ACT ONE
SCENE 1
MORTIFERUM is located in the green garden of his colossal mansion. He resides in a metal chair while watching the vast tobacco field that is before him. MORTIFERUM replicates on canvas the picturesque view of the tobacco field that is lighted by the evening’s sun.
MORTIFERUM: (to himself) Will I ever become the master? How can I rule the world? Shall I do what the others would not to acquire what I desire? There is nothing that I long for but the land of Italy. I wish to have power over my beloved Florence and over all that the country contains. By having the lands of Italy, I will become the master of the world. I have come up with a way to get what I truly yearn, but I still am not sure if that will fulfill my dream, if it will satisfy my vaulting ambition.
The prudent old man RECTUS slowly walks towards the surprised MORTIFERUM. MORTIFERUM stops painting.
MORTIFERUM: Dear old Rectus, what is it that brings you back to the place that you swore you would never want to see with your living eyes just the other day? (surprised) What is it that brings you to the man whom you are attached to but simply cannot admit the truth of which you are well aware?
RECTUS: Don’t even bother insulting this old man, Mortiferum. I had enough of your egotistical and vindictive nature yesterday. I have come for a sole reason. There is no other purpose for me to be here, besides that.
MORTIFERUM: “Mortiferum?” (shocked) You immediately went from “my child” to only “Mortiferum”… I see, and oh, do not be foolish! I was not egotistical yesterday. In fact, all I said was that you would become the right-hand man of the Italian who will first become a master of Italy and then the master of the world. (laughs and lights a cigar)
RECTUS: (confidently) It is only the man who believes they could rule the world that is foolish. One cannot just reach and attain the power that is in God’s hands.
MORTIFERUM: (angrily) I have, indeed, known you for ages, and all you ever praise is God. What about the human who is mortal yet can achieve all and destroy God’s nature? One can, indeed, be a master of the world because there is no God to rule it. It is solely men who can have the world under their legs. It is I who will attain that which, according to you, is impossible.
RECTUS: Oh, not impossible by nature Mortiferum. Simply unreachable by men, and even if it is attainable, it is, surely, destructive.
MORTIFERUM comes closer to RECTUS.
MORTIFERUM: What has brought you here then? (whispers) Did you come from wherever you are staying just to speak nonsense to me again? Where are you even staying, old man? For the last twenty years or so you have been staying in the mansion.
RECTUS: My current residing place should not be your concern, my chil- oh, Mortiferum. I have not come here to discuss where I live after being dismissed from the house that I helped build.
MORTIFERUM gestures to the chair that is beside him, thus suggesting that RECTUS should place his wearied body beside his.
MORTIFERUM: Why did you come then? I implore that you tell me immediately! (raises his voice) What made you come back after yesterday’s fight? And all truth be told, I did not dismiss you, it was your choice to leave!
RECTUS: You did not dismiss me directly Mortiferum, but your ideas and actions made me leave. I did not and still do not wish to be near a man who would go as far as poisoning someone.
MORTIFERUM: Again about that? I thought we ended that conversation yesterday when you stormed out of the room in the most vulgar way.
RECTUS: Oh no, it is exactly that which brought me back to you, Mortiferum. (gasps) I have come to unveil the cunning truth before you… the truth that you are unaware of! I have come to talk about your plan to become the master of the world by killing all of its inhabitants with poison placed in the tobacco of your cigars and other products.
MORTIFERUM: Well, I told you yesterday, and I will say it again. I am not going to kill people; indeed, I am going to delimit them of their fundamental abilities. I will only influence them and make sure they do not get in my way. The poison in my tobacco will make them my puppets and me the master! After all, this is not solely my idea. I am just bringing to life some of Machiavelli’s thoughts that are blossoming in his “Prince.” (fixes his hair)
RECTUS: (bitterly) Excuse me? You are not going to kill them, but poison them? And why do you keep saying them? I am them as well. I am a human who could easily be poisoned by your tobacco… and, in fact, I…(sighs)
MORTIFERUM: What are you saying old Rectus? Why are you so furious and angry? You, in fact, what?
RECTUS: Listen carefully now. Remember yesterday when you told me how you had already released your poison and put it in the country’s tobacco and in other products... (stops) …Well, before you revealed your brutal deed, I had asked the workers to allow me to have a smoke of the cigar. I was mesmerized by its taste. It was very addictive. You then proceeded to tell me that there could be many symptoms and results of the poison, one of them being vomiting. Now, my child, you may guess what happened this morning. Or better, let me tell you that when I woke up, I could not abandon my bed because I could not stop my nausea and vomiting. (he places his hand over his oval stomach)
MORTIFERUM: That is nonsense Rectus! You could’ve been vomiting from food or any other thing but poison. And why did you get the cigar? I knew you were not a smoker. I knew you would not put such a thing in your mouth, and that is why I first chose to put the poison in the tobacco of the cigars. I never anticipated the poison to reach you. However, even if you consumed the poison, it is odd that you vomited. Indeed, the scientists that produced the poison informed me that only two people in a million could develop such a symptom that could potentially lead to death. (concerned)
RECTUS slowly leans from his chair towards MORTIFERUM
RECTUS: I wanted to try your cigar at least once before I get too old and withered. I presume that was my mistake. I am sure I was not vomiting from food, but from your poison! The vomit was dark brown, just like you had described it.
