The Graveyard of the Immortals

Surely you have heard the tales? No? Then stay awhile and let me tell you a story.

A long time ago, in a city long forgotten, a young lad by name of Nathaniel and his friend heard a tale. T'was a tale of men who could live forever, and endure the passage of time as if it were a mere inconvenience. Now Nathaniel and his friend were captivated, enthralled even, by these wild tales, and sought to claim for themselves the gift of immortality.



So it was that they abandoned all other pursiuts and focused entirely on living forever. They reasoned that they would be able to pick up and complete these pursuits if they had all the time in the world with which to do it. Years of careful research and planning went into this choice of theirs, and they stumbled across the answer to all of their wishes, The Philosopher's Stone. But this stone were to come at a price, although the two did not know it at the time. As they gathered all the reagents required and made all the necessary preparations, some city guardsmen, alerted to the possibility of dark magic users walked in on the two and caught them in the act of daubing a circle of chicken's blood on the floor of their shared home. Now, neither of the two lads were capable of the acts of which they were accused, but they were convicted nonetheless. They were slung into the city jail and left to hang at the break of dawn.



Nathaniel was a wily bugger, and goaded the guard on his cell to come in and attempt an attack. Suspected dark magic users were not taken lightly at the time, and both Nathaniel and his friend were chained to the walls. When the guard walked in, intent on harming Nathaniel, he lashed out and managed to trip him, knocking him out. Now, Nathaniel managed to get the keys and unlock himself and his friend (I never found out how he did this, despite all of my hearings of different tales). Some suggest that he ripped the chains out of the walls with brute strength and recovered the keys, others that he grabbed the keys as the guard went down, I assume that I will never know.



From the jail, the two made their way back to their home, where they completed the ritual. A thunderclap sounded, and throughout the city, people began to die. Their collected energies began to flow in a river of power to the house, but the worst part of this? Their souls came too. Thousands were dragged, screaming into this single, confined area of a stone that lay neatly within the centre of this ritual circle. By the time their work was done, the entire city collapsed, with the exception of the house within which the two stood. They did not regret what they had done, although yes, they would come to. Nathaniel reached out to pick up the stone, and as he wrapped his fingers around it, he began to scream. Apparently the process was extremely painful, and he barely survived the encounter. As his friend watched, the stone merged with, and disappeared into Nathaniel's hand. Scars that he had sustained over the years faded, and left not a blemish. So it was that Nathaniel gained immortality. His friend was jealous of the accomplishment, but he could do nothing to Nathaniel. Fairly quickly, the two friends fell to sadness, as an entire city had been lost to their greed.



Nature quickly reclaimed the area in which their lonely house stood, and they were left alone in the forest. Now, Nathaniel's friend aged as usual, and where once there was a boy, was an embittered man. Nathaniel felt sorry for his friend, whom had lost everything, far more than even Nathaniel had by that point. In his friend's later years, Nathaniel began to hear whispers in his head, that he could perhaps save his friend, and maybe even regain the city which was lost. Nathaniel leapt at this offering and asked how it could be achieved. The reply he recieved disconcerted him greatly, but his friend was at stake.



One early morning, the two set off from their home, and travelled for many days and nights, blending into months, before reaching a place known as The Graveyard of the Immortals. Upon reaching the graveyard, the two felt compelled to enter. As they looked about them, they saw innumerable gravestones, each bearing a name of a person whom had been rumoured to have obtained immortality.



The whispers in Nathaniel's head told him to leave his friend and enter the main crypt. Despite his misgivings, Nathaniel did as the whispers asked and entered. Upon his entry, the doors slammed shut behind him, and the crypt shimmered, replaced by a new grave with Nathaniel's name written upon it. Laughter rang out across the graveyard, and a man formed of mist formed in the middle. Distraught at the loss of Nathaniel, the friend asked what he could possibly do to secure his release. The figure of mist gave no reply, and merely gestured. A suit of solid black armour appeared before him, rising out of the very ground. Now, this mist man told the friend that in order to save Nathaniel, he'd have to guard the graveyard for an eternity. The friend agreed to the terms and donned the armor. He had been fooled by the mist man. Nathaniel was never released, and the graveyard's new guardian was forced into eternal servitude.



Who was this friend, you ask? Well, let's just say that I must return to my duty now, and remember this - Death has a sense of humour, and immortality's not all that it's cracked up to be. Goodbye.



*A signature is present here, but no letters can be discerned in the messy scribble.*