In a lair deep under the Dragon Back Mountains the pupils scurried into the teaching cave. They were very excited for today one of the unspoken would teach them their first lesson in the ways of the clan.
"You think-think he will teach-teach us to cut throat with one slash, yes-yes?" squeeked Vilsar in excitement to his friends.
"No-no, he will teach-teach us to use sling-sling!"
"Dumb-dumb, every rat can use a sling-sling - throwing stars-stars he will teach us and the art of mixing dead-dead poison!"
"You think-think?" Gefressik squealed, saliva dripping from his mouth onto his not so small belly, which had earned him the nickname death-roller. His only reason for being here was that they had needed a sturdy lineman for the school's bloodbowl team.
"But we don't even know who will teach us today," screamed Zursar. "Oh, shut up, Zursar. It will be one of the masters - I don't care-care who it is," bursted out Vilsar.
"He'll probably appear with a big-big bang in a smoke-smoke cloud," shouted Fourlaut to topple his classmates' suggestions.

"No," answered a deep, silent voice that silenced everyone and froze their hearts within seconds.

"It is not our way to appear with thunder and lightning.
"It is not our way to announce our coming.
"It is not our way to use big-big effects.
"Our way is to kill silently."

Slowly the word sank into the heads of the young rats. Their lives were forfeit. Somewhere in this room was one of the unspoken, a master assassin of clan Ratsnik, who was capable of killing all twenty of them with his hands alone before they could even do as much as raise a weapon. The musk of fear filled the room, but none of them dared to move.
The silence hung heavily in the room, even thicker than the musk of fear. Finally Vilsar dared to speak.
"Ma-ma-ma… Ma-ma - master?"
"Yes, pupil?"
"Ha-ha… How long-long have you been here-here, master-master?"
"Long enough to have heard your foolish-foolish talk, young one. Now sit-sit and be quiet, for I will teach-teach you an important lesson."

The voice waited for the young skaven to sit down and clip their tails between their legs. They were very quiet now and too frightened to move. This was good, as it would ensure they would listen.

"This lesson is not about blades, sling-slings or throwing stars. It is about something much-much more important. It is about honour, respect and history. I will tell you about the teachings Khar Gahand, first grand master assassin of clan Ratsnik. And today, I shall tell you about his quest. The quest for the Black Abyss.
"So it happened upon the time that clan Ratsnik settled under the Dragon Back Mountains. You all know-know the tale of the rise of our great-great clan to glory and power. Back then lived a very skilled assassin, a master of his art, the first of the unspoken. We call him Khar Gahand now, but his true name shall never be known or spoken, as it would call him from his lair in the Black Abyss and bring his wrath upon he who spoke his name. Only if great need befalls our clan shall we call upon his name, and only our clan's Council of Thirteen may do so. Then he will rise again and come to our help.
"When clan Ratsnik was still young, Khar Gahand slew our foes. He kill-killed the dwarf lord that reigned over the settlement at Blink-Blink Stone. His dagger found the heart of the goblin shaman Rothah Hattsah. And he was the first of our clan to lay foot on the paths to Cathay. When he returned, his skills had risen beyond anything known before in all Skavendom, and his reflexes could not even be traced by the most powerful grey seers. This is when clan Ratsnik's wise Council of Thirteen made him the first unspoken.

"But Khar Gahand had learned something else in Cathay, too. Something that the grey seers of the clan watched with envy, but they dared not question it. He had learned about the secret ways of magic, to draw upon the dragon lines that run through the earth like veins through a skaven body.
"One day he saw something in his visions. He saw a Black Abyss that consumed all. But it was not an enemy to clan Ratsnik - it came from within him. It rose from his arms and crept out of his snout, turning into giant tentacles.
His vision had told him to seek his destiny in the great plains. He tied up his bags with thirteen mice and thirteen herbs in them and took his best katana. He then bowed to the members of the Council and to the Great Horned One and vowed not to return until he found the Black Abyss his visions had showed him. Finally Phurmacht, the oldest and most potent of grey seers approached him. He handed Khar Gahand a small warpstone chard in the shape of the Horned One. "You will know when to take this," he spoke to the master assassin. "Now go with the blessing of the Horned Rat."