MORTIFERUM: Oh, no!
RECTUS: Mortiferum, if only two people could develop such a deadly reaction to your poison, then, undoubtedly I am one of them.
RECTUS moves in his chair as he cannot stay balanced.
MORTIFERUM: There is always a place for doubt. I do not believe that.
RECTUS: You believe in what man must not, and do not believe in what man must. I solicit you to open your eyes! (pause)
MORTIFERUM: (confused) Why are you moving in your chair, old man?
RECTUS: I am moving? Can’t you see I am standing still in one position?
MORTIFERUM: No, no, no, no, no. Please no. (cries in realisation)
MORTIFERUM jumps out of his chair and grabs the old wise man in his arms.
RECTUS: Mortiferum, oh my dear child Mortiferum, I cannot feel my body. I cannot feel my hands or my legs. (complains worryingly) Oh, I really need to vomit. Let me leave your hands, I do not wish to see you in puke. I do not wish to see your favorite striped suit in puke.
MORTIFERUM: No, Rectus, you cannot leave my hands. I always thought of you as my father after my dad passed; therefore, it would not matter if I was covered in puke. Is this your second urge to vomit today?
RECTUS: Oh, yes, it is. My child, come closer and listen… listen to what I have to say. (says shakingly then stops)
MORTIFERUM: I am listening, old papa.
RECTUS: (stops) Finally you called me papa after all of these years. (a smile appears on his face)
MORTIFERUM: Speak your soul papa, tell me all that you have to say.
RECTUS: My child Mortiferum, you have now poisoned me forever. You did not wish to see me in this condition, but here we are. Your vaulting ambition has not only possibly affected “them” but me too. I know that you care for me, but you hurt me! Your lust for power and desire to be the master is taking away the only people whom you love.
MORTIFERUM: (saddened and shocked) People? Who is my plan to become the master robbing me from? Who is it taking away from me? It is only you and my wife whom I love.
RECTUS: Oh, Mortiferum. Before I came here to the garden, I went up to your wife’s room to say my final goodbyes. However, when I saw her, she was lying lifeless on the floor. Veritas was covered in dark brown-colored puke. She was, indeed, the second person who developed your precalculated symptoms. She smoked a cigar and became your pawn.
MORTIFERUM: No, that is not true; that is impossible!
RECTUS: It is the truth my son. You have not seen her in the last 5 hours, right?
MORTIFERUM: Right.
RECTUS is frail. He starts moving uncontrollably and finally pukes over MORTIFERUM.
RECTUS: Mortiferum, I cannot breathe.
MORTIFERUM: (worried) Papa!
RECTUS: Mortiferum, I have cared for you since you were a youngster. I taught you how to paint those picturesque paintings, how to read and write. However, now I come to wonder if I made a mistake while raising you. I wonder if you became the selfish brute who would kill innocent mortals because of me. If I had influenced this development, may God punish me for eternity. May I burn in hell forever!
MORTIFERUM: Rectus, all that is righteous about me comes from you. I bring trouble upon myself.
RECTUS: Mortiferum, you will soon become the master of Florence and the master of the world. You will have all the lands under your legs, and all people would soon be poisoned and under your rule. Mortiferum’s vaulting ambition will finally be satisfied. My green eyes see the future and say you will be a solitary man. You will be walking the planet alone without the two people whom you loved and who loved you. Mortiferum, you will become the master of the world, but there will be no good men to follow your rule. You will have the world and all that it contains. You will have cities of lifeless and dysfunctional bodies. Think if you would like to be the master of the world again… You are the cause for my pain. You are the cause for my deat-
RECTUS drops his head on MORTIFERUM’S chest and dies. MORTIFERUM unbuttons RECTUS’ shirt to check for his pulse.
MORTIFERUM: (to Rectus) Rectus! Rectus! Rectus! Do not leave me! I beg that you stay with me! Please, Rectus. (hugs Rectus’ corpse) What am I going to do without you now? What am I going to do alone? My mom abandoned me; my dad left me. Now you? And my wife? Ahhh, please do not leave!
MORTIFERUM grabs the vase of white roses that is on the table and throws it in the distance.
MORTIFERUM: (to the audience) Oh, what have I done with my life? My vaulting ambition has been satisfied, but my life has been destroyed. As Rectus said, I did attempt to reach what is unattainable by men. I wanted to possess all the power; be the master of the world. My desire is my destruction and the destruction of many innocent beings. Oh, if I could go back in time and plant a change in my fortune. If I could suppress my lust for power. Oh, only if I could. My soul has been corrupted, and my vision impaired. I see Veritas now dead. I see the truth before me. I no longer desire to be the master of the world. I wish to purge myself of my sins and recompense for my deadly doings. I wish to repay for being Mortiferum, the deadly man. If God exists, I hope he forgives me and brings me to my wife and my old Rectus.
MORTIFERUM grabs the vase of black roses that sits on the table beside him and chastises himself for what he had done.
THE END
