When the plague began, Duke Prospero’s son and heir to his throne, prince Prospero, was away from their castle in the newly constructed well fortified abbey that the King ordered his son to go to for protection from “The Red Death”. Not only for his own safety but so the Duke could protect his bloodline and secure his family’s wealth and power for generations to come. Sadly Duke Prospero had no idea what fate had met his son in the abbey.
The Prince was never happy to leave his home but the Duke made sure the prince could take most everything he desired. But the prince made the best of what he could. He brought plenty to keep himself satisfied. All of the lavish items, decor, he even forced most of his friends to come with.
After sending his son to the Abbey, The Duke agreed to visit his son every 3 months to make sure all was well and that the Duke’s Bloodline was secure. As the Duke had his servants prepare for the long journey, There was talk of a rumor that the Plague had spread to a neighboring village of the abbey and that the abbey was in danger of being breached due to the unrest of that village seeking refuge. Once the duke was made aware of these rumors, thoughts of his son being infected rushed into his mind like a stampede. The thought of his son dying was the worst ideas that he could muster. Not only was his only sons life at stake but his kingdom, his legacy, and everything he had worked for was at risk.
Once he heard these rumors he hurried his servants along to hasten the journey
“Hurry peasants! We must make haste as our kingdom is at stake if these rumors prove true!” He yelled at them. Not many of the servants very much liked their current “kingdom” or duke for that matter so they didn’t hurry much more than they were. The Duke didn’t seem to notice much as he was too busy worrying about almost everything in his life.
The nearly two day journey began and it was on its way to the abbey. The carriage the king rode in was  black and had gold trimming around the edges. The carriage was strangely shaped and was definitely a reflection of his strange tastes.  As the carriage hurried along the axles made a strange rattling sound as if something was off about them. The head servant of the duke was riding with him and could tell that the duke was worrying about his son and his standing as a duke.
“I’m sure everything will be fine, sir”
“You don’t know how much of an issue this is, you’re but a servant. You couldn’t even hardly grasp it. So silence yourself.”
The servant was surprised to hear the duke be so firm. Usually he was friendly and unlike now, almost respectful and thankful to his servants.
The carriage then fell silent after the duke had spoken and remained that way for the rest of the journey.
Every few hours the duke would check his stopwatch to check the time. He had a matching clock in one of the rooms in the abbey. The stopwatch was a dark ebony and had calligraphy roman numerals for the numbers and very decorative hands. As he checked the time it was midnight and a cold breeze drifted in from outside the carriage. It was a dark cold night and it was oddly silent. When there was a sound it was ravens whose erie sqwaks came from the trees the seemed a lot louder on this night but the duke thought nothing of it because they had nearly arrived at the Abbey.
When they arrived it was silent. There was no one in sight, not a guardsmen, not a villager, not a usual transient that comes to the sides of royal carriages to beg. No one.
“Open the gate now!” Screamed the duke making all of the surrounding ravens fly off. there were too many to count any noise made seemed to make them come out of nowhere, squawk and fly off.  The knights servants and guards opened the gate and The Duke immediately left the carriage and Ran into the abbey, without guards or servants following because in the haste to find his son the duke did not seem to notice what the servants and guards were stunned by, The bodies. Everywhere. Soon the king saw them but didn’t care. In his mind he was hoping his son would be gone, still clinging to life or even in the hopes his son was untouched and fine.
He searched the Abbey and went into the main hall. Down the corridor he searched every room. In the Blue room? Nothing...The Purple room? Empty...  The Green? Nothing but the stench of the bodies… The orange? No. Where could The prince be? The white room? Of course, empty. And there 6th room, the violet, stood a tall figure Which had its arm extended and pointing  to the wall which was in between the violet room and the final room. So the duke duly noted the figure and only noticed it pointing  he didn't think much of it because he simply was not thinking straight.
In that next room over, The ebony room, was his son… Prince prospero! The duke had found him! And then it hit him. The Duke noticed his son was gone. Not only his son… his legacy, His legacy, his heir and his right to rule… Gone.
After his hour or so of complete sulking and sorrow came the footsteps… And there stood the figure. The same figure that pointed the duke to anguish.  The Duke stood in terror and had realized that this was the menace that did all this, and that was the last thought that ever crossed the mind of the duke.

Sequel to “Masque of the Red Death”
By Ryan McDonald and Nate Capistrant