To Be Immortal

“Remind me why getting arrested was on your bucket list.”

Toby chuckled, shaking his head. “The thrill of it, remember? The excitement. The fun. Y’know, letting them catch us, only to escape?”

“Doesn’t it seem, I don’t know… rather dangerous? You know – a bad idea. Especially here of all places.”

Toby punched xeir arm lightly, “You’re no fun. Anyway, who are you to make a judgement? Not like you have a bucket list.”

Aeor grumbled, but turned xeir eyes back to the road below. The wind was picking up, whipping the burning sand into their faces as they lay waiting. Soon, night would fall, and they would make their move. Toby shifted beside xem, then sat back on his knees, shadow stretching out in front of him, fumbling in the bag for the canteen. He didn’t offer it to Aeor. Xe didn’t need it, and would only refuse to take it. No use wasting water on an immortal.

A rumble in the distance heralded the approach of a vehicle. Aeor grabbed Toby’s shirt and pulled him down – it would be a shame to get caught now. They’d made it this far, may as well go the rest of the way. And, loathe as xe was to admit it, it was rather fun, tempting fate like this. The vehicle was drawing closer along the road towards them, rounding a sand dune to reveal a heavy truck built to withstand the temperature extremes and fierce winds of the desert. If they timed this right, they’d jump just as the setting sun blinded the driver, giving them a moment to grab on to the truck.

If.

Aeor was tempted to use some Luck to get them on, but they’d agreed before the mission began: no magic. And who was xe to disrespect Toby’s wishes? This was, after all, his mission. It could make or break him in the VII. If they got caught, that would make getting in easier, but getting out again? Far, far harder.

Toby’s voice interrupted Aeor’s thoughts. “We’re leaving the bag, right?”

Aeor nodded. “Yep. Can’t have it slowing us down, or revealing information. You remember it all, right?”

“I do, I do,” he sighed. “Shouldn’t we hide it then?”

“No time. Besides, with this wind, the dunes will shift loads. They won’t be able to find it, or this place.”

They raised their bodies slightly to a crouch, preparing to sprint forward at a moment’s notice.

“Ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Go!”

The sand dragged at their feet as they raced for the back of the truck. Aeor, closer, leapt forward, grabbing one of the bars with one hand and Toby’s outstretched hand with the other, pulling him round so he could grab onto the truck too. He grinned as the last of the sun caught his face, lighting it with a burnished golden glow. Aeor was struck with his beauty. Xe cleared xeir throat and looked away towards the glow on the horizon where the sun had been.

They held tight to the back of the truck as the winds buffeted them, feeling several degrees colder now the sun was gone. With difficulty, Toby lifted the bolt on the door, and opened it slightly to slip inside. Aeor relocked it, and stepped through the thick metal to join Toby on the other side.

“I thought we said no magic!” Toby whisper-shouted in mock fury.

“I know, I just thought it would be better if the door was locked, so no-one notices anything is wrong.”

“I… didn’t think of that.”

“That’s your problem. You don’t think.”

“That’s your problem. You do. How are we meant to get arrested if they don’t know we’re here, hmm?”

Aeor sighed. “You and your bucket list. What else is on there?”

“Visiting all the continents – nearly done that – stroking a shark, and… eating ice cream in Antarctica.” He hit Aeor’s arm again when xe remained silent, “You’re judging me! Stop it!”

“I’m not judging, I’m just thinking how crazy you mortals are. Take the VII. Why’d you join? You know as well as I do the things they’re involved in. You’ve been involved in them!”

Toby was silent. Aeor could tell xe’d hit a nerve. It was a while before he quietly replied, “To carry on. I don’t want to leave after my short time. I want to last, even if I have to as… as a ghost, or a-a tortured soul. Or whatever. I don’t want to be at peace. I want to stay. I want to stay with you.”

It was Aeor’s turn to be stunned silent. Toby was doing all this… to stay with xem? Giving himself so much to make amends for, so that he was forced to remain on this earth as a shade to atone, just so he didn’t have to leave Aeor? Xe gripped his arm and opened xeir mouth to say something – what, xe had no idea – but just then the truck jerked and jolted to a stop, and shouts weakly permeated the walls. They had arrived.

The shouts grew closer to the back of the truck, and before either of them had time to react, the bolt clunked back and the doors were flung open. Torches spotlighted them, and they were swarmed by armed guards roughly grabbing them and pulling them from the van. Toby was grinning as they cuffed his hands behind him. He turned to Aeor.

“Nice day for it! See you on the other side!”

This was the signal for what Toby called ‘the boring method’, and what Aeor called ‘the safe method.’ Xe vanished, taking advantage of the guards’ confusion to fight free of their grip, and flew a few feet into the air to evade recapture.

