Immortality

Immortality

Part I Urban Myths

" Have you heard the urban myth about the statue of fate?" Tom
asked.

"Yeah, the ghostly statue who turns a page in its book once a year."
Dave said.

"Aye that's the one.." Tom took a sip of his pint. " Oh well I'am all
out of urban myths now."

"I got one for you Tom, a really good one." Dave said.

"Oh yeah.. whats it about?"

"Ok, well about fifteen years ago there was this rave party. And at the
end of it something weird happened: two hundred and fifty four people
completely vanished without a trace, freaked the bouncers out man, to
this day they don't know what happened and they don't like to talk
about it."

"Yeah I've heard that story."

"Well, what you might not know, is that at this party there was a
certain DJ: a really talented musician who lived on his own in a
secluded barn. Apparently he was a bit weird, a bit of a recluse. When
the police went to investigate his barn after the party they found all
these mathematical charts on his walls. He had apparently been mapping
out something big. They found diaries and lots of books on alchemy.
Apparently he was an alchemist."

"Whats an alchemist?" Tom asked.

" Oh man your studying chemistry and you don't know what an alchemist
is?" Dave sighed. "An alchemist is someone who searches for this thing
called the elixir of life. They are basically the forefathers of modern
science. You must know the tales of people trieing to turn lead into
gold etc: that's the western alchemist. Well parallel to our western
alchemist, there is the eastern alchemist, who was also searching for
the elixir of life. But for a different purpose--using different
methods. He studied charts on acupuncture and practised things like
yoga, meditation and breathing exercises. His goal was to find
immortality. To find the elixir within him; they believed that the
elixir of life lies dormant within you like a seed, waiting for the
right conditions to germinate. The ones who found the elixir are people
like the old Taoist Immortals who are in the legends of Chinese
history."

"Oh yeah, I think I know what your talking about now.."

" Well anyway this DJ was a very clever scientist and mathematician who
had a great passion for music. The story goes that he found the elixir
of life through music. And through his prodigious genius managed to
create a record that when played could unlock the mysteries of the
universe and bring forth the elixir from within you: make you immortal.
Fifteen years ago he was on the DJ line-up for that party; and he
played last and the final record he played on that evening was called:
'The Elixir of Life.' Shortly after he played that record: two hundred
and fifty four clubbers mysteriously vanished. "

"Bloody hell, is this for real?"

"Nah of course not its an urban myth. But theres more to it. You know
how people are wanton to make more out of it. Weaving more tales to
spook the people. Apparently this DJ is still walking around with his
record. Every now and then he holds a party, an illegal one. The
knowledge of the whereabouts of this party are kept secret till the
last minute: to keep it underground. It could be anywhere, in a forest,
in a wharehouse, on an old areoplane field, anywhere. The people who go
to these parties never come back. Something weird happens to
them."

"Yeah but it's a bit daft for a myth really. Cause if everyone
dissapears how does anyone know about this record and that people go
missing?"

" I dunno maybe some of them leave the party early. Maybe some weren't
listening to the record at the time, maybe they were doing other things
elsewhere. Their mates don't come back from the party and are never
seen again; so strange rumours start and people start concocting urban
myths. But theres more: this alchemist DJ has immortals working for
him."

"Oh man this gets better and better." Tom said laughing.

"You know the people who first listened to the record. Well they wander
around clubs looking for people whom they think are worthy enough to go
to one of these underground parties. And they give them flyers whilst
their in the club. But discreetly, the person doesn't even realise
he/shes been given a flyer. It just ends up in their coat pocket, or in
their bag. Of course when you get home, come down off your pills or
whatever else you've been taking, and have slept; getting up the next
day to find a flyer in your pocket is not an unusual thing. Cause at
the end of a party everyone has to walk the 'passage of terror' of
people handing out flyers. So some of these people find these flyers
and see theres an underground party going down. But they have to
telephone the number on the flyer to get the whereabouts. Some of them
go and some of them don't. Those that do never come back, something
strange happens to them."

Tom laughed, "Where do these myths come from man. That's the most
ridiculous one I've ever heard. If people around the world were
dissapearing then it would be in the papers." He sank back his beer and
got up out of his chair. " You want another beer man?"

