Forever Young (5 page)

I nodded my head. "Sometimes, when I look at a person, their face just changes...seems to melt away...and I'm left staring at what's below. But I've never seen a black aura yet. And I've seen some daimons that have done some pretty bad things, so why can't I see a black aura?"

Caiden stared at me thoughtfully. "I've never heard of anyone seeing a daimon without the help of Semper Terra's magic. We can ask one of the Elders about it. And remember this, just because daimons do bad things doesn't mean they are evil and should be exterminated."

I thought about that. It made sense. I was assuming now that the Hispanic boy I fought this afternoon in the bathroom should have had a black aura. But broken down in its simplest terms, he was guilty of beating up a little girl. While he deserved an ass-kicking, he didn't deserve to be exterminated for that.

Now I was curious about something else. "Elders? I'm wondering how old a person has to be before someone like you, say who is over four hundred years old, calls them an Elder?"

He chuckled and I was finding myself warming to this new, humorous Caiden. We'll call him Caiden 2G. And when he laughed, I couldn't help but notice his teeth were super white and super straight. His lips were soft and I thought for a fleeting moment, what would it be like to kiss him? Okay. I did just lie to myself. It was more than a fleeting moment.
Your focusing capabilities are sucking big time, Charlie.

"The Elders aren't necessarily older than me, although many of them are. They are more like the scholarly members of the Alliance that hold much of our history and secrets."

I was silent, digesting everything he had said. I looked out over the sun drizzled lagoon, and tried to imagine myself living here. I could definitely see it. Of course, this was only about a zillion steps up from my current living conditions. Who wouldn't trade life in a group home for unadoptable orphans in exchange for the chance to live in paradise?

"What do you have to do to become an Alliance member?"

"It's not easy. There is a lot of studying first. Then training...hand-to-hand combat...weapons...magical skills. After your studies, you are tested in the field...against daimons. If you pass, you become a member. If you don't...well, that means you're probably dead."

Dead? Such a simple word yet it felt like a slap in the face. Until now, this had all been like a glorious dream of epic proportions. Finding myself in a fantasy world where you stay forever young. You spend your lazy afternoons drinking beer on the front porch of a tropical paradise with the most gorgeous man on the face of the earth...and all its subsequent dimensions. But I could die? I felt like someone had drenched me in ice water.

"You're chewing your lip again, Charlie. Maybe I should just kiss you every time you do that."

His words were said in a low rumble but they seemed to be coated in honey. My eyes snapped to his again and held there. He had the grin of a devil on his face and his eyes sparkled with...well, I'm not sure what I was seeing. Butterflies started zoom zooming around my stomach. I couldn't think of a thing to say in response but just continued to be held by his gaze. He never blinked but returned my stare with way more intensity than I could ever hope to muster.

Finally, Caiden broke our staring war and stood up from his chair. I thought I heard him mutter something like, "trouble with a capital T" but I wasn't sure.

Holding his hand out to me, he said, "Let's go. I'll give you the tour of Semper Terra."

I looked at his hand reaching toward mind and the butterflies started twirling in lazy loop-de-loops. Placing my hand in his, I let him lead me down off the front porch. What was it with his need to hold my hand wherever we walked? What did it say about me that I liked him holding my hand? It appeared I had layers that even I didn't know about.

We walked to the edge of the yard. The grass was soft and springy under my feet. I could see the sun had started sinking into the water and the clouds in the sky were colored with brilliant oranges and pinks.

Releasing my hand, Caiden snaked an arm around my waist and pulled me up against the right side of his body. I literally went dizzy from the contact and my arms automatically wrapped around his waist. Hard, smooth muscles jumped below his t-shirt when my fingers made contact with his back. I'm embarrassed to admit he smelled yummy...like a pine forest and mint...and I had the sudden urge to put my nose in the crook of his neck to take a deep whiff.
Oh, God. Maybe I was crazy?
The State of New York should get a refund for all the therapy they had invested in me.

I looked up at Caiden's face and he was staring down at me with those amazing eyes. The light from the setting sun lightened them to the color of bleached jade.

