❝ Pain was my fuel, until the fire began bleeding from my veins. ❞
The girl without a name.
The black-haired fiend devoid of fear.
The sharp-tongued scoundrel always ready with a trick up her sleeve.
Thief and street rat Azura knows how to hustle a...
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◢✥◣ PREVIOUSLY... ◥✥◤
Azura snuck through the Empire and used her strange but sharp senses to find Captain Vasio, another assassin already having cornered the man, also sent by Palmira. Azura dispatched of the assassin, wanting to be the one to kill the captain. Vasio revealed the ambushes that he staged in Warroll were only to capture Azura.
༛༛ ༛ ༛༺༻༛ ༛ ༛༛
The first slash of my blade he dodges, his features set, not giving away his movements. I aim to finish this quickly and it should be easy without him armed. I've never been beyond cutting down an unarmed man or stabbing one in the back.
The next swipe of my blade whispers against his throat but doesn't touch his skin and I grit my teeth, gripping the weapon in two hands as he retreats back another step, bringing him closer to being pinned against the wall. But his eyes are watchful, dangerously observant.
I bring the blade down in an overhead swing and his hand catches my wrist. I don't even get to take a breath before the dagger on the desk is in his hand and sinking between my ribs. I look down at it, shock overwhelming the pain for a brief moment. I stare at my blood as it patters against the floorboards.
He pulls the dagger and I gasp as white lights of agony shoot up my side. The serrated edge of the dagger catches on my skin, tearing open the wound further. The blade is freed and I stagger back, my own weapon tumbling from my grip and clattering on the floor. More blood splatters the ground, pooling at my feet as I try to stop the flow.
"You're just a child, Azura," Vasio is saying, flicking my blood from his dagger. "But for whatever reason, Palmira and the emperor both want you for something."
I gulp in a breath, my side feeling as though molten is being dripped down it. My gaze scours my surroundings as Vasio inches closer, searching for the nearest weapon.
"I plan to deny them more tools they can use to destroy Rupteran."
My eyes move to him, those words squeezing my heart. How long has my brother told me to survive, no matter the cost? I'm going to die before I've even found my answers. It seems that all my life I've only ever been running towards death, but now that it's here...
Little flame.
I look down at my blood-coated gloves, the leather glistening. I've always done what I must for survival.
Born a monster.
I thrust out a hand, willing that fire to come forth, to burn away this pain and remind me that I'm not a weak child stumbling in the dark. I'm not just Palmira's tool. I have survived everything thrown at me. No mere man will kill me. Not with this flame in my veins.
I am powerful.
Vasio quirks a brow when nothing happens.
I stretch my fingers but whatever summoned that flame before doesn't rise.
