The Serpent's Legacy, or, How I Spent My Immortality

            After Jeremiah's speech, a strange man with dark skin, long hair and a Middle Eastern accent approached him. 

            "I was truly impressed by your speech," the man said.  Jeremiah was the world's foremost authority on the Kabbalah: Jewish mysticism.  He had spent his entire life researching it and he was just now receiving respect form the scientific and religious communities.  It was thrilling.  He was at a high point of his life.  Something about the man with the accent, however, unsettled him.

            "Thank you," he said, just to be polite.  "Are you interested in the Kabbalah?"

            "I guess you could say that," the man said.  "Bits and pieces of it.  Tell me, in your studies, have you run across reference to Eden?"
            The question struck Jeremiah as odd, considering how obvious it sounded.  "Of course I have," he answered.  "Tons of them."

            "I mean," the man clarified, "have you run across any reference of it after the fall?  Any speculation of what became of it?" 

            "Well," Jeremiah said, "most modern scholars believe the references to Eden were kind of an allegory for the fall from innocence of man, not an actual event."

            "However," the man insisted, "assuming it truly did occur, what, in your professional opinion, became of it?"

            "Assuming it truly did exist," Jeremiah answered, beginning to become a little peeved at the man's persistence, "I'd assume it's dust by now."

            "Yes," the strange man said.  "Thank you for your time, Dr. Gold."

            "And thank you for your interest Mr....."
            "Kane," the strange man answered.  "Mr. Kane."

                                                ________________________

            Cain unpacked his bags and started to put his clothes away.  He had stayed in this hotel innumerable times since its opening, and the general opinion of the staff was that he was part of a long line of Mr. Kane's who kept coming back and who tipped well, so no one really thought about it too hard.  Only a few of the more superstitious workers thought that it might be the same Mr. Kane year after year, but they kept their thoughts to themselves.

            The hotel was in Iraq, near the Tigris River at the edge of what had once been the Fertile Crescent.  Somewhere in this area, to the best of Kane's memory, used to be Eden.  He had come back here many times to look for it, but he had never found it.  He scoured the world, thinking that it might have moved, but still he kept returning here. 

            Of course, he had kept himself occupied in other ways over the years.  For one thing, he had taught himself how to evolve.  That was a tough chore, and it took a lot of practice to get it right.  He realized that without evolution even an Immortal was as good as dead.  At the beginning of his sentence Cain had been about two foot six with a sloping forehead and an only rudimentary knowledge of fire and tools.  By observing and a little magic, Cain had been able to evolve himself to his current form, which was six foot three, intelligent, and (if he did say so himself) devastatingly handsome.

            He flicked on the TV.  All the channels had Iraqi programming (which was garbage) or news.  Finally he found an Israeli station which had some American shows with the Hebrew captions on the bottom.  No sooner had Cain put his feet up and started to get into the show than Abel appeared in the TV.

            "Hi Cain," Abel said.

            "Hello, you waste of protoplasm," Cain said.  Abel's form was slightly translucent, so Cain did his best to see through him and pay attention to the TV.

            "I have a message from Mother," Abel said.  He began twiddling his thumbs nervously, waiting for his brother to reply.  Abel was afraid of Cain, and with good reason.

            "Look, Sheep Boy," Cain oozed at his dead brother, "Haven't you found anything better to do these last million years in the after life than to pester me?"

            "Haven't you found anything better to do than to look for a home you never knew that probably doesn't exist?" Abel snapped.

            That struck a nerve.  Cain leapt out of his chair and walked across the hotel room, pulling his brother's spectral form from the TV.  "I have been a part of every great government in this world," Cain shouted.  "I have been a soldier in every great battle, on every side no less! I have been at the side of every great poet, author and mind this world has produced. I am one of the Thirteen Immortals foreseen in The Tome!  You have spent this time playing messenger boy to Mommy and hanging out with Casper the Friendly Ghost!"

            Abel quivered.  "I was trying to tell you," he managed to get out, "that Mother had a message for you.  She wanted to remind you that you are free at any time to join us.  Your sentence has been over for several years now."

            Cain let the ghost of his brother drop to the floor, and he marched back to the easy chair he had been sitting in.  "Alas," he sighed, " I cannot return to you, precisely because of our mother!  She had to listen to that damn snake.  She ruined paradise for us.  I've made it my mission to reclaim it for all her children."

            "Cain," Abel said, "you don't have to do that."

            "Of course I do," Cain retorted.  "Have you seen the world today?  Everything is killing and violence.  The only answer is a return to Paradise."
            "Well, in a way," Abel said, risking another explosion from his brother, "all the killing is your fault."

            "I'm not here to place blame," Cain said in true political style.  "I'm here to right what is wrong.  You can tell that to our mother."

            "Very well," Abel said, and he faded back to from whence he came.

                                                ________________________

            Cain's talk with the Kabbalah man had left him with some new ideas.  As he walked the banks of the Tigris, he thought about what the man had said.  About Eden being an allegory.  Of course, this was ridiculous.  His parents had lived there, for crying out loud!  Adam used to talk about it like most people's grandparents talk about the Old Country.  Every time he would get going on it, he would give Eve a look, and she would get angry and refuse to prepare his dinner.

