Chapter Nine

 

I nodded silently and followed Daniel as he walked across the beach. Once out of sight we took off at full speed.

            “I assume you were smart enough to keep your valuables on you?” His tone was light even though I knew he was serious.

            “Of course,” I replied as we barreled through the scarce trees. All the money I had and a few other important things I had placed in a pouch that hung around my neck.

            “Good,” he breathed easily, even at our speed. “We’ll need to get some new cloths and a few other supplies.”

            He was right, now that I thought about it my clothes were ragged, ripped and torn from being thrashed about. All of our belongings were lost to the ocean now.

            It did not take us long to reach a small town where we quickly and silently purchased the things we needed. There were many strange stares, questions that wanted to be asked concerning our ragged appearance and it was quite obvious that we didn‘t belong. But we took care of business and made our escape almost as quickly as we had come.

            “Do you have any idea where we are headed?” I questioned as we practically flew over the landscape.

            “I’m not exactly sure,” he replied. “South. My source indicated that he was near the center of the country, somewhere close to where the royal family lives. Once we get there I suppose we will just question the locals and see what information we can get out of people.”

            I said nothing in response. I did not have any suggestions for a better way to locate him.

 

            The water felt amazing on my skin as I splashed my face. While I no longer sweated, I could still feel the heat of the scorching sun on my skin. Even though it was only spring it was abnormally hot.

            Daniel was not far down the stream from me. He was fully clothed, just as I was, once we started running again it would not take long for them to dry. He had been fairly quiet so far into our journey but I could constantly sense there was something he wished to ask me. I was right.

            “Forgive me William,” he finally asked as he sat straight into the water. “I am trying not to pry but I can’t help but wonder how it happened to you. How you changed. You have to understand my curiosity. For all I knew Mary and I were the only two Ever left.”

            I had known this question was coming eventually but it did not mean I ever necessarily want to answer it.

            Daniel must have seen my hesitation. “You don’t have to tell me if you do not wish to.”

            No, I was man enough still to tell him this story. I did not have to tell details. “I came home one day to find a man attacking my mother. I went to defend her and he nearly killed me. That is about all I remember.”

            He searched my face silently for a moment before he spoke. “So you are alone now? Your family is gone?”

            For just a brief moment I felt the shadows that tortured my soul creep further into my heart as I silently cried inside and felt my insides blow apart all the more. “Yes, everyone I care about is lost to me now,” I whispered and tried to collect myself once again.

            Again, Daniel must have seen something in my face as he spoke. He was much to perceptive at times. “I am sorry, William. I always say more than I should. Always ask the wrong questions.”

            I quickly turned my back to him as I headed towards the bank, taking a deep breath. “It’s fine,” I stated, keeping my voice hard. “It happened, there is nothing I can do to change it.”

            Daniel rose from the stream and I knew this was the cue to leave. Hopefully this would also be the end of the questions. I guess I should have known better.

            “It was surprisingly easy for me to leave home,” he breathed easily as we speed towards our uncertain destination. “I suppose it is simply because I was never that close to any of my family. My parents were both very detached and I was left to the doctors who attended me. I try to tell myself that it was only because they did not want to get too emotionally attached if I were to die. Only my sister cared enough to spend any time with me. She is a good woman. I have no doubts in her ability to lead the country one day.

            “Other than my family I really had no ties to stay at home. I had my love and loyalty to my country but that was it. I had few real friends and there were never any women in my life really,” he paused as he gave me a careful look.   “What about you William? Where there ever any women in your life?”

            I sighed and rolled my eyes. Daniel was going to insist on asking all the hard questions today apparently.

            “One,” I replied after a moment.

            “What was she like?” Daniel pried with a smile threatening to burst forth.

            “She was beautiful, I loved her very much.” I tried to keep my voice even as I spoke. “I was going to ask her to be my bride.”

            “What was her name?”

            “Elizabeth,” I whispered and anyone but Daniel would not have been able to hear the name.

            “Have I ever told you how I learned I didn’t need to breathe for long periods of time?” Daniel suddenly spoke. I was grateful for his intuition that it was time to change the subject.

            I shook my head.

