Incarnations of Immortality

by Anthony, Piers

  In his mind he aimed the Sword up, at a thirty degree angle, and south. He willed a swift passage.

  He got it. He shot upward at the angle, passing right through the building and into the nocturnal sky. The process was exhilarating. Up, up he sailed, feeling no wind, no change of temperature. The magic of the Sword kept him secure.

  "But you must guide it, when the destination is not familiar to it," a cloud said.

  Mym experienced deja vu. "Were you at the Honeymoon Castle?" he sang.

  "Not specifically," another cloud replied. "I am in all things, but I don't interfere where I don't need to."

  "A cloud talked to me, there," he sang.

  "They do, on occasion," the cloud he was now passing agreed. "You may wish to steer inland."

  He looked down and discovered that he was high over the surging Indian Ocean. He directed the Sword southeast, and his direction of travel changed accordingly.

  He accelerated, and the sea and dark shore moved by at a phenomenal pace, but still Mym himself stood casually upright, feeling no wind resistance. Though it was dark, he was able to see around him; either his night vision was sufficient, or the Sword was lending him enhanced powers of observation. He flew in toward the giant city of Bombay, where he knew Rapture had been sent.

  Lights shone all across the city, and the palace was brightest of all. Mym had no trouble reaching it. He simply flew in through a stone wall and landed lightly on an upper floor.

  But the palace was huge, and there were many chambers and suites. How could he locate Rapture, without causing a stir while he searched?

  Gaea's mist appeared, like vapor condensing. "Use the Sword again," she advised. "I understand that it can tune in on the identity of any person and enable you to share that person's awareness. It is one-way; the subject is not aware of you. But it can be quite useful on occasion."

  "Tune in-on Rapture?" he sang. "But her privacy...I don't like to-"

  "You have changed since the Honeymoon Castle. This, however, need not be that intimate. Merely avail yourself of her perceptions, to identify her location; then go to it."

  Oh. Mym touched the Sword. Rapture of Malachite, Princess of Maharastra, he thought.

  Nothing happened.

  "Titles mean nothing to it," Gaea advised him gently. "It perceives only the essence."

  Mym tried again. This time he thought of the woman he loved.

  He found himself looking at an ornate feminine dagger.

  He blinked-and he was still standing in the chamber, his finger touching the Red Sword.

  It had been Rapture's dagger he had seen.

  She was contemplating suicide.

  He looked again, this time tuning in on the peripheral aspects of her vision. She was in her private bedroom, alone-but where was that? He was not familiar with the layout of this palace; that room could be anywhere.

  Then her gaze wandered vacantly to the mirror, and he saw her forlorn reflection. Her lustrous tresses had dimmed, and her green-malachite eyes were rimmed in red. She was so lost without him! She had been dependent on her father and now she was dependent on Mym; stripped of that support, she was collapsing into herself. He had loved her because of that fundamental vulnerability; she truly did need him.

  Behind her reflected face, a portion of a window showed, and beyond it was a fragment of green. She had set a green handkerchief at the sill, perhaps to dry after being soaked with her tears. That was so like her!

  He grasped the Sword. Out he directed.

  He sailed out through the wall and around the palace. There in an upper window on the north side was a speck of green. He homed in on it, then passed in through the window to land on the floor. "Rapture," he sang.

  She jumped, spun about, recognized him, and collapsed.

  He jumped forward and caught her as she fell. "Beloved!" he said, not stuttering for the moment. He held her, kissed her, and held her some more, and in a moment she revived.

  "Beloved!" she echoed.

  "I have come to claim you," he sang. "But there is much to explain."

  "Just hold me," she breathed. "I-without you, I-"

  "I saw the dagger," he sang. "No need for that now."

  Then, holding her, he sang his explanation: his assumption of the office of the Incarnation of War, by grasping the great Red Sword; the new powers and responsibilities that provided him; and his ability to take her with him-if she chose to come.

  "Take me with you!" she cried without reservation.

  "But it will mean a complete change in your life," he warned. "You would not be a princess any more."

  She just looked at him, and he knew that nothing else mattered to her except being with him.

