Song-- Brighter Than Gold// Louis II
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A massive, modern structure covered the expanse of the field. A sleek, white brick-and-glass construction gleamed in the setting sun. It wasn't tall, but instead of being stacked up, it was spread over a vast sphere of the grounds. The tall ferns grazed the base as they swayed gently in the cool flurry, a much-needed relief from the scathing heat of Summerdale.

Ava's horse ambled forward, slightly aloof from the rest of the group. Hector and his tawny horse trailed behind and they stood side by side admiring the magnificence of the landscape. Ava absentmindedly stroked Sophia's mane.

"We used to have a painting like this in the Council. Of Spiritfalls, that is. It looks like someone brought that piece of art to life." Ava sighed.

Hector looked at the view for a moment, then tore his gaze from it to glance at the girl next to him. Her clothes were still splattered with blood, her hair unruly and singed at the tips from the room she set ablaze. He could no longer just look at her without dredging the memory of her shooting three bullets into the rebel's chest.

The first time he'd seen her, she'd jumped at the sound of a grandfather clock chiming. He could never have predicted that she had it in her to put three grown rebels to death. Hector himself had sliced the throat of one, but it was haunting each second of his existence. Meanwhile it seemed to have no effect whatsoever on the Avyanna.

"Come on, Esmeralda is moving in." Ava nudged Kingsley out of his little guilt spiral.

Esmeralda cantered forward on her shiny black mare and the others simply copied. As they drew closer to the Westbrook Center, Hector could make out a few figures standing outside gigantic metal doors. When they were but twenty paces away, the Mage halted her horse and marched forward. The four Assassins looked lost for a while but as soon as Hector slid off his horse, the rest followed suit.

On reaching the metal gates, the three people on the other side moved closer to Esmeralda. As the little group approached, they now saw the three figures more clearly. The first one was a woman clad in black, flowy silks. She wore an elaborate ornate headdress to which was attached a heavy, netted veil that fell over her face.

"From where have you brought these weary travelers? For we must not trust even our brethren anymore..." The woman spoke, her voice oddly melodious.

The kids were taken aback by her voice but Esmeralda appeared unmoved and tapped the rounded edge of her cane to the bars of the metal door. Neither Hector nor Avyanna had ever noticed that Esmeralda carried a cane.

"I bring forth our country's warriors from the town of Spiritfalls and Amberhall," Esmeralda responded.

The second, an old man dressed in a Chamberlain's attire stepped forward, gripping the bars and pressed his face to it. His manic look made Kingsley take a step back.

"How do you know if you can trust them?" He snarled, revealing his stained teeth.

"The magic hath chosen them. The magic never lies. You should know that much, Arthur." The Mage replied coldly.

The third was a boy, in his late twenties. He wore a soldier's uniform and black combat boots, his face stained with soot and blood as though he just came from a battle. He stood fixated to his spot and looked Esmeralda dead in the eye as he posed his question.

"What must we follow to serve and not sully the honor of our nation?"

Esmeralda lifted her head and spoke, "For Cennet, we live and for Cennet we kill."

As soon as the word 'Kill' rolled off her tongue, all three dissipated into thin air, reducing to mere pixels lost in the wind. The Evermores let out a yelp of surprise, looking about frantically for any signs of the trio.

A creak and a swishing sound caught everyone's attention. The heavy metal gates swung open and Avyanna's eyes widened at the marvel her eyes beheld. An enormous marble statue of a masked Assassin stood in front of them, a dagger in one hand, a quiver slung over her shoulder.

Fascinated by the statue, Avyanna was the first to set foot inside, the marble figure drawing her like a moth to a flame. She circled it once, stopping near a little rectangle which had the words 'For Cennet, we live and for Cennet, we kill' engraved into them.

"Ah, they're finally here!"

Ava's head shot up at the new voice. She saw a girl, yellow-blonde hair that was cropped till her ears and a scar running down her left eyebrow to the middle of her nose bridge. Her deep emerald eyes scanned the measly group, her eyes eventually landing on Avyanna. She scrutinized the slight girl, then scoffed and shook her head.

Ava balled up her fists and tried her best not to punch the girl. The blonde moved on to Esmeralda, holding out a hand, saying,

"And you must be-"

"Esmeralda, the Royal Mage." Esmeralda cut her off and walked off, leaving the blonde hanging there, a shocked expression crossing her face. Now, Avyanna scoffed and walked behind Esmeralda.

