A Drink to Remember [End]

Acheron flipped his blonde hair to the side as he tilted the cup. Then he placed it back onto the table. He scoffed, “But you clearly don’t learn quick enough,”

Liam fell back, “What?”

“Do you think it’s this easy?” Acheron laughed maniacally, “I’M THE KING! Your cheap tricks won’t work on me, what kind of plan was that anyways? Such easy minds, it must so nice living simple,”

His hands grew cold. Liam tried to drag himself back, his legs were weak and his complexion was draining of colour. He’d failed.

An amused chuckle came from the throne. Acheron stepped forward, his powers had grown immensely since they had last been so close to each other, one could feel it through the mere presence of the man. He stopped in front of Liam's desperate legs trying to push him back.

As he leaned forward to grab the poor vermin tainting his floors, a loud scream echoed in the hall. Colinus ran forth, his hands held the hilt as the blade pointed back until he drew it forward to hit Acheron.

The man caught it between his fingers, a small tug and Colinus fell slightly forward. He grounded, trying to slash the blade away or through the Strigoi, but he couldn’t win over this kind of strength.

In a precarious attempt at winning, Colinus chanted an incantation with the breath had left. The blade began glowing and he watched Achron saunter along the blade, up to him.

“How sad,”

Colinus was thrown into one of the pillars, his back hit the fine marble and left a crack. Specks of dust fell from the roof. He laid under it, without moving. Liam freaked out and called for him, “Colinus!”

At the mention of his name, the prince managed to twitch his fingers, reassuring Liam that he was still alive but he didn’t have enough energy to even sit up. Achron moved to stand behind Liam. he leaned down and whispered, “And now?”

Liam flinched at the hot breath against his ear. He switched his position to face the enemy, then he stood up and began backing up until he hit the table with his wrist. He glanced back.

Acheron continued speaking as if he’d fought an army of a hundred and come out a solo champion, “What now, hm? Your plan didn’t work, boo hoo. Why don’t you take a deep breath and appreciate the last sip of air-”

He stopped speaking for a moment when Liam turned around to grab the glass of liquid.

“Oh? You’re going to throw that at me or what?” he cackled, waving his hand around and gasping for air.

Liam stayed quiet. He did take a deep breath, but not as his last. He hoped. He swung the glass to his mouth and drank a mouthful.

“Killing yourself before I do? Is that the grand plan now, eh? Er, so you know, you’re pathetic and I will still be the one to take your life. The prince’s too-”

A deafening silence hit the room. Liam interrupted Acheron by brushing their lips together and forcing the liquid down his throat. When he was pushed away, Liam couldn’t help smirking.

Acheron coughed for a while, he landed on his knees and just as Liam thought he was drifting away into a deep sleep, he stood up again. The smile on his face ran away.

“You thought that would work?” he coughed, “I may be weakened by your efforts, but I will never leave this world on such a simple trick!”

The room grew colder. The coughing continued but it wasn’t just the Strigoi, Liam had begun feeling his throat itching and his eyes closing.

In a last attempt at stopping anything, Liam felt something round which sharp edges scraped against his chest. He pulled it out with his last force, it crushed with his pulling and when he finally dug it out, the emerald Karth had given him was in pieces.

He felt a part in him sink, it was a gift after all. Was this the end? Did he destroy the novel?

A glimmering shimmer from the green pieces dazzled him. As his eyes closed he felt them not wanting to open again. He heard Acheron’s laugh again.

Then he heard his name and a loud blast.

“Liam? Liam!” It was Gwen calling for him. But he couldn’t answer, he was too tired.

The very last voice he heard was Karth, he was also calling his name. “Liam!”

Crying echoed in the grand hall of the castle in Luria. Gwen had tears streaming down her face, they dripped off her chin and onto the clothes of a deeply sleeping Liam. In another corner lay Acheron, also in a deep sleep. His body was wounded.

Through the broken shards of the emerald Karth and Gwen had appeared. Karth was himself once more and the second he was summoned he appeared with an attack stance. His instincts told him to immediately attack and they had been right.

Acheron in a weakened state was easy for Karth to overpower. They’d thrown around some spells and hurtful words but Acheron had fallen in the end. And upon sensing his victory, Karth had seen Liam lying unconscious with Gwen sitting next to him.

And he had called for him. But got no response.

