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"Do you ever get that feeling where you just wish you could take a gun, point it to the side of your head and pull the trigger? But you don't want to die. You just want to hear the burst of the gunshot, the feel of the bullet pushing its way through your skull, then through your brain and out the other side of your head. Then, the blood flows down your neck. After all that, you say to yourself, 'I am never doing that again.'"

"What a weird thing to say. Hehehe."

"I was mortal, once," Kenneth said. He was sitting on his bed. His legs dangled off the side. "I thought of it frequently back then, with a knife at my throat." Kenneth touched the scar at his throat.

"You're immortal now," said the elf woman on the bed. She sat and put her arms around Kenneth. Her breasts pressed against his back. Her head rested on the back of his neck. "Why don't you do it?"

Kenneth reached for the bottle of rum that was lying on the bed. It was empty. "I did it last week." He stood. He placed the empty bottle on his bedside table, which was infested with other empty bottles of rum, whiskey, brandy, and wine along with crushed cans of beer. The ashtray was overflowing with cigarette buds.

"I wish I can experience that," she said. "But we elves have longevity, not immortality."

"You should try it anyway."

If she was offended by what Kenneth said, she didn't show it. She was giggling. "You humans and your sense of humor."

Such a good whore, Kenneth thought.

She was a whore. She was his whore, a gift from Marluka.

Marluka. Even thinking of that elf's name left a bitter image in Kenneth's mind. It made his blood boil.

In the kitchen, which was in the same room as the bed (it was a studio apartment), Kenneth reached for a bottle of water. Then, his hand changed course and grabbed a bottle of whiskey instead. He took a sip directly from the bottle.

Kenneth walked back to his bed. The elf whore had covered herself with a blanket. She was indeed a very beautiful creature. Kenneth liked her silky violet hair that flowed to her waist. He had always been more attracted to elvish women. He didn't know why. Perhaps it was because, as an older race, elvish women were more sexually knowledgeable.

The beautiful incentive smiled invitingly. She removed the blanket and revealed her naked figure. "You won't want to leave this bed today." Slowly, she lowered her back onto the mattress. She raised her legs, pointed them to the ceiling. She spread them.

Kenneth positioned himself on top of her. He stared deeply into her emerald-green eyes. She bit her lower lip as she grinned. Within seconds, her grin faded. Her eyes lost their glint. Her face became a blank slate.

Kenneth was still staring into her eyes. His own eyes started to feel like they were burning, just like they should. The urge to blink was strong but Kenneth kept his eyes opened. He had never seen himself whenever he did this. He assumed that his eyes were glowing.

"You will do as I say."

"Yes, Master." Her voice had become toneless.

"You will answer all of my questions truthfully."

"Of course, Master."

Kenneth took a sip of the coffee. His tongue liked it but his stomach was disappointed. It preferred the bacon and scrambled eggs that had yet to be touched. Their aroma continually teased Kenneth's stomach. The aroma from the other dishes in the diner supported Kenneth's stomach's plea. Kenneth obliged and grabbed a fork.

A familiar, venomous voice interrupted him. "May I break my fast with you?"

The owner of the voice wore a grey suit but without a tie. His silk straight hair flowed to his shoulders. Its silver color gleamed against the diner's white light. His pointy ears confirmed his race.

The elf Marluka sat on the opposite chair. "Dr. Nomura," Marluka greeted. "How do you explain a black man with a Japanese name?"

"My father is half-black half-Japanese and my mother is full black," Kenneth replied, full of practice.

"But you were an orphan since birth."

"I was born nine hundred years ago." Kenneth returned the fork onto the table. The eggs and bacon remained untouched. "You gave me until tomorrow. Why are you here?"

"I take it Hanissa was more than satisfactory?"

Kenneth nodded. "She was very... willing."

Marluka grinned. "She is one of King Guenor's prettier concubines."

"And now you want my answer?"

"Am I not that subtle anymore?" The elf chuckled. "But before you answer, allow me to expand on the backstory. I have told you the backstory, haven't I?"

He had, and so did Hanissa the Incentive. In a kingdom known as Drenland, situated in a world that existed parallel to Earth, a world known as Bulania, a king was lying on his deathbed. He had been struck by an illness, one that was enchanted upon him by a witch from the neighboring kingdom called Trinka. Drenland's king, named Guenor, was an elf. The witch was a werewolf. Drenland was ruled by elves, Trinka by werewolves. However, the majority of Drenlanders were werewolves, who lived in slums and were considered lesser beings by the privileged and aristocratic elves.

Due to that situation, tensions were strong between the two kingdoms. The Trinkan commoners, majority of whom were werewolves, might have considered the witch a revolutionary. However, revolutionaries were catalysts for trouble. To appease their more powerful ruled-ruled neighbor, the Trinkan government beheaded the witch and gifted her head as a tribute to the Drenlandic government.