            “It was just a few months after I had changed. It was night and I had grown incredibly bored of sitting in the palace, pretending to be asleep. I went out into the gardens and was simply wandering. I heard something behind some bushed and went to investigate. It was Mary, my sister. She was smooching the head of the royal guard. I couldn’t help it as I let out a laugh. They heard me and Alec shouted for the men he had placed to stand guard so they wouldn’t be caught.

            “Even though I knew they would never catch me I ran. I jumped into a nearby pond and slipped under the water as a few men ran by. They searched the grounds for a full hour. Alec would be thrown in prison for what he was doing with my sister. He didn’t want the person who had caught him to get away.

            “I kept waiting for the moment I would need to come up for air and possibly make a run for it but it never came. It was the strangest sensation, not needing air. Finally they moved on, to look through the streets to find the sneak.” 

            Daniel chuckled at this. “It made for good information to hang over my sisters head. I got a lot out of her because of what I knew.”

            I was glad for the distraction as it settled in and we ran across the landscape. Daniel could be quite intuitive when he needed to be.

 

            I could not deny that the changes I experienced were amazing. Before all of this happened I could not have even imagined that such things were possible. To move at such speeds that to those watching I would only be a blur. And my strength was amazing. I had yet to find something I could not lift or move. Were my circumstances different, had these things not come to me under such tragic conditions I probably would have been invigorated by the things I was able to do. These things should feel like a gift but to me they were a curse, my own torture bestowed upon me to destroy my life.

            Humans have always been fascinated by the extraordinary. This was evident through all of the old tales and fables of fantasy and grandeur. How could it be possible that I had suddenly become as the creatures told to small children at bedtime? What had happened to reality? Apparently parents shouldn’t always be telling their children “it’s just a story” at the end of their tales. It seemed that sometimes one’s fantasy is another’s reality. My reality.

            “Great,” Daniel said as he paced. “It’s going to take forever to get around this!”

            I nearly chuckled. Daniel’s definition of “forever” in this case would maybe be an hour.

            We had been heading through a pass that Daniel thought would be a shortcut. It probably would have been had the pass not been blocked by a thirty-nine foot wall. 

            I was surprised by Daniel’s irritation. But he needed answers just as I did and did not want to wait patiently.

            I assessed the high rise slate wall for a moment calculating and observing. Feeling reckless I backed up seven steps.

            “What are you doing?” Daniel questioned as he watched me, his expression curious.

            “Taking a shortcut!” I bellowed as I launched myself straight at the wall. I used no restraint as I flew over the ground and as I came within three feet of the solid wall I flexed my knees and sprung with all the might I could muster. It was exhilarating as I was suddenly airborne and seeing the wall fly beside me. 

            As I felt myself slowing I balled up my fist and swung at the wall, creating a deep crater in the side, a perfect hand hold. As I steadied myself on the face I looked down with a broad grin. I had made it up the first twenty-eight feet in one bound and leap.

            “Huh,” Daniel said as he stared up at me. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

            I laughed, shaking my head and turned my attention back to my task. Balling up my left fist I aimed as high as I could stretch and punched another handhold into the wall. It shouldn’t have felt like punching into loose sand rather than a solid slate wall but that was my life now. Nothing was like it should be.

            I heard Daniel land on the face just below me and we finished scaling the wall in the same manner. As we finally reached the ledge and scrambled over I could not help but stop and stare. We were at a high elevation and it gave way to a beautiful sweeping view of the country.

            “Show off,” Daniel muttered as he took off again.

            We had been traveling for three days when we finally neared our destination. It was a relief to finally realize we were getting to civilization. For the last few days it had been almost all mountains and farmland.

            Apparently Daniel was fluent in several languages. He informed me of this after I heard him conversing with a man in a language I did not recognize. The man had told him that we were only a few miles from our hopeful end of travel.

            I felt slightly frustrated now as we were forced to travel at normal paces through town. Certainly there was no need to alert the people as to what we were capable of but I was anxious and ready to get the answers I needed.

            “And what are we going to do if he is not here?” I asked as we headed down what looked like a fairly main road.

            “Keep looking, ask around,” Daniel’s voice was unsure as if he really did not know what he was going to do if we did not find the doctor here.

