Vertixio the Magnificent
Vertixio the Drowned
Most people warn against seeing a prophet or fortune teller, often they tell you how your life will end. For the prudent they heed this warning, for the foolish they seek the information in order to avoid their certain doom. Vertixio was the latter. He sought out a fortune teller to see how he may best serve the Shadow Lord and live forever. His dark magic was known all over the land and before the Shadow took over Vertixio was feared and reviled by the people. Once the Shadow possessed the hero Aleksy Cole, things changed and Vertixio rose to great promenence, hailed as the The Shadow Lord's right hand.
The fortune teller was reluctant to tell Vertixio of his fate, for what she saw was a link through worlds to a fate shared by many. A name stood out and she revealed that he wasn't just Vertixio, but an unfortunate being known simply as a Verti. She warned him of water and told him his fate. Vertixio scoffed at the information and believed he could simply pass his curse along to an unwitting bystander. He chose a child of light magic and raised him as a younger brother, naming him Vertissimo. Vertixio convinced the young mage that he was cursed, as he couldn't used shadow magic.
Vertixio, you are a Verti. You shall not be killed by fire, swords, arrows, or magic. You must take care to avoid water. For when you meet your end it will be through drowning
Then I will pass on my curse to another, name him Vertissimo and we’ll be done with this nonsense.
by RandoScorpio, MidJourney
A Fate Unchanged
Vertixio was convinced of his own immortality once Vertissimo was an adult. Believing he'd passed his curse on to the young man. The shadow mage survived stabbings, burns, and other terrible injuries. This did nothing but encourage his fantasy of unending life. Alas, all good things come to an end. After Vertissimo was released from the illusion that the Shadow Lord had planted in his mind he struck out at Vertixio to save the hero Rita Winters from a spell.
Vertixio was knocked off his balance and fell into a giant pitcher plant, the thick pool of water and digestive juices held the struggling mage until the plant closed itself around its prey. And so the fortune teller's vision came true, and Vertixio the Magnificent became Verti the Drowned.
Spooktober Prompts
This is a seperate article for Spooktober explaining the background of my Verti for the 'Drown a Verti' prompt. This article was created mostly so I could link my Verti to the main compilation about Verti the Vagabond and all the other unfortunate Vertis.
This article is a part of the Verti Project.
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