Meanwhile, in the bedchamber of the King

You felt yourself breathing in and out as the fever got hotter and hotter. There was no one in the room, nobody. Eleanora had sent away the doctors after you had received treatment; the medicine tasted terrible.

You had begun losing track of time more and more; you slipped in and out of sleep without you knowing what was what. Albrecht has already taken the reins of the kingdom from you, and you cared less and less and less.

Yet somehow, you felt a bit clearer, and your weary eyes spotted a black robe near your bed. Funny, because you hadn't seen or heard anyone opening or closing the door. The figure in the black robe approached you slowly, their face obscured by shadows.

''Ah, hello, Father, are you here to grant absolution?'' You faintly asked.

''In a sense, I am.'' The black-robed figure neared ever closer and closer. Scythe in skeletal hand. An eerie dread fell over you as you suddenly regained the strength to crawl in your bed. His voice was dark, slow, and heavy. His other hand kept his hood for his face still. But you knew damn well who was coming now.

The hood revealed him, a pale skull shielded by a black hood. ''Dietrich von Aldershorst, your time has come. Now I have come to collect my due.'' He threw an hourglass in your hands, and as you turned it upside down, the sand did not fall. Instead, it remained sticking to the upside. And you felt yourself grow weak once more.

''Please, don't. I have yet so much to do, so much to live for.'' You said.

''Those things matter not, not now. You know well who I am, don't you?'' From the eye sockets of the skull, two lights lit up.

''Freund Hain, the Sensenmann, Magere Hain, Death. So you have come for me. Do pray tell, then, what fate awaits me beyond the veil of life?'' You asked, your voice barely a whisper as you felt Death's cold presence enveloping you.
''That is not for me to decide. Your time has come, and you shall be led before your gods for placement in the afterlife.'' Death replied.

''But I don't want to go.'' You said you felt the years fall off you, and you regained strength and vigour you had thought lost to your days of youth. Finally, you stepped out of bed, and, looking at your hands, saw that they were young and healthy once more.

The skeleton in black chuckled. ''You were dead from the moment I entered the room. Why do you think you have lost all that you had gained in old age? During that fateful battle of yours, I watched you, but die you did not do, nay. But I come for all in the end, whether it be through violence or other means.''

You turned angry with a power in your voice you hadn't had for years. ''Begone! Foul spirit! Bringer of nothing but misery and strife, do you take perverse pleasure from tormenting those who you claim are you, being of evil?!