The Dead King

Marin could feel the eyes of a guard stationed at the gates of the divided districts as they passed into the Heights, but thankfully, he made no protest of the company passing through. Marin only had a couple gold coins left to his name at the moment, and was thankful he didn’t have to give one up to return back to his belongings.

Being back in Taren Heights was refreshing. No longer was the intimidation of shady individuals taunting them at every corner. Gardens looked lovely, houses were cozy yet sturdy in appearance, and the occasional fountain made itself known by the noise of trickling water.

The sun had finished setting over the horizon by the time they reached the front door of a beautiful estate that was the Rose Garden.

Inside, the familiar luxurious atmosphere flooded Marin, who immediately thought of his home castle.

At the front desk was none other than the same servant who had been discretely rude to Marin and Gus when they first arrived. Surprise flooded his face seeing the return of them.

“Ah, Mr. Marin. And here I thought something devastating had occurred to you,” he said.

“Forgive our extended absence, plans had to be changed. The three of us have arrived for a final stay at your lovely establishment,” Marin gracefully spoke.

“The… three of you?” The desk clerk was now eyeing the doctor, who understandably was not very favorable to look at.

“I’m sure that won’t be a problem,” Marin added as he flipped a pretty gold coin to the man.

He caught it midair, and admired it.

“I suppose not,” he said, while craning his neck and pocketing the coin. “Enjoy your night.”

Gus was certainly happy to be back in these finer living arrangements, and despite Marin’s inability to sleep, he was too. Eisen wasn’t so impressed with the place, he grumbled a bit to himself as he passed a display of a plush embroidered pillow.

Back in their rented room, Gus rushed over to his bed, and knelt underneath. His pack and claymore sword were still there. Marin was happy to see his messenger bag was also there, including each item that was contained inside.

They situated themselves, and ate dinner that was served fresh in the dining room below. The staff still hid their disgust for these guests that weren’t of elegant appearance as themselves, but withheld any comment.

Back in the room, Marin gave his bed up to Eisen, who completely understood why. To Gus, Marin mentioned that he had no problem sleeping in a chair. Gus didn’t think a thing of it, his King had enough quirks to himself, and what more was that?

Gus fell asleep almost immediately. The filling of great food in his stomach had led to a drowsiness he was not expecting. In reality his body was still healing from that life-threatening stab wound, and that alone still kept his body from being at complete full strength.

As Gus snored away, Marin and Eisen sat in the fancy plush chairs of the inn while surrounding a small coffee table. A small gas-lit lamp illuminated the corner. They held conversation.

“So what did you find out, then?” Marin asked.

“Your potion… it did something incredible to your cells. It reprogrammed them. Let me explain. The cells of your body die all the time, and replace themselves. That is how people age. You had devised a formula that stopped your cells from dying, and that was your method of producing immortality,” the doctor explained.

Marin thought really hard. The two centuries he had spent dead erased such a large chunk of his memory, and that resulted in complete loss of smaller details such as the complete function of his experimental potion.

“Okay… okay,” Marin nodded. “That makes sense. I might be able to recall pursuing that specific method. It still doesn’t explain my current state.”

“Well, I can tell you this. When you ‘died’ in the sense that you did, your cells, well… they refused to die in the same way. I’m not sure what agent in your potion caused you to keel over, but you kept living despite no longer taking in air, food, water… any of that.

Because of this, your cells mutated. They adapted to no longer getting supplies of oxygen and nourishment as they needed, since you had programmed them to never die. I still don’t know how they’re getting their energy for you to operate now, but I can tell you this: they no longer need what they used to. And that’s why you have no need to eat or breathe or sleep for that matter,” Eisen stated.

“You say this, yet you’ve confirmed my skin cells were dead. In fact, there’s quite a bit of my body that died, including a lot of my inner organs,” Marin objected.

“I know. I know. I have some theories, the main being that your cells were able to differentiate what was necessary for your body to function, such as thinking, seeing, moving… Look, so much of it doesn’t make sense to me yet, but I am bent on figuring out the reasons behind it all.”

It was a lot of information. As Eisen explained things, Marin couldn’t help but realize he was now more monster than human, a freak that defied nature. How much hubris had consumed him to create such a potion? Did he really believe he could beat death?

“Thank you so much for attempting to solve my mistakes. Is there any chance that I could become normal again?” Marin asked with sorrow.

“I’m not sure. That would be in the realm of cell regeneration, which your body has completely shut off. There might be methods to reignite that, even stimulate it beyond normal, but I fear that may cause a tremendous amount of excruciating pain to you, if not kill you, since your nerves would be rebuilding themselves as the rest of your body did.”