"Sorry, but we have to get a little close for our mode of travel."

"M-m-mode of travel?" I stammered. I was completely overwhelmed by our closeness and on the verge of becoming a yammering idiot.

"Hope you aren't afraid of heights, Charlie. Here in Semper Terra, we fly." And with that, he bent his legs and sprang up from the ground, shooting us into the sky.

In-freakin-credible! We were flying! When Caiden first shot up from the ground, I couldn't stop the shriek that came out of my mouth and then fear overtook me. I tucked my face into Caiden's chest, too scared to look down.

There was pure mirth in Caiden's voice when I heard him ask, "Are you scared, little princess?"

His words weren't a mean taunt this time, more of a light teasing. They caused me to relax slightly... enough that I pulled my head back from his chest and cautiously opened my eyes. I realized we were flying over the ocean, which was glowing from the late rays of the sunset. I felt a tad bit safer when I realized we were only about ten feet above the water but that in no way made me relax the death grip I had around Caiden's waist. I hoped he could breathe well enough.

So this was flying? Let me just say again...in-freakin-credible! My mind was trying to grasp the mechanics of it. Obviously, magic played a part. But I saw Caiden was stretched out as if he was lying belly down on a mattress made of air. While his right arm held me securely, his left arm was out straight, and angled down toward his legs. Just like the wings of a plane. Turns were made by just a subtle tilt of his body to one side or the other. Caiden sometimes sped through the air like a bullet, causing the wind to drown out all sound in my ears, or he could slow down so that we were lazily floating on a current of air.

It was while we were slowly gliding over the ocean that he bent his head close to mine so I could hear him. "Are you okay?"

"I think so. Just a bit of a shock." I still had to raise my voice a bit so he could hear me.

"Try to relax. I won't let you fall."

And I believed him. I let myself become caught up in the sensation of flying, something I had never done in my life...not even on a plane. Without loosening my grip around Caiden, I pulled back a little from his chest so I could get a better view of the water. It was darkening under the sunset.

Caiden made a soft bank to the left and we headed back toward the lagoon. Watching the water as we flew over it, I thought I caught a glimpse of something moving just below the surface. I peered harder. It seemed to be racing along with us.

Was it a fish? If so, it was pretty big. I caught a few sparkles from the late sun that seemed to rebound off of luminescent scales. As we flew over shallower water, I was astonished to see what looked like pale flesh, and flowing blond hair. And then I realized what I was seeing.

"A mermaid!" I yelled. "Caiden, I see a mermaid." I know I sounded like I had just opened the biggest and best Christmas present ever, such was the excitement in my voice.

 I looked in his eyes and saw he was grinning at me. I returned a grin that was so wide, I think the corners of my mouth touched my ears. This was unbelievably fantastic. It was like a fairy tale come true.

I kept my eyes glued on the mermaid as she swam just below us, her tail whipping side to side to propel her forward. Then she did the unthinkable, the most incredible, the most glorious thing ever. It was the height of stupendousness. She broke the water's surface, shooting high into the air. When she reached the pinnacle of her flight, she flipped onto her back, and shot me a dazzling smile.

As she came out of the water, her long blond hair was miraculously dry, swirling around her like a golden cloak. When the scales on her tail made contact with the air, they morphed away and I saw long, smooth legs. Her face was beyond perfection. High cheekbones, slanted eyes, straight nose. I'm talking super-model beautiful.

I was so overwhelmed by what I was seeing, I actually loosened my hold on Caiden's waist and waved at her, grinning from ear to ear. And I didn't care if she thought I was a dork. And then all too quickly, she was diving back down into the water and disappeared from my view.

Then we were flying toward the beach, straight for Café Syreni. I saw several customers now sitting on the porch, eating dinner. They saw us approaching and gave a wave. I waved back, the same stupid grin on my face. We flew past the café, and shot over the top of the mountain behind it.

