I could remember the night in which my death sentenced was relayed to me by an old friend. The night sky was devoid of any clouds and the moon was closer than ever before, at least if felt that way. Below me, a lone man clad in a black mantle strolled towards the mansion unhindered and probably unnoticed as well.

Only I could see him, but not because I was different from the guards in any way. He wanted me to see him, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to. I even heard the front door shitting close again, but still, nobody was even remotely bothered by the intruder.

Magic was truly something fascinating, no matter how I looked at it. The ability to infiltrate basically any place he wanted to was only one of my old friends specialities. Another one, of course, being to behave as if the world belonged to him.

Without knocking he opened the door which had been locked before and strolled into the room while whistling innocently. Promptly, he sat down onto the sofa in my study, grabbed a cigarette from his mantle and lit it on fire with a simple flick.

“How is the search for the philosopher’s stone going?” I asked like usual. Whenever we met, this was the topic he wanted to discuss the most. I wouldn’t say my old friend was obsessed with it, but it clearly went in that direction.

“All the knowledge the kingdom has to offer amount to nothing. I would like to read a few elfish books about mystical artefacts as well, but I really don’t want to be hanged for colluding with the enemy.” He said and blew a bit of smoke in my direction. A bit angry, I waved it away and sat down opposite of him.

“Have you heard anything from Sirius?” I asked and closed my eyes. I knew good news were unlikely as Sirius vanished one day and didn’t notify us ever since. But still, nobody found his corpse yet, so the possibility that he was alive existed.

“How long has it been … ten years already?” It surely was. Much has happened since then. For once, I became a duke and Nezar had become the mightiest magician of the human realm, so much so that he somehow managed to slow his ageing considerably.

“Hmm … he clearly wanted the philosophers stone as well, so we sadly have to assume that he is no more.” Nezar answered closed his eyes. I wasn’t the only one who still held onto this friendship after all. “On a side note, I have chosen another way forwards. It is a mystical path I am treading on, but I am entirely sure it will lead me to my goal.”

“Everything you are doing is mystical.” I concluded. Everything he did was linked to magic after all.

“This time it´s different. Magic plays within the rules of this world but I have found someone who doesn’t.” Someone even mightier than him? I couldn’t even imagine what such a person was capable of and I certainly didn’t want to have such a person against me.

“Meaning?” I asked slowly. It was either burning my fingers at this mystical person, or getting to know someone who I needed to have on my side.

“I found a god. Let alone having a philosopher’s stone, he has the means of creating one. And he already proved that.” There was only the option of burning myself with a god. But it was still incredibly tempting to listen to Nezar´s words.

“How did he prove that he is capable of fulfilling any wish?” I asked cautiously. There must be a catch, otherwise I could imagine any god caring about us. We were just too insignificant for them.

“Arthur, I am not ageing any more. In fact, my body seems to rejuvenate itself. Now, I have all the time to become the greatest mage on this planet.” Which is what he always wanted. Endless youth was probably just a hook so that Nezar would do whatever the god wanted … but still. Gifting that away like this proved that the god was also interested in Nezar.

“Are you sure betting on a god you don’t know is a great idea?” I was still cautious about Nezar´s relation to that god, but I couldn’t help but to be interested as well.

“Don´t worry, he is not using me. I need to deal with politics half the day. It is impossible for him to fool me.” That was right … even I failed to coax Nezar into helping me from time to time. Fooling him would be quite the hard task. “On a sidenote, he also has an offer for you.”

“Hmm … it´s highly unlikely I will accept, but I´ll listen.” I said while noticing how Nezar sat upright and put out his cigarette with magic.

“He asks you to take a girl under your wings. She will listen to whatever you tell her, but you would do good in listening to her advice as well. In return, he promises you will become a hero who will take part in saving the world and most importantly, you will be granted eternal youth. Just think about it, you may even become the next king if you do it right. With that girl as your retainer, I am sure of it.” That was … a great offer. But I couldn’t see how taking a girl in would benefit the god in any way. If she would truly heed my words, then there was really no reason why I shouldn’t accept.

“You are speaking very highly of her. How come?” I asked, still highly suspicious about the offer.

“She is the daughter of a god. Do you need more?” No … I didn’t need more. Even though she was probably very young and inexperienced, with enough time, she would become a force to be reckoned with. There was just the question if I could make her loyal to me.

“And you are sure she will follow my orders?” I asked and raised my eyebrow.

“Yes! It is a prophecy, Arthur! It has to come true!” If the god really made a prophecy about this then there was really no reason for me to decline.

“Who is the god?” I asked hoping to get a better understanding about the proposal.

“The destroyer of worlds.” Nezar answered while smiling wryly.

So even death wouldn’t stop me from reaching my dreams, at least that’s what I thought that day. Being king, reigning over the human realm was within arms reach with the support of the god.

It was just that everything was a lie. It wasn’t even the god that lied to Nezar, it was Nezar who lied to me and used me for his own goals. And seriously, out of all people I never expected him to do something like that.

Everything came true as he claimed. I took that wrenched girl under my wing, I became a hero in destroying that thing which escaped purgatory. I saved the world and was granted eternal youth by Lucinda. It was true that she and I could achieve everything … nothing along the lines of me becoming king happened.

I even sacrificed my army for the world, but all I got were a few hours of eternal youth which I couldn’t even enjoy because of the thirst driving me crazy.

And Nezar failed to mention something else as well … which was that she would be my death.