Marin gulped. It didn’t sound too exciting.

“Now for me, I have mastered a form of cell regeneration. In fact, when I became a blood elemental, I found that with intense study I could order my cells in my blood to do things they normally wouldn’t. That creates an endless amount of possibilities for my body, much I haven’t tried exploring, mind you. The one thing I couldn’t do though, was stop my cells from dying and reproducing, thus my aging.

Reverse engineering, and mastery of your potion, would create a true, forever sustainable organism, in capable of natural death. I want to see it done,” Eisen proudly exclaimed.

Marin shook his head.

“Be careful, doctor. Immortality might not be something you want,” he warned.

“That will be for me to decide,” Eisen grinned.

The doctor eventually turned in for the night as well, and Marin was left alone in the chair to meditate on everything that had happened so far. He went through his messenger bag and studied his items, he read a book or two he had packed, and a few times left the room to look over the décor in the mansion. It was all dimly lit from lamps that were kept running throughout the night.

Eventually, he changed out his clothes in the bathroom from Eisen’s back into his own royal dark blue robes, which he had missed greatly. There was still the tear in the back from Lorette’s poisoned blade, but it was not too noticeable, and he kept a few layers of shirts on underneath to continue hiding his skin.

Morning finally came, the dawn began. The sky lightened as the sun would now work its way up over the horizon. The doctor turned over first, who’s eyes shot open immediately, and sat up as soon as he could.

Marin was situated in the same chair in the corner, and the two of them made eye contact. Eisen smiled.

“You just wait for morning all night, huh?” He said.

“Not much of a choice,” Marin responded back.

The speech caused Gus to then turn, who woke up as well.

After an enjoyable breakfast, the three were off immediately. The first place they visited was the post office to check for a letter from Nocturne.

Sure enough, there was. When Sullivan Marin stated his name and assigned ID number, the mailman handed him over a letter.

“Just came in this morning,” he mentioned.

“Thank you.”

Marin walked out of the post office. Gus and Eisen were waiting for him outside.

“You got a letter?” Gus asked.

“Yes, let’s see what is going on,” Marin responded as he peeled open the envelope. He unfolded the paper, and held it in his glove covered hands as he read.

Gus waited in anticipation as Marin privately read the letter. A few minutes passed. Finally, Marin folded it up and placed it into his robe’s pocket.

“RAM is coming to see us,” he said.

“What?!” Gus exclaimed.

“Loid and Helva are urging us back home soon. Apparently all the paperwork has gone through, and some RAM agents will be visiting the castle soon to declare it a kingdom if everything checks out.”

“That’s incredible!” Gus shouted.

“You haven’t been recognized yet as a sovereign kingdom yet?” Eisen asked.

“I just recently re-established Nocturne. I’m in the process of getting it confirmed again,” Marin explained. “Well, the timing was convenient, then. We are indeed heading back now. Let’s continue on.”

The next destination the three of them traveled to was the trade district to rent a horse and cart. Marin signed paperwork that it would be recovered in Whitewood City.

Marin shared the fact that he was nearly broke from renting their transportation at this point, but Eisen was more than happy to cover the cost of the rest of the journey.

“I’ll be paying you back,” Marin mentioned.

The three hopped into the cart, and Eisen was designated to take the reigns of the horse. They began heading back to his house to load his possessions up, and leave the city for good.

Eisen’s research and pursuit of knowledge was more important to him than anything, and if that meant departing the city he had spent much time living in – at a moment’s notice no less – it was worth it. This wasn’t an ideal situation for him, he’d much rather have Marin stay at his residence while work was done on him, but the unfortunate events Marin had brought with him, the rogues specifically, destroyed his home.

That and Marin was a King, and had to get back home to his kingdom. Eisen didn’t know how much time he needed to crack the potion’s code, but it could take months, and it was understandable.

The horse-drawn cart passed through the district gates and into the slums. The denizens living there paid them little mind. A few eyed Marin’s now regal attire he resumed wearing, but no one tried to confront them.

They turned the corner onto the street Eisen lived on, and within a minute, they pulled the steed up to Eisen’s front gates. It was a snug fit, but he managed to get the cart through the narrow gate opening.

Back at Eisen’s old house, Marin couldn’t believe his eyes.

Travis sat on the front porch.

Immediately, Marin jumped out of the cart, and ran up to him.

“Travis?!” He exclaimed.

At seeing the three of them, the blonde haired man stood up, and walked forward to meet the King.