"No I'am ok thanks," Dave said. His expression becoming serious
suddenly.

"Whats up Dave?" Tom asked.

"Er nothing-- get yourself a drink mate. Maybe I'll tell you when you
get back."

"Ok" Tom said looking at him puzzled. He went to the bar and got
himself another beer. All the while Dave watched him intently. Then he
reached into his pocket and pulled out a flyer, and stared at it. On it
there was a strange picture of a wizard; stood at some turntables with
headphones on his head. In big letters was the word 'IMMORTALITY.' Tel.
07943 756432 for details. Dave had rung the number and it had been an
answering machine: asking him to leave his full name, address, D.O.B
and telephone number. It said it would get back in touch with him
texting him the details about the party. They were taking no chances
these people, they didn't want the police getting a whiff of it. They
were obviously checking everyone out to see if they were koa-sha. Dave
got out his mobile phone and checked his messages. He flicked through
all his messages until he got to the one he had received this morning
-

IMMORTALITY PARTY 22nd July> wil text u 2 hrs b4 party starts, wi
location. keep it quiet- tell noone! respec - immortality crew.

Dave watched Tom at the bar, tell noone it said; but Tom was his best
mate - he had to come too.

Part II The Spiderweb

A huge infrastructure that lies between the worlds. A mass of coloured
bridges interconnecting, crossing, weaving--going off in all directions
like spaghetti junctions: the spiderweb. These multi-coloured pathways
all lead into other dimensions. Some of these dimensions are beautiful,
some of them dark and twisted, some of them just plain weird.

The 'Immortality crew' as they had come to be called: were travellers
of the spiderweb, and were explorers of these worlds.

They had formed a hardcore group of people: who organised parties on
some of these worlds and brought people into immortality. They did this
because they felt the experience needed to be shared and people set
free. They were very picky about those they chose though; after one of
the parties they'd held in the early days, had gone out of control and
grown dark: some of the people afterwards had gone mad, and they now
wandered the spiderweb causing trouble on unsuspecting worlds. And some
of them had something more sinister happen to them. Something nobody
liked to talk about: a taboo. So they were cliquey now, they hated
being that way, but they had learned from bitter experience- some
people are like parasites, they spread, spoil and infect other worlds
with disregard for sensitivity: lust filled beings who crave pleasure
and sport. When an insensitive lust-filled being becomes immortal with
God-like powers then it is a frightening thing.

Paul had decided he was going to hold one more party and then he would
stop. He was in a conflict now. He really wanted to share the elixir
with others. It was the ultimate trip, what the drug-culture had been
searching for with their highs: true freedom and exploration of other
worlds. But after seeing what had happened to some of the immortals,
those who had turned evil; it had grieved him deeply and he feared
sharing the elixir with others now. This was going to be the last
party, no more parties after this. Afterwards he would destroy the
record: forever closing the doorway to that temptation. He had
contemplated many times destroying the record. But hadn't been able to
bring himself to do it. It was his lifes work; it was a constant battle
with him. Paul never kept the record out of his sight. It was always on
his person and he didn't talk about it with anyone. He was very
protective of it, afraid of it falling into the wrong hands. Afraid of
the dark immortals he had created, afraid they might get ideas, try to
steal it. There were some beautiful worlds; they should be
protected.

Part III Elysium

There was a world the Immortals called, 'Elysium.' A beautiful world it
was. The reality on this version of earth had been one were people had
chosen not to pursue advancement or technology. They chose rather to
live in simple ways, in contemplation, much like Buddhist monks. They
chose not to reproduce themselves to excess, so the the ecology and
wildlife was well-balanced. They didn't build big cities, in fact they
had few cities. Because the human population of this world was so
scarce, the 'Immortality' crew chose to have this world as their base.
They could get away with building a large community for themselves here
without getting noticed. They built solar panels and windmills and were
completely self-sufficient. It was a good place to come back to and
rest from long travels. A place where you could relax and enjoy the
peaceful surroundings and contemplate finer things; chill out with
other immortals who happened to be hanging out there. The spiderweb can
be a lonely place at times, so the immortals depended on 'Elysium' to
catch up with each other. It was their meeting post and it was a
beautiful place. When they got bored of idle banter and felt the
restless yearnings for travel; they just went back to the spiderweb and
explored the other worlds. Every world was different: no two worlds
were ever the same. So there were an infinite number of things to see,
hear and experience. But Elysium had become home. The place all the
immortals were most fond of.

