An Evening at Joe's (12 page)

Just as I was preparing myself for the potential of a confrontation, my most dreaded fear came true; Kronos found me as he was passing through the city. I had always figured that my unfinished business with him would reappear and require closure, so I wasn't completely unprepared for his arrival. However, I was unprepared for his response to finding me. He wanted to pick up where we had left off, having changed his ways and attitude towards Mortals not a bit. He was quite amused at my having married a Mortal and agreed to a trade for my freedom: If I would tell him all I knew about the Watchers and supply the information that they had on him, he agreed to let me continue my charade. I discussed the matter with Ruth right away, and she agreed to provide me with the necessary materials to pull it off. We knew that he was not to be trusted, so we also planned to take an assignment immediately and disappear from Jerusalem. It pained me greatly to see her sacrifice so much for me, but we both knew that it had always been inevitable.

When the day came for the exchange, I made arrangements to meet him at a location where I could conceal my sword beforehand and guarantee my own safety, or at least a fighting chance. As I had suspected, Kronos attempted to turn the tables and forced me to fight him. Short-sighted man that he was, after all this time he still desired power more than information. I fought well considering that I had not trained in a long time, and I found myself with an opportunity to take his head. I knew that the course of my life with Ruth would change if I should change by assimilating his wicked temperament into myself in a Quickening, but I was still considering it when the sudden appearance of Ruth changed everything.

She came into view with a group of Watchers that I knew, who apparently also knew Kronos by reputation, since they had brought restraints for his upper body and a cart with which to transport him away. They swarmed us, filling me with apprehension because I had no idea of their intent. They made themselves clear only when they completed binding Kronos firmly and bundled him into the cart.

They were prepared to take him to an underground chamber that had been an ancient prison, where he would remain trapped for eternity unable to escape or get assistance, due to the remote location. In return for their cooperation, Ruth and I were to leave immediately on assignment. They would not divulge our secret. Ruth was moved by their actions, and tried to tell them how deeply she appreciated their concern for us, but before she could say any more, they bade her to say no more. Although clearly disappointed with her for betraying them by knowingly marrying an Immortal, they felt that little would be gained by turning me in and upsetting the entire Organisation.

To them, this trade was more valuable, in that it allowed Kronos to be interrupted from his campaign of terror against Mortals, than the internal upset of revealing my secret to the other Watchers. Besides, they did not think I was in danger of being an evil ruler should I win The Prize.

We stood together for the last time, with our friends and my enemy Kronos, and I thought about the lessons that I had learned from these people. The fact that they trusted us enough to do this touched me deeply and restored my wavering faith in Mortals. We waved goodbye and went our separate paths forever; I knew that Ruth would never see these friends again, yet she relinquished it all to be with me. I made up my mind to make it known to her that she should never underestimate her importance to me, and how much I would treasure her for the rest of her life.

After the happiest 52 years of my life, Ruth died. Those glorious years that I had spent married to such an incredible woman had forever altered my existence, so in tribute to her memory I decided to seek some of the larger answers, or at least, I sought to find some of the questions. I decided to travel to Asia to learn more about the spiritual side of existence. I had heard about the religious orders of the East from other traveling Immortals and decided that I was finally ready to study among them.

I made my way to Tibet, a mountainous region that was sufficiently secluded from the world to ensure that I would not be distracted, and began to seek out a master to assist me in my quest. I met many men there who had dedicated their lives to the search for greater meaning in this life, as a means of preparing for the next one. Far from the prying eyes of outsiders, I began as a helper in an old monastery, where I cut and hauled wood and water in service of the monks who lived there. When I was given an opportunity to study the written language of their people, so that I could read from their magnificent collection of created works, I virtually leaped at the chance. These quiet, humble men asked no questions about my past, but had many piercing inquiries about my future intentions. What did I desire from my life? Who did I wish to be? I answered them as truthfully as I could.

I chose to live the life of a warrior who understood the value of each breath, and I wanted to become a man who faced life's uncertainties with the strength of one who knew why he was here on earth. My answers surprised them, for they had met very few outsiders who had seriously considered such issues. Most travelers that they had been exposed to were primarily concerned with finding an immediate cosmic key to happiness or instant peace within their tortured souls. I assured them that I was here to stay and study, not to grab at the first solution and return to the world to build a fortune as a holy man. When they had satisfied themselves that my intentions were true to their purposes, my training began, but not in the way I had imagined.

It was like being in the military, with physical exertion and plenty of weapons training. It was necessary to understand your animal side before one could walk with peace in his heart, my master Lin Chi told me. The man who is unable to defend himself must always be wary of others, and will therefore be too distracted to notice whether he is headed on the path towards enlightenment, the art of emptiness and fullness. He taught me how to read another person's intentions simply by observing the manner in which he carried himself. Twenty years after I began to seek truths, my teacher told me that the time had come for me to study with his master, a man of great understanding with respect to the particular question that I faced. I asked him how he could know what my question was, when I did not even know it myself. Lin Chi laughed, and told me that he had known it in his heart since the day I arrived. He made me a present of a beautiful white robe like his own and instructed me to wear it on my arrival at my new master's. With those words, an old man who worked as a groundskeeper at this temple entered the room wordlessly and motioned for me to follow him.

We trekked for three days, much farther up into the mountains, until we came upon a gate that opened into a simple garden. My guide spoke to me for the first time, reminding me to put on the robe that Lin Chi had given me, then to continue up the pathway that would lead to the temple I would find in only an hour's walk. With that, he turned and left, going effortlessly down the rugged trail as if he was merely out for an afternoon stroll. I changed my clothes and began to ascend the path that lay ahead of me. I wondered about this new master that I was to meet; whether he would find me Worthy of serving him, and if I was ready to be in his company. Soon, I would know much more than that.

