In a large hall, suffocated by the necessity for perfect manners and etiquette, stood a solitary chair. Upon that chair sat a great warrior. A king and conqueror of the known world.

If you had heard his legend, you may have heard he was a scar covered giant of a man covered in muscles of steel and bones stronger than adamantite but the bards jest with such words that double as flattery and to add extra amazement to the visage of a hero. In reality the man was smaller but still large, strong but not unnaturally so and calm, without the fire seen in the stories. He also held only a few scars. Each one caused by a master in their field opposed to his rule. Not one had threatened his life. If you knew the man as I did you would know that that chair was the last place he wanted to be. It was, however a place he had to sit.

He was good at managing the affairs of his country and skilled in verbal sparring, though not as much as he was good with a real spar. The man could not afford to lose that seat to a man driven by greed rather than kindness even if it left him as a husk of the man that had struggled from slavery to the ruler of the known world with none of the drive he had once possessed.

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I am honoured to have lived as a servant to such a man.

I am the best in the world at that job. I have heard the confides of my master and know this is the end of his journey in this world. He has chosen his successor and created the system that may preserve that era of prosperity for longer than any mortal may live.

I remembered my last moments with him:

“Marrius,” his voice boomed despite being unable to raise above the volume of a whisper. “you want me to marry you my lord” I joked as I always did knowing that was how he would want me to talk to him in such a serious and private setting. His eyebrow twitched with his body unable to produce the energy for laughter. “I would like to see once more where I was born and die where I promised I would die.” By the time he had finished the request the preparations were already long complete. I had made sure of that. I never needed to reply. He knew I was waiting for him to say that.

It was exactly two days 3 hours and 28 minutes until the old king succumbed to his illness and died. Sitting on the hilltop where he had fought the battle that had cost him his wife.

This was only the first of many legends I had followed and watched slowly fade but it was the story I most loved.

This is the curse of immortality!