Amon the Legend

It was raining that night. The smoggy gray sky thundered and bellowed with a fury, soaking all those unfortunate enough to find themselves void of shelter and alone. Filth had embedded itself in our clothing; remnants of blood were stained on our faces, yet as the skies continued on with its melancholic display, we laughed uncontrollably. You see, he always spoke of destiny—his personal legend. A calling that led him right to a miracle in the form of a seed. One that would grow to become the tree of life. I’d never heard of such a story before, but it had led us to that glorious moment in the rain. The seed had just been planted, buried beneath our feet. Our hands were grimy and slick with mud. Tears of delirium rolled down our cheeks and as our laughter ceased, Amon glanced at me and said,

 “You know Lumi, without faith we have nothing. As a farmer covers a seed, he carries out, even in his ignorant defiance against divine order, the divine will in producing only what God wills to grow in his soil. Do you understand? Today we have proven ourselves as men so that we may die and become God.” 

You see, Amon wasn’t like you or me. He was different. I rarely understood him, but I didn’t need to because, in a way, our souls were merged together. He found me years ago. Before him I was nobody. I don’t remember my days as a nowhere man, so I can only tell you how it happened from what I recall. It started in Times Square, New York. Back then, we lived in a shitty room on W 42nd street— smushed in between the sex shops and peep show theatres. It was a one-bedroom, one-bathroom with the usual paint peeling off the walls, mold, and stench. The room was small and stuffy, but we moved around constantly, so extravagance wasn’t necessarily a priority. We did have a window, however, that oversaw all the shit in the city—displaying the crack and smog in the air, the endless clamor of the night crowds, and most lavishly, the whores. 

It was closer to two am that night and Amon had just finished with a girl. I was half-asleep on a blow-up mattress near the window, when he came over, shook me awake, and handed me a smoke. Leaning against the wall in the dark with the luminosity of the moon slick on his face, he asked me if I was afraid to die. Yes, of course, I was. Who wasn’t? The question caught me off guard, but Amon’s expression was what frightened me. In the dim moonlight, he looked defeated, emaciated, and clueless. I felt I could do nothing for him but listen. 

“I don’t think this life is for me anymore, Lumi. Look at us.” He said, his eyebrows trembling. 

“Before I met you, I lived many lives and saw many things, but yet I lack this tranquility in my heart because I know it’s all fleeting. We’re just an instant in infinity. We’ll barely echo in the void.” 

He dragged on his cigarette and sat speechless for a while. The red embers sizzled weakly in the silence as I watched the ashes disintegrate onto his shirt. 

“What if I tell you, this doesn’t have to end Lumi? Imagine us, running around all over the world together, forever.” 

“I don’t have many dreams,” I said. “But I’m sure that would be one of them.”

“Good, because there is a way. For us to live forever, I mean. Very recently, I came across the location of an extremely rare and sacred plant. One that grows into a tree that produces golden sap, which can grant eternal youth and immortality! I know how this sounds, but believe me. There was a time, years ago, when I saw a young man fall to his death. He was my guide and companion in the Alaskan mountains, and one day, during a particularly challenging hike, he slipped on some ice and plunged headfirst down what could've been a ten ft drop—cracking his skull on the frozen rocks. I was sure he died, but when I reached him, he was crouching in the snow, tracing figures with a stick. A large pool of bright crimson blood stained the ice just footsteps away from him, yet there he was. After prodding him, he revealed to me the secret of this special plant and the “magic potion” that he consumed almost an entire century ago! We need to find that seed Lumi, and conveniently, it's here in New York.” 

I was dumbfounded, but I believed in Amon more than anything, so we were off the very next morning. We drove to Brownsville and staked out in front of a worn-out warehouse. Why? Because we were looking for a man who went by the name of Clément Antoni. Monsieur Antoni was a very busy man who ran an extremely dangerous institution. He was the law, judge, and jury of the streets. Anyone found guilty was subject to kidnapping, imprisonment, and/or death. Like an angel of darkness, he made problem people disappear, whether it be by grabbing bums off the streets for their organs to be sold, for vengeance, or even to have others drugged up, tortured, and forgotten in makeshift prison cells. He did anything for the right price since, after all, everyone had a number. 

“How could a little man wreak so much havoc?” I asked, looking at the black and white photograph Amon handed to me. 

“That little man has an army of dangerous underlings who wag their tails for him like pampered dogs. He runs the prison inside this warehouse, but walking in would be suicide.” 

Amon glanced at me with a smirk. “But don’t worry, I have a plan.”

