HADES-Chapter 1

The world was a dangerous place, if anyone would know that fact the best it would be me. I have yet to find a person who thought of this place as paradise but I also haven't found someone who had the same view, that we had really reached hell on earth. Then again most people aren't as cynical as I. I didn't like to think of myself as cynical, a wise sage seemed a better fit, to me at least. I saw things for what they were, not what they used to be thousands of years ago before the demons showed their sorry asses in our world. I saw things in the here and now but what else could you expect from the top assassin of HADES?

The Hell and Demons on Earth Society was a secret organization that had been around for centuries, how long I don't know, probably when the first demon came out of the darkness and swallowed someone’s girl up whole. Who came up with the name I wish I knew. I'd told Soto on many occasions that we should change the Society's name but he never listened, partly because he hated listening to me. My cynicism and dry sarcasm didn’t exactly make good conversation but neither did my career.

The life of an assassin wasn't the most glamorous, especially considering we weren't limited to assassinating demons and monsters. I had long lost count of the people I've had to kill due to their own stupidity and the world's lack of understanding. Witches, warlocks, dealers and so on, they all fell at my hands while I didn't blink. Some people would go mad from this, I'd known many who had gone mad, I'd also had to kill them. With HADES, you never got out alive, there could only be one out. How had I managed to stay sane over the past nine years? It was a method that seemed most obvious, to be an assassin you had to be swift and strong, you had to be the night and as silent as death, and, you had to be dead. Not just to the world, not a soul could know you were of HADES, but emotionally too. You couldn't care less if you lived or died on a mission but you tried your damnedest to see the sunrise. People couldn't be people, life couldn't be life.

It was the job or it would be yours.

Out of all the agents in HADES, I think I did this the best, partly because I had joined young and I had joined already dead in my previous sense of the word. It’s not like I had much to live for anyway. I had no home, no family, and no name. I was a hidden to the world and Soto had liked that, even if I was just eleven. He’d called me a shadow; he used it so much that my name had become Kage, the Shadow.

“Why a shadow?” Some might ask and I had come up with a few reasons over the years. I was swift and efficient and I also brought death. I could maneuver my way through the darkest of places as smoothly as a raven in the sky and as fluid as a shadow. Oh, and my hair (held in a small club at the back of my neck save for the two strands that always landed in my face) and the scar below my left eye were blacker than the midnight sky. Even if Soto had changed the Society’s name, it wouldn’t be that original. The big guy just wasn’t the creative type.

 "Kage," I looked up to see a young boy of nineteen, a year younger than I. His almond shaped umber eyes and his auburn hair had led him to be dubbed Tokala, Fox, by HADES. No one had their birth names in HADES, when they went out into the streets at night, headed for home; they dropped their HADES name to take on their own. It was another reason why I was more skilled. I left with the same name and I didn't take a break. I was all one in the same.

"Kit," I replied in my usual monotone as I sat in the mess hall and he moved to sit across from me. My tray of what appeared to be Monday's gruel dinner was pushed to the side as I cleaned my blade, ignoring Tokala's look of dismay.

"Do you have to clean that here?" he asked and picked up his fork. "The other agents and I come here to relax and forget the day."

"I come to reflect," I said and looked up at him with dark mahogany eyes.

"I know you do," he sighed. Tokala was the only one who really knew me well, he was my partner- despite my fierce protesting- and the only one who wasn't too afraid to sit and talk with me. He'd joined a few years ago, just a kid of sixteen. The circumstances and reasonings I didn't know and I didn't care to ask, the feeling was mutual apparently. He was a good kid though, that much was apparent, I’d always found it a pity that he had come into this dark aspect of the world.

"How's gruel?" I asked as I slide the blue-bladed dagger back into its sheath and pulled out a sword that was stained and scarred from use.

"Gross as per usual," he replied but ate it anyway. Free food was nothing to snub about.

"All is right with the world," I replied and he smiled. Somehow he was convinced that I had the ability to joke. And if I did, then he had the ability to laugh at it.

