Chapter Text
Redemption
Chapter One
A solitary figure stood at the edge of the rocky shoreline looking out as the tide ebbed and flowed from the sea. The wind whipped around him billowing the forest green hood that framed his face. The salt in the air stung his eyes, but he refused to close them. His piercing eyes, whose color matched the waves crashing against the beach below, searched the horizon. There in the distance, he could see the rise and fall of a small boat as it sailed closer and closer to shore. He knew this had to be the sign he had been promised…the sign that it was time to return home.
Time to go back and reclaim what was rightfully his. His family’s company, its vast holdings and more importantly his rightful name. A name that had not been spoken to him in almost ten years. Ten years of pain, torture and repayment of his Father’s debts to an ancient sect that had taught him many things. Horrible, unforgiveable things, but things he needed to know in order to survive the new life he had been forced to live. Things he would put to great use once he returned home to right his Father’s misdeeds. He now had the skills necessary to rain down judgement on those who had forced his Father’s hand and gotten him into debt with the League of Assassins. The debt now repaid, it was his turn to use his acquired talents to destroy those who had betrayed him and his family.
He looked down at the bow in his hand and gripped it tighter. The sturdiness of its construction reminded him of his own inner strength. A strength he had not known he had until his future had been irrevocably altered by the actions and wrongdoings of his own Father. A Father whose inherent weaknesses caused his inevitable downfall leaving his only Son to make amends.
He knew he would never be like his Father. His Father had taken the coward’s way out and left him as a sacrificial lamb to his debtors, without an explanation or an apology. One moment, they were enjoying their sailing trip to celebrate his 18th birthday and the next moment they were boarded and taken prisoner. Their ship’s crew killed without mercy. His Father had only given him a sad look of regret before stealing the gun from the guard next to him and ending his own life.
He reached back and pulled an arrow out of the quiver tied to his back. The piece of flint he struck lit the arrowhead aflame. He placed it on the bow and savored the tension he felt as he prepared his shot. The ease with which he pulled back the string in preparation of releasing his arrow was something he did not take for granted. It had been years of practice, training, and battle that had made the nocking of his arrow fluid and graceful. The tension of the bowstring and its release gave him satisfaction that his intended target had been hit. The resulting explosion of fire and smoke into the air produced no reaction from him. He knew that it was merely a way to gain the attention needed of the vessel as it made its way closer to shore.
He knew he had the fortitude to enact and accomplish his plan without succumbing to the temptations of vice and greed ever present in the place he used to call home. His Father had failed his family and his city, but he would not make that same mistake. He would seek his solace via the retribution he would inflict upon his enemies. Their destruction would give him the gratification of knowing he had redeemed his family’s honor.
As he deftly made his way down the cliff to the beach below, he remembered his Master would say he was the weapon. That it was his mind and body that would make the difference in combat. His bow and quiver full of arrows were merely tools to defeat their enemies. These tools were his touchstone in the life he had been forced to live. They defined who he was as he mastered them. As his skills increased his Master would remark that they had chosen his name well. Not his real name. That name was a distant memory he knew he must prepare himself to be called by once more, but the name he was now known as. The only name that mattered in this world. His name was Al Sahim.