A Far cry from earth

If there was one thing Jason Brody could say about himself it would be that he was good at hurting people. Not that he enjoyed it, well not always. These were the idle thoughts that drifted through Jason's mind as he planted an arrow in a pirate's eye. The screaming pirate fell to the ground thrashing in pain as Jason casually walked towards him. With a disturbing crunch and a bloodstained boot Jason continued down the tunnel. His normal indifferent expression was being replaced by an annoyed scowl. He hated exploring the ruins on Rook Island, they were always filled with dangerous animals and seemed to fall apart at any given moment. Still it needed to be done, rumor on the Island was that there was an artifact here even more powerful than the dagger. And he would not allow the Raykat to get it before he did. Not after what they had done to his friends.....

Shaking his head Jason continued down the tunnel trying to think about happier things. Sadly for him the 'happier' things in his life involved learning new ways to gut a man before they could blink. And Jason didn't think he could get any faster. Continuing down the twisting path he noticed the walls becoming more and more in-lined with strange glyphs and carvings. Perhaps if he had been here for a different reason he would have taken note of the strange horse-like creatures that seemed to be carved into every wall but he had a mission and by god he would stop at nothing to achieve it.

The hallway slowly began to expand outwards forming a large almost chapel-like room, Jason took very little note of this as his eye's locked onto his target. A large door was planted at the back of the room and surrounded by several woven baskets filled with gems and other treasures. Normally Jason would've plundered the gems and continued on his way but something about this door set him on edge and not in his normal 'there's guys I get to kill behind it' way. He slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out the compass he had found while hunting for the knife for Buck. His vision flashed red for a second as thoughts of Buck's threats rolled through his head, only to return to normal when he remembered burying his knife hilt deep in his chest, that had been a good day.

The compass pulsed and glowed with the same eerie green energy  it had regained when Jason entered this strange temple. Jason looked between the indent on the door and the compass before pushing it into the slot, expecting to find the artifact behind the door

"Moment of truth" he twist the compass, the door slowly began to slide open as a piercing white light burst out from behind the door. Jason felt a searing pain as the light hit his skin and tried to move away from the door only to find his feet locked in place. As the door open fully Jason became aware of only two things in his life

Pain and Light.

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Celestia was not having a good day or month for that matter. The Diamond dogs had been rather pushy about the borders around the Applosian mountains. After several attempts at convincing Celestia to give-up the mountains peacefully they had resorted to one of the most oldest and most effective methods of getting what one wants; hostages. And that's where the problem lay, if they had taken a caravan or even a town Celestia would have sent the army forward and hoped for minimal casualties, but she couldn't afford to have any casualties. Not now, not when they had taken the bearers of the elements. She gritted her teeth, how dare these dogs attempted to force her into submission? She was a God among men! She would show these dogs, she already had several candidates selected for a possible rescue mission. But every time she was ready to select one she found a flaw and put it off in hopes of finding a better option.

But not anymore, today would be the day she would choose! She poured back over her files hoping to find the right soldier for the job and yet. She growled in frustration, each of these soldiers had flaws! A second of delay, a lapse in judgement, a split second of hesitation! She could afford to have any of these flaws, she needed a soldier that had more experience than boot camp, she needed someone that wouldn't crack under pressure, she needed someone that didn't hesitate. In short she needed a professional killer.

Footsteps were heard moments before her door was nearly flung off the hinge by a guard.

"Princess someone has appeared in the west tower!"