“Stephen!” she screamed joyfully and flung herself into my arms where she commenced to weep piteously.
“Hey, steady on!” I commanded. “What’s going on? What’s been happening?”
Thorn was crying too much to answer, so I extemporised by hugging her until she regained some composure. By this time, others had flooded into the room, attracted by Thorn’s wailing. Tracey was first through the door and she ran over to her me and practically leapt onto the bed, almost crushing me in her embrace. Then she started sobbing as well. Hand in hand, Trix and Niama arrived next, each with a huge smile on their face. Zen trotted in, immediately after followed by Nix and Bon, also with clasped hands. Lastly, but not least, Quina and Doctor Totil appeared.
“Okay, what’s all this?” I demanded. “What am I doing in here?”
“I think I can answer that,” Doctor Totil answered. “You’ve been sick. Well, not exactly sick as such, but more like ….. unwell.”
“And the difference being …….?” I questioned, curiously.
“Well, you don’t have anything physically amiss,” he slowly explained, “but there were some unique …… circumstances.”
“Such as?” I asked, patiently.
“Let me, sweetheart,” Quina told Doctor Totil, giving him a tender smile. “I’ll put it into simpler language for him.” Then she turned to me. “Brace yourself, Stephen,” she told me solemnly. “There’s something you have to know.” A sorrowful grimace flashed across her face. “I’m afraid that your human body is no longer living.”
“I died?” I stammered. “What …… how?”
“What do you remember?” she asked, sympathetically.
“The battle had finished,” I said slowly, the images replaying in my mind. “Zenith had passed away and then suddenly everything went black. That’s all I can recall until I woke up here.”
“You frightened the very life out of us,” Quina told me. “Everyone thought you’d had a heart attack or something, so we rushed you to the hospital. You’ve been in a coma for a week! Nobody could find out what was wrong until Phil suggested that there might be a problem with your surface body. Thorn went to find out and came back to tell us that you had died. Your human half, that is.”
“I’m dead?” I whispered unbelievingly. “Okay, I knew that there might be a problem with my body, but I never imagined …….”
“Wait a minute,” Thorn interjected, wiping away tears. “You knew something was wrong and you didn’t tell me?”
“I didn’t think it was serious,” I defended. “And I didn’t have time to do anything about it. I couldn’t leave you all to battle the Knarls by yourselves. I had plans to do something after everything had settled down but it looks as if I left it a little too late.”
“But you still should have told me!” Thorn heatedly remonstrated. “How could you keep something like that to yourself?”
“I didn’t want you to worry, dear heart,” I told her. “Anyway, how was I supposed to know that I was dying?” I paused. “Well, what happens now? What am I supposed to do? What’s going to happen with my body?”
Phil walked into the room at that stage. “Permit me to answer those questions,” he announced.
“Phil! Thank heavens!” I blurted out. “I’m dead! I need some explanations.”
“I know, I know,” he soothed. He stood at the end of the bed and looked down at me, smiling benignly. “Remember when we first met and you asked me what would happen if your human body died? I have to admit that I really wasn’t sure of the consequences of that occurrence at the time. Well, now you have your answer. Nothing happens! The good news, or the bad news, depending on how you look at it, is that you are now officially a hundred percent One forevermore.”
“But I blacked out,” I complained. “I’ve been in a coma for a week!”
“Quite understandable,” he replied. “It must have been a tremendous shock to your psyche to have one part of you dying while the other part still lived. The week must have been a period of adjustment to allow you to keep your sanity.”
“But what will happen to my body?” I persisted. “I mean, it’s dead!”
“Thorn and a few others managed to open the door to your room,” Phil explained, “so someone will be sure to investigate in the near future. They brought the transfer device back from your room, too. We couldn’t leave that there, could we? Anyway, ask yourself this, Stephen. Were you really that attached to your human body?”
I pondered Phil’s question. There could be no denying that I felt traumatised by the news but, on the other hand, my body wasn’t something that I’d miss. After all, in the last few years I’d spend only half an hour per day with it. To all intents and purposes, I was a One and had been for ages. Looking at it rationally, I’d have to say that I’d regarded my human body these days as more of a hindrance than anything else. I looked around at the anxious faces of my friends and lovers who were probably wondering how this trauma was going to affect me. I mentally shrugged. Was it going to change my life? No. Was I going to be any less happy? Again, no. Hell, I had everything I wanted right here. Who needed a human existence? I had no human family and the few friends I had accumulated in my earlier years had deserted me long ago. Not that I blamed them in the slightest. I’d locked myself away in my apartment like a hermit for years and barely stirred outside the front door. I placed my respective arms around Thorn and Tracey and smiled lovingly at them. They responded with grateful tears and hugged me even harder.