            As we hurried towards the center of the city I heard a shrill scream ahead of us. It was followed by another and another. There was another sound as well. A crackling, sparking, accompanied by several loud snaps and the sound of rubble falling. A faint hint of smoke hung in the air.   

            I glanced over at Daniel and saw that he must have heard the things I had. I felt an echo of human curiosity spark within me. The need to know what was happening, the drive to discover.

            It did not take us long to reach the scene. Perhaps we moved faster than we should have but I felt a sense of urgency burning under my skin as the screams grew louder and louder. As we approached I caught the scent of something else. It was a familiar scent but one I did not know how to identify.

            The scene that unfolded was absolute chaos. There was a crowd of people surrounding the collapsing building and no one seemed to have any idea of what to do. Most of the fire seemed to have burned out by now, the only remains of it were on the top story. The building looked as if it had been three floors at one time but had now been reduced to two, the bottom story having collapsed from damage due to the flames.

            The crowd grew momentarily quiet as a man emerged from the rubble. As I saw his face a strange sense of calm over took me despite the chaos that surrounded us and I sensed the quiet ease that settled over the crowd as well. There was something familiar about his face as though I had once seen him in a very dark room or through a thick fog. 

            “You two!” I was shocked as he looked directly at Daniel and I and shouted. “I need your help!”

            I did not hesitate as I ran towards the destroyed building, Daniel right at my side. The three of us plunged into the smoky depths. Even though the plumes filled and burned my lungs that other strange scent was intensified.

            “There are two children trapped on the next floor up and a family of five somewhere in the back of the collapsed floor. I need your help to get them out. I’m afraid they might be buried,” he shouted as he pointed in the different directions.

            “I’ll go up,” I shouted over my shoulder as I ran to my left and saw the other two run in the opposite direction.

            With all the smoke it was difficult to see, even with my eyes. It was thick and burned and irritated them in a way I thought would not have been possible any longer. As my lungs filled uncomfortably I simply stopped breathing.

            It was difficult to tell where one floor ended and the other began as I shifted my way through the rubble. The building must have been rather old, it was mostly build of stone and what wood there was in it seemed to have been rotting away, the structure had no chance of standing.

            “Hello!” I shouted as I came to a clear area. “Hello! Is anyone there?!”

            There was only a moment of chaotic silence before I heard the muffled cries. They were not far but the sound was stifled.

            I streaked to my right, to the source of the noise. All I could see was a wall of disorganized rock and splinters. I listened carefully, trying to extend my senses. I could hear the dull flow of air behind the wall. There was a small space where the children must have been. A section of the floor above us had collapsed in front of them.

            “I’m going to get you out of there!” I shouted as I began to claw my way through the rubble. “Just stay calm!”

            I could feel the temperature growing above me and I realized that the fire was still burning above us. I was going to have to work quickly; the rest of the building was not going to hold up for long. 

            “Please hurry!” I heard a small voice cry. “My sister can’t breathe!”

            I doubled my speed, somehow managing to work faster than before as I shoved the boulders aside. How had they managed to use these rocks to build this building? They were massive!

            “Almost there!” I shouted as I felt the air starting to flow between us.

            After just a few more moments of digging I was through. There was a young boy inside, no older than six or seven with his arms around a very small girl who could have been no older than three.

            “Let’s get out of here!” I yelled as I wrapped an arm around each of then and streaked back towards the entrance. I could hear the building collapsing further as we made our way down.

            I could no longer see anything as we reached the bottom floor and had to rely solely on my memory of the layout from when I first entered the building. Seven makeshift steps down to the bottom floor, wind around the partially collapsed wall, climb over the next. The exit was just beyond that.

            As we burst from the building I saw that Daniel and the other man were already out and being profusely thanked by four teary eyed people and wondered where the fifth was. I set the two children back on their feet and they immediately ran to a weepy woman. They would be safe now.

            “I thought you said there were five of them?” I demanded as I looked back towards the building.

            “There were,” the man said. “We could not find the fifth; I think he must have gotten caught in the fire.”

            They were giving up? There was still hope of finding him so why were they giving up? Where they afraid of the flames? Certainly it was not for fear of being crushed by the building. I could already sense what this new man was. He wasn’t normal.

