immortal • egobang

1| origins

Arin Hanson was young when civilization was young.

His village was small, located somewhere in Egypt. His father was wealthy, owning a large farm land. His father was three wives, considered modest for someone so rich. Arin's mother was the first wife, so Arin was a very spoiled boy. Often, he would sit in on dinners with the army general of their village with his father.

Arin went through the trials of becoming a man, learning to read, write, and fight. He was very powerful and strong- which was expected, as he was the oldest son of his father.

Once he was twenty years old, his father had married him to a young girl. They had many children quickly, only three survived infancy.

Arin was thirty years old when his life changed.

There was a very bad storm, lightning flashing all around. His village was preparing for battle, a neighboring city threatening to take control of the river.

Arin was forced to fight. None of his sons were old enough.

Quickly, Arin was thrown into battle. He fought near the front lines with a sword, man flanking him on either side.

"Look out!" Arin called in his ancient Egyptian, pushing one his men to the side and blocking the sword of another man with his own sword.

Arin looked at the man he was blocking. He didn't look Egyptian. "Where are you from?"

"Israel," the man spat, face contorting in the effort of holding his sword, "my people were forced to fight."

"Why everything for a small river?" The battle became more interesting. Arin hoped to get valuable information to tell his village. "How do you know our language?"

The man moved his sword, spinning and slashing at Arin again. Arin blocked. "The village is getting stronger for something bigger. I do not know what. They took my people and trained us. They taught us Egyptian."

Arin was surprised. This was much more serious than a small battle over a river. The man took Arin's surprise however, and moved his sword out of the block, stabbing Arin in the stomach.

At the same moment, lightning hit, inches behind Arin.

Arin flew forward from the impact, hitting the man. The sword was pushed deeper into Arin as they landed.

Arin pushed himself up off the man, sitting on the ground as the battle and the storm raged around him. The man Arin was fighting was dead. His head hit a rock and now Arin could see he already had injuries - combined and the man died.

Arin was numb. He couldn't feel anything. He saw the sword inside him, the end disappearing from view as it poked out of his back. Slowly, Arin grabbed the hilt, pulling the sword out of himself.

It was bloody. Arin looked down to his stomach. He didn't have strong armor and the man's sword had easily gone through. But Arin didn't see any wound on himself.

He pulled off his armor and looked at his bare stomach, just where the sword was. But nothing was there. Arin poked his stomach. It seemed solid.

Arin held the sword in front of his stomach, taking several deep breaths before stabbing himself. He didn't feel anything. And when he pulled the sword out he saw the hole that was made quickly close up and heal itself.

Arin wasn't too sure if he was still alive. But, he did know that a battle was still happening around him. So he stood up and fought.

Arin's village won the battle, taking some attackers as prisoners. Arin went home to his wife, a new fame in his town for fighting hard in the war.

Years went by, five years pass and Arin's wife dies. Arin was 35 years old and knew that he should be coming to the end of his life soon. But he didn't look older than he did when he was thirty.

In fact, in the five years, he hasn't gotten sick at all. His teeth have fixed themselves and he never has to clean himself or eat.

Arin kept living as the years passed. He watched his children grow and die. He watched his grandchildren grow and die. He watched the world around him continue to grow while he didn't. Arin had to adapt to the rapidly changing world around him.

He knew he wasn't born with the name Arin Hanson. He adopted that name over time, creating a backstory for himself-eventually forgetting his real name and how to speak the language he was born into. Only if he got very close to someone and was forced to explain why he didn't age, would he tell of what he was.

Somehow, Arin was immortal.