The Life Everlasting

Chapter One: Preparations

He looked up the table at his counterpart, who had a smile which increased magnitude with every passing second. The plan seemed preposterous. How could they ever infiltrate Nexus? The place was so heavily guarded, it wasn't a matter of if they'd get caught, but when, and how? Trianus sighed and shook his head, his long brown locks of hair obscuring his deep gray eyes.

"It's not possible," he mused.

Across the table, Astian just smiled wider. He knew something, and Trianus would find out exactly what.

"Sure it is. You must trust me. It's simple!" Astian said, that mischievous smile nearly overtaking his already-wrinkled face. Astian had been a friend since they met in Arcane Physics class, their last year in attendance of that accursed college - the very place they plotted to infiltrate, Nexus University. Since exiting enrollment 3 years prior, the two of them had been in adventure after adventure, none more difficult than the one Astian was detailing now.

Trianus stood, straightening out his jacket. He stood six-foot-two, almost a full head above Astian.

"Well, if you say so, but don't look at me when this backfires. When is it happening?" he asked.

"Tonight, unless you're too afraid," came Astian's reply.

Trianus nodded and started to walk out of the small library building. A long day of preparation was ahead of him now.

---

He trudged back to his apartment, not terribly far from the library he and Astian liked to frequent, and smiled as he looked to the snow on the ground. Winter time was his favorite, the snow keeping him looking forward to all of the glee on young ones' faces as they frolicked around. He entered the building and walked up the stairs to the second floor, where he resided. Opening the door into the 10-by-15 living room, he scowled at the mess on the cheap carpet. His roommate never bothered to pick up after himself, and it showed. Trianus thought inwardly; what if company were to come over?

No time to think about that now, he had things to accomplish before tonight. Trianus packed his gear in quiet contemplation, once more thinking of the momentous task he and Astian were about to undertake. Nexus... it was almost quite literally a fortress. Access card slots were given to students in varying levels; the most secretive of them were given to the faculty. Unable to be fooled by magic means, that alone would be enough to stump any would-be spies. Trianus and Astian wouldn't be able to use their cards, they'd already graduated. Not to mention, the militia that Nexus had patrolling the campus were top-notch soldiers. The more he thought, the more impossible it seemed to be, and for what were they going to try to trespass on this place for? Trianus had no idea. Astian had something up his sleeve, and knew exactly how to get to it. But, why would he be so secretive?

Trianus once again shook off the introspection and returned to packing his things. Night vision amplification scrolls, scrolls for anesthesia, various mechanical devices used for infiltration, all of it going into a backpack no bigger than a binder. Not even counting all of the destruction-school spells that he had memorized, even some he created himself. It was still afternoon when he finished up, but it would take another couple of hours to drive out to the school. He left the mess that was his apartment and walked into the brisk winter air and into his antique 1988 powder blue Chevrolet Camaro. He drove off through the falling snowflakes, headed for the wilderness in which the campus was located.

---

Astian still sat in the library, thinking to himself. He sighed, knowing full well he only got Trianus to go by sheer luck, and his all-powerful curiosity. Nexus had secrets. Very powerful ones. Back when he was still a student, he could spy the faculty entering the room across from his. A glimpse in through the door showed machines, glowing lights, and glass obscuring something. He was never quite able to tell, but he knew a ruination when he saw one, and this was definitely one of those secrets.

He stood, and walked to the exit of the library.

“Bye, miss Mac” he called to the librarian.

Ms. MacDougal smiled and waved back to him, then returned to her work. Astian pushed the door open and walked to his car, where his belongings were already waiting for him. He started the 'ol' rustbucket', as he called it, and cranked the air all the way to warm. Astian simply could not stand the winter atmosphere – the cold never agreed with him. His 1994 Toyota Tercel started after wheezing the corrosive goo from it's exhaust, an inky black in contrast to the pure white of the snowy landscape. Astian shifted the car into reverse and backed slowly out of his spot, shifted to drive, and accelerated lightly to the exit of the small parking lot.

Astian always enjoyed the drive to Nexus, even if the place wasn't quite as charming as the drive there. The tree-lined parkway wound through some of the thickest parts of the forest which bordered the town of Nemala. Nemala itself was nestled in a small mountain range, so small in fact; it was dwarfed tenfold by most of the other mountains of the world.

Astian concentrated on the road, finding himself almost too absorbed in the rest of his surroundings. Trees whizzed past, as the speed limit disappeared at the town border, which tended to lead to quite a few car wrecks at The Bluffs. The 120-foot dropoff was masked by ferns and other herbage, and was quite dangerous to those not paying attention. Astian was still a way from The Bluffs, and so he allowed himself some speed, if only to get to Nexus on time.

---

Trianus was miles ahead of Astian, past The Bluffs altogether, and was quickly approaching the parking lot of Nexus University. He deeply despised the place, and its depraved professors. Though, however hellish it was, it was still one of the top ten universities in the country, and it definitely taught Trianus much of what he knows of the Arcane Arts, graduating Valedictorian, with high marks in almost every subject.

