*
Jonathan was careful not to be seen as he exited Jezebel's estate and made his way down the deserted drive towards the city. It was another hour before Jezebel was expected to arrive at the location that had been given to her, but he wanted to make sure all was ready so that Master would be pleased. Master had gone to great lengths to get him what he had requested, and Jonathan was determined to repay the favor in full. The drug he had just slipped into Jezebel's wine would make her much more pliable for Master to work with. Jonathan was unsure as to why Master had taken an interest in this particular talent personally, but if Master wanted him to watch her, that’s what Jonathan was going to do.
The sun was just setting, but people were already starting to clear out of the streets and Jonathan flitted through the shadows unnoticed. He carefully glanced around and ducked into a back alleyway to knock on a door there. A peephole window slid open and an eye stared at him expectantly. He made the sign; holding his fist in front of his mouth, while drawing back his sleeve to expose the emblem of the eye burned into the flesh of his forearm. The peephole clicked shut, and a moment later the door swung open. Jonathan hurried inside. He asked for the master and was ushered farther into the building, where an altar had been erected for Nuko.
As he entered, he saw that before it knelt the man that he wanted to see. Jonathan took a seat on the bench in the back of the temple, waiting for Master to acknowledge his presence and call him forward.
His eyes wandered around the room and came to rest upon an open tome that was balanced on the top of a pedestal, illuminated by the fires above. Within its pages, Jonathan knew that it told the true history, not the watered-down version that was commonly known. It was with pride that he had recently had the privilege of committing those pages to memory. His latest advancement within the Order had revealed much to him and he felt more conviction for their purpose than ever before.
The tome told how during the age of the Dark King, fear and bloodshed had filled the world as the Dark King rose in power and started the Massacre. Under his rule, the world was stripped of the unworthy as one by one he sent them to his death camps for slaughter. It became a time of blood-magic where those who were privy to its use were god-like in their power. The regular history books condemned him for these actions, but those in the Order knew that his cleansing had been important for the impending return of the true god, Nuko. The world must be prepared, and only the worthy would survive when His time came.
The Dark King had been on the right path for Nuko's reawakening, but had fallen prey to human temptations. He had been crazed by his own power, convinced that he was the god himself, and that madness had proved to be his downfall. He started sending powerful mages – who he convinced himself would oppose him – along with the unworthy to the camps, and in his paranoia ended up depleting the world’s stock of talents rather than building it up in preparation for the reawakening.
After he was overthrown, the Order had banded together to protect the information about blood-magic and Nuko's return from the ignorant fear of the common people. The rebels who overthrew the Dark King had held a great book burning to try and purge the world of the sacred information about blood-magic, and it was only through the efforts of the first members of the Order that any of it had survived. It was the first goal of the Order to protect this information, to keep it from falling into the wrong hands, and to use it to further the human race. When used correctly, it was an important factor in Nuko's resurrection.
Within the Order, there were those called the book-keepers who had possession of the books, and others who knew the keys to open them. The organizational complexity allowed no one person to control the power that each book contained. It was imperative that the information did not fall prey to the prying eyes of another of the ilk of the Dark King, hoping to deify themselves rather than make way for the true god’s return.
Though the Dark King had made mistakes, and ended up failing because of his own ambitions, he was right in spreading the Word of the true god. Nuko was the one true God as the Dark King had tried to get the people to see. The trio of gods that the common people worshiped in their folklore was nothing more than that: lore. Physical acts of the Three hadn't been seen for centuries. But Nuko was real, and he would be returning. When he did, those who were in the Order who had spent their lives planning for his return would be rewarded in turn. I will be rewarded.
Jonathan's thoughts wandered to Jezebel and her little crony, Devon. During his observation, Jonathan had been unable to fathom why Devon would continue to put up with Jezebel's demands on him and serve her so loyally. Perhaps Devon secretly loves her. They certainly are two of a kind. He tried to imagine the two of them together and wrinkled his nose in distaste. But if that is the case, Devon is seriously unfortunate. Jezebel is simply incapable of love, she probably doesn't even know the meaning of the word. He thought back on his observation of the two. Not that working for her doesn't have other added benefits for the man. He is growing quite wealthy off Jezebel's unwavering trust in him.
“Come,” Master's voice interrupted his thoughts.
Jonathan moved forward towards the altar. He bent down in reverence and whispered the blessings, waiting on bended knee for his Master to address him.
“Jonathan,” the man finally acknowledged, “how was your evening?”
Jonathan was careful not to look directly at Master, whose face was always covered by a black mask underneath his cloak, and answered as cryptically as he had been asked. “She took her wine as usual and should be quite ready for her interview with you.”
The masked figure stood. “Good. You've done well, Jonathan. Depending on what she tells me I may have another assignment for you shortly. Please be in touch.”
Jonathan bowed, and then backed away from the altar. He was always in touch, as Master well knew. His current task finished, he made his way back out of the building with as much stealth as he had entered with and then quickly made his way back to his own humble abode, where the fruit of his labor was waiting to be reaped.