EPTImmortality
„Immortality? Are you kidding me?“, Eryl asked me. She looked as if I had thrust my fingers into a power outlet – removing safety devices beforehand. Yup, I did choose immortality. I thought it was a good idea. I kid you not.
“No, I’m serious. Now, would you please stop shouting?” It was all I had to say at that particular moment. At least she stopped shouting, as I already felt the uncomfortable feeling of being looked at by every single person in the vicinity. I pretended not to notice.
“…immortality…”, she murmured, shrugged and sipped on her iced tea. It wasn’t likely that she would drop the topic in the next hours – unfortunately.
“It was midnight. I was tired. Let’s leave it at that, OK?”
“You could have chosen everything. You know that, right?”
…
Of course I know. You told me only three days ago. But, I was tired. Cut me some slack.
“You can’t even be sure that your ability has any effect. The only way of testing immortality is dying. And you have to regenerate the damage – as a normal human – of it afterwards. If it works.”
…
…
Interested in the ability she chose? A particular strand of pyrokinesis(because she couldn’t get the full package): Explosions. As it was only her second upgrade she could only detonate small(read: the size of a human head, which, incidentally, was the first object she destroyed after getting the upgrade) objects and only within eyesight.
“Have you ever heard of a case where it didn’t work?”, I asked. A good question.
“No. But there’s always a first time.”
I rolled my eyes.
“You are the most obnoxious sarcastic cynical cat-hating know-it-all I have ever encountered.”
She didn’t seem offended and slowly turned her head, looking intensely at the bottle of water an elderly man at the table next to ours had ordered.
“I don’t hate cats”, she said calmly. Of course you do. I’ve seen you blowing up those poor animals for fun.
BOOM!
As a fine shower of water rained down on me, she smiled. I took a tissue out of my pocket and began to dry myself, all the while looking stoically at her. It was summer, so me catching a cold was unlikely. Besides, hey, I am immortal.
“OK, now…why did you want to meet me? Not to simply show off your power, right?”
“That was one reason. The other was, that I want to recruit you for the syndicate I’m building.” Believe it or not, she said that with a completely straight face.
A syndicate. At the age of seventeen.
That’s a joke, right? RIGHT?!?
“I see. And, how many members do you have at the moment?” My bet was on one.
“Counting myself too…ten.” The pride in her voice was real so it probably was the truth.
“And your intention?”
“Huh?”
‘Huh’ is the dumbest sound a human being is capable of. If I were to compare sounds with fruits then a normal word would be an apple(or an orange if you like them – I certainly don’t) and ‘huh’ would be…I don’t know…a shriveled blueberry. Falling down a steep cliff. Into a bottomless pit.
“What. Is. The. Goal. Of. Your. Syndicate?”, I spoke as slowly as I possibly could, emphasizing Every. Single. Word.
Looking back at this whole conversation I probably should have thought about what the hell happened to the old man whose bottle of water exploded. But that’s now. Back then I didn’t give a damn.
She looked unsure. “…uh…”
Coming back to my great comparison, ‘uh’ would be a raisin being thrown into an incinerator.
“…world domination?”, she finished.
Don’t use questions when saying stuff like that!
“That’s it? Any plans on how to do it? And why are you blurting it out in public?”
To be honest, I’m not sure if I really said the last thing out loud. I might have only thought it.
“Well-“, she started to speak, then suddenly, as if shocked by something opened her eyes wide und ducked.
What’s up?
I turned around, alarmed(though not as much as I should have been. After all something was there that frightened a Level 3 Wishmaker.).
Instead of the tables of the coffeehouse there was now an assortment of flags firmly planted into the ground. They were black, not even reflecting the slightest bit of light. Everyone else had disappeared.
The flags fluttered in the wind, as the eerie silence stretched on. But there wasn’t any wind...
“That’s the famous Flagfighter, he’s doing this”, she said with a hollow voice.
Flagfighter?! Wishmaker is bad enough, but that is at least the official name.
“Fight back”, I suggested.
“Huh?”
She said it again. ARRGH!!
“Fight. Him. Blow up his flags. He can’t fight without them, right?”
“ ’tis correct, youngster. And she can’t fight without her eyes…right?”, the old man from before said, grinning. It took me a few moments to notice that he was holding out his hand towards me.
Eryl began to sob uncontrollably and had a sudden seizure. Her hands clawed on her face, drawing bloody streaks across it. I spent half a minute just standing there and staring at her as she ripped her face open and shredded her own flesh with her bare hands. I still don’t know when exactly the old man had taken a flag into his hand. Fact is: He had. Without slowing down he took a step back and then two fast steps forward. Using the momentum he rammed the flagpole into Eryl’s chest which immediately stopped her thrashing. If she still had possessed eyes she would have looked surprised.
“Oh”, she whispered and fell silent.
Just in case you didn’t get it: The thing the old man held out towards me were Eryl’s eyes. If I remember correctly he also made the effort of making them face into the same direction(i.e. at me).
Time stopped.
No, really, time stopped. The old man waved his hand and the flags disappeared. Only me and him could still move, the rest of the world stood still.
And there was that annoying blue-ish glittering bug.
“What’s your wish?”, she asked.