“Hi, Marin.” His tone was somber, a sadness plagued his face. Travis was not in any bright mood.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Marin rapidly asked.

Eisen and Gus approached, and stood on either side of Marin.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I have something for you,” Travis stated. He then threw an item from his hand to Marin.

Marin caught it.

It was his golden cross necklace.

He couldn’t believe it. It was the very same one, the gold shone brightly in the sun. It was unharmed, undamaged. The gold chain was still attached.

“...What? How…?” Marin stammered.

“You paid me to do a job. I did it. It’s as simple as that.” Travis sounded very disconnected. He was obviously upset over Lorette’s death, over the fact that the entire Scarlet Eye organization had been destroyed.

Marin was pleasantly surprised. He had written off ever getting his cross back after what had happened earlier. To see that Travis had enough honor to not only continue the job of finding it, but also returning it to him was something Marin did not expect.

“Travis… thank you. I can’t believe you got this back.”

Travis nodded. He looked like he was ready to leave.

“What will you do now?” Marin asked.

“I’m not sure. You’ve destroyed my source of income. I’m not blaming you for it, but it is what it is.” He began to walk away.

Marin was not ready to let him go.

“Travis… You were an orphan, weren’t you?” Marin asked, remembering how Lorette claimed Travis never knew his parents.

Travis stopped, but did not turn around to see him. “Yeah.”

“I bet you’ve spent your entire life struggling for food. For money. Eventually you became a rogue and met Lorette. You’ve stolen just to survive,” Marin guessed.

Travis said nothing back.

“I want to make an offer to you. Believe it or not, I’m a King. I have a decent sized kingdom and a considerable amount of wealth. I want you to join me. Defend my home. I will make sure you never need to steal a thing again.”

Travis produced a cigarette from inside his jacket. He lit with a flame appearing on his thumb, then took a puff.

“Thanks, but no thanks. I don’t need help from anyone,” he replied.

Marin found no reason to try to convince Travis further. He understood that there was much to him that he didn’t know about. There could be a hundred reasons why Travis wouldn’t join, and he was not going to make the attempt to figure it all out.

“The offer will always stand. I reside in Nocturne Castle, it’s located in the Murok Mountains north of White Forest. If you ever change your mind, you will be welcomed there.”

Travis began walking off again without saying another word.

“I think you’re a good man, Travis!” Marin yelled after him. “You were dealt a poor hand in life that forced you to make shady decisions. I know that’s not who you are!”

With Marin’s final words, Travis turned the corner, and was out of sight. Marin looked down at his cross. Great relief washed over him that all wrong that had happened was made right. He threw it on over his head, and felt complete once again.

Gus had a large smile on, happy that his king’s item had been returned. Marin still had no idea how it had been picked off of him, around his neck no less. It must have been while brushing up against the large crowds in the trade district, that was his best idea.

The golden necklace held some sort of importance, Marin was sure, but his memory didn’t grant him the knowledge of why. Perhaps one day he would figure it out again.

While Marin was quite thrilled at the return of his item, the time to rejoice was not now. They were on a tight schedule, and Marin instructed Gus and Eisen.

“Let’s begin packing your stuff, doctor. We might be able to leave Tarenfall by noon. If we do, we can reach one of Kybervald’s first towns by sundown.”

While the house still stood, the three of them worked diligently to pack Eisen’s remaining intact possessions. In the basement, Gus hauled out boxes that Eisen packed below. He hastily jammed in his tools involving surgical equipment, his expensive microscope, and other materials. The largest amount of items though, were his books and commentaries on medicine and diseases.

On the upper floor, Marin packed Eisen’s clothes and other belongings that he deemed fit to take. After loading several dozen boxes, they were about done. Eisen could have taken much more, but Marin made it clear that anything that could be easily bought again wouldn’t be necessary.

Eventually they finished, and loaded the last box onto the cart. It was a hefty enough load, but the horse they rented was designed to pull large loads over great distances, and the strong steed didn’t mind it one bit.

They were off. The sun was mid-sky, signaling the noon hour. The doctor took one last look at his house as they pulled away. While he would continue to own the property, anything could happen to his place now that it was unsupervised. Eisen made a vow to return one day, at least to visit the place. He had known Tarenfall to be his home for quite some time.

“Are you happy to be going home?” Gus asked Marin.

“Indeed I am, although I am nervous over what RAM might do. The central government has changed so much since I’ve known it. I hope everything meets their requirements,” Marin stated.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” Gus said back. “Even if they fail to recognize us as a kingdom, I always will.”

Marin smiled.

Time would tell.