Ezekiel (Ninth World): Shadow Assassins Headquarters
A tall man wearing black leather with two daggers strapped to his sides was holding a one year old baby. A women wearing an elegant royal blue dress stood next to him. "This is our child, our heir, our blood. He will be fine, he will overcome all obstacles in his path and slay any enemy that stands before him." The man said to the women while rubbing the baby's belly with his finger. "Why must we follow tradition? We have our child with us and you are just going to send him away, for no other reason than a test to see if he is worthy? He is our blood, does that not already make him worthy?" The women whimpered knowing this was going to be the last time she sees her son for many years. Tears leak down her cheek as she knows that she won't be able to hug him after he falls down for comfort, watch him grow into a teen and chase girls. She will never hear his first words but worst of all might never hear his words at all.
The man knowing what his wife was thinking, "He will have the mark, he has the blood of shadows running through his veins, as he grows stronger more knowledge will be released to him. He won't fall so easily." The man comforted his wife as he pressed his hand to the child's stomach. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air, while the cries of the baby pierced the night. The women tried to rip the hand that was burning the mark into their child away, but the hand held steady. Tears fell to the ground as they watched the baby squirm. The man removed his hand from the child and they saw the mark. A black hooded figure holding a scythe was seared into the child, the mark began glowing red. The glow soon flowed into the body, disappearing from sight only leaving the mark in the middle of the baby's chest.
"Royal Shadows" The man whispered as five people materialized kneeling in front of the couple, "Shadows, take him to our base in Hyrule in the first world, and tell the leader that he is an orphan you found on the road. He is to be put into the order and trained to the highest standards there. His name is Sun" The man handed over the child to the leader of the five people as the women tried to reach and hold her baby for the last time. The man grabbed his wife holding her back, "you will see him again, I promise you."
Week Later: Arcanis (First World): Hyrule (Largest Capital of Arcanis): Shadow Assassins Base
"The Royal Shadows" the man gasped as he saw five people in black leather, wearing black masks with a purple scythe on the right cheek of the mask. The man bowed to the five people, "my name is Damion, what can I do for you" he said still bowed. "Damion" the leader of the five said as he started to unwrap a bundle of cloths he was holding, revealing a child. "You are hereby ordered to take in this child, raise him, and train him to the best ability you can provide. He is an orphan named Sun" the masked man handed the child over to Damion. "Pardon my question" Damion said, grabbing the baby and bundling him back in with the cloth. "Why go so far for an orphan?" Damion asked glancing at the black masked man. "Shall I inform the second in command of this base that a vacancy opened up for possible promotion." The masked man said as he unsheathed the dagger at his side. "No, forgive my question, I will follow your orders." Damion whispered, afraid of making any more noise.
Five Years Later: Hyrule: Shadow Assassins Base
A dagger flew spinning into the air, as a young boy laid on his bed, catching the dagger as it fell towards him. 'Who would have thought a person named Sun would enter into the Shadows, so ironic' Sun thought as he tossed the dagger into the air again. A knock on the door in his room threw Sun from his thoughts as he sat up in bed and snatched the dagger out of the air. Sun opened the door to find Damion standing outside.
"Last day of class Sun, you ready for graduation?" Damion asked as he glanced at the daggers in the boy's hands. Sun nodded his head, grabbing his mask off of the nightstand next to his bed, and followed Damion down the hall. "Others will begin their field work but we have something special in mind for you" Damion said as he walked in front of Sun towards the classroom. "Of course you have to pass the tests first." Damion opened the door they arrived at and walked into the classroom where nine other children were already waiting.
Sun walked to his seat, and set his mask down on the school table in front of him. He glanced to his right and saw his desk neighbor Mark. The classroom was old, and well used with a few light bulbs hanging on the side of the wall. The children in the class were sorted into two rows, each with their own table and seat.
"Class, we will begin the first test of the day any that do not pass, will be put towards other uses. Most likely informants, shop keepers, guards, sailors and so on. Passing the tests will result in you obtaining the rogue class and it will be the first real step you take inside the organization. The first test will be a written one, you will receive two sheets of paper. One sheet will contain questions, the other will be blank to write your answers. Every test will have different questions. The trick part of this test, is that you will have to answer your neighbors test questions without being caught. Being caught will automatically fail you." Damion said as he passed out the two papers to all the children.
Sun moved his blank page over to the right side of his deck and read the paper with the questions on the left side of his desk.
Suns Shadow Graduating Test
Rules:
1) For every question your neighbor correctly answers off your question sheet deducts one point from your score.
2) For every question your neighbor answers incorrectly you will be awarded one point.
3) You cannot turn this paper over, remove it from your table, cover the paper or write over the questions making them unreadable.
4) The time limit for this test is one hour and thirty minutes.
Questions:
1) What is the Shadows Assassinations motto?
2) What was the date yesterday?
3) When stealth, what sense do most rookies forget about?
4) What are the ranks in Shadows (from lowest to highest)?
5) What level can you begin the class advancement from Rogue to Assassin?
Sun read the question sheet over and over as he thought about what he could do to stop Mark from answering the questions correctly, causing him to lose points. Sun suddenly reached for his pencil and started to write on his blank paper. He started coping the question sheet word for word until he reached the questions.
Suns blank sheet of paper was now filled with words and it read:
Suns Shadow Graduating Test
Rules:
1) For every question your neighbor correctly answers off your question sheet deducts one point from your score.
2) For every question your neighbor answers incorrectly you will be awarded one point.
3) You cannot turn this paper over, remove it from your table, covering the paper or writing over the questions making them unreadable.
4) The time limit for this test is one hour and thirty minutes.
Questions:
1) How long have you been in the Shadow Assassins?
2) What is the date today?
3) What level is stealth learned?
4) What are the ranks in Shadow (from highest to lowest)?
5) What level can you begin the class advancement from Assassin to Shadow Dancer?
Sun then started fiddling with the solid black mask on his desk. He grabbed it and started tilting and rotating it trying to catch the light. He soon saw Mark trying to eye the question sheet on his desk, off of the reflection in the mask. Sun waited until Mark was looking away and then swapped the two papers. On the right side of Sun's desk is the fake question sheet, while the left side was the original question paper that Sun was now going to use to write his answers on. Sun used the masks reflection and copied down the questions from Marks desk and began to answer them, with Mark none the wiser.
"Time" Damion shouted in the classroom as the children put their pencils down and waited for further instructions. "Bring your tests up to me and then sit back down at your desks" Damion ordered as the children brought their tests to him. With all the class sitting, Damion walked over to his desk and sorted the papers into two piles, questions and answers. He sat down and started to score the students in the class.
"Mark, Steve, Janice, Lauren, and Jayce. Please stand up and leave the classroom, the person outside will tell you where you need to go." Damion sternly stated as the five children stood up and made their way outside the classroom. Once the last of the children left and the door was shut, Damion looked around and clapped his hands together. "Congratulations, you five have passed the first part of the test."