What Memory Remains

The Rainmaker stood in awe at the scene that unfolded before him. After the last warning shot, the master assassin knelt to the ground and whispered something. Suddenly the trees near all of the Minerva agents came alive and plucked the guns from their hands. The shock of their faces amused Zenapharr as he moved towards them in a blur and plunged his katana into one man’s abdomen. It was then that the fiery red in the assassin’s eyes burned hotly, and a hunger seemed to really come alive. When the Seraphim pulled the blade out and looked at the blood it was soaked in, a creepy smile played across his face that made the Rainmaker most uncomfortable.

The three after that Zenapharr killed in some variety of fashions, chopping off one’s limbs, tossing one into the train, and another he smashed his skull into the ground and left a bloody mess. As the half-elf approached the last three men he seemed completely delighted, and decided to try something a little different. Whispering some incantation, he motioned toward one agent with his hand and sent him flying into the air only to fall back down to be impaled on a tree limb. The last of the two men started to scatter in fear, but the Seraphim was not done with them.

The furthest had run into the thick of the trees where the Rainmaker could no longer see them, and Zenapharr dashed after them in a blur. A bloodcurdling scream issued from the woods, and the last soldier came running full speed back out into the clearing. The last remaining man scrambled over to the Rainmaker with Zenapharr walking just slow enough to stay right behind with a perverted grin.

“Please, have mercy! Tell him to go easy on me!”

“You should have thought of that before crossing us,” the Rainmaker said flatly. The man was pulled away by his ankle, and Zenapharr hoisted him in the air by his neck. The half-elf closed his eyes for a moment, and the Minerva agent spontaneously combusted into a raging fire. The Rainmaker had to step away from the intensity of the heat, and watched the man’s skin melt right off his bones. The gleam in Zenapharr’s eye was that of a child with a new toy. A clatter resounded as the skeletal remains were dropped, sounding very loud in the sudden silence as his screams had died out.

Zenapharr turned his wicked gaze to the Rainmaker, and simply said.

“I feel much better now.” And he motioned toward a path in the trees to follow.

Never had the Rainmaker seen such speed, such grace, and raw power. Blood stained the soil where the Minerva agents once stood. Zenapharr’s eyes turning red had awakened some insatiable bloodlust within him that he not yet seen. After seeing what Zenapharr did with such glee, it made him second-guess whether he should carry out his mission. For once, he felt he had a worthy adversary.

Once within the trees, the half elf stopped and seemed to inspect something.

“Here,” he pointed to some tracks, and they began to move lithely through the forest. The only sound for a while was the rustling of leaves and the chirp of the birds as it was now early morning. Luke didn’t realize that they had been awake this long. This was common as he had an uncanny amount of stamina, another side effect of the Injection.

“Where did you learn to do such magic?” The Rainmaker inquired.

“I’m not sure. It just came to me,” the assassin said in a neutral tone.

“Oh. You weren’t taught in your training with Minerva?”

“No, only tactics and hand-to-hand combat. They taught me how to use guns but I despise them.”

“That’s strange. You’d think for an organization that is used to confront those with magical abilities they would teach you to use any that are available to you.”

“That’s what I’ve told them all along. But their hatred of anything magic-related blinds them to common sense. Magic cannot always be battled with science. Many times you must learn to fight fire with fire. They didn’t even like me to use magic in the field, but what they don’t know will only hurt them in the end.”

“You seem to have some contempt for them.”

“Of course. They knew of the lies NOSRAD had fed me and used it to control me like some puppet. I relish at any of Minerva agent’s deaths. There is only one I do not wish to meet such an end.”

“Would that happen to be your friend?”

“Yes, Sade. We were very close friends. Close enough that he is risking his own life and reputation to help me and the one I care most about.”

“He sounds like a good friend.”

“That he is. We trained together.”

As they talked, Luke noticed how Zenapharr kept looking down at his sword as if fascinated by it.

“Did he give you that sword?”

“No, but he showed me what a wonderful weapon the katana is.”

“It is a beautiful sword. Do you mind if I ask where you got it?”

Zenapharr stopped.

“Why so inquisitive?” The suspicious glance put the Rainmaker on edge.

“I just noticed you kept looking at it, is all. It seemed important, so I was curious.” Zenapharr seemed satisfied enough, and continued walking.

“It was given to me a by a man on my way here. When he gave it to me it helped me regain my memory.”

“You lost your memory?”

“Yes. I was rescuing said friends from a NOSRAD facility when I lost control of my powers. There was an explosion and I, seemed to die. I don’t fully understand what happened next, but…I somehow came back.”

“You’re telling me that you came back from the dead?”

“I did, or at least I seemed to. Perhaps I never died, I cannot be sure. Either way, I came out of this pile of ash and…didn’t know anything about myself. I ran from these people who were cleaning up from the explosion and into a nearby town. This sword caught my eye as I passed by a shop. As soon as I held it, everything seemed to come back, or most of it anyway. I seemed to remember many that I’ve killed.”

“Well you are the world’s greatest assassin.”

“So I’ve heard. That will be a problem as we need to keep a low profile along our way.”

“May I ask what you’re planning to do?”

“Let me ask you a question first. Do you support Minerva or NOSRAD?”

“Not very. They were supposed to help me after my accident but…they weren’t very helpful.”

“I see. Well they’re planning something…and I intend to stop them. The Director fleed from the explosion and I aim to kill him.”

“You mean…Director Krane?”

“Yes.”

This caused the Rainmaker even more doubt, as he now saw that both he and Zenapharr had a common enemy. If they joined forces, they could take Krane down and his family would be safe. Yet…he would still need NOSRAD to work on a cure for him and that wouldn’t be likely with NOSRAD in disarray. There had to be a way for him to somehow do both. The only problem was that Zenapharr wouldn’t trust him if he changed his story now.

