Immortality Be Gone

I am thinking of expanding this story into a novella. Please if you read my story, let me know if this could work. And, of course, I am always looking for a review. Hope you enjoy!

Immortality Be Gone

         The sounds of the jungle went silent as the three men disembarked from the spacecraft. Two of them were tall and muscled, the other was not. The shorter one led the other two along a path that only he knew about.

         Thoughts of the money he would acquire from the other two men flew through Mauric's mind as he led the other men into the dim interior of the jungle. He tried to ignore the small moments of fear that he kept having. She wouldn’t be to mad would she? The men had told him that they needed her help to save human lives. She couldn’t get mad at him for that? Could she?

         Garyt looked over at his brother Javien and smiled as he relayed his amusement to him on the erratic back and forth thoughts of the man they followed. The giddy thoughts of how he was going to spend his money and the fear of the reaction of the woman he was supposed to protect the location of. He had been having the same type of thoughts when they had first told him of their proposition. His avarice had obviously won out, since he was in the process of leading them to her.

         Of course, there had never actually been a proposition. It was all a planted event in the smaller mans mind. As well as his acceptance of it.

* * * * * * * *

         It was pure luck on their part that they had found him. Javien had only been doing a surface scan on the inhabitants of the small town when he had come across Mauric’s thought on his charge. Mauric had been thinking he should make a trip out to the uninhabited planet she was located on to check on her, but then he had suddenly shifted his thoughts to the meal in front of him. The thought was no more then a passing one, but it was enough for Javien to alert his brother Garyt and have them investigate further.

         The brothers met up outside of the restaurant and went in together to approach Mauric. He was still in the middle of his meal and didn’t look too happy at the interruption when Javien and Garyt approached his table.

         “If you’re selling something, I’m not interested.” Mauric stated then returned to eating.

         “On the contrary, we would like to buy something from you,” Garyt spoke.

         Mauric looked up with a spark of interest and put down his fork. “If it’s drugs you’re after, sorry, but I can’t help you there.”

         “No, not drugs. Information.”

         Mauric tensed at this and tried to keep his face blank. There was only one piece of information that he deemed valuable. But, there was no way in hell that they could know anything about it to even ask him for more information. He began to relax a little.

         “What sort of information?” He asked, but the brothers didn’t immediately answer.

         “Did you get anything Javien?”

         “I got that he knows the way to her, but I can’t read where that is. It is blocked somehow.”

         “I got the same thing. We will have to get him to take us there then.”

         “He will ask why we need to know. I don’t like involving him in our plans.”

         “Javien, we lie to him of course. And it is not like we can’t erase the knowledge from his mind when we get what we want anyway."

         “True, but I still don’t like it.”

         Mauric had begun to look at them strangely.

         “We need information on the whereabouts of a certain someone. No need to say who. You already know.” Garyt spoke.

         Mauric stood up quickly from the table. “I can’t help you. Have no idea what you’re talking about.” He began to move away from the table but blinked as he suddenly found himself sitting back down. What the hell!

         "I assume the others are blind to us Garyt?" Javien asked as he walked behind Mauric.

         "Have been since we entered. They are blind to him as well."

         "Good"

         “Sorry about this, but we don’t have time to convince you the long way.” Javien spoke from right behind him. Mauric felt the man’s hands wrap themselves around his head, he began to feel dizzy, and then he felt nothing at all.

* * * * * * * *

         The three men continued along the invisible path, climbing over large tree roots and through thick brush until they came upon a small clearing. Inside the clearing and barely visible to anyone not expecting it to be there was a tiny square hut overgrown with vines and foliage.

         Mauric continued to walk up to the hut and to what Javien and Garyt could only assume was the entrance, although they could not see one. Mauric stopped right in front of the hut and turned around.

         “You will not hurt her, right?”

         “Of course not, we told you, we need her help.” Garyt reassured him.

         “But what if she won’t give it? What then?”

         “It will be most unfortunate, since she may be the only one who can, but I guess we will just have to leave and somehow survive without it.”

         “And I will still get my money if she refuses?”

         “Yes, you fulfilled your part.”

         Mauric looked back and forth between the two, trying to decide if he believed them, but he had brought them this far, he guessed there was no turning back now. “Ok.”

         Mauric then turned around and spoke some words in a language that neither of the brothers had ever heard before. The thick vines and plants in front of him suddenly began to move away and they could now see a small door being revealed. Once the doorway was clear, Mauric spoke some more words in the unknown language and the door opened. A gust of air escaped and hit the three men in the face. It smelled stale.