The prison was named Alphaville. On the roof of Alphaville was a discreet greenhouse where the sacred plant was kept. Monsieur Antoni planned on using the sap to produce the potion in the form of a pill that could be sold for recreational drug use. In diluted amounts, the potion presumably didn’t cause people to live forever, nor was it certain that death could be avoided while high on the pill, but you‘d be left in a state of intense euphoria, be oblivious to pain, and possess heightened physical abilities. Once a drug like that gets into the hands of the elite, Monsieur Antoni would become one of the richest and most influential men in the underground world, so naturally, he had to be stopped. The plan was simple. I was to go in as a client and apply for the kidnapping of an imaginary man named Kurt Franz. 

The operation commenced at eight pm. I was disguised in a corduroy blazer, dark slacks, and a black mask that resembled a phantom of the opera-type. Apparently, all clients, aware of the nature of business, protected their appearances with a mask. Nervously, I mumbled Amon’s words like a prayer, as I approached the rusted metal gates of Alphaville. “Wait for me and I’ll find you.”

There was a security camera that twitched mechanically to scan my face. In a clear automated tone, it demanded the password. With the most unwavering voice I could find, I stated “Alphaville”, and the rattling gates opened slowly. That was a little too easy. Striding stiffly, I moved along the pathway that led to the entry point. There were no doors to go through—only the slight discretion of a curtain, and upon entering, I was shocked to see such a sophisticatedly renovated lobby area. A masked woman sat at the front desk with tattoos coating both her arms and her hair almost painfully sleek in a high bun. I greeted her. She handed me an application to fill out and took my fingerprints. Once I finished, she asked me to follow her. 

The woman led me down a very dark hall. All was enchantingly silent, except for the buzzing of a flickering neon green light overhead. The hypnotic melody of the woman’s heels against the hard tiles entranced me. And the fluid motion of her hips as she walked, revealed her effortless grace in the eerie light. I could’ve followed her to hell. And perhaps I was—I just didn’t know it yet. We finally reached a small room at the end of the hall.

 “I’ll be leaving you here, sir.” Said the woman, disappearing into the distance. A moment later, a booming voice emanated from the room.

“You may enter!” 

When I opened the door, I immediately saw an older man sitting at his desk. Two large, masked men stood on each of his sides with their arms crossed—menacing and silent. I recognized Monsieur Antoni, with his devious eyes and conniving grin. He simply motioned for me to be seated in the chair across from his desk. 

“Speak your cause!”

 One of the large men bellowed from his side. I looked at the boss and he only widened his eyes, indicating I speak. 

“There’s a man I would like to disappear.” I began, trying not to stammer. I cleared my throat and shuffled in my seat. 

“His name and occupation?!” Growled the same man.

 Seriously, does the boss not speak?

“His name is Kurt Franz and he—”

“I beg your pardon?” 

I looked up at Monsieur Antoni warily. He hadn’t said a single word since I arrived. And when he did, it was to interrupt me with such an ambiguous expression of horror and anger stricken on his face.

“Kurt Franz is the man I would like to get rid—”

Then suddenly, with an explosion of rage, the small man gurgled from the bottom of his lungs,

“Seize him!!” 

Immediately, I found the large men hurling me out of the chair and demanding I get on my knees with my hands on my head. Two bloodthirsty 44 magnum revolvers were aimed at both my temples. Did I say something wrong?

The sizzling little man, then slowly walked up to me, and with a clean sweep of his foot, kicked me point blank in the face. I spat a tooth out. He then crouched down to meet my gaze. 

“Who sent you here?” He asked.

I didn’t answer. Again, swift and merciless, another cold blow lands on my cheek, shattering the mask. The pain swelled like a flame under my skin, but I decided to continue on with it, nevertheless. 

“Is this..how you treat…a valued client?” I wheezed.

Monsieur Antoni erupted in an almost maniacal laugh. Grabbing my hair, he brought his wretched mouth close to my ears.

  “There seems to be a grave misunderstanding here because what you don’t realize is that Kurt Franz is dead!!” 

Standing up and loosening his tie, Monsieur Antoni didn’t even spare me a farewell glance when he spat out his orders. 

“Blow his fucking face off.”

Instantly, two blasts rang crystal clear into the air. A heaviness immediately crushed my body. In the sea of darkness, I tried to let my final breath escape me, when suddenly I awoke to one of the masked men dragging my body out from under his bloodied companion. I looked around to find Monsieur Antoni lifeless with a gaping hole in his face and the other man with a similar fate. The man standing, ripped his mask off and Amon was before me, grinning from ear to ear. “I told you I’d find you,” he said, helping me to my feet. 

“Come on, we still have work to do.”

I followed Amon in a mad dash out of the office and down a corner that led to the elevators. As we entered, we heard a guard stumble across the scene of his dead boss and buddy in the office. “Hey! What—!” 

But the doors closed just in time. Amon then clicked the roof level and handed me a gun.

