Change This

This was supposed to be the happiest day of their lives. Jakob’s and Ulan’s thousand year anniversary. A celebration of eternity, spent in equal bliss shared between the two. They had sat near a cliff, dangling their legs off above the rocky death that would await them below. The two had truly seen everything a human could. Now all they wished for was to spend each and every day together. Adventures in their forever had slowed and a sugary calm emerged in their lives.

“To us,” Ulan spoke with his usually silvery and cheerful demeanor.

After he spoke he flashed that bright smile of his at Jakob and raised his wine glass. Ulan’s white suit had matched his wintery, pale skin. Ulan looked almost ghostlike in his Victorian-esque garb. While this had not been a norm in most of the world, it was a norm for the Kyrinians, which Ulan was one of. He was one of the nobles, however he left his home to be with the man he fell in love with during the last war. While he did miss the bustling cities of his home, the beaches of Roanthika topped any other in the world.

Jakob watched as his love raised his drink for a toast. The whole night he had been encapsulated by Ulan’s stormy gray eyes. With the sun’s last rays for that day, it shined down upon Jakob’s tawny brown skin, with his bronze cheeks that were revealed by his smile. He was a Roanthi, a member of the richest southern kingdom, rivaling that of the mighty Kyroki trading republic. He was dressed in that of a Roanthi politician. He had on a ruby red, leather trench coat atop a jet black suit. His gray hat was left at home for today as he wanted to feel the sun on his face before it fell under the horizon. 

“To love,” Jakob clinked his glass to complete the toast and they both downed the red wine. “That is a wine worth waiting a hundred years for!”

“Told you! And you wanted to drink it at the Eclipse Party,” Ulan laughed and a comforting silence fell on the two as they enjoyed their moment.

This was Jakob’s favorite spot and Ulan knew it. Every hundred years or so they would take a five mile hike all the way out to here. No distractions whatsoever, just the gentle crashing of waves against rocks and a wonderful sunset to wait for. Except this time it just had to be a little bit different.

“Hey Ulan? My love, isn’t the sun supposed to set just out there?” Jakob stood up and squinted his eyes to look out towards the horizon, only to see the moon begin to rise.

“No, you must be mistaken, come, sit back down,” Ulan patted the ground just next to him.

It definitely wasn’t his eyes playing tricks on him. The moon was rising in the west. A whale had jumped out of the ocean and instead of splashing back down, the animal just kept rising into the air. Something twisted in Jakob’s stomach. Sure, he was much older than any living person and he should’ve been dead centuries ago, but this was definitely out of his norm. He may have surpassed death in this world, but he has not seen physics just break like that. 

“Come, sit back down,” Ulan looked up at Jakob.

When Jakob turned his gaze to Ulan, something was different about him. The glimmer in his eyes was gone. It was as if Ulan was looking through Jakob. When this was the case Jakob did finally sit down and cupped his lover’s face. At this point, Ulan began to shed tears, but other than that, emotion did not seem to return to his face.

“Sit back down, come, sit back down,” he said in a monotone voice which trailed off towards a quiet whisper.

“Something is wrong, very wrong. We need to see Dr. Amillia, she will know what to-” Jakob began to leave, but Ulan grabbed his arm.

With this sudden movement from Ulan, Jakob turned back only to find that Ulan’s grip faltered and his arm fell to his side. Another silence occurred. Although this one felt endless and it sent a pain all throughout Jakob’s body. 

Ulan’s eyes were watery, but it still seemed as if he was focused on nothing. The air became a heavy thing as fog rolled in. Dark clouds swarmed their once cheerful spot, only to dissipate instantly into a warm summer sky, and then to be replaced again with a fierce storm. Thunder clashed in the distance and lightning sprouted up from the ground, reaching for the sky. The lightning was not the only thing to want to leave this accursed place. 

Jakob just knew that he had to get Ulan somewhere safe. This disturbing episode wouldn’t be the thing to ruin their night. He could do something to fix this. He had to find some way to make this right. He had to get the love of his life back. 

“Do you remember yet my love?” Ulan stared at something in the distance, his voice but a muffled mumble.

“Remember what? What are you trying to tell me?” Jakob’s voice was brittle like chalk as he fought back tears.

He was always the stable one. He needed to be Ulan’s rock, to protect him. His love had his moments, but he was always there for him. That was the good thing about the two being timeless, they always had each other. Jakob’s heart was always full from every little thing Ulan did. 

He remembered a name.

