Starting Fires

Everything slowed down. I saw the pellets fly from the shotgun. They traveled so painstakingly slowly. Then they hit. The two Germans bowled over, the blood and gore flying. The world sped up and I fell to the ground, screaming. Their faces flashed in my vision. Then, the Reichstag. The four guards, caught totally unaware of my sudden burst of fire. The looks of surprise and horror. I felt their terror. It consumed me, warping me. The pain of what I had done, the people I had taken away from the world consumed me. I lashed out, trying to wave the pain away like smoke, but it always returned in double force. My head began to burn and patterns of lines scorched my vision. A figure stepped out of the lines wearing a black hooded robe and a red sash.

"You killed them," the figure said, his face hidden by his hood, a red glow surrounding his head.

"Why are you doing this to me?" I screamed, gripping my face.

"You did this to yourself!" he roared, the lines intensifying and my head burning even further. "You did this to them!"

"It was necessary!" I cried, throwing my head up, my arms falling to my sides. The lines faded and the figure took a step back.

"That was what I wanted to hear," he said. "You will become a killer. This is how killing effects the human mind. I will teach you how to resist... being human."

"But why?" I asked. "What good would that do me?"

"Let me be frank," the figure sighed. "I'm doing this for me. I want to go home, but I'm stuck with you."

"Where is your home?" I pressed as he turned away.

He turned back, looked me in the eyes for a moment before saying, "Go to hell."

The lines became disorganized, frenzied. I clutched my head once again, toppling down to the ground, screaming in pain as the visions burned into my mind.

Day 3
August 5, 2010

My eyes flew open as I suppressed a scream of pain. But the lines were gone. I looked at the clock beside my bed. Five-fourteen. Shit. Well, there was no getting back to sleep now, so I walked out into the living room where Lucky, Haven, and Eon were sitting on the couch, watching the news.

"Both the French and German governments are insulted by this attack at the Reichstag, obviously orchestrated by the terrorist organization Die Kraft, Die Treibt. The German Prime Minister has released a statement disavowing the faction from the German government. 'They are not Germans, they are extremists who would like to manipulate our great country and our alliance with NATO. They will not be tolerated. However, due to their hold on the German people, they cannot be eradicated. I fear that the organization will soon swallow Germany whole and that an inevitable war shall result. The best we can do is prepare. And pray.'"

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," Eon cursed, standing up. "They're getting pretty damn desperate." He turned around noticing me standing behind the couch. "Hey, Mage. Why are you up so early?"

"Well, I..." I stuttered, not quite sure how to state my predicament. "This-- I mean, it's not normal for me, but-- I kinda, well-- I had a bit of a nightmare. It was confusing and it's too late in the morning for me to go back to sleep."

"Your nightmare," Haven asked, turning to face me, "was it about killing?"

"Yeah," I replied, scratching the back of my neck, nervously.

"That's normal," she stated. "It's a typical psychological reaction among humans. You simply can't handle the fact that you've taken another life that impacted countless others. We all had those nightmares. We still do." The other two nodded. "But we can handle them, now. We're trained killers. But the nightmares tell us that we're still humans, that we still feel sorry for taking lives."

I nodded, taking a seat on an arm of the couch next to Lucky who smiled up at me in greeting. We watched the rest of the news in silence until the rest of the team made their way out into the living room. Harrison was the next one up after me, being a natural early riser and he made himself a bowl of cereal before flopping down on an armchair and falling back to sleep.

Once the sun had risen and everyone was all up, fed, showered, and dressed there came a knock at the door after which Titan entered.

"Morning everyone," the Commander greeted us. "The usual training exercises today. Eon, I want you to give the FNGs the tutorial. Give 'em the full overview."

"Yessir," Eon acknowledged, turning to the group. "I guess we head out, then."

"Okay," Brody exclaimed, seeming rather excited. As far as I knew, training really wasn't so much fun as intense physical training that could leave a person feeling absolutely drained by the end (or possibly earlier). What could be fun about that.