But King Guenor remained ill. Drenland's crown prince threatened war if his father dies.

Drenland's crown prince and the king of Trinka as well as many others had been seeking for any healers, magicians, or anyone skilled in medicine to cure the dying king. Marluka sought Kenneth's help.

"I want you to ensure," Marluka said, "that the king dies."

Kenneth walked down the street on the way to the hospital at which he worked. Marluka's request echoed in his mind. I want you to ensure that the king dies. Kenneth wasn't surprised. Marluka was always sneaky and it was a characteristic that had served him well. Kenneth noticed it first during their time at the Guild of Asclepius, the premier society for healers during the 1100s. Kenneth was the Head of Magical Healing. Marluka was his assistant.

Back then, Marluka had an obsession: immortality. He wanted to create an elixir for it but Kenneth had forbidden him. Hence, Marluka circumvented Kenneth and received approval from Kenneth's superiors.

And Marluka was successful too, albeit accidentally. He gained immortality. He also gained eternal youth. However, in doing so, Marluka had bound Kenneth's life to his own life. It meant that Kenneth could only die when Marluka died.

It had seemed like a gift at that time, but as the decades wore on, Kenneth had begun to outlive all of his loved ones. He had to bury all of his sons and daughters. All of his friends had moved on to the afterlife. As the decades turned to centuries, Kenneth's life became increasingly lonely. Now, friends were nothing more than meaningless pastimes. Families were nothing more than pending suffering. The only progression for Kenneth was death and the afterlife; paths that had been stolen from him.

But Marluka didn't want the afterlife. Immortality granted him opportunities, which he seized with open arms. Throughout their nine hundred years of unnatural life, Marluka had held many different high-ranking positions with many different governments under many different dynasties. He influenced history on numerous occasions. Currently, he was the high minister of Drenland. Only the king and the crown prince were above him. He sought to influence history once again.

"You have never heard of 'The Rakto,' have you?" Marluka had said back in the diner. "Of course you haven't. We're a secret society and secretly, we rule three kingdoms in Bulania: Drenland, Procaland, and Nanfinia. Shadow rulers, if you will. We want to add Trinka into our empire."

Kenneth replied, "You want me to fail in my operation of the king so that the crown prince will declare war on Trinka. Procaland and Nanfinia will help in the invasion."

"In a nutshell, yes. If you disagree or disobey, I have been authorized to kill you."

Kenneth laughed. His life was bound to Marluka's life. The elf was the primary. Immortality disqualified only death by old age. Death by other means was permitted and only death to Marluka could kill Kenneth.

"I'm a genius, Dr. Nomura," Marluka had said. "I have found a way to kill you." He reached into his inner coat pocket and took out a phial filled with yellow liquid. "I know how much you want to end your existence. Kill the king for me and I will open for you the door to the afterlife."

The elf king lay on the operating table. Sedation had left him unconscious. By appearance alone, one might mistook King Guenor for his corpse. His skin was as pale as ashes. By touch, one might also conclude that he was a corpse. His skin was as cold as winter rocks and his limbs were almost equally as hard. By smell, the elf king gave out the odor of a rotting corpse.

Kenneth stared at the corpse-to-be. One month had passed since he first laid eyes on the dying king. Since then, he had studied every aspect of the ill king's body.

Kill the king for me, Marluka's voice played in Kenneth's head, and I will open for you the door to the afterlife.

He grabbed a scalpel. Then, Kenneth uttered an incantation. Slowly, King Guenor's skin emanated a light yellow glow, bringing together with it a low frequency shriek. As the glow brightened, the king's skin disappeared. Then, the muscles disappeared. The king's ribcage was gone. Within seconds, all that remained of King Guenor were organs, veins, and bones, all floating in their rightful positions.

Kenneth studied the king's upper body organs. Like all elves, he had one lung and two hearts, but unlike all elves, an extra grey organ was attached to his single lung. It was beating like a heart, and unlike all elves, his hearts weren't beating at all. Also, they were not pink like they should be. They were pale white.

A third anomaly was at the king's vertebrae. A black, slimy snake-like parasite had wrapped itself around the king's backbone. It was wriggling like a sleeping child cuddling a long pillow.

Kenneth's right thumb brushed the scalpel's sharp edge. His eyes were fixed on the extra grey organ. Kenneth was familiar with this extra organ. However, it had been decades since he last encountered it. It was an ersatz heart, once a common feature in enchanted illnesses. The ersatz heart would take over the functions of a body's heart, pumping blood that it produced as well as viruses into veins to be distributed to the muscle and other organs of the body. To do so, the ersatz heart would have to shut down the body's actual hearts. It would secrete enzymes to the body's hearts, stopping it from beating and turning it white.