            All these thoughts flashed through my mind in only a fraction of a second. Without hesitating any longer I rushed back towards the building.

            “He is lost, William!” I faintly registered him shout to me and wondered how he knew my name.

            The building was collapsing much quicker now. Large stones fell all around me and I could hear the top floors creak and moan as they threatened to collapse completely. While I knew it could not do much damage to me it certainly would hinder my task.

            There was not much left of the original bottom floor and it was difficult to make out what was building and what were human possessions. As I pressed my way further towards the back of the building the heat began to rise significantly. As I rounded a corner I found the source of it. One section of the bottom level was still ablaze, burning with ferocious intensity.

            “Can you hear me?!” I shouted, trying to make my voice extend as far as possible.

            I waited for a few moments, straining my ears for any response. Then I heard it. A faint cough. It only sounded once but that was all I needed.

            It took me only half a moment to make my decision. The man was located somewhere further in the building and the only way to reach him was to go through the blaze. There was a strange feeling within me as I gauged the flames. Somehow they did not look threatening and I did not fear it.

            Taking a deep breath I stepped determinedly towards the flames and walked into the inferno.

            Surely something was wrong with this situation. The flames should not feel like a glove, curled around and caressing my skin. Surely it should not feel more like a second skin than burning agony as it scorched and shriveled up. 

            It took me less than a second to pass through the wall of fire yet it should have been more than enough time for the fire to burn me horribly yet somehow it had not harmed me. I did a fraction of a second self analysis and found I was untouched.

            I heard the slight cough again and my focus returned. He was not far. 

            “Can you hear me?” I shouted again as I began shifting through rubble.

            It was weak but distinctive amongst the sounds of chaos. “Here.”

            My attention was immediately drawn to my right. He was crumpled on the floor in a heap and after a quick look over I determined that he did not appear to be mortally wounded. He was old and decrepit and it was not hard to imagine how he had not made it out.

            I looked around me, trying to determine what was the best way to get him safely out of here. While the flames may not have harmed me this man would stand no chance of being untouched. There was only one other way out.

            I crouched beside the man and gently picked him up in my arms. He was quite small and nothing but skin and bones. He seemed no heavier than a feather. With him cradled carefully in one arm I walked to the outside wall.

            “Close your eyes, please,” I commanded the man. This was not exactly necessary, he was barely coherent. His eyes softly drifted shut.

            Balling up my fist, I swung it with all my force towards the stone wall. A large hole suddenly gave way under my force and I quickly widened it enough for the both of us to squeeze through. Perhaps I had exerted too much force. The building gave a loud shudder and as we stepped clear it collapsed completely.

            We had escaped out the back of the building so there was no fear of being sighted for what I had just done. When the screams started I was consumed with worry. What if someone had stood too close to the building as it collapsed? Someone could be crushed.

            I was around the building in just a moment and I breathed a sigh of relief when I found everyone safe. All the bystanders were observing the crumbled building and my eyes were immediately drawn to an older woman screaming as tears streamed down her face.

            I approached her cautiously; trying very hard to make sure I appeared as normal as possible. There was no need to add to her distress. As her eyes were drawn to me she dropped to her knees and began weeping further, this time in tears of joy. I set the man gingerly down on the ground and could not help but smile at their sweet reunion. They quickly embraced and words of gratitude and affection filled their lips. While I did not understand their language it was not hard to decipher what was being said.

            I was aware that Daniel and the other man were suddenly by my side and realized they were not present when I had first come around to the front. 

            “We thought we were going to have to go dig you out!” Daniel said as he wrapped an arm around my shoulder.   They had gone in after me. “Nice work!”

            I could not help but give a half smile. The feeling that filled me was amazing. I had saved a man’s life. All others had given up on him and I had pulled him from his death trap.

            As I looked at the other man’s face that strange sense of calm again washed over me. Everything was going to fine now.

            “You two come with me,” he said in a low voice as he took off to the left without waiting for a response from either of us.

            We both followed him without saying a word. He walked swiftly but it was not difficult to keep up with him. Before long we ducked into a small, out of the way structure. There was a fairly long building of identical units; each had a front door and one tiny window in the front. The man led us to the second to last one.

