Identity Of Ruin

[] 1 [] the guardian makes a deal

March 31st
1781

In the distance, the bell rings, signalling that a new day has begun. I lean forward and sip my cup of tea. A sense of tranquility begins to awash over me, knowing full well that after this begins the long hours of work.

Best I enjoy this right now.

A strangled sound escapes from me as I suddenly slump down and my body gives way under me. My hands are shaking uncontrollably and it feels like something is eating me in my insides.

I'm being poisoned! At this thought, I almost want to scream out in laughter. To think this is how I'll die. It wasn't meant to end like this, I know that for sure.

I slam my hand on my bell, ringing it and hoping that one of my servants will immediately come forward to find me.

But I quickly remember that today was a holiday and I had ordered all the servants to take a break for the day.

There was nobody inside this house. Guards, of course, were still stationed around my house but I know none of them would be able to hear the sound of my bell.

My heart is pounding against my chest. I can feel the oxygen leaving me, coming out in short breaths. This was a new type of poison that I wasn't immune to. Someone, my killer, made certain that I would not be able to identify it.

I slowly close my eyes, unable to keep them open anymore as the world become too dizzy.
Then, I descend into darkness. Right in the abyss.

That's when I know I'm dead.

I'm utterly furious. The pain I felt as I died slowly disappearing, I stare at this frightening darkness that surrounds me.

That was the most pathetic death ever.

I begin to laugh, hysterical and delirious. The darkness around me begins to look lighter. What an anti-climatic death for Sierra Leones. What a lovely death for me.

"Good day!" It's a voice that booms out from around me.

I swivel around, but find nobody. All I can see is this terrible darkness. I can't even see myself, either.

"Good day?" I ask. "Truly, death is certainly frightening. It appears I'm having hallucinations."

A light begins to emanate in the darkness. I glance up and see a being floating above me. I step back, observing it in interest. Nothing scares me anymore. I've already been here before, many times.

"It's the effects in being in the abyss," says the being. "You do not feel something such as terror or fear."

"That's strange," I say, although I already know about this. "It's completely different to what people normally say it is."

"Of course it is," the being says. "That is how the world operates. Some truths are spun into nothing but lies and these lies become truths."

"Interesting," I murmur. Yet, I cannot help this anger inside of me. I am not a person who usually acts on their emotions, so I simply breathe.

"Sierra Franica Leones, age 21, time of death is 11:21, cause of death is poison. Does this give you ideas?"

"Yes," I say, my eyes closed in order to let myself continue to be calm. It doesn't do much, though. I still feel this intense fury inside of me. "It describes myself."

"Of course," the being says. "Which leads me to something that is beneficial to you, traveller of lives."

I still keep my eyes closed. "What kind deal shall we make, strange being?"