"God did not create evil. Just as darkness is the absence of light, evil is the absence of God." -Albert Einstein.
"Arkindo huh?... Why would you go to that man's city?" the king asked curiously.
I chuckled, "Well by now... I am kind of used to how fate works.. two thousand years ago I would just walk in a random direction and hope fate would guide me to where I needed to be... that was the day and age where tornados were fate's best way of guiding me.. but I came to realize at some point that fate was already guiding me by giving me subtle signs... For example, whenever someone mentioned a place, that is usually where fate wanted me to go."
"Ah, I see... Thinking back, it really was unfortunate... if that human had asked for an audience with me instead of robbing my temples, then I would have gladly helped provide support his people needed... It is horrible what happened to him."
"Indeed... But I am not sure if you could help him that much.." I replied.
The king frowned at my statement, "And what led you to believe that?"
"I don't know much myself, but from what I heard, Arkindo is not exactly the best place for people to visit... The city is ruled by a group of highly skilled assassins who managed to fend off invaders for centuries by simply eliminating the opposing leaders in their sleep. They are so skilled that nearby kingdoms dare not interfere with their affairs and would often hire their service in wars. As great as they are in wars, they are not very good at governing their people. Everything they do is solely for war purposes and hence, the people suffer."
"Hmm... I suppose such government would make it rather difficult to provide help... then I assume you are going to liberate the city then?"
"Well... maybe? I mean I would like to, but there are times when interference could cause even greater harm for all parties involved. I will do only what fate requires of me, nothing more, nothing less."
"I see... Even if you manage to liberate the city, another problem will arise as there will be a power vacuum."
"Exactly... For now, I should just wait and see what destiny wants me to do."
Once the coast of Arkindo was visible, I said my farewells to King Jahad and dived into the waters. I couldn't risk the citizen of Arkindo baring sight of Jahad's fleet, thus I must swim the rest of the distance myself. Though I must say, after what just happened, I am a little anxious about the waters. But that didn't matter, as I managed to get to the empty shores of Arkindo. I stealthily breached the city without the notice of the port guards. Luckily, Arkindo custom clothes aren't that different from mine so I didn't stick out like a sore thumb. But I must say, for the city of assassins, this city isn't so different from any ordinary city. This city is nothing like I thought it to be. The kids are still playing out in the streets all cheerfully. The merchants and the markets are as lively as usual. There is no sign of poverty or misery whatsoever. So what was Darren even talking about? Going on about how he robbed Jahad's temple for the people of Arkindo. Was all of that merely a lie? While I was pondering in my little world, a ball hit the back of my head. I immediately looked back in confusion only to see a bunch of kids laughing. A kid, with a small scar on his mouth, stepped forward, all embarrassed, as he was the perpetrator of the assault on my head.
"I am sorry, mister, I did not mean to hit the ball toward your head."
Aw... how cute, how could I be angry at such a little guy? I picked up the ball and handed it over to the young boy. "It is fine, I wasn't paying attention anyway." The boy's face lit up in relief. He thanked me and rushed back to his friends to play. See? Completely normal, which would be wonderful if I am not here. But since I am here, there has to be some invisible shit I am not noticing at the moment. As I was thinking of that, the loud bell ring could be heard, so loud that it felt like the ground was shaking along. The huge crowd then stopped all they were doing and began to move toward the center of the city. I naturally began to be curious and started following them. Apparently, at the center of the city, there was a huge majestic building that somewhat looked like a fortress. The people of Arkindo all gather around the fortress looking towards the upper part of the fortress's wall where several people are wearing white robes. The building itself is weird, I feel like calling it a fortress but it seemed too small and beautiful to be one. One might say that the building looked more like a temple.
The people with the white robes were surrounded by people wearing black robes, from head to heel. Their guardian, I supposed, they are holding weapons, such as spears, blades, and bows. Among the white robe people, came forth a person with a golden robe, wearing a golden mask and a golden crown. Well, he has to be the main character. The crowd went wild when they saw the golden man. They began to cheer what I assumed to be the golden man's name, "Asal Rukun, Asal Rukun, Asal Rukun!"
Asal Rukun then raised his right hand, seemingly asking the crowd to quiet down. And just like that, the cheering crowd became dead silent. I have a bad feeling about this. Asal Rukun then spoke, "By the permission of the great Dewa, you are all permitted to bear witness to my glory. Remember that if it was not for me, you all would be withering to death by now, eating dirt and drinking poison. Remember that I am the savior that was chosen and sent by the great Dewa himself. Remember that it is your greatest calling to serve me with your life or you shall never reach the promised land in the afterlife."
