The Immortal | Prequel Story |

Chapter 40 ~ The Phoenix

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~ Outer Space, en voyage to planet Magarra ~

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A flash of orange-yellow light appeared out of nowhere, like a flash of light in the dark void. The universe seemed to blink in astonishment as the light magnified to a ball of fire. It burned gloriously, expanding until it was as big as a house. Its huge size spoke volumes of the perpetual power it contained. It wasn't a meteor; it was a living, breathing being.

The fireball continued his course, cruising through the galaxy with no aim or destination in mind. An unexplained space phenomenon, he sought to understand his origin and more importantly, if there were others like him.

He felt exuberant, happy in his fireball form. He spun around, did donuts in the dark silent universe, made a couple of random zig-zags as if playing tag with himself, spinning around and around until he decided to keep going on a straight course, doing so in wave-y fashion.

A danger to most lifeforms, outer space was the fireball's own playground. He reveled in it, enjoyed all the different things he encountered, how majestic planets looked, how asteroids loved to play dodgeball, how moons orbited planets, how stars twinkled, how comets had fire contests with him, how even a black hole wished to bring light to itself, clinging to light and sucking it in.

The fireball sighed. He felt very much like the center of a black hole: lonely, dark, miserable, isolated. His desperation to escape feeling that way resulted in becoming easily distracted, allowing him to be happy with simple things like stars. Though prone to depression, distraction was his way of escaping that cold, hollow feeling. It was like quicksand; once you get sucked into it, it becomes very hard to get out of.

He knew that feeling all too well. It was a feeling he wished to avoid, knowing it was something he would feel for probably all of eternity. The fireball continued his dance, wishing he had a companion, knowing it was better not to hope at all than to hope and be disappointed and severely let down.

He dropped his dance routine and decided to go on a different route, expertly gliding across the galaxy as if he were sliding on a smooth floor. He pretended the bleak blackness was burst forth in color, in orange and purple swirls, in bold neons and glittery streaks. He continued onward with a simple mission in mind, very much unaware of what he would run into.

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There was no way of telling the passage of time; outer space was just dark, black and glittered with stars. Oil lamps shone all over the dim ship, providing light in the darkness. The oil and gas lamps were snuffed out when a clock on the panel showed it was nearing daylight, or what was to be daylight hours. The vampires slept, then arose and relit the gas lamps.

Some days they decided to leave the ship in darkness. But when the darkness proved to be too much, the vampires yearned for light, so they lit the gas lamps, wanting some sort of semblance of normality to this new reality.

Most of the time, the vampires remained in their rooms, but after several weeks in space, they wanted social interaction. Blaise proposed they all gather in the main hull and play chess. Some did. Others talked or read books or passed time some other way.

Mallen was sitting against the wall, knitting a sweater. Iérti stood beside him, arms crossed, appearing to be very bored. Írásom was playing chess with Blaise. The game went on for a while before Írásom pointed at the window and said, "What's that fireball heading towards us?"

All activity ceased. They all looked out the window in surprise, seeing a ball of light heading towards them at top speed. Iérti frowned and grew concerned as it came closer. It might've blinded human eyes, but it didn't blind vampire eyes in the slightest.