Chapter 11 - My hand is talking to me OR talk to the hand!
1342 Words
I wake up…
I untie my hand and stretch out.
-You'll never find them…
-Don't be so full of yourself, I'll find them…
Oh, by the way, this is my hand, not someone in the room. I'm talking to it by telepathy.
-I doubt it.
-Hmm? And why?
-They are not of the assassins' guild…
-Are you f*****g kidding me? Assassins of the pinnacle of rank 3 that are not members of the assassins' guild?
-You heard things about it, no? About an order even older, more ancient… And more dangerous. You will never find them, but soon… They will find you!
-You…
-And when they'll find you, they'll kill you! And I'll take the control of my body back!
-You became quite diabolical, uh?
-…
-Well, going this far just to take your body back…
-Is that all? Is your reaction just that?
-Of course, I'm as powerful as the emperor, how can an order of this level be this dangerous?
-One day, you'll regret it… And then, you'll beg me to spare you, and it'll be too late!
-Crunch! Crunch!
-Stop eating when I'm speaking to you f**k!
-Crunch! Well, what? It's not like I am in danger! Crunch!
-Damn it I'll kill him, I'll kill him, I'll kill him…
[…]
1 and half a year later.
I'm walking in the garden when one of the concubines of the emperor is running toward me, a knife in her hand:
-You killed my son!
-Eh?
I grab her hand just in time.
-Strengthen!
I use quickly some magic on my arm, release her hand and with a blow of my palm throw her 10 meters away.
-Bam! Urgh!
-Hey! What do you think you're doing to an imperial prince? And what's this bullshit, damn?
-You killed my son! You killed my son! Diiieeee!
She takes out a parchment, on which I catch a glimpse of some runes.
She places a finger on a part of it, and disintegrates into dust!
The runes sucked dry all her magic as well as her vital energy!
To such an extent that all life left her cells. And from the look of determination she had, she knew that she was going to die!
Some guards that are doing on a watch not far away turn their heads, and all make their comment:
-I won! Revenge it is!
-What bad luck, how many times did this happen this month, isn't it supposed to be rare?
-It's the third time I think…
-The pace of assassinations increases a lot lately, the failure of the emperor and the loss of Vindi Vaal, Vindi Thran, and two of the three cities of Vindi Vit maybe makes them think that he'll end up dying or abdicating the throne soon…
-Don't know, anyway it's always quite a show!
-The one today, isn't he the genius?
-The one who's the teacher of the imperial mage?
-Yes, it's him, but well, even for him, I don't think he can stop that…
-We'll see, anyway I won my bet so everything's fine for me...
I see the runes on the parchment light up, and around a hundred blades of light are forming above.
-These are runes and not human, so there should be a self-guidance system. So without knowing its specific structure, I don't think I can deceive it. The blades also contain all the vital energy of a person…
I sigh.
-Too bad, by its power, this spell reached the level of a spell of rank 4.
I sigh another time.
-It's too bad that it's all pointless!
I stare at the blades, and shout:
-Destro… Urgh!
My hand is strangling me!
He's stopping me from pronouncing anything!
The blades are closing into me at high speed, but I can't say anything!
I smile… It's a sad smile… A smile full of regret…
So it was a plan of my arm to kill me? He most certainly used the assassins to kill the son of the concubine, and let some "clues" revealing that it was my doing…
Well, at least, I'll take the blades as an excuse for the behavior of my arm…
-Urgh!
I'm being stabbed by a blade, then another, then another, they are all stabbing in different parts of my body, while I suffer at each stab.
When it finishes, blood is flowing down of my plentiful wounds while the swords are dispersing.
My hand released midway through.
The spell didn't touch him, but he's affected by the weakness of my body, even if he is in a better state than the rest of my body.
I spit out a mouthful of blood, and, at the verge of unconsciousness, pronounce with a shaking voice:
-Heal…
My body is healing and the fog that seemed to be obscuring my mind dissipates, I repel the assault of the consciousness in my arm and promise to myself to keep a closer eye on my arm in the future…
[…]
Six months later…
It's the night, a mass of shadow seems to be floating slowly, a hundred meters above the ground.
This mass is crossing the Zalith continent in a few minutes before slowing down before a city…
The capital!
He passes above the walls and is closing in of the imperial palace.
The mass is stopping before the wall of my room and is dividing in threads of shadow that are infiltrating the wall.
On the other side, the mass takes back its shape and literally gets in touch with my arm.
The arm shivers and a conversation is starting:
-Tomorrow… Tomorrow, we're going to kill him. When you'll have taken the control of all the body, it'll be in your interest to keep your promise…
Says a hissing voice.
-You don't have to worry, didn't I promise to help you to take control of the Empire?
Answers my arm.
-So this is what's happening?
I open my eyes at this moment and enter the conversation.
I at last found the source of my problems!
I take quickly make a decision:
-AI, active the shield and make it match the frequency of this guy.
I order a runic AI that I created a little time ago. There is of course no technology in the empire, but doing an AI with magic is child's play for someone with as high of a theoretical background as I have!
I gave the AI a system allowing the scan of every person who enters, and here, I used it to determine the magic frequency of the intruder! The magic frequency is unique to every individual, it's what allows anyone precise enough to identify a mage, the magic of each mage has a particular frequency because no one has a perfectly identical body, conscience, and soul. If I block his magic frequency, he won't ever be able to go out! At least, so long as his body still contains his soul! I originally created this shield in case I'd need to keep people out, but I guess this works if I want to keep people in too.
-You were thinking that I wouldn't try not sleeping even once? Even after these hundreds of assassination attempts over the years?
I ask the AI:
-Start the operation!
[…]
I'm waking up.
I lost an arm, but now, I can let it tied all the time!
I separated the body in two!
Now, my arm is independent of the rest of my body!
There is still an immaterial link between my arm and my body, which is giving the impression that there was a clear cut, as in the 3D representations where they can do cross-section view.
But my arm is no longer handicapping me!
As for the shadow being, he's now confined in a crystal ball!
-Let me out! Let me out!
All's well that ends well!
- Writer
