FROM THE VIEW OF 6
Casual wasn't the way to describe 6's movements, it was natural. Each movement looked like this was where he was supposed to be, even if he was spotted, someone may just think he was meant to be doing that. His relative lack of equipment compared to his compatriots helped with that. Aside from his clothes, the same camo combat outfit the others were wearing, the only things he had with him were a small pistol in a holster and a dagger at his waist. From a distance, he could easily be mistaken as a night gardener. His light movements gave him the benefit of not taking much stamina, but even so, 6 felt the need to stop to take deep breaths from time to time. He had to resist the urge, as even one gasp would reveal his position to the monster he was approaching.
'This is so shit. Seriously, an entire world of boring people, no powers, no fantasy, no magic, and instead of being the one to get any of that, I'm hunting the jerk who did? This is shit,' 6 thought.
He was in position now, ready to respond to the next part of the mission, whichever way it may go, when he heard a faint noise behind him. His head dropped and his eyes closed, and finally, he let out a defeated sigh.
Behind him, smoke appeared in the air. It condensed, forming into a large humanlike figure, though the human body continued emitting waves of smoke off of it.
"Would you believe me if I said I was here for the sights?"
"Your eyes are closed," The shadow behind him replied with a light voice, tainted with pain and sorrow. "And you're part of a team sent to kill me. An extremely skilled one at that."
"Ah yes. That explains why we're calmly speaking to each other. I too often speak to people I believe are trying to kill me." 6 said with a light chuckle.
"I'm sorry. I don't know why you came or what your reason is, but I know you aren't bad. I wish there was more I could do, but hearing your final words is the most I can offer."
"What do you mean I'm not bad? That matters to you?" 6 asked.
"Of course it does. I am not heartless. I'm just on a mission. There are too many things to explain in what little time we have. I'm sorry." the shadow explained.
"Yeah yeah. On a scale of one to ten, how'd we do?"
If he was going to die, 6 at least wanted to hear that he was close to killing his target, even if it was a lie.
"Good. Great even. I'd give you a 9, the others a 7, and the rude one a 6. I barely noticed your group, and if I hadn't known to look for others, I wouldn't have known you were here at all."
"Wow. great. We're all quiet, but I'm quieter. Least likely to get killed. Not sure if it counts for much when you can ignore bullets and all, but I appreciate the compassion" 6 said sarcastically.
Although they were the words he wanted to hear, when it came to actually hearing them it felt fake. Obviously they didn't do good, their target noticed them immediately and they didn't even put a scratch on it.
"It's not just compassion. I mean it. Had I met all of you a year ago, you alone would've been enough to kill me. I chose to speak with you out of respect, I truly regret the circumstances we've met in. I'm sorry, for being the one to cause these circumstances, and for-" The shadow paused its speech when 6 interrupted it.
"For killing me."
Following a short period of silence, the figure behind 6 shifted uncomfortably. It let what might be a sigh for its species, deep black smoke billowed out of the area that comprised its humanoid face shape. The smokey appearance of its face which lacked any actual facial features brought a new meaning to uncanny valley.
"Yes." the shadowy figure said, falling silent once again. 6 looked up, stretching his neck as he looked to the sky. "May I see your dagger?"
"Be my guest. Hell, keep it if you like. Don't think I'll be using it much. It'll be a cute little memento of when you killed me. Good times." 6 said, pulling the dagger out of its simple leather scabbard and tossing it over his shoulder.
The man in the shadows caught it, examining the entirety of it. It had a slightly curved blade, sharp as a whistle, with intricate carvings etched on its sides. The carvings depicted many scenes, from the deaths of kings, to the galloping of massive herds of horses. It was covered in so many small scenes like this that it looked like it belonged in a museum. If you didn't look closely, the blade nearly seemed black. The hilt, though less detailed, was also interesting. It was slightly curved, comfortably fitting in the palm of a hand, and wrapped in an ancient-looking cloth. The only visible parts under the cloth were the crossguard and the pommel, both of which were unique. The crossguard was a bundle of leaves, making it seem as if the blade was a flower blooming from the hilt. The pommel, on the other hand, was a chestnut. A simple chestnut.
"The etchings are my favorite part. I don't know much about it, but I always carry it. It's sort of a good luck charm. Great conversation starter too, and it's certainly beautiful. The old thing probably has more years under its scabbard than both of us combined."
"It is more beautiful than you can imagine. I won't impose on you, though, this is your knife and you should keep it. But I am touched. May I borrow it for a few minutes?"
6 let out a pitiful laugh, full of sorrow.
"Am I going to be killed by my own knife? That's harsh, man. If only the blade still had room. That'd be an amazing scene to put on it."
"It would."
"Thank you for your kindness. I will never forget it. Unless the hole you put in my brain specifically wipes out this memory without killing me."
"Just look at your knife every few minutes if that happens. Surely there'll be a new carving etched into it if you survive a dagger through the skull. Do you have a name?"
"6. Just 6. By any chance, is it possible for me to get big and strong like you? How much milk do I have to drink? I eat my veggies. How do you become all smokey? I can eat smoke if I have to, I'm not sure how I'll do it but I'm definitely willing to try."
"Please don't try to eat smoke." the figure said, as if he were talking to a curious toddler who wanted to bite everything they saw.
6 nodded his head as if he was agreeing that he probably shouldn't eat smoke, but to the shadow it looked like 6 would try to eat smoke as soon as he possibly could.
"I don't turn into smoke, I am the smoke. We're different species, you can just turn into me." it said.
"But you turned into us, right? I mean, the first time we saw you, you were just a big ol killer cloud of smoke, and then you grew hands and stuff and now you have a whole body." 6 said. "Couldn't we just, like, reverse that process?"
"That's not how things work. And I feel like I should have picked someone else to apologize to at this point."
"Don't be like that. I'm just curious." 6 said, his lips creating a childish pouty face, despite the fact that the shadow couldn't see his face.
"Its just an ability of my species."
"Wow. so you get the cool smokey ability and you can turn into other things, but all i get is opposable thumbs? I hardly think this is fai-"
"Goodbye, 6." the shadow interrupted, not wanting to hear 6's bullshit any further.
"Ah, okay. See you on-" 6 words were interrupted by the actions of the shadow.
6's dagger, held by the shadow, was thrust through 6's head, the tip emerging between his eyes. His body slouched to the ground, and the shadow's figure shrunk a tiny bit. It took the dagger out of 6's head, giving it back to its original owner. 6's corpse grew cold, its hand tightly wrapped around the knife. The blood slid down the blade, dripping across the hilt, and soaking its owner's hand with his blood.