A loud and deafening cry was heard as a white haired assassin finished his opponent off and the Abysmal Knight's horse and body dissipated into thin air within a matter of seconds. Tym gave out a loud sigh and panted. The fight had exhausted him and injured his left arm. However, as long as he could still hit with his katars, almost nothing was an obstacle for him.
He treaded slowly throughout the Glast Heim Chivalry Building and was constantly on the look out for enemies and his objective. He had been inside Glast Heim for almost four days, and his food supply was running out.
Tym's employer had dropped the left Sleipnir shoe somewhere in Glast Heim. He couldn't remember exactly where it was for he was fleeing from a mob of undeads. While he begged many mercenaries, even some Prontera knights, to search for it no one, except Tym, had accepted the offer.
Though he was strong, even the Assassin was unsure of the mission he took. If it didn't pay nine-hundred million zeny, Tym would not have gotten involved. And if Gotterdammerung and Halloween weren't coming up, the job would've been taken immediately.
Still, he couldn't help but be suspicious. How could a man lose a godlike item so easily? Even his friends and twin felt a strange omen when they heard about it. He recalled one of them saying, "Don't take the job, Tym. It feels like a trap for something or someone."
It was his second time there and the presence of evil was much stronger than his previous visit. Tym was hesitant to continue on after seeing the monsters acting even more deranged. He wanted to rest, but it was difficult to in such a place. With monsters prowling about at every other corner, there was no place he could take refuge.
I probably should have asked someone to come along with me. And I have to get back up soon, he thought. Three more hours, if I can't find it within that time span, I give up.
With as much strength as he could use, he sprinted all over the place. There were occasional encounters, though nothing as threatening as the Abysmal Knight he had killed earlier.
An hour passed, he was in the second floor of the castle. It did not appear that the boot was here and so Tym quickly left. Then half an hour later, he was in the sewers (which smelled so bad he wrapped his scarf around his mouth and nose tightly) and still found nothing. The assassin familiarized himself with the place and searched every single room he discovered. The chance of recovering it was slim to none, and yet if it was obtained the prize was well beyond what he would need for his entire life. If he failed, His employer still agreed to pay him five million zeny for trying.
"Greedy bastard." he muttered.
He grew anxious to get out of the place and started to run around frantically. Tym was back in the first floor when he suddenly caught a glimpse of something resembling a shadow of a boot in an abandoned hallway, which he had not seen before. Grinning and confidence overwhelming his psyche, he dashed to the place where it should have been and saw�
He didn't know what had just seen, for in less than a blink of an eye the shadow vanished and everything around him went black.
***
"Tym." A soft and feminine voice spoke out. There was no response or action from the man. His twin sister, Kandee, repeated it again at a much louder tone, "Tym, wake up! It's three-thirty in the afternoon!"
At this, he stirred and opened his eyes to see his sister frowning at him. "Honestly, you've been waking up much later than I do for the past few weeks!"
Tym tried to look at his sister and groaned. He just wanted to sleep again.
"No, you are not sleeping again!"
He muttered some inaudible words to himself and fell back on his bed.
"Oh god! You need to go and do the groceries today, remember? You said so yesterday!" Kandee sighed and went downstairs to get something that would surely wake him up. Perhaps even make him sick, she thought. She made an evil grin and went back upstairs to wake Tym up.
Tym, who was happily snoring away suddenly got a bucket of cold water dumped on him. He quickly bolted out of his bed sopping wet, and screamed to the pink pigtailed girl, "WHAT THE HELL?!?!"
Kandee shook her head in disapproval, "Hey don't blame me. You wouldn't wake up. And I've been trying thirty times this day alone."
"Dammit!" Tym cursed and looked at his wet clothing. "I need to change, get out." Kandee shrugged and left his room, laughing to herself. Tym changed his attire and fixed his bed, which was mostly dry to his surprise.
That dream again? And all of it happened two years ago...
When he finished, he went downstairs and grabbed a piece of bread from the kitchen to eat. Kandee was there too, reading the newspaper she got earlier from a Prontera shop (she gave up on waking her brother up at that time), trying not to take notice of him but still giggling from what she had done a few minutes ago.
"That wasn't funny." Tym said as he took his seat in the table and started to eat.
"Yes it was." His sister replied, not looking up from the newspaper. "Huh� Hey I didn't know that the Halloween festival was canceled!"
"It is?"
"Yeah." She said, finally looking up. "Apparently, they need more soldiers at Nifflheim than in Prontera as the monsters have been acting much more erratic and turbulent since Gotterdammerung day, three weeks ago. They think it'll get worse on Halloween so they're taking precautions and guarding the area making sure no powerful monster wanders away this year."
"Oh...like last year with the Baphomet?" Tym said in a muffled voice as he chewed his food.
Kandee nodded, "Exactly."
She handed the newspaper article to Tym who started to read it.
Halloween is normally an enjoyable holiday for children and adults all over Rune-Midgard. They would get free candy by going to other people's house with costumes on and even have parades. That is, with the exception of Nifflheim, where not a single sane person resides until Halloween is over.
On Halloween, creatures with tremendous amounts of power rise from the city of the dead and attacked each other until one died. "It ranges from porings to the legendary Lord of Death," says twenty-six year old Raine of the Prontera knights, who was once a guard by the area and witnessed a part of the monstrosity. "The monsters within the vicinity are much more hostile than they usually are. I doubt even a hundred men could face up against a Doppelganger during this day."
According to experts, it is a tournament of sorts for them. Most of the time, the monsters stayed within Nifflheim's regions until Halloween ended. They would disappear later on (why, where, or when, no one knows). Most people ignore the monsters thinking that if they do nothing to them, no harm will be done in return.
Also, through recent studies, it has been confirmed that monsters that were in that event had an odd glowing seal somewhere in their appearance. For example, a poring would have had a black rune etched by its forehead.
During the past two years, some monsters went past the boundaries of Nifflheim. A Baphomet last year had even made its way to the outskirts of Prontera field...
And so the article continued (it was rather lengthy even for a headline). When he finished reading it, Tym gave the article back to Kandee.
"Well that's a bit interesting...I guess."
"Uh-huuuhhhh�" Kandee raised an eyebrow. "You've been acting weird lately too."
"What?"
"You know, waking up really late, less irritable than usual, and your attack strokes are slower than ever!"
"They are?"
"Yes. I think your IQ went down from forty to five as well."
"Oh."
"See what I mean?" Kandee groaned. "Anyway, you're going to go and get the groceries now." She got up, took out her money, and gave it to him. Along with that, she also handed the grocery list.
"Why can't you do it?" He sighed and went over the list.
"Because I've been doing it for the past three months. It's your turn. For the next three months. Now go, go and get food. Or else we'll die here."
"What will you do?" Tym asked as he put the things in his pocket and made his way to the door.
"Probably practice the piano...or read...or practice my katar skills...or just sleep, I.ve been up since three this morning."
"Since three?" He questioned and opened the door, revealing an open road with little or no commoners about.
"I couldn't sleep."
"Why?"
"Iono. Just go."
***
"Red herbs! Red herbs! Only twenty zeny each! Hey there, looking for an excellent drink to enhance your fighting skills?! Banana juice! Fifteen zeny! Banana juice!" These were some of the things Leif heard in the bustling Prontera market. He hummed to himself as he walked past many people from all over Rune-Midgard. The young sniper made his way through the town with ease and arrived at his destination, Prontera Castle. While most were preparing for the Guild Siege, some like Leif were applying for jobs.