            Once we were shut inside the other man quickly lit a few candles, casting a dim glow in the darkening building. It was small, there was one larger front room and there seemed to be another much smaller room just off it. The room we had entered was quite crowded with many objects I did not even have a name for and I could not help but look around me in awe and wonder. A large table occupied nearly a third of the room and it was adorned with a wide variety of books, parchment and small trinkets. The walls were lined with odd furniture, parts of suits of armor, strange instruments. Two large paintings covered the majority of one wall, the first depicting a ship, it‘s captain at the stern, his crew gathered about him with a storm raging in the back ground. The other one was of a war scene, two obvious sides, dressed either in red or blue. A smaller one hung on another wall, it‘s subject a woman with a slight smile as if she knew a secret that you didn‘t. 

            “Sit,” he said quietly as he cleared a few chairs, moving at speeds that made it quite obvious he was not a mere man.

            I eyed the seats he had indicated warily. One must have been a throne at one time. It was golden in most places, upholstered in red velvet and in places was encrusted with jewels. The other was simpler but seemed to have been constructed of bones and looked suspiciously like human bones.

            I would have preferred to take the less disturbing of seats but as Daniel had already taken the other I had no choice. I suspected that he had not even thought twice before taking his seat in the throne chair. It was natural to him and he looked natural seated there.

            The other man took a seat in more nondescript chair. It was simple and appeared to be carved from one solid piece of wood.

            He was not a particularly large man, no bigger than Daniel or I. He stood a good three inches shorter than myself. His nose and chin were obviously his strongest features. His hair was as black as ink and hung just shorter than my own. He could have been native to this country if not for his pale skin tone.

            “As I am sure you already know, William,” he started. “My name is Zachariah Paddock.”

            I felt the familiar burning beginning within in me. So this was indeed the man who had taken away my life. This was the man who had turned me into the monster I now was.

            “William,” he said with a sigh. “I know the anger you feel towards me for what I have done to you. I did not take what I did lightly.” He sat forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “Your father told me to do whatever it took to save your life. Honestly though, he did not have to even ask me. I would have done what I did even without his unknowing request. I could not help but to change you into what you have become. 

            “I had never met anyone more suited for this life than you William. I sensed great power in you then and I sense it now.”

            “What are you talking about?!” I finally exploded as I rose to my feet. “How can I be suited for this life when it has completely destroyed my life? I have lost everything that matters to me! My family, the woman I love, everything I have ever known!”

            Zachariah looked up at me empathetically and again I felt that strange calm wash over me. “I am sorry William. I knew this change was going to be difficult for you but I do not regret the decision I made. Had I not reacted you most likely would be dead right now! Would you have preferred death?”

            When I did not respond for a moment he continued. “What’s done is done.”

            This time the calming came from within as his words sank in. Yes, what was done is done. There was nothing I could do to change that now. I would simply have to accept what had happened to me.

            “Now,” Zachariah said in a calmer voice as he watched me sink back into my seat. “I know who you are,” he said as his attention turned to Daniel. “But I had no idea what you were.” A slight smile spread on his face at this.

            “I tried to keep out of the public eye as much as possible,” Daniel answered. I was amazed at the ease and confidence in which he spoke. He was able to stay so level headed in this strange, crazy, impossible world that was our existence. He then continued to recount the story which he had told me on the ship.

            “Interesting,” Zachariah mused with a broad smile on his face. “Absolutely fascinating.”

            Daniel gave a half smile at this before he spoke again. “We have some questions for you. Neither of us really knows anything about what has happened to us. We were hoping you might have some answers for our questions.”

            “Of course,” Zachariah’s face grew slightly more serious as he leaned back in his seat and crossed one leg over the opposite knee.

            “The change,” he began. “How does it work?”

            I was amazed that Daniel even knew where to begin to ask questions. I had so many thoughts, so many things I wanted to ask but had no idea of where to begin.

            “I will tell you now,” he breathed. “All of your questions will not be easily or shortly answered but I will do the best I am able.”

            He took a long deep breath before he moved on. “There is a certain plant that grows on this continent in a place a good distance from here. In its processed form it has the ability to transform a human into one of us. This place where it grows wild is guarded by The Brothers, four of our kind. Their names are Amaziah, Elah, Onias, and Zimri. They are the first of our kind. They are the keepers of the plant, they both physically protect it and they are the only ones who know the process needed to create the elixir. They discovered this by accident, from what I heard an experiment gone awry. Our whole being and coming into existence was by complete accident.

