(Quick Note: The MC is crazy)
It was another night, another rainy night that smelled of cigarettes and blood. Nights like this always reminded me of her, Lady Evelina D'Arclight, even if she was only words on a page.
Beautiful, cruel words. I used to imagine her watching me from the shadows, judging, smiling, loving me back in a way no one else ever could.
The villainess of my favorite novel, or more accurately, the love of my life.
"The job's done."
It was a boring life, but at least it paid, the job of an assassin, a job that ended up with me stuck in a huge skyscraper on the top floor, covered in blood and surrounded by the bodies of my target and his bodyguards.
"What? Don't mess with me, you bastard!"
I was set up, my target was a decoy, my employer wanted me dead, and the bodyguards were positioned in advance.
But now that I had survived, he had another plan to take care of me fully.
He planned to detonate the entire building, one that wouldn't just take me down, but the entire street around the building.
How much does this bastard hate me?
"Y-you!"
BEEP!
He hung up on the call, leaving me to my fate.
"Fuck this!"
I bolted quickly towards the stairs, crossing floors in seconds as I ran for my life.
BANG!
BOOM!
CRASH!
But it was too late, the detonation had started, even if I couldn't hear it, I could certainly feel it under my legs as the stairs trembled from the vibrations.
CRACK!
"Shit!"
The stairs below me crumbled, causing me to fall hundreds of floors below, but I wouldn't allow it. After being in the business for so long, I refuse to die in such a stupid way.
If I died, I wanted to die in a glorious duel, not in a pile of rubble.
CLANG!
I grabbed a railing that was beside the remaining stairs that were still present.
"Wait...!"
I muttered, I felt something missing from me, something important and invaluable, my novel, it suddenly disappeared from under my coat.
And when I looked down, there it was, falling, its pages flipping due to the air as it continued to plummet.
CREAK!
Without even having time to think, the new stairs below me also started to crack. The more I stayed, the more the building started to fall apart.
And that's when I knew I no longer had an escape; it was hopeless, and now that I had lost my most precious belonging.
A novel that was long discontinued for mysterious purposes, the only copy that was signed by the author.
Without it... Do I even have a reason left to live?
The assassin's life paid well, but it also gave me plenty of enemies to come with it; my only escape was reading the novel, being immersed in its characters and world, a novel that was large enough to rival the bible in terms of content.
And now...? It's gone, and my chance of escape? also minimal.
The choice was obvious.
"This really will be my end..."
[Jump]
"Huh?"
A sudden translucent purple panel appeared in front of me, its message snapping me out of my bitter thoughts.
[Just Jump]
I looked down, and just as expected, it was the ground.
The building's walls were now long gone as the skyscraper began its slow tilt, slowly falling and destroying the street below it.
I took a deep breath.
I had no choice; if I just stayed here, I'd be left sandwiched between the skyscraper and the cold street.
But if I jump, I don't really know what will happen.
Either death...
[Just Jump]
"Or something else..."
CRACK!
The stairs below me finally gave way, sending me plummeting; the street below grew closer as the seconds passed.
And...
Darkness.
I didn't really know what I expected; of course, it would be darkness, it's the obvious outcome.
Either that or hellfire, I did more than enough to deserve to suffer in the circles of hell, so darkness was a good subversion.
[Personality Attuned]
[Elemental Compatibility: Darkness]
[Patron: Nyx]
[Assigning Talent...]
Despite the cold darkness that surrounded me, the translucent panel appeared, the only thing that was present in the entire void I was in.
Even my body wasn't present, but for some reason, I could still see, like my consciousness was ejected out of my body and allowing me to exist in this state.
[Talent: Photographic Memory]
'Huh...?'
I thought, but that immediately became my last concern as I felt my body being pressed down by a powerful pressure.
Or... what you would call it, that all that matters is that I was in complete pain.
"Aghh! The hell!"
I was used to physical strain; it was required on the job to be fairly used to it. I couldn't even count how many cuts and bruises I had due to my job.
But this? This was unbearable even for me.
FLASH!
A sudden face flashed within my vision; it was of a girl with white hair and crimson eyes, a beauty so remarkable that I could just die happily after seeing it. I'd seen that face a thousand times in my mind, traced every line, memorized every cruel smile. To see her now felt like a promise. Or a punishment I'd gladly take.
And there it hit me.
Lady Evelina D'Arclight.
It was the girl in the novel, the love of my life, but why is she appearing now?
Am I finally being sent to hell? Was this darkness just limbo? Were the flashes of her face my most precious memories? memories of me trying to envision her beauty when I first read her description.
[Welcome]
The panel appeared again, and that's when I felt it, a pain that could only be described as having an entire lance pierce through your back.
A pain enough to make me lose consciousness.
And it did...
[May you love Lady Evelina in the next life... just as you did in this one.]