Swan Song

The screen flashes to life and a clip that the Senator obviously recorded before his death begins to play.

'Greetings!' He says cheerfully.

I'm shocked. He does not look suicidal. Far from it.

'Many of you will be thinking that my final actions are decidedly odd and not in keeping with my true character. If so, you are correct in that assumption. I do not wish to die. Indeed there can be few who love life as much as I.'

He continues to beam at the audience from beneath his sandy moustache. Those gathered look highly confused, as am I. I risk a quick glance at Myra but can detect no reaction at all.

The Senator continues.

'My real reason for bringing you all here today is not to send me off into the afterlife but to witness my resurrection from death!'

The crowd gasps and Myra turns to face me once more. She knew! Of course she knew. She can read thoughts and his family are bound to have known. That's why they seem so calm. And that's probably why the Senator had me travel to the planet in the first place - so I would be nearby. What a strange thing to do.

The Senator was not done yet. There was more.

'Will the Enchantress Myra Qhan and Enchanter Enza Gray please approach the casket?'

We both did as asked.

'Whichever of you succeeds in bringing me back to life, that one will win full ownership of the newly discovered planet in sector nine - Cerentaria. Now let the challenge begin!'

A short clip of a magnificently rainforested planet plays.

I want that planet. It can be my new home. I look at Myra, hesitating.

'Do we go together or do we each have a separate attempt? How do we do this?'

'I'll let you go first,' she replies generously.

Cerentaria is so mine.

The lid of the casket is removed by the monks. The Senator looks uninjured in peaceful repose - but definitely dead. I can sense the crowd leaning forward. I'd better make this good. It's what the Senator wants and it's what I want. Afterall it is the last act for Enchanter Gray.

I close my eyes, hold my hands over him and begin redirecting some of my life force into his body. Within seconds, I know something is wrong. I'm being blocked. And I know who by.

I glare at Myra. My hands are beginning to shake. I try for several minutes more until one of the monks pats me on the shoulder, thanks me for trying and asks to me step aside.

I can't believe it.

'An excellent effort by the illustrious Enchanter Gray!' he cries. The crowds clap and cheer in sympathy. This feels like a sick game show. I can't stay for the finale.

'Cheat!' I mutter to Myra as I walk past her.

She ignores me and sweeps forward in a whirl of scarlet and grey. I look out upon those gathered, despising the whole event. What kind of a man makes his own life and death a competition for the titillation of others?

Feelings of shame swamp me. What kind of person am I to have taken part in it? I cannot stay. I must leave this arena of sick and twisted minds.

As I leave a huge roar of applause erupts, rippling through the air like thunder. I take the stairs two at a time, glad that my lucrative career is finally over. I can't leave quickly enough. But where will I go? Kirsty is still on the Incarnare and I haven't the heart even after everything to just dump her on Damoclatees.

Once more the door to another life must close. I never thought I'd be doing it without her. Never thought I'd be alone at this time. It is always difficult. This time I've lost the will completely. I want to sleep so bad it hurts. To rest. I am weary.

A voice from behind urges me to stay, telling me there are refreshments being served in the arena. It's the Senator. Myra has definitely succeeded. Damn her! The gardens provide solace for a little while but then others begin to have the same idea and start pouring in with drinks and canapes in hand, laughing and chattering. I can't be around people right now, no matter how joyful they are. I need space.

Down by the ocean I find my sanctuary after stumbling through the grassy dunes. There I perch on a rock looking out at the myriad twinkling lights of the coastal towns and cities, their splendour so prettily reflected in the gargantuan Bay of Lyka. I've removed my footwear so that I can feel the sand filtering through the gaps between my toes. I squirm them ever deeper into it trying to forget Kirsty, that aggressive Hyrexian woman and of course Myra - the destroyer of swan songs.

'Is this where you're hiding?' says a voice. Tis the witch herself.

'I'm not hiding.'

'Sulking then,' she says.

I know I'm proving her right by my surly behaviour. But she's just pushed me too far as usual.

'Why do you always challenge me Myra? Why? Is that what you wanted? To see me fail?'

With the accumulation of everything I'm so angry that I do something rash and very ill mannered. I tear away her blood coloured veil just so I can look the bitch in the eye for a change.

'MARY!'

Stunned, I fall back into the water, not believing what I'm seeing. There are tears in her eyes. Then I realise she must know what I've been thinking of her. But really, how can she be Mary?

'My Mary died Myra. Stop trying to fool me. You're not her. John, my brother-in-law told me she fell into the Lake of Galilee on stormy seas. They tried to save her. They looked for her body. We all did. We never found it'

'No. Because I had left earth by then.'

'Myra! You simply cannot be my Mary!'

I don't even like you, I thought.

A teardrop fell and I knew she had heard that thought too.

'Enza...I remember our old life. You weren't Enza then. You were Peter. A tent maker. Our lives were simple. We never had children but we kept ourselves busy following that religious movement that was just starting up. It seemed to help people, so we encouraged it. Made friends amongst it. Our private times together were memorable to me. Our first kiss. That day you and I swam in the river near our home. Our ride into the mountains to pick olives and figs. Do you remember our wedding night?'

I look at her, knowing she must be relating her own genuine memories. Hard as it is, I realise she is telling the truth. Because I had not been thinking about those things just now. They were from her. I can see something in her eyes that corroborates this.

'But why did you leave me? Why make me think you had drowned?'

'Don't try to tell me you've never done things like that to exit a life that has become stale or dangerous to others in some way?'

She has a point.

'So you were bored with me.'

'No Enza-Peter. Don't you realize, I am just like you. I can never die. Remember that, back then, I thought you were human. Yes, every now and then I heard mutterings in your thoughts of immortality and such but I thought these were of religious origin, not actual fact. I knew that if we stayed together you would at some point discover what I was - I would become a monster to you. The demon woman who can never die. I didn't want that. Little did I know, we are as much alike in body as we are in mind.'

She sits down beside me with a splash and puts her arm through mine. We fit perfectly. I cannot be cross with her anymore.

'I only realised what you were, when I saw an advertisement for your show one day somewhere on the planet Keldar. I knew it was you and immediately understood what that meant. That's when I created Myra - this current incarnation of me.'

'But you've publicly destroyed my reputation. Resurrecting the Senator was supposed to be my final act.'

'Yes I did. Because I'm the only one that could. I taught you what it is to be human - to have limits and fail. This is why humans sleep, to make up for their failures and shortcomings. Their brains analyse where they went wrong and how to fix it and how to succeed if they ever face such a scenario again. They learn how to conquer and become better than they already are. To dream is to be free.'

'You make it sound like I should be thanking you for this Myra-Mary.'

'You should,' she tells me. 'Because tonight, you know a little more of what it is to be human and you and I shall sleep beneath the stars.'

'And then what?'

'Then if you let me, I shall take you with me to Cereniti where we shall set up home, have those children we always wanted and when they are grown and have fledged the nest and we have lived the sum of years we feel to be complete, we shall help each other fall asleep for good, safe in each others arms.