0 Betrayal

Posted on Sat Aug 12th, 2023 @ 11:33pm by Dungeon Master Sue Donym
Edited on on Fri Aug 18th, 2023 @ 1:34am

1,049 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Chapter 0 - Prologue
Location: In a wizard's lab, deep under a castle
Timeline: Distant Past, In Another World

As she toiled away with her magical studies, she almost didn't even hear when her long time apprentice and confidant joined her in the lab. Of all of her apprentices over the years, this man had been the only one she had trusted with all but her closest secrets. They had spent the most time together over the long years serving the Kingdom. And if she were to be honest, if it weren't for the demands that had been placed on them with the wars, she likely would have pursued a romantic relationship with him as well.

However, they had been kept busy with the ambitions of those in power and had found no time for such things, even with their magically extended lives. Though, now that they found themselves suddenly thrust into an era of peace, perhaps...

Her apprentice cleared his throat to get her attention and bring her out of her reverie. It was then that she noticed that he carried a flagon of ale and a pair of cups from the halls above, no doubt retrieved from the mandatory festivities and debauchery that was taking place celebrating the new peace accord that had been signed. "It seems you do indeed dally long in thought these days. Do the years truly wear on you that much, my lady? Or does the thought of leaving your research unfinished fill you with so much dread that you are loathe to break your concentration even for a celebratory drink?"

"Oh my dear, sweet, friend. I will celebrate if this peace lasts the night. I've seen it far too many times - the powers sign an armistice, they then sign true peace and cessation of hostilities..." She then held up one hand and waved it around for a moment before she snapped her fingers with a small flash of magical energy. "And poof! Something happens that night every time during the celebrations and they are once more at each others throats like mad dogs." Leaning against her research table, she nodded her head solemnly. "However, long have I toiled and I do need a break. Also, though the chance is slim, they may yet achieve actual peace and I would very much like to see it."

With a chuckle, her apprentice nodded as he poured the wine into the two wooden cups. "Indeed, the Minister had similar thoughts to yours and ordered the drinks watered down and poured less liberally for the celebration. He is a shrewd and perhaps overly cautious man, but I see the wisdom in his choice this night. The king may rule, but he knows not how to run the affairs of state as well as the affairs of battle. We will need the minister's wisdom and strength tonight and in the coming days most of all, I think."

"For that, I fear you may be right," she replied softly as she took the offered cup, having been involved in far too many of the Minister's secret dealings for her liking over the past few years. The man was inspired in his underhanded dealings, and she didn't put it past him to have orchestrated this peace for other, more nefarious reasons she had not fathomed as of yet. "Whatever his plans for us and the kingdom, we will have to ponder them later. I'm afraid no amount of clairvoyance will get into that man's head."

With that, she drank down her entire cup of wine with practiced ease.

As it went down, she noticed two things. This wine hadn't been watered down and instead had a bit of a nutty aftertaste and her apprentice wasn't drinking with her. She immediately knew she had messed up and only had moments. Already she could feel the poison gripping at her from inside. She reached for an array of sealed vials on one of her tables as her fingers went numb and her vision started to narrow, but she knew none of them would counteract this one in time. As it spread though her, she could feel that not only was it an alchemical and herbological concoction, it was magically infused in a way that she had never felt before. Her apprentice had done his research a bit too well and she was paying the price. As the feeling left her legs, she croaked out "Why?..."

As he stood over her, it seemed like dark shadows wrapped around him as his grin grew wider and more sinister. "Realistically? You are far too powerful and knowledgeable in this new world the ministers want to create. You are a dire threat that could topple the greater kingdom they wish to build. Also, I have ambitions of my own and you stand in my way... Mistress..." The last word was spat out with so much vitriol and hatred that it felt like he despised her for calling him apprentice for so many years.

Was he not grateful for all the lessons that she had taught him? All the magical knowledge that she had imparted upon him? No, as the light faded in her eyes, she saw him more clearly than ever before - he used her and despised her and learned so much more from his hatred than from her lessons. While she had fought on the battlefield, changing the very land itself against their enemies, he had been using his magic like an assassin's stiletto. That's why she had so badly underestimated him.

She only had mere seconds left, a few more beats of her heart. She could cast one last spell. She had no designs on revenge though. What was done was done and she was dying anyway. They wanted to build a kingdom of peace? She wanted to see it with her own eyes.

With her dying breath and last heartbeat, she used one of the few spells she had kept close and told no one about. An ancient magic that not even she was sure would work. She was able to get the incantation out with her dying thoughts, the circle etched on her very soul before it was able to leave her body.

And with one last pulse of magical light that tossed everything and everyone aside in her old lab, she was no longer in this world.

 

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