I was speechless.
Just like that. Eryl had died and nobody cared.
Not even me. It’s not like I ever knew her. She just talked to me at one point and told me about Wishmakers and fairies. I still don’t know why, though. Not that I could ask her, as...well, she’s dead, for one...but...
“Give the wish to the youngster here, I don’t need it”, the old man said and ruffled my hair.
Which hand did he use? Which one?!?
Then he just walked away. I resisted the urge to touch my hair to prove myself that he hadn’t sticked Eryl’s eyes onto my head.
I still resisted...
Two seconds later I didn’t resist any longer.
Nothing.
The fairy turned toward me, wings fluttering like those of a humming-bird.
“What’s your wish?”, she asked in the same monotonous voice as before. Alter the pitch of your voice when you’re speaking. It’s creeping me out!
“Instant regeneration”, I said without a second thought. Yes, immortality alone was a really bad ability. But with a few secondary abilities thrown into the mix...
Three months later...
I was a Level 77 Wishmaker at that time. My abilities(or, well, the most important ones) were: Explosions(thought-based, I don’t intend to repeat mistakes), Immortality(the full package: eternal youth, instant regeneration, consciousness as a part of the whole body – not only the brain – and many other things) and a Telekinetic Shield(a round sphere around me).
I had spent the last few weeks doing two things: 1) Hunting down weak Wishmakers and gaining more wishes myself and 2)training my abilities until they became a second nature.
Oh, yeah, I also gained a tracking ability. I used it to track down Flagfighter. Not for revenge, no, but because I wanted his abilities. Funny thing I learned: When you kill a Wishmaker you can choose to gain all his wishes or make one wish yourself. Since many abilities are useless I normally took the second option. But I absolutely wanted that flag ability, although I was still unsure what it did.
Time manipulation?
Teleportation?
Whatever it was, it was epic.
“Why do you want to fight me, youngster?”, the old man asked when I finally found him.
“To become stronger.”
“That’s all?”
“And world domination.”
I’m serious.
Dead serious. No, really.
...
Why are you laughing?
“Good reason”, he said. Is he being sarcastic? “Good reason for a pimple-faced egomaniacal wannabe emperor.” Yep, he is definitely being sarcastic.
“I am not pimple-faced”, I said. I wanted to end the battle quickly and thought about making his head explode, but the only thing that exploded was a flag. When did he activate his ability?
I raised my shield, but too slow. I could feel, for a short moment, how his hand plucked out my eyes effortlessly, followed by my Adam’s apple. I felt like dying.
Hey, don’t worry, I’m immortal, remember?
Regenerating the damage I thought about his ability. Inside of my shield there isn’t enough room for two persons to maneuver so he had to be sort of ethereal. Maybe he used the flags to create an area where he could ignore the laws of physics.
If that’s so...
Flag. Explode.
With a huge detonation the flags surrounding me went up in flames. How do you like that?
For a few seconds nothing happened, then he suddenly began to laugh like he was crazy. “Do you think a weak attack like that could even harm me?”
Do you think I care about the stereotypical response of an abritrary villain?
“What about this then?”
Oh, I forgot to mention...I made myself invincible from my own attacks.
Me. Explode.
The shockwave neatly snapped the remaining flags.
And then...the flags simply reappeared. I felt a sudden coldness rising up from my heart – correction, from where my heart should have been. I saw it, blood pulsing and all, plummeting to the ground and making an ugly ‘splash’.
Wait a second. Tracking ability: ON.
I could then clearly see him, as he teleported from flag to flag. But he has to have an anchor point somewhere. I destroyed his flags and they simply came back.
Flagfighter snapped my spinal column at five points. I fell to the ground and rose again after my regeneration had taken care of the injuries. OK, I’ve had enough of this.
Obliteration.
I aimed my strongest explosions at everything I could think of. The ground dissolved and I stood in the air. Strange.
The flags reappeared again, but they, like me stood in the air. Then I noticed it: Not every flag fluttered, only around a certain position. This position changed every few seconds.
So...he can only attack in the zones surrounding his ghost-form and the wind is a side effect that gives away his position.
I tested my theory by stepping into an area where the flags had just begun to flutter. Instantly about half(that’s what I think at least. It’s not I like I counted.) of my tendons snapped.
Theory: Correct.
I concentrated and used my tracking ability to determine where his next jump went.
Below me.
I looked down and saw another arrangement of black flags below me. How many of these flags does he have anyway?
Obliteration.
A series of big explosions shone brightly from below as gusts of hot wind blew upwards. I didn’t stop there, though. I blew up everything in the surrounding area, every single damn flag.
Somehow this finally destroyed his ethereal form and he stood a few metres away, visibly exhausted. A few flags reappeared again. I picked up one of them, weighed it shortly and threw the flagpole at him with all my strength. As it connected, an invisible shield held it back, but it still inched closer.
“I’m intrigued by your abilities, youngster. Before I die, please tell me what the first ability was that you chose.”
“Immortality.”
„Immortality? Are you kidding me?“
I wanted to say ‘No’, but it would have been wasted breath as he died almost instantly after the flagpole pierced his heart.
Yup, I did choose immortality. I think it was a good idea. I kid you not.
