"Are you even Parath of the Fallen old man?"
Prince's eyes resembled that of a rabid dog.
Noticing Prince's unwelcoming gaze Parath responded.
"I swear on the Fallen boy - I am Parath."
Parath chuckled.
Prince didn't move.
His eyes were meeting Parath's own.
But were they?
Meeting Parath's gaze yet not being there to meet him.
What disrespectful eyes you have Prince!
Parath of the Fallen, swearing on the Fallen. This bastard - thinks he's funny.
Parath interrupted him, "Prince my dear boy! Do you not feel fear?"
Prince's heart was stabbed but the blood didn't flow from the crack - there was none.
"Do I? Would I be a liar to say I did? Well the truth is I feel no fear."
Prince's words rolled off his tongue with brimming confidence and certainty.
Parath's eyes grew curious.
"Why, how marvelous! You did truly mean it! But don't lie to me boy, I can see through your murky waters, your blacked heart, water flows underneath, a stream - clear water."
Prince tolerated the man's assumption.
Me? A coward? Bastard you don't know me, I have walked through the gates of hell and have edged the border of the living. My heart is as black as charcoal, if there is a liquid which runs underneath, it would be tar!
Parath studied Prince, "You seem lost in your head boy, if you have something to say - say it! Speak your mind from your soul, I don't have much time left. Make the use of it."
Prince was unmotivated - unconvinced.
"Fine! You bastard, Parath of the Fallen. I despise you! I despise your very being!"
Perhaps he was saying this so confidently because he knew that he wasn't going to leave this room alive lest for a miracle to happen.
Parath grew somber and serious.
"Despise me boy? Do you even know me? Do you even know of my acts, my deeds? Deeds that are shrouded in light and not darkness!"
Prince retorted.
"I have heard enough old man, I have heard of your treacherous acts Parath of the Fallen! Don't think that they haven't reached me! Yes your name may be shrouded in mystery! Especially so here! But there are some who remember your deeds, remember your sins!"
Parath smirked - he sniggered.
"Remember? Boy you were never there, what do you remember?"
Prince's mouth was sewn shut.
"You speak as if you're so high and mighty, as if speaking from an esteemed position and yet, I can see it - clearly so. Your life is just as red and dirty as my own." Parath paused for a moment. "Perhaps not as bloody as my own, but you're well on your way - make no mistake! I can see it, there's no glimmer in your eyes, you bastard."
Prince's blood warmed.
"Glimmer? You think I'd have kept my shine after spending all these years like a rat? You stupid old man, not everyone is as blessed as you!"
Prince hesitated - just barely, so bare, it was a fraction of a second.
You have superpowers!
He finished his sentence.
"You have other-worldly powers!"
Parath chuckled.
"You really are a boy aren't you Prince. I can see the purity in your heart, the faint trace of it. Tell me why go through the bother of killing it off?"
Prince felt attacked - someone had just taken his blanket from him when he was in bed.
"I didn't kill it… This is just me, another part of me."
Parath looked at him in confusion - looked at him with hidden disappointment.
Parath ignored him.
"Tell me boy, what do you see in me?"
Prince's keen interest was caught by the sudden question.
What do I see in you? I see an old man for crying out loud! I see a legend decomposed to brittle bones. I see someone who bathed in blood, insidious in nature, bastard bones - waste before me. That's what I see.
A dictator, whose power has abandoned him.
But what lay underneath the surface?
Under the surface- a man of grey morality, intelligent too.
"I think you're a rotten scheming bastard."
Parath was unnamused.
"It takes one to know one."
Prince's inner voice was silenced.
What was it?
This fog that veiled his mind, suppressed it.
"Do you want power boy?" Parath asked curiously.
Those words were like food to Prince.
It didn't take a genius to see where this was headed.
Prince read Parath like a book.
But was this a book of fairy tales?
Parath spoke again, "Answer me boy, I don't have much time left, do you wish to bear the sin of power, the weight of it?"
Prince finally spoke, "Doesn't everyone?"
Not an answer Parath expected.
Parath continued to study Prince.
"Why of course Prince - my dear boy. Everyone wants it but not many people get to wield it. So tell me, do you want it?"
Of course I want power bastard! But who says I can trust you? What type of dirty power are you wanting to give me?
Parath repeated, "Do you want my power Prince?"
What a marvelous question !
Prince didn't speak, he had long become a statue too, but his eyes bled with emotion.
I want power but not his.
His throat contracted.
Prince forced it out, " I do want power, but not yours. So don't try and offer it. Why should I carry your cursed and tainted power? Let it die with you."
Parath's face didn't change - not a single sign of emotion, not a trace. But if I could describe it, Parath's face was the board of a chess game.
"And here I thought we were friends, my heart has been impaled with an icicle."
Prince remained silent.
Friends huh, I wish I had a friend. Maybe being friends with this guy isn't so bad. He'd dying after all.
Friends. You don't wish you had friends. What's with the sentimentality, hire my mask once more, it faded so quickly. Did you even use it right?
Prince ignored the voice, instead he steeled himself and answered Parath.
"I don't know you well enough to call you friend. So I'm sorry, some people are better off not to be friends with."
Parath spoke quickly when Prince finished.
"Yes yes boy I agree, but I really don't have time. Take this power I'm giving you, take it as a blessing. Take it from a friend. I really do like you Prince. Please accept my gift."
What a way to sell a curse!