            “It may seem strange that there are so few of us who know how to make this but it is quite important. Not all of us would use it for good. It has been kept secret for thousands of years and for good reason.” Zachariah’s face grew dark and I could see the turmoil in his eyes over the things that he had witnessed. 

            “It must be administered through the mouth to a dying soul. The further gone one is the better, so long as they are still alive. Once someone is dead it is obviously too late. One’s system must be at its weakest point in order for the body to accept the transformation. Should a perfectly healthy person take it they would die. Their bodies would simply not be able to handle the changes.

            “The process of changing is slightly different person and depends on how far gone they are. Most describe slipping into blackness and being unable to move or anything else. This is when the person is slipping further into the arms of death. This is the time when the person either actually dies or makes the change.

            “If they do in fact make it most have said they can sense something is changing, even though they are still unconscious.”

            The strange things I had experienced after being attacked were finally making sense as Zachariah explained. I shuttered as I recalled the oppressive darkness and the feeling that I was being sucked further into its greedy depths. Then the sudden lightening that saved me. The changes were being made then.

            “The changes,” Daniel said simply before Zachariah continued.

            “You two have become the epitome of human perfection,” he said as a smile crept back onto his lips. “When the transformation is taking place your body is changed into its most perfect frame and frozen. Every sense and every ability taken to the absolute extreme. All limitations are abolished, thus we are able to move so fast and have unlimited strength.

            “Even your blood has been perfected. It is clean of all impurities. Have you noticed the way each of you smells, the way I smell?”

            He was right. This seemed to confirm my earlier speculation about the smell coming from Daniel and I had started to wonder about Zachariah. They were indeed the source of the strange, pure and clean smells I had never been able to identify.

            “It is the pure and clean blood you are smelling. The mark of an Ever.” Apparently Daniel’s servant Mary had been correct in her research on what exactly we were called.

            “As I am sure you have both noticed, your body no longer requires sleep. You will never tire in your life again. You no longer need to eat. Your body will regulate itself. Thank heaven; our sense of taste is increased so much it absolutely ruins all food!”

            “Is it true then?” I interjected. As I spoke it felt as if a heavy stone settled its self into the pit of my stomach. “Are we truly immortal then?”

            “You will never naturally die, so yes, we are immortal. I myself am a few hundred years old already, I am sure of my exact age. They did not track time very accurately. 

            “It is difficult to kill an Ever but it can be done,” he continued. I noticed the surprise that crossed Daniel’s face. Yes, he would think he was invincible as well as immortal. Not that he was arrogant, that would just be Daniel’s positive outlook.

            “One way would be to simply tear us to pieces. It would not be easy and would have to be done by several other Ever. We can survive with severed limbs, missing parts so it would have to be a very thorough job.

            “But there is a much easier way. The very thing that creates us is the thing that can destroy us. The plant I have spoken of in its raw form will kill us instantly if it is eaten or put into the bloodstream. 

            “It would seem an easy thing to avoid but be warned. The plant draws us. It calls to us. I have had a few friends who have gone to the source of the change and never returned. They could not fight the temptation. 

            “The reason for the temptation is that the processed form makes us temporarily stronger. Should either of you take the elixir again you would gain abilities you cannot even imagine for a short time. It does not last very long, a few hours, a day at the very best. It can be dangerous to attempt this however. One is left in a terribly weakened state for several hours following the strengthening. They would have the abilities of less than that of an average human being.”

            Zachariah paused for a moment and seemed to be gauging our reactions to all he had told us. There was something in his eyes that told me he was debating to tell us something else but eventually he must have decided that he had told us enough for one day.

            “Gentlemen I hope that I have answered your questions for one day. There is much involved in this life and it cannot all be told in one day. But no worries,” he continued with a smirk, “we’ve got plenty of time.” 

Reviews

[Fabian G. Franklin]

I think you are doing a great job developing the personalities of the characters and causing the reader to care about them, I felt a sense of comradship building in this chapter between these two, feeling their way to trust each other if they can.