Part IV A brief explanation of interdimensional travel.

Now in an infinite spiderweb, one would assume it would be very easy to
get lost in it. So how did the immortals find their way back to
'Elysium' and 'Earth'? Well it was to do with the mysterious power of
the heart. If a particular world had a deep significance for them; they
could navigate the spiderweb with ease and find the right pathways that
led them back to those worlds. I won't get too technical here to save
the reader the pain of lengthy explanations. But put simply it worked
like this: every world they visited attached itself to them in some
way. A stringy elastic kind of energy, that they could sense with their
will and follow. You see there is more than just the spiderweb, the
spiderweb is just one part of the great whole. There are other
spiderwebs within the spiderweb. And the spiderweb is within another
spiderweb that is within another spiderweb and so on and so forth: an
infinite number of spiderwebs. Complicated I know, but I need to
explain this to the reader, to give them some kind of understanding of
the story.

Part V

Immortality Party - Dalby forest 22nd July 2009

Dave and Tom parked the car in the forest carpark. Other party people
were there hanging out, sat in their cars talking, smoking spliffs,
dealing pills and other designer drugs. Dance music blasting out from
their car stereos. It was a calm summers night, scented with pollen.
The route to the party had been marked out clearly by a lantern lit
pathway that went off into the forest. People were walking up and down
this pathway. They could just hear the music faintly in the
distance.

Dave and Tom walked the pathway. In the trees were all sorts of
things, like dreamcatchers and windchimes. It was like a little fairy
path. After about a thirty minute walk they emerged from the trees into
a great music filled opening. It was a sandy sort of a place, and was
on a kind of hilltop; so that you could see treetops all around and see
into the distance. All around people were dancing frantically to the
music. Fairy lights were tied up onto wooden posts that surrounded
them: marking out the dancefloor.

The music was very good, and it wasn't long before Dave and Tom began
dancing to it. Dave digged into his pocket and pulled out what looked
like swizels. It was his pills wrapped one on top of the other in rizla
paper. He handed three of them to Tom, " Their called 'Midnight
mysteries." He said, putting one of them into his mouth and swigging
some water to wash it down. " Their supposed to be absolutely banging.
Rob said he was up for hours on these."

Tom looked at them and smiled. He put two of them into his pocket and
necked one. They both looked at each other and grinned like naughty
schoolboys who have just done something they shouldn't have.

A stage made out of wooden logs had been erected for the DJ and his
turntables. The vibe here was fantastic, everyone was friendly and
welcoming. Tom and Dave kept getting handed spliffs. And people kept
making conversation with them. It was a great vibration. It was while
Dave got into a conversation with a dreadlocked character talking about
the places where they had lived and what they were into. Tom's eyes
caught the gaze of a girl watching him with coy curiosity. She was a
slender brunnette wearing a long sequined green dress. Tom felt a
strange connection with her; and an instant recognition as he looked
into her eyes. She began to make her way over to him. Walking in a
seductive trancelike way. As she did Tom's heart began to beat faster
and he began to feel the ' e' kick in, a smooth warm feeling of
euphoria began to permeate his body, producing an exquisite smile on
his face. The girl came up to him she was smiling too," hi," she
said.

"Hi," Tom said.

" My names Rebecca," she said holding out her hand sensitively.

"Tom," he said shaking her hand briefly. Her hand felt so nice, he
didn't want to let go of it. She let it drop naturally to her
side.

She looked intensely into his eyes. There was an uncomfortable silent
moment when Tom felt his heartbeat stop momentarily. " Great party," he
said, trieing to make conversation.

He sighed long and hard, hardly able to contain the intense rushes he
was feeling, God these pills were good. The ecstasy began to melt away
the uncomfortable silence, replacing it with euphoria. Tom and Rebecca
began to get into a deep intimate conversation. The MDMA helping the
words to flow out easily and naturally. So surreal and strange it was,
they just clicked like some mystical energy surrounded them both and
united them. They talked to each other about their thoughts and dreams.
Shared things they wouldn't normally share with others. Looking each
other in the eyes, smiling. It felt like they had known each other for
years. Even though they were strangers; it felt like they were close
friends. Tom kept thinking as they talked that she was the one. He felt
so attracted to her. He wanted to kiss her but was afraid to. He wasn't
very confident with girls.

