Incarnations of Immortality 1
Piers Anthony
1. A man, Zane, goes into a store looking to buy a gem containing a spell. The salesperson starts off trying to sell him an incredibly expensive ruby that is supposed to warn him if he is nearing death. He knows he cannot afford it and asks to see something else. He shoes him a sapphire ring that is supposed to lead him to an ideal romantic partner. He cannot afford that one either and starts to walk out apologizing for wasting the man’s time. The salesman tells him he has a salestone above the door that indicated he was going to purchase something. When he realizes it is money he lacks, he pulls out a large ugly wealthstone and tells him it will help him find money. He tries it out and the star on it comes off the stone and goes under his shoe. He finds a penny stuck to the bottom. The man says the cost of the stone is not money, but something else in exchange. He explains he personally cannot use these gems, but has other ways to divine his future. He is destined for success in business, but he will not find love. He wants Zane to use the lovestone to find his agreeable mate and point her out to him so he may make a love connection with her. He says taking his love will not impact his business success. They write up a contract and start off in search of the woman. When nothing really happens, the proprietor tells Zane he must have a place in mind to go. Zane had planned on going him, so he goes down the street to retrieve his magic carpet rental and the proprietor rents a much nicer one. Zane starts flying and hoping his carpet doesn’t give out. He notices the advertisements for hell featuring an attractive woman. He almost runs into a woman whose carpet does give out in mid air. The sapphire shines and the proprietor rushes to save the woman. When they all land, the proprietor introduces Zane to the grateful woman he saved, Angelica. She is an heiress and takes the proprietor out to thank him. Zane and the proprietor trade gems before going their separate ways. Zane goes home wondering if he made the right choice. There is an Irish ghost named Molly selling oysters on her wheel barrow. A man tires to rob her, but Zane is able to wrestle the gun away from him. A shot goes off in the process and the man is wounded in the side. Zane makes him pick up the shrimp and oysters he spilled before the injured robber runs away. Molly offers him sexual favors for helping her, but he turns her down. She vanished when a car light comes around the corner. There is an eviction notice in his door and he has 24 hours to get out of his apartment. He tries using the wealthstone a few times, but only comes up with a few low value coins. Zane thinks the death stone and the fact that Molly could see him all pointed to his imminent death. He puts the gun he took from the robber to his temple and is about to pull the trigger when Death walks in his door. Seeing Death changes his mind, but he isnmt gable to stop his finger from pulling the trigger. Instead, he aims the gun at Death and shoots him in the face
2. Lachesis, Fate with three aspects appears and tells Zane he is the new death. She has him help strip the old Death of the hooded cloak so it doesn’t get blood on it and says he will learn in the job. She tells him to take the shoes and cloak because they will keep him safe in his collections. If the previous Death hadn’t been so careless and had his face cover down, the bullet wouldn’t have hurt him. While he wears the uniform, he will not age, but when he takes it off, he will age and get hungry like a human. Zane asks why anyone would want to do that. Lachesis changes into her young, beautiful form and tells him after a few decades, people get tired of something even as beautiful as her. The old Death’s body will be assumed to be his when found. Most souls will naturally go where they need to go as one of his involuntary reflexes. The ones on the balance of good and evil and the ones he will attend to personally. She tells him to take the accoutrements of the job and that there should be an instruction booklet before she leaves. He takes the watch and earring from the previous Death’s body and goes outside to find a white limo with the license plate “MORTIS” blinking its lights at him. He gets in wondering where to go as the countdown has started in his watch. He finds a broken bracelet in the cloak pocket and uses it to navigate the car. There is a sort of hyperdrive that gets him close and he uses the bracelet to pinpoint the location. He ends up watching an intersection and wondering why nothing is happening when there is a fatal car crash. He goes to the woman that has been sliced up and is dying, but doesn’t know what to do. Lachesis tells him to stop torturing the woman and get on with it. He puts his hand through her and comes out with a sticky web. Lachesis tells him that is the woman’s soul and he is being indecent with it. Her tears it out if the woman and is instructed to fold it up and out it in his pouch to judge where it needs to go in his free time. His next client is an old man who is ready to die to end the pain. He finds the earring is used to communicate with his clients. After collecting his soul, he goes to the car and finds two stones (one light and one dark) to judge the soul. He runs each stone over the old man’s soul and then puts them together. The light wins out and he finds a ball-like package and some tape to send the soul to heaven in. He goes to his next job and has ti take the soul of a baby. When he gets it back to the car, it weighs out as grey and he doesn’t know what to do with it. He decides he’ll figure it out later. He plays with his watch and find he is able to stop time as well as go back 10 minutes on his appointment timer. He realizes he has much to learn and says as much. Someone else tells him it will pass.
