Ah.

I’m dying.

I wouldn’t have minded that normally, as we all die someday. An inevitability, rather than something to fear. As a noble, I had to deal with many things, and that included death. Death was my friend, and I looked forward to arriving in the land of Hades.

But this wasn’t the way I wanted to go. I grimaced, looking up at the grinning assassins, and then looked on my household.

As Earl Rudalius, marquis of Rudalius, I had worked tirelessly since I was 10, and had always treated my servants as family, who in turn, had treated me as family. And my family was dead. All around me, their blood soaked the ground.

“Ke ke ke ke.” One man cackled, a truly ugly man. “Look at him now! Look at how broken he looks! I love that last look as they fade away.”

“W-h-y?” I utter, trying to get the question out. My body bleeds from the cuts they carved on me. A hundred cuts, yet not enough to finish him quietly. They wanted to drag it out. The fools don’t realize that if I die, so will they.

“What do you think? Money! Obviously.” Responded another, who looked bored out of their mind.

“W-h-o-“ I utter, but another voice responds. A hateful voice. That bastard.

“Who else cousin? Who else will inherit your estate once you’re gone?” Came that silky smooth voice.  And out came Dliucius von Hearthfire, my second cousin.

Diliucius was a handsome young man. He was a smooth speaker, second son of count Hearthfire, and the ladies man. Apparently he was conniving too.

I push myself up, to the delighted smile of Dilucius, Even now he was as handsome as they come. “Wonderful, you’ll die looking me in the eye” cooed Dilucius. I assure you Dilucius, I won’t be the only one dying as another looks me in the eye.

I cough as hard as I can, hacking blood in his face. Wiping his face with disgust, Dilucius kicked me hard in the dead, and held me so as he laughed. “Once you’re gone” he whispered. “I’ll take everything from you.

Your fiancé,

Your title,

Your people

Everything”

I look up, as solemnly as I can. I want to make sure he sees my face as we die together. “I hate to leave my fiancée a widow so soon” I complain. Then I activate the circle. And at first, he was confused. “Didn’t you hear me, Earl? You won’t be leaving her alone. She’ll have me soon” He asked incredibly. He must’ve thought I was delusional. Maybe I am. Who in their right mind would make themselves a bomb?

“No. She won’t”

And then he sees it. My body lights up, as patterns etched across my body begin to glow, and soon, so does the rest of the house, as the magic circle came to life.  I had hone carved into me when I was 15, so I could protect the people I cared about. If I ever had too, I could take my enemies out with me. The house had a similar self destruct initiative, meant for assassins, should they ever get this far.

Eyes widened, he and the assassins attempt to leave, but that won’t be happening. The magic circle has been made so that not only would the explosion not leave the estate, but no one could leave save those with the proper items, but they didn’t have those.  The assassins try to break the windows, or even use magic, only to find their strength and magic being sapped by the magic circle.

I grab Dilucius as I look him in the eye, as he grows ever more desperate. “Wonderful” I mock, as he grows angrier, desperately trying to get free from my grip. “Now we’ll both die looking each other in the eye.”

And finally, the end comes.

Boom!

‘Death, here I come’.