“Zenapharr?” A voice spoke in the assassin’s head, and he whipped his head around wildly. “Is that you?” It was a young girl’s voice, sweet and familiar.

”Alice?”

”Yes, it’s me! Stay where you are, I’m close by!”

Zenapharr stopped and held up his hand, and the Rainmaker halted with him. He explained about how Alice had contacted him and was nearby. As they waited, the Rainmaker became apprehensive.

“Do you think maybe I should hide or something?”

“Why would you say that?”

“Well, I’m not exactly friendly-looking, especially to children. But my mask is necessary as it helps me breathe and without it I’m even more frightening to children. I’d hate to scare poor Alice.”

“Maybe you could go somewhere off to the side and I’ll prepare her. Though she’s a very tough girl, I doubt she’d be scared…..how did you know her name?”

“What? You told me.”

“I don’t remember mentioning her name before.” An uncomfortable pressure filled the air, and the Rainmaker braced himself for a potential conflict.

“Yes, you did. As we were talking earlier you mentioned her name was Alice. How else could I know?”

“Let me be, clear Rainmaker.” The half-elf turned and glared at the titanic man that dwarfed his size, but was obviously not intimidated. “If I find out that you’re lying to me, I will not hesitate for a moment to kill you. You’ll just be one more name among many others for me. A grain of sand in a desert. Anything you wish to tell me?”

The Rainmaker thought for a moment, and at last he decided that he must come out with the truth. After all, he needed Zenapharr to help him with his dilemma and it would be harder to gain his trust the longer he waited to tell him the truth.

“Zenapharr, I’m….like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“My powers didn’t come from…”

A gasp from behind them made them both immediately turn. There stood Alice, her eyes wide in fear at the sight of the Rainmaker. It took her a moment to catch her breath.

“Alice! You’re safe!” Zenapharr’s tone changed completely, and he moved towards her to embrace her just as she found her voice again.

“It’s him! He’s going to kill us!” She screamed. As Zenapharr turned to face the Rainmaker, a torrent of water knocked the katana from his grasp.

“Watering crops, you say,” Zenapharr spat as his eyes changed. “I’ll water this forest with your blood, you lying sack of flesh.”

“If you would let me explain…”

“He’s hired to kill us, Zen! I saw it in a premonition. He killed both Sade and I.”

“Is it true? You’re hired to kill us?”

“Yes, but I didn’t know that…”

Zenapharr rushed forward and struck the masked man, sending him crashing into a tree and knocking it over. The shattering creak and boom of the tree sent birds and other animals alike scurrying. As the dust settled, the Rainmaker stood up to see Zenapharr going for his katana. With a flick of his wrist, the Rainmaker snatched up the sword with a column of water and sent it flying back to him. Amused, the half-elf wagged his finger and made his way towards the gigantic man.

“Get any closer, and I’ll break it,” the masked assassin threatened.

“I’ll make him give it to you,” Alice shouted, and concentrated. The Rainmaker felt a strange force moved all around his face, but it never got any closer. It was then he realized that the girl was trying to do something to his mind, but it was not working.

“It seems that I have some protection, little one,” The Rainmaker pointed to his mask, and Alice’s eyes burned in anger.

“Hah! Break it? You think you can actually destroy the Masamune?” Zenapharr laughed out loud. “The legendary sword cannot be broken by some half-wit assassin.”

“I fooled you, didn’t I?”

“I feigned, my friend. Now, give me the sword or you’re going to get hurt yourself hurt…just kidding I’m not gonna hurt you. I will disembowel you in every manner possible. Hand it over.”

“If you would allow me to explain everything, we can avoid anything further.”

“You moment you lied to me, you voided that right to explain yourself. Will you give me the sword or shall I take it from your cold, dead, and most likely wet hands?”

“No.”

“Then meet your end.”

In a snap decision, the Rainmaker decided he was indeed going to destroy the sword. It was a longshot, but the sword had too much significance to not try breaking it to see what would happen. The very fact that it had apparently restored the master assassin’s memory meant something, so it was worth trying. If not, he had to face Zenapharr regardless.

To savor the moment, Zenapharr slowly approached the hulking man and only regretted not being able to see the fear in his victim’s eyes. The masked assassin held the sword above his head and brought it down over his knee, easily snapping the katana in half. As he believed it truly to be the legendary sword, the half-elf stopped in his tracks.

He actually broke it…perhaps I was wrong after all.

With Zenapharr only a few feet away, he stepped forward and struck the Rainmaker with another blow to the chest. The huge man only flinched a little, and Zenapharr was awestruck. He landed a follow-up strike to the gullet, but it had little effect on the Rainmaker. Whispering as quickly as he could think, he tried to lift the huge man with a levitation spell which only resulted in a fizzled spark in the air.

“A pity….and you were going to be of such good use to me,” the Rainmaker shook his head and struck the half-elf which sent him sprawling. “We could have taken down Krane together, and solved both of our problems. Yet you didn’t want to listen. Now, you’ll all have to die, as your powers are gone.”

Alice only looked on in disbelief as she sensed Zenapharr’s power truly had waned. Something had gone seriously wrong, and it had something to do with the sword, which still made no sense. It was not the same as he had before, so why was this happening?

As Zenapharr began to collect himself, the Rainmaker blasted him with a tornado of water that rocketed him through the air and crashing into a large rock. The formerly unstoppable assassin went limp, and Alice read his mind and found no conscious response. There seemed nothing else she could do as the hulking mass of a man walked towards her.

“So sorry I have to do this, little one. If I have to choose between you and my daughter, it will always be her. This won’t be easy, you look so much like her…”