3. Chronos (time) arrives and tells him how his watch works. He can pause time for up to 12 hours, but after half an hour, the time adds up and he will have to make it up. He is in a probationary period where his soul will stay perfectly balanced until the probation is over. He also shows Zane that his car converts into a pale horse. Zane asks about the baby being balanced and Chronos says it is because it was born of incest and therefore predisposed to evil. When Chronos leaves, Zanes takes off to find his next client. He arrives at a stadium where women are playing magical football. One of the girls has her neck broken, but he didn’t realize it in the excitement of the game. He goes and takes her soul and feels bad for making her suffer longer than she needed to. He goes to a school next where the nurse sees him. She is trying to help a boy, but he overdoses and dies. Zane asks the nurse about the boy and she says he was good under all the trouble, but his addictions led him to do bad things. He starts to think about how he is a murderer (his mom) and shouldn’t be the one to judge these people. His next client is a woman who lives on a hill. She rushes out to greet him telling him she took poison. He tells her to take the antidote. When she does, he tells her to kill him. She is confused. He tells her she shouldn’t kill herself to spite the husband that left her for a younger woman. She is on the verge of hell and should be trying to get to heaven. She thanks him and they agree go their separate ways.
4. Zane ends up in his home city and finds he has a switch blade scythe. His next client is a magician of the 32nd Rank. The man wants to talk to him before he dies. He offers his daughter to Zane, but Zane looks down on this. The magician notes that Zane killed his Mather. Zane agrees to stop time for five minutes to hear him out. The magician summons his daughter and she is naked with a shower cap on her head. Zane is not impressed with the woman. She asks for permission to get dressed and her father allows it. The old man tells Zane there is a plot against his daughter and he wants Death to protect her because it will take certain powers to do so. Zane feels morally against this. The man says he has a love stone that will make his daughter passionate about Zane, but he declines recognizing the lack of free will is upsetting to him. Zane wonder if he will ever get over Angelica and the old man admits he had fate set up the entire encounter. He had his daughter take some of his sin so they would both be perfectly balanced and Death would have to come for him personally. When the daughter, Luna, comes back, Zane is impressed with her made-up look. The old man tells him he will have to compete for her, but he is giving Zane the advantage. When the old man finally dies, Zane notices Luna isn’t upset. She says it is part of a spell and she will grieve on her own time. Zane declines her offer to use the lovestone on her, but agrees to a date in his free time before he leaves. He takes off and ends up near a man about to drown in the ocean. He finds that Mortis can become a speed boat and he can walk on water because of his shoes. He decides he cannot let the man die. He stops time, pulls him up onto the back of his horse and Mortis helps expel the water from the man’s lungs. He takes the man to shore and tells him to do good from now on. As he sits contemplating whether or not he is failing at his new position, a spider appears and turns into Fate. She tells him to accept and adapt. She thinks taking souls to Purgatory will help him do that and tells him how. She points him to a building and says that is it. He goes inside and is greeted by a receptionist who points him down the hall to a lab. There is a computer where he types in his questions and is given answers. He puts the souls in different machines and they are spun around. The baby is classified to be held (stay in purgatory forever and help run it). When he pulls out the magicians soul, he is glad to be in purgatory and tells Zane he must go after his daughter. The magician goes to work on his forms that resemble tax forms. The receptionist is happy when he drops the baby’s soul in the basket at the front desk. She says they need new personnel, but Zane isn’t sure how a baby will be helpful.
