Immortality and Arrogance

This is a work of fiction. No real people, places or events were used. Copyright ã 2011 Plot Roach.

Immortality and Arrogance

By Plot Roach

Max stood at the Unknown Warrior’s shrine, fixing a few details on her latest sketch when she saw the dark cloaked figure approach one of the stone warriors. It knelt beside the stone form and with a quick movement, pulled a dagger from the robe’s dark recesses and quickly slashed a line across its palm, dripping the blood at the foot of the frozen warrior before moving off into the night. Max watched, frozen as the statue she had been drawing as the figure disappeared into the night.

“It seems like an odd offering to the old ones, I know. But it beats the price of wine and roses these days.” said a voice from behind her. Max turned and saw a man standing in the doorway of the balcony which overlooked the shrine. The same balcony she stood upon in order to better sketch the warriors. He stepped into the light, dressed in modern clothing befitting the residents of this small city, yet it did nothing to hide the sense of regalness with which he carried himself. In a quick estimation of his looks, Max found that he almost looked like he could be related to the warrior statures themselves. “I didn’t mean to startle you. I just wanted to explain the… odd thing which you witnessed.”

“Why would someone do that?” she asked, putting away her sketchbook and pencils.

“There is a story about this old place. It’s rather odd, like the offering which you witnessed. But it is definitely worth repeating, if you have the time.”

“Oh, sure. Go ahead.” Max said, blushing when she realized that he was in a way asking permission to educate her.

He leaned forward against the balcony, motioning to the thirteen stone warriors. “There was once a race of powerful, but greedy, warlords who sought to live forever and keep the world under their thumbs. They had all but slaughtered the world with their thirst for absolute power. Only the power of immortality would stop their hunger, and they battled themselves as well as any who dared oppose them in their goal.”

Max leaned forward, taking a closer look at each of the faces of the warriors, seeing with fresh eyes that the lines and fractures she had assumed were signs of weathering now in fact looked like battle scars.

“In their arrogance, they cast a few of the ‘unfaithful’ or weaker ones among them out before the final immortality ritual. But while the ritual promised eternal life, it did not tell them that it would encase them in stone. Those who had been cast out, received the immortality of their trapped brothers and used it to try and undo the cruelty and greed that the bloodthirsty warriors had wrought upon the world. All this in an attempt to curry favor with Death so that they would not have to wander the earth for the rest of their immortal lives.”

“So they are forever doomed to walk the world?” Max asked. “Even though they didn’t do anything?”

“But they did do something.” the man responded. “They stood idly by while their brothers ravaged the world and threatened to kill off everything decent and innocent in their urge for power.”

“That seems a little harsh, though.” Max said. “They weren’t as bad as the ones who did the killing.”

“Really?” asked the man. “There are those who still argue which was worse: Those who were greedy and open about their intentions from the first? Or those who made reparations to the victims in order to bribe Death into taking them?”

“Well when you put it like that..” Max said. “And how do you know so much about all this?” she asked.

He smiled, holding the door to the balcony open for her as she turned to leave the shrine. She saw thick lines of scars running across his palms as he pushed his sleeves back. “I’ve been here a while. And picked up a few things over the years.”