"Do we have a new case yet?" he avoided looking up at me as I pulled out a freshly used blade with slick demon blood on it.

"Nope," I said and then pulled out my gun to clean. Surprisingly I only had two and they were only used in emergencies, they were loud and new weapons, I preferred my silent blades. I’d never had to use them, sure I practiced to keep up my skills but not a single bullet had been discharged against a demon, creature or otherwise. "They're taking longer to find us cases nowadays."

"Well, I'm sure Soto is just trying to find a challenge," Tokala said and stood up. "I'll see you back at the apartment."

"Yup," I replied stiffly. Since neither of us had had the means to get a home and, as far as I knew, no family to stay with, HADES found us an apartment. At first I hated the idea of sharing an apartment, especially with the painfully optimistic Tokala but we'd been room mates for two years now and I was used to his presence.

"Ah, Kage, just the boy I wanted to see!" I didn't have to look up at Soto to see the stupid grin on his face.

"I'm 20, now Soto, I’m an adult not a boy." I said after catching his arm before he could ruffle my hair. "What do you want?"

"Come to my office before you leave," he said seriously.

"New case?" I asked and he nodded.

"A very delicate one."

I'd been in Soto's office a lot over the years, probably more than any other agent had, not that they would want to. I had never been called to his office for a case, though. For a mistake or for praise yes, but the cases usually came in a folder set in my file.

The office was almost like a grand hall, the large oak doors opened up to a large, open room with pillars along the sides of the dome like center with a skylight that could have eliminated the use of artificial lights had the sunshine been able to peek through the heavy clouds. His desk was on the far side and I followed him to it when the ceiling window was covered, leaving us in darkness for a split second before the lights were turned on. I calmly touched the classic marbled statue with disinterest; the parlor trick had never managed to affect me, as the chief took his seat.

"What's the job?" I asked as I finally took a seat across from him.

"As I said, it's a delicate matter, more delicate than the usual job." he said and folded his hands over his stomach. Soto was a big man, both tall and wide. I usually pictured him with a club and leotard made of leopard skin as he sat in a cave, gazing into a fire.

"Who is it?" I asked and he shook his head.

"This is different from your specialty, there is no one to be assassinated." he said and sat up in his chair. "Here's the file."

I took the black folder and opened it up to read the specialized script made for HADES to keep all cases secret.

"Khutsaba?" I said and looked up at him.

"It's an ancient relic that seems to have found its way to the world again." Soto stood to pace.

"You want me to retrieve it?" I asked and he nodded.

"We'll figure out what to do with it once it gets here. Kage," he leaned on his desk to look at me. "Everything on this planet will be looking for that jewel, demons, monsters, humans, everything. You are authorized to cut down anything in your way within reason."

"Yes sir," I stood up and placed the file on the fire as was custom. "Tokala and I will get on it immediately."

"Carry on," Soto nodded before sitting in his chair. "And be careful."

 

"You're home later than I expected," Tokala said and put down his own weapon that he had been cleaning. Our apartment wasn’t one of the most enchanting in Ostdell, the city of HADES in the center of Caeld. It was small and dingy but still served its purpose well, it didn’t need a lot of cleaning- neither of us bothered to waste time doing so- and it was just big enough for the two of us to live comfortably. We weren’t at the apartment too often anyway. We came here to sleep, on occasion, and we came to discuss our cases.

“Yup.” I dropped a book into his lap and took another of his blades to help him clean.

"What's this?"

"Our new case," I replied, checking the point of his sword, still sharp. I’d done most of the slicing and dicing today but it always paid to check your weapons before and after the job. "The Khutsaba jewel, whoever has the jewel essentially has control over the entire universe. If in the wrong hands the world could be turned upside down and sent into complete chaos."

"Fun," he sighed sarcastically and sat up further. "Where do we start?"

Author's Note

Chaptah 1!
I thought I would put a little something up for now but I'm still trying to figure things out for ANWA and this one so... Patience grasshoppas! Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think!

Reviews

[The Cute 1]

i love it is there going 2 be more