Gifts of the Cursed: Book 1

Chapter 1

Marcus stood high atop the spire of the temple of The Light God. He watched the shadows grow long and deep as time ticked by slowly. He was waiting for his latest kill. An unnamed assassin had targets but targets could be missed, a named assassin had kills for their "target" would die, no matter what. The named assassins were feared for their ferocity and discipline; they were the best of the best. In their ranked order The Crow, Lady Death, The Butcher, The Alchemist.

Like all other named assassins, he had his assassin name in a tattoo, his particular one was on his left shoulder blade, it was a black crow. The Crow waited for its kill to leave the sanctuary of the temple, one of the few places protected under shadow law. Meaning it was forbidden to kill his prey as long as they remained within the sanctuary which the kill could only do up to two hours unless they were a priest in which they were given a day within the temple's safety.

The Crow's prey was all given due notice of their death as Marcus left a picture of a crow as a warning that they were to die the next day and had to get their affairs in order or some either brave or stupid tried to hire mercenaries to protect them, all have failed every time.

After what seemed like a viable eternity The Crow's kill eventually came out of its nest, whether by their own free will or The Priest of Light threw him out, Marcus didn't know or actually care. He watched as he prey stood on the threshold of what was allowed, so Marcus waited for him to move further out to ensure that he would not have to face shadow laws. The man had called forth a carriage with a new mechanical horse, its sleek bronze plating shimmering in the light rain. The coachman wore a black newspaper boy cap a thick brown coat and pants. The carriage was a simple one clearly not a private carriage.

The kill wore a tailored black cloak with matching suit, he wore dark leather gloves and held a plain umbrella in his left hand -Marcus took note this-, the man had a top hat. This was not a man who planned to die it seemed Marcus thought amused. He watched the man climb into the carriage but not before looking around and looking up to see the loaming figure of The Crow watching its prey.

The man put on a determined look and Marcus had to stop himself from laughing at that, so many have tried and failed before him to kill The Crow but none have succeeded. Marcus jumped down to the base of the roof a short jump really. He used his gift of stealth to not alert anyone and began taking off jumping gracefully from roof to roof not losing sight of his kill once. Up to five minutes later they arrived in the rich sector of Dunwall.

Marcus jumped on the separating wall between the common district and the rich district and jumped from there to a nearby roof to watch his prey. After a few more minutes his prey arrived at their house. Marcus jumped down swiftly using more of his Stealth Gift, his prey was mumbling with his key to get into their house.

He slowly drew his obsidian steel blade as he stepped ever closer to his prey, when suddenly his prey whipped around a regular steel blade in hand and shoved the blade deep into Marcus' side. Marcus retaliated and plunged his blade deep into his kill's heart and twisted the knife. The kill fell to the ground in a solid thump.

Marcus ripped the knife out of his side, tore off a bit of the kill's shirt and wrapped it tightly round his waist. It slowed the bleeding but he knew he had to get help soon, good thing it was his night to visit his sister. "She's going to kill me for getting blood on the carpet if this wound doesn't" Marcus thought grimly "Good thing she lives nearby." So he dashed off into the night. Holding the wound at his side.