The training room, as it was known, was just down the hall and literally was a room filled with assorted armchairs, each with a strange-looking device on the cushion. Oh, so it must be Virtual Reality training. Clever. There were about fifteen others in the room, the rest of the team I suppose, who filed in, sat down and put the apparatus over their eyes.

"As you can see, this is a VR training session," Eon explained, leading us to some open seats. "It's faster and more effective than normal training because we essentially download the skills into your brain and your body adjusts as if it were really training. Since you're just a computer program, you never get tired. You can do whatever you want, within reason. Plus, it's a shared interface, so you'll be training alongside the rest of the team. Just put the mask over your face and the machine will do the rest."

We sat down and did as told. Everything was dark for a moment, then the world turned white and I felt my body materializing somehow. I looked down at my hands. I was... myself.

"Is this some sort of Matrix shit?" I asked myself.

"Oh, now you're just being deliberately stupid," a familiar Cockney voice chuckled.

I turned to see Titan, who was standing next to a firing range. Eon walked over to where Harrison and I were standing, looking at his Tactical Gauntlet.

"Well," the Solarmancer said, "I think the first thing you need is some weapons training. I've been going over your records and... well the both of you are shit shots. Not to worry, we can improve that. All you need to do is fire a single bullet into the 10 ring of a target and the system will download accuracy into your brain."

"That's it?" Harrison asked, surprised.

"How come this is better than your robot technology?" I asked as a PPSh materialized on a table next to the range.

"We know a lot more about manipulating the human brain than making a silicon copy of it," Eon muttered, turning to face the target that had popped up.

I fired one shot that missed horribly.

"Use the program," Eon hinted, stroking his Tac-G.

The blue screen flashed up at me, showing my gun and my target. I pressed the innermost, smallest ring, the 10 ring which started flashing. I looked up and aimed down the sights of my weapon and carefully aimed, my vision seeming to extend beyond the barrel. The only thing that occupied my vision was the 10 ring. My finger pulled the trigger and my vision retracted.

"You're a fast learner," Eon complimented, checking the time on his Tac-G.

"Yes, but, we've got a tight schedule," Titan stated. "Mage, you're coming with me while your brother does his target practice. Just hit exit."

I looked down at the blue screen on my wrist and hit the icon that said "exit." At least it was a simple interface. The world was yanked away from me again and I stood in blackness. My body once again felt different; not invincible or programmed, but organic. I reached up to pull the apparatus from my eyes and stood with Titan and Eon.

"Mage, follow us," the Commander ordered, gesturing to the door. We walked into the hallway and to an elevator, taking it down.

"While we're on our way over, we thought we should give you a briefing," Eon explained as the machine descended. "You are new to the Solarmancers, and I will be your trainer. There are several divisions of magic, each with their own properties and traditions. The Geomancers have control over the earth and nature, the Aeromancers are the wind, Aquamancers are water, Pyromancers are fire, Umbramancers are shadow. Titan belongs to a special group called the Nexomancers, who control the magic of Death. You, as a Solarmancer are the wielder of light.

"Each of these Guilds is associated with a certain metal, number, group, et cetera. The Geomancers make up the Thieves, the Aeromancers go into the Politicians, the Aquamancers are Scholars, and the Pyromancers lead the Warriors. They are the biggest groups and therefore do not share guilds. Since Solar-, Nex-, and Umbramancers are three small groups, they share only one guild: the Assassins."

Oh, great. More killing for me.

"The Assassins are much closer than any other group. We are an order of specially trained fighters with a set of unique skills that make them the best possible warrior. We formed thousands of years ago as the Ismaili Hashshashin under Hasan ibn Sabbah. Back then, we were, essentially what you might call terrorists, fighting blindly for a cause we knew little about, just that we needed to defend ourselves and our freedom. In the Third Crusade, we fought to defend ourselves from the European invaders. We resurfaced again in the Renaissance to defend the freedom of thought. Once more we emerged in the American Revolution to fight for the liberation of a new people. There are countless other incidents that can be traced back to our brotherhood.

