"Chronicles of Immortality, Matthew" - (Installments 6 and 7)

Installment 6

We spent the rest of that day packing. For my part it was easy. Nearly everything that I had, was already packed or rather had yet to be unpacked. There were some exceptions, my bronze armor which I had been using for training was packed away and replaced with layered linen which was heavily embroidered. It was actually a bit heavier than the bronze, but was far more comfortable. Anaxis came to oversee the servants as they rubbed down the bronze with oil and then wrapped it in coarse cloth.

"The linen is more comfortable for fast travel and will protect you from ambush, but it is not suitable for the war field."
"Why not?" I asked.
He looked at me for a moment then answered, "The linen cuts easy from a sword, but is good protection from sling bullets and arrows. In close combat with swords and spears it is not strong enough."

He paused thinking for a bit and then went on, "I have watched you closely sirrah, and I know that on any war field, you will be on the front line. You are very brave."
"What!" I almost choked on the wine I had been lazily sipping. "I am not brave, Anaxis. Only on the practice field, where I cannot be truly harmed. The idea of being in the middle of the war field, where men are being cut apart, terrifies me!"
"As it should, for any sane man. That will make you careful and that is the sort of man I want to lead me, not one who casts my life like knucklebones."

I tried to think of a retort or a contradiction but none came to mind.
Anaxis looked long at me and then said, "You are well-balanced. Your ability to heal from morbid wounds is balanced by your desire to avoid them. You also take your responsibilities seriously which is as it should be, else your men would suffer for it. You delegate command easily and naturally which is a rare thing."
"It is an easy thing because I do not know what I'm doing." I interjected.
"And that makes you wise, which is the best of all things for those who follow you. Have a care though; because when the rest of your men see that in you, they will easily accept your judgment over their own."

His words grabbed my attention even more deeply. "Why would they do that?"
"Because you will be everything to them until they die or are released to go back to their family."
"But why?"
Anaxis looked at me, considering if I were testing him, then answered, "Because you will provide for their needs, you will see that they are fed, that they are sheltered, that they are protected. You will make them feel like they belong with their brother soldiers. You cannot hide what you are, not here when so many are looking at you and to you. Like Ajax they will know that you are an immortal and they will be inspired beyond what any mortal could do."

His words fell on me like lead, weighing on me beyond any other thought that I had, then he went on.
"I've seen Achilles on the field, Ulysses, Agamemnon, and Ajax, they are all great men, but even Achilles is a man. You have in your veins all Blood of an immortal where they have only part. Your skill with weapons and the chariot are as natural to you as breathing is to a babe."
"How is it, Anaxis that you know all these things about me? How is it that you can see things in me that I cannot see myself?"

"Because sirrah, for twenty years, since the time when I could easily lift and carry my shield for a day, I have led men. I have cared for them and listened to their woes, and at times helped them care for their families. I have fought beside them, bled with them and watched some of them die, helpless to stop it. I've done all that and wished that I could do more. I look at you and know, that even as good as I am, that you will be better."

His words pressed every light thought that I had, out of me. "You tell me all these things that I am, that you see in me and believe me to have. But you can't tell me the greatest thing that would make me feel them."
"What is that my prince?" He asked.
"Who I am?"

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Installment 7

The mysteries of Matthias' past begin to unfold. Babaef makes his second appearance and begins to fill in Matthias about his own history.

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Part 3

I may seem cavalier to you, in the way I accepted my new found skills. But, there was nothing unnatural about them, nothing untoward. It was like remembering something or finding something that you had put away years ago. The things that involved muscles memory came back quickly. The things that required cognitive skills or pure memory came back more slowly or not at all.

Chapter 1

"I know who you are." A new voice said.
Babaef, stood in the doorway, his sudden shattering words caused me to consider him closely for the first time. He was easily a head taller than me, and while thin, he gave the impression of strength. As he reached for the door frame to rest his arm, he gave its location not even a glance.
His head was smooth with no sign of stubble and its dark tan matched his arms and bare feet. His nose was hooked like a bird of prey. The last was his eyes which were black on black flecked with gold.

He dropped his arm and moved into the room without invitation.
"I have known who you were, since I first saw you."
His eyes moved from me to Anaxis in an unphrased question.
"Anaxis is my captain and brother, anything that you would say to me, you may also say to him."
"Very well. Who knows what strange fruit his new gained knowledge will bear?"
I had not noticed but Vexiaus had been directly behind Babaef, as the Egyptians nod the thin warrior closed the door and remained outside, in the hall.

"Your name is Matu, or has been for as long as I have known you. I am amazed that ten thousand years later your name is so similar."
I had stood when he came in but now my legs buckled and I sat suddenly on the bench behind me. Anaxis openly gaped at two realizations, the first that I was at least ten thousand years old, and the second that Babaef was of a like age.
The Egyptian continued, pushing any opportunity for protest or questions aside. "You Matu are of the Blood, which means that you have gifts and abilities that are beyond mankind."

