You Are Corvo: The Shadow

The wall in front of you was completely vertical and impossible to scale for a normal human, but you were not even sure that you were truly human any longer. Your eyes burned into the spot where you wished to be, every part of your brain was willing your body to use your new power. That was when you heard the whispers. A tingling sensation rushed through your body, and for a millisecond; nothing. Almost as if you were dead. Then with a flash your senses returned and you were high above sea level and Sam was naught but an insect many feet below.

The silhouette of the guard was painted against the sky, his bulk making him stand out all the more as he patrolled the corner watchtower above you. You blinked as soon as his back was turned, and landed perched above him on the structure as he carried on his patrol below, blissfully unaware of the deadly shadow stalking him. You curled your left hand into a fist and then made a forceful forward gesture, harnessing the power of the wind to blast him off the edge. His limp body careened into the railing, spinning him upside down as his legs made contact, and probably giving Sam a very messy surprise on the small beach below.

Your main target was the prison warden, so you made your way across the interlocking walkways weaving through the top of the prison, towards the centre where you knew his office was located. The drop into the yard would have killed you if you were to attempt it normally, but the Outsider had given you the tools to overcome any obstacle. Your eyes burned as you activated your dark vision and a tear of blood rolled down your left cheek. With your dark vision activated you could see the silhouettes of the two guards below, and across the yard in an isolated room there were a swarm of rats scurrying across the weathered floor.

The other guard seemed to notice his friends eyes go vacant as you possessed his body mid-fall. You heard him say something about getting his own squad after what happened last night, as you shuffled away from him and towards the room with the rats. The guards body was cumbersome and you could feel yourself losing control of him as he tried to fight you off. In a flash, you opened the door and immediately exited his body and sprinted towards the second guard whose eyes were wide with fear at the sight of the masked assailant materializing from the innards of his friend. Your sword slid through his throat easily and the guard went down with a gurgle and a whimper. When you turned around the rats had made short work of the guard you possessed and they were tearing what was left of his flesh from his bones with frantic pleasure.

At that moment the door to the main cell block flew open and three guards stormed into the room, fanning out as they entered. They had seen you. You used your blink power to teleport above the guard stood centre, falling into him with your blade and burying it deep into his chest cavity. The attacker to your left lunged towards you, but was easily dispatched with a single bullet from your pistol. As you turned to the final guard you saw a flash of steel, your muscles tensed and you closed your eyes as a feeling of euphoria filled your every fibre.

Time stood still. The blade was mere inches from your mask when you opened your eyes. The guards face looked twisted and distorted as it was frozen in an expression of pure rage; knowing he could have ended you, you took great pleasure toying with him. You made your way behind him and let time flow again as normal, this caused him to trip over his friends body as he swung his blade with killing-blow force. He got up, startled that you had appeared behind him, and he pulled out a pistol and fired a single shot towards you. You used your power over time to freeze the bullet mid flight, next possessing the guard and standing him in front of the suspended bullet. Time flowed again just as the blood flowed from the exit wound in the back of the guards head.

There it was, plain as day a plaque above the door stated "WARDENS OFFICE", this was the place. No need for any stealth here, you wanted him to see you coming. So brazenly you barged through the door, where the warden was waiting; sword in hand. His blow was strong, but your reflexes were lightning, and steel met steel as you blocked his downward swing. You immediately countered with a strong horizontal swing, taking his head clean off his shoulders and his head landed on the floor with a thud and a squelch. His headless corpse stood there for a moment in denial of its situation, his neck was squirting a crimson fountain onto the countless works of art littering the walls, after what felt like an age, his legs buckled and the corpse fell into a heap on the floor.

It took some time to make your way back to the corner watchtower, passing what was left of the corpses of your fallen enemies, the rats were going to have full stomachs that night it seemed. As you looked off the edge of the tower you could see Sam sat by his campfire, night had fallen whilst you completed your mission. Without hesitation you took a running leap from the edge, the wind making your clothes flap as you fell with increased speed. Just before you hit the rock face you performed a blink, and landed safely into the cold embrace of the midnight ocean.

Protruding from the base of the cliff was a sewage tunnel, the bars protecting it not quite wide enough for even your nimble frame, although the rats had free reign it seemed. It felt as though your bones were crushing as you used your possession power to take control of one of the rats, the pain excruciating, almost every fibre in your body crying out for release. Then it came. Your perspective shifted and you were now inhabiting the body of one of the rodents. Strangely your head felt wider than normal as your whiskers brushed against the bars and your nose twitched at the stench all around you. The waste smelled even more pungent now that you were closer, you could taste it on your tongue as your claws tapped along the repulsive floor.

