Later That Evening.

Namar walked through noisy streets, dodging rampant children as they played and receiving cheers from random passersby. He moved quickly through the streets eager to wake up tomorrow and pursue a career as some kind of magical blacksmith, he didn't worry too much about the details, what mattered to him was that a mage had far better chances of achieving wealth and fame. Even if it meant leaving behind the craft he’d been practicing for his whole life, though it would be a shame, he’d do it. There were other ways to go about this fame and fortune thing, maybe he'd be a battlemage, or an adventurer, but he would’ve preferred to stick to what he knew. Fortunately Namar had heard in the past about legendary enchanted weapons and armor, and someone had to make those right?

He opened the door to his house and headed for the stairs.

"Namar! Get over here.” Mother called out from the living room.

“Sure.”

He walked briskly down the stairs and into the living room, startled to find that the host mage was sitting on a table across from mom and dad.

“Uh… Greetings m’lord.”

“No need to be so formal. In this house you can refer to me as Aaron, Aaron Jamison. A pleasure to see you again.”

“Right. What exactly are you doing here Mr. Jamison?”

“I was just discussing that with your parents here.” He nodded at dad.

“As it turns out, Aaron here had a gift prepared.”

Namar was skeptical. “Why? Do we know each other?”

Mr. Jamison nodded. “Actually-”

“We’re old friends.” Dad said.

Oh that made more sense.

“I have a truly spectacular gift waiting just for you.”

“What is it? The gift I mean.” Namar asked

“Follow me.” Mr. Jamison stood up and gestured at them all to follow him out the door.

They looked to each other and nodded, following him out the door. He led them towards the outskirts of the town, at this point Namar had a vague idea of where they were going. The farther and farther they went the more certain he was. They stood at the top of the hill, looking down on a solitary willow.

“The memorial, you hid your gift here?” Namar asked.

“No. I hid the key.”

“It’s a piece of the tree isn’t it? that's why you planted it”

“Yes,” he walked beneath the willows golden leaves and looked up, searching for something. “Not only that but it's incredibly beautiful, it's leaves are valuable to those who know what they’re looking for, and the conditions it grows in are… ideal for a gravestone.”

Namar stayed silent.

“Don't dwell on it for too long.” He looked up at a branch and reached outwards with one hand, there was a quiet snap. Slowly, a golden flower fell into Mr. Jamison’s hand.

Reaching into his cloak he pulled out an elixir, containing an opaque sapphire liquid. He sat down, cross legged on the ground and placed the elixir by his side. He slowly pulled apart the golden petals of the flower in his hand.

“You see, what really makes this thing valuable is its flower.”

“You mean flowers.” Mom said.

“No, just the one. In all its lifetime this tree will only bloom once, and from it, there will only be the one.”

He opened the bottle and placed the petals in the elixir, and held it out. The petals fractured, golden light emanating from their form until there was only a subtle glimmer of light. He stood up and offered Namar the bottle.

“What is it?”

“Complete and unending regeneration, rapid recovery from exertion, complete immunity from any and all diseases… In short, what I'm offering you is immortality, and all the benefits that come with it.”

Mom stood in disbelief, unable to move nor speak. Dad on the other hand quickly stepped forward, arms and palms facing outwards as if to stop him.

“Jamison come on wait you can't be serious.”

“I'm dead serious Salamn.” Mr. Jamison fixed him in place with a stare.

“But we couldn't possibly I mean…”

“I owe you more than you could ever know, this.” He gestured to the elixir in his hand. “This is how I can repay you.”

“You’re not still on about that are you? I mean this memorial was more than enough, it kept us healthy when the plagues broke out. You’ve already repaid your debt.”

“This is just a part of that.”

“You’re really not going to let this go until you do this?”

Mr. Jamison shook his head. Father stepped aside and Mr. Jamison looked to Namar. “So, how about it? Would you be interested in an immortal life?”

Namar stopped to think, then a wide smile spread across his face.

“Tell me, do you know how to make more of this elixir?”

Mr. Jamison shook his head. “The family I confiscated it from destroyed the notes before we could get to it.”

Namar's smile grew even wider. “Imagine how great it would be if such an Elixir were made available to the public, even better, if I were the one to sell it to them.”

“Are you really sure you want to go down that rabbit hole? When we confiscated it we found things… mangled corpses, a cabinet full of hearts, animals dissected, labeled and placed into jars, I’m certain that wasn't the extent of it. The ceiling caved in before we could see the rest.”

“Where there's a will there's a way Mr. Jamison, I'm certain I could find an alternate solution. Hold onto that for me will you? I'll be certain to return and study it one day.”

“Alright.”

And while Namar’s smile grew ever more radiant, the frown on Mr. Jamison’s, grew ever more grim.