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A Stab Into Nothing

Summary:

Following the star of death, you cloaked yourself in the shadows and became an Assassin. You were a weapon of war, a poisoned dagger to be honed and used against competing factions. The upper echelons controlled the direction of your blade and you killed whomever they pointed you towards. You were nothing more than a puppet for the voice that brought you into ascension. It whispered that you should feel nothing, think nothing, and be nothing aside from a soldier that obeyed its order. Too weary to fight this entity inside your head forever, eventually you became nothing more than an empty, soulless blade.

But, what happens when, one day, while on your way to complete a mission, you encounter an unknown rift that ends up pulling both you and your targets into a strange, new world. There, you meet a race known as Monsters who have been trapped underground for a millennium. Owing the strange, goat-lady a favor, you accept their request to protect Frisk, a 10-year-old human kid, as they journey across the underground. You didn't realize that such a straightforward task would lead you to more than you could have ever imagined. (I'm still learning, so the story will start out a bit slow. It'll speed up as things progress!)

Notes:

Chapter 1: Prologue

Summary:

[WORK-IN-PROGRESS]: Currently editing THE ENTIRE STORY Please check back later if something seems wrong.

I realized that I kept confusing my past/present tenses in the story, and it's driving me insane. Should be fixed by Jan 18, 2019.

Numbers of Chapters Currently Fixed: 1-21 (Yay! I finished :D)

Notes:

Welcome! This is my first try at a fanfiction so please bear with my faults! Thank you for reading. ₍ᐢ•ﻌ•ᐢ₎

The Full Summary:

You were once human, but fate called you to ascend and become a Daeva; An immortal being who has awakened their potential for controlling Aether (think of it as something like magic). Following the star of death, you cloaked yourself in the shadows and became an Assassin. Equipped with the unique ability to blend in perfectly with your surroundings, stun enemies, and deal high bursts of damage, you excelled in scouting for information and taking down targets before they can even react.

You were a weapon of war, a poisoned dagger to be honed and used against competing factions, as your race fought over the shattered remains of the ancient world, Atreia. The upper echelons controlled the direction of your blade and you killed whomever they pointed you towards. You were nothing more than a puppet for the voice that brought you into ascension. It whispered that you should feel nothing, think nothing, and be nothing aside from a soldier that obeyed its order. Too weary to fight against this entity inside your head forever, eventually you did as it commanded and became nothing more than an empty, soulless blade.

But, what happens when, one day, while on your way to complete a mission, you encounter an unknown rift that ends up pulling both you and your targets into a strange, new world. There, you meet a race known as Monsters who have been trapped underground for over a millennium. With a cold, neutral silence replacing the whispers that once numbed and controlled you, you gradually find yourself no longer the completely unfeeling Assassin you used to be. Owing the strange, goat-lady a favor, you accept their request to protect Frisk, a 10-year-old human kid, as they journey across the underground. You didn't realize that such a straightforward task would lead you to more than you could have ever imagined.

[Not in the actual writing, but still funny as a theoretical conversation]

You: “Uh, madam. You do realize that I am an immortal Assassin who has spent the eternity of their time killing people, right?”

Toriel: “Yes, my child. I am very much aware, but I believe you can complete my request without resorting to violence.”

You: (Internally screaming that your LV is 65 (╯‵□′)╯︵┻━┻) "…I’ll do my best.”

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

You were a Daeva from the world of Atreia, a planet shattered by the Millenium War. After the Tower of Eternity, Atreia’s source of life and energy, was nearly destroyed by the invading Balaur race in the event known as the Cataclysm, both the world and your kind split apart into two. Following the destruction of the tower, ancient Atreians were separated, creating the Elyos and Asmodian races that each occupied a different half of Atreia.

One half of the shattered Eternity Tower, the Tower of Light, stood in Elysea. The Elyos race occupied this lower half of the shattered planet, bathing in sunlight all year round. Meanwhile, little light penetrated into the upper half, where the Tower of Darkness in Asmodae and the Asmodian race lived.

Asmodae, your home, was a far darker and more dangerous environment than the sunbathed paradise of Elysea. Your race were reshaped after centuries of living without warmth and light, braving the bitter cold and dark with a burning resilience. The Asmodians grew pale, gaining red eyes that allowed them to see in the dark when fighting, and found that their hands and feet sharpened into claws and talons over time. Equipped with their black, shadow-feathered wings and a devilish appearance, the gift that they saw in their evolution was seen by the Elyos as a curse instead.

Illuminated by the sun’s everlasting grace, the Elyos gained their rosy complexion, fair features, and delicate appearance. Their white-feathered wings unfolded proudly against their backs, giving them an ethereal demeanor even as they expressed disdain and contempt at your kind.

Of the 10 Empyrean Lords whom survived the Cataclysm, 5 ruled Asmodae and were revered by the Asmodians as the Shedim Lords. A history of bitterness existed between the Admodian's Shedim Lords and the Elyos' Seraphim Lords over the shattering of the Tower. The former believed that the attempted peace Treaty with the alien, beast-like Balaur race had allowed them the chance to strike at the Tower, whereas the latter believed that the Treaty had been the right move and was ruined by the Shedim Lords' suspicions.

This, coupled with centuries of separation between the upper and lower halves of Atreia, estranged the once united Daeva. Now, locked into an eternal blood feud with one another and the Balaur, all three factions battle for control in this ravaged world.