Toby, meanwhile, was demanding to speak to the person in charge. The guards were reluctant, but he was insistent and they soon seemed to give in, taking him inside the building. Aeor itched at having Toby out of eyesight, but xe had xeir own part to play.

The building was much larger up close, with its thousand windows glowing in the night, staring soullessly into the darkness. Still invisible, Aeor began xeir search; if all went according to plan, xe and Toby would end up at the same place, which was hopefully the main command centre of the prison. Xe flitted from window to window, snapshots revealing the truth of what lay behind the pristine thick white walls and well-kept barbed wire fences.

The ground floor was the worst. Lab after lab where scientists conducted the most unspeakable experiments; so many – too many – were willing to do anything for the amount they got paid. Money keeps secrets, Aeor knew that well; and this prison was the best-kept secret for centuries. Once you were in, the only way to leave was in a coffin.

The upper floors were where the guards and scientists lived. Bedroom after bedroom flashed by as Aeor’s search grew more frantic. Xe was meant to meet Toby by midnight, and that was fast approaching. The rooms grew bigger and grander the higher up they were, until they gave way to the large, spacious meeting rooms on the top few floors, as far as possible from the horrors below. All were empty at this time of night. Aeor took a deep breath, and stepped through the wall into the building.

It was eerily silent as xe crept through the deserted rooms, still invisible but glad for the thick carpet that muffled xeir footsteps. The corridors were unguarded, but Aeor knew that the closer xe got to the prisoners in the bowels of the building, the more difficult it would be to stay unnoticed. Just because xe was invisible, didn’t mean xe was a ghost, and something as simple as an arm brushing past would alert the guards to xeir presence.

The first thing xe had to do was find Toby. Casting a searching spell would be too obvious, so a manual search it was. This floor was completely empty, so he had to be somewhere below.

Dawn was breaking far above when xe finally found Toby. He was locked in a cell, deep underground. Aeor stepped in and reappeared, sitting on the floor next to him.

“You took your time!”

“Well, sorry. Not like you were being heavily guarded in the most inaccessible place in this entire godforsaken desert or anything.”

“Godforsaken planet, more like.” At Aeor’s visible confusion, he elaborated, “I wasn’t allowed to tell you everything, of course. But I will, seeing as we’re all gonna die anyway.” He leaned in closer, whispering as if the guards outside could hear anything through the thick door. “They’ve been creating an army – or trying, at least – but now they’re starting to get it right. Supersoldiers, Aeor, just like in the stories. Perfectly programmed to do exactly what they’re told, with the powers to be able to… we won’t stand a chance.”

“I get the feeling there’s an ‘unless.’”

“There is an ‘unless.’ I was getting to that.” He shifted slightly, and winced. Aeor opened xeir mouth, but Toby spoke over xem. “We won’t stand a chance… unless we stop them now. The trials aren’t complete, and the soldiers they’ve made certainly aren’t complying. That’s why we’re here, why we need to–”

The door clanged against the wall, reverberating through their skulls as it echoed in the confined space. Aeor quickly vanished, but it was too late; guards were flooding the room, waving their hands around to find Aeor as they blocked xeir escape. They soon found xem, throwing xem into the arms of the guards in the hallway.

There were too many to fight. Aeor was helpless, not wanting to risk any of the little combat magic xe knew so far underground, for fear of bringing the whole place down on top of xem. It would work, perhaps, but best saved as a last resort. Xe wouldn’t die, of course… but Toby was down here too.

Xeir sense of direction was muddled by the identical corridors they walked through, each lined with high-security cells. Eventually xe was brought through a door – security code punched in by a guard, who kept it hidden as if xe couldn’t just walk through it at any time – and into a large, open room, well-lit despite the layers of sand and concrete between it and the sun. Screens lined the walls, monitored by various guards, watching every room in the building. In the centre of the room was a large desk.

The man behind the desk turned his beetle-black eyes toward Aeor as xe was brought before him, face cracking open into an empty grin. He spread his hands in a gesture of welcome.

“And now, the star of the show!”

Aeor stared blankly, keeping xeir face clear of the sudden hatred boiling within xem.

“Why so quiet? Cat got your tongue?” The man chuckled, then assumed a serious expression. “You’re right on time, I must say. We’ve been waiting for a while for you to arrive. Although, between you and me,” he continued, leaning forward, “the VII are not all they’re cracked up to be. Taking this long to send you to me? Must be a serious flaw in their system.”

Aeor, for all xe tried, couldn’t keep the shock off xeir face. The VII? Sure, they were pretty despicable, but this… this was way out of their league, surely?

