  
  You've always been great at fighting, even without your blessing, but with it you're pretty much unstoppable. You were even able to surpass Miss Sarrin before you graduated.
  
  So when assassin number three (Assassin number one being the one back at the tavern) decides he wants another try, you parry his thrust and slash his throat before he could understand what just happened.
  
  Assassin number two managed to string an arrow while you dealt with his friend, and is now in the process of aiming it at you. Assassin's number four and five decide that advancing at the same time might be better alternative to going at you separately. Assassin number six, oddly enough, doesn't do anything else but watch things go down. He seems to be the leader of numbers one through five.
  
  You're left with two viable options. (short of giving up that is)
  
  > Attack number two
  It doesn't matter that two guys are advancing toward you from your right, you don't at all feel comfortable with someone aiming an arrow at your back. It would only take one mistake on your part, and you would be lying dead on the cold hard stones of Aeors.
  
  You rush archer number two with incredible speed, and the other two rush after you. The archer brings his bow up just as you get to him, and at the same time assassin number four closes in on you from behind. A truly un-ideal situation. Well at least if you hadn't expected it.
  
  You twist out of the way the moment your heightened senses see the archer begin to release his arrow. Unfortunately for number four, he is nowhere near as fast as you. The arrow slams into his chest silencing him immediately.
  
  Astonishment colors the eyes of the archer as he kills his comrade, but you don't allow him any time for regret. You immediately advance and stab him through the stomach. Your blade sinks far into his stomach, certainly farther than normal, and you note that if you were any stronger, thn you very well could have your hand wrist deep into his body.
  
  Luckily for you, assassin number five isn't fast enough to hit you before you withdraw your sword from the archer's stomach. Unluckily for you, it seems that assassin number six finally decided to contribute to the fight. He makes his way towards the both of you just as you swing your first slash at number five. He barely manages to block it, and is put on the defensive immediately. You only manage to get a few swings out before number six joins the fight.
  
  A fast thrust is immediately dealt towards you, and as you parry it away, you realized that it was thrown with immense strength. You simultaneously kick out at number five, catching him in the leg, and slash from the bottom up at the newcomer.
  
  Your slash, although extremely fast, doesn't hit him. Instead, he's fast enough to avoid the deadly attack. Well he is. Your sword does manage to catch the edge of his cloak hood thoug, and the cloak material is thick enough that your sword takes just longer than a moment to slice through it. That moment is more than enough to send his hood flying off of his head.
  
  You're so surprised that you nearly drop your sword. Ashyr stand before you. Obviously older, and with a scar on his chin, but Ashyr nonetheless.
  
  You remember back when you first clashed swords years ago. For a brief moment you feel nostalgia, but that moment passes very quickly when you remember that he's trying to kill you.
  
  Number five recovers from the kick and swings his sword in a deadly arc over his head at you, which you block, then Ashyr follows up with an attack of his own, which you parry.
  
  The three of you soon enter a dance of sorts. Blades ring throughout the alley and echo into the night. There's a brief moment where you wonder if anyone will here the commotion, but you shrug it off quickly enough. Your opponents had the luxury of choosing the sight for this fight. You doubt they would choose a place where someone would impede their killing you.
  
  Without your blessing you're sure you would already be dead, for Ashyr certainly kept honing his swordplay since the Academy, and number five is no push over either. You hate to admit it, but you doubt if you could beat Ashyr without your blessing. Someone of his caliber fighting against you would require you to use your blessing to win, and with someone else helping him... it turns the fight into a near stalemate. It is only a near stalemate though, because your increased prowess with your blessing, let alone that Ashyr no longer has strength and height advantage over you, allow you the edge in this fight.
  
  That being said, you aren't really fighting offensively, so you don't get very far in your attempts to take them out.
  
  You decide that in order to effectively protect yourself, and stay alive, you need to focus your attack on one of your opponents.
  
  While assassin five is certainly weaker, you briefly think that it might better suit you if you take out Ashyr first. Of course, there's also the flip side. If you take number five out quickly enough, then Ashyr won't be able to stand alone against you.
  
  > focus your attacks on number five
  Maybe it' a greater sense of strategy. or perhaps you just want to save Ashyr for last. Whatever the reason, you focus all of your strength on number five.
  
  To the untrained eye, the fight will have stayed the same, but to the trained eye everything changed in the span of a second. Before you were attacking and defending from both sides, but with your new strategy you only attack against number five, and only ever defend against Ashyr. so long as you sufficiently defend yourself from Ashyr, and constantly press the attack on number five, then you don't get harmed.
  
