The Ward and Seal

Aria and Olezka stepped away as Damon leaned over the four regular Immortal Soldiers.

"Damon, get the job done quick," she said.

"Give me seven minutes."

He pulled out a serrated knife.

"So you four are Immortal huh?"

They looked up, their jaws broken, unable to speak or move under the iron net. They watched as Damon sadistically leaned over one of their heads. They watched as he put the serrated blade up to one of their necks.

Slink!

Slunk!

Slush!

Sloosh!

Blood everywhere, all over the place. They watched as he cut into one of the soldier's necks, cutting all the way down to the bone, all the way through the head. They watched as he ripped through the spinal cord, the muscle, the flesh, the mouth. They watched as he slowly cut through the vocal box of the immortal. They watched as he cut up his face. His nose. His hair ripped out, follicle by follicle. He split open his brain, picking part by part, piece by piece, putting stuff together, mushing things into places, mixing things into places where they shouldn't be mixed.

Eventually, after five minutes of doing this Damon picked up the head from between the iron net and held him by the gripping flesh. He whispered into his ear.

"You are Immortal but you are not a True Immortal. You can die and you will die. But how long will it take? How long will you last? I re-engineered your brain to never fall asleep. I made it so you will always be awake. I made it so you will feel everything, every little thing I do to you. So you wanna die or not?"

The Immortal head shook his eyes no.

"Good good. You still have resolve... But do you have loyalty?" He whispered even quieter, "tell me where the Immortal Necronomicon is and I will let you live. If you don't... I will put you in a grinder, to be forever crushed and cut, forever immortal, forever awake, forever regenerating. Now how long do you think you can last? How long do you think you can survive? How long until your regeneration runs out? Are you confident? Do you have the resolve?"

Damond reached deep underneath the immortal head's regenerating and bleeding neck. He reattached his voice box.

"Now let's hear your answer."

"Yes-yes-yes! I'll do it! I'll tell you where the Necronomicon is! Just please stop it. This pain. I can feel every single fiber of my head, my neck. And I can't get rid of this pain. Just, please! Please put me back together, fix me!"

---

Five minutes later. Damon held the immortal soldier's head, his words guiding the way to Aria and Olezka who followed from behind.

"Take a right at the next turn and the room to the left should be where it is. But it's locked so no one can get inside anyway."

They took a right and walked up to the door on the left. Olezka stepped up from the group. He pointed out his finger and sacrificed a nail.

Ice Spell: [Freeze Burst]

Crunch!

He cast ice across the frame of the door, freezing it in its entirety, and breaking the hinges.

Kick!

The door fell back.

Thump!

"You two enter, I'll stay out here and watch," said Olezka as Damon tossed him the head.

Damon with a cold stare said, "Olezka kill it. We have no use for it anymore."

"Wait, did he just say kill me?" worried the immortal head.

Olezka picked him up by his flappy regenerating skin on the top of his head, "you think we we're going to let any of you go? No. We'll just kill you."

"Wait, i'll- I'll work for-"

Ice Spell: [Freeze Burst]

Fshhhh!

He froze him.

Stomp!

Shatter!

He crushed him from under his boot.

---

Meanwhile inside the room where the Necronomicon was being kept.

Click!

Aria switched on the lights.

The room was empty and white, with no decorations except for a single light overhead and a small box in the center. The box was a deep dark brown, with weird wards and enchantments coated along its perimeter. The wards were pasted on like stickers, with the wood being enchanted with paint.

"What is this?" asked Damon.

Aria leaned forward reaching toward the box, as she was about to touch its wooden edge a sharp-

Zap!

She fell back as a shock shook throughout her body.

"Like we predicted the Necronomicon is kept locked away... But this... I've never seen anything like it? Have you Damon?" she asked.

Damon leaned closer, his arm extended out. He touched it.

Zap...

He was shocked across his entire body, but he didn't let go. He just touched it even more. The pain, he ignored it, the numbness, he ignored it all. He reached for the seals and wards.

Rip!

He tore them off. He reached for the writing, the enchantments. But as he got closer he started to feel a burning and rupturing pain across his limbs. He felt his skin unraveling, the muscles, and fibers underneath twisting and turning.

Aria stepped up. She placed her hand on his head.

"I got it from here Damon. While you were gone, Mr. Chain taught me how to control my gift. I'll be able to get rid of the rest, I'll just need you to give me the rest of your body."

"Do it," he said falling back, as Aria pointed out her finger.

X Spell: [Sacrifice]

She sacrificed Damon's entire body, down the molecular level, only leaving a single drop of blood behind, and all of his clothes.

Gravity Spell: [Weighted Pressure x1000]

Crunch!

Gravity Spell: [Reversed Pull x1000]

Smash!

Gravity Spell: [Increased Gravity x1000]

Rip!

She cast layer after layer of gravity all across the box's surface. She ripped through its wardings, through its edged writings, through all the curses and seals that were marked on it. All until the box-

Crash!

It fell apart, a cloud of dust spreading across the room...

She wiped the dust away from her face, kneeling down, she picked up the Immortal Necronomicon.

Sloosh!

Damon came back from the single drop of blood. His entire body naked. He put back on his grey suit and black tie.

"Is that it?" he asked.

Aria flipped through the pages. Name after name. Hundreds of thousands of names. But at the very back. At the furthest point from the front page. At the head where the hair of the skin-wrapped cover sat. Where the six True Immortal's names lived for eternity.

[Bryan]

[Garnn]

[Lamar Jinx]

[Oskar]

[Eiko]

"Damon... Look at this..."

She showed him the book, the first name on the first page. The first immortal.

"Is this..."

"So it was true... I am..."

[Demophon]

---

Ten minutes after the four True Immortals were wiped out. Eiko woke up from her induced death. She looked across the empty room.

"Of course the others revived outside the country. Never wanting to deal in danger. Lost to their own ideas of immortality and rule. Like gods on the peak of Mount Olympus. The fools..."

Aria looked across the room to a duffle bag. She walked over and unzipped it, revealing supplies, a computer, water, food, and a phone. She picked up the phone and dialed a number.

Ring...

Ring...

Ring...

They picked up.

"It's me. We need you at the United States HQ now! I mean... I'm sorry for speaking out of tone. But... It's him... The one you told us about... You told me to not meddle with him, to let him do his thing. But the other True Immortals picked up on his antics. They... Wait... You know? But... Ok-ok I'm sorry. I just wanted to test him, to see if he could really survive the Eternal Flame and Jango. They were just... I understand... Yes... I understand... He can't know of your existence... Wait what?! You're going to send him in? No, but... That's... You could kill all the Immortals here, there would be no one in the organization left... Wait... No... The deal... You're going to... No-no, I understand... Yes... Yes... I'm truly sorry, Demophon..."

She hung up.

"I got to get out of this place fast."