Only a few years after the failed venture of the Elysium Brotherhood, whilst the other races of Elysium were battling amongst each other, the emperor of the Hakarren Empire, Emperor Nissaq I, was planning the first of the Hakarren invasions that would restore them in their position as the lords of Elysium. Already, legions of Hakarren were positioned in the mountains around Olbaron, poised to capture the cyclops capital whilst their warriors were engaged in a battle on the southern continent. The shadow of the Hakarren hung ominously over Elysium once again.
In a loney outpost, halfway between Thul'Mar and Olbaron, a single Hakarren sat in a checkpost, staring down at the floor, head slumped, as he considered the fate of his peoples. His grandfather had told him of the days of old, when the Hakarren stood dominant over the other races, when their rule was absolute and unquestioned. But they had been punished for their superiority. The gods had not smiled on the Hakarren, and the days when a single Hakarren could slay five cyclops, or any other race for that matter, with their bare hands, was gone. Now the guardsman, whose name was Jelkar, worried for his races future. If the emperor's plans succeeded, it would surely not be long before the gods saw fit to punish the Hakarren once more, and if that happened they would dwindle and die. But there was no way to change the path of the empire; Any who spoke against the emperor were slain as traitors.
Suddenly a shadow fell over Jelkar's face, blocking out the moonlight that came through the open door. Jelkar rose to his feet, silently drawing his dagger and starting to slide the sword from it's sheath at his waist, but as he looked up at the giant yellow eye that stared down at him from the silhouette in the doorway, a feeling of peace flooded over his body. The sword slid back into it's sheath, and his dagger slipped from his grasp, clattering down onto the stone floor at Jelkar's feet.
"There is a way Jelkar. You know what to do."
Thoughts flashed through Jelkar's mind, strange alien thoughts, that he had never even dreamed of previously... They were filled with daggers and death, and incomprehensible feelings. But in these thoughts, one image stood above the rest; The broken body of the emperor, lying in a pool of blood. When Jelkar recovered from this assault of thought, he looked up - The doorway was empty.
The journey to Thul'Mar was uneventful. Jelkar passed a couple of Hakarren patrols, but his story that he was taking an outposts report on a failed cyclops attack back to the capital seemed to satisfy them. Jelkar could not remember thinking up this story, it just seemed to be their, sitting dormant in his head. He walked day and night, and occasionally, he thought he saw figures moving in the darkness at the edge of his path, but he ignored them. His task was too important to let anything distract him from it.
Once he reached the city gates, passing through behind a traders cart, nodding curtly to the Hakarren sentries that stood guard, his mind seemed to open up, revealing to him what he must do. After spending a few days in Thul'Mar, he began to shadow the guard patrols, discarding his army uniform to blend in with the citizens of the great capital. The city guard's wore black uniforms, as opposed to the grey of the normal army, and it was for this reason that he was so interested in them. Four days after he arrived in the city, Jelkar attacked a lone city guard who had removed his helmet in the heat, plunging his curved combat dagger into the guard's soft neck, severing his spinal cord at it's link to the brain. When the corpse was discovered, it was dressed in the grubby clothes of a Hakarren Citizen.
A day after the corpse was discovered, a new guard entered the palace. The guards at the palace gates did not think to stop him, because the palace roster was changed almost daily; It was impossible for any one guard to know everyone who should or should not be in the palace, and so they just generally concentrated on keeping out common citizens and the abominations of the other races. This new guard slotted into the palace scene perfectly, and no-one questioned his presence there. The guard headed up towards the upper floors of the palace.
As Jelkar walked confidently through an empty corridor, past a huge window, through which light poured, his eyes fixed on the huge dark wooden doors at the end of the corridor, he drew out his trusty dagger, the blade of which glinted in the sunlight.
Suddenly, there was a shout behind him - "Assassin!"
Jelkar spun around as a guard leapt at him, the spark of imminent combat in his eyes, a sword poised over his head, ready to come down in a deadly arc. Jelkar shifted to the side, bringing up his dagger and thrusting it through the Hakarren's belly, the momentum of the guard's leapt pushing it further up into his body, ripping through vital organs and causing blood to pour down over Jelkar's arm. The guard slipped off the dagger, falling to the floor in a lifeless heap, and Jelkar's head spun as he heard running feet. He slipped the dagger back into his belt and drew his sword as another guard came around the corner at a run. The new guard stopped, looking at the corpse, and the Hakarren standing over it, unsure which was the assassin. But then the guard recognised the dead Hakarren, and screaming, raised his blade and headed for Jelkar at a run. Jelkar's sword swung up, and the two weapons screeched at their metal grated together. For a moment, they were deadlocked, but Jelkar's trek to the capital, and his days of sleeplessness had left him weak and tired, and the guard managed to catapult Jelkar's weapon from his hands, sending it skidding across the carpeted floor. Jelkar fell backwards onto the ground, and raised his arm to protect him from the inevitable blow that would follow...
