BLADE

Hardong walked up to the rest after the last batch of victims were driven out of the valley, a few yellow scouts following them.

Ripper stood beside Blade, resting his back on the gate while Blade sat on a rock, his left leg using a dry Skull as his footstool.

Vesper and Ripper frowned at each other,intentionally bumping into each other before Vesper passed by Ripper.

They were all waiting for dawn so they could all sneak back into the Citadel as the surveillance of the Citadel was always at it's pick by midnight, through the very early hours of the morning.

Even though, they wouldn't be questioned as Black Robes, the possibility that a spy of Elder Hans would report them was something they couldn't risk.

"How sure are we that the victims themselves won't rat us out?...Because from my years of experience, desperate Robes can do anything to get what they desperately want and some can go as far as ratting out their savior" Hardong asked, his eyebrows scrunched up in worry.

"They won't. I fed them Antropine pills personally. They won't remember that a place called the Citadel exists. Besides, they would be dropped in different parts of the country" Blade responded, his face down as he looked into the holes in the Skull laying not too far from him.

"So what is our fate now?" Ripper asked, his eyes lifted up to the dark night that didn't even have a single star to give him hope.

"To continually follow orders like killing machines" Hardong answered.

"Or we would be killed for trying to 'elope with our lovers'" Vesper quoted Elder Hans and Ripper scoffed.

"Elope with their lovers? Elder Hans has been scheming for years and now it seems he's run out of ideas. How would the men who have been poisoned and are to recieve their antidotes every end of the month, be able to elope with lovers that they didn't even have time to see?"

"Can't still believe that people were killed because they were potential threats to his reign. The years they have served so far disappeared into thin air without a trace, every pain they endured and sadness they overcame all came to waste" Hardong was pissed.

Blade tuned them all out as each of them gave a piece of their mind on what they found uncomfortable in the Citadel. His heart was suddenly racing and his breathing in disorder. He found it difficult to inhale. His breathing became gradually shorter. Before he knew it, he was panting for air as his lungs seemed to be contracting more than it should.

And the icing on the cake for him was the sudden pain in his chest like he was stabbed, his hand flying to his chest immediately, like holding it would reduce the pain.

Suddenly, he felt a sudden surge go up his throat and before he knew it, he spurted out blood, calling the attention of those around him.

"Blade! Blade!! Blade!!!" He heard his name from every direction, the voices slowly faded away, as his eyes kept dropping until he passed out finally into the arms of Ripper.
__________________________________________✍

The room was too quiet for him. Just too quiet. He felt his bones ache and his eyes were still too heavy for him to open. The smell of the incense filled the air and it seemed to bring comfort to his lungs.

He found himself in between consciousness and unconsciousness, his mind replaying for him, the manner at which his victims displayed the sudden occurrence of death to him. Some seemed surprised to the very end, some were motionless while few were already in pain before death came which was like a comfort drug. With the memories that kept popping into his head, he was still very much aware of the incense in the room.