Chapter 1
"It was just a dream. Well, I wished it was." he thought. That was Nolan's last thought before waking up in another night terror. His eyes wide open and his heart pumping harder like a fast drumbeat. It was almost as if he had been shot.
Although sometimes, he wished his family was still here. His Family where The Bhaltair's and the was just a little boy when he witnessed the unconscionable horror of his family being lynched to death by the man, they call Red Rover.
Knowing for lynching his victims without a single trace of blood up until that very night Nolan's family where killed. It was this or killing his victims in cold blood with a mechanical blade in his sleeve with the device gripping around his wrist. If it weren't for Franco Russo, an Assassin and who was The Bhaltair's best friend who hid him in the basement underneath The Roman Lion's Kirk, then he wouldn't have lived.
All he could see and remember from his dreams is the blooding dripping from his forehead down to his lips as an 8-year-old boy before Franco quickly picked him up and put him in the basement which was in the main hall. There was a hatch with a keyhole down it and Franco had put him there.
Nolan Bhaltair would have died a severe and unjustly unforgiving death like his family did because Franco stopped his plans of getting The Life Sphere, also known as The Rotten Core After Adam and Eve used it to gain more power, and immortality outside the Garden of Eden and for that they were punished from The Tree of Knowledge knowing that it wasn't meant to be touched for the most obvious of reasons because of the power and danger it could inflict on the world, especially today.
Nothing is as powerful as The Life Sphere, not even ten nuclear bombs, anything that got into the wrong hands would mean Earth would be swallowed whole and that any animals are anything that the Earth holds most dear, humans too, would perish. Why would God of all people make such a thing?
Simple, as much as it brings death and destruction, it can also bring life, creatures, and purpose to the Earth but unfortunately, where that be The Last Supper where Judas used it as a bargaining chip to convince that Jesus needed to be crucified or that King Edward II used it to try and takeover Scotland from Robert the Bruce, it has been misused for far too long.
Unfortunately, The Gallowglass Assassins may have few conflicts but fought them at the most crucial of times especially during Bannockburn where it was decided to protect the Life Sphere at all costs. The misuse and destruction of the Life Sphere, or The Rotten Core, whichever name you prefer it to be is what, The Gallowglass Assassins, know all too well. So, they hid it from plain, for nobody to see and nobody to find it so that it can never be misused for nefarious or any evil means ever again.
Nolan is one of them but unfortunately due to the ongoing Century War with The Aikman's and The War Councilors since 1022 where The Aikman's thought War instead of peace led to true progress because there is no such thing as peace, that peace is nothing but the lull between battles and wars. The Bhaltair's and The Rest of The Gallowglass Assassins disagreed that peace was essential for progress and any conflict must be avoided to progress as a species and more importantly as a society.
Again, The Aikman's didn't listen, and they had a strong leader. He was manipulative and mad as a hatter but one people, well, only mad people, would listen to. Mad Michael Aikman, who disagreed with King David Bhaltair so much, that they wouldn't talk anymore. This was until The Bhaltair had enough of Mad Michael's Antics not only because he was a very disagreeable person to be with, but he also mentioned how much of a whore his wife Margaret was, which isn't even true, even in those times where anyone could be burned to the stake.
He was banished from the clans, and The Aikman's in revenge decided to kill the Bhaltair's and to make sure there will always be conflict due to conflicting philosophies, Mad Michael had killed David in front of him, hood on, whilst disguised as one of the Hooded Disciples.
The hooded disciples are 12 disciples given to each clan as they were Christian but were also open to ideas beyond the beliefs and were willing to be wrong. The Aikman's were unwilling to do so thus started a conflict that has lasted a Century which gives its name The Century War. It can be traced through the Second World War, The Battle of Hastings and Even the Battle of Waterloo where Russell Bhaltair was a major who fought alongside the then Duke of Wellington.
This is where Nolan was next, reading from the excerpt of page 1355 of the Gallowglass Stories, which was kept secret underneath his bed in his chamber, in the top right-hand side of the church. A Magnus Opus of The History of Gallowglass Warriors and Assassins.
Maybe that is what Red Rover was like, like the Aikman's so he could at least understand him but all he wants to do is kill him. He closes the book and places it underneath his bed.
His breath, you can clearly see in the frosty winter's air, and shivering goosebumps from the rare clear but bleak winter not just from the weather but the nightmares. He goes back to his bed to sleep again, as best as he can.
It's just another nightmare, another day.