  "Well, let's see how well we can travel together, then," he sang. He touched the Sword.

  "A consideration," a wisp of mist said, forming in the room.

  Rapture jumped again, but Mym reassured her. "That is Gaea, the Incarnation of Nature," he sang. "She is helping me get started. She showed me how to reach you."

  "If you take her away without explanation," Gaea said, "her father will assume that she has come to some foul end and he will blame your Kingdom, Prince, with which he is at war. That would lead to much mischief that I think you would prefer to avoid."

  "I would prefer to stop this idiotic war entirely, by marrying Rapture!" Mym sang. "But my father-"

  "Perhaps we can achieve your desire, with a little effort," Gaea said. "All that is needed is the apparent acquiescence of the principals. What would make your marriage to the Prince of Rajasthan acceptable to your father, Rapture?"

  "I would not marry-" Rapture began angrily, but Gaea held up a finger, and the Princess was silenced. Mym suspected that more magic was involved. "A reduced dowry," Rapture said, after a pause.

  Gaea turned to Mym. "And if you acceded to marriage with the Princess of Rajasthan, proffering the acceptance of a reduced dowry if the same were accepted for your former betrothed?"

  Mym was beginning to comprehend. "I am sure the Rajah of Rajasthan would be amenable to that; he expects to pay an exorbitant dowry. But certainly I'm not going to-"

  "Would one of your handmaidens like to take your place?" Gaea asked Rapture.

  Rapture smiled. "Any handmaiden would like to take the place of any princess! But-"

  "Summon one you feel is worthy, who would be able to act your part, if she had the appearance and opportunity."

  "That would be the one who doubles for me on boring parades." Rapture said. "But up close, she does not resemble me very well."

  "Bring her here."

  Rapture reached out and drew on a tassled cord. In moments a young woman appeared at the door. "Bit-of-Honey, there is a task we may require of you," she said. "Listen to this woman."

  Gaea, who was now completely solid, addressed the young woman. "The Princess Rapture of Malachite must go away. But she wishes to appear to remain. If you will consent, I shall fashion you to the likeness of the Princess, and you shall take her place."

  Bit-of-Honey shrugged. "I have done so before." Gaea smiled. "For the rest of your life." The girl's eyes widened. "But she is to marry the Prince of-" Her gaze flicked to Mym "Was to marry-"

  "She is now to marry the Prince of Rajasthan," Gaea said. "But she loves the Prince of Gujarat, so she is going away with him. She would like you to assume her identity and marry the Prince of Rajasthan. Are you willing to do that?"

  "But I am only a common girl!" Bit-of-Honey protested.

  "You will be the Princess-if you are willing to give up your present life in favor of that one, and keep the secret."

  "But-the Prince-I could never be more than a concubine to-"

  Gaea touched her, and the girl's protestations abated.

  "You can be what you choose to be. I will provide you with the voice and the appearance; you must provide the will and the action. But you must choose now."

  The girl looked wildly at Rapture. "Oh, Mistress, I would never betray you, but this-"r />
  "Do it," Rapture said. "You know I have no life without Prince Pride of the Kingdom. You are welcome to the Prince of Rajasthan."

  "To be a princess . . ." the girl breathed, beginning to believe.

  Gaea touched her again-and her appearance dissolved and changed and became that of Rapture. Even her clothing conformed. "Speak," Gaea said.

  "What shall I say?" the pseudo-Rapture asked. She sounded exactly like Rapture.

  "You know what to do," Gaea said. "If you slip or falter, it will be over."

  The woman looked in the mirror at herself, amazed.

  Then her shoulders straightened. "I will not falter," she said.

  "But what of my disappearance?" Mym sang.

  "We shall take care of you now," Gaea said. "Will yourself back to the place where the Sword came to you; it is familiar with that site. Make sure you have a good grip on Rapture."

  Mym touched the sword with his left hand and put his right arm about Rapture's slender waist. To the place of our meeting, he thought.

  And they were there.

  Gaea's cloud formed. However she traveled, it wasn't the same way Mars did. "Now we need a young man to assume your identity," she said.

