"The first person that we will hear from is your grandfather, Lionel. He was not a perfect man, actually anything but, and even though Lena never knew the man during her childhood, he would have a significant impact on her life. This memory comes from the time of his death. This is background may be boring but it is necessary, and relatively short," said Samantha as they peered into the scrying bowl.
As Lionel lay there in that bed slowly dying he saw my entire life flash before my eyes in an instant. I know that everyone says that before they die, and it is a cliché, but I have to say that over one thousand is a lot to take in at once. All the mistakes and failures of my life all coming back to me at the worse possible moment.
Lionel thought to him that no one is truly immortal, everyone has a finite existence no matter how long it may seem. It is unnatural to be an immortal, without morality people don't really live it just an accumulation of experiences with no meaning to them. It is only with the promise, or fear, of death that people truly start living, there is a beginning to life and there has to be an end someday it is the natural order of life.
"I saw my first steps, in the royal palace. We might not have been royalty, but I spent most of my young life in the palace. I remembered sitting out under the world tree with my mother reading me stories of heroes and Gods. Then, I saw my teenage years, when I gained fame throughout the kingdom as a prodigy, the kind that comes along once in a generation, which is even more impressive when your race is immortal. Then, I saw the nights that I would stay up all night worrying what people would think of me if I failed in something. I remembered the day that I got married to my first wife, who was the First Princess of the land, it was a majestic celebration that I was told had not been seen since the early days of the elves when we danced with the Gods themselves. Then, I remembered the day that I was named heir to my mother, which was one of the best and worst days in my life.
After that my life started to spiral out of control. My daughter was born with a horrible illness, and the doctors only gave her about 25 years at the most to live. Then, almost right after my mother started dying, even though she was supposedly an "immortal" being. They were everything to me and after that my life was never the same. I remembered starting to delve deeper and deeper into the dark arts in hopes of finding a way to bring my mother back and to make sure that none of the other people I loved would die. Because of my research I missed the birth of my son and daughter. I remember the day that I made the breakthrough and learned the secret to what people would later call the true immortality of the Gods.
I remember the day that we turned ourselves into monsters, it was a nice sunny, calm day in autumn as the leaves were just starting to change. This change my wife abandoned me, because of what I had become and what I had turned my daughter into. I remembered the day that we were run out of the city, and how from that day forward I struggled to find a counter spell for what I had done. I remember the Great Schism, and the death and destruction that it rained down upon the world; but much worse than any of that my wife was killed, and my son maimed during that war.
I would spend the next eight hundred years mourning the death of my family and hating what I had become. But, I tortured myself and remained with the people that I had created. Hoping that I could lead them down a different path and in hopes of finding a cure for what I had done and preventing them from doing too much damage and taking them down with me. I remember the day that I finally could not take it anymore and I left my people behind and returned to the world of the living.
I remember trying to die, not eating for weeks at a time only to be compelled by my body to kill. I remember the day I happened to meet a human woman. She was tasked with killing me, because I was viewed as the greatest threat the world had ever known. I remembered that I easily defeated her, and I had my sword at her throat however even though I held her life in my hands she remained defiant and still did not back down. I believe it was for that reason that I could not kill her, I later realized that she had the same fire in her eyes that I once had when I was young. Even though she was a child compared to me I fell in love with her instantly.
I guess this would be the second major turning point in my life, it was then that I decided that even a monster like me could be happy if I tried. So, I faked my own death and went with her back to her old village. I had her cut off my force powers, while I lost my immortality, I was more than willing to give up my magic and my immortality to spend one mortal lifetime with this woman.
I remembered the day that my second daughter, Lena, was born. I did live happily for all a year, before the Empire found me, and attacked the village with the humans. And finally, my wife died in the battle, but not before taking down the king, and I was seriously wounded in the battle. So, now here I am, dying unable to repair my wounds."
Lionel looked at the baby sitting next to me, she was smiling, playing with my hair, and shaking her head, almost like she understood everything I had just said. Lena was small, being just over a year old now, but she looked just like her mother for which he was glad, he really didn't want her to look like him.
She had jet black hair and forest green eyes, they reminded him of my home the forest, thinking about it was almost unnatural how deep the green was. The only thing that remained him of himself was the alabaster color of her skin.
Though of course she did not understand what Lionel was saying but for some reason he just felt compelled to say it. He looked at the old women who was holding my son and said, "Take the last little bit of my life energy and seal his powers away. I do not wish my daughter to be burdened the same way that I have been burden for all these years. It is not his fault that her father was a monster, isn't that right Lena."
The little girl laughed and grabbed his hand. Lionel's mother-in-law nodded and said, "Are you sure that you want to go through with this, I am sure that my daughter would not mind waiting for you on the other side for a little while. I could undo her spell and release your powers, I can still do at least that much, even in my old age."
He turned and laid his head back down on the pillow, and laughed, "Oh, I told her a million times that she and I only had this life, but she did not believe me right up until the end. No, if there is an afterlife I will not be in the same place as her. The gods would never let me go to the same place as her. I treaded on their powers one too many times, and they are a vengeful sort."
"But, I can still help you regain your powers, so that you might live on for your daughter," she said.
