The Dark Songs

Prologue

It was a starry night. Crag the assassin prowled the streets. He glanced up at the grandiose mansion to his right, making it seem like he was a normal bystander admiring the building.

Crag was anything but normal. Employed by the People's Association of the Singers, he was the best assassin there was. Others who had his capacity simply despised the job.

He had found interest in the work of the PAS. Their aim to make everyone, the Deaf as well as the Singers, uphold the Rules of Singing was capturing. At least, that was the pretense.

Looking at the mansion, he noticed that the width was not what made it magnificent, it was the fact that the roof often conversed with the sky. In it lived a HighExecutive of a multi-world company. Crag had done some research, and found that this company had grown almost overnight to this state. There was something in the works, apparently, and the PAS had sent him to investigate, and if it came to that, assassinate the target. There were rumors about this person, Aian Gould, which suggested that he could have brought his company to this level by cleverly manipulating the authorities, hiding his ability to Sing. This kind of a thing was thoroughly discouraged by the PAS.

Aian probably won't know about this organisation though, so Crag couldn't blame him. He could not in good conscience blame him for Singing either. It was addictive. It filled one with so much energy, that it often overwhelmed many people who first discovered it.

Crag's research had proved less fruitful than he had expected, and as a result he had to make several trips to the site, risking identification.

The patrols of security were small to avoid unnecessary suspicion from the government, however he had learnt of the many types of computerized security systems were installed here. These systems were for protection against Deaf intruders though. Aian had not informed the head of security, apparently, about the abilities that the Songs gave. If that was the case it would have been difficult to infiltrate this place.

Crag observed as the night patrol went by without noticing him lurking around. They were not bad at their job, Crag noticed one of them glancing in his direction through the gate, and dismissing him from being a threat.

He decided it was time to infiltrate. Smiling softly in anticipation of what was coming, he began Singing softly to himself. The process was still as difficult as it was on the day he started Singing, but what came after it was what most appreciated.

The feeling of pure energy coursing through him.

It was as overwhelming as it was the first time. Every part of his body felt alive. His skin became hyper sensitive, and he could now differentiate between even the strengths of small currents of winds. Blood started coursing through his body like never before- it always felt like that. Before he could lose his concentration at the pure pleasure of having unimaginable power, however, he focused that energy into his feet. The energy left him in a moment, and he felt little tingles on the bottom of his foot.

The priest had warned him, as always, to use it as fast as he could, since the energy wore away eventually. And sure enough, as he decided which way was the best way in, the tingling on his bare feet started reducing. It started to corrode the ground, leaking energy as he waited for the perfect moment.

The guards were now past him, and now in his blind spot, moving leisurely.

He turned to face them. Then he ran. All motion stopped around him. While moving at this speed, he would be completely unable to change directions. The momentum was simply too much. It took the better part of his available energy to even stop where he wanted to.

So he moved towards the barred gate. It felt as if he was running at the speed he always ran in, but the world could no longer notice him, it reacted too slowly.