The air was thick with smoke, courtesy of some brand of narcotics that he didn't indulge in. The noise was unceasing, like the tide it surged and receded, even at it's lowest a constant susurration of conversation with many at gambling tables that regularly produced outbursts of elation and despair. The lights were down low, but occasionally flared up into something approaching daylight as the doors or skylights were opened to let people in and smoke out. The combination of light, smoke and noise meant that his sister might have just nuked the entire building if she found herself in this place.

  Truth be told he wasn't a huge fan of the atmosphere, while he had no major issues against casinos and the suckers which they bled dry, he didn't like these shady underground gambling arenas. Chalk it up to a bad experience in his youth that led to more than a few people dead, some of whom he even liked. Sometimes money wasn't just lost at the table, but even outside venue, sometimes with an accompanying life, and that fate that befell on those that couldn't pay their debts didn't bear speaking.

  "Hey there," a woman in too little clothing spoke up, with what she probably thought was a seductive voice. "What can I do for you? Do you want a drink, a table or a room?" She winked and he fought back annoyance.

  "I'm looking for a man named Ascrew, about this high, brown stringy hair, darker skin, bright clothes and always has a dopey look on his face," Banks said, moving his hands to indicate an approximate height.

  "I don't know about any..." she started.

  "Never mind, I see him," Banks said walking past her and heading towards a booth at the far end at which a man bearing that description sat with a thin man and a thin woman who looked a little like each other. As he approached the table two rough looking fellows stepped forward to block his approach.

  "Easy buddy," one of the guards said in a rumbling firm tone. "This is a private table, maybe go play at the tables or have some fun with the ladies."

  "I just have to speak to Ascrew over there," Banks said, pausing, but not retreating. "Hey Ascrew," he yelled.

  "Huh, have we met before," the man said looking up from his position at the table, smoke falling from his lips. "Wait, is that you Banks, my man? What are you doing over here?"

  "In this building, this city or this time period?" Banks asked. "It's a bit long to explain. What are you doing?"

  "Right now I'm relaxing, taking a load off," Ascrew sad. "Gentleman, I appreciate the offer, but right now you're harshing the vibes. Let's chat business later, now is a time for partying."

  "Don't wait too long to give us an answer," the woman said, despite her polite tone, her words carried a hint of threat. A threat that Ascrew seemed to easily brush off as he lifted his glass toasting them off. The pair shot a look towards Banks on their way out before they peeled off, the two men following behind them as bodyguards.

  "Nice folks," Ascrew said as Banks slid into the seat opposite him. "Hey Banks. It's been a while, hasn't it. Well a while objectively I suppose, I don't really know how long it's been for you. What do you think of this here town, quite nice isn't it?"

  "On the verge of a complete meltdown," Banks said. "Why did you do it?"

  "I did what now?" Ascrew asked.

  "You know what I'm talking about," Banks said. "Your latest assassination."

  "Well then you know why then," Ascrew said, lifting a pipe to his lips and blowing out a plume of smoke shaped like an 'X'. "I'm an assassin, I assassinate. If I was a teacher I would teach, if I was a hunter then I would hunt and if I was a cheese monger I would monger cheese."

  "There's a very good chance you fucked us," Banks stated.

  "I know that," Ascrew replied immediately, his tone shifting. "I had the distinct feeling that I got got as soon as I did the deed and while I have no love for any king or emperor I am not so blind as to not know when I fell into a trap."

  "What happened?" Banks asked, before he paused. "Got any magic that can give us some privacy."

  "I already reduced the outgoing sound when you sat down," the man said, looking at a glass of liquor next to him, before he picked it up and dumped it into a nearby plant. "Fuck, I hate being sober man, but drinking in these circumstances just makes the alcohol taste terrible."

  "How is the liquor here?" Banks asked.

  "Terrible, man," the assassin said. "I guess at least this way I won't waste the good hooch." He stared at the pipe before he set it down. "The Undead Emperor was incredible," he admitted. 'Like facing a force of nature. I scouted out all of his information prior to the assassination, sprung a trap and caught him by surprise. In other words I completely stacked the deck in my favor, as I do for all assassinations. And yet I should have lost."

  "Why didn't you?" Banks asked. "Some divine intervention."

  Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  "Divine?" Ascrew said as if chewing over that word. "Divine or demonic, who can tell? Just as I was losing, ready to make a strategic retreat to save my life, he appeared."

  "He?" Banks said. "Don't try to be a storyteller, Ascrew just tell it to me straight."

  "Trisk Trinorim," Ascrew stated. "The one with the purple striped hair. What a monster."

  "I've met him," Banks admitted. "He is very powerful."

  "Could that guy be a Stranger?" Ascrew asked suddenly.

  "Why?" Banks asked.

  "That weird thread power and the purple streak in his hair," Ascrew said, a mournful look at his empty cup. "All Strangers that I know have weird hair colors."

  "Could have dyed his hair," Banks stated. "Could be somebody who newly awakened his Strange Elements," he conceded after a while. "I don't know. My hair was dark blue since birth, but then I was a realized Stranger since birth. That weird thread power could just be an advanced application of mana. Nearly all Stranger powers can be replicated by an experienced user of mana with just a couple decades of experience."