Kenneth severed the ersatz heart and dumped it into the pail at the side of the operating table. Instantly, the ersatz heart melted into thick, grey goo. Then, he grabbed a syringe (one that was made in Bulania specifically for this procedure) and pierced the king's left heart. He placed his left forefinger on the heart. He uttered an incantation. A light blue glow emanated from his forefinger. Instantly, Kenneth's forefinger became as cold as ice. His finger-bones tightened as frozen stings pricked them.

Kenneth wanted to pull his forefinger away but he maintained it on the white heart. He continued reciting the incantation as the freezing became worse.

Soon, color returned to the king's left heart. The syringe absorbed the whiteness. The king's left heart began to beat. Slowly, its pace increased to the healthy level.

The syringe was filled with ice. Kenneth dumped it into the pail with the melted ersatz heart. His left forefinger had frozen. He could have easily cast a spell on it to make it warm. However, that would take some time and time was of the essence. The second heart remained infected and with the enzyme still present in it, it was only a matter of time before the enzyme infects the newly healed left heart.

Kenneth grabbed a second syringe and pierced the king's right heart. He placed his right forefinger on the second heart and repeated the procedure. Soon, the king's right heart was beating again. The second syringe was also filled with ice. Now, both of Kenneth's forefingers were frozen.

And again, he could spare no time to warm them.

The black, slimy snake-like parasite (which Kenneth had labeled as an 'eel') that wrapped itself around the vertebrae was the cause of the king's illness. It created the ersatz heart and it could create another at any moment. The king's two hearts would be infected again and Kenneth had no more usable forefingers to perform the procedure. The eel must be removed.

But Kenneth had not encountered the eel before in his nine hundred years of medical practice. He did not know the proper cause of action or what the consequences were of any actions he was to take. All he knew was that the eel was alive and it was sustaining itself on the king's blood. It had also attached itself to the king's nerves. Simply removing the eel could mean the end of the king's life.

Kenneth stared at the eel. Kill the king for me, Marluka's voice echoed in Kenneth's head, and I will open for you the door to the afterlife.

Kenneth grinned. The king will not die. The eel would have to be removed.

But the eel had attached itself to the king's nerves. That was an issue that needed to be bypassed. As meticulously as he could, Kenneth carved replacement nerves using light particles. One. Two. Three. There were many that he had to create and created them he did. All the while, Kenneth also had to keep the eel isolated in a box he had created out of light to prevent it from creating another ersatz heart.

Kenneth attached the light nerves onto the king's spinal nerves. Then, he redirected every single neuron towards the light nerves until none passed through the spinal nerves.

Now, the time had come to remove the king's vertebrae, which meant that the king's spinal nerves would need to be severed. Since no neurons passed through the spinal nerves, this procedure was simple.

It was in Kenneth's hands: the eel-around-vertebrae. Kenneth had removed it from the king's body but the king's body would be useless without its vertebrae. Kenneth examined the eel for the umpteenth time. He thought of yanking the eel off but Kenneth suspected that that would simply make the eel tighten its grip on the vertebrae. Nonetheless, Kenneth touched the eel.

Suddenly, a burst of electricity shocked Kenneth. He released and the king's vertebrae fell to the floor.

Kenneth's fingers were numb. His heart raced. When composure returned to him, Kenneth found himself lying on the floor at the other end of the operating room.

Kenneth walked to the eel-around-vertebrae. He would be more careful this time. Kenneth covered his hands with blue light. He grabbed the eel. It released its electricity. The blue light softened the shock, but not entirely. Kenneth pulled harder.

Something shot out of one of the eel's end. It was like a string. Perhaps it was the eel's tongue. It pierced through Kenneth's left shoulder blade. Electric shock burst. Kenneth screamed through gritted teeth. He dropped the eel-around-vertebrae.

Suddenly, the eel released itself from the king's vertebrae. Using its tongue, it reeled itself towards Kenneth and wrapped itself around his neck. Instinctively, Kenneth grabbed it with both hands and struggled to pull the eel off him. Needles from the eel were poking into his neck.

The eel became hotter. It felt as if a furnace was wrapped around Kenneth's neck. He pulled harder but the eel wouldn't let itself go.

Kenneth screamed. More electric shocks burst all around his neck.

And that triggered suppressed memories.

"Elizabeth... " Kenneth uttered.

His mind saw the image of a woman. She had skin as white as pearl and hair as yellow as the sun. She was drenched in sweat but she was smiling. She was seated on a bed. In her arms was a beautiful brown child who was born mere minutes prior.

"Mary... " Kenneth uttered.

Mama, can we hold her? asked one of the two brown children standing next her.

"James... Sarah... "

Papa, she's so lovely, Kenneth's daughter, Sarah, said.

