Chapter 6

“My father, Magnus Acheron, was a strong, powerful warrior. He spent millions of hours perfecting the art of swordsmanship and battle. He was merciful against the enemy, and he never spoke badly against them. He won wars against mountains, and now here he lay, joining my mother in death. May he have a successful venture across the River Styx.” I said unfalteringly as I stared at the crowd of people down the hill. 

Some people wore masks resembling the dead, others held instruments, and some even wore costumes. I walked down the hill to stand on my own, away from the rest of the crowd. A group of six people walked up the hill. They wore costumes of warriors, one person stood out to me because he was dressed as my father. He did not encapture my father well, he was merely a poorly skilled actor. They began to perform, and I let my gaze rest on them, but my mind was elsewhere.

“Poor Vita, left all alone at such a young age. How pitiful.” A voice perked up from within the crowd.

A lot of people were talking about how pitiful I was, and it was starting to get to me.

“The curse of immortality.” Whispered a somewhat familiar voice in the crowd of people beside me.

These words surprised me, and I shifted to hear their full conversation. 

“What did you say? The curse of immortality has been dropped from the sky?” Asked another person from within the crowd.

I shimmied through the crowd without much hassle.

“What is this immortality curse you speak of?” I asked into the crowd.

A woman walked toward me. Her hair was that of the night sky, and her eyes were a light hazel. She dressed in impressive attire, and I knew that I recognised her, but I didn’t know exactly where I had seen her before. What caught my eye, despite her various jewels, was her rose quartz necklace. I couldn’t stop staring at it, and she noticed my gaze. She smiled at me for a moment, then began to ask,“Young master Vita, I send my condolences. You ask about the immortality curse?”

I nodded my head, and she stepped to stand beside me, and we watched the play in front of us. 

“I was watching a chariot race when an old woman with a shaggy appearance approached me. She told me that there was a war going on in the sky, the gods were fighting against each other! She told me that they were fighting for an object that held great value, it was the curse of immortality. Apparently, as they were fighting, the gods happened to lose track of the object, and it fell to Earth.” 

I looked at the woman with a quirked brow.

“Uh huh… And you believe this?” I questioned.

               The woman looked at me with an expression that looked as though I had just burned her house and blamed it on her horse.

“I know I shouldn’t be speaking like this to a nobel boy who just took over his estate, but you should respect the words of your elders! Her name is Fate, and she lives just past that river.” The woman spoke as she pointed towards the east. “Ask her yourself, and you will believe me.”

The musicians began to play a sombre song after the play had finished, and the woman left me to talk to the other people in the crowd. I listened to her spread the rumour about the immortality curse, and I began to get extremely suspicious. I kept on trying to search my brain for where I had met that woman before, but it was no use. 

The funeral wrapped up, and I rode in a carriage back to my domus. As I walked through my front door, I noticed that only a few maids were present, and I was left with a massive burden on my shoulders. I had to live my father’s life. I was only ten at the time, and I didn’t know what to do.

I awoke the next day and was quickly fitted into lavish attire. I did not stay indoors long and swiftly found my way into town. I walked among the plebians, receiving stares wherever I went. I quite enjoyed all the attention, and I let it get to my head. I strode with confidence until I was hit again with the words, “Immortality curse.”

I tripped in my step and turned to see who was talking. I saw an old woman with grey hair in a braided updo. She was quite the sight, her hunchback looked extremely painful, and most of her teeth were either gone or hanging by a thread. Her eyes were a light green, and they were the only thing that had any colour besides her badly applied makeup. I thought that maybe that was the elder the woman was talking about, so I walked up to the woman after the man she was talking to scurried away. 

“What’s this immortality curse you are talking about?” I asked her.

The woman grinned widely, showing the world how messy her mouth was. She winked and pointed with her head towards the road that exited the city. She grabbed my hand tightly and sped outside of the city.

“For your age, you sure are fast!” I shouted as she pulled me away from the town.

The elder stayed quiet, and she pulled me across a bridge that was built over a large river. The river was moving rapidly, and the wind was extremely strong. The wind had not been this strong when we were in town, and it only got worse when we arrived at her house. It was falling apart, the door was detached from its hinges and was leaning against the gap where the door should have been. Cracks ran up and down her walls, and I felt that if I just lightly brushed against the walls, her house would topple over. Her roof had massive holes, and tiles were spread around her house like decorations.

“What happened here?” I asked in shock.

