Sinners Guilt/ Reminiscence
He sat on the edge of the bed, flipping a large Hunting knife by its blade between two fingers. He looked at the dresser on the side of the room, and its mirror was refracting the moonlight from outside. He lifted himself off the edge with a grunt and walked over to the mirror. He looked at his face, the wrinkles in his dark skin under his eyes and on the corners of his mouth, the small handful of graying hairs on his chin. He caught the knife in reverse in his hand and placed it carefully on the dresser. He looked into his own eyes in the mirror and said out loud in a hushed tone of voice, talking to himself, “I seriously can't be considering his offer, can I?” He picked up a small glass of water from the side of the dresser and drank it. He slammed it back down onto the wood and picked up the knife with his right hand before grabbing the dreadlocks on the top of his head and raising the knife to them, looking into the mirror to guide his blade. He accidentally stared into his own eyes in the mirror, causing him to lose his resolve.
He stabbed the blade into the dresser upright. He covered his face with his hands and rubbed it. He opened his eyes again, and the same face stared back at him. He whispered to himself in the darkness, “Who am I, really? Am I Ishmael Santos, Project AL-vida-12, or Paulida?” he grunted in frustration and slammed both fists down on the table. He walked back to the bed and lay down, staring at the ceiling, the words “who am I really?” echoing in his mind as he fell to sleep.
“Who am I really?” he awoke, he was 20 years younger, he was sitting on a log, a bald man with a tattoo of a gravestone on his arm was sitting in front of the fire across from him. “You ready, Project?” he said to him. He shook his head, “You know I'm ready, they don't send us out because we aren't ready, they send us out to make sure something is not ready to meet us.” the bald man said “well spoken Project, lets get this done and then head for the designated extraction site and then we'll be sipping an ice cold beer with some of the finest ladies the Red light district of Dreynas has to offer by tomorrow evening” they both stood up and walked deeper into the forest a small wooden cabin inconspicuous in nature was there a man was outside cutting firewood with a bundle on his back he turned to face them “who are you people?” the bald man stepped forward and said “We are the horsemen, a subdivision of a subdivision of the Dreynas Special operations command” “what do you want, there is nothing for a soldier here its just my wife and family here” the bald man sucked his teeth and said “Do you know why i disclosed to you that we are here on an off the books black ops operation sir?”
The man raised his axe and turned to look into the window, and his wife's eyes caught his; her long elven ears framed by dark brown hair twitched, and a tear rolled down her face. He shouted to him, “Get the kids and run, run as far and as fast as you can.” The woman closed the window and ran into the house. The man raised his axe and said, “I won't let you have them.” A young teen boy, with brown hair and eyes of indigo, ran out of the house with a poorly kept sword in his hands, trembling. He shouted to the man with the axe, “Dad, Mom's getting everyone together, so we need to beat them.” The bald man turned to Project and said, “You get the mother and children, and I'll get these two, remember, leave none alive.” The boy with the shaking hands rushed the bald man. He parried the strike expertly and allowed the boy to fall to the ground without countering. The father watched in horror and rushed to him. The bald man stepped to the side, cutting at the back of his legs, causing him to fall to the ground. He stopped and shouted at Project, “Don't forget to make a mess, we want this to look like bandits or perhaps wild animals.” Project nodded and continued walking towards the house. The boy stood up again and rushed at the man. He brought his sword down towards the Bald man again, only this time he turned his whole body. Dragging his blade cleanly across the boy’s belly, quickly staining the ground red. The man crawling for the axe shouted, “NO!” The bald man walked over and grabbed the boy, dragging him by the hair to the man. “I hope you realize this is nothing personal, ol pale eyes is pretty thorough and just decided to tie up a loose end here,” he lifted the boy to his father and dragged his blade across his throat. The father screamed out, reaching for the boy.
His hand was stabbed straight through by the bald man. He stepped on the man's hand, pulling his sword free, and sucked his teeth, "well time for the long sleep, no need to worry, i wont let you suffer as much as him.” The bald man stepped onto the man's head, forcing it into the dirt, and forced his blade through the back of the man's neck and gave it a twist. An audible “Crack” sound was heard. The Bald man pulled the sword up and rested it on his shoulder, and turned to look at the house. The house was burning.