Coming over the back side, I saw several buildings appear below us. Before I could make out details, Caiden angled toward a grassy area and we started losing altitude. As the earth rushed up to meet us, I squeezed my eyes shut. But then I felt our descent slow down. Our bodies straightened from the supine position, and we landed on our feet gracefully in a bed of soft grass.

Caiden released his hold on me and my knees buckled. I fell down on my butt in the velvety grass then lay backward. I opened my eyes and looked up to the sky. The sky that I had just been flying through. Amazing. It was the most wonderful experience I had ever had in my life. Staring up, I saw Caiden's face come into view. He was standing over me, smiling. I burst out laughing, holding my stomach.

"Wooooo! That was freakin' sick," I exclaimed.

Caiden's smile faltered and he looked worried. "Are you sick?"

My laughs turned to chuckles. "You're four hundred years old. You wouldn't get it. But no, I'm not sick. I'm deliriously happy."

Caiden's smile returned. "Well good. Come on then. Let me show you around." Reaching down, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

Standing up, I turned around 360 degrees and took in the scenery. The buildings here were nothing like down on the beach. These were stately, made of marble and limestone, and covered by thick ivy. We were in the middle of a large grass courtyard, with structures lined up in a rectangle all around us. Huge marble columns flanked the steps of every edifice. In the middle of the courtyard stood a bronze statue of a woman. She was dressed in armor and she was carrying a spear. An owl was perched on her shoulder.

"Athena," I murmured.

"That's right, Smarty Pants. Legend has it that Semper Terra was created by followers of Athena. That her magic is what sustains this island."

"Do you worship her as a goddess?"

"No, nothing like that. Everyone here is free to have their own religious beliefs. We just believe that she is the source of the magic here."

"So, what is this place?"

"This is the Alliance Academy. This is where you will live while training. You will do all of your studies here, with other recruits like yourself."

"How many would there be, in addition to me?"

"There is a new class starting next week. There are usually around a hundred new recruits, usually between the ages of sixteen and eighteen, although some exceptions are made for students even younger or a bit older."

Recruits younger than sixteen? It's not that I didn't think younger kids could fight. Heck...I'd been fighting since I was fourteen. But to be fourteen or fifteen and never grow any older? To never grow taller, or fill out in certain places that tend to expand when you get older? I didn't think I'd want to be trapped in the body of myself at that age. I mean, I'd grown almost four inches from the time my parents had been killed until now.

Caiden started walking toward one of the buildings to our right and I followed along, trying to soak everything in.

"Are they all orphans, like me?"

Caiden looked at me briefly over his shoulder but kept walking. "A lot, but not all. Some come from families of former Alliance members. Children that were raised to understand about Semper Terra, and given the option to join the Alliance before their Second Life."

"Second Life?"   

"I forget how much you don't know." Caiden stopped walking and looked at me. "Because you stop aging here in Semper Terra, you can live here and be a member of the Alliance for as long as you want. But if you are ever ready to join the real world again, back in The First Dimension, you have what we refer to as a Second Life. You can go to college, have a career, or have children if you like..."

"You can't have children here?" I was surprised but then I realized I had not seen any children yet. Of course, I had not seen a lot of Semper Terra yet either.

Caiden shook his head. "It's not just the aging process that is stopped. It's so much more. Your body stays static. The changes that would be necessary for a woman to become pregnant don't occur here. You can't be easily killed either. In battle, you can take some pretty severe wounds and be up and walking around the next day. You become immortal in a sense.”

"Then how can you be killed?"

"It would take something utterly destructive. Like chopping off your head or destroying your heart. Or burning your body by fire, until nothing was left but ash."

The thought of immortality was incredible. I wanted to talk about it more but Caiden resumed walking and entered the building we had been headed toward. I followed him in.

Waving his arms out, he indicated, "This is the main dormitory for new recruits and also where you will take most of your classes."

I looked around at a large lobby that we had entered, complete with overstuffed chairs and couches. The windows and doors were open and rattan ceiling fans spun the humid air. A few kids about my age lounged around, reading books or quietly talking to each other. Most were dressed in beach wear...and flip flops, of course.