"And so Khar Gahand left the lairs of clan Ratsnik. He marched to the ends of the tunnels. They did not run as deep into the Badlands as they do now, as clan Ratsnik was still small then. He left the bosom of the underways at Krik Steinik, which was the outmost node of our clan back then. After that he was on his own.
"He wandered the Badlands for weeks. Deeper and deeper he entered into the waste lands, fighting off goblins, orks and monsters. He feasted on their flesh to stay strong, and their blood was the only nurture against his thirst. Khar Gahand learned how to hide in the open with no hiding place and to melt with the surface of the plain. And at night he would melt with the shadows. This is still the first test every master assassin has to take. And whoever wanders out into the Badlands to follow Khar Gahand's example will never be spoken of again - either because he failed or because became one of the unspoken himself.

"Many times was Khar Gahand tempted to eat the warpstone chard the wise grey seer had given him, but he knew better. His visions would tell him when to do it, and they would lead him where he needed to go. Finally his visions led Khar Gahand to a large vadi. There he rested for thirteen days and thirteen nights. He prayed to the Great Horned One, burning the thirteen spices and eating the thirteen mice he had carried with him all the time, feeding them with goblin flesh.
"After his prayers he fell into a long, deep sleep. He slept for another thirteen days and thirteen nights. It was a dark, dreamless sleep that engulfed him. He breathed, ate and drank the dark of his dreams, and it nourished him. In the final night he felt how he rose from through the dark until he broke the surface. Something carried him through the air until he was high above the vadi.

"And then he could see it all - the vadi had the shape of the Great Horned One Himself. It resembled exactly the shape of the warpstone chard he carried, and it had one dark, black eye, while the other shone brightly with an eerie green.

"When Khar Gahand woke, he found himself resting on a large hill high above the vadi. He was neither hungry nor thirsty even though he had been asleep for thirteen days and thirteen nights, but he could still taste the darkness on his lips that had nourished him.
"Then he looked down into the vadi and it was exactly as he had seen it in his dreams: It had the shape of the Horned Rat and there were two eyes - one dark and one bright. He thanked the Horned One for his vision and stepped down into the vadi. There he dropped the warpstone chard into the bright eye and it began to glow with the eerie green he had seen in his dream. Then he slashed his wrists, poured his blood into the dark eye and stepped into it.
Immediately the darkness engulfed him. His blood drained out of his veins, but at the same time he drank of the darkness that surrounded him. The blood stopped pouring and the darkness sealed his wounds. He sank deep into the darkness. He had found the Black Abyss - and it consumed him.

"Or so he thought. When he saw a green star at the end of the Abyss he felt death nearing. He was about to drown. The star came closer, but it was not the star of death that the Horned One sends us to guide us on our final passage - it was the warpstone chard he had thrown into the green eye. He grasped it with both hands, but the light kept getting brighter.
"And then he broke the surface. He had survived the Abyss, he had drunk it and become a part of it. And he had dived through it, emerging out of the green eye new born.

"This is the story of how Khar Gahand found and mastered the Black Abyss. It is the wish of every master assassin of clan Ratsnik to find the Black Abyss and follow Khar Gahand in his quest. Many have been granted his visions, but only one has returned."

"Kaysa Sossai," whispered the pupils with fear.

"Yes. Kaysa Sossai. He is the only grand master assassin to master the Black Abyss after Khar Gahand. But you should not speak his name, for to speak his name is to ask for death. Heed my warning and honour my words.
"Remember what I told you today, and you will not fear the darkness. Learn what I will teach you about the Abyss, and the shadows will become your friends. We of clan Ratsnik are gifted. Use your gifts well."

With these words something left the room that suddenly felt very empty. It was all for the pupils not to squirt the musk of fear when they realised what was missing - the darkness had gone.