General Jack's Rebirth

The Assassins

"I've always wanted to join you, if you had..." General Jack was cut short.

"I don't believe the humble general himself is standing before me!" Captain Morgan uttered, "You never once gave us an audience; you never accepted our offer; our voice was muted from your world." Morgan spoke confidently.

His face aimed directly at General Jack and Fabian, sitting at the left corner of his cave, both swallowed in darkness at the same time.

General Jack's dressed in his casual black attire, matched up with his trousers and black shoes, clinging to his warm feet.

"Captain, my visit today says much of what hasn't been said before." Jack adjusted his gaze towards him. "My presence is to form an alliance with you!" He dropped the stone in the water.

Captain Morgan's mind was melted in shock; he wasn't expecting a man of his magnitude to form an alliance with an assassin leader.

What's hidden about this sudden relationship between an assassin and a truthful general?

As he awaits Captain Morgan's response, Jack is jolted back to his memory lane: "You led the assassins that cut my life short. Not anymore; the enemy of my enemy will become my friend." Whispered silently to himself,

"General Jack!" Morgan called in a low tone, "I still find it difficult to believe you've just proposed what I saw as impossible years back."

Jack just giggled and signaled to Fabian. He's holding a briefcase in his hand; without hesitation, he stepped forward and opened the case.

"Is it intact?" Fabian nodded in response, "A gift to show my commitment."

Fabian slowly stepped towards Captain Morgan's right-hand commandant and stretched his hand to hand over the case filled with money.

"I'll accept this right now, and I'll get back to you regarding your proposals." He said, stretching out his hand for a handshake, "I still need to make my findings and ascertain this isn't a trap. I'm a master of traps myself."

"No problem, I'll be looking forward to your positive response." Jack smiles softly, lets go of his hand, and walks out of the cave's inner room to the main door.

****

"General!" Fabian uttered, his voice low yet serious,

"Yes,"

"I want to understand why you wanted to join the assassins; they are brutal and a bad influence on your reputations." Fabian's face was etched with concern for his general.

"Fabian... Fabian... Fabian," Jack called, "There's more to what I want from him that you can't comprehend even if I explain from this year to next."

Fabian shivered to the spine, his eyes laced with confusion. "What does he mean?" Questions kept on popping in his mind.

They shared a quick glance, and Fabian pressed his leg on the accelerator, sending the car to a tough screeching takeoff from the assassin cave.

After a few minutes of driving, unexpectedly, their SUV hits a sharp metal on the road, which takes control of the steering from him; he manages to park aside.

All of a sudden men in black attire marched out from the thick bush; all had their faces covered.

"Who are these?" General Jack asked, but Fabian couldn't recognize them either; they stepped out of the car simultaneously.

"General Jack!" One of the men, tall and broad-chested, screamed his name, with the coordination, and now when he walked past them, it showed he's the leader.

"... And who the hell are you?" Jack's blood began to boil in anger; he twisted his legs, ready to defend himself, slowly reaching for his sword.

"Oh, see who's asking the questions now!" The man mocked softly, and they all laughed under their masks. "Surrender your life or meet your ancestors right at this spot."

Fabian stood gallantly beside his general, ready to attack on his command. The attackers weren't there to play; they had 12 men lined up to end the general's life.

"The tattoo on their neck doesn't show they're from Captain Morgan," Jack tried to figure out their identity while also playing along with them.

"I haven't seen anything like this before." Fabian added.

"Only one way to find out!" He said and walked confidently forward, "I guess whoever sent you must've told you I won't back down and drop my sword, so what say you, bunch of dogs!

His words pissed all of them off, including their boss; it actually did what it was meant to do.

They began to charge at him and Fabian, pressing and attacking from every angle, each clashing their swords, metals clinging continuously. Fabian took down two of them with his shadow movement skills.

"Down..." General Jack screamed aloud to save Fabian from an unexpected attack from one of the men; he stabbed his heart.

General Jack's skills and strength have increased since his rebirth; it was as if time taught him additional skills beyond expectations.

"I'll kill you and your family. Jack." The leader uttered, his voice cracking and struggling to catch his breath from the nonstop fight. "Get him now!" He commanded, but his men are caught up in fear.

General Jack didn't hesitate; his blade flashed like a streak of lightning, slicing through the dim warehouse air as he lunged forward. The leader stumbled back, barely dodging the killing strike; blood pooled around Fabian's body, his last breath rattling against the cold floor.

Jack's jaw clenched. I won't lose anyone else, not again.

His rebirth had sharpened every sense; his vision felt doubled, reactions were faster than thought, and strength was far beyond what he'd possessed in his previous life. It was as if the universe, or whatever force has returned him, had quietly poured forgotten power into his veins.

But right now, the man before him was smiling, a slow, unsettling smile. "You think your general rank makes you invisible? You don't even understand the offer that was made for your head."

Jack's sword tip hovered inches from the man's throat. "Who sent you?"

The leader spat blood but didn't answer; instead, he raised one trembling hand and snapped his fingers, a signal.

The atmosphere lights flickered, then went out completely. Jack shifted, senses on high alert. The air grew freezing cold. Unnatural attackers, moments ago trembling with fear, suddenly froze, not frozen with hesitation, but frozen in place, their bodies locked mid-movement like statues.

"What's this?" Jack muttered.

The leader chuckled weakly. "You shouldn't be alive; you were supposed to stay dead, but now... now he comes."

A faint vibration rumbled through the ground, then a voice—not from the door, not from any direction; it was everywhere at once, deep, metallic, and ancient.

"GENERAL JACK."

It thundered through the woods and through Jack's chest like a second heartbeat. The frozen men crashed to the floor as if their strings had been cut.

Jack spun, speed raised. "Show yourself!"

A figure stepped out from the shadows behind him, so silent Jack didn't even hear footsteps. Cloaked in black armor carved with shifting symbols, the figure's face was hidden beneath a mask shaped like a snarling beast.

But Jack recognized the aura instantly; it was the same presence he'd felt in the last seconds of his previous life.

"You died by my hand once," the masked figure said, his voice calm but layered with something otherworldly, like many voices speaking as one. "And yet here you stand, defying fate."

Jack's grip tightened. "You... You were there when the kingdom fell."

"Yes," the figure replied simply. "And you shouldn't remember that." The leader on the floor coughed violently, trying to drag himself backward. "My Lord, forgive."

The masked figure raised one hand; the leader's body collapsed instantly, lifeless, as though his soul had been snatched out.

Jack took a single step back; his instincts screamed this wasn't a human enemy.

"I KNOW ABOUT YOUR REBIRTH!" The masked man uttered something; his voice seemed familiar to Jack but remained hidden.

"Who could he be? How did he know about my rebirth?"