Assassin, until the first moment (🇬🇧)

The blood oath

Magnus moved his body forcing himself into the next position, floorboards creaking under his bare feet.

He had been training relentlessly, since the late morning. Repeating the determined sequences of movements precisely, from one of the Assassin League's arcane martial arts routines.

His muscles trembled with exertion, burn and ache under the intense exercises, his breath coming in and out, in short puffs. Sweat running down his temples dripping onto the dark wood floor, his heart pounding wildly in his chest.

Although he trained regularly since childhood, his body was struggling today with the hours-long training. Magnus welcomed the pain, it distracted him from last night's failed mission, but only intermittently.

His mind went back to last night, while he moved through the room smoothly. After he left the duke's apartment he'd paced through the deserted streets of Idris' capital for hours, trying to figure out what had happened in the duke's bedroom; as the night's darkened shadows surround him. His mind kept returning to the incredible kiss, while he wondered, considering why he had failed and not been able to complete his mission.

He knew by trusting his instincts, that he'd hesitated, and that's what had stopped him from taking Alexander Lightwood's life. Only when Magnus had been sure he had the answer to his misery, the assassin returned to his father's house in the early morning hours.

Exhausted and soaked, he'd rushed to his room falling head-first into his bed after ridding himself of his drenched clothes. His head had barely touched the soft pillows as a dreamless sleep overcame him.

Magnus had hoped that he might have gained some distance from the memory of the kiss by the next morning but as soon as he'd opened his eyes, his mind went back to the duke's bedroom, feeling the ghost of Alexander Lightwood's lips on his own again. Frustrated, he'd dragged himself out of bed and had taken a simple breakfast, heading to the training room afterwards hoping a hard, punishing training routine would repress the consuming thoughts of the young duke. That had been hours ago.

A hushed harrumph pulled him out of his thoughts. Magnus skillfully executed the last exercise in sequence and turned towards the door. Dot, his father's assistant, was standing at the entrance to the training room, waiting for him to finish his workout. She was dressed in the order's official black clothes. Although she wasn't an active member of the assassin's order, she knew the family secret; she managed and supervised his father's business in the background.

Magnus walked over to her, grabbing the towel he'd left on the small bench beside the entrance.

"Hey Dot, what's up?" The towel he used to wipe the sweat from his face muffled Magnus' voice. Although he already knew the answer and Dot confirmed his suspicions only seconds later.

"Your father wishes to see you in his office," she told him.

Magnus let out a deep sigh. He'd known that a conversation with his father couldn't be avoided but he'd hoped that he would have had more time, at least a few hours before his father would have summoned him. Normally they would discuss order-related matters only in the hours after nightfall, being the respectable family Bane and rulers of the dukedom Edom during the day. But when night falls he and his father become assassins of the Bayang Hitam. When the night's darkness falls over Idris, Magnus takes on the guise of a 'Dark Shadow,' feared by all, citizen's of Idris and the world alike. At night he was Ajan Hitam.

Magnus tried to suppress his inner turmoil, which was simmering inside, brought on by his father's request for an audience with him earlier than he expected. It spells trouble. Magnus sighed again. He was sure that news of his failure had reached his father already because as the leader of the Assassin League's and Duke of Edom, Asmodeus Bane had eyes and ears everywhere. Nothing would stay hidden for long.