The duke stopped in front of Vladimir, "I'm pretty sure you heard me, why are you still kneeling" the duke said with a puzzle tone.
"Fa...ther your au...ra", Vladimir said in an extremely laboured tone, he was struggling to breathe.
The duke walked back to his throne with the same amount of grace he descended with, as he sat back down Vladimir regained his ability to breathe once more.
"Pardon my weakness, father" Vladimir said, he was ashamed of his lack of power he couldn't even stand the full extent of his father's aura without being on the brink of death.
"It's getting harder to suppress my aura the closer I get to death," The duke said blatantly as if he wasn't talking about his own death
The news hit Vladimir like a speeding train, he stood there emotionlessly but his mind was in turmoil. "how long do you have left" Vladimir asked with a clenched fist.
"About half a century or more" the duke said nonchalantly with his face resting on the palm of his hand which was supported by the armrest of the black obsidian throne.
"Enough of the gloomy nonsense" the duke said while waving his hand, he leaned forward slightly "Did you find it?" the duke asked in a hushed tone.
"The tunnels were there as you said but I didn't find the devil's flame down there" Vladimir said, he said nothing about Sheila and Jake he was looking out for himself even in the presence of his dying father. "Do you think it could have been stolen father" Vladimir asked.
"Its highly unlikely, the ancient text stated it was there, maybe it simply died out, it has been a 5 thousand years since it was last seen" the duke said with a puzzled expression.