Chapter 1 - The Tavern (1)

Silence. Within the dead of the night, time stood still at the tavern, like always as the moon shone brightly outside. It was awfully silent. Maboon Tae looked around, it was the correct the place, there was no mistaking it. The tavern stood alone in the large valley. Tae had been walking in the darkness for quite the while, the tavern's lights were visible even from afar. There were people inside.

At the front of the tavern was a crooked sign that hung menacingly, with one word engraved into it: AsterFall. Images of blood and broken limbs came into mind when people heard that name, and rightfully so. Children were taught from their parents at a very young age to avoid members of AsterFall at all costs, but Tae on the other hand, was encouraged to join it. People had learnt to fear the name, never mind enter the den of it.

Despite that fact, Maboon Tae stepped forward from the shadows of the night and stepped forward into the tavern, perhaps naively, or perhaps bravely but he showed no emotion as his black eyes were dead set ahead. Though it was midnight, the tavern seemed rather lively, crowds of people chatting in small social circles. Much different from the silent atmosphere outside.

He observed the rather crude atmosphere, it seemed rather crummy with the stained windows and tabletops, a flickering light or two and multiple cracks in the walls.

He turned to look over at his peers, they were all well-built, trained killers, a few even had visible scars from countless battles, but the main thing they had in common was their unsatisfiable hunger for revenge and violence. Or at least Tae liked to think, though for the majority, it was probably for the money. It was the main purpose of the tavern after all, to carry out assassinations, and Maboon Tae knew of this. He had been on the fence about joining AsterFall for a very long time, but now was his chance.

Maboon Tae stood out from the crowd, he always wore the same grey outfit. It was not rememberable, and Tae found comfort in that. However, in a setting like this, it caught everyone's eyes. It stood out from everyone else who showed much more skin. The men wore large tank tops, possibly to flex their physique. After some looks, he even saw some women doing the exact same thing, though there were much less women in the crowd.

He made his way through the crowd, rather roughly, reaching the counter, he was met with the glance of a man cleaning up a glass, after the glance he just ignored Maboon Tae's presence.

"Hey..." Maboon Tae spoke.

He continued to ignore him, and Maboon Tae was not patient.

Maboon Tae didn't even have to think twice, without any sense of hesitation, he grabbed the glass and smashed it onto the ground, it shattered, much like every conversation in the tavern as the entire crowd looked over at Tae.

"Did you not hear me the first time?" He spoke, his eyes widened to stare deeply into the man's eyes, a few murmurs went off in the background.

"I'm looking for a mission,"

"And your impatience is going to get you killed," He paused to look Maboon Tae up and down. "Who even are you?" The man spoke, a few men in the crowd agreed with him.

"I'm an assassin?" he replied quite satirically.

Most of the men in the tavern laughed, apart from a man sitting at the counter next to him, who was shrivelled up and hoarded with beers, he looked over towards Tae and calmly whispered to him. "Hey man, you might want to calm it down,"

Though the response from the others were the complete opposite, men in the crowd mocked Maboon Tae:

"This guy is an assassin; can you believe that? If you think you can come in here and think you own the place, you got another thing coming," One of them yelled, followed by multiple cheers.

Maboon Tae's eyes glinted red, his presence shook the ground below him, he rolled his shoulders a few times, before turning around. He predatorially scanned the surroundings, every eye he met shunned away immediately, refusing to meet Tae's eyes. Apart from one…

Maboon Tae turned to face the man who had spoken, he stared into his eyes, his arms by his side, he tightened his hand, forming a fist. Though, the man was foolishly not intimidated, despite Tae's murderous intent.

"What do you mean by that? We going to have a problem?" Tae walked towards him, leaning forward so that he all up in the man's face, whilst their chests collided, Tae's eyes stared directly down at him.

"OOOOOHHHHHH" the crowd screamed in union.

The man was much more physically built than Maboon Tae, he was a heavyweight to say the least, he had heavy muscles that looked even more striking in his tank top, he pushed Tae away and raised his arms in a fighting stance.

"Maybe we do," he said.

"Well, I guess you'll regret that,"

The man at the counter, who had previously been rather chill, looked over in complete horror, his face turned a shade of blue. He stood up and lightly pulled Tae back.

"Listen, that man is no ordinary assassin, he's one of the top assassins in this entire tavern, his record is unbelievable." He whispered gently.

"Guess that makes the fight more interesting," he replied as he shook off the man's restraint on Tae.

Maboon Tae was much more lean and agile than him, from countless fights he knew he had the advantage, and he knew how to use it. He wasn't muscular, by choice, he thought they were too flashy and slowed him down.

The bartender looked at them both. "No fighting here, I don't want to clean blood again, do it outside."

"Well, guess I'll see you outside newbie," The man said.

"Go on, Raegon, beat him up!!" A few members of the crowd said, whilst cheering him on.

Raegon made his way outside, as well as a few of the crowd members, Maboon Tae followed them after a minute or two.