  Mym considered. "I had a sparring partner of royal birth, for my weapons training," he sang. "He knows the ways of princes, and he likes wealth and power. I believe he could and would play the part."

  They summoned the man; after a dialogue similar to the one that had occurred in Bombay, the man assumed the likeness of Mym, and was afflicted with his stutter-but was happy to marry the Princess of Rajasthan and carry the privileges and responsibilities of the position.

  Now they were free to depart the mortal realm.

  "The staff of your castle will assist you hereafter," Gaea said. "I shall encounter you in the line of business. I wish you well."

  "I thank you for the invaluable help you have provided me," Mym sang. "I hope I shall not disappoint you in the office."

  "Only if you allow yourself to be deceived by Satan," she said, and dissolved into vapor.

  Mym put his arm around Rapture, touched the Red Sword, and willed them to his castle home in Purgatory.

  He found himself in the entrance-foyer of a castle as seemingly solid as any he had encountered. Huge gray stones rose up to an enormous height. He tapped one and found it solid. "If this is a castle in the sky, it is nevertheless quite substantial," he sang.

  There was a stir within the castle. Several gaunt figures came to the foyer. Rapture shrank away from them.

  Mym recognized one in a black cloak. "Famine!" he sang.

  Famine nodded. "And you are Mars," he replied.

  Mym turned to the others. "And you are-?"

  "Conquest," a big, hearty man in a white cloak said. He smiled, and his teeth showed like polished white ivory.

  "Slaughter," the one in the blood-red cloak said. There were ragged slashes across his face that dripped fresh blood. Rapture shuddered and averted her gaze.

  "Pestilence," said the one in the dirt-brown cloak. His face was a squirming mass of maggots. Rapture screamed and shrank away.

  "My companion is distraught," Mym sang. "Do not take offense."

  "Offense?" Pestilence asked, a maggot spraying out as he pronounced the S. "I am flattered!"

  They passed on into the castle proper. The castle staff was lined up, ready for inspection by the new master.

  "Do you know how to serve royalty?" Mym sang.

  "We do," the head butler replied.

  "Then see to the needs of the Lady Rapture," Mym sang. "And provide me with a person who can tell me what I need to know."

  The butler snapped his fingers. Immediately two maids stepped up to Rapture. "We shall see you to your suite," one said. "There is a bath waiting and a change of dress."

  Rapture hesitated, glancing at Mym. She didn't want to be separated from him in this strange place.

  "Did you meet the lesser Incarnations?" the other maid asked. "Aren't they simply awful? I had bad dreams for days after I saw Slaughter, and as for Pestilence-!"

  Rapture tamed her gaze to the maid, discovering companionship. She relaxed. These people might be all right after all. She went with them.

  "These are marvelously accommodating personnel," Mym remarked.

  "This is our station in the Afterlife," the head butler said. "To know and serve your needs. The Lady Rapture will be made at ease."

  "Afterlife?" Mym sang.

  "We are not among the living," the butler said.

  "But you seem quite solid."

  "Here in Purgatory, sir, everything seems solid, but only you and the Lady Rapture have physical substance beyond these environs. The rest of us-and the castle too-are only solid in a qualified sense."

  "I have some difficulty accepting this."

  "We are as pictures on a sheet of paper. When you confine yourself to that frame of reference, the pictures are sufficient. But when you exert yourself in the three dimensional frame, we no longer have relevance. You have mortal substance that we lack."

  "Purgatory-is a picture on a sheet of paper?"

  "In a manner of speaking. A facet of existence limited to a plane. From the surface of the Earth, mortals see right through that plane. But when you come to it, you join it and interact with us in what may seem to be a normal manner."

  "I can't believe that you don't really exist!"

  "We exist, sir. But only in a limited sense. Heaven and Hell are similarly limited; only mortals have the full range of experience."

  "Isn't this horribly restrictive? Don't you feel imprisoned?"

  "This is eternity. Though we lack the freedom to affect our destinies that mortals possess, we are freed from the concern about pain and termination that they suffer from. We comprehend the shape of our existence. Our reality is as if it were stretched out in an infinitely narrow but infinitely long path, unlike that of mortals."