"There was one particularly innovative Assassin, back in the 11th century who introduced a rather new way of fighting. Hasan trained his men to be like infantry, only more loyal and more... indestructible. They were taught to be brutal fighters. Along came a Christian infidel who wanted to belong to the Order to observe them. Naturally, he was rebuked and they attempted to execute them. But he fought them off with a weapon no one saw. That is when the Hashshashin became much more discreet killers. The Christian, who called himself al-Nasr, The Eagle, was welcomed tentatively into the Order and was widely accepted because of his brilliant new innovation.

"The Order was obliterated by the Mongol invasion many years later and the idea of the Assassins was scattered and weakened. There were several attempts to reform the Order as a more... fraternal organization, but we are almost all that remains. The religious... er, fundamentalism, if you will, faded from the order after the Order faded and it became a multicultural organization as well as a more flexible one. Joining us is a choice. I know the dream you had last night and I know how much it hurts, but you can get over it. Will you join us?"

I thought about it long and hard for a while. The elevator came to a stop and I looked out as the doors opened. How far down were we? No, I have to focus.

"I know that you expect me to refuse," I responded, stepping out with them. "It only makes sense. I never wanted to be a killer two days ago and I will never want to be a killer. But I am and there's no reversing that. I could be the reluctant hero who doesn't accept his fate, but that's just prolonging the inevitable, isn't it? I am your hero and denying it will only get me killed. If being an Assassin will help me help you, then I accept your offer."

"Well, it's a good thing you didn't stick to that cliché," Titan exclaimed, shaking my hand. "The last thing I needed was to drag you kicking and screaming around the world."

We walked down another hallway until we reached yet another elevator. I was reassured that this one goes much faster. The sudden jolt of the machine upwards shocked me as the floor counter flipped through numbers at an astronomical speed. It slowed down as we reach floor number... number... my God, I was so terrified I couldn't remember the number.

"Get off my damn boot," Titan sighed, kicking my hands away.

Surprised, I drew away from his foot and stood up, smiling awkwardly before stepping out of the elevator. Behind me was a doorway guarded by two brutish-looking fellows with M16A4 assault rifles. Titan pressed an icon on his Tac-G and showed the screen to the guards who backed off. Titan then pressed the screen to a panel which scanned what must have been identification. There were a couple other scans, retinal, handprint, before we finally entered.

It was an office, really. A desk covered with paperwork sat in the center and behind it was a middle-aged man wearing a black robe and a frustrated scowl. He looked up at his guests and a warm smile crossed his face as he stood to greet us.

"Commander-General Titan, Private Eon," the man greeted them. "And I'm afraid I don't know the child."

"Private Mage, sir," Titan replied. "He's our little hero."

"What a disappointment," the man sighed, frowning. Gee, thanks, pal. "I expected someone... older."

"We don't have time to wait for him to age," Titan argued. "He's a born and bred Assassin and he will be able to fight just as well as us. Give us just a day and he'll be better than his Mentor."

"The VR trainers can't work that fast," the man scoffed. "If he's an Assassin, I'd like to see him shoot that vase without looking at it." He pointed to a very ugly stained-glass vase behind me. I looked at it, my brow furrowing.

"He accepts," Eon said, pulling his Desert Eagle from his chest holster and handing it to me.

"I really don't think I'm that good a shot yet," I chuckled, trying to hand back the gun. Eon just glared at me.

Okay, so I'm going to have to do this anyway. I calmed myself and looked back a moment, the gun hanging at my side. Now just picture the vase.

"See, he can't do it," the man exclaimed, sitting down once again.

There was a shot and the shattering of glass as the vase exploded behind me. My arm fell forward to my side and I bent over to retrieve the ejected shell, a smile on my face.

"Mage, that is Emperor Sextus VI, ruler of Atlantis," Titan exclaimed. "And you've just impressed him."