Night Mother… Do you hear me?

I do, my child. Oh, I sense doubt in you. I sense wonder. Speak, Listener. What is the answer that you seek?

I was asking myself why I only hear your voice. In both meanings.

Why should others hear me? The Listener is the only medium through which Sithis can give orders to his chosen. And that goes for the other way around. Why should you hear Sithis? I, like you, am the only medium required.

But why can't He just skip those mediums?

It's in the nature of everything. It's in the nature of the Void. The Dread Father does not commune with this plane where my children walk. In due time, you will realize one thing: the wisdom of Sithis is infinite. If he does not speak to you, then it's because you are not supposed to. You, child, are strong enough to sustain by yourself. Sithis knows you don't need him to accomplish what he himself ordered you to do.

That means I am strong enough for him?

Yes, child. You are strong enough. You are invincible.

There is an end point in life.

There are some that don't believe in destiny. For those people, there are other names that can be used. Destiny is our future, it is the things that are yet to happen, our greatest aspiration and our true calling. Destiny is the inscription carved with fire into our souls, it's the thing that dictates our behavior and our vision. For all of us, destiny is what we strive to be, what we hope to become, because it is the full completion of our truest potential.

Then what is our completion? Well, obviously it depends. It depends on the person one is, of which race among the ones on Nirn he or she belongs, on the things one learns and on what culture they grow in. A lot of things influence that. What matters is that everyone has a point of growth at which one feels completely satisfied with self. From there one manages to perpetually grow, determined to achieve the knowledge of all things, which at that point is the only thing that differs between what one has become and one's own Fate.

And where is the meaning of all this? Destiny is already written, so what is the meaning of it all? Is there none? There has to be none. No, not necessarily. For two reasons: firstly, what happens around an individual is not written anywhere. What happens is just the interaction of a multitude of single individuals, and even if those people have their own destiny what will occur between them is a mystery until it happens. Secondly, no one knows his or her own destiny. One has to seek it, either inside themselves or in the world around them. There are some who discover their it when they are old, when they already have seen the major part of their lifetime. Some never learn it. They die not knowing which was the thing that would have made them feel fulfilled.

And Nirn, the whole universe, has a destiny of its own. That one is Fate. That Fate the Emperor and the Assassin had thought and imagined as a humanoid.

But what is the deal with Azrael? What was the point of all this philosophy? It's very simple and yet incredibly difficult, but he understood: he had understood his destiny, and the part he had in Fate.

The Assassin… That's what Titus called me. The Left, Bloodied Hand of Fate. That means so much, and ever so little. The annihilator, that's who I am. It's some people's job to create, and other people's job to destroy. That's the order scripted in nature, Fate, future, however you want to call it.

The Right, Luminous Hand sows, and the Left, Bloodied one reaps. That's so much more than a fragile equilibrium, it's true order. Nothing can shatter it, nothing can stop it. The only thing you can do is comprehend it, transcend it, break free of the chains of your future and try to grasp Fate itself.

Sithis is the Void. Well, where is the strange thing? Is there something strange, even? I am drawn to chaos, to Sithis' aspect on this plane, and because Sithis is the Left Side of Fate. The one in the shadow, the one you don't see and you're not supposed to see. The only thing you can see of it, is it's Hand. The Bloodied Hand. Fate is two things: Full and Null, All and Void. I am the Hand of the Void. Maybe that's why I am the Listener. I am the Hand of Sithis.

The order is just that, it can't be eradicated. The creator and the destroyer have to complement each other. In a way, all that is created only exists to be ravaged. The only meaning of life is obliteration. But after destruction, something remains. Maybe you'll remember, and Azrael did too, that in times past he hoped to be the light that brought warmth and comfort to others. Now, despite of all, he had become the polar opposite. A never-ending darkness that extinguishes light wherever he found it. In the utter absence of light, the people must find and would find the courage to ignite their own lights. The only thing that will remain is memory. That is the thing that survives the destruction, endures even the flight of time. Memory.

The Left Hand of Fate assures that the world progresses and goes on. The Bloodied Hand is always two things: It's medicine and poison, relief and pain, the Purifier and the Defiler. Fate's Left is beyond death, it's something so powerful is can even unleash it and control it. Death guides him and is his to control, Despair follows him as his own shade, and Shadow shrouds him, hiding him from the rest of the world.

The Left, Bloodied Hand of Fate is the Ender. It is invincible. Azrael was invincible. The eighth and final step to become the Assassin had been made.

Azrael sat on a rock, thinking, while looking at the twilight. The Sun was disappearing slowly, and as it finally did he smiled and sighed deeply.

This is my destiny. I'll follow it wherever he guides me. Dread will be my herald, death my gift, and chaos the only thing left behind me. The world will tremble, all that exist will shatter and fade before my might.

That day an Ender had been given birth. The Assassin had risen.

Azrael couldn't tell if his search for meaning had led him to the truth of some other idol, another illusion. Was that all an empty creation? Was it all a lie? He couldn't tell. For the time being, he relished in those thoughts.

A/N: This is the end of The Birth of an Ender. Feel free to leave a Favorite if you liked it. Azrael's tale continues in The Assassin II: Thief of Lives.