Darkness—that was all Leo saw. Everything was pitch black. He couldn't talk, see, or hear anything. He just felt himself drifting in the seemingly endless abyss of darkness. Minutes passed as Leo tried to endure. He was calm at first, but as hours passed, panic began to set in. It couldn't be that he had died, right? Leo thought as he continued to drift in the abyss.
Days passed, and soon Leo couldn't keep track of time anymore. He couldn't feel his connections to any of the dimensions. He didn't feel hope. Little by little, Leo was drowning in loneliness, slowly turning mad. He tried to hold on to his rationality, but even that began to slip away.
Just as Leo was beginning to forget who he was, he finally saw light. He moved desperately to grasp it, only to discover his arms had turned tiny. He soon heard the cry of a baby—it seemed Leo was now in the body of a newborn.
Leo was confused. What was happening? How did he move from the Ancient Remnant to this place? It couldn't be that he was dead, right? That thought resurfaced in Leo's mind as he tried to unravel what was going on.
His questions were soon answered as the scene quickly skipped. It seemed he was seeing the visions of someone else's life. He discovered he could only watch, not act, so that's what he did.
He watched as they named the boy Hassan-I-Sabbah. It seemed to be ancient Arabic times, as the boy's family and friends appeared to be Arabians. The scene quickly skipped once more as the boy and his family moved to another city. On the way, the boy's parents and siblings were killed by bandits, but the boy remained alive. He was later sold as a slave to a noble. The scene progressed quickly as the boy grew into a man. Even at this age, Hassan realized he was no good at anything; he was the worst slave his master had. The only thing he was good at was disappearing and not existing, as hardly anybody noticed him.
That was also how he survived when he and his parents were attacked by bandits. The scene progressed, showing Hassan's boring life as he did nothing day to day, until one day it happened. Hassan held a dagger for the first time, and he suddenly felt complete. It felt like an extension of his body.
Since discovering the dagger, Hassan refused to let go of the weapon. He moved with it everywhere he went. This went on until one day he was assigned to clean his master's library. As he went about his cleaning duties, he found a book of poisons. Intrigued, he read the book, and the more he read, the more fascinated he became. So, he decided to steal the book.
As Hassan grew, it was obvious that he was a genius in killing. He was literally born to be an assassin. Even his natural breathing was faint, he left no footprints as he walked, he was fast, he was nimble, and most of all, weapons came naturally to him.
Leo was in awe of how such talent could exist. He watched as Hassan grew ambitious. He watched as he assassinated his master right before Leo's eyes—the very first assassination in human history—and it was flawless.
He watched as Hassan progressed, becoming famous as he killed for money, even starting his own assassins order. It was during this time, when he was a sect leader, that he was gifted an odachi by a mysterious traveler. Seeing this sword, Leo was shocked as this was the very odachi that dwelled in his consciousness.
Leo watched as Hassan accepted the blade. With it, he became even more fearsome. He was literally a ghost, killing and fighting battles until the very end of his life. Leo watched it all.
Finally, Hassan died, plunging Leo back into the abyss. Leo was shocked. Why was he here again? But fortunately, he didn't have to wait long before he was plunged into another person's life.
It was the same story—a child born with great assassination talent, who grew up to become one of the world's greatest assassins. This one's name was Sirhan Sirhan, who also acquired the odachi.
After Sirhan's death, Leo was plunged back into the abyss, then into another person's life. This time, the assassin was called Richard Leonard, the Iceman. Once more, the odachi found its way into the Iceman's hands, and he used it to wreak havoc.
This phenomenon repeated itself over and over. Each person was a great assassin who wielded the odachi, making Leo wonder—was this all the doing of the sword? Was his destiny to be an assassin? Leo questioned.
This phenomenon continued until the final life, where an assassin called the Prince of Persia battled a king named Gilgamesh. When Leo first saw Gilgamesh, he was immediately attracted to his familiar green eyes that glowed faintly with madness. Leo couldn't quite recall, but he was sure he had seen those eyes before.
The battle between the assassin and the king raged for hours until finally the king received help from a sorcerer. Outnumbered, the assassin was finally defeated. His odachi was broken, splitting into two perfect replicas. One shot towards the horizon while the other was caught by Gilgamesh before it could follow its other half.
Finally, after this scene, Leo awoke as his body jerked back to life, startling Maya, who was keeping watch over him. The first thing Leo did upon waking was ask, "How many days was I unconscious?"
She replied confusedly, "You were only out for a few minutes."
Leo was astounded by this revelation, but his already exhausted mind caught up with him. His sight started getting blurry as he fell back into slumber, leaving a confused Maya to watch over his body once more.
But something strange was happening to Leo as he slept to Maya horror as Leo's presence began to fade, his breathing became faint almost none existent, in fact if she wasn't seeing leo it was hard to belive he was there anyways.
Little by little leo's muscle memory was mimicking the body functions of the assassins in which he had observed.