The Immortal | Prequel Story |

Chapter 55 ~ The End of a Favorite Chapter

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~ Planet Earth ~

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Mallen was sitting on a hill in the Carpathian Mountains in Romania, drinking tea while reading a book. He was perfectly content. The wind felt good in his hair, the cloudy weather hovering above with the earthy smell indicating it was about to rain. Cloudy weather was his favorite weather.

Always was, always will be, Mallen thought.

Mallen wore a dark emerald green long sleeve shirt, khaki pants, and brown boots. His hair was long and loose, set free without his usual ribbon. The tea was an imported Ukrainian tea mix of forest fruits and berries, including wild strawberry leaves, raspberry leaves, linden leaves, red rowanberries, elderberry, juniper, and rosehip. All the ingredients came directly from the Carpathian Mountains.

Mallen turned the page, enjoying reading a fiction book on such a fine day. He had taken leave to visit his country of origin once again. Iérti was doing an excellent job managing their store in England and was more than happy to let Mallen visit Romania again.

A hedgehog sidled up to Mallen, nibbling on a tiny strawberry plant. Mallen smiled peacefully, gently petting the hedgehog. He kept reading until he sensed something in the air and looked up to see a Csa ship approach him.

It noiselessly hovered in the air, staying in place some distance from Mallen. Csa ships made no sound and were almost always kept in invisible mode unless they wanted to be seen. This one clearly wanted to be seen.

Mallen arose, setting the book down as he looked curiously at the ship. A purple beam dropped down from the bottom of the ship, allowing a figure to beam down. The beam lifted back up once the figure touched ground, standing in place and waiting for the beam to return to the ship.

The figure turned towards Mallen. He was dressed in a white jacket and navy pants. It was unmistakable to recognize him with his long highlighted light brown hair and tanned skin.

"Stellan?" Mallen asked in surprise, wondering why he came. Surely the reason was more than just a casual hello.

Stellan walked over to Mallen, a tense serious look on his face. That alone foretold he was here to tell Mallen something of import. "Mallen, we have a problem," Stellan said, his voice grave. "It's Romena."

"She coming on too strong or something?" Mallen asked in a joking tone.

Stellan didn't smile. "She's planning to murder innocents. All the Csa on her ship are like a police force, going from planet to planet, seeking out faults and trying to set things right according to what Romena thinks is right. Blaise went to stop her, but most of the Csa joined Romena. Blaise and I gathered the rest of the Csa and came here to find you. Mallen, we need to stop Romena before she kills the irangels on planet Iredescent."

Mallen's heart froze at the mention of planet Iredescent. A flashback suddenly reminded him of the Ileín foretelling him that the entire Csa race will end on Iredescent.

Mallen felt cold even though it was a warm spring day. He felt chilled by the very word Iredescent. He wanted to fight the future, to hold it off for as long as possible. Now he feared it was finally time to face the music, to face Iérti after he learned the dark truth.

To face his own death, for Mallen knew his life would surely end the moment Iérti learned the one he called brother was the one who killed his family.

Stellan looked at Mallen in concern. "Are you all right, Mallen? You look pale."

Mallen took several deep breaths, trying to calm his racing thoughts. He shook his head sadly. "No, Stellan, I am not all right." He looked directly at Stellan, wanting to know something. "Stellan, do you not remember what the Ileín said? That the entire Csa race will end on Iredescent?"