The Death of an Immortal

This is the second chapter of the story.

You can find all chapters’ links by clicking here.

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I follow him up the stairs and into the porch. There is a chair there and a two-seater couch and a coffee table between them. He stands in front of the chair and turns to me.

“Take a seat,” he says, while he smiles happily and stretches his hand, just a little, towards the couch.

I go there and sit. Nervously. My hands, tied, in between my legs. And I look up, fearfully, to face him. But is it fear, really, what I feel? Can it be awe, instead? Maybe. For, from the moment I look at his eyes, I can’t turn mine away from his.

“Relax, Kane,” he calmingly says. “Relax and sit back. All is good. Let your hands open and simply let them go to your sides. You are safe, Kane. All is good.”

Without even realising what I do, I obey every one of his commands. And I’m sitting now as relaxed as if I were with a friend. And, maybe, I feel happy I’m there. He smiles even more happily than before.

And once again, before I realise what is happening, he comes next to me and jumps on the couch and lies down. His head in my lap, his legs on the armrest. And he takes my hand, and places it on his chest, over his heart. And holds it there. And smiles.

And then reality hits me. What’s happening? I try to draw back my hand. Forcefully I think, but he holds it, gently, in place. “Relax! Do you hate touching me?”

“No…”

“Then leave it there, Kane.” He releases my hand, and closes his eyes, and with a soft voice says, “Please.”

I can’t but leave my hand there, but it’s not like before. I don’t obey him without a thought. I choose to keep touching his soft skin. Oh, dear Gods!

After a few moments of silence, he smiles again and opens his eyes.

“Thank you! Thank you, my Fair Warrior.”

“Fair Warrior?”

“That’s the meaning of your name. You must know!”

“Actually, I did not!”

He chuckles.

“Well, that’s what it means and it’s so suitable for you. You are both, after all. Fair, and a warrior. And don’t worry, Kane, I won’t use the same trick again. I promise. I won’t compel you to do anything. I promise. And I cannot lie.”

I should have noticed before, but it just occurred to me. “Wait! How do you know my name? Of course you do. What am I asking? You are a God!”

“No, I’m not.”

“You aren’t the God of the Lake?”

“Well, I am the one you folks call ‘the God of the Lake’, but just because you call me a God, it doesn’t mean I really am one.”

“But… But you’ve been living here for five thousand years, or more. Isn’t that so? And you are the one who drove the demon away, are you not?”

“Yes, I am. I have divine blood in my veins, Kane, but I’m not a God.”

“A semi-God, then?”

“No. My grandfather is the Sun God. He gave birth to my father, with a mortal, so my father is a semi-God. Then my father, with an undine, gave birth to me. So, I’m lower in hierarchy than even a semi-God, but still a true immortal, bound by their laws.”

“Oh… I see. Or I think I do.”

“And that’s why, my dear Kane, you cannot kill me. This is why you came here. Isn’t it?”

He asks this so softly and smiles at me so innocently, that I can’t feel any threat. If anything, a little shame.

“Yes,” I admit. “So, you can read my thoughts?”

“I know some of your thoughts, but just that. So, tell me. Talk to me. Get it off of your chest.”

“Why… Why did you need to kill all those people? Even if you are not a God, you are divine. Then why did so many people have to die, just for you to appear?”

“Well, I didn’t actually kill them. Your ancestors did that.”

“For you to come and rescue them! So, why? Did you need their blood, or life force or, I don’t know what, to perform your miracle?”

“No. I didn’t need any of those.”

“Then why did they have to die? Why did you ask for that?”

“I won’t answer to this. But let me ask you something, instead. Isn’t it a very small price to pay? What’s the value of the lives of just eighteen mere humans, when the lives of so many were saved? Yours included. Not just the ones of that era.”

My hand, the one on his chest, turns to a fist and I raise it, ready to punch him.

“Mere humans? Every life is important! You should have known that! No sacrifice is “small” enough! Who are you to say that their lives were less worthy than the ones that were saved? Who are you to say that their offspring wouldn’t be even more worthy than any of us?”

I’m screaming and I’m trying to hit him. I do! I can’t. My fist closes in on his face – his beautiful face – again and again. He doesn’t flinch. He doesn’t close his eyes. He just waits for my fist to land on him. He keeps looking in my eyes. He keeps smiling at me. He doesn’t try to stop me, nor to protect himself. But… I can’t hit him.

I close my eyes and breathe deeply to regain myself. “Why? Why did this need to have happened?”

He takes my fist, softly, in both his hands and brings it to his lips. And he kisses it.

“That’s why I fell in love with you, Kane. That’s why I do love you. All this time I’ve been living here, nobody – nobody, but you! – has ever thought that the lives of eighteen ‘others’ were more important than their own. Even those who knew them were more than happy that their sacrifice gave the desired results. I can hear the prayers addressed to me, you know. I can hear the adorations and the praises offered to me. Nobody, but you, has ever called me a bastard and a beast. Nobody, but you, has ever called the sacrifice unfair. Nobody, but you, has ever thought that the souls of the eighteen weren’t just a well-deserved, mere offering for me. And that’s why I’ve fallen for you.”

“But then… why did you ask for their lives? Or did you not?”

“I’m not answering this, Kane. I told you so. At least, not right now. Let’s say it’s my insurance policy.”

“What do you mean?”

“There is one way to kill a true immortal, you know. Do you want me to tell you how?”

“Tell me!”

I mean what I say. I want to know how I can kill him! So why does my hand, with open palm, not a fist, land again on his chest? Gently. And not where it was. Not over his heart, but on his nipple?

He smiles, at peace. Happily. I asked him how I can kill him, and he is relieved?

“You simply need to persuade this immortal, or another who stands higher than him, to swear to you in the name of the Supreme Gods he’ll give you a boon. That he will make a wish of yours come true. And then… And then you’ll ask him for the death of the immortal you want to kill.”

“Yeah! As if I can find a God to promise me this. Or as if I can trick you to swear this to me!”

“You don’t need to trick me, Kane. I swear to you, right now, I swear in the names of the Supreme Gods, that if you stay with me for one month, out of your own free will, I’ll make a wish of yours come true. One wish.”

“You mean that?”

“I’ve just taken an oath. Even if I change my mind, there is no taking it back. My life rests in your hands, Kane. Stay with me, if you will, for a month. And then… if you want to know what really happened more than five thousand years ago, wish for that, and I’ll tell you. Or, if you prefer, wish for my death, and I’ll be dead.”

“Really?”

“I cannot lie, Kane. I really can’t. So? You’ll stay with me? You can’t leave, not even for a moment, this rock, though. If you do, then you won’t have fulfilled the conditions of the oath, so you won’t be able to ask for the manifestation of your wish.”

“I see! You only have to make me leave, even for a little while, before the month has passed, then.”

He laughs, and he turns to the side. His head still on my thighs. His legs and body curled on the couch, facing away from me. Kissing my thigh and caressing my knee.

“I won’t do that, Kane. I want to be with you. I want you by my side for as long as I can. I don’t want to live a moment away from you. So, I’ll keep you here, if you want to stay with me, every minute of this month. And if it is my last month, so let it be.”

I gently caress his hair, before placing my hand onto his shoulder. Such a beautiful shoulder!

“Then, I’ll stay with you.”

“Thank you, my love!”

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Special thanks to Rosetta Yorke for her editing and beta-reading the chapter!