Evil Death

     He halted once he was a foot away from Thade's desk, where Eliv was found poring over a book of anagrams. Thade seemed calm today. Nothing wrong with himself. Well, except for the fact that Thade was half-insane, nothing else was wrong with him.

     "Mr. Thade, sir?" the Gelert squeaked. "I have a riddle for you, Mr. Thade." Eliv seemed to not be paying attention. "Mr. Thade?" the Gelert repeated.

     "Yes, yes, I'll do your riddle," Eliv said, looking up from his book. "Well? What are you waiting for? Out with it." The Gelert smiled and took a deep breath before saying the riddle.

     "There was a man who-"

     "He was dreaming," Thade said without any sense of difficulty in his voice. The poor Gelert lowered his head and sulked. "Well, clever of me. But since I solved your riddle-"

     "Oh, please, sir!" the Gelert yelled. "Please, don't make me pay your fine!" Eliv leaned back on his chair. He was enjoying this.

     "Worthless Neopet, you know the rules. If I solve your riddle, you must pay me. If I don't, I must pay you all my money. Now fork over the 1,000 neopoints." The Gelert went down on his knees.

     "Please! I cannot give you my neopoints! My family is poor, and we must spend all the neopoints we have just for things we need! I cannot pay you! I'll do anything!" Thade held back a laugh.

     "You'll do anything? Either be my servant or pay the fine!" The Gelert was crying now.

     "Oh, Mr. Thade, I cannot do either! What if I pay you later? Let's say I have a week or take me from my family and keep me here as a servant?" Thade looked interested.

     "Alright, pay my fine by Sunday, one week from now, or you'll be arrested and made my servant." The Gelert nodded, wiped his eyes, and ran out of the door. Thade gave in and burst into laughter. It was too funny. Seeing the helpless beg on bended knees. Thade straightened himself up again as an Acara maiden entered Eliv's Library.

     "Eliv? Can I trouble you for a riddle?" she asked in her sweetest voice ever.

     "Yes, yes. Just don't get any on the carpet. Go ahead." The maiden smiled.

     "I love your jokes, Mr. Eliv. Here's my riddle: Two Nimmos are playing a game of Kacheekers. They play five games and they both win 3 games. How is this possible?" Thade rolled his eyes and sighed.

     "They were playing other people, not each other." Eliv Thade held out his hand for the money. The Acara made an annoyed face, took out a bag of 1,000 neopoints, handed them to Eliv, and stormed out of the room. Thade put his money under his desk along with many other sacks of neopoints. "How much have I made today?" Thade wondered out loud. He crawled under his desk and started counting.

     Two teenage Shoyru boys peeked into the Library. "Mr. Thade, sir? Are you there?" Eliv didn't answer; he was too busy counting his money. One of the boys shrugged. They mumbled and left the room.

     When Eliv was done counting, he got up and yawned. It had been a long day. He headed upstairs to his bedroom and decided to get some sleep.

     The next morning was the same. Neopets came to try their luck against Eliv Thade. But, as usual, they all failed. The only lucky person that morning was Eliv, as he was many neopoints richer.

     The laughter of Thade was heard throughout his castle all day long. Of course, there was one thing, one tiny thing, that got Thade steamed. Two teenagers had robbed him.

     It all started when Thade was in his Library, like usual. There was a knock on his door. "Come in!" Thade yelled with a hint of glee in his voice. The door opened and one of the two Shoyru boys walked in and up to Thade. The boy seemed to be shaking.

     "Calm down, boy," Eliv said. He disliked seeing young Neopets sad. Now, older Neopets made him laugh, but little children seemed to win Eliv over. "Now, I suppose you're here to tell me a riddle." The Shoyru nodded. He looked up at the ceiling and secretly winked at his brother. The other Shoyru boy had flown into the tall room, flying with the blue ceiling. The Shoyru was the same shade of blue, so he could hardly be seen.

     "Right then," Thade said, leaning back on his chair. "Give it a go. But first, you have the money, right?"

     "Yes, sir," the Shoyru said weakly. "Er, alright… Let's say you are in a room with no windows, doors, or fireplace…"

     Meanwhile, the other Shoyru was creeping down the wall behind Thade. Eliv had no awareness of the other Shoyru. The boy snuck up behind Thade and under his chair, grabbing four bags of 1,000 neopoints. He smiled, crawled back from under the desk and chair moving back and gave his brother a wink.

     "…so what do you light first?" the Shoyru concluded. Thade gave a nod.

     "Well, I'm afraid I know the answer to your riddle. You light the match first. Everyone knows- what are you doing?" The Shoyru had stepped back several feet, his arms in the air.

     "Mr. Thade, I bid you a good day." Thade gave a confused look as four bags of neopoints flew through the air and a Shoyru soared over his head. The two caught two bags each and flew out the door. After that, Thade was really, really annoyed.

     *****

     Not a lot of people visited Thade to tell their riddles anymore. He had outsmarted every single villager so far. All his servants had had goes at him, but no one could stump the great Eliv Thade. Until that day. That rainy day.

     Like usual, Thade was sitting in his Library at his desk. He was still annoyed about being robbed, and no one had told their riddles to him lately, so he actually smiled when there was a knock on his door. "Come in!" Thade said gleefully. His servant, Majia the Ixi opened the door and walked in. The happiness inside Thade faded. "Oh, it's just you."

     "Thade, I have a riddle for you." Thade smiled again. Without telling him to, Majia started the riddle. "Many years ago, a Kacheek was born into the world. His name was too horrible to be said, so his parents, friends, and people around him always called him by an anagram of his name. Who is this Kacheek and what was his name? His real name, not his anagram name."

     Thade smirked and said, "That's easy, it's…" Thade stopped in mid-air. His first expression was confusion, but he shook it off and smiled again. "The answer is clear. It's…" He paused again. "The answer…" What was the answer?

     Majia smiled sweetly, but also in a mockingly way. "Ah, the answer is…?" Thade glared at Majia. His mind raced.

     "It's…it's…"

     "Yes?"

     "I'm getting to it!"

     "What's your answer, Thade?" asked Majia in one last sing-song voice. Eliv narrowed his eyes at the Ixi. He stood up out of his seat, knocking the chair backwards.

     "I do not have the answer now," Eliv roared, "but I will find it. You mark my words, I will. Now, get out! Majia, get out! I have studying to do…" Thade walked around his table and starting pushing Majia towards the door. Majia let Thade push her out and slam the door behind her. She knew Thade would never come up with the answer.

     And he never did.

     He worked day in and day out researching for the answer. He literally worked to death. One night, he went completely insane and died. After a while, all his servants and maids left. Before Majia left, she took 20,000 neopoints as her "reward" from Eliv's piles of money.

     Decades passed. Spring became summer, summer became autumn, autumn became winter, and winter became spring. The abandoned castle was left abandoned, and the puzzle was never solved. And because no one solved it, Eliv would never know that he was the Kacheek, and his name was Evil Death.

The End