Fate of deception

Chapter 20 - Z

The ancient scrolls lay scattered across the stone floor, their brittle parchment worn with age, yet each one held promises of power. Power that we craved. I had been searching for weeks, maybe months, through forgotten libraries and abandoned temples, seeking the perfect spell.

Amir's hand trembled as he unraveled another scroll, the symbols barely decipherable. He needed something more than the usual charms and hexes. He needed control.

Amir had already tried countless enchantments in the past 2 hours. The first few spells were simple, nothing more than minor curses to cause discomfort or confusion. Amir had tested them on birds at first, watching with cold interest as they flitted about aimlessly, crashing into walls, disoriented by the magic he'd cast.

But it wasn't enough.

He needed something stronger, something more absolute.

Amir moved on to larger animals - rabbits, foxes, even stray dogs he lured into his grasp. Each time, the spells grew darker, more complex. The animals would twitch, their eyes glazing over as they succumbed to his will. But the effects were always temporary, the enchantments breaking as soon as the creatures regained their senses or as the magic waned.

Frustration gnawed at him. This wasn't what Amir was looking for. He needed something that could bind a human's mind, bend it completely to his will.

One by one, the spells failed him. Some causes paralysis, others caused temporary madness. None gave the absolute control Amir desired. The desperation crawled at his insides, an insatiable hunger driving him forward.

His breaks were restless, filled with fevered wanted moments of power, of bending the entire kingdoms to his (our) will with a single word. He would continue with a cold sweat, the echo of whispered incantations still ringing in his ears.

And then, one hour, as the flickering candlelight cast eerie shadows on the walls of my hidden chamber, he found it. The spell was buried within a tome bound in cracked leather, nearly forgotten among the other, more grandiose volumes. The writing was in an ancient script, one I had only seen a few times before, but the meaning was clear enough.

A potion.

A draught so potent that whoever consumed it would fall entirely under the spell of the one who administered it. They would obey without question. Without hesitation. Their will would be ours to command.

Amir worked tirelessly to prepare it, gathering rare ingredients from the untrusted species from hidden land. The heart of a serpent, crushed under the full moon. The petals of a black lotus, harvested at dawn. The venom of a spider, distilled under a blood red sky. Each element was precise as it was perilous, but Amir knew this was it. This was the spell I had been searching for.

Finally, the potion was ready. It glimmered darkly in the vial, an ominous sheen that spoke of untold power. Amir tested it at first on a rat, it's beady eyes watching him warily as he forced the liquid down its throat.

For a moment, nothing happened. Then slowly, the rat turned to Amir, it's gaze softening, and it stood still, waiting for his command.

"Run," Amir whispered, the rat scurried off, its movements precise and deliberate. He command it back, and it obeyed without hesitation. Amir's heart raced with triumph.

This was it - the perfect spell.

But the rat was not good enough. We needed to see if it would work on something more complex, something closer to a human.

Amir found a stray dog the same afternoon, a mangy, half starved thing that snarled at his approach. Amir poured the potion into a piece meat and tossed it to the dog, watching it as it devoured the offering, hungrily.

The change was immediate. The dog's aggressive posture softened, its eyes losing their wildness. It sat before Amir, tail wagging slightly, waiting.

"Sit." he ordered. The dog obeyed.

"Bark." It let out a single, sharp bark, then fell silent, watching Amir with unwavering focus.

My breath caught in my own throat. It worked. It really worked. The power of this spell was beyond anything I had imagined. If it could do this to an animal, what could it do to a human?

The possibilities swirled in my mind, each more intoxicating than the last. With this spell, I could make anyone do anything. They would bend into a bow, to my will, and become my puppets. Kings, queens, soldiers, servants - they would all be Amir's and mine to command.

We would be unstoppable.

But there was still one final test. We needed to know if it would work on a human. We needed to make sure.

The thought lingered in the back of Amir's mind, a dark, dangerous whisper that he knew he would soon follow. He needed a test subject. Someone insignificant, someone no one else would miss. And then, once Amir tested the potion and confirmed it's effectiveness, he would move on to bigger targets.

One that Amir knew of.

This was just the beginning.