Life's Desire

Pointless

He ran. He really didn't want to speak with them. It's been weeks since he last spoke to them and he wanted it to stay that way. Ever since he danced with her earlier, he sensed that they wanted to speak with him. He heard them murmuring. Why was she so special? She was just another girl in a club. Why was her Aura crystal blue? No one has that Aura anymore. They are normally brown or red. Usually when people with pure Auras enter that kind of atmosphere, they change colors. But hers’ didn’t change.

He kept running without direction. If he thought about where he was going to go, they will corner him. He didn’t want to deal with them anymore. Zeen zig-zagged people and ran through the busy streets hoping to get lost in the sea of Auras. He could disguise his onyx-colored Aura but drinking numbed his energy so his only option was to mix with the humans. He could feel their presence near. They were almost at his heels. Zeen panted and tried to fill his lungs with air but refused to stop. People yelled insults at him or tried to get his attention.

“Watch it, asshole!” yelled one pathetic human male.

Zeen ignored him. He’ll regret calling Zeen asshole. His Aura was pink. Pink usually means that Death is near. He chuckled and kept running. He rounded one corner and stopped for a second. He shouldn’t have.

Everything went silent and froze in its place: people stopped walking, the cars stopped moving, and he couldn’t hear any noise. Just the rustling of the trees. The street lights went off and everything went dark.

“There is no running away anymore, Zeen,” a deep familiar voice spoke inside his head.

Zeen groaned internally and cursed himself for giving into his desire to dance with that girl. It was her fault that he now had to speak with them. He just doesn’t understand why.

“What do you want, Eliah?” Zeen asked aloud. The sooner I get over this, the better, Zeen thought.

Three dark shapes materialized in the middle of the busy street:  The Three Greats. Zeen adjusted his eyes to the darkness and saw –not for the first time- their Auras’. The Three Greats didn’t have Auras because they were Darkness. They all had their long black cloaks and their hoods were covering their faces. The Three Greats were known as The Faceless because they never showed their faces. A shiver went down his spine and the hair on the back of his neck stood up when he noticed that it suddenly got cold.

The tallest of the three spoke, “Show us respect, child. We do not want to do something we will regret later.”

Zeen resisted the urge to roll his eyes and obeyed, “Yes, Master Gath,” he bowed to his old Master.

Master Eliah spoke, “We sensed that you came in contact with a girl earlier this evening,” Eliah used the No-Bullshit tone. Out of the three, he was the straight-to-the-point one.

Zeen snorted, “A couple. None of them were special,” Well, only one was special but I want to try and keep that to myself, he thought.

“Oh, but the one that we sensed is special. Very special, indeed,” said the third of the Greats, Master Jerem.  

The soft breeze got colder and dry. The street lights started to flicker. Zeen looked at the frozen people in the street. They all seemed to have normal lives. None of them looked as if someone could magically sense their every move. Their world is very different from his. Zeen stayed silent, looking for the right question to ask with the right words. He looked at his shoes, at the grass, at the old lady near the hot dog stand, anywhere but at the Greats.

“How special was this girl that you are talking about?” Zeen finally asked when he couldn’t come up with anything better.

“Tell me, Zeen, did your father told you about how Life died thousands of years ago?” Eliah asked. Eliah laced his fingers together and stayed silent. The other Three followed his silence.

Good answer, Zeen thought bitterly. “She killed herself when she was under Tarent’s protection. She went crazy because Tarent kept her from seeing sunlight. When she lost her sanity completely, she did her own Sun with her magic. She lost control of the magic that she conjured and the Sun exploded. Her insanity and the explosion killed her,” Zeen finished. He closed his eyes and ran his fingers through his soft hair.

Gath spoke, “Yes, she died in the explosion. Do you know how big the explosion was?”

Zeen opened his eyes and groaned, “Just tell me what the fuck is going on? No bullshit. I’m tired of answering questions!” He was pretty sure he disrespected them but the Three Greats were more than patient with him. They all knew something very dark about Zeen. Something only they could know.

“Control your anger, boy,” Eliah said warningly, “Do you know about someone that can create another sun? Life almost succeeded in creating a sun! A person with such power simply cannot exist in this world,” Eliah said. Zeen could tell that he was getting frustrated of his ignorance.

“She went insane and Tarent still refused to let her see the Sun. It’s Tarent’s fault!” Zeen thought it was stupid that they were going to have a fight about something that happened thousands of years ago. It was history and no one was going to change it.

“Do not speak of your Great Grandfather like that, boy,” said Master Jerem before Eliah could speak, “If your father were here, he would have made you regret ever opening your mouth.”

“I’m going home. Don’t bother looking for me again, none of you. I’m done with that part of my existence,” Zeen said. He was tired of talking about nothing with the Three Greats. They are fucking with me, he thought angrily.

He started walking down the street, the cold breeze biting into his skin. He focused on putting one foot in front of the other and avoided thinking about where he was going to go. The less he thinks about it, the better.

“You will regret not letting us explain this to you. When your little world turns into a chaos, do not think of coming home, child,” Eliah’s voice echoed through the street and Zeen stopped in his tracks. He looked back in time to see their Auras disappear.

Suddenly, the air was less cold and damper. Everything started to unfreeze slowly. The chatter resumed and the people in the streets started moving. Zeen rubbed his temples and resumed his walking, too. He checked his watch and noticed that the arrows stayed still: 2:34 am. He cheeked his cell phone to adjust the time in his watch: 3:05 am.

He put on his innocent face and asked an elderly woman what hour was it. She cheeked her wrist watch before telling him, “It’s two thirty four in the morning, dear. What are you doin in the streets so late?”

“I should be asking you the same thing,” he said, ”Thank you ma’am.”

Zeen stopped by the street and hailed a cab.

A black cab appeared and stopped. A normal cab is yellow with black designs. But this one was a special one. It was black and the designs were red. Normal humans could not see or hear the cab. To a human’s eye, it looks like any normal cab.

 “Zeen Hallow?” asked a voice inside his head.

“No, its Brad Pitt,” Zeen said with annoyance, “It’s me, Jamb.”

The door clicked and Zeen went inside, “Jambert, I need you to take me over to David’s Eye’s. Now,” Zeen said as soon as he closed the door.

“Good evening to you, Zeen,” Jambert said bitterly as he started to drive.

Jambert used to be a Death. He has the attitude of a Corpse but looks like a Grim. He is the least liked in the whole society so the People made him the Black Cab driver. Most of Jambert’s clients are not nice. Jambert constantly let’s Zeen know that he tops the list.

“Do you know what hour it is, Zeen?” Jambert complains.

“Take me to David’s now. No questions,” Zeen commanded.

“Aye, aye,” Jambert said forcefully and drove into the night.

Something doesn’t fit in my puzzle, Zeen thought,and I want to know what. But first, I have to get rid of the Greats' hold on me.