You were once human, struggling to survive on a dying planet, but fate called you to ascend and become a Daeva; An immortal-like being who has awakened their potential for controlling Aether (something like magic or source energy). Thus, your journey began…

 




 

How long has it been since you ascended? You found yourself thinking, perched on a piece of debris that floated in the nothingness of space. You weren’t sure. Time seemed to have blended together into something quite meaningless for you. Whether that was because you were granted with an eternal supply of it to spend, or whether the reason laid somewhere else, you couldn't say. Not that you would know, either way. You couldn't.

You recalled that you had stopped counting after the first hundred years. That shouldn't have been too long ago, but your age no longer mattered.

These so-called 'thoughts' were similarly useless.

You glanced over your task box, as a voice quietly murmured in your ear:

Quest:<[Group] Vanquish the Elyos in Reshanta>You must defeat Elyos Army Generals who affect Elyos morale and the tide of war.

The whispers began to grow louder and more insistent when you tried to ignore them. General Votan’s orders replayed inside your head.

"You're the best or you wouldn't be here. You're ready for what's to come. All the battle training and drills won't help win a war if a soldier's spirit isn't in it. I need someone like you in charge of improving morale. Isolating these powerful Elyos Generals and taking them down will be your toughest task to date…"

You recalled nodding absentmindedly, eyes glazed over with a thin layer of haze, as you listened to the familiar speech for what seemed like the thousandth time. “Just give me my orders, sir.” The General made no indication that he heard you, continuing on with his lengthy lecture. Perhaps you hadn't said it out loud? You couldn't remember.

“…By defeating them, you'll crush the Elyos spirit and raise the morale of the Asmodian army. You've proven your reliability time and again, Reiquent. That's why I selected you for this mission. There aren't very many, and we only want you killing those of comparable skill to you. What's worse, they're unlikely to be alone. Even a tough Assassin like you will want some allies for this task. Be careful, and don't get reckless."

You had the urge to leave immediately after he finished speaking, but the voice held you back. They wanted you to reply, so you complied. “Don’t worry about me.” You uttered in monotone before you flew out of the base.

You were currently stationed in the Upper half of Reshanta, also referred to as the Abyss.

When Atreia was ripped into two halves after the shattering of the Tower of Eternity, a great disharmonious resonance began to flow between the bases of the two broken tower halves. Here, the flow of space-time was distorted, resulting in the creation of a chaotic and seemingly infinite landscape. Centuries after the events of the Cataclysm, Elyos and Asmodians began to discover entry points into the realm of the Abyss from their homelands. Rifts in the fabric of space (the Abyss), occupied much of the center of Atreia. Many of the early expedition groups sent to explore these gates and where these unknown rifts led to never returned.

Obelisks, the soul-binding relics that allowed fallen Daeva to resurrect at a fixed point in space, took years to set up in this voided world, which led to numerous causalities on both sides, as those unable to resurrect in the void met with their permanent demise. However, once both Atreian factions were able to set up their respective Abyss Fortresses, they and the Balaur race quickly descended into a violent competition over which faction could take up the most abyssal territory, as further exploration attempts found rifts leading to other worlds, including useful instances and dungeons whereas to train and hone their troops.

Your moment of recollection is suddenly interrupted by your senses warning you of approaching danger.

You snapped awake and stood up, grey eyes briefly flashing red as you unsheathed your weapons. Still cloaked in stealth, you unfurled your wings and retreated to a higher vantage point. You had a fairly large wingspan, thus needed only a few seconds to rise 100 meters over your original position.

If you were within a specific range, certain classes would be able to detect you in stealth. Of course, a successful detection on you would be difficult to pull off unless they could anticipate your location, as the skill required to see through an Assassin's stealth couldn't be used in rapid succession.

You silently watched as a group of Elyos flew past beneath you. They were in a team of six made up of a Templar (Defence), a Songweaver (Damage/Support), a Spirit Master (Damage/Support), a Gladiator (Damage/Defence), a Cleric (Support), and a Ranger (Damage/Scout).

Your brow creased slightly at the duel healing capabilities of the team, namely the Cleric and Songweaver. Had it only been one, though difficult in a 6 vs 1 fight, you could've made quick work of their healer, before slowly whittling down the rest of the team's strength in several ambush-run tactics.

Dealing with two healers that were capable of reviving their team members was going to be troublesome.

Just as you were about to give up on these targets in favor of searching for a more sure-kill group, you overheard a static whisper. This was unlike the apathetic commands in your head that prompted you to act. Instead, the voice was barely more than some raspy breaths, which could have been easily brushed off as the sound a rock makes when scraping past another surface. None of the Elyos seemed to have noticed.

Despite thinking so, you stopped. A small influx of confusion made its way into your eyes, a touch of silver glimmering briefly through the grey.

Why did you have the feeling you were being called? The brief flash of uncertainty numbed as quickly as it surfaced, but you didn't retreat. Instead, as if an invisible force had wrapped its threads around your body, you slowly flew in the direction that the Elyos group had disappeared off into.

 




 

You were falling...

 

Notes:

Since this is my first fan-fiction attempt, I will probably be editing my posted chapters a lot. So, what you first read and what you reread may end up somewhat different. I'll do my best to make sure nothing major changes, or notify you guys when it inevitably does. I've also decided to move my character stats (that I previously showed here) and move it into the next chapter. See you then!

If you're interested in more of the Lore for Aion: http://gameguide.na.aiononline.com/aion/Lore

Thank you to all my wonderful old readers, and hello to all you new ones out there. I'm not going anywhere. :D

Useful Information for Readers:
1. Click "Chapter Index" at the top of this page to go to specific chapters immediately. (Saves you the trouble!)
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