Immortality, Granted!

1.

At 23:55 pm on December 31, 2025 Putin sat in front of TV in his bunker. Wearing a bathrobe and soaking his feet in warm water, he watched himself address Russians for the New Year.

He liked his double (or AI?) delivering the short speech, tough but reassuring. The voice sounded different, but who'd care? Certainly not him! He had the immortality pill. He admired it, sitting in a crystal box next to TV.

Suddenly, he heard a high hum. Following the sound, he saw a drone staring him in the face. He swallowed hard before his lights went out.

2.

Putin came to, standing buried in hot coals. Unable to move, open his eyes or mouth, suffocating from fire and smoke, he felt unbearable pain everywhere in his body.

Finally, his eyes opened from the outside and he saw two demons propping up his eyelids with hot metal sticks. Another demon was cutting off Putin's upper lip, mumbling, "Damn Botox melting, I didn't need this job!"

"Am I in Hell?" Putin asked incredulously. The demons laughed, nodding.

"But I have been granted immortality!" he protested.

"A Ukrainian drone blew you to pieces! You're still immortal, but here in Hell now!"

3.

Putin woke up from the Hell nightmare. His AI/double face was still on TV. He took his feet out of the tub and came up to the glowing immortality pill. Its instructions read, "Dilute in water 1:100. Inject into face monthly. Keep body healthy and whole to look 65-70 forever."

Putin dialed a number. When answered, he said groggily, "Happy New Year, Masha! How's our immortality research going?"

"Happy New Year, dad! We still can't figure out its chemical composition. But we are working on it!"

"Work harder! I don't have much time left and the nightmares are killing me!"

***

The Challenge:

If you decide to participate in this challenge, the three Drabbles above are your "starter dough." Your mission is to grow or develop it further in any direction or genre you want, as long as it's a 100-word complete story.

Here are the fact-based things you might want to consider/include in your Drabble, or just for background:

- Putin is obsessed with immortality. In last year's summit with Xi he bragged on hot mike about immortality research conducted by his daughter Maria (Masha) Vorontzova. He believes immortality is achievable within 30 years. Coincidentally (?) this belief is shared by Eugenicists Jared Kushner and Elon Musk.

- Maria Vorontzova's genetic research into longevity and immortality received millions in Russian state funding and billions in shadow global private funding but most scientists believe it's a sham.

- Putin does have some version of the Immortality Pill, as his regular disappearances for "tune-up" show. After them, he emerges to the public renewed and refreshed like a fully detailed old car. Who gave him the pill (Xi? MBS? Kim the 3rd? Elon?) or is it just advanced Botox? Why does he need to take care of his body, making sure it's healthy and whole?

Here's the main condition of the challenge: No matter how and who granted him immortality, Putin must always end up in Hell. Immortal but in Hell.

We can collectively have fun and dream a little, right?

Deadline: January 15, 2025 (I want to complete it before my spring semester starts).

As always, I promise to read all the entries published and linked in comments to this story and give small $1-5 tips to the ones I like. I can't wait to read your wonderfully horrifying entries!