Dst – Writing of an Immortal (2/2)

Only then did it reach him what he had done. In despair and impotent grief he fled his world, leaving it to die. Long lived now, he wandered time and space for many years. Lost in grief, with no guide for his existence, he went where the winds blew him and threw his lot in with whatever opportunities came. His heart had hardened in the wake of his grief. It was Ren’s darkest time as he let the darkness fill him and show in the cruelty of his actions.

Some change came slowly. He lingered with a small cadre of demon spawn and blackguards who, despite their evil ways, were quite close knit. A sense of family and belonging helped him to restore some of his humanity, but his heart remained dark. It wouldn’t be for several decades, he growing more powerful with each year that passed, before a more drastic change would come.

Clariss found him.

He had thought her dead, but she had not been. Before breaking from his companions, he had indeed found the means to release her and she had left the dying world with his friends and as many refugees as could be taken with them. His friends had since passed on, but she remained. He thought she would have nothing but condemnation for him. Perhaps she would seek to destroy him. But she did not. She came with forgiveness for she could see the grief in him under the darkness.

She helped him to come to terms and fight the darkness within him. It eased, but there remained a greyness within him. Nonetheless, he left the dark group he’d been with, much to their annoyance(he was a powerful ally) and they traveled together. With her guidance and care, he began to act in goodness, seeing to the well being of others. With his powers, he could do much good. With both of their powers, they could do almost anything.

Unfortunately, after a time Ren began to tire of that as well. He could do much, that he did not deny, but no matter what, each day, there was always some other good deed to do. Some evil to vanquish. Some dark force that sought to destroy lives and steal freedom. The constant struggle wore on him until he could take the pointlessness no more and vanished abruptly from Clariss’ side, just after another successful campaign.

He hid himself away for a long time, brooding on the eternal nature of good and evil. The dance that never ended, he termed it. After a time, he came to a decision that he would avail neither side his powers. For too long he’d thought of others, helped others and sided with others. It had come time that he do what he wished and saw to his own needs and pleasures.

This marked the equilibrium of his life. Having tasted of both darkness and light he scoffed at both and sampled liberally from either as it suited him. Growing in powers and knowledge, he traveled with random purpose, doing good deeds and evil. To one he would be kind. To another cruel. He brought ease and pain, peace and strife, often leaving a strange chaos in his wake.

His Whim lead him and leads us up to his current life. He remains a strange, nebulous creature who is more than mortal, but bearing no true species. In most definitions, he has become magic. The power runs so strongly through him that it is more a part of him than his flesh. He’s become immortal, his essence a part of the magic he wields. That, of course, makes him a nuisance to destroy. He rarely needs to speak words of magic as it comes to his beck and call at a thought. Yet he still falls into the habit long taught to him.

He also enjoys limiting himself, thus he will not often exert himself to his full power. He has played evil tyrant often and allows the inhabitants to eventually ‘drive him away’, delighting in the whole of the events leading up to it as one might in an engaging game. It is one he’s played many times on many worlds, having earned many names as a result. But he keeps the one he had as a mortal, favoring his original shape from that time, though he can shift his shape into anything he can imagine.

And this is a short outline of his long history. I’ve written about some of it, which has equaled about 20 or so chapters. Just up to his winning of that contest when he was a youngster. What I wrote this for was to provide a written copy of his background for me and to give a general idea of Ren’s nature for what my true quandary is.

The daunting task of documenting his entire life is massive. It would probably take me years to write. The massiveness of it makes me reconsider trying to do it. On the alternate, I’ve considered trying to write a bevy of short stories from various times in his life. Or perhaps longer stories that encompass a general string of events.

Overall, his life leaves me room to write almost anything in any time/tech level/subject. I could cast him as the hero of the villain. The wide breadth is daunting. I’ve written one short story a long time ago(I’ll have to find and post it) which details the end of his creation of the draught and ingesting it. Only a fragment of the story, but an interesting one.

All the same, I’d still like to give mode detail to all of his life. I’m trying to find a good equilibrium, but I’m not sure what the best approach is. How do you write about the life of an immortal over millennia of time? I’ll have to consider it more.