I love to share my imagination with you :) Also, this is a wonderful opportunity for me to practice my English writing. Ideally, I would love to share one short story/idea a day!
The door creaks open, and a draft disturbs the dense layers of dust, sending them into a casual dance in the musty, spacious library. Atop a stack of leather-bound, weather-beaten books sits a golden chalice with intricate inscription. Driven by curiosity, a man approaches and gently lifts the chalice. He doesn't know how the chalice manages to stay dust-free and pristine, yet one truth resonates: He has found it. In the library dimly lit by pale moonlight, the faint glow from the inscription is calling out to him, and he must answer.
Poverty doesn't discriminate; men, women, and children in tattered clothes are kneeling and leaning against a wall in a dingy alley. Valorianth is a dying city, and aside from the gradually perishing citizens, the buildings are also collapsing. Charlie, an archaeologist who believes he bears a heavy burden to save his city where he was born and raised, knows that there's an opportunity to save his city: hidden deep within the heart of Mason Manor. It is alleged that a chalice exists with the power to grant whoever drinks from it any wish.
However, the local priest and archbishop are completely against Charlie's idea. They believe even if the chalice manages to save their city, it is destined to bring something far worse to the world. Furious and frustrated, Charlie believes his knowledge is more reliable than some old geezers' warnings and decides to hire an expert explorer to sneak into the mansion as dusk arrives.
Now that the chalice is in Charlie's hands, his eyes greedily take in the beautiful artifact as he savors the sensation under his thumbs. But his heart skips a beat when his mind translate the long-lost inscription on the chalice. His memory fails him; all this time, he thought all one has to do is fill the chalice with water and drink from it. Alas, if only the solution to the impending doom of his cherished city could be that easy. Instead, the chalice demands blood.
The worst part is that whoever sheds the blood in the chalice will die by the next sunrise. Determined to rescue his birthplace and live to see it, Charlie slowly reaches for his knife nestled in his drop leg sheath. But the explorer is no one to be trifled with; he senses Charlie's palpable hostility and draws his knife in response. "What the hell are you doing?" he snarls.
Calmly, Charlie asks, "Do you believe in the greater good?"
"What?"
"You know, like sacrificing one for the sake of humanity?"
The explorer snorts, "I have no idea what you're talking about." The explorer clenches his knife, his knuckles turning white. "But I do plan on leaving here alive."
Deep down, Charlie knows it's unfair to the explorer. It's selfish of him to doom someone out of his own crusade. But it's for the greater good, he tries to convince himself. He has to be the one to see his achievement and city reborn from the ashes and thrives. Still... something's gnawing at him - is it guilt, conscience, or arrogance? Doesn't matter, there's only one thing that matters the most for now: he holds the knife firmly and stares at the explorer with an unwavering glare.
There's only one of them leaving this place...
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