 “Ok listen up Lumi. I’ll try to protect you as best I can, but you’re gonna have to fight for yourself. Your job is to get in that greenhouse and yank the flowerbed with the seed in it. Once you have it, just yell for me and I’ll find you.”

And so, we reached the roof and the elevators opened— revealing no one. I emerged cautiously, but before I could sigh a breath of relief, Amon yelled “Ambush!” He threw himself at me, and on the ground, I felt numb under the sea of bullets that sprayed from every direction.

 “Go! Go! Go!” He yelled.

We crawled our way to cover behind some cargo loads. 

“There seems to be two, maybe three people up here with us right now. They’ll definitely call for backup so we gotta move quickly. I’m gonna make a run for the elevator, you have to sprint straight ahead into the greenhouse.” Amon said briefly.

 “Straight ahead?! That’s actual suicide!” I yelled, bewildered.

  “Trust me, they're jumpy right now, the second they see a moving target, all their attention will diverge to me, ok now!” 

Before I could protest, Amon launched himself into action. Bullets rang out immediately just as he said. My focus went to the greenhouse just straight ahead. I got low and ran as fast as I could, tumbled in, and immediately searched for the seed. Right in the center of the room was a seedbed, under an artificial light, sprouting no flowers. You gotta be fucking kidding me. How stupid could these people be? But the moment I shifted to make a run for it, I spotted a hovering presence that swung at me. A man twice my size had just missed bashing my head in with the butt of his pistol. 

Frantically, I beelined straight for the plant, but just as I grabbed it, the large beast flung his weapon at me, knocking me square in the chest. Winded, I fell to my knees and the heaving man chuckled while hobbling up to me slowly. He was injured, but I was sure he still had enough strength to take me out with him. Feeling the nearing end, I drew in a painful breath and scraped out a dying call for Amon, with all the strength in my throat. The breathless beast then lifted his pistol and went in for the final blow, but two precise shots hit the back of his skull and ruptured through his forehead. He fell to the ground and died with his eyes open. 

“What’s the point of a gun if you don’t fucking use it Lumi?! Get outta there!” 

I got on my feet and followed Amon out on the roof. He was clutching his shoulder which seemed to be bleeding profusely, but the other men were all dead. 

“Hurry, block the roof door with that load! I’ll barricade the elevator!” 

“But then how will we escape?” I asked.

“We can’t go back in there, I’m sure people are on their way up here right now. We’re gonna have to jump.”

Alphaville was at least 10 stories high. There was no way we would survive a jump from that distance! 

“Do you trust me, Lumi?” 

“Of course I do.” 

Amon ruffled in his pockets. 

“I can’t promise that this will work, but it's the only chance we got.” 

In the stairway, the rampant chaos of angry men echoed from below. They were moving in close. 

Amon pulled out a pack of large golden pills.

“This is a prototype of the potion that Antoni wanted to sell. One is not enough to stop death but between us, we have six each.”

The men reached the barricaded door and began bulldozing their way through. Amon handed me the six pills and climbed up on the edge of the roof. 

“This is it, Lumi. Let’s hope this works.”

I climbed up next to him, clutching the seedbed with all my might. Up there, we oversaw the vast scenery of the captivating night sky and the buzzing city that lay below. I felt a dampness hit my forehead and realized that it began to rain. I looked at Amon one last time and gobbled the pills down. He smiled at me and did the same. By this point, the bullets thundered out in the darkness and I grabbed Amon's hand. 

“On three,” he said, his eyes glistening in the night.

  “One, two,—” 

And together, we hurled ourselves to our doom. We were falling, but our arms, still connected, were spread like an eagle’s wings, so for a moment, it felt like we were flying. As we approached the concrete below, I remember thinking— I’m so happy.

I woke up what could’ve been centuries later, laying in a field with heavy rain drenching my face. Amon was next to me, resting with his eyes closed. 

“You’re finally awake,” he said, sitting up with a heavy sigh.

“Where are we?” I asked. 

“We’re home, Lumi.” 

“Do you mean it this time?”

“Yeah, we’re not going anywhere.”

The warmth of tears began to well in my eyes.

“Do we have the seed?”

“I already planted it.”

“Oh my god…by the way— who the hell was Kurt Franz?

A short burst of laughter escaped Amon’s smile. That’s that Nazi sunovabitch’s real name! Amon said, cackling uncontrollably. 

“You should’ve seen his face when you said it! And here I thought it was just a rumor!”

I started chuckling silently. 

“Of course, you sent me in there on a hunch with just a rumor!” 

Laughter erupted between the both of us, and sweet relief ran its course through our veins.  

We lived a good life together, him and I. He was my best friend, but in the end, he couldn’t stand to see me live out my choice of dying someday. I may soon be gone, but I know he’s always with me, and there he shall stay forever, as my legend.