He saw Project standing over an elven woman, his sword limp at his side hand trembling. He walked over and placed his hand on the large man's shoulder. “Nice touch there for the fire Project, now let's head on home,” he looked over the man's shoulder, a little girl with half-elf ears and indigo eyes was pulling on the elven woman, she was crying, “Mama, mama, wake up mamma.” The bald man said, “Looks like you missed one, no problem ill take care of her. I know the thought of an ice-cold beer and the finest women Dryenas has got on offer got you thinking about the prize rather than the mission.” Project mumbled something, and a tear dripped from his face. The bald man walked forward and raised his sword over his head, but stopped. Project said louder, “I'm sorry, Marw,” he said, “Eight great hot fourth depth.” The bald man froze in terror, and Project brought his sword down on him, cutting him from shoulder to hip, allowing him to fall to the ground. “Perhaps I'll indulge you in another of the lives.” he walked over to the little girl and crouched down and said, “Mama is sleeping; she doesn't feel good right now. Why don't we go get some ice cream and wait for her to feel better?” The little girl looked at him curiously and, in a disappointed tone, said. “Ok, what's your name ?” the man lifted the little girl onto his shoulders. “My name is Project-Al-Vida-12. What's yours?”
The little girl thought for a moment, “My name is S—---.” She stopped for a second. “Nice to meet you, Paulida,” he walked forward, tears beading in his eyes, he whispered under his breath, “I'm sorry, little one i will never escape this sin. I hope that you never learn of this, and if you do, that you are the one to end my life in turn, and I hope it will be the final life I will live.”
He opened his eyes. Senarre was there, poking his face with her finger. She was wearing a tracksuit and covered in mud. “You ok, pa? It's almost 11 in the morning, and they said you didn't come down for breakfast. Don't go getting senile on me, we still gotta put the lich and demon in the dirt.” he sat up in the bed, feigning a yawn. “It's just that these beds are so comfortable.” Senarre made a face that gave off doubt. “You sure you're ok? You were crying in your sleep.” he rubbed his eyes and said, “Yep im all good. I'm hungry, let's get some breakfast.” She reluctantly said, “Ok then, don't hesitate to talk to Carmilla if you're not doing well. I don't need you falling apart at the seams like Lorea was last month.” He stood up and said, “What's for breakfast?” She frowned and said, “Breakfast is over, but one of Ryvr’s wives. Nysa, I think, was making a salad from her homeland for lunch. The way she described it sounds good, it's got cucumbers and sheep's milk cheese on it.” Paulida stood up and walked to the door. “Sounds good. Why are you covered in mud?” Her face fell into despair. “Ryvr’s training is hell.”
Rosario, Kian, and Senarre were lined up in the cold in tracksuits. Itzel was standing alongside Ryvr in a long, warm coat; he was pacing with his arms crossed under a Pale green Haori over a Hakama. “I see you got the tracksuits that Eshara and Itzel made for you.” Senarre raised her hand. “What are you wearing?” Ryvr gently ran his hand down the side of the Haori. “These clothes were a wedding gift from Ayame’s family; her father gave them to me the night of the five ceremonies. They are expertly crafted from her homeland.” Senarre shook her head in affirmation. Rosario said, questioning his brother, “Why did you bring Itzel to training? Is she a fighter ?” Ryvr, still pacing, said, “Excellent question, little brother. Itzel, dear, can you please explain to my brother why I dragged you out of our bed so early in the morning? “Certainly, my Ueue, I am Itzel Lorea now. Before I became your sister, I was a weaver and healer, as my family had been for generations before me. In other words, I am here today to ensure you do not receive too much damage from my Ueue’s training.” Ryvr picked up a duffel bag off the ground and pulled out two pistols in a holster, and three swords, two standard length and the other a shorter one like Kians he tossed the guns towards Senarre and the shorter sword to kian then finally he tossed two normal swords to Rosario. He said to Ryvr, “I only use one, though.” he smiled, “Little brother, your gift is quite versatile, and you have yet to even scratch the surface of its power by manifesting a blade as its mere gimmick, and even if you insist on using a second blade your left arm is weaker than your right, part of your training will be to master the two sword version of the Lorea technique.” “Two sword technique?” “You will be learning from the creator of the technique himself, your favourite sibling, the bestest big brother in the world, me,” he pointed his thumb at his chest.