As I climbed over a small rise in the terrain, a surprisingly large structure came into view. It blended perfectly with the surrounding landscape and gave me the impression that it was an extension of it. A man was standing at the doorway, like a guardian of that remote place. He showed no emotion as he opened the single door and motioned me to enter. I walked into the entrance hall and felt the presence of another Immortal. It was my new master, Sun Tzu, and I became immediately at ease when he smiled and gave the secret greeting that Lin Chi had taught me to use whenever I met another member of their order. I responded with the correct reply and he welcomed me to his home. He said he had been here for nearly 1250 of his 1577 years, instructing apprentices and studying the ways of men. He explained that he had no personal use for The Prize that other Immortals sought. He felt that he was not fit to rule; his role was to help others find their own truths so they would be able to decide for themselves whether or not they desired permanent Immortality from The Game, but none had come to him before. I could hardly contain myself from asking why he thought himself unsuited to lead the world into the next great event of humanity, when he answered my question before I could ask it. He told me that those who are skilled in combat do not become angered, those who are skilled at winning do not become afraid. Thus the wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win. Obviously I was in the right place for the instructions I sought and realised that I, like the man who guarded his front door and my master Lin Chi, would lay down my own life to protect his.

It was easy to stay on the mountain with Sun Tzu. There were only the three of us to look after and Li Quan took very good care of the vegetable garden that kept us all healthy. Somehow the brothers at the other temple always knew when we needed fresh meat and the occasional treat. Whatever supplies we needed but did not have would appear mysteriously at our doorstep at precisely the right time. I asked my master why no one thought it strange that he had lived so long. He replied that as far as they were concerned, he was a different person every generation, drawn anonymously from the ranks every fifty years or so and the foods were merely traditional gifts to the resident of the temple, whomever he may be.

After many years of training both physical and mental, when we finally began to discuss what role in the world's development was to be played by the winner of The Game, Sun Tzu explained the details of his philosophy to me. In his opinion, the champion must be one who walked an enlightened path, because the forces of the universe that ultimately controlled us could not permit otherwise. If there was a benefic Creator, and he could not imagine that there was not, He would not allow the rest of His creations to suffer under a ruler that would treat the rest of humanity with disdain. That would be too great of an injustice to a world that had done nothing to deserve it. Thus, the widespread concern that a potential tyrant could gain The Prize was intrinsically delusional. Everything about living on earth is about balance, he explained, with each living thing playing its own necessary part in the greater whole. To ensure that, somewhere else an adjustment was made to compensate. Things had always been this way, he said, and would always remain so, for as long as there was life on the planet. Occasional imbalances might occur from time to time, but something or someone would always intuitively know how and when to adjust it when the correct time came. Those who were intended to make such adjustments might even be the most unlikely to recognise in themselves the ability to evoke these changes.

I explained to him about the Watchers and my involvement with them in the past, as well as my intention to continue monitoring them. He was not surprised to hear that they existed, since people are basically social beings, and shared my concerns about their potential to cause disarray. He cautioned me to remain guarded about exchanging my information about them with other Immortals, even to those whom I trusted, because I could not guarantee that the information would be used wisely.

About 800 B.C., our keeper of the temple, Li Quan, died and we were indebted to carry him back to the lower temple so his body could be returned to his family for burial. While we were there, Sun Tzu spoke at great length with Lin Chi, who was growing quite old. When I questioned him while on our return home about what they had discussed, Sun Tzu said that Lin Chi had commented to him upon the lack of change in his physical features, despite the advance of time. Lin Chi had been just a boy when he was sent to train under Sun Tzu some 70 years ago and although he understood that it was common for members of their order to live for 90 or even 100 years he wondered why his teacher looked exactly as he had when they first met. I told Sun Tzu that such circumstances were a common problem in the out- side world, precipitating a change in location every generation to preserve my identity. He said, with reference to our new guardian—Wang Xi—who was traveling back with us, that he always told the truth when the end of life came to his students. If he had trained them well, they had gained enough wisdom to understand.

When his time came, he would tell Wang Xi the same thing, if he asked. I was his first Immortal student, and he had been pleased to see that one of us had come so far to seek answers. It was uncommon for Immortals to do this, he said, because the immediate concerns of The Game could be very distracting from a life of contemplation. I took that to be a compliment and never asked him about it again.

As I approached my 2200th birthday, I possessed renewed hope that the questions I sought to understand were someday going to be within my reach. My master and I had explored the existential concept of Immortality, along with a program of physical training that would assist my mind in its deliberations, for nearly a century. This had awakened in me a rejuvenated spiritual sense that I had not known since I was a boy and I stared at the night sky, entranced by its infinite mystery of creation. Certainly I had not been able to comprehend, at that young age, the infinite possibilities of my lifetime and my potential to impact upon the world in a positive way. Now I was beginning to recognise a glimmer of light in a world that had previously been cast in the shadow of my own ignorance. I had learned enough to understand some of the basic responsibilities and contradictions of human experience, that I felt truly free to begin to explore the true potential of a life, any life, that was lived in worthy pursuit of a purposeful existence. I knew that I had come a long way to find out that my real journey was just beginning and I was thankful for the opportunity. Every new day was a rebirth of my soul, full of forgiveness for my past and the promise of new beginnings. I felt more alive than ever and the chasm of emptiness was becoming instead a covenant of expectation left to fulfill. It was the most exciting period of my life.