The Chains That Bind Ch 20

Chapter 20: Who Wants to Live Forever?

“Kat, look after Erika,” I said in a small voice. She didn’t have time to react as I reached with both hands toward the glass and grabbed it.

“Swift, don’t gr,” Kat yelled, but it was too late as my hands were already on the glass.

My plan was to lift the glass as fast as I could and toss it away before I fell asleep. That plan however didn’t seem to work as I found the world around me disappear. All that was left was me and the table with the forever flower on it and nothing else; there wasn’t a floor, ceiling, or the very walls.

“So you wish to use the power of the flower,” came a voice from all sides of me.

“I do,” I replied still unable to take my hands off the glass.

“The power to live forever is a great gift. Is that what you want?” the voice asked me. It didn’t just surround me either, it felt like the voice was vibrating through my entire body and reaching into my head.

“No,” I called back. “I need this flower because it is a link to chain that is said to be unbreakable.”

“But think about all that you will see if you live forever,” it argued back. With that the emptiness of the room began to change as a I watched civilizations rise and fall in fast forward. I saw myself at landmarks from around the world and it continued to the future of things not yet made reality.

“You can live to see all this and more. Don’t you want that?” it asked me. I wanted to lie and say I didn’t care but some force made my lie die in my throat and I just watched on.

“I would like to see all this,” I said out load. To travel the world had always been something I wanted to do but to see everything would take time and my life was only so long. This flower could change that; I could live forever to see every major city and landmark forever. How often do you get a chance like this?

“Good, just take the flower then. All you have to do is lift the glass and grab the flower for yourself,” the voice said. It did sound tempting and as the visions continued to play out I found myself rethinking my idea about living forever. Then it hit me; in all these vision I saw myself but no one else. No friends, no family, no Megan. All of them would all be dead after awhile and I would have to continue to do so with everyone I ever met for the rest of my life, which would be forever.

“No,” I whispered.

“What was that?”

“I don’t want to live forever, my life is short but I would rather spend the rest of my life with the people I care about,” I yelled back as I let go of the glass and the visions faded into nothing and I found myself back in the room with Kat and Erika.

“---grab the glass!” Kat called to me and I realized that all that had not even been a second in real time. It had all been a test to see if I would take the flower simply to live forever.

“Swift?” Kat called to me, but I didn’t respond. I simply lifted the glass over the flower and laid it gently on the ground before picking up the flower and watching as it formed into the shape of a chain link.

“How did you not fall asleep,” she asked in shock.

“I passed the test, I guess,” I said back as I placed the chain link in my backpack and saw the ghouls had finally made it down the stair and were flooding into the room with Abrams out front. “Just keep trying to help Erika wake up.”

I walked toward the army of ghouls standing between me and the exit and wondered what I was going to do. I could fight them all off but they would just reform in the fog that was rolling down the stairs into the garden inside the tree. Abrams raised his sword as if to signal a charge when it slipped out.

“You’re short,” I said and it was true. Compared to the warriors ready to charge at us any second, Abrams was a full head shorter or more. “For a child of Ares you sure are puny.”

He froze for a second and his eyes went from the creepy white to eyes filled with fire.

“Swift…don’t trust it…” he said in a strained voice as if something was controlling him. “Melinoe…has control…” he continued to say but I didn’t know what he was trying to say. “Run,” was the last thing I heard him say before he extended his sword and started slashing at the ghouls behind him making a path for us. I tossed Erika on my back and pushed Kat in front of me as we ran up the stairs. I turned around for only a second to see Abrams once again stay behind to save my life.

Darkcloud1111 ~Fastest Hero Alive  05:05, June 25, 2011 (UTC)