5. Zane goes to his death house to sort out his mind and is greeted by the butler who explains they have everything he needs, including a concubine. He goes several weeks through his new job and the purgatory news in his TV talks about how Zane is different from the previous incarnations of Death. Zane goes to a Client’s call and finds a boy dying from a king battle with a disease. No one has told him he is going to die. Zane stops time to talk to the boy for a few minutes. He explains what is going on and sees the boy has a mostly pure soul. He isnmt sure why he was sent to the boy. When he starts time again? The boy goes into a seizure and Zane takes his soul. He lets him ride on Mortis with him and then sends him up to heaven. He has some free time and decides to go on his date with Luna. He shows up at her house and she doesn’t recognize him as a human without his uniform. He tells her the story of how they met and she let him in. She starts getting ready and the two don’t really hit it off. While Zane is physically attracted to Luna, she tells him she is only interested in him because her father chose the two of them to be together. She pulls out a set of stones that will indicate if a person is lying. She tells him she fornicated with a demon. Her truth stone doesn’t light up, but her sun stone brightens. He admits he embezzled, gambled, and refuses to marry a girl because she wasn’t pretty or rich enough. She was pregnant and killed herself. He feels like he killed her. She admits she hid her magical practices from her father. She went to the demon to learn and in return, she had to sacrifice her virginity. He tells her he killed his mother. His sin stone is brighter than hers, but she also has some of her father’s evil. She was truly afraid of some of the demons and they wanted her father because he was so brilliant. He asks to set another date. She offers to have sex with him instead. He says he wants her respect instead. He tells her he killed his mother and explains she was in pain and dying so he left something on her hospital machines to make them stop working. The hospital assumed it was their fault and gave him money in a settlement. She says she is willing to see him again and shows him her paintings of aural art. He thinks he understands why her father wanted them to work together. He tried to make a living of photographic aural art. They decide to see each other again to figure out why her father wanted them together. The two of them have a lot in common. She kisses him before he leaves. He contemplates how he will get her to fall for him.
6. Zane He meets Mars in a war zone. He is excited about the honor his clients earn in their fighting. Zane watches a girl blow up herself and a man with a grenade and is horrified. While Mars sees a glorious battle needed to free a populace from oppression, Zane only sees horror. He leaves as quickly as he can. His next stop is a retirement home where his client asks to hear a hymn. Zane goes to the Evangelical church next door and convinces them to play the song they don’t normally perform. The next man is a blind atheist. Ye does not believe in heaven or hell. When Zane takes his soul, it disintegrates to nothing. Death goes to a hospice where all of the people inside are being kept alive and in pain. His own client ends up living past his gated time to die. He asks how many of them are ready to die. Zane tries to stop the machine like he did for his mother, but it has fail-safes in places. He destroys it enough to free all the miserable old people of the mortal coil. He finally realizes he did the right thing for his mother.
7. Zane goes to Luna’s house to pick her up for their second date. She tells him she asks him to put his uniform on because she wants a date with Death. He is confused by this and tells her he is not sure he is doing the job right by trying to help the dying rather than just taking their souls. He shows her a letter written by Jenny, a little girl that think she will die if she sleeps because of the wording of a prayer. He calls and talks to Jenny and promises to wake her up before he takes her. He sends a memo to purgatory to send him personally for her. The couple continues on with their date. They get in the limo and see the ghost Molly Malone on the way. Luna wants to offer her a ride and Zane calls out to her. When Luna says hello to Molly, Zane remembers that a meeting with Molly is a portent of death. Luna tells him her deathstones have already told her she is going to die soon since their last date. Molly takes them to the Carnival of Ghosts and at the gate introduces them as the guests. She says Zane is Death and Luna is destined to defeat Satan in 20 years. She takes them on a tour of the first painted caves. Next, they go to the cave of the Minotaur, but Luna doesn’t want to hear the story about a girl having sex with a demon. Luna is using a stone to prevent her emotions from overwhelming her and is able to enjoy their time together. She wants to enjoy what she has left of life before she goes to hell. Zane is determined to keep her from dying. Molly shows them Pearl Harbor and then the nuclear strike that starts World War III, which Mars has been working on for a long time. The ghosts aren’t restricted to timelines like humans are. Currently the world is in balance despite Satan breaking the covenant not to interfere in human affairs. Zane and Luna continue on their date and kiss in the Tunnel of Love.
8. When they get back to Mortis, there is a flashing light on the dashboard. Zane transforms Mortis back into a horse and Luna suggests he use his translator to ask the horse the meaning of the light. He does and Mortis tells him Nature wants to see him right away with the soul he needs to reap on the way. They get to where they need to be and two men are trying out their experimental magic objects, a guitar and dancing slippers. Two people, each inexperienced in what the magic item is supposed to offer, are given the items. The boy plays the guitar beautifully until his fingers bleed and the girl dances herself to death. Zane takes her soul. When he suggests taking Luna home first, Mortis tells him not to. They arrive and there is a bicycle, but no room for Luna. She offers to wait there with Mortis. After three different vehicles where each time he almost had an accident with another person, he finally arrives. His (Earth) tells him only one of the incarnations could have made it through and the people he faced along the way were all him from other timelines (Chronos helped her with that one). She tries to use her power to seduce Zane, but he uses his own power to pull at her soul. She says each of the five incarnations have their own way of thinking. She say she can restore souls and has Zane pull out the dancing girl’s from his pouch. She doesn’t seem to do much to it before she gives it back. He leaves and goes back to Luna, who is showing a bit of jealousy of his alone time with Gia. They get on Mortis and go to the mortuary where the dancing girl’s body is being kept. They pull open her freezer drawer and he puts the soul back in the body. They do what they can to warm her body. Luna tells the girl she will have to tell her friends Death came close, but passed her by. They leave the girl and Zane takes Luna home. She wants to call it love, but neither of them think they are there yet.
