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Derrin was dumbfounded. A second before that had been surrounded by five deadly assassins in downtown Kerning city and, poof, they had teleported to the residential section of Heneseys. He looked at the Dark Lord in confusion, and then to the assistant. “I used a rare and powerful artifact to take us here,” the Dark Lord said in answer to the silent question. “My power is not what it once was. Those were the five most powerful assassins in the land, and even I am no match for their combined strength.”

The assistant nodded, “We must go into the hiding for the moment; even the leader’s home isn’t safe at the moment. Follow me Derrin, we must move quickly.” With that he briskly took off for downtown Heneseys. Confused, Derrin took after the assistant at a jog after a wave to the Dark Lord. The two went on and on for what seemed like half an hour, weaving from street to street, every once and a while ducking into an alley. Finally he halted as the alley they had cut into came to and end. A few doors broke what was otherwise a three-sided solid brick prison. Derrin felt extremely nervous: if they were discovered here, they’d be cornered with no way of escape. The assistant sat down against a trash can in the far left corner of the alley and idly tapped his dagger against the ground. With each passing moment Derrin’s heart beat faster. The assistant was mad; any second now the five assassins would find them and it’d all be over. He was about to take off back towards the street when a loud screeching echoed through the alley. Spinning around, he found an iron door cracked open. The assistant stood up and walked over to the door. He whispered a few things, and the door screeched open. He motioned for Derrin to follow, and disappeared inside the building. Elated, Derrin ran back to the door and quickly entered.

Derrin found himself in a sparsely lighted room that was covered in shadows. It seemed they were in a bar. He scanned the room for the assistant, but saw him no where. Worried, he walked further in and noticed a recession in the wall where he could see a shadow flitting up from what seemed to be a set of stairs. He tried to remain unnoticed as he crossed the room towards the stairs, but all five of the room’s occupants had their eyes squarely on him. He self-consciously checked the stairs, and, as he had suspected, found the assistant at the bottom talking to another man. He looked up as Derrin reached the stairs, and nodded to the man. The man took out a key, and shoved it into what appeared to be the wall from Derrin’s perspective. Light leaked out from a room that Derrin had not realized had existed as the man opened the door Derrin had mistaken for part of the wall. The assistant entered the room and waved for Derrin to come along. He quickly descended the stairs, stumbling twice in the dark, and entered the room.

His eyes squinted in pain as they came in contact with the bright light. Slowly, his temporary blindness receded and he was able to take in the room. He was amazed at its condition in comparison to the bar they had just come from. In the corner was a small kitchen with a stove, wooden table, and four chairs. They now stood in a living room of sorts. To Derrin’s left was a cushioned couch, and to his right was a wooden chair with a stool at its feet. In the middle was a table incredibly similar to the one in the kitchen, though it seemed as though the legs had had a foot chopped off of them.

After a silent dismissal, the man scurried out, and only Derrin and the assistant remained. “We will remain here until the Guiding Force feels it is safe for us to leave. Until then, this shall be your home. You are not to leave it, head upstairs even, under any circumstances besides an attack on the building itself. Next to the kitchen is a bedroom which I will use. You will sleep on the couch here in the living room. Finally, your training will not stop because of your hiding. There is an empty room below us which can be accessed through my bedroom. I will train you myself there. If you have no questions, I will retire to my quarters and you may do as you please.”

Derrin said nothing, simply nodding, and the assistant silently entered the side room. Alone, Derrin finally began to feel the fatigue his mind had been suppressing the entire day. He flung himself onto the couch and slowly began to drift off to sleep. Just as his mind became fuzzy, a presence appeared looming over him. Derrin’s heart skipped a beat as he realized the danger. “Quiet,” came a familiar voice, “I’m not going to harm me, you know who I am.” Relief washed over Derrin’s body as the fear subsided: it was the Dark Lord. “I’ll be making sure you’re protected, no one will get through to you without ample resistance. I’ll have two of my finest guards in the room above at all times. If there is a disturbance, I will come as quickly as possible.”

“I don’t understand,” replied Derrin in a low whisper, “why do all this for me?”

“This battle is more complex than you can understand right now, but I will tell you that you are an important part in it, more than the Guiding Force is letting on. However, I refuse to see any student of mine destroyed by greed, especially one as promising as yourself. Simply know this, I will not let any serious harm come to you until you fully understand the consequences of your actions in this battle.” And with that, the Dark Lord was gone, leaving Derin to drift off into a troubled sleep.

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