The crowd answered in unison, "For the glory of Dewa, the glory of Rukun, the glory of Asal." They then began to bow and pray. I, of course, couldn't react in time and ended up being the nail that stuck up, waiting for a hammer to pummel me down. Surely enough all attention was directed at me. "Do you have something to say, child?" Asal Rukun asked while looking at me from above. The guards in black robes were holding on to their weapons tightly as if to threaten me. I need to quickly defuse the situation. I can not afford to fight amidst so many people. "Ah... Forgive me, my lord, I am but a foolish foreigner from far far away, who has just arrived in the city, I am unfamiliar with the city's customs, thus I ask for your forgiveness." I bowed my head as humbly as possible.
I peeked a bit to see Asal's reaction only to see the world rise up. Well, technically it is my head that fell down to the ground. A guard in a black robe was standing behind my body after he just severed my head in a near instant. I am tempted to continue my usual charade to simply recreate my head and fight my way out of this, but again, there are too many people around. I decided to simply play dead for a while and see what happens. The guard who at this point should be called an assassin instead, grabbed my head and jumped back to the top of the fortress's wall. He presented my head to Asal. Asal seemed to be very amused to see my head. He took my head and lifted it into the air. "Let this foreigner be an example of what happens to those who stray from the path of Dewa."
The crowd once more chanted "For the glory of Dewa, the glory of Rukun, the glory of Asal." He threw my head back to the assassin. "Bring his corpse to the border guards, I want an explanation as to why a foreigner managed to enter our sacred city without my knowledge." The assassin bowed and took his leave. He took the rest of my body and moved towards the border of the city. Well, I suppose he doesn't know that I came from the sea. But I do not wish for the border guard to be killed because of me. Since we are moving away from the crowd, I suppose it is time to fight. My head turned into ash and was recreated on my body. The assassin was surprised and I immediately kicked him away. He blocked my kick, caught it, and threw me to a nearby house. I burst through the stone walls like a wrecking ball.
Wow... this guy is no joke. The assassin pulled out his blade and took a battle stance. I stood up from the rubble, cleaned myself a bit, and pulled out my staff. "Well, prepare to get your ass whooped." The assassin charged at me with insane speed, stabbing his blade right at my chest. I grabbed his hand and brought down my staff at him. He narrowly dodged and escaped my lock, leaving his blade intact on my chest. "What are you... a devil?" The assassin asked. I chuckled, "Nope, I am much worse. After all, I eat devils for breakfast," and then I charged at him with my staff.
He quickly dodged it and started climbing on the walls. He pulled out and threw flying knives at me, which all hit my "vital" organs. If I weren't immortal, I would have died many times by now, simply from this encounter. I pulled out one of his knives that was on my forehead and threw it right back at him. It hit him right at his leg which slowed down his climbing speed. I began climbing the wall myself before the assassin decided to fall on me. His legs locked my head and twisted my neck, breaking it. Now... logically speaking, you wouldn't even bother trying to break someone's neck, when the person in question survived being decapitated. But in most of my journey, people just sort of keep trying for some reason. A possible reason is because they simply have never encountered an immortal before, and thus don't know what to do. Nonetheless, I simply grabbed his legs and slammed his body to the ground, hard. He may be very agile, fast, and strong, but he wasn't very durable, as my attack just now broke some of his bones and left him temporarily paralyzed.
I could hear footsteps coming our way. I carried the unconscious assassin on my back and went to find a hiding spot in the city. The task was somewhat easy because the city was almost completely empty as the crowds were gathering at the center of the city. Really just goes to show how much the city was under the influence of this strange religion. I ended up finding refuge in an abandoned house near the border of the city. It seemed the others had caught wind of what happened and began to search for the lost assassin. For now, I need to stay hidden in the building, waiting the sun to set. Besides, the wounded assassin needed medical treatment as well, otherwise, he would die from his injury.
Should have I gone easy on him? Well, I didn't know he was as fragile as any normal human. The fact that he just threw me through a brick wall gave the impression of a superhuman. Come to think of it, how is he so strong to begin with? Is it from training, or is it from some god empowerment? Do the other guards and assassins have the same strength as him? If yes, then this "Dewa" god is quite powerful. But if that is the case... How come I have never heard of it? The word "Dewa" itself is merely a translation of the word "God", it is not an actual name. Perhaps this religion practices monotheism. I will have to question him... Eh...? I was removing "his" clothes when I felt something that a "man" should not have. You have got to be kidding me. I was fighting a woman this whole time?
I supposed I wouldn't be able to guess from the black robe she was always wearing. Wait... is it possible that the rest of the assassins are also women? No, that is a leap of assumption. The black robe might simply be to hide their identity and to camouflage themselves in the night. Regardless, this is going to be an even more awkward situation. I carefully removed her clothes and started to apply some medications. In most scenarios, no one would go to the extent of treating someone who tried to kill them, but I suppose my immortality simply made me indifferent. Even if she ended up fighting me again, I know that she will never succeed in killing me. Thus, I do not feel threatened whatsoever. After I am done with the medications, I put back her clothes and wait for her to recover. While doing so, I implanted a check point at the building. The sun was beginning to set and I could sense that it would be a very long night.
To be continued.