The he was showered in glass, as the window next to him burst inwards. Jelkar twisted his head around to see a colossal cyclops standing in the space before the window, a mighty spiked mace raised over it's giant head, whose unblinking yellow eye was focused on the Hakarren standing over Jelkar. A single swing of the mace decapitated the Hakarren, whose head rolled across the floor, propelled by a jet of blood from the guard's neck, and whose body crumpled backwards, weapon falling uselessly to the floor. The cyclops turned it's gaze onto Jelkar, who slumped backwards, dejected and ready for death. But then, the noises of the corridor seemed blotted out, and he felt his body stiffen, and some strange power forced him to push himself to his feet, and picking up the sword that lay next to him. His limbs were moving jerkily, and he was denied the right to control them himself as they started to play out a parody of a battle with the cyclops. The pair went through thrusts and parries, each one seeming false to Jelkar, every blow as light as a feather. Jelkar's mouth opened, but instead of the questions he longed to ask, he heard himself shout out...
"Assassin! Outrace in the palace!"
From the corners of his eyes, Jelkar saw a pair of guards come around the corner, and head straight towards the cyclops. A thrust of the mighty mace pushed Jelkar in the chest, and he thought how light it was, light enough to shift a feather, but not much else, as his body staggered back, beyond his control, acting as if the push had crushed his very body. The cyclops turned it's attention to the two new arrivals as Jelkar leaned back against the wall. As he watched the three begin to fight, the force controlling his limbs seemed to take a new direction, and he began to walk stiffly towards the huge wooden doors once more, sword slipping from his now limp fingers.
Then all strength seemed to slide out of his body, and the noises of the corridor burst in on him as he crumpled down against the wall, and a scream echoed through his head. Jelkar looked back over his shoulder, and saw the cyclops lying on the floor, the two Hakarren guards swords moving up and down in a blur, hacking away at it's body. The cyclops' single yellow eye was fixed on Jelkar, and even as he watched, it began to glaze over as death swallowed up the life force within it.
A heavily clad Hakarren stormed past Jelkar, his armour bearing the insignia of the emperor, showing this warrior to be the personal bodyguard of the Hakarren leader. Jelkar's head swung back to the wooden doors, which now gaped open invitingly. The urgency of his task had somewhat declined, but he still felt certain it was something he must do, and he recognised that this would be his only chance to complete his quest. He pulled himself to his feet, and began to stagger towards the doors, the sound of metal shearing through flesh echoing in the air behind him.
Peering through the curtains that separated the entrance chamber from the emperor's personal bed chambers, Jelkar took in the scene before him. Nissaq was pacing backwards and forwards across the room, ranting and raving, while his personal magician, Lo'keth, stood to one side, arms folded, nodding at everything his master said. The room was gaudily decked with gold trimming, and rich tapestries hung from every wall.
"I mean, an Assassin! An outrace! In the palace! How did this happen? We must increase security immediately, I want more guards, and we shall have to search out and kill any outracers within the city. It will be a shame to lose those of the other races that choose to foresake their own peoples to join us, but outracers in the palace will not be tolerated! My security cannot be compromised!"
The scene in front of Jelkar seemed to slow down as the emperor drew close and then swung around, purple cloaked back to the doorway. Lo'keth was nodding to the side, a long slow nod that it seemed would go on forever, and the sounds of Nissaq's rants slowed down to the extent that they became incomprehensible to Jelkar. Silently, he slid his dagger from his belt, and moved forward through the curtains. A look of horror spread over Lo'keth's face as Jelkar raised the dagger over the emperor, and the magicians mouth began to open, his arms unfurling as the assassin's dagger began it's downward arc.
As his dagger thrust through Nissaq's skin, Jelkar twisted it round, so it cleaved through his lower back, severing the emperor's spine. The emperor fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, crimson blood joining his torn purple robes in a pool around the torn body. Jelkar stepped back, dagger toppling from his hands.
Everything went red. Jelkar stared at his grey skinned hands, which were now blackening and charring, and then he raised his head to look up at Lo'keth. The magicians hand pointed straight at Jelkar, a blast of flame pouring out and enveloping the assassin. Jelkar turned back to the corpse before him, which now resembled exactly the image that had haunted his thoughts since that night in the watch post. The life was slipping away from him now, and blackness crept over his vision.
Suddenly, there was a brilliant light before him. All pain was gone, and his mind seemed to empty of all thought. The light was wondrous. He yearned for it, and it yearned for him. The light beckoned to him, desiring the touch of his flesh...
He stepped into the light.
In the emperor's bed chambers, Lo'keth nudged the blackened corpse with his foot, and grunted. He turned back to the ruined body of the emperor, and lazily swung a hand in it's general direction. The blood around the corpse ran back through the wound into the body, and it rose into the air, the tear in it's flesh repairing within minutes.
"Thank you Lo'keth." said the emperor. "Though you could have been a bit faster. Yes, more security is needed. And call in the tailor, I need a new cloak. Oh yes, and get rid of that body."

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