The Demise of Gorgon Malix (chapter 1)

CW: self-harm

With a breathless sigh, the infamous villain, Lord of the Western Provinces Gorgon Malix, took the final strides up the Stairs of Undying Power, putting him an arms-length away from the Elixir of Immortality. Before he began one of his typical bloviated victory speeches, his attention was swayed by a gossamer, lavender butterfly that momentarily landed on his hand. He briefly pondered the creature's beauty, but found himself puzzled, for the butterfly reminded him of someone, yet he could not recall who or why. As a man with many enemies, a sudden sense of familiarity was never a good thing, it often signaled an old enemy in an ineffective disguise. Yes, even butterflies could not be trusted.

But this day, no enemy, not even the most powerful one, had to be feared, for Gorgon Malix himself was mere seconds away from becoming immortal. Finger by finger, he removed tight leather gloves. First he freed the left hand, then the right hand. He took a deep breath in and glanced over his shoulder. All he saw was the brilliant green of the forest; all he heard was the wind and intermittent buzzes of various insects. He was filled with not an insignificant amount of disappointment, for he had hoped his archenemies would be near enough to witness this divine moment. As much as he wanted to watch the despair on their plebeian faces as he drank the elixir, he knew better than to let his enemies get too near before becoming immortal, so he decided he could wait no longer.

He begrudgingly grabbed the elixir from the branch it was poised upon. It was self-contained in a sphere that rippled as he laid his hands on it. A smile bigger and more sinister than any he had ever donned, spread from cheek to cheek. As he brought the sphere to his lips, he heard the cracking of branches from below. The loyal and indefatigable knight, Winston Rendlesham, had arrived.

“Don’t you dare drink that!” the knight bellowed helplessly from below.

Gorgon Malix spun on his heel with glee. “Finally, you are here to witness my ascension to immortality! You must feel endlessly hopeless now! Bask in your despair!” Without a further word, he sunk his teeth into the sphere and devoured its oozing contents. After he drank the last drop, The Immortal Lord of the Western Provinces, Gorgon Malix, descended the Stairs of Undying Power with the proper, maniacal laugh of a triumphant villain.

At the base of the tree, Rendlesham had been joined by a few of his fellow knights as well as his good friend, Mati the Small but Brave.

Malix took a deliberate pause as he reached the last five steps before the forest floor.

“You have two choices, Rendlesham,” he stepped down.

“You can surrender to me.”

Another step.

“And become my loyal servant,” he stepped again.

“Or,” he lingered on the word and took the penultimate step.

“You can die by my hand.”

He placed both feet on the forest floor and waited for their reactions, but the expected cries and screams did not come. Malix had been so sure that he would be met with faces filled with terror, that he had not yet looked in the eyes of his victims. When at last he did look up, he found that their faces did not show fear or despair. On the contrary, a few of the knights looked relieved and Rendlesham silently smirked.

The smile vanished from Malix’s face. “What is this ruse? Why aren’t you cowering before me? Did you miss the part where I, your archnemesis, became immortal?”

“Is someone going to tell him?” Mati asked in her quiet, monotone way.

“Tell me what?” Malix demanded as he lowered his brow.

It was Rendlesham’s turn to laugh now and his laugh was every bit as villainous as Malix’s laugh had been minutes ago. “Oh, he’ll find out soon. It should take effect any second now.”

“What’s going to take effect? What have you done, Rendlesham? What could you have done? I am immortal now!” Malix raised his voice, which sounded far more panicked than he intended.

Rendlesham let out a satisfied little hum. “Maybe it’s already working. You see the thing is, Alex, you aren’t immortal. Mati beat you to the top of the stairs and switched out the elixir.”

Gorgon Malix’s face went white and he grabbed at his throat. Now he knew why that butterfly had seemed familiar, and all the terror and despair he had wished on his enemies washed over him instead. “No, no, no, no!” he yelled frantically, “what have you done? What did I drink?”

“You’ll know soon enough, Alex. It already seems to be working.” Rendlesham’s grin grew wider and wider.

There was no question anymore, this was no ruse. All the denial that Malix had clung to melted away, leaving nothing but hopelessness in its wake. “Why do I feel this way? What have you done? What has happened to me?”

The visceral look of terror in Malix’s eyes was so powerful, even some of Rendlesham’s knights found it hard to watch. Mati looked away entirely as the villain fell to his knees sobbing.

“FIX IT! FIX IT!” Malix screamed through his sobs as he crawled towards Rendlesham.

Rendlesham kneeled down and put his hand on Malix’s shoulder. “It’s a potion that obliterates your will to live. You know exactly how to fix it, Alex.” Rendlesham drew a dagger from Malix’s belt and handed it to him.

Rendlesham stood and backed away as Malix pressed the dagger into his own stomach. Dark, viscous blood pooled beneath the ruined man as his body slowly slumped into the dirt.

“End…my misery…” Malix begged with strained breath.

Rendlesham paid no heed to the request. He turned his back and nodded to his knights. “Well done everyone, time to move out.”

“Winston…please…help me die…” Malix pleaded again.

Rendlesham glared over his shoulder and scoffed. “Suffer.”

As the knights marched away, Mati mustered the courage to take a glimpse at Malix, after all, she was the one who had delivered the poison. She felt no joy looking at him writhing on the ground. “Winston,” she began softly, “why does it feel like I’ve done the wrong thing?”

“Trust me, he deserves this. Think of all the suffering he caused,” Rendlesham responded.

Still disturbed by the results of her actions, she continued, “and now I have caused suffering. My actions made a person suffer.”

These were the last words Gorgon Malix heard before everything faded away.