Phillip Demonian knew there were pros and cons to every job. something to do with the pay, environment, just general scale of how positive or negative a job could be. As for his own job... some would call it negative. Long hours, dangerous environment, inconsistent pay... the list could go on. Personally for Phillip, he liked his job. The biggest reason being he was able to get away from his family while still upholding their impossible standards. He could explore, have something to do that was better than some job as a solider. Life as an assassin was free.
Normally, as a day in the life, he would wake up either in the assassin quarters or wherever he was sleeping while if he was on a mission. Phillip would get ready, plan out the day, grab some food if there was any, and begin hunting. And today was no different.
Phillip's eyes fluttered open, on a thin mattress perched on top of a bunk bed, his own just like the others around him, in rows extending to the stone walls of the room. Dim light fills the room from a chandelier and torches lined up along the walls. Phillip sat up, rubbing his eyes, trying to come back to reality after waking up.
"DEMONIAN!" a rough voice shouted form the end of the quarters.
Phillip jumped, not expecting it, but recognizing the voice. In the doorway was director Ezio, the one who made sure everyone was doing their job in his branch of assassins.
"It's Tuesday." he growled. "That means you wake up early, get your contract, and you get going."
"Yes, director." Phillip muttered.
Sliding out of bed and hopping down, Phillp follows the director to the meeting hall, where assignments for the month were usually given out. Director Ezio and Phillip parted ways, the Director going to keep an eye on the other assassins, and Phillip going to meet with Tarus.
Through the Halls he walked, passing other people making their way around, with Phillip making sure that they didn't touch. The layout of the base was infamously complicated, but Phillip knew his way around by now. Until he made it to the door with a sign bolted on, reading 'Authorized personnel only!' The door creaked as Phillip opened it and entered.
Inside was a well-decorated room with a red carpet, various paintings lined up on the wall, lit by candles held up by golden candle holders. At the back of the room was a wooden desk with stacks of paper piled up on it. Sitting behind the desk; a man in a crimson red robe and gold-chain bandanna hiding his face. The man had a large scar trailing across his face, and a pair of decorated swords at his side.
This was Tarus. Leader of the northern branch of the League of Blood Holders.
"Ah, Phillip." he said. "Ready for your assignment for the month?"
"As I'll ever be..." Phillip said.
Tarus nodded and stood up, walking over to Phillip with a piece of paper in his hands.
"Well, here you are." he said, handing the paper to Phillip.
Phillip took the paper and looked at it. It was just another contract paper, like all of them.
Phillip read the paper out loud. "Target: Tora Berg; Perceived location: Isaril; Reward for death: 2,000 coin- geez that... ahem. Alive: 3,000 coin; Known to use summoned lightning magic..."
Phillip stops reading and looks back up at Taurus.
"Big target, huh?" he asked.
From his own experience, the average hit was about 700-800 coin, so 2,000 was nothing to sneeze at. Tarus nodded at his question.
"From what I could gather," Tarus said, "this 'Tora Berg' has a new clan running that mostly does trade, and they've been very successful so far. I don't know why someone would want the head of a trading clan dead, but I honestly couldn't care less. So, you know the drill. Find her location, get in-"
"-Kidnap if it takes three weeks or less, kill of it takes a month. Get out." Phillip interrupted. He'd heard this mantra so countless times, and so had everyone else in the League. "sigh... do we have the name of the contractor for this one?"
Tarus shook his head.
Probably someone trying to get inheritance money without ruining some kind of public image. He thought.
"...I'll get packing." Phillip said, turning to the door. "Is there anything else I should know?"
"Well, I suppose I should say what's already been said." Tarus stood up, and walked over to Phillip and put his hand on Phillip's shoulder. "You know why you are pulled aside each month. And you are more than capable of doing this on your own. Do this yourself, and you won't be discovered."
Phillip nodded. He'd also heard this countless times, but it was never one that sat well with him. Was he always supposed to do them alone? What if he got caught? Would he always be an assassin and have to do things alone?
He never really liked the thought of that. He knew others couldn't discover him; even his co-workers. But with what he was keeping them from... was it really so serious that he had to hide it from others?
This was something Phillip thought about countless times, and what he continued to go in circles about as he got ready to hunt down his target. When everything he needed was packed, Phillip went to the docks, and over to his small sailboat. He loaded everything in, got ready and departed, no goodbyes to anyone, because no one expected him to. He wasn't supposed to.
"Looks like I'm alone on this one again." he muttered to himself, just as the island began to fade away.