The tunnel seemed to stretch for an eternity from a rodents perspective, until eventually you came upon a shaft of light penetrating the void above. You could hear a clinking sound, the rats natural instinct making you feel afraid as shadows danced all around. Suddenly you felt very vulnerable, so quickly you changed form, and came face to face with the disturbance. A hanging chain. You couldn't help but smirk at the irony: you a phantom, a deadly shadow, suddenly spooked by phantoms and shadows.

Your time as the Empresses bodyguard had made your muscles iron, making the ascent easy. The chain led to the courtyard which was just off from the main cellblock, beyond there was the wardens office and your target. The chain was tied to a grate, so, bracing your legs on the wall you slowly pushed it aside. As you clambered to solid ground you noticed two guards deep in conversation, you caught the glint of metal, as a searchlight bounced off something hanging from the guards hip. Keys. You closed your eyes, willing your body to blink behind a pillar near the guards, then the whispers came. Life slipped away for what seemed like an eternity, and then you were there; close enough to smell their fear.

The pillar you were using as cover seemed to be holding up one of the many walkways honeycombing the sky above you, doubtless placed for the guards to watch the inmates during their ten minute, monthly exercise. When you turned back to the guards they had parted ways and the nearest one seemed to be heading for the door. The keys were critical for you to remain stealthy. You squeezed your eyes tightly shut, bending time to your will. When your eyes opened everything was moving in slow motion, the air was still and your nerves were calm. The sound came out distorted as you sprinted at him with the haste of a lion, you couldn't help but muse over what that must have sounded like to the guards, a firing squad most likely you pondered. His head only managed to turn forty-five degrees towards the disturbance when were upon him, your arm quickly snaking around his throat and dragging him into the darkness as time was restored.

"Lucius?" Shouted his friend from across the yard, "was that you making that racket? I'm not playing your stupid games again!" He skulked his way towards the spot where his friend once was, his face contorted in fear. Your options were many, but you decided now was the time to test your new toy. Piero was a master craftsman and these crossbow bolts were works of art, cased in silver and soaked in a sleeping salve; they could probably fell a whale. It slid perfectly into the mechanism of your bow and when fired it slid into the neck of the approaching guard with a satisfying thud. You scooped up the unconscious guard and placed him neatly into a loving embrace with his comatose friend.

Before using the key on the cellblock door you thought it best to check for guards on the other side. You shut out the world and a tear of blood rolled down your left cheek. When your eyes opened you could see the silhouettes of three guards patrolling the corridor beyond, two below and one on the walkway next to the cells above. There were also a handful of prisoners: one seemingly eating clumps of his own excrement, another pacing his cell and striking his own face in a fit of rage, the rest were either asleep or dead. Ten eyes, you thought to yourself.

Silently you turned the key as the guard patrolled away from the door, quietly slipping through and closing the door silently behind you. The enraged inmate barked an insult at the guard as he passed his cell, causing the guard to hit his protruding fingers with the flat of his blade. This seemed to enrage the prisoner more and he started smashing his face on the bars in a frenzy, the other guard came running over, not to help but to watch the macabre entertainment. That was your chance. Quickly you chained together a series of blinks: the railing above, directly behind the two voyeurs and finally straight to the door at the end of the room, closing it behind you.

There it was plain as day, the sign above the door stated "WARDENS OFFICE", this was the place. Using your dark vision allowed you to see the warden sat behind his desk, oblivious to your presence. The desk was facing the door and as if sensing your predicament a rat appeared at your feet, hungrily licking the drop of blood that rolled down your cheek and onto your filth-ridden boots. Upon possessing the rat you had the distinct taste of metal in your mouth, but you put it to the back of your mind and searched the rooms perimeter, it didn't take long to find a rat-chewed entry point and make your way inside. Scurrying across the floor you shot in-between his legs, materializing behind him like a shadow, sliding your arm under his chin and squeezing him to sleep.

You returned through the cellblock the way you came, only this time with the warden slumped over your shoulder, taking the high route, as the guards were busy below trying to pry a prisoners squashed head from the bars it was lodged in. You snaked through the room, blinking around the edge away from the guards, eventually to the door to the courtyard. Returning to the grate, you kicked it aside and used your blink power to return to the grimy depths. Instead of heading towards the route that was barred you thought it best to try another route, so you head through the adjacent pipe, this pipe spilled waste out into the ocean below, the smell of waste was penetrated by the aroma of the salty brine. Of home.

 

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