         “Sorry about that. I should have warned you. The hut is airtight and it has been a year since I was here last.”

         The brothers exchanged a look, but didn’t comment. They motioned him to continue.

         Mauric entered the darkened hut, with the brothers following. They stopped right inside as they heard Mauric rummage around for something. It was hot inside the hut and the air oppressive from being sealed. Even the warmth of the jungle air filtering in at their backs felt cooler.

         They heard a scratch and then both blinked as Mauric lit a lantern right in front of them.

         “What, no magic words?” Javien spoke sarcastically.

         “They don’t work inside the hut. At least not from me anyway.” Mauric told them as he turned around and walked through a door to their right. They had more questions, but they could wait until later. The brothers followed Mauric through the door.

         The room was small of course, and the ceiling low. The brothers almost had to bend down to keep their heads from hitting the ceiling. The room consisted of a small cot with a faded blanket and pillow against one wall, a rug in front of it and a couple of bookcases filled from top to bottom with books against another wall. A layer of dust covered everything and there were cobwebs everywhere. There was one window with what looked like a rocking chair sitting in front of it. Mauric had walked over to stand next to it.

         The chair was facing away from them, but they could see that someone was sitting in it. Whoever they were, they were extremely still. The brothers could detect no movement, not even breathing.

         “Can you read anything from her Garyt? I get nothing.”

         “No. But did you really expect to, considering who she is supposed to be?”

         “I guess not. Worth a shot though. It would have really helped us out if we could have.”

         “Nothing is that easy.”

         They started across the room to get a closer look, but Mauric stopped them with a hand in the air, his focus on the woman in the chair.

         “Stay back. I am not sure how she will react to you being here.”

         The brothers stopped and Mauric bent down to look into the face of the woman. She looked like she had a year ago when he had been there last, extremely thin and pale, with deep lines around her face.

         Her straggly hair was colorless and the clothes she was wearing looked to be falling apart, with holes and tears all over them. They also were colorless and he could barely differentiate where the shirt left off and the pants began. The boots she had on looked the same as the clothes, colorless. She also looked strangely comfortable sitting in the chair, considering she had been sitting like that for seven years. She had her head resting on the back of the chair, turned to her right towards the window as if she was looking out of it as she fell asleep. Her right arm was resting on the arm of the chair and the left was lying across her stomach. A layer of dust covered her as well and there was a large spider’s web between the arm and seat of the chair.

         He had moved her to the cot once, so that she could be more comfortable, but found her once again in the chair on his next trip. Something about that unnerved him and he never moved her again.

         “Is that her Mauric?” Javien asked him. “She doesn’t seem to be alive. I swear, if you somehow lied to us, it will not go good for you.”

         “I haven’t lied. I swear this is her. She has been asleep, dormant if you will, for the last seven years. It will take a bit for her to wake up is all.”

         The brothers exchanged a look and then both looked back to Mauric.

         “How long is a bit?” They both asked together.

         “I don’t honestly know. This will be the first time I have been here to see this. But I know she is waking up. She will know if someone else is here besides me. Oh, I really hope she will not be too mad about that.”

         The brothers exchanged another look. They had been “listening” to this same complaint since they met him.

         Mauric saw a spider crawl onto the front of the back of the chair and begin to move towards the woman’s face. He reached down to catch and kill it before it reached her, but found his wrist suddenly grabbed in an unbreakable grip.

         The brothers jumped back as they saw this. It was a move so quick that they had barely caught it.

         The woman pushed Mauric away from her and he landed on his side on the floor. Placing her hand next to the spider, she allowed it to crawl upon it. Slowly as if she didn’t want the spider to fall off, she lowered her hand down to the floor and the spider crawled off and away.

         She then stood up, her movements slow, but not laborious. The brothers could here occasional bones cracking and feared that she was an old woman that would not have the strength to help them. Once she was completely upright, she slowly turned around.

         The brothers gasped and stumbled back.

         She looked like a corpse!

         Her eyes were still closed, but she moved away from the chair and then stood facing them again.

         Garyt looked over to Mauric still on the floor with his head lowered.

         “This is her! We told her why we needed her help. She couldn’t possibly help us, whatever she is!” He yelled, waving his arm at the woman.

         “It is not a question of if I could help you, human.” The woman spoke, her voice hoarse. “The question is if I will.”

