The Apprentice Assassin (Complete but editing) MxM

Breakfast in bed

"Who the hell are you?" Thomas questioned between breaths as he pulled his hand away and followed the man towards a sprawling forest that seemed to consume the landscape in front of him. 

The older man quickly plugged his ears again, continuing his stride in silence as a violent guttural scream burst out from the inn. The glass on Thomas's monitor shattered, making him gasp as the glass fell away from his suit. "I'll explain everything later, right now you need to follow my every step if you want to live past breakfast!" The older man explained as he sprinted ahead into the treeline, quickly beginning to weaving between the trees. 

What the hell is he doing? Thomas thought as he tried to mimic the man's footsteps. "Why are we weaving, we should be running a straight line!" 

"You ask a lot of questions, don't you boy. There are land mines buried all through this forest, nobody who hasn't been here before can survive them." The old man replied as they ran deeper into the forest. A large hovel slowly came into view as they weaved around tree's and through small bushes. "There we go, we're almost home!" A large explosion and a furious roar echoed through the forest, sending birds in every direction. "Looks like our friend found one of them!" He chuckled, slowing his pace slightly as they reached the wooden hovel. 

"Okay, not to sound ungrateful or anything old man, but who the hell are you? How did you know how to stun that Cantorian?" Thomas demanded as he looked at the man, their pace slowing to a walk. His face seemed ancient, the wrinkles all ran together, and when his chocolate brown eyes moved, the bags under his eyes became prominent. 

"I am but an old man with many sins to pay for." The older man replied with a tired smile. "However if you're stupid you may have read about me already. My name is Alex." Thomas instantly grew weary of the man, his gut telling him to be careful as he aimed the gun at Alex's head. "Now now, no need to get all riled up."

"How do you know about the journal?" Thomas demanded as his a knot began to form in his stomach. 

Alex let out a weak sigh and wandered over towards the edge of his hovel, seemingly unphased by the gun. "You know, that journal has been around longer than you've been alive. I would be more careful with it. That pouch on your chest is not the safest of places for something of its age. I heard it crashing against the sides of the space as we left out friend back there." He let out a weak chuckle and sat down, starting to stretch his arms.

"How do you know about the journal?" Thomas repeated as he drew closer to Alex, the gun still trained on him. 

Another laugh began to vibrate off Alex as he cracked a few of his weathered knuckles. "Not a very bright one are you? Perfect, I  went out of my way to rescue the damsel, but all I got was a grunt with a gun trained on me!" Looking away from Thomas, he rolled his eyes and lifted up his leg, setting it over his other leg to pick off bits of vegetation that had stuck to his robe. "I'll try and put this as simple as possible. My name is Alex, and I've been looking for that book since before you were born. I am not your enemy, so I would appreciate if you put the gun down. "

Slowly lowing the gun, Thomas glared at Alex as he picked the small pieces of life from the cloth on his leg. "So you are claiming to be old really old, I can see the wrinkles, but nobody has been able to live past one hundred years. How old do you claim to be?" He questioned as he slowly removed his ruined helmet with his free hand.

"Oh goodness, age..." Alex replied, thinking back as he stretched his neck out, popping it sickeningly loud in each direction. "I would guess I am close to to the thousands at this point. I was born back when the two continents were seven! If you count the poll's that is." Alex looked at Thomas and smirked as he coddled his broken helmet. "Honestly, I'm surprised you managed to get away with your life after the first encounter with Sarthon. He wasn't in any real danger. That bombing run would have bothered his ears a little bit, but he can outrun anything that he can hear. He must have been called off at the last minute. I wonder if he's working with one of the other Cantorian's...?"