  "If you say so," Ascrew said, but it was clear he doubted his words. "Regardless of whether he was a stranger or just a prodigious mage. His intervention ended the fight in an instant. White wires bisected the Emperor in less than a blink, and his arms in the next, before dicing him into pieces ending his life instantly. It was a brutal assassination."

  "You like brutal assassinations," Banks pointed out. "And yet you're not happy. Are you sad that you got your kills stolen?"

  "Kills stolen?" the assassin contemplated. "No, in most circumstances I would be happy. Anybody who wishes to strike a blow against any king or emperor should be a comrade in arms of mine. And yet..."

  "Yet," Banks pressed.

  "While the commission was anonymous I'm confident that it was him who paid it," Ascrew said leaning forward. "And his eyes. The way he looked at the Emperor was not like he was an opponent, or a victim, but like he was a weapon. He had...." he paused before snapping his fingers. "Plotting eyes, that's what he had. You see somebody with those eyes and you just know they're going to pull off some bullshit and if his opening move is killing an emperor I am both afraid and impressed by what he's going to try next."

  "Did he explain anything further?" Banks asked causing the assassin to grimace.

  "No, but he took the body for what is undoubtedly some nefarious deeds," Ascrew stated stuffing his pipe with an unknown but probably potent substance. "He also offered to induct me into his rebellion."

  "Did you accept?" Banks asked jokingly. "Am I going to have to watch my back."

  "It wasn't a serious offer," Ascrew said as he lit up his pipe. "Man I'm getting too old for this stuff. I even thought about taking him on for a moment. Taking him out and rendering whatever future plans he had to dust."

  "What stopped you?" Banks asked.

  "Fear," Ascrew admitted, taking a long draw of his pipe. "The moment I considered moving against him I froze. All my instincts told me that any move that I made would lead to my instant death. Normally my instincts only warn me about taking specific courses, an attack that would lead to less than ideal responses. A retreat that my enemy has seen through. This time every cell in my body just screamed at me 'you cannot oppose this man'. The only other person who ever made me react that way was your sister."

  "As strong as my sister?" Banks asked raising an eyebrow. "That's a horrifying thought."

  "It is," Ascrew agreed as he reclined in his chair. He stretched out his arms and relaxed as he breathed out a puff of blue smoke from his nostrils. "I'm not scared of monsters or even legends like the Emperor, but those anomalies that don't even have the decency to cleave to the logic of us mere mortals give me the chills."

  "So Trisk Trinorim may have hired you to assassinate the Emperor and then stole the kill, then let you go and then took the body. Is it me or does that not add up?"

  "If he could so easily kill the Emperor then why hire me?" he said. "Why take the body? How did he know the Emperor would be there? I know the Emperor was going to meet somebody, but he never showed up? Was the person that he was going to meet Trinorim?"

  "Wait, you said that he was going to meet somebody?" Banks latched onto that information. "How did you know?"

  "Read his mail," the assassin said, as if it was trivial to somehow get ahold of the Emperor's mail. He said he was going to meet somebody special in the room 3b of the Tragedia Hotel at six in the night hour."

  "That's late," Banks said.

  "Is it man?" the assassin said. "Come on, six in the night is still young. That's when the party is starting." His voice was taking on a more languid tone as he spoke. "I think I may have a guess as to why he hired me?"

  "And why is that," he said.

  "Just because somebody has power doesn't mean that they can always use it without consequences," the assassin said, staring at him through lidded eyes.

  "You think he might be wounded or restrained?" Banks asked. "Or that there is some other cost to using his powers."

  "Just a hunch," he admitted, but that was good enough for the time traveler. The assassins hunches were often far better than anybody else's certainty.

  "One last thing," Banks asked. "When did you kill...attempt to kill the Emperor."

  'The Emperor died at just after hour eight of the night," the assassin said. "Are you going to attempt to undo the assassination."

  "I can't," Banks admitted. That was before the start of the loop, which he currently couldn't escape. "You really kind of fucked me."

  "My condolences," he said, not apologizing. "This is the first time that we've spoken, right?"

  "It is," Banks admitted. "This is the first time we've spoken since whenever I spoke to you last."

  "Inelegantly put, but I understand what you mean," the man said yawning lazily, his eyes already closed as he bathed in that soporific smoke. "There's one last thing. The last thing that the Undead Emperor said to me, after he died."

  "After he died," Banks said, before his eyes widened in shock. "Wait did he become a ghost."

  "Not fully," the assassin said. "It was more like a lingering remnant. He told me to give his ring to his daughter."

  "The Undying Emperor has a daughter?" Banks asked. "Since when the fuck. Didn't he kill his family."

  "Apparently the man has been sowing some wild oats on the side," Ascrew said. "I did have his ring briefly, snatched it when his hands were severed, but I lost it this morning gambling on a sure thing, right here at this place. If you want to get it back I can help you track it down."

  "No need," Banks said, making a mental note to take it from the assassin before he gambled it stupidly off in the following loop.

  "Good luck,'" the assassin said, yawning. "I'll be rooting for you." And then without another word the man put a handful of silver coins on the table in front of him before laying backwards, closing his eyes and immediately falling asleep.

  "Lazy bastard," Banks remarked looking at him. "Fuck, he looks peaceful." For a long few seconds he hesitated, looking at the pipe, only half-smoked, before he stood up and left the den of iniquity.