“What is going on in –“The librarian’s question was cut short by her own scream as Jack turned to face her.

Jack took a step back as he tried to figure out what the old woman was screaming about. Sure, he had just finished a large chant that resulted in what he believed to be a spell that granted him eternal life, but she hadn’t seen any of that. The woman screaming was sure to bring other people to the back of the library, and considering what he had just accomplished, Jack had no desire for an audience.

“Just kill her and go. We have gods to hunt.”

Jack looked around for the source of the voice, but other than him and the screeching old lady, the room was completely empty. In fact, judging by how long the woman had been screaming and the lack of response, Jack was pretty sure the entire library was empty. Between the yellow light still glowing in the corner of his eye and the disembodied voice, Jack wondered if the spell had not given him immortality but rather made him insane. That was when he felt the handle of the knife.

Jack looked down at the knife he hadn’t realized he was holding in his right hand. The blade was ebony black and curved slightly as it narrowed to a point. The handle was carved from dark wood and wrapped in dark leather. Jack’s eyes widened when he realized that the knife was the catalyst causing the woman to scream.

“Come on already, kill her. She's ancient. Her Vita will be worth nothing, but we need to get out of here.”

The voice sounded again, and the realization that Jack was the only one who could hear the voice washed over him. No matter what the voice in his head was telling him, there was no way he was killing a random woman in a college library. He lowered his head down and pushed his way past her, making sure to hide the knife under his hoodie as he walked. His walk turned into a brisk jog as he closed the distance between him and the door. The woman was still screaming behind him as he pushed the door open. He was in a full-blown run now, headed off campus towards the city.

Jack ducked and weaved in and out of alleyways as he went. He didn’t think anyone was following him, but he was pretty sure the police had been called. It wasn’t every day that a twenty-something in a hoodie showed up in the back room of a library with an ancient dagger. As he ran, the yellow light in his eye darted back, seemingly changing direction with him. When Jack felt he had put enough distance between himself and the library, he finally stopped to catch his breath.

“Should have killed her, might not have been much, but something would have been better than nothing.”

“Who the hell are you?!” Jack screamed at nothing in the dirty alley.

“I’m just here to help you with this whole live forever thing. Think of me as a guide to help you adjust to your newfound eternal life because it doesn’t work like it does in the books and movies, kid. While it’s true that you can’t die through traditional methods that only last as long as you have the vita for it.”

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“You keep talking about this vita stuff like I’m supposed to have any idea what that means.”

As Jack spoke the brand on his forearm began to feel warm and let off a faint glow. As the glow began to fade, the brand grew slightly smaller. The number 90% floated through Jack’s mind. It was like a short daydream only about percentages instead of relaxing on a beach.

“Should’ve killed that old lady. That’s your vita that I was talking about, by the way. That brand on your arm measures how much of it you have. As time goes by, the brand will shrink, and should it ever be empty, you will revert to being mortal until you fill it.”

“How?”

“Save your breath; how do you refill it? That’s easy. You refill it with the life force of others. A mortal life force isn’t worth much, but it will be enough to keep you going should you find yourself in a pinch. what you really want is the life force of a god. Not only will that refill your vita, but absorbing the life force of a god will increase the amount of time it takes for your vita to decay and impart a small portion of their powers to you.”

“So if I want to stay immortal, I have to kill other people!?”

“Gods, you have to kill gods. I mean, you can kill people, but like I said, there's not much vita in that. Plus, you don’t have to actually kill mortals to take their life force, you just gotta be near them when they kick it, and your body will absorb it. Gods, however, them you gotta kill all by yourself.”

“This is a whole lot to take in. I thought I’d just find an ancient book in the back of a library, chant some Latin, and boom, I can't die. I never expected to have rules and regulations. Also, what the hell is this yellow thing buzzing in my eye?”

“Oh, that? That points you in the direction of your quest. Remember that scroll that you accepted? Well, that’s a quest that was given to you, and you accepted it, so now you gotta do it. If you look around until that yellow glow is right above your eye and walk in that direction, you’ll come to that minor god you agreed to kill.”

“Quest, like a video game. Right, but who gave me that quest?”

“Don’t worry about that right now. Right now, we, I mean you need to worry about the fact that you're down to 90% vita, and most quests have a time limit. If you don’t complete them before the time limit, it normally leads to bad things.”

Jack did as the disembodied voice inside his head told him to and spun around the alley, attempting to get the yellow glow dead center in his eye. As he turned, he realized the sun was beginning to set, and in his wild flight from the library, he had ended up in one of the not-so-nice parts of town. While he believed he had successfully cast the immortality spell, and the onset of voices and eye glow seemed to confirm it, he still didn’t plan on putting it to the test. As soon as he felt like he would be going in the right direction, he set off out of the alley.

As Jack made his way onto the sidewalk of the main street, he could hear screaming to his left. The yellow glow had shifted in his eye, so his objection was in the opposite direction of whatever conflict was occurring. Jack decided this was a best-case scenario kind of thing and ignored the noise as he headed toward the glow. The screaming grew more intense as Jack quickened his pace slightly, hoping to put distance between himself and whatever was going on behind him. The screaming grew to a crescendo and was punctuated by a gunshot. The sounds of someone running replaced the screams.

Two young men in masks ran past Jack, the one holding the gun nearly toppled Jack as he went. Jack noticed the second man was holding an expensive-looking designer purse he had very recently come into possession of. Neither man stopped to look back at Jack as they made a right onto one of the many side streets. Jack kept his head down and kept walking; this wasn’t his problem, and he had never been good at confrontation. The brand on his arm began to warm and glow again as the number 93% fluttered through his mind.