Disclaimer: None of the character of W.I.T.C.H. belong to me and I don't intend to make any money with it.

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„Immortality – a fate worse than death"

Edgar A. Shoaff

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Queen Elyon, ruler of Meridian, monarch of the ancient magical world and one of the three strongest Sorceresses and Sorcerers alive, was currently sitting on her throne, her face buried into her hands, silent tears running down her cheeks as silent sobs rocked her body.

She was alone; no guards, no advisors, no meetings and no citizens who asked for help. Not that she minded them, but right now, everybody respected her feelings and let her alone for the time being.

Miraculously, even the criminals did not use the day the Queen cried and did nothing, so the most peaceful day in Meridian was always bought by the tears of Elyon, a cost none of the citizens of the world Meridian, may it Lurden, Human or Guard, wanted to pay.

Yet, she couldn't stop it, she always thought about them, remembered them at most unfavorable times and the audience, regardless who it was, quickly retreated.

Those were the only time the Queen showed any weakness, the other times she was the tree that supported and protected the little flower Meridian, shielding it with her mighty branches, ready to throw herself one last time in front of it, so it can survive.

Just like a tree, the older the Sorceress became, the stronger she got and Elyon was now one of the oldest beings of the universe, with her 3000 years.

How many years has it been when she last visited Earth? At least six hundred years, how much had changed? How much had humanity developed? Would Heatherfield still be recognizable, would it be futuristic or would it be a ghost town?

Earth, compared to her childhood there, had lived through incredible changes, standing a few times before its own, self-inflicted destruction, only prevented by new generations of Guardians, some of them weaker and some of them stronger as the Guardians she would always refer to as "the real Guardians".

She knew it was unfair to the current generation, but still, she couldn't do anything against it, nor did she want it.

Even Elyon, as a Queen with the experience of eons, was only human and such favored her old friends.

And she missed them, she really did miss them. It was mainly because of them that she fell into depression from time to time. Yet, she was glad that she did. She feared more than anything else that she would forget them and that she couldn't bear. Forgetting her friends, her times with them would be unforgivable.

Cornelia's face, the face of the best friend she ever had, appeared in her mind's eye, Cornelia's golden hair falling down her shoulders, smiling in that usual cocky smile of hers. Back then, in school, she had been jealous a few times, at her self-confidence, but Cornelia had accompanied her through all of her life, even later, when she was a Queen. When there was danger, may it be her evil brother, a crazy hag, an invading army, a handsome prince or king of another world or the stress of finding the right dress a Queen should wear, Cornelia had always been there.

Her other best friends hadn't been there less and she missed them badly, too. Will, the former new girl and one of the best Keepers of the Heart of Kandrakar in history, and later one of the prime strategist of the Council of Kandrakar. She had joined them alongside with Matt, who went there as a representative of Earth, after giving Lillian her powers back.

She remembered the day clearly; Matt, Mr. Huggles and Napoleon transformed right in front of Lillian, giving her the shock of her life and then returned her powers back to her.

Matt was a precious friend too, she still heard some of his music, having magically recorded it. Most of the people now didn't like it but she still appreciated hearing them.

Not much later Matt fell into a depression, because he missed the Shagon morph but eventually overcame it, and after his short music career he joined the Council of Kandrakar, gaining powers again, even though on a much smaller scale.

Sadly enough, Will and Matt never had children, both waiting for the right time, until it was too late. Matt and Will both died in an attack on the fortress but, so she knew, they died together, protecting that what had been always most precious to them: each other and the peace of the Infinity.

Irma, the strongest Water Guardian ever to serve Kandrakar, as she was the first and last Water Guardian who obtained perfect, absolute control over water, even controlling the blood and moisture in the enemies' body or changing its state of aggregation, earned the fame and reputation she always wanted. Yet, she didn't stay at Kandrakar like Will, knowing it was protected enough due her friends but decided to protect the earth. Alongside her brother Chris, and her (and Elyon's) friend Hay Lin, Irma struggled for the peace of earth, trying to search for other magic talented people and trained them to be an asset to Earth.

Irma Lair and Hay Lin had both been Protectors of the Earth and were known throughout the infinity, for their deeds and for their power. Unfortunately they were never acknowledged during their life time on their own planet, as most people didn't believe in magic and they had to do most of their work in relative secret, continuing a secret life, like they had in their Guardian time.

Irma had firmly believed in doing what's right and she never regretted it.

Hay Lin, the cheerful girl with the never ending smile, had always been a source of comfort to Elyon. Sometimes even only thinking at her lightened Elyon's mood immediately, and she tried then to see the bright side of everything, too.

Elyon still had many of her self-designed dresses and costumes enchanted them so they never aged, she still wore some of them at the most important occasions, regardless if they fitted in or not, most of the times, they didn't, as a silent tribute to the friendly Air Guardian who had spent her whole life, helping other people.

Taranee, once a new girl herself, first finished College and as the only one of them University and stayed at Earth building a family on her own and wrote chronicles of all their adventures, up to the smallest detail. On earth, it was treated as fantasy but on other worlds, after its publication, eight hundred years after her death, those books were still used to train Guardians and magically talented people alike.

Cornelia, after she finished school and spent a few years winning Ice skating tournaments, told her parents, alongside with the revelation of Lillian's power and destiny, her life as a Guardian and that her boyfriend, and soon to be fiancé, was a boy from another world. They took it relatively well.

She stayed at earth until Lillian fully learned to control her powers, left then to Meridian and married Caleb.

