Struck by the most unbeatable pain, you managed to stumble into the office and grabbed the edge of Heimerdinger's desk for support.

A slight bloody imprint of your hand was left as you caught your breath and moved on.

The first time you had been in this place, Heimerdinger had spent a good amount of time going through his shelf space.

You suspected that those were the places to look for if you needed to steal research and technical drawings.

But that wasn't what you had come for.

Your eyes jumped through the room, restless, almost pressured, as if a wild animal was sitting in your neck. The beating of your heart was as fast as it hasn't been since the day you had found out that diseases and death were slowly bringing you to your knees.

Everything hurt, the cut in your hand, the movements of your chest when you took a breath, even standing on your feet came wirth some sort of discomfort. And yet, all you could focus on was the ringing inside your head.

You needed to get Silco his ingredients.

But your physical state started to worsen drastically.

You wanted to take a step towards the shelves, just to check if there was something that could have been of use, and almost fell over as your legs gave in.

With a surprised gasp, you managed to catch yourself and grab one of the armchairs for support.

Blood smeared all over the fine leather.

"Fuck...", you cursed while a trail of sweat rolled from your forehead and down to your nose where it dangled in the form of a perfect crystal clear pearl. "No... No, what is happening?"

As soon as the question left your lips, your heart pulled together.

The pain was so inhuman that you couldn't help but collapse, a soft scream leaving your lips.

Twisting and turning, you grabbed your chest in an attempt to keep the torture at bay. But it was no use. Blood started to crawl up your throat while your entire body stiffened.

Within breaths you weren't able to move anymore.

An icy feeling wrapped around you.

"No.", you begged, panic tying your throat. "Not now... Not... like this..."

With all of your last strength you managed to force your shaky hand down your pocket and wrapped your fingers around the gift that Sevika had given you.

Cold glass nestled into the palm of your hand.

It felt like a kiss, but a poisonous one.

But what else was there to fear?

You were laying on the floor, shaking, not master of your own senses no more, while the irony taste of blood crawled up your throat and threatened to pour all over the floor.

Even if this wasn't a good decision, it was the only option you had.

Either this or dying like a rotten little rat on the floor of a legend.

You wouldn't be more than vermin. They'd gather your remains and throw you right back down to the Undercity. If they'd even do that and not throw the leftovers into the river for the monsters to feast on.

You wouldn't even be a body to bury for them.

You couldn't go out like this.

You wanted to leave this office and return to the hall.

You wanted to see what Viktor invented.

You wanted to hear people hold their breaths and be amazed by the man you loved more than a thousand stars.

You wanted to see Viktor smile at you with pride.

One last time.

Just one last time you wanted to see him smile. Smile for you.

Hot tears ran down your face, both born from pain and despair, as you managed to pull out the glass container with the purple liquid in it.

With the help of your teeth you cracked the lid open. Almost immediately, an unpleasant smell of acid hit your face.

Pulling a face, you squeezed your eyes shut, pushed the urge to throw up into the furthest corner of your being and set lips on the edge of the container to take a careful, almost frightened first sip.

It didn't taste good.

In fact, it didn't even taste remotely consumable. It was as if all the bad things, all the evils and disgusting cruelties that lurked in the darkest shadows of Zaun had been caught and put into this liquid.

You were barely able to finish half of it as your body finally reacted to the crime that you committed against yourself and a wave of nausea made you choke.

Out of reflex, you dropped the glass, the remaining contents spilling all over the floor, and pressed a hand to your mouth and nose to keep everything inside.

A violent cough knocked at your throat, mixed with the urge to empty your stomach all together.

It took you a moment but you managed to keep everything inside and swallowed hard.

The pain died down.

Exhausted, you closed your eyes, let out a deep sigh and collapsed on the floor again.

The icy cold touch of the marble floor seeped into your bones. It was like a hug of death, a promise of what was about to come.

Silence spread in your head.

The ringing in your ears toned down.

For a brief moment, you felt nothing. Everything was light and without a single worry.

You could breath, no pain, no pressure.

The scratching inside your throat was gone.

But there was something else instead.

It was strange, but your body didn't feel like your body anymore. It was as if something else started to slowly take over.

A dull feeling grew through your limbs, like the branches of poison ivy. It dug into your muscles, took over and wanted to take control.

Your fingers twitched all by themselves. You didn't even order them to. They just moved.

The urge to react to something grew inside of your body.

Aggression made your heart beat faster.

Where did that come from?

A mere minute ago you were at the verge of death and now there was this thirst for blood tying your throat.

All at once, your eyes snapped open.

They shimmered in a poisonous purple.