In the suburbs surrounding Zarina city, an old man in tattered clothes ran away from something in fear 😱 scrambling here and there for hiding locations. He finally found a small, broken wall and hid behind it.
A bunch of mean looking people arrived and cautiously combed the area for signs of the old man. " Oy, Hephaestus, I know you are here, come out and you may die painlessly else, I am willing to entertain your little hide and seek. " a little girl with a bone chilling expression contrasting her cute experience playfully teased while poking here and there for clues.
~~huff~~ breathing heavily, the old man conjured a crystalline white ball of fire the size of a pea. He sighed in disappointment. I USED TO CONJURE FIRE BALLS THE SIZE OF A CANNON SHOT WITHOUT A CHANT, BUT NOW, A PEA SIZED BALL IS MY LIMIT. I, THE MAJESTIC *AGNI* HAS GROWN SO PATHETIC. I'M HOPELESS. ONLY, I WISH THE BOY SUCCEEDS IN REUNITING THE FLAMES.
He flicked the ball towards one of the assailants causing him to blast like a stun grenade creating a tumult. He then continued to flick fireballs like a pea shooter creating a cacophony of blasting sounds killing all the assassins sent to kill him.
Or, did he?
~~puchi~~ hearing the crisp sound of a balloon popping, the old man bent down to see a dagger peirced deep in his heart only jutting about half an inch out of his body. He turned around and came out of the wall's shadow crawling to see the little girl playing with the 'pea' he shot juggling it between her middle and thumb fingers casually smiling at him.
" Now, old man, game over, hand the white elephant and I'll leave you to rot in the sun. " she tilted her head and smiled in the cutest possible way perfectly complementing her blood stained face.
The old man gaped at her accuracy in piercing his heart without even knowing where he was at all. " Heh, ~~cough~~cough~~ , you meanie grandchild, I already delivered the white elephant to the person who deserves it 😂 😂 😂 haha.... ~~cough~~ "
" Y.. you... 😡 😡, where is the elephant, where...!!!! 😡 😠" the girl yelled till her throat went hoarse yet only got silence in return. She angrily tore the old man's dead body apart like paper and vented her anger by yelling like a mad woman while destroying the surroundings till it resembled a war zone destroyed by an avalanche and left fuming while cursing the oldie to wander like a vengeful ghost forever.
The man who lived the life of an emperor among all the luxuries since birth died a painful death like a wayward beggar without an intact corpse, not even a piece of flesh left to cremate, a worthless death indeed. Yet, all that was there on his face was priceless happiness mixed with excruciating pain at the time of death.