A sudden numbness crept over xem. Did Toby know about this? Was he aware he had brought Aeor to xeir doom here? He had fought so hard to bring xem… all a façade… Aeor’s world was crumbling, to the sound of the man’s laughter.

“Your face! You really had no idea! Wow, I–” he broke off, wiping a tear from his eye. “I must’ve underestimated them! Turns out they can do some things right. Not that it matters either way, whether you knew or not… you’re here, and that’s all that’s important. Look,” he added, as if to comfort xem, “your friend knew nothing either. Not that it matters, it wouldn’t benefit him… his fate is sealed. As is yours.”

Aeor’s fury returned, fiercer and stronger than it before. Xe carefully kept a stony face as xe fanned the flames within. In a level, measured voice, heavy as the gates of death, xe asked, “what did you hope to gain?”

“Oh, what a question. The answer is simple, my friend. Power.”

“Like this?” Aeor’s voice was thoughtful, but laced with the anger xe finally set free, an uncontrolled burst of magic that sent everyone but xem flying through the air to collide heavily with the walls, smashed screens raining glass like silver tears. Aeor dashed to the dangling wires, flooding them with magic to short the electrical systems.

Darkness. In the silence of the room, Aeor heard the door hiss open, and left, once again searching for Toby. The darkness didn’t bother xem, but the halls thronging with escaped prisoners and frantic guards made progress difficult, especially when fights began to break out as the prisoners started to riot. Aeor shoved xeir way through the crowds, calling for Toby, but xeir voice could barely be heard above the echoing shouts and screams.

Xe rounded a corner and there he was, hunched over, limping as fast as he could manage, leaving a trail of bloody handprints along the wall where he’d used it for support. Aeor rushed to him, scooping him up in xeir arms, murmuring to him reassuringly as xe searched for the way out. Finally finding the stairwell, xe stumbled up – one flight, two, three – four flights and they were out in the oppressive heat of the desert once again, sun low on the horizon, blinding Aeor as xe searched for a weak spot in the fence. Giving up, xe muttered “hold tight” and flew over the fence, stumbling as xe landed on the other side. Toby wheezed, and Aeor realised he was laughing.

“We made it!” he gasped, “We got out! And all thanks to you.”

“We’re not done yet. Still in the middle of a desert.”

“Out of the frying pan, into the fire!”

“And we must get out of the fire too now.” Aeor started walking. Xe had no idea which way out of the desert was the quickest, but staying put to decide would make it take longer. The prison’s glaring walls had dwindled and vanished behind them when Toby spoke again.

“Y’know… we made history today.” His voice was pained, and he was struggling to breathe. “First people ever to… get out alive.” He grinned weakly up at Aeor. “How about that, eh?”

“Yes. Record-breakers, the pair of us,” Aeor smiled fondly back.

“D’you think…” Toby paused to cough, “…think we’ll get a medal?”

“We certainly deserve it.”

Toby dissolved into another coughing fit, longer than the first. “Aye, that we do.”

Aeor kept walking determinedly forward, hyper-aware of each of Toby’s rattling breaths. It was clear what was happening, but xe refused to let xeir mind entertain the thought. “I think we should go to Antarctica next. A reward holiday. That’ll… it’ll cross two things off your bucket list. If we take ice-cream.”

Toby’s hand gripped Aeor’s shirt tightly.

“We can go by boat – that way, if we see a shark, we can go stroke it.” Xe was rambling now, as if trying to talk Toby better.

“What flavour ice-cream do you want? Toby? Toby!”

Toby’s grip slackened and his hand fell limp. His chest heaved as he fought for breath, each gasp loud in Aeor’s ears, until silence fell.

Aeor collapsed to xeir knees with Toby’s lifeless body in xeir arms and kissed his forehead tenderly, then thrust xeir hands into the sand, grasping handfuls of it as if it would somehow keep xem anchored, grounded, but xe was drowning in xeir grief in the middle of an endless desert.

Xeir hand touched smooth leather, unexpected in the coarse sand, and xe pulled at it, unearthing the bag Toby had brought. Documents, food, water… xe unscrewed the canteen’s lid and used the last of the water to wash the blood from Toby’s skin and the sand from his hair – xe didn’t need it, no use wasting water on an immortal – and with it flowed the memories, bright and clear as the sunset painting the sky. And standing out with a burning insistence “I want to stay with you”.

He only wanted to stay.

Aeor desperately wanted him to stay. Xe stroked his hair back from his forehead, an idea beginning to form. It was risky, but what did xe have to lose?

“Would it be enough if I could never give you peace?” Aeor looked toward his shadow, stretching out across the ground, and reached towards its hand.