Mortality: The Story of Mortanius

Chapter Eight

Mortanius stayed outside as the others dispersed following the ceremony. Moebius was unable to walk after his “enlightening,” as Janos phrased it, and had to be carried inside the Home of the Guardians. Lora and Romanen could not stay outside after the sun rose, and all of the vampires left as well, leaving Mortanius by himself at the Pillars.

He had never really taken the time to look at the Pillars when he had been here the first time. But now, he stared up at them as the morning sun came over the mountains. He looked straight up but could not see their zenith. They kept going up and up into the sky until they literally faded from view.

How could the vampires have built such unbelievable structures? The Pillars were solid marble, stretching up into infinity. How could they have possibly been made? Mortanius tried to imagine the vampires building a scaffold high into the air to construct the Pillars, but knew that idea was silly. How could they have carved something so huge out of solid marble and stood it upright like this? And what kept the Pillars from falling down in high wind? Even the sturdiest tree could come down in a storm. Like trees, did the Pillars have roots underneath the ground to hold them in place?

He had never really thought about the Pillars before, and the questions just kept adding up in his mind until he felt a headache coming on. The Pillars were a mystery, that much was certain. He supposed that he would get no real answers from the vampires if he chose to ask. It was probably another of their secrets. He wondered if perhaps the Pillars were older than the vampires themselves. Maybe they didn’t even know the origins of their most sacred place.

Mortanius was still standing by the Pillars when he felt the presence of others nearby. Behind him, standing politely as if waiting for him to finish, were two vampires. One of them, of course, was Janos.

“It’s nice to see you at the Pillars,” Janos said. “You should spend more time here.”

“I was just wondering how you made them.”

“With difficulty,” Janos said. “But that’s a story for another day.”

Mortanius scoffed at that and returned his gaze to the Pillars. “I don’t have to guess what day that is, now do I?”

“I didn’t come here to argue with you,” Janos said, stepping forward. “I came here to ask about the boy.”

“Moebius, you mean? That’s quite a name Aleph gave him.”

Janos nodded with a bit of a smile. “Moebius is a vampiric name. Many centuries ago there was a great vampire warrior by that name.”

“Well don’t tell the new Moebius that. I don’t think he’d like the idea of being named after a vampire. He doesn’t like you very much.”

“Yes, I’ve noticed. He doesn’t trust us at all.”

Mortanius shrugged. “I don’t trust you very much myself.”

“But it’s different with him,” Janos said. “He is so young, we cannot deal with him. I suspect that even Lora and Romanen will have problems. We have no experience at all with human children.”

It struck Mortanius just how difficult it was for the vampires to have someone as young as Moebius around. The vampires had no children of their own, which still confused Mortanius, since the vampires must have been children themselves at one time. But it must have been centuries since they had needed to deal with a child. Moebius was going to be immature, curious, irresponsible, antagonistic, and troublesome. The vampires were going to have to learn to deal with his behavior for a few years at least, until he grew up a little bit. Mortanius had been young when he had first joined the Guardians, but he had returned home afterward and the vampires had not needed to raise him. Moebius had no one to go home to, so the vampires were stuck with him.

“I’m not staying,” Mortanius said, knowing what was next. “In fact, I’m anxious to leave as soon as possible.”

Janos could only sigh. “Okay. I probably should not have tried to ask you. He is not your problem.”

“I’m sure Lora and Romanen will be able to handle him,” Mortanius said. “Surely they remember enough of their humanity to raise the boy correctly. And besides, he’s not a baby. In a few years, he’ll be old enough to treat like an adult.”

“I certainly hope so,” Janos said with a slight chuckle.

Together they returned to the Home of the Guardians so Mortanius could retrieve his sword and belt. As he walked down the hallway, Mortanius peeked into the room where Lora was talking to Moebius. Lora glanced up briefly at him as he passed, but Moebius was concentrating on what Lora told him and didn’t notice.

Mortanius got his sword and went back outside with Janos. He knew that his parents were probably worried sick by now. They had argued with him right up until the moment the vampires had taken him away. He wondered if his willingness to go only made the departure worse. His parents, his father in particular, never trusted the vampires for a moment and always suspected they would come back some day to steal Mortanius away forever. The longer he stayed, the more worried his parents would get.

“Can I ask you a question?” Janos asked.

“I suppose. Can I guess what your question will be?”

Janos chuckled good-naturedly. “I was wondering how long you will live with your parents. What I mean is, at what age will you make a home for yourself?”

“I don’t know. I’ll be with my family for a few years yet.”

“I know you’re anxious to go home because of their concern for you. I hope that when you reach adulthood, you will decide to stay here at the Pillars for more than a day every few years.”

“Why is that?”

“You have much to learn, Mortanius. About your powers, about the Pillars, about the history of Nosgoth itself. It would be beneficial for you to stay here and allow us to educate you more thoroughly.”

Mortanius shook his head. “Thanks, but I’ll pass.”

Janos sighed. “In time, you will come back here. You are a Guardian of the Pillars, after all. You can’t spend your whole life away from them.”

Mortanius was about to respond when he heard someone shouting in the distance. He and Janos turned to look back at the Home of the Guardians and saw the small body of Moebius running toward them.

“You lied to me!” the boy cried.

Janos wisely stepped back when Moebius came up to them, his hands shaking in childish rage, tears starting to form in his eyes. He pointed an accusing finger at Mortanius and screamed, “You lied to me!”

“What are you talking about?”

“You said they weren’t going to hurt me! You said they weren’t going to bite me!”

“They won’t if you don’t want them to,” Mortanius said clearly, saying it to Janos as well as Moebius.

“That’s not what that lady told me! She said that when I grow up they’re going to bite me and turn me into one of them! And when you grow up, they’re going to do the same thing to you! That lady and the man inside were both vampire people!”

Mortanius knelt down and shifted his belt so that Moebius could see the sword hanging there. “They’re never going to turn me into a half-breed,” he said again, sliding the blade out a few inches. “They can try if they want, but I won’t let them.”

Moebius looked at the sword and then back at Mortanius, taking a deep breath and wiping his face with the back of his hand. Calmer, he nodded and sniffed. “Okay, I understand now.”

Mortanius put his hand reassuringly on Moebius’s skinny shoulder. “Like I said, they won’t do anything you don’t want them to. Romanen let himself be turned, and they tricked Lora. But you and me know what they plan to do, so they aren’t going to trick us, right?”

“They’ll never trick me,” Moebius said fiercely.

Mortanius smiled. “Me neither.”

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