School of the Crown Assassins

09

I adjusted the diamond studded alpha pin on my official uniform. The black uniform was lined with gold, indicating my loyalty to the Fortier family. It was similar to my school uniform although the dark blue was traded for black. I hated this uniform. It felt foreign and the fact that I was wearing Fortier colors angered me more. Only the familiar weight of daggers and weapons adorning my body gave me comfort.

A breeze picked up and pushed my hair back as I followed the other Alphas down the stone pathway leading away from the school. At the bottom of the moonlit hill a black limo waited. The school's crest adorned the side and below it the Alpha's symbol.

Knox and Nydia's uniforms were similar to mine, although Nydia's was a plain dark blue. The Royal trio wore their respective colors, but theirs was much more elaborate. The blue of Xavier and Damien's uniform was of a silky cloth and the gold lining Arielle's glowed in the early morning darkness. As an added addition, the three's uniforms were adorned with a long cloak. The cloak seemed somewhat out of place alongside the more modern looking gear, but I couldn't deny that it held a certain sort of power. They looked much more mature and reeked of royalty.

I stopped inspecting their clothing long enough to climb into the limo after them. The doors slammed shut and to my dismay, once again, found myself sitting next to Nydia.

Nydia wasn't a bad person to hang out with. She was quite kind and knew her way around a makeup pallet, so much so that I had asked her to do mine today even though most people thought my makeup skill was spectacular. The problem was that I was getting too comfortable with her, and I couldn't afford that. The more I solidified myself at Nydia's side, the less likely I am to be next to Arielle. And if I'm not close to her, I doubt she would spill her secrets any time soon.

I sighed and stared out the window as the trees zipped by in blurs, listening absently to the other's conversations. My mind was only filled with thoughts of what lay ahead.

We were journeying to the capital city Cressida, most commonly referred to as the Golden City. Apparently, our mission was official government business, meaning we would have to meet with the highest officials to get our orders. That included the current ruling Crown Assassins. My stomach churned at the idea of having to meet them, the ones that had created such monstrous children in the first place. I bit my lip, trying to calm myself. If I let the Crowns see even an inkling of resentment, they would catch it and my whole plan could fall apart.

So, instead I tried to focus on the city itself. I had only heard of it in stories, how it was built above an old great city called New York, how bridges connected the rest of the land to the elevated city. Although the East had many floating cities, it was a strange occurrence in the West.

After multiple consecutive wars rocked the world and the United States fell, the area where the country once stood descended into an Anarchy. Wars raged and people were thrown around and killed as multiple power hungry beings tried to take the lead, gaining more land and power until they were overthrown by someone else. A day of driving could take you across potentially hundreds of different cities of power. And then the assassins broke out.

Along with many other hardened criminals, they escaped from the maximum security prison they were formerly held in and joined by their brethren on the outside. From there, they started their climb back up. Trained killers and thieves were no match for the common people who had merely learned to pick pocket for money. Killing all those in their path, they grew in power, quickly expanding their empire. And eventually, they had taken over the entirety of the Broken States and founded Concorde aka the Nation of Assassins.

However, within the time that the Broken States had existed, much of the previous generation's knowledge had been lost. We were set back a couple decades technologically and mentally. And from there, the way Concorde was run didn't help foster progressiveness. From what I could tell, our lives were similar to how it was before the United States fell, the only exception being the way our governments were run.