Senarre said, “What about me, Elder Lorea?” Ryvr frowned, “Please don't call me elder im 33. Call me brother, Ryvr, or master.” She said, “So what am I doing then?” Ryvr pretended to look at a watch and said, “Your teacher should be here in about…Now.” As the words left his mouth, a burst of wind shot through the area. Vera was standing there at attention. “Sorry, sir, I was late. Truthfully, I turned my alarm back off and overslept.” Ryvr smiled and said, “Vera, I knew you would, so I planned around it.” Senarre looked confused. “What does she have to do with marksmanship training?” Ryvr walked over to her, a burst of movement shot by her face, unable to even react to it, a fizzling sound occurred behind her, followed by a lightning strike. “You're not doing marksmanship training. I know you have mastered Texcoco’s quick draw, but you need to up your perception; you couldn't see the needle, and maybe you can use a little work chaining close-quarters combat in with your guns.” Senarre said to him, “You know Uncle Tex?” Ryvr said, his arms crossed in front of him, “I may or may not, I think his so-called Firewater is a little much. Last time I met with him, my wives and I made cocktails from it, the house never smelled more like alcohol after those” Senarre crossed her hands behind her head smiling smugly “Yea uncle tex is like that, making his homemade alcohol is pretty much the only thing aside from forging he's done for the last couple of years after he lost his arm, Paulida and i told him to get a prosthetic so he could keep working as a bounty hunter since it seemed like the only joy in his life but” She put on a heavy accent “Wealp i don wanna work no more cause i lost me arm, aint no point for a broken toy like me to go back into the toybox”
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Ryvr stepped forwards “First up on the agenda is stamina training, so we're gonna get moving to warm up.” he pulled one of the swords from his hip and pointed off towards the east. “Eight kilometers that way is a tree I set up with a prize in it. I won't tell you what it is, but you can work together and claim it as a group, or you can claim it individually. I've also left a few surprises on the way for you,” he winked and walked over to Itzel and said, “Would you like a ride?” She said back to him, “Yes, please.” She climbed up onto his back. “I'll see you guys there. Good luck, you'll need it,” he disappeared in a burst of movement. After a few seconds, he returned without Itzel. “I forgot another key part of the game. Vera here is going to be trying to slow you guys down with a variety of fun tools I got for her.” He turned back to them and smiled wickedly, “And don't forget to have tons of fun and remember the goal of the exercise.” Senarre turned to Rosario, “What's the goal of the exercise again?” he looked at her, confused. “I don't know, he didn't say, but it's probably something like teamwork.” Vera stepped forward and said, “Let's get this show on the road, then.”
The three took off running through the traps and tricks Ryvr left in store for them after a treacherous while they arrived at a plum blossom, battered and dirty clothes wet from trudging through snow and mud. Ryvr was hanging upside down from one of the tree's branches, his long black braided hair swaying in the wind “took you guys long enough, two hours to make it eight kilometers, if you take the same amount of time back you'll miss breakfast, although perhaps you may want to Nysa is very excited to prepare a salad from her homeland for you all” he pushed forward falling head first onto the ground and faster than anyone's eyes could track he re oriented himself to land flawlessly like a cat. Rosario, out of breath, said between breaths, “Are you trying to kill us?!” Kian walked into the clearing and laid down on the ground. Senarre followed shortly after, covered in mud. Ryvr walked over to the three of them and said, “You still got your weapons? Let's do this, then the second stage is all three of you vs me."He pulled the two wooden swords from his hip and gave each of them a tap on the ground. “Go ahead, draw your weapons.” Senarre said, questioning him, “But mine are guns? Shouldn't I get a sword too?” Ryvr shook his head from side to side. “I got you some training bullets. One of the people in Fsoc is an engineer who likes to make fun stuff like that.” Ryvr tapped his foot on the ground. “I'm waiting.”