  To your surprise, it not only works, but it works famously. Number five turns out to be less suitable to defending than to attacking. He practically stumbles several times in his attempts to stay alive. What surprises you even more is Ashyr's performance on offense. He doesn't attack quite as skillfully as you might imagine he would have, so his attacks end up having loads of power, yet not quite enough skill to use it effectively. You catch a glimpse of his face during the encounter, and his face is a mix of true rage and hate. You knew he didn't like you, but you didn't think it would be quite so extensive.
  
  You press the attack on number five even more urging him to cease his impotent defense. Every swing of yours brings a weaker block from him. Eventually this becomes too much for him and one of his blocks fails to have nearly enough power to stop your blow. Your over head strike knocks his sword clear out of his hand, but your sword continues and bites down into his neck.
  
  Halfway decapitated, number five falls to the ground amongst the bodies of the other assassins.
  
  Despite your moment of victory, Ashyr is undeterred. He launches a powerful strike in a deadly arc at your shoulder. Probably in hopes of making you lose the ability to use your arm. It was a smart move, but you do manage to bring your sword back in time for you to block it. To your chagrin, his attack was plentifully powerful. Enough to push your block down, and even make a slight cut in your arm. The pain isn't too great, and with the addition of of your adrenaline pumping you barely feel it at all.
  
  This must've been a last ditch effort to defeat you, for he immediately goes back on the defensive. With your focus solely on Asher, you are able to to put all of your effort into attack. The eerie similarity of the situation astonishes you for a moment.
  
  You pushing him back with a sudden ferocity akin to a demon.
  
  Him, defending as if his life depended on it.
  
  You continuing to press him with attacks despite fatigue starting to come to you.
  
  Him, realizing your fatigue and desperately trying to hold out until your attacks weaken.
  
  You, finally failing in your attacks, and on the defensive.
  
  Him, pushing you back with attacks that you are barely able to defend against.
  
  You start gasping for air, and it seems that you can never gulp down enough. Your eyes blur for a moment and Ashyr nearly takes your head off. Wait, this isn't right. You think this as you barely manage to stay alive against his onslaught of attacks. Your blessing should be giving you much greater energy than this. You try to activate it again, but realize that it is already activated. Still, you don't have the energy that you know you should have.
  
  Then everything connects in your head. The red suns...they were a symbol for an ancient assassin group. Your mind goes all the way back to when you were with Alessa in the Man's cabin. It was one of the books he had on the shelf. So these people weren't just assassins against you, they were regular assassins. And as with most assassins, Ashyr probably had his sword poisoned. It would explain the sudden loss of energy, as well as why he was so intent on simply hitting you.
  
  You grow weaker and weaker. You realize that there's only one way this can end. You clumsily block Ashyr's next attack then immediately back up against the end of the alley. Apparently he had been pressing you hard enough to push you into a literal corner. Your back slides against the alley wall, and you sink into a sitting position on the ground. The strength gives out in your arms and your sword clatters to the ground beside you.
  
  Ashyr stands above you with a triumphant expression on his face. He slowly brings his sword over his head and prepares to bring it down in a deadly stab. You close your eyes and await the inevitable.
  
  It doesn't come. you hear a whirring sound in the air and then the sound of metal striking the alley wall. You open your eyes tiredly.
  
  Alessa stands at the end of the alley. The moonlight shines across her hair making her shine in the darkness. In her hands is a gleaming silver sword, and at her shoulders you can see a darkish aura rising from her persona. Ashyr stares in astonishment at the newcomer, but his true goal doesn't leave his mind. He brings his sword down again at you. You blink and Alessa is already beside you stopping his sword from killing you.
  
  She was extremely close now, and you could see the outline of dark wings through her leather armor. Despite that you dearly wish to fall asleep...
  
  "Stay with me Erron!" Her voice commands you, and you reopen your eyes. Ashyr attack aat you again, and Alessa manages to defend you again. You want to tell her to leave you, but you don't have the strength to say anything.
  
  Alessa pushes Ashyr back with her sword, and a fight ensues. Alessa is clearly no match for him in terms of skill, but her curse gives her enough power to stay toe to toe with him. Alessa manages to push him back a few feet, but she is nowhere near as good at you at fighting. Moments later, you hear a pained cry as Ashyr's sword slashes across her upper arm.
  
  You lose all hope then. Alessa's power would soon be depleted, and you would both die. The thought of Alessa dying starts to motivate you, and you look for ways to help her. You see your sword lying on the ground beside you, and you wonder if you can pick it up. Maybe you have enough energy for one last thrust...
  
  > pick up the sword and stab Ashyr
  You muster all of your remaining strength and reach for the sword. For a moment your fingers fumble, but you manage to pick the sword up. You roll forward onto one knee, and for a brief satisfying moment, you think you'll be able to do it.
  
  Turns out the extra movement only accelerated the poison. You collapse to the ground in a fit of coughs.
  
  You die, knowing that you fail in saving Alessa. Some "Chosen Hero" you are.