  "To be a butler-for eternity? No reincarnation?"

  "Not for eternity. Only for a few centuries, until the inevitable shift of the ratio of good and evil in us permits departure to Heaven and everlasting peace."

  "A few centuries!"

  "It is worth it, sir. We have only to do our jobs-and these are not unpleasant jobs. It would be my pleasure to serve you even if my destination were not dependent on it."

  Mym would not have been satisfied with such a situation-but of course he was a mortal-or was he? "What is my status, now? Will I age and die in this office?"

  "By no means, sir. You will remain fixed as you are now, for your full term, which will terminate only when war on Earth abates. You are an Incarnation of Immortality-a temporary immortal."

  "Who else is in this situation?"

  "There are five, or perhaps seven, major Incarnations. Death, Time, Fate, War, and Nature, in addition to Good and Evil. There are a greater number of lesser Incarnations, such as the associates of War whom you met in the foyer. But the only ones you need be concerned about are the major ones, who will generally cooperate with you."

  "Generally?"

  "God, the Incarnation of Good, does not involve Himself with mortal matters, in accordance to the Covenant. Mortals must choose their own denouements. Therefore He will neither help nor hinder you, though He does watch you."

  Mym was glad that he had picked up a smattering of Western mythology; otherwise this would have been very confusing. "What of the Incarnation of Evil?"

  "He is Satan, and because he is evil, he freely violates the Covenant. He will seek to do mischief, turning your efforts to his designs. He wishes to gain power by acquiring a greater number of souls than God possesses."

  This aligned with the warning Gaea had given him. Satan would cause trouble. "But how can he do this, if I am alert against it?"

  "Satan is devious, and the master of misdirection. It is customary for him to, if you will pardon the crudity of the expression, work over new Incarnations, You will be a target, sir."

  "It is true that S
atan conspired to eliminate my predecessor?"

  "It is true, sir."

  "What did the former Mars do to arouse Satan's wrath?"

  "He supervised a challenge that the present Fate made to Satan, ensuring that it was fairly conducted. This enabled Fate to balk Satan's design."

  "But that's unreasonable!" Mym sang. "A fair contest-"

  "Satan is not a reasonable entity, sir. He is interested only in his own design."

  "And Mars-surely he was not helpless in his own defense?"

  "He tolerated the ploy."

  "Why would he do that, knowing that this would be to Satan's advantage and that he himself would perish?" "He did not perish. He went to Heaven. That is a consummation devoutly to be desired. The cessation of war had been his most devout wish."

  "But that's a conflict of interest! If he abolishes his job-"

  "Not if one's wish is to go to Heaven, sir."

  Mym considered that. "So Mars wanted to go to Heaven and could only get there by having his job end in a positive manner-so Satan facilitated that, and it behooved Mars to cooperate."

  "Exactly, sir."

  "But now Satan has a new and inexperienced Mars to, as you put it, work over."

  "Exactly, sir."

  "And I will not get to Heaven unless I succeed in abolishing war."

  "Admirably phrased, sir."

  "There's only one catch."

  "Sir?"

  "I don't want to go to Heaven."

  "Sir?" The butler was visibly startled.

  "I am a Hindu. Not a good one, obviously-but my desire is not for Heaven but for nirvana."

  The butler made a moue. "Then it would seem that Satan does not have the inducement to proffer you that he proffered to your predecessor."

  "Correct."

  "This should be a most interesting encounter, sir." Mym smiled. "Let's hope so."

  7 - BATTLE

  The next day, as Mym perceived it, he received news of a battle that required his attention. He had spent a pleasant night with Rapture in the excellently appointed castle; they had made love and talked and watched the scientific television, which by coincidence was concerned with news of the recent change in officeholders for the Incarnation of War and seemed to be quite current. Rapture had perked up to hear herself mentioned as the mortal consort of the Incarnation and to see herself smiling prettily for the camera, though there had been no such interview. But in the morning that same television set turned itself on with the announcement of the battle, and Mym had to rouse himself for his new duty.