Caleb, who took Cornelia's last name, was known as the strongest and bravest warrior Meridian had known, his adventures and legends were still told under the citizens and Elyon told the most of them, sometimes when she visited a village or even had a conference with other leaders of other planets.

Caleb and Cornelia had a family with three children, the root of the Hale clan, the most respected family on Meridian, having produced more heroes and sorceresses then any family before, went unfortunately extinct after eleven generations, as the last member of the family died saving Elyon's life during an attack.

Even though there was no member of that family left alive, the giant statue of Caleb, stood in the chamber of heroes in Kandrakar, and in its socket, the name of every family member was carved in. Contrary to the other statues in the chamber of the heroes, who were created with fancy armors and displayed incredible weapons, Caleb's was wearing his old jeans, t-shirt and coat, his sword striped on his back.

And yet, the most honored and favorite was Caleb's as he was one of the few who achieved so much with only his guts and wits. Caleb's sword was hanging right above her throne, symbolizing his protection over Meridian. The sword was a simple one, not decorated or even expensive, nor did it have any special powers, but it once belonged Caleb. Elyon was sure, and so she told the people at the times of danger that as long Caleb's spirit was on Meridian, the world would stay safe. Elyon admitted that it was cheesy, but it felt right.

He never wore armor even not at important meetings or galas, always appearing in his usual clothing or something simple. He laughed at every suggestion, may it from Cornelia or the royal advisor who had to ensure the etiquette, leaving the latter back in tears.

"I didn't wear armor while fighting giant rosternal gorlafs, so I will certainly not wear them greeting a few people."

Blunk, even though the little smelly guy had annoyed and embarrassed her more than a few times, was still hold dearly in her memories and she tolerated no ill speaking towards him, as he was a famous hero of Meridian as well, and the one who lived the longest. In fact, next to Caleb's statue was a smaller one of Blunk. Passlings, not able to bear many children, had a long life span and he lived for 400 years, becoming the oldest Passling of Meridian.

Some Passlings say that it was due to his great wisdom, and even though Blunk possessed a great knowledge of surviving, he possessed an ever greater luck, due surviving most dangerous situations.

Elyon missed them all, what would she give to see them once more, to giggle with the girls, to laugh with Caleb, to listen to Matt's music, to scold at Blunk for interrupting a formal gala, to walk the lands with Drake and Aldarn, to study under the hawk eyes of Vathek, who, no matter which magic trick she pulled off, seemed always to know which way she would use to escape.

She was truly alone, even though she was a Queen; she had arrived at the point where she frequently flipping through the pages of her old paint book, where she kept the drawings off all of them. It was hard to get close to other people, knowing they too would die and fade away.

The hardest years of her life had been the ones when she realized that she, as an immortal, would live longer then her friends and slowly saw them aging, while staying the same as ever.

They became older with every passing day and she couldn't do a thing against it, and now, after more than three thousand years, she looked like a woman in her early fifties, instead of shriveled rosin.

Ironically, the only one left of the other days was her older brother, still a prisoner and was spending his days meditating, no doubt preparing a plan to overthrow her. Elyon visited him from time to time, once every few centuries, to see if he had finally lost his mind, but the ages in the cell didn't seem to affect him.

But Elyon, after letting him there for a thousand years, had showed mercy and transferred him to a small castle, in the outer places of Meridian and put a spell around it, to keep him there. He couldn't use magic but could do other things. As far as she knew he was raising roses and other plants, next to reading in old tomes.

He would be there, until someone was foolish enough to free him, but, Elyon didn't doubt this, he would be brought back again by the current Generation of Guardians.

She thought at the last words of the honorary Yan Lin, or grandma, as the girls and she called her.

"Naaah, don't worry, Guardians, no matter who they are, will always "kick butts" as you would say it."

She knew she could be a Queen for another five millennia's but if Yan Lin would appear and tell her to finish the rest on her plate or take out the garbage, she would do it without any hesitation. Yan Lin had a way around children, guiding them without letting them a chance, nobody dared to say no to a grandma after all.

Well, Grandma Lin had never been the usual grandmother but still, and her last words seemed a bit "improper" but they were exact the thing the girls had wanted to hear at that moment.

She missed them, she truly missed them all, she hated being immortal, it was not that every heart had immorality, only a few beings in the Universe, like Phobos, the Oracle, a few members of the council, one or two hearts, (unfortunately not the Heart of Earth) and herself.

Elyon knew that most people strived for this, to live for all eternity but after experiencing her friends dying and you yourself not being able to prevent this, certainly ensured that her opinion in that matter greatly differed from others.

Still, she would not take her own life, she had a kingdom to care for and her friends would never forgive her if she met them in the halls of Kandrakar, where all magical beings and some specially honored people went.

She would meet them there, she was actually looking forward to her life's end, but nobody could tell her when it would.

Perhaps after having children, as she had none, for two reasons.

One; being a human with such a long life span, disabled her to have many children, maybe later she could actually bear one at most.

The other one was the fact that she knew she couldn't handle to see her own daughter or son to age and die in front of her eyes, immortality was not a family treat so there was little hope for them to have a long span either.

It was a fact that members of the royal family had a long life span for over five hundred years but still they were not immortal.

Maybe it was time to have a child, maybe she should throw her fears over board, wasn't having a son or a daughter the greatest joy someone could have?

Maybe the time had come for her to take the next step,

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I had this on my mind for a time and just decided to post it, even though I am not completely content with it, so please let me know what you think of it.