Colinus awakened when he heard familiar voices. His eyes widened when he saw Gwen sobbing and he had dragged himself to Liam in desperation. They were all surrounding his body, it looked like they were mourning him, which in a sense, they did.

Some tears began escaping even Colinus’ tough facade. Only Karth expressed himself through anger instead. He waved his hand and a table blew up, then a chair. In the end it wasn’t enough, he bowed down on one knee next to Liam.

His voice was cold as he said, “You didn’t hold up your end of the bargain,”

The others just watched. Gwen held a tight grip of Liam’s hand, she squeezed tighter as if afraid he will flee away from her.

She wiped away a tear and said, “It can happen like this, can it? There has to be something we can try!” she yelled, desperately.

No one responded to her. Then she suddenly brightened up, sadness was still in her eyes but she had a memory flash past.

“Colin! Come here. Kiss him!” she demanded.

“What?!” Karth and Colinus exclaimed in unison.

Gwen looked tiredly at them, “Liam told me a story. It was about a sleeping beauty fallen into an eternal sleep! She woke from the kiss of a prince!”

Her attempt sounded desperate. It was desperate. But weren't they all?

Colinus leaned forward; his face was inches away from Liam’s. He gathered some courage and strength to lean even closer but he was pulled back and thrown onto the floor.

“Don’t touch him.” Karth decided, if his eyes could kill then Colinus would be split into two.

Gwen grew frustrated at the commotion, “What are you doing?! Let him try,”

Karth glared at them both, then he looked down at Liam’s face. He picked the body up, holding it in his arms as his gaze softened. He narrowed the space between them. Holding him closer. And then he gently placed a kiss on Liam’s lips.

Colinus sat with his mouth agape, there was a rage building within him but another part began wondering, hoping even, that it would work. Those thoughts kept him from interfering. Gwen on the other side felt her blood boil. She stomped forward, forcing Karth to release Liam as they engaged in a battle of glares and soon to be magical attacks.

“What-” a silent voice coughed.

The gazes in the room collectively fell on Liam who blinked a few times trying to adjust to the brightness of the room. He noticed everyone's teary eyes and figured out the rest for himself.

Gwen threw herself into his embrace again, like she had done only hours earlier but she was much more reluctant to let him go this time. Colinus crawled along pieces of chair and table to engage in the hug as well. He caught both in his arms and squeezed tighter with every breath.

“Liam! You, you’re fine? How?” Gwen cried.

Colinus had a puzzled look, he asked Gwen, “Didn’t you say it had to be a prince?”

She turned to him without letting go. Then they both turned to Karth.

“I’m far from a prince,” Karth said, then he gazed at Liam, “Hope it’s not too disappointing,”

The corner of Liam’s mouth raised, then he got a blank look.

“Liam?”

He snapped back, “Ah, yeah. I could hear everything while sleeping. Um, the kiss, it had to be, um, not a prince, but, um-” he shuttered.

Gwen remembered and frantically said out loud, “True love!”

“...”

Everyone’s gaze once more fell on Karth, who shrugged and said, “I don’t mind,”

“Really?” Liam chuckled, “Then you’re stuck with me, you know?”

“You already agreed to marriage, did you not?” Karth added. His comment turned Colinus pale.

“And you even kissed another man,” continued Karth, leaning into being playful.

“Wait, you did what?!” Colinus asked, dissatisfied.

“It’s a lot…” Liam whispered.

It took some time, but the life Luria held soon came back to the lands. The kingdom was built anew and Colinus was crowned King after his father stepped down. His lingering feelings for a childhood friend slowly faded away and new feelings grew within him.

There was a certain doctor he’d met from the Khethovian clan. One he wanted to impress and court. Gwen decided adventure was the life for her. She left the kingdom, returning as often as she could for visits; each time she brought with her stories and items to show off her travels.

Karth and Liam didn’t get married. Liam called off the engagement, arguing that he wanted them both to be present in mind. Karth warned him, he’d make it more dramatic this time if Liam waited for too long. But they were happy.

Liam never managed to leave the novel; but home wasn’t outside of it anymore, home was here.

The End

End Notes:

I just wanna thank the three people that for some reason read through this story, much appreciated<3 I'm sorry it became very rushed, time management isn't a skill of mine and I ended up practically writing a quarter of the story the day of the deadline for the contest. (And here I thought I could work on that skill by joining the contest, but I ended up leaving so much to the last second, opsie)

Thank you for reading!