Kian jumped him first, his sword in a reverse grip. Ryvr blocked it using the same grip style, “Reverse is good, but its weakness is less blade control and force output.” He punched Kian in the stomach, causing him to lose his balance. Senarre shot at him, and he blocked the shots with the wooden sword. A splatter of paint coated the blade where it struck. She shouted, “Now!” Rosario jumped in from behind with two swords drawn wide behind his back, bringing them down towards Ryvr. He struck the blades with his left sword, throwing them out of line before hitting Rosario in the side with one of his. He twisted his hand around Rosario’s shirt, lifting him as Senarre shot at him, turning his brother's body like a shield. Five bright orange marks indicated where she shot him. Ryvr threw his Brother at Senarre, causing her to fall to the ground. She moved to stand up, raising her weapon at Ryvr, only to realize there was a wooden sword digging into her throat. He swung at the weapon with his free hand, causing it to go skidding onto the ground. He flourished both of the swords and placed one by his hip, and started moving to place the other at his side. As Kian attacked again, he threw the wooden sword and hit him square in the forehead, and he fell back, disoriented
Ryvr said to Itzel, who was sitting in the tree, “I think I may have hit the boy a little too hard. Would you mind checking him out for me, my Siua?” She dropped down from the tree and said, “Certainly.” She ran over to Kian and began looking him up and down. Ryvr walked over to Senarre and Rosario, who had his head on her shoulder. “You're a sharp one, little miss. You saw you couldn't win one-on-one, so you used a group advantage, Sharp instinct, some more training and schooling, and you'd make an excellent battlefield commander. However, you also called out that attack before doing it, so I'll remove some points.” Ryvr walked over to Rosario. “As for you, my brother, you swing weakly, and you expose your vitals too easily, minus 20 points.” Rosario rolled off of Senarre’s shoulder. “You're grading us?” Ryvr scratched his chin. “i wasnt before, but I will now, though, you get a 45, brother, Miss Elf, you get a 65, and Parker, you get a 70.” Rosario sat up. “Why does he get a 70?” Ryvr smiled and said, “Had his opponent not been the stormchaser, he would've taken their head the first time, and the second time had I stowed my weapon and were I a normal opponent, he would've scored a hit likely non-lethal, but an injury is a liability on the battlefield.”
Senarre sat up. “So what next?” Ryvr crossed his hands behind his back. “We run back to the manor now, Vera should still be waiting out there for you to show you some more tricks.” Ryvr walked over to Itzel and picked her up. He threw Kian over his shoulder. “I'm going to take him to Carmilla to check him out. Good luck running the gauntlet back, ooh, and I'll tell the Maids to start running the bathhouse for you. I hope you don't mind mixed bathing because I made a couple of appointments to use the other one for something.”
Rosario arrived back at the manor gardens. He walked through the gate with Senarre. He turned to her and said, “I'm going to the bathhouse now, wanna come?” She turned and said, “I'll join you in a little bit. I'm gonna go see if Pa is awake yet, and then I'll be down.” They parted ways there before she walked off. Rosario shouted, “If you need more clothes or anything, ask the maids. If not, we can go into town to get some. If you need help finding the bathhouse, just ask a maid.”
Rosario walked through the gardens, turning to the left of the Manor's garden entrance to a large rectangular building with marble pillars. He walked over to one of the doors and pulled on it to no avail. “Locked,” he thought. He walked over to the other door and opened it. Warmth and steam greeted his cold body gleefully.
He stripped down and stood under one of the waterfalls, and washed off the mud and dirt on his face. His wet hair hung down to his nose. He walked into the water and waded in, sitting in the long tub. He leaned back and closed his eyes for a moment. When he opened them, Senarre was standing there, wading into the water. She sat across from him, “Care for some conversation, Lorea?” He looked up at her, his eyes met hers. “Gladly,” she said to him, “wanna go into town tomorrow, we can go shopping or something, after Ryvr's training, of course.” He looked back at the ceiling. “Sounds like a plan,” then Rosario let out a sigh of disappointment. “What are we doing after we kill Marw and Solomon?” Senarre looked up at the ceiling to avoid looking at him. “Don't know what you planning on doing?” he looked into the water, his reflection staring back at him. “Don't know, I wanna clear my name, but I'd wager that Ryvr already has his finest men and women working on that. Ryvr is incredibly family motivated. He doesn't seem it by his willingness to beat my ass, but he would destroy the kingdom itself if it meant protecting his family. That's probably why, as soon as he was freed from being king consort, he married his concubines; they were already his wives but not his family, so he made them such.”