"Please don't tempt me, you have no idea how much I wish to regain my powers and continue to live, I guess it is just human nature. But, I am not worthy enough to live; if I could I would bring her back. She was as pure as the first snow on the White Mountains. I on the other hand are as dirty as the worse ten men combined; no, I do not deserve to life, my time to pass for this world is long overdue. It is only natural; all things must come to an end. Even, if I did get my powers back, I do not want to compound my sins by taking another life to save my own. Plus, I have lived more over these past three years, then I have in the past eight hundred years combined. And despite all my mistakes I think that I have lived a decent life, I have experienced so much more than most people. It is time"
The women leaned over me and said, "My daughter was right, you are an idiot. My daughter said that you are one of the greatest, kindest, most generous men that she had ever known. She told me that you hate yourself, but she also said that it was the old you who did those things, and that is not the man that you are now. She truly believed that people could change, and you proved her right. For as long as I have known you, you have been nothing but kind and helpful to everyone that you have met."
Lionel smiled, "Thank you for trying to comfort me. You remind me a lot of my mother, perhaps you are her reincarnated. She too was kind and regal, even to people she did not like that much. Did I ever tell you about the time that she had to entertain the king of the dwarves, and she ended up dumping all of her wine on his head?"
The old women laughed and nodded, "Yes, that is perhaps one of my favorite stories that you have ever told. Though I find it weird that you believe in reincarnation, but you don't believe in the afterlife. You truly are a man of contradictions."
He smiled again, she was right of course. Just then, he started to spasm and cough up more blood. His body was failing him, he knew that he did not have that much time left. He grabbed the her hand and said, "Go and gather the stuff that you need for the spell. I don't have that much time left, my life energy is almost gone and if it dips much lower than you will not be able to perform the spell."
She nodded, placed Lena on his chest and ran out of the house. He looked up at his daughter, he rubbed her hair; she really did look like her mother. But, those emerald green eyes had the same hard look that mine had, he guessed that was another similarity they shared. I had never thought about it before but most of my race had this same look in their eyes. They were very hard and worn, but that is to be expected with a dying race like ours. All the people that I helped to give immorality to whether they wanted to admit it or not, had lost a lot over the years. All of them had lost our family, friends, and of course we had all lost our normal lives.
As Lionel continued to stare into those vast green eyes, he saw his home again, and the woods that I use to play in all day long. For one small moment I wondered what his life would have been like if he had not been through the change. But, he quickly banished the thought from my mind because he looked at the baby on my chest and remembered that if it was not for that then he would not have Lena's mother and she would not be here.
And with that Lionel fell back off to a fitful sleep. The next thing that he remembered he was outside under the stars, and he remember that they had never looked so beautiful before. He was lying on the ground in the middle of a large magical circle with my daughter of the opposite end. He could hear his mother in law talking to her husband.
But, when they both saw that he was awake they came over to me and said, "Is there anything you want us to do for you before we start the spell."
He nodded and said, "First, take me and bury me up in the mountains. In the spot in between the two tallest peaks, that is where me and your daughter first met. I built a tomb up there, please lay me there; and if you don't mind please bury your daughter there as well. Second, don't tell my daughter about me or magic until it is necessary, and never under any conditions undo the spell. I don't want her to be burdened by her power. Also, if you think that the time has come, and she needs some power to protect something that she holds dear give her my sword and tell her to come and visit my tomb. Also, I leave all my stuff to her. Oh, yeah your daughter wanted me to tell you that you can have the farmhouse, we just finished it before the battle started."
They nodded, and said, "Despite what you think, you were a good man; our daughter thought so and so do we. You saved the lives of everyone in the village with your deeds more than once."
Lionel laughed and said, "What does it matter now anyways, in only a matter of time I will be dead. It is too late for any regrets."
The shook their heads, nodded solemnly and said, "We will begin the spell now, it will all be over soon."
He nodded, and they moved to the other sides of the circle and began to chant. Lionel could feel the last of his power start too slip slowly away. As the light started to fade from his eyes, he thought to himself, "Why did they have to say that I me, they really did influence me. I am starting to have some regrets about my life and decisions. Maybe they are right, maybe I don't deserve to go to the deepest circles of hell. I have done some good things in my life, maybe I will see all of the people that I thought were lost to me forever, mother, sister, my wives, and daughter. Well, I guess I can have those thoughts as I die, I could have worse I suppose"
And with that, he felt the weight and pain disappear; it was almost as he was hovering in mid-air. Then, he realized that he had not gone into the afterlife, or if it was the afterlife it sure looked very similar and boring. Then, he saw his daughter pointing in his current position and my mother in law was staring at me and asked her husband, "What happened to him? Why is there glowing light above him?"
Her husband just looked at the light, and said, "We were right all along he is a different person. He must have realized this as well in the end, because if I remember correctly only people who believe that they are worthy are able to ascend."
That was when it hit him, yes that must have been what happened through the combination of sacrificing himself to protect Lena and accepting his life and the decisions that he made, not just the bad but the good as well he must have taken the necessary to reclaim his soul. He moved over to where they were still standing staring at me, or the ball of light that now represented my immortal soul.
Lionel reached out and touched each of them with my mind. He did not know whether they would understand what he was trying to tell them or not but hopefully they did. Then, he turned to the mountains, he thought to himself it was a good thing that he put those wards around my tomb. Now, the tomb can hold his spirit, and he just might have a chance to talk to Lena before he passed on, he would just have to wait for her to get old enough to understand what I need to tell her.
At least that was a small victory, 'Someday Lena I will I get a chance to see you when you are all grown up.'