Chapter 6 Lifespan?
“Isaac?” Lenna said with her head on his bare chest. She could tell that he was already starting to sweat from her body heat. Her own high temperature tolerance was so high that she barely felt their shared heat.
“Yes?” Isaac questioned and rested his hand on her head.
“Would you give me anything I wanted?” Lenna asked.
Isaac frowned in thought. He wanted to say yes but the way she had asked it worried him. “Why?” He questioned. “This seems like a trap.”
Lenna smiled but didn’t reply for a long moment. “Because there is something I want, though, I’m not sure how you would handle the request, let alone the actual object of my desire.” She replied. It was clear to Isaac that every word she spoke had been carefully chosen to give as little away as possible.
“And what, my dear, is the ‘object of your desire’?” Isaac asked.
“A Wish.” Lenna replied simply.
“A wish?” Isaac said with furrowed brows. “Isn’t that what we are talking about?”
Lenna shook her head. “No. Not a wish, a Wish. The spell that remakes the world, that bends fate.” She explained.
Isaac hummed in thought. “Can what you wish for not be done by other means?” Isaac asked.
Lenna shook her head. “No.”
“Lenna,” Isaac began. “what do you want to change about reality and fate?”
Lenna was quiet for a few long breaths before she shifted positions so she could look into his eyes, the eyes that mirrored her own. “When I was a girl, I was sneaking around the manor, like all children do, and I found myself hiding around a corner while I listened to one of the slave women telling a story to her daughter.” Lenna began. “The story was of a hero and a princess. The hero had just finished saving the princess’s kingdom from a dozen dragons. In the end, her father bestowed her to the hero for saving their kingdom. At first the princess was resentful for being married off to, what she imagined to be, an ugly brute who only knew war. What she found instead was an elvish man who had once been handsome but was now covered in scars that magic couldn’t heal. The two eventually found love, as the princess realized that the hero was a man who hated bloodshed, but had taken up the sword and the bow because he was the one who had the power to save the innocent people of the kingdom. The hero realized that the sheltered princess had an iron will and a loving heart.” Lenna turned and grabbed a cup of water that had been resting on the nightstand.
“It sounds like it should be a classic ‘happily ever after’ but there is more, isn’t there?” Isaac asked.
Lenna nodded after she finished her water and took a deep breath to continue. “One day, long after their children had grown and moved on, a man came to their home. The princess was old and her back was bent but the hero still looked the same age as the day they had met. The man that arrived was a mage. Not just any mage, but a Fate Weaver. He told the hero that he could grant him any singular wish, for the hero had saved his life from the gaping maw of a dragon all those decades before. The hero knew immediately what he wanted his wish to be but before he could say anything his wife spoke up: ‘You could get rid of your scars.’ She offered him, for she knew how much he hated seeing them every morning in the mirror. The hero shook his head and made his request to the mage: ‘Bind our strands of fate. Make us truly one. She is the only reason my life was worth living until our children came into this world… but I do not wish to watch them all grow old and die only to end up alone for the next few centuries.’” Lenna had to stop for more water which came in the form of her emptying Isaac’s cup as well.
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Isaac watched her with great interest. The story had pulled him in and her revealed form had as well. “You’re killing me.” He told her and she smirked before she settled in to finish the story.
“There isn’t much left to finish. The mage used the power of the Wish to fuse their strands of fate into one. From that day on the hero aged at twice the speed until the day they died of old age, together, holding hands, as their strand of fate finally reached its limit.” Lenna finished.
“That is an incredibly heartwarming story but I…” Isaac’s voice trailed off and brows furrowed. “You aren’t saying what I think you are saying, are you?” He asked her.
Lenna climbed back into bed and rested her head on his chest again before she closed her eyes as if to sleep. “What if I am?” She asked innocently.
“Then you are even crazier than I thought.” Isaac replied simply. “Listen, Lenna, I’m afraid of my time getting cut short as much as any other maniac who takes to the battlefield to earn a living, but this is different. Are you saying that you want to almost halve your remaining lifespan?” He questioned with incredulous seriousness.
Lenna nodded lazily. “I have been thinking about that story more and more recently.” She explained. “But yes, that is what I am saying.”
“Lenna.” Isaac said her name with a seriousness that demanded attention and she opened her eyes to gaze into his. “Why?”
Lenna raised an eyebrow in question before she chuckled and rolled onto her back to gaze through the ceiling. “What do you mean ‘why?’, Isaac?” She asked. “I made up my mind to stay with you until the day you died of old age a while ago. The recent events have caused me to think about the time after a bit more. When you almost died in the Poison Bubble trap I was terrified. When you and Fen nearly killed each other in the Guild Hall I was terrified. When you were taken through a wall by a hungry Tunnel Horror I was terrified. When I saw the state you were in after the battle with my uncle I was worried at first, but then the more I learned about the battle the more a pit large enough to swallow me whole formed in my stomach.” She turned her head to look into his eyes again. “If we share a strand of fate then that means we can not die alone. Neither of us. We would live and die together whether from age or injury.”
Isaac's face moved through countless emotions in moments as Lenna tried to read it. He wasn’t sure how he felt about her throwing centuries of her life away to buy him just as much time. He loved her too much to take all that time from her but there were definitely some parts of the deal that he could get behind. If they were bound then he would always know what condition she was in. He also knew how she felt. The only times he could remember ever being truly terrified were the times when Lenna was truly in danger. He felt every blow he watched her take in his heart. He was very good at compartmentalizing things so it rarely ever influenced his actions directly but he still felt them. Isaac sighed heavily. “I need some time to think about this.” He told her eventually. “Do you know a Fate Weaver?” He asked.
Lenna shrugged. “I know of one.” She replied. “The last one alive as far as I know.” She explained. “Fable said that we should go talk to him about what types of things you need to look out for.”
Isaac’s brows continued to furrow. It happened enough that Lenna was sure that if it wasn’t for the blessing from Zei Isaac’s brows would have stayed furrowed until the day he died. “Cainen Su’Sol the Fate Breaker.” Isaac said at last. “Isn’t he like, older than dirt?”
Lenna nodded. “Fable said he has to be over eight hundred years old.” She reminded him.
“How long is the average elf lifespan?” Isaac questioned.
“Seven to eight hundred.” Lenna replied.
“Oh.” Isaac said in realization.
Lenna nodded. “As he is the only one alive, as far as I know, who could do it, I want you to agree before he dies.” She explained.
Isaac nodded slowly. “I see.” He replied slowly. “But I will still need some time.”
Lenna flipped over on top of him. She gazed down at him with a smirk on her lips and her intense silver eyes on full display. “What can I do to help you say yes sooner?”
Isaac scowled at her. “I am Darkness.” He reminded her. “I cannot be bribed for I am the one bribing.”
Lenna laughed into him as she shut him up with a kiss. “I don’t think that is how that works.” She argued half heartedly. “I remember hearing about the god of killing being murdered.”
Isaac’s brain couldn’t keep up with all the different directions it was trying to go because of everything his mate had said and done. “Wait, what? A god can be murdered?” He questioned but Lenna was having none of his curiosity.