The pitter patter of footsteps behind the heavy gold door alerted the emperor to the fact that there was someone behind the door.
Someone who could hopefully save him.
The emperor was delirious and his vision was blurred. The tears that streamed down his face were stinging his eyes and blinding him. He could taste the salty globular fill his mouth and create a sticky taste that he wished he could forget.
That and the hint of metal he could taste in his mouth. He had been biting his lip so hard that it simply wasn't possible for blood to not be pouring out of the wound.
The emperor truly believed that this was going to be his end. The rats swarming around were approaching him at a steady rate, and the one rat that had come to life from the dead was staring at him with a look that the emperor didn't like one bit.
It looked like it thought he was a snack.
