Perfect Imposter

    Siph was lying on her back on an over-stuffed couch, watching sunlight filter into the dingy room. It crashed in through the window, a riot of bright shafts, and cascaded down the curtains and other furniture until it finally pooled on the floor. She wondered if the pool of sunlight on the floor was like the sea in some way, the place where the sunlight would rest until it was somehow transported by darkness back to where light comes from like the ocean held water until releasing it back up into clouds. As she observed the bits of dust floating amid the sunlight, her sponsor was shuffling papers on his desk, sending out more agitated bits to swirl in the air.     This, however, was nothing new to Siph. She was very used to being called into this office under the demand to appear "right away" only to be left waiting while he finished his essential work before getting to her. She often wondered why the demon Abalyant bothered with her if she were so unimportant, but it had been this way for as long as she could remember, and there was no chance it would be changing any time soon.     The over-large man sitting at the desk could have passed for human. In the dark. He was nearly seven spans tall, and his broad shoulders matched that height well. The demon's skin was an odd rosy shade that looked like a healthy tan covered in sunburn, and his hair was blacker than pitch. Some people might go so far as to say his face was handsome, but to Siph, who was only 17, 'handsome' seemed to be too kind. He was dull, at best in her mind.     Siph rolled her eyes as Abalyant continued his work, and coughed again in an attempt to get his attention without actually interrupting him. He hated to be bothered, especially by her, so she didn't want his attention on her before he was ready. She also didn't want to be forgotten entirely, as he tended to get lost in all of those papers sometimes.     Abalyant sighed and set a stack of papers aside, leaned forward on the desk, and looked at Siph with his angry black eyes. He cough had gotten his attention, but it looked like it had also frustrated him.     She sat up quickly, her head spinning a little from the quick motion of upside-down to right-side-up. She smiled weakly at him and put her hands on her legs to stop herself from fidgeting and further upsetting him.     "Siph. You're wearing the staff out with your antics," his voice was severe, but Siph was well aware of the fact that Abalyant didn't care what the staff thought. Most of them were here to serve him as punishment for their sins in life, and her behavior was just another facet of their discomfort. "I think it's time for you to begin training. You have completed your studies, as much as I can force on you at any rate without killing your tutors. Now, the most important part of your training: fighting."     This news caused Siph to roll her eyes again, and she stood up, prepared to leave. "I've been training for as long as I can remember Abs, this is nothing new." She turned towards the door but was frozen in place by an icy cold voice.     "Sit. Down."     With a resigned sigh, she returned to the couch and flopped back down, once again sending plumes of dust into the air. She watched the dust floating in moats around the beams of sunlight as Abalyant spoke to her about training times, increased expectations, blah, blah, blah.     "This training should be the last step in making you the perfect assassin if you can get through it alive," he was finishing up.     The word assassin caught Siph's attention, unlike the rest of what he had said. She couldn't ask him to repeat it now, though. Oh no, what had she missed? He had never mentioned training her as one of his elite assassins. Come to think of it; he had never hinted at anything about her future. She assumed she was a reincarnation of a person who had been wicked in their past life to have to endure the monotony that was life with the Mighty Demon Abalyant. Now she had a timeline, a mission, a purpose! But, she'd been too busy daydreaming about sunlight and waterfalls to even remember what the stupid demon had been saying. Rats.    "You weren't listening, were you?" Abalyant says with a smile that doesn't look friendly in the least. If she were the type to be scared of him, it might have even been considered terrifying.     "Do I ever listen to you?"     "I'm pretty sure you don't, but this is important. In 6 months, you will be turning 18. At that time, you will no longer be my ward, but your own person. I'm offering to finish your training and hire you as one of my elite assassins," he sighed and looked at her with a frown to make sure she was paying attention this time. "Siphelia, you will have to return to the human world. You will be able to contact me, and I can get you the resources to live comfortably in that world, but if you do not work as my assassin, I cannot promise you any safety."     Siph narrowed her eyes at Abalyant. "How would being an assassin for you be safer than being a boring human in a boring human world?"     "You don't exactly blend in, darling," he said with another smile. She knew this one should have been sweet, but it was still creepy.     "You don't make any sense. I look like a very drab and boring human at best. I'm not beautiful, not ugly, not remarkable in any way whatsoever."     "This is exactly why life for you would be so dangerous. The human world is in a chaotic period right now, and you will have to find a way to survive. Being a plain girl in such a time will mean that no one will notice if you go missing. You have no friends, no family, and even if I gave you a place, there would be no history for you to fall back on. Do you understand what I'm saying, Siphelia?"     Siph sighed and nodded. "Being able to blend in also means I'm simple to blend out."     Abalyant raised an eyebrow inquiringly at her analogy but didn't interrupt her thought process. He liked her to find her own answers. He just hoped that she would choose to be his assassin because otherwise, he would have to send his people after her the second she left his domain. He had promised himself all those years ago that he would not become attached to the stupid human he had taken as payment. Years flew by, and before he knew it, he was acting as if the child were his own. He educated her, taught her to fight, showed her the ropes of his domain, encouraged her to torment the souls he punished, and even went so far as to procure food from the human realm to appease her appetite. She was supposed to be dead already, but he had been unable to make that sacrifice when the time came. He chose instead to train her and give her the ultimate mission: killing her sister. It was the perfect payback for that insolent human King and his lies. He would lose his heir to his long-lost daughter, and once the truth came out about how he sold her to Abalyant to save himself, he would lose Siphalia as well: for good.     "Fine," she said with a resigned sigh. She tried very hard to play it off, but her heart was beating erratically. She knew people fought tooth and nail to get into the assassin training program. Her life with Abalyant gave her the upper hand, though. She would make it through the training because no one would dare touch his adopted daughter, right?