THE IMMORTAL SAVIOURS

It’s a cool Autumn night on an empty forest road. The howling of the wind through the trees overpowered by the booming sounds of blues music from Andy’s car, as he sits lifeless on his car’s bonnet. His thoughts are broken by the shrieking of a barn owl in a tree nearby, looking down at Andy as if mocking him. He tries to brush back his long dark hair and his fake gold watch becomes stuck. He rips the watch off in frustration and throws it towards the trees. He throws his head back, eyes closed as he lets out a deep sigh as if overwhelmed with sorrow. The sighs keep coming until the stresses on his face seem to be replaced with peace and determination. Without warning the shine from incredibly bright lights force him to cover his face!

“Turn that off!” the lights quickly end at his command and he begins to blink repeatedly in an attempt to regain his sight. His eyes open wide in shock when he looks around and becomes aware of his new surroundings.

He quickly jumps off his car, the sudden fear and confusion comforted by the fact that he’s not alone. Around him are what seem to be a hundred other people; all of them looking around in confusion at the metallic room where they have found themselves. “Where are we? What’s going on?” An attractive young woman named Trisha asks him, fear noticeable in her eyes. “I have no idea” he replies but barely looks at her as he excitedly studies every inch of the room. Any fear that he may have had quickly disappears when he begins to realize that this may be the ludicrous dreams which he had been having for the past weeks.

“I dreamt this!” he says almost to himself, still studying the room while Trisha looks at him. “What?!” She asks with fear and confusion. “I think I dreamt this!” Andy repeats excitedly but is cut off by the silence in the round metallic room as several automatic doors open.

Gasps break the silence, followed by screams and cries as almost everyone seems to panic at the sight of those who enter from the automatic doors. The strangers stand expressionless, watching attentively as if studying every person in their desperate cries and attempts to run. Whether it is from bravery or frozen in fear, only Andy, Trisha, and four others remain in silence. Without saying a word one of the strangers raises a hand and the room falls silent. Seemingly in a position of power he nods to those who entered with him and they begin to walk past every person, gently touching a hand of each that they pass. Almost everyone begins to panic yet the strangers continue touching people's hands, every person that is touched falls suddenly to the ground, passed out as if in a deep sleep until only Andy, Trisha, and the four others who didn’t panic remain standing; 3 men and 3 women. They look at each other in silent fear and even Andy begins to seem concerned, the excited smile having left his face. The one in charge calmly raises his hand and directs the 6 remaining to an open door.

A few minutes later they find themselves inside a type of meeting room, the walls, table, and slick chairs all in shiny white. They are directed to sit and they hesitate almost in an attempt to run but as if fear has chained them to the floor. “What did you do to the others?” Andy asks and the others look to him but their captors don’t reply, pressing unseen buttons on a plain white wall and nonchalant to Andy’s question. “Hey!” Andy demands and this time their captors turn to face him, the other 5 stepping back in fear. “Your friends will be fine. They are been returned home. You will be too, after we show you something.” The 6 look at each other until David, a tall meek looking man summons the courage to speak. “You hum… speak English?” Their captor smiles and nods, pointing to the wall where a video has began to play. The 6 cautiously sit and watch the story they are been told.

The universe, they are told, is over 13 billion years old yet it is not the only universe but the 5th. The first and oldest universe is over 70 billion years old, and with its creation came the first life. The Rodinians were the first intelligent life to come into existence, a brilliant yet fierce race that has been evolving for billions of years. As they evolved, thousands of robots were sent to explore each universe, mapping out everything they could find and using black holes as doorways to other parts of the universe. It wasn’t until over 50 billion years later that they discovered a unique planet, in the 5th and newest universe. It was a planet which was just giving birth to its most intelligent life form. Although by this stage there were billions of planets with some kind of life, and almost a hundred thousand with intelligent life, the Rodinians became fascinated by Earth’s most intelligent life form; humans. They watched in awe as humans evolved, despite their delicate nature. They grew, learnt, and began to build civilizations, the first of these having been the mythical Atlantis over 20 thousand years ago.

The city sprung from a necessity to survive the ice age which covered the world at the time. It flourished in its culture and beautiful architecture. People lived in civilized harmony as the city grew. Sadly the city which to this day has spawned legends, ended as it was unable to overcome the natural disasters that come with an ice age event. The city disappeared deep into the depths of the oceans which modern humans still know little about. The few who survived did so only by fighting for what little resources there were, struggling to battle harsh and unforgiving weather. Violence became second nature to humans and after thousands of years of observation, the Rodinian prince tasked with the responsibility of protecting our galaxy, rebelled against his father the King. His disgust at what humans were becoming made him feel like humans did not deserve the pleasures of an afterlife. On this the Rodinians were split in two and a war broke out over Earth which led to many of the beliefs humans have today.

The war was short lived and humans were able to keep the privilege of reaching eternal peace. Yet the war had done little to change what humans had become. Those in power craved more, the poor and helpless lived almost as slaves. Loyalty was no longer for those deserved but could easily be bought with riches. The negativity which humans had created grew well into the 21st century and it was this that led to the 6 captives on this day.

Their captors are the Rodinians, the oldest species in existence and ones which we call extra-terrestrials. Taking on the task of protecting civilizations throughout any universe they had become appalled at the behaviours of humans, yet they refused to create another flooding event as there are still many humans with good in their hearts. The 6 captives listen in silence and mixed emotions as they are told that they are been tasked with changing the world. They sit in silent shock and fear at the conclusion of the video and speech, looking at each other as if waiting for someone to break the silence. “What are we meant to do? How could we?!” Thomas, a tall white business man asks, stress adding to his already tired expression. The Rodinian in charge looks at the 6, a large satisfied smile growing on his face, and the 6 look at each other confused. “We’re going to make you immortal!”

A quick flash of light turns night to day along the empty forest road and Andy suddenly appears on the ground beside his car again. He sits in silence, staring into the darkness beyond and trying to comprehend what he has learnt. The barn owl shrieks and breaks Andy’s trance and he shakes his head, standing and dusting himself off. The owl shrieks one more time and Andy slowly turns and looks up to the owl. A satisfied and determined smile grows on his face before he returns to his car without a word and drives away.