The Death Of Romulus Dreadshade

[Rom 59]

(( For a bit of atmosphere, play this:

))

The Death of Romulus Dreadshade

The dark night's peace was interrupted by bellows and shouts, all coming from within the mountain. It was as if the very stone was shaking with the yells, and inside, one Dwarf was the cause of them. Romulus Dreadshade was drunk, very much so. In fact, he had gotten so tipsy he was yelling things to himself.

“Aye! An' the place is ruddy empty!”

Romulus was, of course, referring to Aquila, his home, and the fact that it was empty of citizens, and any form of life. The place had been deserted for months, precious few people entering the mountainous city. Many sad things had happened lately, starting with the deaths of so many of his friends, Bito, Drae'on Wyvernos, Gordok, Toruk and even Aislin was gone. Alras, the nation he started with, a place he once (and sometimes still did) called home, was gone, fallen and taken by the Dwarves. His new home Aquila, had become empty slowly, people becoming bored and leaving. The place was a ghost town, the torches glowing steadily to themselves in the black night. Even Ellser, the Lord of the city himself rarely came by these days. So that just left Romulus, all by himself in the place he helped build, the place he lived in, the place he loved.

Romulus began to pace up and down his home, thinking to himself, how he missed those that were gone, and how Aquila had become such an empty place. Romulus grimaced as he remembered Minathael, a place he had helped to create with the leadership of Victor Von Roze, son of Romulus' close friend Brayden Roze, and how the place had met it's swift and brutal end with Victor's murder at the hands of Renatus. He began to think all he still had, the few friends he had left. Ellser, Brayden, Elessar, Jingeh, Astraeus, Aeri. Many more crossed his mind in the blink of an eye, but they were the ones that he remembered. Striding across his house in a swift manner, he reached into one of his many chests and removed a book, blank pages from cover to cover. He blew some dust from the front of it and, in his fanciest handwriting, gave it a title:

The Last Will and Testament of Romulus Dreadshade

Romulus smiled sadly as he wrote the words, tears coming to his eyes as he filled the pages with his last words and his goodbyes.

Once the book was done, he signed his name at the end, to give that extra bit of personality, and placed the book on the side. He returned to the chest, and removed a small bag from inside. It contained two potions, both poisonous and deadly. He was disappointed at first at the way he was going to go, but his doubts were gone when he thought of all he had lived through in his time. Everyone only lives once, and Romulus was happy to have done so much, met so many people he had come to call as friends. He grabbed a box from inside the chest and picked the book up from the side, took it to the box and placed it inside. Romulus smiled to himself, knowing his friends would miss him, but he had left each of them something to remember him by. That was as much as he could give to repay them with. He opened his door, looked at the ground and placed the box there for someone to find. He then turned back from the door and looked long at the potions.

A kaleidoscope of emotions rushed through him at that point, doubt, sorrow, anger, and, lastly, serenity. He smiled softly to himself and picked up the two potions. He clenched his teeth around the cork on one, and pulled it off with a “Pop!” He raised the bottle, toasting life, all it had given him, death, which had embraced so many of his friends, and now, him. He said aloud to himself:

“G'bye everyun'. It's been amazin'. But me time 'as come, an' I mus' go now. Live well Asulon, an' never forge' wha' ye have, before i's gone.”

With that, he downed the bottle in one, the poison beginning to take effect. He felt his insides burning, as if someone had lit a fire inside him. With a grunt, Romulus grabbed the other bottle and yanked the cork out.

“It'll take mo' than tha' ter pu' me ter sleep!”

He then drank the second one, the bottle slipping from his grasp and smashing on the floor. He felt his heart pounding, his head thumping and his mind whizzing. At that moment, a calming light came in from between the windows on his door. Romulus caught sight of it and staggered over to the door, pulling it open. The sunrise was upon him, and he smiled, one last time at the dazzling beauty of it. He flopped on to the grass, the door slamming shut behind him. The lush greenery rolled around in front of him, getting darker and darker until only the sun's light remained. But eventually, that too vanished, and Romulus fell into the unknown, leaving the realm of Asulon behind.

[steelersfan1221 300]

Moved to the Great Library. It shall be sorted into appropriate category shortly.