The Irangel | Prequel Story |

Chapter 29 ~ Seeking Immortality

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~ In the glass building
Wachstyen Forest, Germany ~

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The aching pain in Tori's heart never went away. Days went by, each day like a blurry windowpane on a rainy day. Tori could still see Nate's smile in her mind, every detail of his face stored in her memory in high definition crystal clear view. His close-cropped hair, his dimples, his warm twinkly brown eyes, his familiar body that smelled of cedarwood, the warmth and comfort they had given, his laughter, his snowy white fawn wings....it was all just a memory now.

Tori hadn't spoken at all since her return to the glass building. For an entire four weeks, none of the irangels saw her. They knew she was in the building with them, as evidenced by a few passing glimpses. They weren't allowed to fly, forced to remain strictly inside. Forced to be the prisoners they were.

Justin noticed Tori was always locked up in her room, never leaving it except for the few times she went to the kitchen or on a grocery run. He wondered what she was doing in her room besides crying and mourning. He would've comforted her if he had the chance. The others were pissed that they couldn't fly, though they were wondering when Tori would stop moping and crying.

When Tori finally did show herself, the irangels sensed something was wrong, and it wasn't her clothing or lack of smile. Tori had changed in some way, and it wasn't a good change.

Tori was wearing a silky navy blue elbow-length button up shirt with gold buttons, dark blue skinny pants, a thin gold belt, and light grey booties with a stylish gold zipper on the side. She had on an elegant gold watch from her CEO days and a small thin dainty gold necklace. She looked like she was dressed for a business casual meeting in her career field.

"In the wake of Nate's death, I realized something," Tori said with an unusual gleam in her eyes, speaking for the first time since her self-imposed isolation. In her hand she held a simple light brown clipboard with papers on it, the silver clip thingy on top holding several papers with notes all over it. As the irangels wondered what those papers were, Tori continued, "Death is the end of potential. While we are living, we can accomplish great things, but when we're dead, it's over. Death is the end of what could be an extended time for greatness.

"Humans aren't immortal, and neither are Iredescents. But what if that's the great discovery we need? If we could find something, a gene or strand of altered DNA or a combination of elements that can enable us to live forever, death would no longer be the end. We would be able to continue our greatness and fulfill all our dreams. Anything would become possible. Imagine what we can accomplish with unlimited time. Imagine all the deaths that would never happen thanks to the new science of immortality I will discover."

She's lost it, was Cole's first response while Justin thought, What in the world....?

The irangels looked at each other, not quite sure how to react. Unsettled by her speech, Eamon asked, "What are you getting at? What does all this immortality and death talk mean?"

Tori looked at him then, and Eamon felt chilled for some reason. "You will help me achieve greatness," she said, making Eamon think, Even her voice sounds different. This was another side of Tori the irangels had never seen before. Her voice was confident and sure, the excitement evident in her eyes as she shared what she intended to discover with the irangels. "I will complete what I failed to do. I will beat science and its mysteries. I will be the one to discover immortality and prevent death from ever happening again. I will bring the dead back to life and make the life eternal. Nobody will die ever again."