“What is this? Who is this person? Ulan. Ulan tell me!” He pleaded as his mind ached with this flood of new information.

A woman named Ia. She was a fierce warrior. Ia had the largest heart out of anyone he knew. Whether it was another rapid weather change, or it was something real, Jakob had begun to feel this warm fuzzy feeling in his chest. And then he could hear her honeyed words. What was this woman to him? How did it feel like he knew her for years when she had only come into thought now? With these comforting memories, something stood out. One lone memory. Not of Ia, but of the lack of her. The horrifying emptiness that was just as timeless as him. She was truly gone. Nothing was going to bring her back.

“Ulan, why have you given me such pain,” Jakob could not stand to fight back the tears, nor could he stand at all.

His upper body felt as if it was too heavy. His legs could snap at any point. So he did only what he could and collapsed to the ground. Ulan only remained sitting in his spot, eyes focused on something, anything other than his love. 

While tears continued to streak across Jakob’s cheeks, something grew anew in his heart. A feeling not unlike the pain he had just now discovered, but it was different. More fiery. More angry. The cold touch of metal began to chill the palm of his hand. Looking down at this, a loaded pistol was firmly in his grasp. Not one of the current era, but one of centuries past. A flintlock pistol. The initials JA etched into the leather grip. Bronze colored paint spread across the steel barrel, peeling in certain places to reveal the storm cloud gray metal underneath. 

He looked up at Ulan and he knew it, in his heart that he had been wronged. And he was right, but he had to hear him out first. It was the only way that he could find answers for this pain in his heart. For why these thoughts had suddenly returned to him, and where they came from. 

“What is this?” He dropped the weapon to the ground and began to sit up to face him.

“A lie,” Ulan couldn’t look towards the man he had wronged.

Ulan knew that this day would have come eventually. The day that his eternity would end. But he never gave it much thought. He couldn’t. To know that the man you loved the most would take your life at the end of a lifetime together was something that could break anyone. Ulan however missed out on one life with Jakob, he couldn’t do it again.

“A lie? What is a lie? My memories? This place? Our home? Us!” Jakob stuttered and steadied himself to avoid collapsing once again. “I need to know…”

No words could leave Ulan’s mouth. And so, once again, silence erupted out like a hungry beast, looking to swallow any goodness in this world. 

“Was our love… Was it… Is it truly a lie?” Jakob’s voice seemed to teter on the precipice of breaking like glass.

That was what broke Ulan’s silence.

“No! Dear gods! No, my love, it was not a lie! But this place-” Ulan tried to comfort Jakob but he backed away, “This place is the lie… An eternity was not meant for us. The gods will not allow it.”

“You said we were blessed?” Jakob was not convinced.

“We were! I- I was. I was blessed to have this long with you. To experience your love for that of ten lifetimes.”

It was time for Jakob to be silent. To process everything that was happening to him. Names began to enter his head once again. Ia, Hox, Net, Ferry. These were familiar names. All but the last one gave him feelings of comfort and a sense of home. Now that his home with Ulan was fading, he could not rely on him alone to give that feeling. 

His home did not just fade in the emotional sense, but so to in the physical. Cracks formed in the ground and in the sky. This world was breaking. Ulan tried to reach out to Jakob once more, but Jakob denied it. He could not bear to be touched by this betrayer. Someone whom he had trusted throughout his life. But who now felt like a stranger. Even if he could hear the crashing of the Roanthi waters down below, he could not truly call this place home once more. 

One of the cracks ruptured the ground between them, creating a large ravine that was pulling them apart. Ulan looked as if he was calling out to Jakob, but no sound left his mouth. Jakob looked towards the man in front of him. Eyes red from sobbing, he looked like a different person. He had never seen Ulan this distraught. But had he ever truly seen Ulan? Seen him for what he was. No. And in that moment, in Jakob’s mind, he could never see the true Ulan. Even after a thousand years with this person, Jakob still did not truly know him. Thus, he remained on his side of the ravine and so did Ulan for fear of falling. Ulan did not wish the last thing he saw to be the sky as he fell through the Earth. 

The sky was a ravaging storm of corrupted energy. Existence itself had begun to rupture within this world. The fake moon over the horizon had shattered to reveal a bright sun just behind. That floating whale had sprouted wings and flew over their heads. But Ulan would not break to reveal the true him. He could not risk the utter hatred of Jakob. Even if his love could not love him again, he needed to not be hated. 

And so, before being left behind in this eternal lie, Ulan mouthed the words to Jakob, “Change this.”

By then it was too late.