Chapter 199 - Quinn, Nathan's Third Assassin
Quinn:
I continued my walk, each step weighed down with a mixture of uncertainty and worry, until I finally reached the edge of the river. The rain poured relentlessly, but something in the darkness caught my eye—a faint, pale glimmer among the soaked stones.
The ring on my finger pulsed, glowing softly. It was unmistakable: its counterpart was nearby. A wave of dread hit me like a punch to the gut, and my breath grew heavier.
"Damn it..." I murmured, kneeling down slowly, my knees sinking into the mud. Eliza's ring lay there, partially buried under dirt and wet leaves, but its green pendant shimmered faintly, responding to mine.
Recognition struck instantly, and the pain went deeper than I could bear. I reached out with a trembling hand, picking up the ring, feeling the cold weight of its significance. It was a symbol of the bond we shared, a silent vow to protect each other when nothing else would.
The dread that had taken hold of me turned into unbearable anguish, a scream trapped in my chest.
"Eliza..." I whispered, gripping the ring tightly as the rain washed over my face.
If she activated the ring and left it behind, it could only mean one thing: she had encountered a powerful enemy. This was her message to me.
I poured mana into Eliza's ring and watched the message form in the air, the letters crafted from my own energy. They shimmered for a moment before revealing the words:
'DANGER, BROTHER! NATHAN EVENHART IS DANGEROUS!'
My chest tightened further.
"Sister…" I murmured, the weight of the revelation hitting me hard. I pocketed the ring, taking a deep breath as the reality of what had happened began to sink in. If she recorded that message, something serious must have gone wrong. Ricardo and Eliza never made mistakes, especially in a mission we had planned for two years. But something had gone terribly wrong.
"She must have been captured…" I whispered, my mind racing in a thousand directions. Ricardo and Eliza were masters at what they did, especially when it came to abduction. They were prepared for any unforeseen events. If something went wrong, it meant that Nathan Evenhart was more than he seemed.
If someone was strong enough to face those two, the logical course of action would be to capture one of them… to try and uncover the reason for the abduction.
Rage began to build inside me.
"I have to save my sister!" I resolved, starting to run through the devastated forest.
If Ricardo hadn't contacted me, he might have been captured or killed.
Eliza's message was brief but clear. If she stated that Nathan Evenhart was dangerous, it meant he could be far more skilled than we anticipated or had received unexpected help. Perhaps bodyguards, or even the intervention of another mage. She didn't have time to explain everything, but the message was clear: danger. That boy might not be the simple farmer our investigations suggested.
Over the years, the information we gathered about him indicated that it would be a straightforward mission. Nathan Evenhart came from an agricultural duchy, located in the human kingdom's interior, on the farthest edge of the continent, near the Cursed Sea. The region was isolated, made up almost entirely of dense forests and vast farmlands. From our research, we learned that he was often seen alone or accompanied by servants. Nothing unusual: no drinking habits, no visits to brothels, or any other indulgent behavior typical of the nobility.
The reports described him as someone with little ambition for a noble heir. He was often seen helping with animal births on farms or at local markets, gathering food for orphans who waited until the end of the fair to collect leftovers. He seemed… too ordinary, without any hint of danger.
"How can that damn farmer be a threat?" I exclaimed aloud, stopping to catch my breath as anger began to swell within me. The image of my sister, captured and humiliated… it tore me apart inside. I clenched my fists tightly.
"If he laid a finger on my sister, he's fucking dead!" I swore, feeling the rage boil inside me. It was so intense that my muscles pulsed, and my steps quickened.
I resumed my run, the deafening sound of the rain matching my pace. But then, something caught my attention. A dark silhouette on the riverbank, shrouded in dense fog and the murky reflection of the water. From a distance, it looked like... a body.
My heart pounded in my chest, each beat echoing like a war drum inside me. I sprinted toward the shadowy figure, adrenaline burning through my veins. With every step, uncertainty became more suffocating, and a sense of dread grew within me.
