Rise of the Night/Run of Night

He walked to his house after leaving the office. He walked up to the door and unlocked it. He remembered a few nights ago where Lyla ambushed him after he came back to the city after such a long time away from here. He thought at how Lyla was gonna was gonna ambush him this time. He walked in expecting her to attack him but no such luck. He continued to his room where he say Lyla laying on his bed.

“Why’re you in my... nevermind,” he said, stumbling over his words. “Please, don’t get up.” He walked towards her as she resettled herself on the edge of the bed, poised for flight if need be.

He takes off his surcoat and threw it to the ground showing his chest. His chest was scared by years of fighting and hiding amongst enemies. The blue tattoos that was a gift from another tribe far from the north, showed signs of aging on his white skin. Around his neck were a pair of dog tags that jangled with his every movement.

“I have a fear growing in my mind that the council will be sending assassins to hurt me and the rest of you. It wouldn't be the first time they sent them.” he said as he stood there.

“They sent assassins after you before?” Lyla asked from his bed. He turned around to show a long scar across his back. It arced up from his right hip to his spine at the midpoint of his back.

“A assassin gave this to me after my first mission.” he said. He turned his head as he thought he heard a noise from the hallway. Instinctively his hand went for the colt magnum that was still on his leg. He opened the door with his gun drawn and silently walked into the hallway. He closed the door behind him.

“I know your here so you might as well get this over with.” he said as he scanned the hallway for any sign of movement. The assassin moved from a shadow near him quicker then he could aim and fire his gun. The assassin tackled him and pushed him back right thought the wooden door. The door couldn't stand the force of the 2 bodies slamming into it and shattered. Shadowstep landed on his back with the assassin on top of him knocking the gun out of his hand. As the gun clattered and skidded across the floor Shadowstep brought his left fist into the assassins face, forcing the assassin to be knocked off balance. The assassin staggered off to the side giving Shadowstep enough time to get back on his feet and tackle to assassin, pinning it to the wall. While he used his bandaged right hand to hold the assassin against the wall, he used his left fist to repeatedly slam it into the face of the assassin. His eyes went from the calm and cool blue to a raging blue storm. The assassin tried to break free from his grasp but to no success.

“Now I'm going to kill you and everyone of you friends that come after me or my friends.” Shadowstep said so calm and collective that it scared Lyla. Even thought he was in the middle of a fight he was calm enough to speak with full clarity of a threat he could carry out.

“What makes you think I came alone. The rest will be here and they will kill you.” the assassin managed to spit out. Shadowstep didn't hesitate to snap the assassin's neck.

“You need to run now. Get to the catacombs and tell Congo they might have some unexpected guess tonight.” he said as the assassins lifeless body slipped out of his hands.

“And what are you going to do?” Lyla asked as she got off of his bed and went over to his window and opened it. He pulled another body out of the closet and it looked just like him, like a long lost twin.

“This body will past for me if they want an official record of my death. Now go this building won't be stand for much longer.” he said as he pulled out a bag full of explosives. Lyla didn't wait around to see what he was gonna do. She had already left and was on her way to the catacombs by the time the second team of assassins arrived. He was had jumped out of his window into the back alley when the assassins reached his room and started to follow him. He went into a dead sprint as they followed him three miles across the city. A thunderous boom could be heard and Shadowstep realized that his house was now a pile of rubble.

The assassins still followed him as he came to the bridge over a tunnel in which the train ran. Shadowstep vaulted over the fence and landed on the train nearing falling off before he got a steady grip on the edge of the train. But the assassins wouldn't let up. The train passed though the tunnel and on the other side was the river. It was middle of winter and he weighted the odds of his situation. He could try and fight the assassins which would land in death more then life or he could risk the near freezing waters of the river. He chose the later option and dived thirty feet into the freezing waters. He landed in the freezing water and quickly swam for the surface. He looked around him to make sure he wasn't followed and spied a tunnel entrance. He swam over to the tunnel ad got out of the water. Even though he was good with ice magic he could still die to hypothermia. He started walking down the tunnel hoping to run into someone who could help him but his strength was fading. He started to black out before he finally collapsed in the tunnel.