I was given a writing prompt. Had fun with this. Really rough with no further editing. A rough draft of something I might come back to later, I guess.
Prompt: A genie granted you immortality many ages ago. The last human other than yourself has just died out. What do you do?
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Response:
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The threat of the Undead was real when I met Azra’el. I was a young man, scared of my own mortality. Azra’el gave me the opportunity to change all of that. To live into the ages, untouched by Death. My father had been taken by the Sickness, and my mother had fled to save herself. I was alone. With nowhere to go, I had snuck into the berthing quarters of a local merchant ship, planning on traveling with them. Azra’el had as well. He was a dashing lad, about 23, with long shaggy brown hair, stubble, and piercing silver eyes. We became fast friends, and I felt very bound to him. We shared our life stories, our dreams, hopes, and ambitions. We shared meals, aided one another with daily labor, and helped ease the ache of a “lost home”. Little did I know just how “lost” Azra’el’s home was – to my kind.
One morning, I stood on the deck, peering off into the horizon and watching the gulls flare into the sky before plummeting into the salty waves. I heard quiet shuffling behind me, followed by a nervous cough. Turning, I saw Azra’el staring at the deck, his hands clasped behind him.
“What is wrong, friend?”
“I have something I need speak of, Lorvane.”
I felt my brow furrow in confusion. Azra’el took a deep breath and drew one of his hands from behind his back. He was clutching a very old, ornate pendant. Very large for a pendant. Perhaps a family heirloom?
“I’am not like you, Lorvane. I’am of a Higher Class. For many years now, I have wandered, abused and manipulated by your kind.” He paused, eyes carefully searching my face for a reaction I had yet to display. “You called yourselves my ‘Masters’, forcing upon me your grotesque desires. I had no other choice but to comply.”
“Azra’el, what is this you speak of?” I didn’t know what to think at this point. Had Azra’el been taken captive? Why did he seem so frightened? My head was reeling.
“I serve one purpose in this life, Lorvane. Simply, that is…” His voice cracked, “To Serve.”
“There is no need to think that way, friend. You can do whatever you so choose with your life! It is our right as man!” I cast my hand out, indicating the sea and Her endless possibilities.
“Your right as a man. As a man. As a human.”
My eyes grew wide.
“Worry not, my friend. I am not of the Undead. I have been in hiding for many years, keeping to whatever means possible to prevent humans from discovering my existence. I am a Genie, Lorvane. And,” he placed the pendant on the dock before me, “I want to help you.”
My heart was speeding in my chest. A Genie? They were just myths of wonder our parents spoke of to fill our heads with pleasantries before lulling us to sleep.. “Have you been drinking from the sea, Azra’el?”
Azra’el smiled and laughed loftily. “With my pendant, you may ask but one Wish from me. Anything, and it is yours.”
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I laughed bitterly, loosing a rock into the oblivion in front of me, watching it fall fifteen stories below me with bullet speed, straight into the rotting cranium of the gasping man who stumbled at the base of the CHASE. “Immortality was such a great idea….. Not.”
Oh yeah, living forever was such a grand idea. Way to go, Lorvane.
The years had blurred by, and the memory of meeting Azra’el was one of the few I had left. After years turning into decades, centuries, and millennia, you lose the ability, and the desire, to pay attention to your long-term memory. What’s the point? Live in the moment. Well, not so much these days.
I had watched a once powerful and innovative race dissolve into a selfish, destructive manifestation. Look at them now.
The APEX Virus had surfaced about 13 years ago. Some under-paid, under-priveleged maggot from the CDC had leaked it onto the Black Market. We saw how well that turned out. There was mass hysteria at first, people running, screaming, trying to find some “cure”. APEX mutated quickly however, infecting at a rate that was almost frightening. I’d been infected too, but my body instantly produced the antibodies, destroying the virus and cleansing my system. This was how I maintained my life. Nothing could infect me. Nothing could penetrate my organs. They were impervious to age, infection, and wounds. Anyway, APEX seemed like a normal infection, killing off humanity in terrifying quantities. You know, typical Black Plague or Spanish Flu epidemic style. The thing that the CDC failed to release upon learning that APEX was loose in society was that APEX reanimated the human body upon death. How cliche. One of those actually existed. Too bad it wasn’t just some predictable movie plot. Well done. It didn’t take long for people to realize what was going on. They got sick, some died, they came back. With veracious appetites. And they fed. As long as you remained uninfected, the Pex [what we called the Undead] weren’t interested in you. Maybe it was like eating the last stale black licorice jellybean in the bag to them. I’d never asked.
“You know, you didn’t have to ask me for immortality, Lor.” Azra’el drawled for the hundredth time, laying flat on his back, tossing rocks into the air and occasionally missing to smack himself in the face. He said doing this made him feel more “human”.
We were all that was left now. And I hardly think Azra’el counted. He was immune to the APEX virus, and we didn’t know if his magic allowed him to survive a direct encounter with a Pex. We’d never stuck around long enough to find out because the Pex always had an extreme fascination with Azra’el. It was like dangling heroin and a spoon in front of a group of addicts, the way they fought for him.
“I didn’t have to. But how the hell was I supposed to know that THIS was really going to be how humanity ended?”
Azra’el and I seemed to just tolerate one another these days. I’d grown weary of keeping him protected from the Pex. I gazed into the small group of three Pex that paced beneath our feet. I was mildly amused at the fact that I recognized one of the poor bastards. Some prostitute that Azra’el had grown rather fond of before APEX went worldwide.
“Hey, Azzy, take a look at this.”
He sat up with a grunt, rubbing his bloodshot eyes and scratching the overlong stubble that clung to his neck. Still a striking figure of a man after all these years. Gazing into the TriPex, his breath caught a little in his chest. He grunted and cleared his throat. “Go figure.”
“Awh, come on. Don’t get so pissed off. It’s not like you can expect any less. I don’t know why you still let mortals get to you.”
“Mortals… God, you’ve become just like the rest of your race. Cocky. You had to wish for immortality.” Azra’el snapped, glaring at me from beneath his mane of unkempt hair.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Azra’el comment was harsh, and below the belt. How many times had I saved his ungrateful ass? How often could I have left to walk the street, unbothered by the Pex while they regarded him like a magic delicacy.
“Nothing.”
It was almost like witnessing the snapping of an overstretched rubber band in extreme slow motion. I stood, walking a few steps away from Azra’el, who couldn’t even be bothered to turn around to offer an apology.
Solitude. I wonder how that would feel… Quiet.. Peace.. Tranquility… And if I ever wanted interaction, there were always the Pex. Perhaps they would make good pets. I’m sure with proper incentive, they could be trained…. My own subservient race of Undead.. Humanity at the end of a leash that I held. Literally.
Suddenly I was watching Azra’el plummet like the stone to the unyielding ground below, cursing me all the way. He landed with a dull thud and a flare of blue and black smoke. The Pex were upon him instantly. He began screaming. They worked quickly on him, for the scent of his magic blood was drawing the Pex in by the dozens. Still screaming. No, hundreds. Soft gurgles from below. Good god, look at them all… Silence.
“Farewell, Azra’el. Thanks for the wish.” I turned, walking toward the door of the roof. The rotting corpse of a particularly well-chewed CHASE Pex that Azra’el and I had killed this morning still rested next to the door. I leaned down, holding my breath to avoid the acrid odor. Untying his stained tie, emblazoned with the blue CHASE logo, I stood, dangling the tie loosely at my side like a leash. “Time to go pet shopping.”
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-Nien
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