The obscure entrance to the multiple parking lots connected to Nexus was becoming closer, as the last wisps of daylight faded into twilight. The creamsicle orange-colored sky seemed to paint a picture, the epitome of Nature’s beauty, in contrast with the rising canopy of the silhouetted trees. By moonrise, Trianus had made it to Nexus, with time to spare. He pulled quietly into the student parking lot, turned off the Camaro’s lights, and waited.

---

Astian was still miles behind, only just making it to The Bluffs before moonlight dampened his vision. The soft contours of the land slowly rose and fell beneath the vehicle, allowing for a smooth ride, and Astian was enjoying every moment of it. He was still almost ten minutes from the parking lot, and so stepped on the gas and accelerated forward, making it in six minutes. Astian spied the powder blue Camaro and approached slowly forward, parking just beside it, and shut his car off.

The knapsack in the backseat rose and drifted lazily forward, landing in Astian’s hand as if it was weightless. A master of the telepath-school of magic, Astian enjoyed the various benefits, most of all, the ability to pick objects from afar. He opened the car door with an ear-splitting creak, and stepped into the still winter air. Trianus sat, waiting for him in his car.

“I see you made it in one piece,” he said, smiling.

“That’s always a good thing,” Astian joked.

Trianus got up and out of his car, carrying his bag full of gadgets and scrolls, and one other thing he had hidden in the upholstery of the backseat of his car; the broadsword glinted sharply in the dim, obstructed moonlight, the runes on the side glowing an ominous green shade. Astian had brought out his own, his runed red, and placed it gently in the sheath set on his back. Trianus reciprocated, and gestured to the building that rose tens of yards away.

“Shall we?”

“After you, my friend,” replied Astian.

The two moved swiftly, leaning low to the ground, barring sight from most things. They were able to run most of the way, but were halted two-thirds of the way to the building. Ahead of them was tricky, as the patrolling guard started to play a part already. Outfitted in dark gray garb, complete with black balaclava covering their faces, the Corps 31 troops were the best of the best. They held .50 caliber Desert Eagle magnum pistols in holsters mounted to their hips, while carrying M4 assault rifles close to their chest.

Knowing full well the adage ‘Never bring a knife to a gunfight’, Trianus and Astian knew they held no chance against these guys. Advanced magic training, VR simulation war battlegrounds, and years of physical training separated the two forces, and so the only chance was secrecy, silence, and sleep. Trianus pulled the pack from his back, and rifled through it and pulled out his favorite sleep scroll. Written on the parchment scrolls were runes, similar to that on the set of broadswords, complete with flowing golden color.

“Quiesco prolix hora per imperium de provectus Terimar!” he whispered. A thud could be heard as the soldier hit the ground, unconscious. The two continued on as quickly as possible, only pausing to cast the sleeping spell on the soldiers they encountered. It took almost half-an-hour to reach just the outer gate, and beyond that lied more soldiers.

Trianus pressed his hand against the cold metal of the chain-link fence and murmured. “Exussum.” The cold rapidly changed to heat as the chain turned red-hot and melted away, leaving a gaping hole in the barrier. Ahead lied the soldiers’ barracks, one of the more ominous buildings in the University complex. It stood, 15 feet tall and 20 feet wide, and held every single Corps 31 soldier on duty here. The proverbial hornets’ nest, and neither of the two wanted to be the one holding the stick. They snuck by carefully, listening as the snores of the soldiers radiated through the huge building, reverberating off of every wall in the relatively empty space.

Astian’s breath hung in the air, little white clouds expelling from his mouth as he nervously stepped through the grass. The grounds had remained well-tended; the grass had no blade larger than a quarter-inch. The main Nexus building loomed over the entire complex, a building that had 6 stories, each filled with 16 classes each, little square rooms, 10-by-10-by-10 each. The only respite from that monotony was the grounds themselves. Practice fields lay side by side, targets on one end, consistently pelted with ranged spells by the students on the other. Sports fields were on the other side of the building, but sports had been considered an afterthought to the school’s academic program. Tennis courts, football and soccer fields, baseball diamonds, everything was included in the itinerary; anyone who cared to look could see that this school had cost quite a bit of money.

Making it past the steel gray building of the barracks, the two ran forward to the rear entrance of the University building. This point reached, Trianus felt good about the whole thing. That is, until he remembered.

“We can’t get in without those cards!” he whispered in Astian’s direction.

“Didn’t I tell you to trust me? I’ve got this,” replied Astian, already fumbling within his bag. He pulled out a rather devious-looking device, one he promptly identified as a ‘splicer’. The splicer was a small keypad, wires dangling from two outlets at the top to connect to other devices, used to plug in and give commands through the keypad.

Astian connected the two wires to two receptacles, hidden prior to tonight, and typed furiously into the keys. Moments later, the door opened and he slid inside silently, beckoning Trianus to do the same.

“Handy…” Trianus remarked, entering the foreboding building.