Chapter 31
With my beloveds sitting on the bed beside me, I asked what had happened in the week I was comatose.
“After putting you in the hospital,” Nix began, “we set off to free the slaves, just as you wanted. Bon led us to the Knarl home base and it went exactly as you predicted. There were hardly any Knarl left. Balis wanted to wipe them out once and for all, but I knew that if you were with us you’d never have agreed with such an extreme action.” He smiled crookedly. “After all, isn’t it your cherished aim to convert all the races to peace and harmony?”
I smiled at his remark, and nodded agreement.
“Well, with that in mind,” Nix continued, “we found the Queen Knarl and convinced her that there was no future in fighting anymore. I proposed that if she freed her captives and swore never to use slaves again, we’d leave her in peace. She thought for a while, then agreed. There was no other choice, really. We signed a communal peace treaty and left it at that. Their architecture is remarkable!” he suddenly enthused. “I’m sure there’s room for mutual exchanges of technologies. The webs they use are stronger than our best steel! It’s incredible! And that’s about everything that’s happened while you lounged around in bed like a sleeping slug.”
“Everyone wants to honor you!” Trix exclaimed excitedly. “There’s talk of medals and awards and titles and I don’t know what else! The Council of Elders want to put up a statue of you. You’re famous! More than before, I mean,” she added.
“I don’t want any of that,” I murmured. “People were killed in that war. We should be putting up statues to them, not me. I hated the whole thing from start to finish. I know it had to be done, but all those deaths will haunt me forever.”
“But you saved us, dear heart,” Thorn told me. “Without your battle skills, we’d all be dead or slaves by now.”
“And that’s the sole thing out of this whole sorry mess that I don’t regret,” I said, taking her hand and kissing it. Then I looked up at everyone. “So, what happens now?”
“I’d like to keep you under observation for another day or two,” Doctor Totil insisted. “You’re someone unique right now, you know. There’s never been a fully human One before, and I want to make sure there’s no physical or psychological problems, but from my initial diagnosis, I can’t see any problems whatsoever. You seem to be perfectly rational.”
“Until you get to know him, that is,” Nix interjected. “After that you might change your mind.”
Everybody laughed, and I did too. I lay back on my pillow with a contented sigh. I had my friends and family around me. How could things be any better? True, in the game of life, my human card had been trumped, but it was of surprisingly little consequence to me. My fairy card was still in play and I had the feeling that nothing could beat it from now on.
END
Books by Steve Elliott:
The Snurglepuss Doorway
* Vampire? (Part 1)
* Alien? (Part 2)
* Timing It
* Hog Mama
* Thief
*Depression World
* Picture Perfect
* Society Tart
*Betrayal
* Earth Angel
* Double Trouble
*Multiples
‘Soul Mate’ Series:
* Childhood.1(a)
*Dreaming.1(b)
* Rescue.2
* Lioness.3
* Wedding Woes.4
* Crossroads.5
*Daughter.6
* Endings & Beginnings.7
*Grandchild.8
*Final Chapter.9
‘Underground Kingdom’ Series:
*Crystal Thief (1)
* Dangerous Desires (2)
* Trix (3)
* Zenith (4)
* Pitfall (5)
* The Vile (6)
* Revenge (7)
* Retribution (8)
* Rosewing (9)
* Night Things (10)
* Blood Stone (11)
‘Diama the Destroyer’ Series:
* Diama the Destroyer (Vol.1)
* Sacrifice (Vol.2)
* Wizard (Vol.3)
* Finders Keepers (Vol.4)
* Sword of Destiny (Vol.5)
* Known Strangers (Vol.6)
* Deception (Vol.7)
* Time After Time (Vol.8)
* Return (Vol.9)
* Friend or Foe? (Vol.10)
* The Missing Mayor (Vol.11)
* Jigsaw (Vol.12)
* A New Beginning (Vol.13)
‘Vampire Curse’ Series:
* Vampire Curse
* Vampire Friendly
* The Orb of Rule
* The Haunted Portal
* Seeking Petals
* Tiger Doorway
* Hidden Motives
*Sings the Morning
* The Cave
* Blossom
* The Dagger of Serios
* Sky
* Fractal Finality
‘Survival’ Series
* Survival
Blood Stone (11) (The Underground Kingdom) Page 10