I had never seen a house like this before, and since I was a noble, my parents would strictly prohibit me from leaving our estate without assistance. This was my first time away from home. Grey strands escaped her braided hair, and she looked at me with annoyance.

“Silly little child, can you not tell that I have been robbed?”

“Robbed?! We must tell the watchmen, surely they will help you.” I spoke with worry.

The woman grabbed my hands and rubbed them with her fingers.

“We can’t tell them! They won't believe me!” She said with a crazed voice.

I was shocked by these words and greatly worried for her sanity.

“Why won’t they believe you?” I questioned.

The elder tightened her grip on my hands and spoke softly in my ear, “We can’t tell them because it was gods who robbed me.”

I jerked back and widened my eyes.

I thought, “Gods? Surely she must be a lunatic? Why would gods steal from a poor old woman? More importantly, what would they steal?”

The woman saw how I was struck speechless, and she smiled slightly.

“They came to steal the immortality curse.”

Something hit me, a feeling of discovery.

“Are you telling me that you found the curse and they stole it back from you?

The woman’s smile grew.

“I chased after the gods who stole the curse from me, and another god, who must not have been on their side, kicked the object out of their hands. The object flew into the mountains, and the gods went chasing after it. If I were still young and perhaps a god, I could have caught up with them, but sadly, I am far too old to run that fast.”

I was shocked speechless by her tone of voice. I found it hard to believe she was lying. I looked towards the sun and saw that it was around noon.

“I have a meeting soon. I have to head off. If you want, can I send some people here to fix up your place in a couple of hours?”

The elder shook her head and waved me goodbye.

“I just wanted a person to hear my story and act upon it. I trust that you might be able to find this curse and give it back to me. That’s all I ask of you.”

I nodded and left the woman. As I walked away, I noticed that the wind had let down, it was as though it had finally calmed. I couldn’t have been more wrong. The more I walked, the louder my heart started to beat. My pace grew quicker, and I felt uneasy. Before I knew it, I was running into town. I ran past all the vendors and people before I made it to my estate. My domus was surrounded by a large field of grass, and it was still a long way before I could make it back home. I couldn’t keep my balance, and I fell into the grass.

“If I get that curse, does that mean I won’t die? I don’t want to die.” 

Just then, a hand touched my shoulder, and I retracted in surprise.

A man of average height stood above me. His hair was jet black, and he wore professional attire.

“Are you Vita Acheron?” The man spoke, his voice was deep and strong.

I stood up, patting the dust off my knees as I rose. 

“Yes, I am. You must be Mateo Flavinus?” I asked as I corrected my composure.

Upon arriving at my study, I saw more people than I had expected. I assumed there would only be around five or eight, but there were around thirty men sitting at a long table, waiting to talk to me. I sat down at the head of the table, and the men saluted me. They all started talking at once. 

             “About the trade in the east...”

             “When are you going to pay me back?”

             “About the war…”

               They talked on and on, endlessly. Until I realised that they would never stop talking at me, they were belittling me. 

             “I understand that my father left you all with unfinished projects, but that does not mean that you have to bombard me with questions. I know that I am only ten years old, but that doesn’t mean that I am stupid. After all, my father was the one who raised me.”

              After I said those words, the room went silent. They all widened their eyes and sat like statues, awaiting my next words. I spent hours talking with the men, solving their problems, and trying to keep the room in order. It was a lot of work maintaining my composure, but I managed to work through it. The men, one by one, saluted me as they left my study. One man in particular stayed behind, it was Mateo Flavinus.

“Do you have any other business with me, Mateo Flavinus?”

Mateo glanced out the large windows that covered the walls. He seemed to be in no rush. 

“ I want to talk about the war in the north. It does not involve our country in particular, but my land is near the border where they are fighting. I am wondering if you could perhaps sponsor me. I just need weapons and rations.”

I stayed in my seat and twiddled my thumbs under the table, where Mateo could not see. 

I asked bluntly, “What’s in it for me?” 

“I will defend our border so that our country has little chance of being taken over.” Mateo replied.

I sat there thinking for a little while, then I came to a realisation. 

“Did you say the north? Is your land perhaps by the mountains?”

“Yes, it is. Why do you ask?”

“Something you can do in return for me is help me start a search party for the immortality curse. I will need men, I have some of my own, but it would be of great help to me if you could provide some of your own.”

Mateo quirked his brow. I stood up and walked towards him. I reached out my hand.

“Deal?”

“Deal.” Mateo replied.

We shook hands, and we parted ways at my front door. I never knew how much this day would impact me until years later.