Caiden walked straight through the lobby to a door at the back of the building. Some students called out “hello” to him as he walked by. I noticed most of the girls stared at him like he was the dessert on a dinner buffet. I was clearly not the only one who appreciated the art form known as “fine looking man”.

Upon exit, I saw a large grassy field with bleachers surrounding it. It looked like a football stadium except there were no goalposts and no yard marks on the field. We walked up to the nearest grand stand and took a seat on the bottom row.

On the field, a large group of, what I guessed to be students, sat in the grass. A woman stood before them talking. We weren't close enough to hear what she was saying, but everyone was watching her intently.

"That's the school's headmaster," Caiden said. "Sarah Longchamp. She's handing out assignments for the recruits' field trials before graduation. They head out tonight to battle daimons in The First Dimension."

"Aren't there daimons here...I mean dark ones to battle?"

Caiden shook his head. "Semper Terra is filled with Alliance members. There's no way a dark daimon could walk amongst us and get away with it. All of our battles are done in The First Dimension."

I remembered something that Sebastian had said. "Do you work for the U.S. government?"

"We work for a lot of governments. If you ever wanted to travel the world, you'll get to do it as an Alliance member. But we also do standard patrolling on our own, concentrating in the areas where most of the dark daimons tend to prey. It's part of our duty. Our mission is to stamp out all that is evil.” Caiden gave a wistful sigh. “Unfortunately, that's really not attainable. Daimons are lured to the dark side all the time."

"So, Daimons aren't born inherently evil?"

Caiden looked appraisingly at me. "A philosopher, huh? Well...I don't know really. Was Ted Bundy born inherently evil? Or did something happen to him in his life to shape him into a monster?"

"Uh...who is Ted Bundy?"

Caiden snickered. "Never mind. The point is, a daimon can be born light but do something that is so terrible that it turns dark. It happens to people all of the time. But I suspect, there are probably daimons and people that are just bad to the core and they enter the world that way. Just my personal opinion, of course."

That made me think of my parents. Their murderer had never been caught. I used to have fantasies of finding the bastard one day and taking my revenge. But I never had stopped to think why the person did it. It didn't matter to me. That vile creature took the most precious part of my life and ripped it away from me. Thus, said creature deserved to die. It was just that simple to me. But now I wondered...was that person born evil? Was that person destined to kill? Or had that butcher been good at one point but later turned evil? Those types of thoughts would drive me crazy if I gave into them.

A change of subject was in order. My stomach always cramped when I thought about how my parents died.

"Sebastian said that you were an Annihilator. What does that mean?"

"It's just a designation regarding your level of proficiency as an Alliance member. When you enter the Academy, you come in as a Plebe. You will study and train for three months. All of your work will be done here in Semper Terra. You will graduate by passing a field trial. If you pass that phase, then you become an Initiate. At that point, you are assigned a mentor. You will have additional studies, but your mentor will take you out into the field, into actual battle. Supervised, of course. Once your mentor feels you can move on, you will run a Gauntlet. A series of obstacles and daimons you will face on your own. If you pass that, then you graduate and become an Annihilator."

"And if you don't pass the field trial, you’re dead," I murmured.

Caiden looked at me. His eyes took on a purposeful intent and his voice was hard causing a chill to creep through my bones.

"This is very dangerous stuff, Charlie. Alliance members are hard to kill, but they can be killed. We lose hundreds every year. There will always be something out there that is bigger than you, stronger than you and is more determined to kill you before you kill it."

I involuntarily shivered, such was the frost permeating Caiden's words. Was I willing to die? Was this a cause I believed in? I certainly didn't let fear hold me back when I got into a fight at school. But those were kids I was fighting. I wasn't really facing death. But on the other hand, I never had special powers either. What would it be like to fly? To have strength and power against the daimons? And really, could I go back to my former life, knowing that Semper Terra existed?

And that's when I realized. I no longer doubted the reality of my situation. I really was in an alternate universe, where time stood still and youth would be mine to hold forever if I wanted. I could fight against evil. I could make a difference in the world. I could make up for my parents' deaths. But I could also die.