”Excuse me, sir, but your payment is late. I am truly sorry for you and your situation, but the hospital cannot pay for the power by your tears and grieving.” – an elderly doctor was standing at the doorway of a hospital room. Inside was a man, bent over a bed. The man was tall, broad shouldered, no older than twenty-four. He was holding a hand of a woman who was lying in the bed, seemingly unconscious. She seemed to be the same age as him. Her skin was pale, she didn’t get out of bed for a very long time. Longer than anyone could remember, except him.
”Sir?” – the doctor asked again, seeing as the man was not moving.
”I told you to call me Sage.” – beneath the cold tone there was a high note of hatred. He was looking into the woman’s face, gently brushing his fingers against her warm skin. He wanted to pulverize the doctor and the entire hospital, where the bills were always too high.
”Yes, of course. Sage, I need the money.” – the doctor sounded a bit irritated.
”I told you, I will have It by tonight. Go away.” – Sage’s voice sank below any human range, sounding devilish for a second. He could have pulverized the doctor. He didn’t even have to say the words. He could have had him sent to the deepest depths of hell with a single thought, but he withheld himself.
”Very well. I will give you five more minutes.” – the doctor walked out. Sage always believed that he was the greatest of all evil, but was astounded of how a simple human was beating him. The woman’s life was only kept by life support. That’s what the doctor’s thought, not knowing that she was immortal.
Sage unwillingly let go of her hand, it pained him to do so every time. He walked over to the printer and took out a stack of papers. He waved his hands over them, thinking the words to himself and the white color turned to green. Stack of papers turned into stacks of hundred dollar bills. He could have made them out of thin air, but those would disappear after a couple of days.
Sage put the stack aside on the desk by the door. His eyes didn’t even give the money a second glance; he could have had anything in the world, anything he desired. But he desired her.
The door into the room opened, he heard a gasp, then a slight choking noise. The doctor grabbed the money, shoving as much as he can into his pockets and grabbing the rest in one big pile and left the room without a question. He was indeed very greedy, but when you have no limits to your life, money loses purpose. Jewels, fancy cars, mansions… Everything is just dull and gray when you live for so long. They provide such a short rush that it’s gone before you can truly enjoy it. However, the woman had the longest effect on Sage. Her effect lasted over a thousand years.
He closed his eyes, remembering back to the most joyous moment that he had over the course of his extremely large lifespan. And yet, even though it had been the moment that stood out most vividly in his memory, it was still too short. Sage laid his head n the side of the bed, his memories taking him back to that moment. He whispered a spell.
”I’m truly sorry, my love… Your life will go on but what is it to me? I will perish the next morning, before you even manage to open your soft and loving eyes…” – Sage saw a woman of magnificent beauty standing on a balcony, in the his arms. They both looked exactly the same as they did now. The moonlight was very bleak and the moon was very skinny, barely giving away any signs of life. He held her tightly, she had her hands around his shoulders but Sage couldn’t even feel their weight. She was leaning against him, putting all of her weight onto him because the decease
”Then I will not go to sleep. I shall stay up with you and help you fight to see another day…” – he didn’t want to speak, but he had to answer her. It pained her to talk, to move, to breathe… The disease viciously drained life out of his beloved, taking her away from him with its untouchable hands. His spells and enchantments never had any positive effects on her. He managed to conjure up some potions to try and keep her alive for the longest time possible, but time seemed to have sided with the disease, slowly but surely bringing her demise and his despair closer.
”You shouldn’t attach yourself to me so much. When I die, you must not want me anymore. I don’t want you to drown in the mix of rage and desperation. Your life shall go on. It will just be different.” – she managed to push away from him and stood in front of him holding onto the balcony rails. She looked out into the sleeping town, the small buildings made of primitive stone. It was the year of 1308.
”It will go on… but I don’t want it to be different.” – He hugged her from behind, taking in a scent that was her hair. He felt the pain rush his mind along with the scent. The pain of a loss. He was taking it well for a first loss of his lifetime.
”Please promise me you won’t cry. Promise me you’ll never cry about me.” – She leaned back against him, her strength was at an end. She was his only friend, his lover. Her voice was trailing away, growing smaller like a road going away into the unforeseeable distance.