“One thing for sure, I don't wanna go back to Dreynas,” Rosario said. Senarre looked down from the ceiling. “Could always come with Paulida and I, don't know if Carmilla and Kian are down, but we could just drift around from place to place, now that we have an airship, maybe we could even leave the country. I've always wanted to see Edo and the Celestial Empire, that's where my Nainai is from.” She put on a raspier voice than her normal tone of speaking, sounding like an elderly person. “My Sunnu, you simply must go to the Celestial Empire someday; the buildings and the art there are simply divine, and it is also the birthplace of the basic concepts that power your beloved weapons.” Rosario looked away from his reflection in the water, taking the opportunity to change the subject. “I could tell your granny wasn't from around here, but what caused her to move to Forge? There are better cities in this country, like Serinissima or Quercus.” Senarre stood up in the water and walked over to the stairs, pulling herself out of the water and walking over to a larger, deeper pool, and dove in, disappearing beneath the water for a second before resurfacing, running her hands through her hair, pulling it out of her face. “My granny moved to Forge because her husband was an engineer and moved there with their Daughter, Jiawei’s mother, but when Jiawei was born, her mother died from complications during the birth. Jiawei’s grandfather drank himself to death after, leaving Jiawei in the care of her grandmother.” She ducked under the water again, wetting her hair some more. “Cold water feels good after being in the warm bath.” She turned to float on her back, head sticking out of the water. “You got a grandma, Lorea?” Rosario stood and walked over to the small wall separating the hot water of the bath from the cool water of the pool, leaning over the edge. “Used to, when mom pruned the family tree a couple of decades ago, she tried to stop her, and they didn't call mom the Mortal Blade for nothing.” Senarre reoriented herself in the water to keep her head above the water. “That's cold, you upset about it? I'm not trying to rub dirt in a wound, just curious.” Rosario thought for a bit, “ Nah, not really. When she did it, I think it was before even Ryvr was born, which, since Ryvr is 33, she was probably like 27 cause she's 60 now.”
She swam up to the edge of the pool, resting her elbows on the edge. “How many years apart are you and your siblings?” Rosario mimicked her, resting his elbows on the edge of the bath. “Ryvr is 13 years older than me, and Hana is 6 years older than me, making her 26, and I was the last one born,” he laughed slightly. Senarre said, “What's up?” “Mom always says I should've died when I was born because when I was born, I wasn't breathing.” “How did they save you?” “Ryvr used to say that mom was so scary that when death came to claim me, she threatened to kill it first, but in reality, I think she just lucked out.” Senarre tilted her head. “What is the Mortal Blade like? In the wilds, it was said that when she would just think of cutting someone's throat was enough for them to fall over dead.” Rosario rubbed his chin, “hmm she's kinda cold sometimes, but she's nice though, she never really insisted on training us, Hana and I fully, just the basics thats why Ryvr is the way he is i think. He once told me that the moment he could walk, mother was having him do strength training, and the moment he had the hand-eye coordination to hold a sword, she trained him relentlessly.” Senarre's eyes sparked “Wicked.” “Do you have a mom ?” He asked her, she shifted in the water, thinking for a moment, “I think I did, I can't really remember her, though, she was an elf obviously. Her hair was like mine. I think I also had siblings, but I can't remember my earliest memories are with Paulida. He's told me he found me after some Terrible men attacked my family, and said he happened to find a surviving child crying in the snow.”
She frowned for a moment. “Enough dreariness lets have some fun?” She placed her hands on top of his. “What fun could you possibly have in a bathhouse?" She smiled, “swimming of course.” “i dont know how to swim, and we don't have swimsuits.” She pulled on his hands, “I'll teach you.”