When I finally got close, my body froze. The sight before me was pure horror.
"What the hell is this?" I muttered, disbelief etched in my voice as I stared at the charred corpse before me. The flesh was fused with what was left of the clothing, now unrecognizable, a grotesque mess of burns and deformities. The stench of burnt, rotting flesh hit me like a punch, the nauseating odor invading my nostrils. The body had been carried by the river, showing signs of fish bites and even maggots.
I nudged the corpse with my foot, trying to make sense of what I was seeing, as if the movement could clear the doubt. But what I felt was even worse: the charred flesh crumbled under the pressure, cracking like it was about to collapse.
The horror inside me grew.
The body… was a woman.
I lit a small flame in my hand to better illuminate the scene. A lump formed in my throat, and the desperation surged.
"It can't be… it can't be…" I repeated, my hands trembling as I examined the corpse. My mind refused to accept what my eyes saw.
Kneeling beside the body, I studied the dental structure.
If it has that tooth… that damned tooth…
"Please, don't let it be hers…"
As soon as I pulled the tooth from the charred mouth, I noticed the cruel detail: the false tooth, made of metal and painted to look real, with a small message stone inside. A common method among assassins, in case our bodies were left beyond recognition. We each had a tooth with a message stone containing our name, so our partners could identify the remains.
My heart raced. The evidence was there, but I refused to accept it.
"It can't be her… it just can't…" I muttered, the denial echoing within me as I poured my mana into the stone. Slowly, floating letters formed in the air, glowing with the same light as my mana.
'ELIZA'
The letters in the air felt like a final sentence, and my body froze. Shock coursed through me, and my vision blurred. My hands trembled as I looked at the lifeless, charred body. My world collapsed right there, in front of that unrecognizable corpse. That burnt figure... was my sister. The only family I had in this world.
"Eliza…" I murmured, kneeling beside the body. I lifted it gently, holding the unrecognizable remains in my arms, the weight of grief and loss crushing my chest. A tear fell, and I remembered her last smile before all this began.
As I cradled the body, the sound of footsteps broke through my moment of sorrow. A firm, intruding voice echoed through the relentless rain.
"Who are you?! What are you doing here?" barked a guard, his figure appearing through the heavy downpour. He looked like a patrolman, drawn by the devastation around him.
I simply stared at him, too shattered to respond. My mind was somewhere else... focused on someone else.
"Are you responsible for all this destruction?" the guard insisted, now with a tone filled with suspicion. His eyes locked onto me, trying to make sense of the scene before him.
I kissed Eliza's forehead, tasting the bitter mix of soot and tears on my lips. I closed my eyes for a brief moment, letting the weight of grief crush me from within. I gently laid my sister's body back on the ground as my throat tightened and despair threatened to overwhelm me.
"Answer me!" the guard shouted again, more impatient now, his hand gripping the hilt of his sword.
"Shut up!" I snapped brutally, my patience completely gone. Without hesitation, I suddenly conjured a tornado of fire around him. The flames rose viciously in a spiraling inferno.
The guard screamed, his cries of agony piercing through the rain, which seemed powerless to quench the wrath of the flames. He fell to the ground, writhing as the fire consumed him. I didn't look away from Eliza, even as the guard's screams grew weaker and finally fell silent.
"I'm sorry…" I whispered to Eliza's charred body, my voice trembling, each word laced with pain and regret. "It was my greed… I thought this would be our last job… I thought we could start over after all of this."
Rage and guilt consumed me, a whirlwind of emotions threatening to tear me apart. I clenched my fists until my fingers ached, my body as tense as a spring ready to snap.
As the guard's body disintegrated into ashes in the mud, my focus was clear.
The name of the one responsible echoed in my mind like thunder, and my hatred burned like molten lava, ready to annihilate everything in its path.
"NATHAN EVENHART!" I screamed at the sky, as lightning danced among the clouds, echoing my fury.
"I will do the same to you! I will take everything you hold dear, make you beg for death. I will kill those you love."