1 The immortal and The time traveler

The immortal walked into the bar.

Even tho it was a saturday, the bar was crowded.

A nice piano melody was playing in the back.

The immortal gave a nod to the piano man, he nodded back.

The immortal walked toward the bar and sat on a stool next to the time traveller.

He made a sign to John, the bartender, and he brought him his usual drink.

He thanked him and turned to the time traveler.

"Here we are, again, an immortal and a time traveler sitting in a bar, sounds like the beginning of a very boring joke"

The time traveller raised his glass, "I couldn't disagree more, but I mean, look around you, everything here is out of place"

The immortal took a look around, in one corner a medieval archer was talking to a 21th century sniper, both praising their respective weapons.

In another corner you could see Gilgamesh conversing with Alexander the great, each one giving his thought about how to rule the world.

In the middle of the bar you could see Donald.J.Trump and Kim Jong Un dancing, both totally drunk.

He looked at them all with compassion, and a bit of melancholy.

"Isn't that funny ?", said the time traveller after a moment,"I could go to any of those, in their respective times, but I couldn't stay for too long, you on the other side, you can't go to any by your own, but you can stay for as long as you want"

"Ironic isn't it, you have what I want, and I have what you do, and none of us want what he have"

The time traveller stood silent for a moment, then he added, "We both lost everything we had, you because you lived so long there's nothing anymore, and me because I travelled so far"

"Which raises the question, how do you do that ? I mean, what if you travelled twice to the same time ?"

"Oh well, probably a lot of very bad shit, some say you get very unpleasing itchiness in very unpleasant places, others say you have genocidal urges, some says you have both."

"And so ? how do you solve those ?"

"Simple, we have this", and he pulled a black notebook, and opened it.

There were dates written in it, and places, coordinates and other types of instructions about directions to take.

The notebook seemed very thin on the outside, but each time a page was turned it was as if it disappeared in the back, making the notebook seem infinite.

And maybe it was.

"You went to all those places ?" Asked the immortal.

The time traveller closed the notebook then answered,"Went, is, will go to, you know it's all very foggy, where I'm in term of time and space"

"Hum, yes I see, but technically, the you i'm talking with is here, there's times in this agenda, YOU didn't go to wet, so in term of general future and past, you have already been everywhere written in here, but for your own time, you still have many places to be"

The time traveller seemed to think about it for a time, then he tiredly smiled.

"You on the other hand", he said after a while," you have seen so many raises and falls, is there any that you would want to come back to ? or do they all feel the same after so long ?"

The immortal sighed deeply, ordered another drink, even if it technically had no real effect over his metabolism, he still enjoyed it.

"At first, when I received this so called gift, I thought about all the great things I could do, witness, live"

He went silent for a second.

His eyes, lost in the void, showed great sadness for a second, and then he went back to his previous state.

"But I quickly realized that everything come with a price, the cycle of life continued, others grew older, they died, which is normal, the only issue is when it doesn't happen to you, when you don't die"

He took a sip of his drunk, and continued,"Things slowly gets boring, I mean, people get bored from living one life, I had an infinite amount of those, and that's when I realized, things only have value because they end, a life that have no end holds no value, and so I went from having infinite lives to having none"

They both sat silently for a moment that felt like eternity.

Or maybe it was an eternity.

The archer was still praising his bow, Alexander the great was still talking about his great empire, and Donald was still dancing, drunk.

It was as if time was still, and moving, all in one.

"People tell me that, in a way, I'm immortal too," said the time traveller after a while,"Because I can be in multiple times, places, but when you add them all up, I don't live longer than any other human"

"Just like some argue that I'm a time traveller, since I can go to many times and spaces, but they forget I have to endure the passing of time"

"Ironic isn't it, I can control time at will, but not my own, and the price for immortality is your own life"

They both looked around, then the time traveller said," all those people here, they were able to be both of us, and they didn't lose anything. They marked spirits, and ended up being immortals, and traveled the centuries, but they only lived once, in their own time, doing their own things"

"Is there a time you would like to travel to ?", said the time traveller after a while.

"Hum? but I thought you had an agenda?", asked the immortal, surprised by the proposition.

"Oh you know, we can always squeeze you somewhere"

"And why would you do that"

The time traveller looked up, and smiled.

"Am telling myself, maybe this way, I'll be able to become immortal, to mark spirits, to live through the centuries."

The immortal smiled back," what about, I come with you to your next destinations"

"Going on a time road trip ? but you know, one day, me too, I'll leave"

"Yes, but then, I would simply have to find the you that's the nearest to me in the timeline, and we'll be able to travel through space and time together, forever."

The time traveller smiled, a big, wide smile, and then he looked the immortal in the eyes, and said," well, let's go then"

And he took his hand, and they both disappeared.

The immortal walked into the bar.