"You mean, he's like Achilles and the other heroes?" Anaxis stammered.
"No, while they have some of the gifts, Matu is the source of those gifts, which means, he like me, is direct descendant of a handful of beings who are the origins of the Blood. Agamemnon and his cousins are all men who have been touched by the Blood. It could be that they inherit it from both sides of the families which makes it more apparent."

"But who are my parents?" I asked after I had begun to digest what he was saying.
"I don't know, I could speculate but it wouldn't mean anything because every immortal is gifted differently by the blood. Also, what one does in ones first lifetime, defines personality and thereby how the Blood presents itself."
"What do you mean?" I asked. Anaxis was now sitting; the first time I had ever seen him do so in my presence.

"Immortals such as yourself are called the undying by those who have knowledge of such things, while I am referred to as the undead, or Stygian."
Anaxis suddenly sucked in breath and snatched at his sword. Babaef turned to face him, holding his hands out before himself. "Good captain, keep your sword sheathed and do not attempt to harm me or great harm will come to you."
Anaxis looked to me and I nodded my ascent with the Egyptian.

"Your man does well to be on his guard at the admission, if I were anyone else I would see any living being as food, especially another Blood and one who is cousin to the Blood such as he is."
"What is the difference between the two?" I asked.
"As I said, both are of the Blood, the undead waken to their immortality after death, but the undying have never truly died."
"I have died at least three times that I know of." I revealed.
"Have you? Were you confronted with the actions and repercussions of your existence? Did you lie dreaming for months, years or millennium?"

I shook my head 'No' and he continued.
I have died twice in my span, and remained dead for very long times. The first time was when I was made, by the great evil known as Aeratu."
The name had a strong effect on me, it raised the hair on my arms and head and made my blood feel like it was draining.
"Aeratu knows how to give the Blood, he is the only immortal who does. He found me grieving for my people who had died in a great drought and made me something like he is, so that I would be a general to him. It would have been better for him if he had let me die, like my family and friends, because I will not serve him and have sworn to strike him any way that I can."

He paused and took a deep breath before continuing. "I died there at his hands and slept for several thousand years. The second time I died was just after meeting you, just before what is now called the Deucalion flood."
I knew the legend of the flood, my 'father' had taught it to me and I had heard it other times when we had gone to temple.
"Many of us had gathered on a great plain that is now beneath the Aegean. One army was led by Aeratus general, a great being whose humanity had been washed away by the Blood. His name was Grenal and he led a legion of the undead and undying who believed that they should keep men like cattle and harvest them as they saw fit."

Anaxis was now drinking wine heavily.
"Nostvar led the other side which was mostly undying, though I and few others had joined his ranks. His army believed that men should be watched out for and defended. I joined him because I wanted to destroy Aeratu and then find a way to die myself."
"But, what was I doing, who was I fighting for?"
"You, were sided with Nostvar, and held the right flank of his army. You protested that you knew nothing of war and yet there you were."

"I fought for good?"
"No, none of us fought that day, because Aeratu did something and we were rolled over by a great deluge. Almost every immortal sank beneath the waves and most of them have not been seen since."
The tale had always been told to me as a great flood that had covered the Earth so I asked, "The flood covered everything?"
"No, but it covered everything that was important here and where most men lived, after the first inundation came more, the sky turned gray and it rained for what seemed forever. The rivers washed away cities that were built along them, and the seas rose and covered everything that was built along them. There is nothing left from that time. Only the tribes of men who hunted and did not stay in one place lived on."

"I survived and hunted Aeratu, I found him and he slowly tore me into a thousand pieces that he burned on the fire, I remember it all, and relived it over and over again as I slept until what was left of me healed."
"How is it that you remember? Did your spirit wait for your body to recover? You said he burned you, did you return from the ashes?" A million questions came to me.
Anaxis suddenly dropped his wine cup and fell to the side. I stood to check him but before I took a step he started snoring.

Babaef smiled and said, "It's just as well, because most men do not know about the Blood, and while your captain has been touched by it, he will never be one of us."
I put a blanket over Anaxis and then summoned Vexiaus who easily lifted the heavy captain and carried him to his own chamber. Watching the thin youth carry the bigger man I marveled at his strength.
I turned back to Babaef, my question was still unanswered so I asked it again, "How do you remember all of that, if the evil one," I refused to say the name, "burned you piece by piece."

"I don't think he burned all of me, I remember seeing so much of it, but he did take one of my eyes and crush it between his fingers before he threw it onto the coals. It is one of my last memories from that time."
His eyes had drifted off to the brazier which glowed in the center of the room. Then he looked out of the window and said, "We have hours before dawn and I will tell you all that I can. I cannot travel with you or I will be noticed or tempted into doing harm."

"What do you mean, harm?" I asked feeling a dread come over me again.
"I require a great deal of flesh and blood, I have learned to suppress it and rarely take men as food, but I cannot stop the hunger. If I go too long without indulging it, my hunger reigns over thought. There is very little flesh available where an army marches."
A realization came to me and even though I dreaded the answer, I asked, "Am I like that?"