Another old piece! This one had potential, but I don't have the energy to go back.
As soon as I took a sip, I realized it was poison. How it came to my possession, I don’t know. But I know it’s taste, the way it stings in the back of your throat… Alchemifel, a poison even powerful sorcerers can’t evade without the rare antidote kept for only the king. And me, an ordinary mundane, I have a day, twenty four hours left to finish my unfinished business.
First, I need to enter the vault of my enemy to take back what was once stolen from me: It's ten o'clock, past sunset, and I’ve had the poison for an hour now and for now, I am as well as any man could be. I stalk through the back door of the great mansion, avoiding the ball room. Glistening chandeliers hung from the ceilings and gem-filled decorations ornamented the walls. I slither through the halls as quiet as a snake as I made my way. There I saw her. I saw her and my knife gripped in my hand. Then she turned and saw me, opened her mouth to scream but no sound came out. My dagger rested at the pit of her throat and her body fell to the floor. Thud. She’s dead and nothing to stop me from entering the vault. I crack the lock open, where I found the stone, red and glistening. I take it and quickly disappear into the night before anyone found it missing.
The second task is easy, I must find the warlock and convince him to point me to the mage of death: It’s midnight and I can feel the poison tickle to my heart and brain. I searched every corner of the woods till I found him. He lives in a mossy little cabin in the middle of a lake in with purple smoke coming from the chimney. I hold the stone in front of me, close my eyes and murmur the incantation. Illud velim quaerere locum aeris ad inadcessus. When I open my eyes, the warlock's in front of me with a smile on his face and but I can tell he just wants to know how I managed to get here. So I tell him I seek the Mage of Death. He got angry, ordered me to leave his house and no amount of pleading changed his mind. So I took out the stone and he silenced. I saw the jealousy on his face followed by greed. He agreed if I let him take the stone, he'll point me to the mage. And so he told me the story and gave me a token to help me find my treasure.
The last thing I need to do is watch my greatest foe suffer: It's three before sunset and I am at the castle grounds. My limbs are weaker than normal but I can manage. I enter the grand palace to the Gothic halls which I have strolled before. I creep into the prince's room and with no guilt, I slit the prince's throat. I then barge into the King's room and drop the token in his vine next to his bed. He jerks awake, drenched in sweat, as if waking from nightmares. I laugh as he fails to recognize the threat and takes a sip of his contaminated vine; I tell him that I, a week poisoned man has murdered his son and insist on him checking. At the sight of the pool of blood drenching the prince's pillow, the king falls on his knees and breaks into sobs.
The Mage of Death appeared in front of me as I left the castle. It's around sunrise, 6 o'clock and the poison started clouding my scenes. The mage had warned me what I wanted, came with a price. I agreed to pay it. Before I realized what had happened, I had his gift in my hand and the mage was sucking out what was left of my life.
"Wait," I say, "Spare me an hour," I plead, "an hour to part with my son." Reluctantly, the mage agrees, and I have lost twelve hours of what I had left.
I make my way home to my farm. I am weak and I stumble onto the chair on the poach.
"Father?" My son called. "Father you're home." The look on his face was angry and relieved at the same time. "They say you have killed the prince." . I nod. "Why father, why are you doing this?"
"I have to protect you my son, I love you." I pant as the poison starts taking over.
"I loved you too." My son shouts, "until after what happened to mother.... you-- you killed her."
"No my son, I would never have done that, that was the king's fault." I confess.
"And why should I believe you..." He trails off when I hand him Death's gift, he stare st it stunned. "That is the book of immortality...." he says, "one of mum's stories.....You're...."
"Yes. I am dying." I reply.
"But this is the book of everlasting life... shouldn't you live forever?"
"No son. I am only immortal because this book is a story of everything that happened in my life. There was a women, the king really loved. she killed your mother, but I was blamed."
"I will find her," my son said, "she will pay for this."
"I knew you would say that. Which is why I took care of her last night." I chuckle. "I will always be with you, in your heart. This book shows the true story of me, believe no other. Even in death, I shall be with you."
My son sobs. "How did it happen, why are you dying?"
I smile as I take my son's hand in mine and I let go of my last breath in peace, for my son was my unfinished business. "Well, as soon as I took a sip, I realized it was poison."
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