Introductions

   One of the assassins spoke up immediately when he sensed an opportunity to speak his mind.
   "My dream is not immortality. I dream of creation." He spoke these words with a gleeful tone, as if the loot of an entire city lays before him.
   This statement confused Kyras for a moment. "I assumed all of those who gathered here have little goals in life. Who is this person?" thought Kyras. He begun to pay more attention to this mysterious young assassin.
   Then he remembered the profile of this particular assassin and understood why he said those words. Every Keeper is required to memorize the profiles of their subordinates, it has always been a standard procedure.
   His name is Eisenhower, an assassin who used to be a brilliant alchemist. He wears a necklace made out of vials. Each vial glows in vibrant colors, as if they were alive. His red-and-blue hood has been drawn up completely, hiding his facial expressions. He prefers leather armor over robes in combat, and the blood-red leather armor he is wearing now gives him a menacing aura.
   The Magicians Circle thrown him out years ago due to the murder of Prince Azaloth. The tale of that murder can still be heard whispered among fellow assassins. His subsequent application to every other Circle were rejected because of his reputation as "The Mad Alchemist". A reputation that strikes fear into the hearts of lesser men. But none of the men gathered here are any lesser than Eisenhower. Of that Kyras is sure.
   "Interesting. However, no amount of creation is enough for this mission I am about to give all of you." Kyras took out a strange looking stone and show it to them. "Your mission tonight is to place this stone inside the Heart Chamber of Hort Palace".
   The mood instantly changed around the circle at the mention of Hort Palace. The aura of hatred was so strong that a passing lion recoiled and ran away from them in fear. Everybody there has their own reasons for this aura.
   "I know what each of you are thinking. It is precisely why each of you are chosen, because of your connection to that palace."
   Eisenhower spoke again, before the others recovered from the shock of this new knowledge.
   "How did you managed to gather so many of us?"  
 

Prologue

Knowledge is power. Power makes ideas. And ideas are immortal. Immortality, for some religious sect, is not sacred. It is an abomination to life, where life is supposed to live, and die either by natural causes or by the blade. Ideas drove men to fight in a cause they believe is just, but it was the same ideas that made them weak, and ideas had killed countless of men over the course of our human history. Power is only for the strong, and only the fittest can survive and rule over the less fortunate ones. Knowledge, according to the elders, will only blind you from the truth of the world.

                “But they were wrong,” Kyras told his men. “Knowledge will only drive you hungry for more knowledge. Knowledge is like puzzle pieces, once you get hold of one you will desire for more puzzle pieces to make it complete. Such is of human nature.”

                The party of eleven assassins sat in a circle as they listened to the Keeper, Kyras Deus of Opportunity giving his speech before they set their foot into a mission the elders somewhat presume as a suicide mission. Kyras was known as the last survivor of the battleship Opportunity which saved thousands of lives when the crews decided to burn the ship and crashed it into the enemy’s flying fortress, hence, earning him the title of Opportunity for he now carries the last will of the ashen battleship.

                He was a hero of his city, until the elders decided that his heroism could be used elsewhere – the Keeper’s League. It is a league that the elders set up to “maintain the balance and order of the world” by conducting assassinations and suicides. On the first day Kyras entered the League, one boy, whom he only know as Sid, assassinated the King of Lourdes while wearing the uniform of another kingdom’s soldier. It sparked off a 6 year war until Lourdes was decimated to nothing when the Keeper’s League levelled the entire city with a bomb.

                “When you know more than the other person, you gain leverage over the other. The more you know, the more powerful you get. Knowledge will be your source of power, given to you by people with lesser knowledge naturally. But knowing too much has its flaws. You begin to develop ideas. Ideas that can make a person willing to lay down their lives for you. Ideas can win you wealth and fortune, and they can even win you a kingdom. Ideas can kill and ideas can burn down a whole city,” continued Kyras.

                His senior Keepers were all dead, making him, once again, the last surviving and longest serving Keeper for 7 years. These hired mercenaries were cheap to come by, and money is all they can ever think of. Sometimes he wonder why is he even giving them this motivational talk despite the odds will never see these hired men see the next sunrise.

                “Immortality, the elders curse it,” said Kyras as he pitched more wood into the fire, “even speaking about it can make the elders spit on your feet, have your head impaled and your body fed to the crows.” The assassins however did not feel much fear for the elders, for these men had been living on killing and pillaging all their lives and beyond the jurisdiction of the elders. Least they know that Kyras is a Keeper and the last surviving member of the League is with them, and they certainly didn’t know they are going to be sacrificial pigs when they enter into the palace of Hort.

                “But one can always dream of being an immortal.”