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<li data-xf-list-type="ul">His task was a simple one - to retrieve the General who resided in the room at the end of the hallway.<br/>
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Doing so seemed harmless enough, but when it came to retrieving General's, many of the servants were hesitant, some even scared to the point of running and hiding. Malak was an eccentric one, and his labs were filled with horrors that most never recovered from seeing, <i>if</i> they returned from seeing them at all. Anoleis was. . . .a tad bit <i>off</i> in ways that just made most of them uncomfortable, and creeped the rest out. Gandrian was, luckily, easily pulled directly to the King. Most weren't afraid of him, but were wary in his presence. He was a traitor who killed the former ruler of the palace, and had a very disarming child-like innocence that simply did not sit well with any of them. And then? There was the woman that he had come to retrieve, the assassin Nekar Xofanvo.<br/>
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The biggest problem here was moving from one end of the hall to the other. Many of the assassins who worked for the king resided here. Usually, there weren't that many who were here at a time, as they were often out on assignment. Normally, when they were here, they were sleeping or awaiting word of their next assignment. They were an. . .interesting bunch to say the least. Many had grown used to stalking their prey and pouncing upon them at the drop of a pin. Usually, they had a bit of fun tormenting the servants with a little "harmless" fun, usually in the realm of popping up and scaring the life out of them. Knowing that, it was easy to see how coming here made anyone nervous. Nekar herself rarely did such things to servants, usually soldiers who got out of hand or assassin's who took things a little too far. Unless she was caught after a mission, while she was restraining herself and keeping her blood lust in check, she was rather. . . .<i>normal</i>. Oddly so. That, in and of itself, was just as scary as Gandrian's innocence.<br/>
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Moving through the darkened corridor of the hall, the young man slowly tensed. This was, to say the very least, a very scary corridor. It was dark, and cool, and populated by mostly assassins. The very thought of being surrounded by them was unnerving. After moving down most of the hall, the servant boy pulled his jacket around him tightly. Bundling up was a necessity when it came to approaching the lair of the assassin. She was a practitioner of ice type magic, and often kept her room at a low temperature simply because she found it more comfortable. It was cold enough that the breath of anyone could be seen even yards away from the door. That was the reason that most of the rooms around hers were vacant. Finally, standing before the door of the room, the servant boy tightly grasped the front of his jacket, reluctantly moving his hand away from his chest to knock on the door.<br/>
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<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff4000">"Enter,"</span> the woman's voice called from within, just before his hand touched the door. <br/>
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Rather than knocking, the boy's gloved hand grasped the knob of the door and slowly turned it, revealing to him a small, neatly kept room. There wasn't very much inside, a bed, a small table, a wardrobe where her clothing was kept, a pair of armor stands, and a small rack with weapons on it. Almost everything within the room was covered with a thin layer of frost, something that would melt upon making contact with a person's flesh. The room was very cold, and very uncomfortable, which was why most people hated approaching it in the first place. Nekar was found sitting on the floor in the middle of her room upon an intricately woven carpet - which must have come from the South - meditating, centering her mind and herself as she had to regularly. It was just a part of how she kept herself from getting out of control. <br/>
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"A summons from King Vayne m'lady," the boy said nervously.<br/>
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A summons from the king, such things weren't rare for her. The work of an assassin was not just killing people, but intelligence gathering and other such things that many excelled at doing anyway. Naturally, it wasn't rare that the king needed information, and wanted the best of the best to get it for him. Also, naturally, she was curious as to why she was now being called for. Was this just another assignment, or was something bigger finally happening again. That much remained to be seen - what she knew was that she was being summoned, and that her king wished to speak with her. That much was all she needed to know. <span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff4000">"I see. Is that all,"</span> she asked, her breath rising into the air as she spoke. The temperature in the room was cold, but it was much warmer than her internal temperature.<br/>
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While most people would have been shivering within the confines of the walls of the room, Nekar was not bothered in the least by her surroundings. In fact, the lower temperatures helped keep her blood from boiling, which in turn, helped her become and remain calm.<br/>
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"Yes m'lady, the king on requires your presence now," the boy said.<br/>
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<span class="fixed-color" style="color:#ff4000">"You may go,"</span> she replied, granting the boy his freedom from this place. The Drow woman slowly rose to her feet, not making a sound as she stood or even when she grabbed the white cloth hanging on the back of the chair beside her and wrapped it around her neck. There was no need to grab anything more, this was just a meeting. No, perhaps more. After spending so much time idle here in Elzier, Nekar was almost certain that the king was finally ready to make his next move. At least, she hoped so. Sitting and waiting had gone from being a welcome change from the usual to a cruel and unusual torture. The large halls, the gaudy decorations. . .there was no doubt that this was the seat of power of the world. This was what her people had been so long desiring for themselves, a place which they could say rivaled any in the world. Seeing the world and how it was now? Nekar honestly thought that she liked her homeland more. She wondered if any of the other Drow would agree with her.<br/>
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Rather than wasting time waiting for the other generals, or even trying to find them, Nekar headed straight for the throne room, where she knew she would find the King of Darkness. It wasn't surprising to find Gandrian there as well, as the traitorous knight was always the first one here when they were called for. Nekar glanced for just a moment in his direction, then dropped to her knee before the king. She didn't speak, she rarely ever did speak to anyone unless first acknowledged. It was just a part of her personality to remain in the background and to watch from afar until it was time to take action.[/list:u]</li>
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