Twelve Seconds
{Fire}
The first time I witnessed death, I was seven.
It had been during my first month of poison training, and my sensei had wanted to demonstrate the effects of potassium cyanide. He'd injected a syringe-full of the clear toxin into an already old and dying fox. We watched as it seized, froze, and died, all in a matter of minutes.
Potassium cyanide was the second fastest working poison in the world, my sensei had explained to me as the fox twitched possessedly on the ground. I watched with wide eyes as its muscles spasmed even after its death.
Sensei then went on to tell me of the only toxin faster than cyanide. The world's most infamous poison – the dreaded Draxio Miyuri Toxin.
Named for its inventor, Yurama Miyuri, DMT could stop a full grown man's heart in just under twelve seconds, a revolutionary feat. Its closest competitor, cyanide, took at least a minute to register. Once Draxio Miyuri entered the blood stream, there was no way of stopping it. Even if someone managed to concoct a cure, there was no way to administer it before the toxin took its victim.
DMT was the world's most feared poison, and not only because of its staggering death rate. Only one man knew how to make it – Miyuri himself. He safeguarded the poison, revealing its makings to no one until his death, when he passed it on solely to his son.
It was then, after hearing of Yurama Miyuri's deadly talent, that I became enthralled with the art of poisoneering. Poisons fascinated me. The idea that a life could be ended to quickly, so detachedly, sent my mind whirring. The notion that a simple compound, carefully mapped and painstakingly mixed, could stop a man's heart in such a short amount of time changed the way I viewed the entire world around me.
Draxio Miyuri, the twelve second killer, ignited a fire within me that wouldn't be stopped. And I fed that fire, I nurtured it, let it breathe and grow. I thought that the fire would help me, thought it would lead me to the greatness I so coveted. I thought I could control that flame.
But as is the way of fire, it burned and scorched me. And then it consumed everything in its path.
This story was formerly called "Black and White". I've decided to rewrite it and take it in a slightly different direction.
The first few chapters will be rather short, similar in length to this one. They'll basically just explain the backdrop of this whole story - important details that I need to get out of the way before the real story can begin.
Reviews are appreciated.