”I… I promise… But I wish there was something I could do! I would do anything to keep you with me!” – she had no idea of the things he could do. The power he held inside his mind that could destroy a galaxy, yet unable to heal a single woman. He almost began to cry on her shoulder. Almost.
”There is nothing you could do. Nothing I could do. Nothing.” – her tone was indeed very calm for someone who was going out of this world, he eyes, however, told a different story as they wetted his shirt.
”I can still try.” – an idea was born in his elderly mind, an idea that was strong enough to stop the flood of grieving tears. He would save her, despite the fact that it was totally forbidden, he knew of a way.
”I have to confess something to you. I must.” – he gently walked her back into the room and helped her ascend onto the bed. He didn’t want to let go and Sage knew she didn’t want to either, but she kept her face as emotionless as she could. She nodded to him, closing her eyes. It pained her to stay alive, but she struggled on just for him.
”I am a magician.” – he spoke the phrase that never reached anyone else’s ears but his. She opened her eyes, a small smile appeared on her pale face.
”Like one of those street magicians? Funny, why haven’t you ever told me?” – he knew she wouldn’t realize what he was telling her at first Despite that comparing him to a street magician was an insult, he didn’t ever bother thinking about it.
”No. A real wizard. I’m an Immortal.” – there was no sign of surprise on her face.
”You are still as entertaining as the first time we met. Never lose the humor, not even now. I love… you…” – she tried to sit up and kiss him, but he didn’t let her.
”Sakrim pleesar.” – he whispered. A small bottle of deep blue and orange colors appeared in his hand. It was the most rare drink that men never found out about and he was making sure they never would. But she was that special to him. His masters always warned him, even back in his scholar days, that the Spirit of Immortality was to never be consumed by anyone, not even a powerful magician. He was the first to ever take the sip of the precious bottle, after demolishing the entire university of magicians to get to it. He was always willing to go far beyond for the things he wanted the most and she was something he wanted most of all.
Her face was now amazed, but her muscles were too relaxed to produce any kind of fully recognizable expression. He opened the cap and a fantastical smell filled the room almost immediately. It was charming and hypnotizing, begging for anyone who managed to smell it to take a sip. First time Sage opened the precious bottle, he felt extreme thirst and an even stronger need to quench it with the contents of the bottle. He looked onto her. Her eyes were completely fixed upon the bottle, her weak hands were beginning to lift up off the sheets almost automatically stretching towards the sweetest liquid that Sage was holding in his hands. She seemed to have forgotten of her surroundings, of her disease, of her lover standing beside her. It seemed to Sage that she has forgotten her own identity.
”Of course, my will was too powerful to succumb under the calling of this Spirit. She is a mere human; the smell has maddening effects on all mortals. She is completely lost in it.” - It saddened Sage to see her stretching towards the bottle, pained to see her conscience go along with her love. He already drank the liquid and had no such urges to do it again. He took a deep breath, hoping for the best, and let her have one sip. A single sip, after which she fell down onto the bed, her body completely relaxed.
Sage returned back from watching his memory for the countless time. He came back to the same place, except it was seven hundred years later. Someone has been tugging her on his shoulder. Sage didn’t care, it could have been his conscience or it could have been the greedy doctor who kept threatening him almost every week if he didn’t give him stacks of money.. She was still alive, still breathing, still having a heartbeat, but she could never wake up. No matter what anyone did she couldn’t.
”She is now an Immortal Sage, just like you wanted.” – a deep voice came from behind.
”Oh. It’s just you.” – Sage recognized the voice but didn’t want to turn around. His face was wet, he looked sloppy.
”Yes. It’s me. What do you think is wrong with her?” – the voice asked him with a lack of true concern.
”As far as I know… She is stuck somewhere between her dreams and my reality. And nothing…. Nothing can reach her.” – Sage answered back to the voice barely able to speak out the words as the sadness was mercilessly tugging away at his throat. He quickly fell into his own sleep, hoping that maybe someone in there would be gracious enough to grant him a happy ending.
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