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It all started with a look. Remus was the first one to notice it. People looked at them while they walked down the street hand in hand, lovingly staring at each other´s eyes. They knew what most people thought about them, how their stares were nothing but judging them. Trying to take them apart by pure willpower. But it was their anniversary and neither wanted to give them the satisfaction of knowing they were making them uncomfortable. So they ignored it and kept along their path. That was a great mistake.
Even with the market full of people, even with the royal guards all around, they weren´t safe. They could never be safe no matter how much they tried. They got sloppy, and it happened. The marquis, Lord Byron the 3rd, who had had many encounters with them in the past, followed and cornered them beside a cabin. Two of his guards stood by his side waiting for instructions.
He took out a silver blade coated in blue jelly from a pouch. With a flick of his hand, he gave the order. Each guard grabbed one of them, splitting them apart while both Remus and Vi tried to fight back without success. The marquis went up to Remus with a smirk, and with all the force of his wrath, stabbed him on his stomach, making him scream in pain along with his beloved who couldn´t do anything to go to his aid.
Remus fell to his knees, holding his stomach as he writhed in pain. His head was spinning trying to comprehend what was happening around him without success. He finally fell unconscious to the ground.
The day had started in the best way it could have, only to get the worst possible outcome at the end. The marquis had finally gotten around to hurting them as he had so many times before threatened to do. Neither of them thought he would get to do it. Even in the worst-case scenarios they could come up with this was never an option. Remus was in the ground unconscious and there was nothing or no one to stop him from getting his way. Death was almost inevitable, but they got lucky at the last moment.
“What is happening here?” asked a young man who seemed to have come out of nowhere, and whose attire implied that he was an adventurer.
He stood a few cabins away. On his back, he carried a case full of arrows and on his hand he carried a bow, ready to shoot the moment the marquis took the slightest step.
"You sir," said the marquis trying to keep calm "need to stay away from matters whose correspondence does not fall upon you".
He made a sign with his hand, indicating to the adventurer to lower his bow, but the man did not follow his order.
"It seems to me, sir, that what you are doing here is nothing but an injustice. A fight between gentlemen has never been fairly carried out if more than one appeared to intimidate a single person. Much less if one of the participants is not armed, as seems to be the case here" continued the man "Now, please turn yourself in to the proper authorities so I can continue with my business and not waste my time dealing with you."
"How insolent!" exclaimed the marquis, turning as red as a tomato "Who do you think you are? You impertinent boy, don't you know who I am?"
"At this moment? a nuisance" he replied, pointing with his body to get away from the victims whom he had at his mercy. The marquis, with an arrow, pointed towards his face and seeing himself caught in the act, signaled to his guards to release his almost next victim. Vi´s immediate reaction was to run to the aid of Remus who was lying unconscious on the ground. The marquis threw the blade on his hand beside the body on the floor, With a smirk on his face he turned around and told them “Good luck saving him now” just to walk away, his guards still following behind. The young man waited a moment, and once the marquis was within a reasonable distance, he put away his arrow and brought his bow across his chest, running to the aid of the man on the ground.
"How is he?" he asked, falling to his knees next to Remus' partner.
"He's unconscious" cried Vi "he is not answering! His stomach is full of blood!"
"Hey, don't worry. We won't be able to help your friend if you don't help me take him to the healer". They both lifted Remus by the arms, trying not to hurt him even more. With great effort, they managed to drag him along the path to the healer's cabin.
Once inside the healer's hut, Vi collapsed into a chair as the healer and his apprentice lifted Remus onto a table to try and save him. The young adventurer, whose name turned out to be Logan, stood to the side, speaking encouraging words that Vi couldn't believe, for the blood that covered the shirt that had been removed from the man at the table was impossible to miss.
Once the blood stopped flowing, Vi thought it would be all. The healer and his apprentice exchanged a look and approached the adventurer, asking him what had happened, for Vi was still immobile and unresponsive. Vi's heart broke into a thousand pieces. The healer said that the dagger with which the marquess had stabbed Remus was bathed in a rare poison, of which the only existing record was supposed to be found in the ancient castle of the late King Bloom, who had been killed during battle a hundred years ago.
Vi could not believe it. How could he get the cure without that record? It was at that moment that a decision was made: Vi, who had never left the village in twenty-one years of life, would travel through the dangerous forest towards Bloom Castle and find the record to counter the poison, no matter the cost. Logan, seeing an opportunity for adventure, decided to go. The healer´s apprentice, Patton, would help too in exchange for keeping the records himself.
It took them a week and a day. They encountered different creatures and obstacles that slowed down their path, but in the end, they made it. They reached the Bloom castle. The three of them decided to go their separate ways to try to find those records. Vi took the main room of the castle. There was a life-size painting of the ancient king Bloom smiling at its viewer. A feeling of anxiety followed them all over two days as they searched for the records, but they could not find them.
Devastated, they decided to return home, knowing that there was no way to save Remus. The last option left was to be by his side until the end. The next day, when they were ready to leave, a figure made of shadows appeared in front of them blocking the exit. Little by little, that creature took on a humanoid form until it became the very figure of the ancient king, Roman Bloom. A smirk revealed its pointed teeth, and its eyes glowed a brilliant crimson. The spectrum extended his hand which held a roll of paper tied with a black ribbon.
"Is this what you're looking for?" the creature said in a thick, scratchy voice. No one managed to answer for a moment until Vi stepped forward.
"My lord" Vi began to say looking at the ground in a bow "I humbly present myself to you to implore your help. My partner, Remus D'Creativia has been poisoned. The only way to save his life is in the scroll you hold. in your hand. Therefore, my lord, I beg you to allow us to take that scroll to the healer in our village, so we can try to save his life.”
The figure smirked. It lowered its hand and walked towards Vi. Logan raised his bow ready to fire, but a mere glance from Vi made him stop just in time. Once in front of Vi, he put the scroll in front of his face, causing Vi to look up at him.
"And what do I get if I help you, little flower?" it said condescendingly "What would you give to save the life of your beloved? How desperate are you?"
“I´d give you anything” he answered.
Roman walked around the three of them. His smile turned from mocking to predatory, watching them closely in search of something none of them could figure out. Once again in front of Vi Roman stood tall.
"I have decided to help you my little flower. I will give you the scroll that can give you the information you need to save your beloved, but in exchange, you must stay here with me for the rest of eternity"
Vi turned pale, what could be done? Leave with no way to save Remus's life, but spend their last days together, or save his life but never see him again?
Two days later Remus woke up, and in a small voice asked “Where is Virgil?”