Rebecca-

Rebecca was an impulsive confident person and more forward than Tom.
She had fancied Tom since the first moment she saw him. She felt very
attracted to him, and with her MDMA fuelled confidence had gone over to
him to start conversation. As they talked she felt within her that he
was the one. Some strange feeling that came from her intuition. Since
the moment when their eyes had first met she had felt some divine
chemistry take place. She really wanted to kiss Tom.

Life was short. She looked around her, it was a party, a place where
magical things happend and you could go wild. She took hold of his hand
and it felt incredible: this feeling of touch. She began to lead him
away from the party and into the trees.

Tom-

He just followed buzzing loving the sensation of her hand in his. God
she was so beautiful, so hypnotic. They went deeper and deeper into the
trees, till the music sounded far away. She stopped and stroked his
hair with her fingers. He felt the sensation like goosepimples on his
scalp--going down his spine. Then without any formalities she pressed
her lips to his, and they began to kiss passionately. He felt his
arousal for her in his trousers; she reached for it--as his hands began
to explore her body.

Dave-

Dave was feeling completely alive, like a shot of life had being
injected into his veins. He felt like a great weight had been lifted
from his shoulders. The rushes within him dancing to the music, moving
his body spontaneously. God these pills were good. He looked about him
for Tom but couldn't see him anywhere. That was strange, where had Tom
dissapeared to? Ah well he would probably catch up with him later. He
began whooping and clapping and jumping up and down; the electric music
the perfect companion to his blissed out state.

Tom-

God it felt incredible. Tom had never had sex on a pill before. He felt
like he could keep thrusting forever without coming. The sensation of
intercourse was deeply enhanced by the e: this was the best sex he had
ever had. She moaned and he felt the moans escaping him too. He had
never felt so attracted and aroused by someone in his entire life. He
felt like he loved her, every single inch of her; they felt so right
together, like they were meant to be together. She turned him over onto
his back and began riding him frantically. Both of them trieing to get
as unified as they could in their pilled up state.

Dave-

It was getting late, the night began to fade and the first glimmers of
sunrise could be seen. The music stopped and the DJ thanked everyone
for coming. All the party people still up on their pills shouted for
one more. It happens at every party, and always after much shouting the
DJ plays one more record. The DJ announced that he was indeed gonna
play one more. But the name of the record suddenly sent goosebumps down
Daves back. The name of the record was ' The Elixir Of Life' the same
name as the one in the urban myth. Dave looked around for Tom but
couldn't see him anywhere. The music began. Dave had heard so much
about this record, he didn't want to miss out on the experience by
looking for Tom.

Tom-

They lay there limbs intertwined. Tom had never had sex for that long
in his life; he had kept it going for hours. He had heard about this
from some of his mates, who had had sex on pills before, but he hadn't
believed it. But it was true, pills really did make you go for hours
without ejaculating. When he had finally orgasmed it had been the most
incredible sensation he had ever felt. She was cuddled up to him with
her head snuggled on his chest. He could tell by the feel on his chest
that she was smiling. He felt quite content to lie with her like this
for all eternity. But he saw that the sun was beginning to rise, and
that the music had stopped briefly before starting again, so he figured
they must be playing the last track. He kissed Rebecca softly on the
head. " We better get back," he said.

"awww, do we have to," she said.

"Yeah my mate Dave he's gonna be pissed off with me if I don't meet him
back at the car."

"Ok," she said sleepily. She unlocked her limbs from his and got off
him, and stretched and yawned. Tom was feeling the comedown from the
first pill, he dipped into his pocket and fumbled for his two remaining
pills. He found one and necked it. He offered the other one to Rebbeca,
who took it gratefully. No point in coming down yet he thought. They
got dressed and made their way back to the party.