            Cain had fathered a few children himself over the years.  It was another thing to pass the time.  He had stood beside some of his descendants as they changed history, and discovered new things.  He had also killed some of them in battle.  Particularly when he fought in the Crusades.  He had killed hundreds of sons of his sons.

            The life of an Immortal was not an easy one.  There were twelve others, as far as he knew.  There could only be thirteen at a time, and once there were thirteen, there had to be thirteen until the end of history.  It was written in the Tome.  At least, that was what people said.  Cain had never read the Tome himself.  If he had, his search would have been over.  The Tome dealt with everything magical, and doubtless contained the location of Eden.  Somehow, through powers Cain didn't understand, the Tome was older than he was.

            Cain had met some of the other Immortals.  One of them was Merlyn, whom Cain had served alongside of back in Camelot.  Merlyn lived backwards, spawned at the end of time and doomed to die at the beginning.  This made him an aloof kind of guy.  Anyone with the complete knowledge of the history of mankind has to be pretty aloof.  Cain had seen him from time to time in the twentieth century.  He kept a considerably lower profile now.  He was still an old man, which was a good thing.  There's an old saying: "If you ever see a young Merlyn, watch out.  The world is about to end."  Something along those general lines.  Probably more poetic.

            There were other Immortals too.  One of them fancied himself a superhero.  One of them was sort of a Power Broker, giving out magic to those who wanted it... at a price.  Even Hercules was still around somewhere, probably drunk in a Greek bar telling true stories no one believed.  There were rumors of an Immortal older than Cain, but he had discounted them.  After all, he was only the second generation ever, and both his parents died long ago.  Who could be older than he was?

            Getting back to the story, Cain was considering what the speaker at the convention had said to him.  What if Eden, although once a real place, now really was an allegory?  What if it was all in the mind?  If that was true, all you had to do was think about it.  Cain decided he liked this idea better than wandering the globe forever and ever in futile search until the world ended.  So he decided to try it.  He closed his eyes and thought about Eden.

            When he opened them, it was there.

                                                ________________________

            It was just like he had always imagined it.  Granted, he was only looking at the gates, but they were majestic beyond anything mankind had ever produced.  It was huge and luminescent, and on either side of the gate were Angels holding huge fiery swords.  Cain was so amazed at finding it that it took him a while to notice this last detail.

            "Halt," the two Angels said as one, producing a weird, stereo effect.  Your kind is no longer permitted here."

            Cain pulled his hair back form his forehead and revealed the mark that had been placed there.  "You have no power over me," he said.  "I am protected by One higher than you."

            "Very well," the Angels said in unison.  "We cannot forbid you to enter.  We can, however, give you this advice.  Do not enter, Adam-son.  It is not what you are looking for."

            "Of course it's what I'm looking for," Cain said as he waltzed through the parted flaming swords of the Angels.  "Stupid twits."

            Cain heard the booming sound of the gates shut behind him.  He was alone to take in his new surroundings.  "Hmm," he thought aloud, "this must be the rock garden section Mother was always talking about."

            As he walked further into the garden, it became apparent that this was not the rock garden section Mother always talked about.  Everything was rock.  The rock took the form of trees, of grass, and of wildlife.  The further Cain walked, the more the lump rose in his throat, and the more his footsteps seemed to reverberate on the stone ground that should have been soft grass.

            Finally, just as Cain was about ready to break down and give up, he reached the center of Eden.  It was really just the same as the rest of it. It was a stone.  This stone, however, was placed on a pedestal.  This stone had always been a stone, even before what happened to the rest of the Garden.  This stone had blood on one of its sharp edges.  Cain recognized this stone.  He had used it, after all, to kill his brother.

            Cain broke into tears.  The sin of his parents, he realized, had shut the human race out of Eden.  But his own sin, the guilt of which he had always drowned out in his quest, had taken Eden away without any hope of recovery.  All at once, ten millennia's worth of guilt poured in on Cain at once.

            And just like that, it was over.  Cain had found out what he had come to find out, and now that was that.  In a way, he felt like a weight had been lifted.  His brother materialized next to him.

            "Mother wants you to know," he began, "that there's a big party and holy shit!"  Abel suddenly realized where he was.  "What happened here?" he asked.

            "Oh, nothing of note.  Say," he said, wiping the tears from his eyes and suddenly sounding very cheerful, "why doesn't Mom tell me this latest message in person?"

            "Well," Abel began, "you know she doesn't like to leave the..."

            "No, no," Cain said, interrupting him.  "I meant, why don't you take me to her?"

            Abel was taken aback with joy.  "Do you mean it?" he asked.   "I mean, are you sure?"  Cain nodded his head.  "Very well, Cain," Abel said.  "Come with me."

                        The End

                                                ________________________

                                                               Epilogue

            The snatches of the Tome which Cain had heard had been true.  Once thirteen Immortals have been granted immortality, there must always be thirteen.  On Cain's death, a hole was created in the Order of things.  It is a hole which must be filled.  Another Immortal will rise to take his place.

                     The Beginning