Then, flames engulfed the memory. Mary had grown. So had James and Sarah. They were tied to stakes. Their mother was tied too. They were crying. Screaming. Pleading for their lives.

Sorcerers! shouted the members of the mob who wielded knives and torches. Burn them!

"I did not age... " Kenneth uttered. Tears crawled out of his overflowed eyes. "They burned you because I did not age... "

Lit torches were thrown at Kenneth's family. The hay beneath their feet caught the fire and spread it to his family's clothes and skin.

"AAAARRGGGHH!" Kenneth screamed out his agony. He dropped to his knees. "Get off me!" Kenneth pulled harder. The eel was becoming hotter. Then, it released another burst of electric shock.

Another suppressed memory was triggered.

A woman with hair as red as autumn leaves was seated before Kenneth. Her hands held his own in the gentlest of manners. "I know of your loss," she said. "I can't imagine the grief that you feel, but you mustn't believe that you will never find love again. I'm here, and I love you."

"I love you too," Kenneth said, "Charlene... "

Darkness descended upon that memory.

Charlene lay on a pile of hay. Blood flowed out of her nose. Bruises plagued her face. Her hands were chained to the walls of the dungeon. The fat baron stood next to her. His henchmen stood on her other side.

What's about to happen to her is your fault! shouted the fat baron. This is punishment for you for refusing to share with me the secret to your immortality! Rape her again!

"AAAARRGGHH!" Kenneth screamed out more agony. He summoned strength into his hands. They began to glow. The eel became hotter. The electricity it released grew stronger. Kenneth pulled as hard as he could. The glow on his hands brightened. The eel squeezed tighter.

Then everything turned black.

Kenneth's eyes opened. His blurry vision soon cleared. He found himself lying on the floor. He sat. He touched his neck but quickly pulled his hand away. His neck felt stinging. The skin there was raw. Kenneth looked at his hands. They were red and raw too.

Kenneth uttered an incantation. Light engulfed his burnt hands and within seconds, they were healed. Kenneth applied the same procedure to his neck.

He looked around the operating room. He found the eel lying on the floor. It was motionless.

Kenneth grabbed a nearby container and covered the eel with it. He pointed at the container and shot light at it. The light turned the container into a thick glass container reinforced with magic.

Kenneth spotted the king's vertebrae on the floor. He picked it up, walked to the operating table, and began reattaching the vertebrae to the rest of the king's bones.

King Guenor opened his eyes. He knew not where he was. He saw only white and the white was not clear. His ears heard ringing. His nose smelled rotten eggs. He wanted to call for someone but he could not find his voice.

A dark figure appeared before him. It looked just like a blot of dark brown but soon, the king's vision cleared. He saw the face of a man. His lips were moving but the words were mixed with the ringing. Eventually, the king heard the words "Are you all right?"

The king nodded.

"Good," said the man. Suddenly, his eyes glowed bright yellow. It pulled the king's vision like metal to magnets. "You will do as I say?" the man asked.

"Yes," the king found himself saying.

Kenneth took the last sip of whiskey and tossed the empty bottle away. He grabbed a bottle of beer from his bedside table and downed it entirely.

No celebration is complete without bingeing on alcohol.

Immortality is unnatural yet Marluka thrived in it. However, today, the elf would have to face the wrath of the natural. Eternal youth was also a breach of nature's law. Eternal youth meant that Marluka and Kenneth would never suffer wrinkles.

Kenneth, with a grin on his face, looked at his hands. There were wrinkles. His hands looked like crumpled paper.

Beautiful, Kenneth thought.

Three weeks had passed since the event in the operating room. Two days after the successful operation, Marluka visited Kenneth in this very apartment. "You do not realize what you have done!" Marluka screamed. "The Rakto have been inconvenienced and they don't like that!"

Kenneth couldn't care less what the Rakto liked or disliked. His dream of death was coming true. His dream coming true at Marluka's expense made it a sweeter revenge.

The newly healed King Guenor had begun to harbor suspicions about his kingdom's high minister. He had a great urge to remove Marluka from office. Strangely, King Guenor had a desire to execute Marluka's removal via the gallows. A monarch casts wide shadows and within those shadows, seeds known as false evidences relating to treason were planted against the high minister.

The punishment for treason is death by beheading.

Kenneth grinned. His afterlife beckoned.

THE END

Bio: H.Y. Hill  is a budding storyteller currently trapped in the body of a budding lawyer. He is in his mid-twenties and is trying his hardest to fulfill his quest of overpowering the lawyer's body so that he can achieve his true destiny and spread stories to readers worldwide. Mr. Hill's story, "The Sound Lord Clarke," was recently published by Doctor Fantastique's Show of Wonders. His last Aphelion appearance was Hole-Hearted in our October, 2013 issue.

E-mail: H.Y. Hill

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