Wings of fire: A Legend of Time (fan fiction)

Chapter twenty five-Immortality

Chapter twenty six-Immortality isn't free

"I'm what?" Marble frowned, confused. How could she be immortal? That was impossible.

"Immortal. Cannot die" Nix repeated bluntly. Marble growled, shaking her head. "You're lying," she said, unconvinced.

"You see, you have the power to stay young forever. To always heal. In time, your wing will heal too" he said, nodding at her mangled wing. "You also have the power to transfer your immortality to another being. There are only two ways, however. One, to kill you, and two, there is a certain very rare spell that can transfer the power to the other dragon. One which I happen to have. But it's only voluntary," Nix explained, pulling out an old torn scroll.

"Uh huh. And I'm supposed to believe you?" Marble asked skeptically. Nix stared at her blandly, as if he had all the time in the world. "Well yes, that was the intention behind telling you."

"Okay, sure. Let's pretend I believe you. So there's one more option: I kill you," Marble spat. If it were true, She wasn't prepared to give up a power such as immortality to someone like Nix, who would only abuse it. "And aren't you already immortal? Seems you've been alive a very long time," she added. Nix frowned. "Not quite immortal, but nearly. I was dead for a very long time. But you give me your immortality, and I will truly be immortal. This curse will be reversed, as a bonus. Win-win situation."

Marble wondered how in Grinnen that was a win-win situation. "If it were true, I'd never give a power like that to someone like you," Marble hissed. Nix frowned.

"That is the unfortunate part, it has to be 'voluntary'. I suppose I'll just have to kill you, then. Ah, well. What's one more dragon dead?" Nix grinned evilly down at Marble, then pounced without warning. He landed on her with a heavy thud and a whoosh, and Marble struggled to regain her breath. She squirmed, freeing a talon to slash open his stomach, blood gushing everywhere. He didn't make a sound. Then he wrapped his claws around her neck, and tightened his grip. She felt her life force slowly begin to leave her, as she struggled and failed to breathe.

"It really would be a shame to kill you," he mused, squeezing tighter. Marble's vision shuddered and began to fade, darkness creeping up to greet her. Scorch...she thought desperately. She would never see him again. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes and she gave her energy to a final, feeble escape attempt. Nix only chuckled, enjoying her struggle. "And so I'll give you one last chance. You can either agree to the spell, or die," he growled the last words. Marble nodded her head desperately, mind whirring. Nix let go of her, leaving her doubled over, gasping for air.

He grabbed the scroll, and dragged Marble roughly into the centre or the room, by the table. Nix stared chanting something in a foreign language, reading from the old dirty scroll in his talons. Escape, escape, escape, was all Marble could think right then. She didn't want to do this, but it was this or death. She would kill him afterwards, take him by surprise. She would just have to find a way.

"Do you object?" Nix asked her suddenly. Marble thought for a long moment. Should she do it? Maybe she could fight him off. She couldn't give the greatest weapon ever to him. He'd destroy Grinnen. And maybe Phyrria too. But what if she couldn't fight him? He'd already defeated her, even half-dead as he was. She wouldn't be able to escape in her condition--and to where? She didn't know where she was, or where the tunnels led. 

Her heart sunk as she realized he would have her immortality, whether she gave it voluntarily, or he took it by force. And in only one of these situations would she be alive to warn the others. She loathed the idea of submitting to him--it felt like giving up--but she knew it was the smart thing to do. If she died here, nobody would know what happened. She would gather an army to stop him if she had to, so the fact that he would let her live sealed his own death warrant. So she really didn't have much of a choice, in the end.