Dave-

Man this was the most impressive piece of music he had ever heard. He
was feeling such a vast array of emotions it just seemed to get better
and better this record. He was on his third pill now, and was extremely
fucked. So seeing the music didn't really seem like such a big deal--it
was when the world around him began to dissolve and strange patterns
open out before him, that he began to freak a little. Rob never
mentioned this about the pills, shit. Then he began to feel his mind
unlocking, and dark twisted disturbing images spilled out before him.
Suddenly he was feeling terror, he began to act irrationally. He tried
to get away from the spectre images he was seeing but they were all
around him. "Stop!" he screamed deeply distressed by what he was
seeing. Un-able to tell what was real and what wasn't real anymore. He
saw lots of people screaming trieng to get away from the same things.
What the fuck is going on? It was the music, it was fucking everyone's
head up. He ran to the DJ to try and get him to stop. Then the images
subsided and he felt them become a part of his persona. He calmed down
a little and it all went pitch black momentarily; like it does when you
pass out and lose consciousness.

When he came to: he was no longer in the forest he was somewhere else.
He looked around him and saw all the party people stood with him
looking around with spooked eyes. Shit these pills were trippy, but
somehow he realised this was no trip and it wasn't the pills. What he
was seeing was real. He felt sudden knowledge pulse through him,
electric knowledge; he felt like he was a God with the answers to the
universe. He felt like he knew everything; or a lot more than he had
done before. He saw the dark haired, dark eyed DJ stood looking at them
all, holding a record in his hand. By his sides were stood a line of
people. They all had calm expressions on their faces, and they watched
the crowd with passive interest. Dave looked around him and saw many
coloured bridges intercrossing, weaving in and out of each other
leading in all directions and seeming to go into infinite space. " What
is this place?" he gasped.

The dark DJ even though he was some distance away, looked straight at
Dave after he had said this; and he felt the DJ speak into his mind. "
The Spiderweb," The voice said, " All these bridges lead off into other
worlds, different versions of the one you were stood in moments
ago."

Dave suddenly realised he knew this anyway, he knew all about the
spiderweb, he knew about everything. "Yes you are no longer mortal."
The voice said, " But it will take a while for you to come to terms
with your new powers. There is a world we can take you to if you like,
a beautiful world were you can relax and become accustomed to what has
happened."

"OK," Dave answered back. He felt that he should go there with this
D.J. It was the right thing to do. He looked around him for Tom, but
couldn't find him anywhere.

Then in his mind's eye: he saw images of Tom and a beautiful brunette
girl walking into an empty clearing, panic on their faces. "Oh Tom," he
sighed, " you missed it, you fucking missed it."

Tom-

Tom and Rebbeca walked around the empty space, there was nobody
anywhere. They had run there as fast as they could; when they had heard
the loud insane screaming. Had got there in time to witness a brief
glimpse of the party people's last moments of mortality. They had seen
a whole load of people become misty and just fade away like ghosts; had
seen them all vanish with their own eyes. They were both freaked out of
their minds. What they had just witnessed was too surreal. Tom knew he
would never see Dave again he just knew: the urban myth had been true.
The record was real, and he had missed it. Rebecca came up to Tom and
he hugged her to him. She had heard of the urban myth too, she knew
none of her friends were coming back. They embraced in that ghostly
clearing as the sun rose over the hill.

After a while, they both walked the fairy pathway back to the carpark
in silence, arms round each other. Well at least they had each other he
thought. The carpark was full of empty cars and there were a few people
sitting in circles smoking spliffs and talking. They hadn't got a clue
what had just taken place. Though they would go looking eventually when
they realised nobody was coming back. Some people lay sleeping in their
cars, man they had missed it too, should have bought more pills.

He didn't have the keys to Dave's car, but Rebecca had a car, so they
got into hers. They sat there for some time in silence. Then the pills
began to kick in big time and they both smiled. The ecstasy taking away
all feelings of shock and replacing it with feelings of well-being.
Both of them felt aroused again, smiling she sparked off the engine and
they drove off to another carpark about two miles further down the
road. Leaving the car behind them; they walked off hand in hand deep
into the trees and made love again. Tom would never see Dave again, and
Rebecca would never see her friends again. But they would think about
this when they came down from their pills later on in the day. For now
they were happy to trade their friends and immortality for each other:
they were soul-mates.