Stepping inside, she saw the walls were coated a light blue, with the slightest tinge of green. The entire atmosphere in there radiated calm and oh, was it anything but. There had to be a training room ahead somewhere for she could hear the yells and grunts of exertion echoing.

She noticed a flash of yellow in the corner of her eyes. She twisted her upper body so she would be facing that arrogant bitch.

"What do you want?"

The blonde raised her palms, and said with mock innocence, "I was just trying to be nice!"

Ava shot her an annoyed look and the girl dropped the act. She walked faster to catch up with Avyanna, who was already halfway down the hall.

"Oh-hey come on! wait! Why so rotten?"

Ava stopped dead in her tracks and turned around violently.

"Rotten, huh? Yeah, let's throw you unarmed amid six merciless rebels who you have to kill with your bare hands. Then let's see how pleasant you get!" she lashed out.

The blonde looked taken aback.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't- we weren't exactly informed of what happened, we just knew you were gonna be delayed."

Ava covered her eyes with the bottom of her palms and shook her head in exasperation at herself.

"No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled, I guess I'm still hyped up. By the way, we never introduced ourselves. I am Avyanna Irvine from Spiritfalls." Ava apologized then held out a hand.

The blonde shook it returned her a warm smile.

"Leanna Blaze from Winterfrost."

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"Six men?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure? Because that does not sound like-"

"I'm sure, Aillard. We received the news and we know she did it. But they were rebels and if she hadn't done what she did, well then, that would've been bad." Gerald consoled a distraught Bexley.

He shook his head and exhaled, running a hand through his hair. Something about the news he had just received didn't sound right. Ava was not capable of doing what they told him she did. Killing six men for god sake!

Gerald looked over at the deep, thoughtful state Bexley was in and added, "Well if it makes you feel better, she didn't do that alone. There was another boy."

This comment immediately caught Bexley's attention and he snapped his head towards Gerald, his eyebrow cocked in alarm and confusion.

"What boy?" He inquired

"Another assassin... from Amberhall if I remember correctly."

Bexley was seriously concerned for Ava by now.

'What if Irvine is too trusting and he ends up taking advantage of her?'

'What if he turns out to be an imposter?'

'What if he hurts her?'

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"Kingsley."

The boy didn't notice at first.

"Kingsley."

He hummed in response. Still not satisfied, Avyanna tugged at his sleeve.

"Kingsley!"

Hector turned to face the short girl, to see she wasn't even looking at him. He followed her line of sight which led him to a dining area, a huge table decorated with the fanciest delicacies anyone could think of. He chuckled at her and nudged her forehead with his hand.

"Don't get us non-season towns a bad impression, Avyanna. You are not even gonna think about sneaking that food before dinner time."

Ava placed a hand on her heart as she faced, wide-eyed.

"Me? Oh, I would never!"

He rolled his eyes at her and stood up straighter as he realized another Assassin was heading their way.

"Hey, I heard you fought the rebels singlehandedly at Springacre!"

Ava realized that the speech was directed to her and looked up to see another boy, a tad taller than Kingsley. He had short-cropped brown hair and deep brown eyes.

"Oh, no I didn't fight them singlehandedly! Actually, Hector here," She said, gesturing towards Kingsley, "Was quite a bit of help."

"I'd love if you could teach me how to better at hand to hand combat..." he requested.

"Well I'm no expert here either, but I could try."

The boy smiled and then held out a hand. "Oh I'm Ace Loughty, by the way."

"Avyanna Irvine."

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

With that he left, leaving Ava to go back to staring at the food. Hector looked at Ava, cocked his head, and laughed. She raised an eyebrow and looked at him as though he had gone nuts.

"What?"

Hector shook his head and said in disbelief, "You seriously didn't get what just happened?"

Ava looked genuinely befuddled. "What the bloody hell are you talking about? What happened?"

Kingsley let out a bemused chuckle and walked away, leaving the girl staring behind him in absolute confusion, seriously wondering if Hector had gone mad.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Aghh finally updated after sooooo long. I hope you guys aren't losing interest in the story because of my irregualrity and I promise I'll try to be more consistent. 

On another note, I have a question;

Do you want me to go slower or faster with the plot? Or is this a comfortable pace for all of you?

And yes, the next chapter will finally have some bloody action (Shit Ava is rubbing off on me!) and the training will finallllllyyyy begin.Now remember, this ain't a short story so it will go on for pretty long. I'm actually thinking of making a longer chapter, like over 3k words but ah, lofty dreams lmao.

Until then,

Toodles Cinnamon rolls 😘😘!