         The men all looked at her and then froze as she began to change. The dust and cobwebs disappeared and her skin and hair started to fill with color. Her hair from the roots to the tips became a vibrant mahogany brown. Her skin lost the deep lines and although still pale, shone with life. Her lips became a deep red and her eyes slowly opened to reveal a dark green. Her clothes as well began to change. The holes and tears closing up and the shirt turning a clean white and the pants black. The boots became black as well.

         When the changes stopped, it was not a corpse or old woman looking at them, but a young and very beautiful woman. She looked to be about twenty-five. And she looked angry.

         She looked over at Mauric. He looked back at her, but she didn’t speak. A look of pain crossed his face and he bowed his head, beginning to shake and weep and muttering something that looked like “I’m sorry,” over and over again.

         The brothers could not hear a sound from him when they should be and it scared the hell out of them. They looked back to the woman.

         And found her staring at them.

         “I think you know that you really should not have come here.”

         The brothers quickly dropped to their knees and bowed their heads.

         “Please, forgive our intrusion. We had no choice. Our people are dying. We need your help.” Garyt pleaded.

         “And what makes you think that I should give it. Or that I even have the power to do so anymore.” The woman spoke, walking around the brothers. “My time in your world is past. I have been long forgotten by the people you say I should help. Not to mention that those same people destroyed my home." She paused behind them. "My beautiful home." She whispered, her voice filled with sorrow, but then snapping back to anger with her next words. "It was like a slow torture, watching and feeling the death of that home. And you presume to think that I could help you. That I would help you.” She spat at them, coming to a halt right in front of them.

         “But that was a long time ago. We as a people have moved beyond those destructive behaviors.” Javien spoke.

         “Have you now?” The woman spoke with sarcasm. “I don’t see that at all. Oh, I see that you have finally stopped destroying each other for the most part, but are you not in the midst of a war with another species that has been raging for years and that you happen to be losing?”

         “Yes. We tried to prevent it. We did. But it was inevitable.”

         “Nothing is inevitable. There is always a choice.” She spoke as she walked over to Mauric. “And I have made mine.” Mauric was still weeping and tried to scurry away from her as she approached him. But she was too quick and reached down to grab him by the arm. She dragged him over to the brothers and threw him at them. The brothers were still kneeling and could barely catch him, and all three ended up sprawled on the floor.

         “Leave and take him with you. I cannot help you, just like I couldn’t help you in the past with anything else. You are on your own.” Then she turned her back on them and walked back over to the chair.

         Garyt quickly stood up, with the others following. “Please, don’t do this to us.” He pleaded with her. “We will not survive this war. Don’t you care what happens to the people who once worshipped you? Who once thought of you as a Goddess?”

         “Save your words.” She had sat back down in the chair and the men could not see her face, but if they had, they would have seen tears begin to fall. “I told you that I cannot help you.” Her voice sounded weary now. “Leave me in peace” Then she raised her arm and the men suddenly disappeared from the room. "Even though peace is something I can never have." She spoke with sorrow.

         Outside, the men could only stare in shock as the hut began to cover itself once again in vines and foliage, blocking them out. Then, the silence of the jungle that they had traveled to the hut in was suddenly broken with the sounds of animals all around them; birds screeching and loud roars of larger animals. They heard movement all around them and could feel eyes looking out at them from the dense trees that surrounded the clearing.

         Mauric suddenly turned and ran back down the path to the spacecraft, crying out in fear and moaning “No” as he disappeared around a bend.

         Garyt and Javien looked at each other, and then quickly followed.

         The sounds of the animals grew louder as they ran and they could swear they heard animals chasing them through the jungle, but were too afraid to look back.

         They broke through some trees and saw with relief the spacecraft right ahead of them. Mauric was quickly running up the ramp into the ship. They followed, but as they reached the top of the ramp, the jungle suddenly went silent.

         They turned around and froze as they saw several different types of animals surrounding the ship, not moving, but just staring at them. They got the message and quickly turned to enter the ship.

         Once Garyt and Javien entered, they quickly shut the hatch and turned to see Mauric huddled into a corner.

         “Let’s get out of here. Now!” He yelled in fear.

         The brothers didn’t argue with this and jumped into the pilot’s seats, quickly punching buttons to start the ship. They quickly ascended and shot away from the planet.

* * * * * * * *

         Inside the hut, the woman, still with tears falling down her face, began to rock back and forth slowly in the chair. Looking once again out the window, she closed her eyes and began to whisper, “Immortality be gone. Please, immortality, be gone." Over and over, like one would a prayer.

         Then, after awhile, the woman, once known as Gaia, Mother Earth, fell back into her slumber.