The Mission Begins

Skittles was a young man with many talents; his best was his ability to destroy things. This had grabbed the attention of many people of importance. He was hired as a mercenary, hit man, and spy on a regular basis. That all changed when he caught the attention of a god, the god of death and destruction in fact, and he was willing to do anything to get Skittles into his power. All of the god's attempts seemed to fail.

The world was getting worse by each passing year, corruption and avarice began to supercede the gods. Time was running by to quickly, and they had to act. Skittles was only sixteen at the time when they decided to strike.

"It's a high paying job," said a woman dressed in the finest silks, "Over 1000 gold just to get me that object."

Skittles was a thin boy with disheveled light brown hair, and bright golden eyes. He could convince someone that he was a full blooded magical creature quite well, even if he was only a forth werewolf which had almost no effect on him. Currently he was lightly tapping his foot against the leg of his chair. "Is there anything I should know about this job? Like an amount of traps and so forth."

"Everything is provided in this packet," the woman reached into her desk to produce a large manila envelope. She handed it to him delicately, making sure not to damage it in anyway.

He eyed the woman and snapped the envelope out of her hands. On a normal basis he would have a far better business manner, but this woman was up to something. He placed the package under his arm, "Duchess, if you don't mind I'll be off to study this so I can perform my job tomorrow morning." With that piece said Skittles turned and left.

The woman smiled in triumph, she had won this round and she was about to win the next.

***

Skittles was sitting cross-legged on his bed. There he was reading his instructions, which seemed a little shady. He was unsure about what was wrong, but he knew this couldn't be all. After all, when you're planning to steal a holy relic you don't go unprepared. With a yawn he stretched out and flopped on his back.

"No use worrying about it. I'll just do my job tomorrow. I've been in worse." He closed his eyes as he said this. He would sleep soundly tonight, but never again like this. 

***


It was broad daylight, but the area around the temple was still dark. Skittles was well prepared to take out any temple defenses that he would come across, but he didn't expect to come across nothing at all.

The whole entire temple was empty, no guards, no priests, not a living soul. The instructions said that there would be at least one guard on the outside gate, but for some reason or another he wasn't their. Skittles suspected a coffee break. 

The temple itself was massive, and capable of having its own atmosphere. It resembled that of a modern day cathedral. Gargoyles and angels seemed to guard the temple with sightless eyes, giving a mystical quality. Only the god of death, En'dai could make something so pointless and disturbing. Shaking his head, Skittles walked into the first chamber of the temple.

"Gahh, why must they have the lights so bloody dim?" Skittle lit a match since no magic would work in a holy temple. The inside of the temple was completely bare, from wall to window. All except the floor, that was stained with the past sacrifices given to the god of death. 

After what seemed like hours ahead of Skittles loomed a huge gate. A smile ran across his young face, it was time. With a flick of a wrist tools for thievery were laid out upon the floor. He had to choose carefully, only the best could get a sensitive door like this open. With great deftness he disabled the four locks in five minutes a piece. It was a piece of cake.

The next chamber was simple and only made of glazed brick. That was not the important part though; it was the object in the center of the room was the item. The Book of Gods an uncreative name, but it held all the secrets of the gods that control life and death. Only the holiest or damned set their eyes on this book. Skittles was the first not to be condemned.

He raised his eyebrow. It was too easy, far too easy. Skittles closed his eyes with concentration. He had done everything from disabling all the locks the old fashion way, any magic would surely put him in a tough spot. "For once…" He said as he opened his eyes, "I'll be a bit reckless." He leaped into the room and waited for some sort of punishment.

Complete silence.

"Now, It's time to come home with me sweetheart," he whispered to the book. Before he knew it he was on his back numb with pain.

Someone whispered in his ear, "What a silly boy. You should have listened to your intuition, and then you might not be clinging to your life."

Infuriated Skittles went to move only to find out the total obvious. That no matter what he could not move. He couldn't feel either. Scared witless he whimpered, the only thing he could do at the time.

The voice, definitely a woman, spoke to him in a sing song voice. "I can help you," she said, "You only have to promise me one thing in return." She answered his unspoken question, "Yes, I want you to destroy the world."

At this point Skittles would have burned the woman to cinders on a normal day. Since this had gone to a bad day in about two minutes he would have killed her five times over by now. In all his rage he managed to twitch his pinky.

The voice seemed surprised, "Well, the book didn't do its job very well. I think I'll just wait until you're in a worse state to ask you my question again. Ta ta!" 

Skittles listened to the steady silence. 'That tramp!' was all he could think of. Not who they were or why they had come, but that she had left him to die. Of course Skittles wasn't about to die anytime soon, that's a little know fact. He just didn't appreciate lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood. 

***

It seemed like it was days before the next person came. This time the voice seemed genderless. "Why would that idiot leave you in this condition?" It seemed very irritated about the whole ordeal. At least this one wasn't cruel.

"I know you don't want to die. You're far too young, and you are too valuable to this world. I'll let you live a full life under one condition..." the voice trailed off.

Tears ran down Skittles cheeks, he would never had been like this if he had listened to himself. He would take any offer to correct his mistake.

"I'll let you live, but to make sure you don't break your contract I'll leave this curse placed on you. Tomorrow you will receive your mission, now please sleep."

What was this man on? If he went to sleep in a state like this he would surely die. It was out of the question!

There was a muffled sound, someone had kneeled beside him. "I need you to go to sleep, I promise you no harm will come to you."

Sleep washed over Skittles and he simply blacked out.

***

Skittles woke up in his bed drenched in sweat. Was it all a nightmare? He slowly turned to look at the dresser and cursed. "I never should have taken your job," was the only thing that came out of his mouth.

The Mission: To Destroy the World.