9. Zane makes his way down into a mine for his next client. There are tow men dying from a cave in. One is clearly going to heaven, but is more freaked out by the situation than his client. At the agreement of his client, he offers to help the man going to heaven first. The man feels like he killed his mother for unknowingly telling his mother that her cancer was incurable. Zane comforts him and lets him know he helped end her suffering and did the right thing. He moves onto his client who has a whaling song stuck in his head. He asks Death to make it make sense with a story. Zane makes up a story about a whale cow’s mate dying so she turned herself into a human to be able to understand why he was killed. She meets a human man and falls in love. She takes him to the sea to show him what she really is, but he still loves her. She goes out to see and finds a male whale, but he is really a squid trying to understand why whales eat his kind. She goes back to the human world and marries the man she loves. By the time the story is over, the men are unconscious and he takes his client’s soul. He goes to Purgatory and asks the computer how he can look at files. He is directed to another computer. Zane starts asking questions about how Luna is now planed to be taken out of turn. The computer admits it is giving him the runaround and can only answer negative questions. Zane finds out Satan is behind the order to have Luna taken early to guarantee she will go to hell. The computer signs off with an hourglass. Zane goes to his next client, a boy that is having sex with an older woman. He reaps his soul and then calls on Chronos. He asks Chronos to take him to the time that the boys death was determined. Chronos agrees. On the way, Zane asks him about Luna. Chronos says that if she lives, she will be a politician that will cause a massive influx of souls to Heaven giving God the advantage over Satan. Zane goes into the building to wake up the young boy and tells him to wake everyone up and live right from then on. When Zane opens his bag, the boys soul goes back to him. The boy gets everyone out before the building catches on fire. Zane goes to visit Luna and she is in the middle of grieving her father (the stones only put off the emotions). Zane holds her for a while to comfort her and then leaves. He goes to Purgatory to sign a petition to have Luna’s call for death reviewed. It will be reviewed at the next board meeting in 10 days. He hopes that will not be too late.
10. The next client takes Zane onto a mountain where there is a virgin about to be sacrificed to a dragon. She is there voluntarily to help her family. Luna appears to take her place and is surprised to find Zane there. She says she is there to take the girl’s place. Zane wonders how that is possible since she indicated she was not a virgin. She explains the demon only violated her mind and not her body, so the dragon would still accept her. Her stone told her she would die that day, so she made sure she could choose how she dies. She says it is better if she dies and he tries to rescue her from hell rather than saving her from this death and possibly dying in a worse way. Zane tries to stop her, but the other incarnations arrive to stop him. They have been conspiring on Lina’s death for a long time to stop Satan. Luna is eaten by the dragon. Her willing sacrifice to save the girl put her soul in balance and thus required Zane’s service. He refuses to take her soul. Chronos refuses to turn back time until Zane promises he will not take any other souls or give up Luna’s. Zane says he is on strike until Luna’s ordeal is sorted out. They warn him that Satan will do his worst to try to get him ti give in, but he is determined. Time is reversed. Luna remembers being killed and asks what happened. Zane explains Chronos turned back time because he refused to take her soul and she is now in limbo. He takes her home where she will be safe and promises to check in her frequently. He goes home himself.
11. Satan pops up on Zane’s TV trying to convince him to take one of his succubi rather than keeping Luna’s soul. He admits he doesn’t care if she goes to heaven as long as she dies. Zane refuses. Satan offers to give him a tour of hell to convince him it is the right thing to do. Zane says he will think about it if Satan’s agrees to let Luna go free if Zane doesn’t agree with him after the tour. When Satan agrees to those terms, Zane insists on talking it over with Fate first. She proves she is really her by manipulating his thread. She says it might be best he go take a look at hell, but is clearly worried he’ll give into Satan. He asks if he should take a tour guide and she says it is a good idea . He chooses Molly Malone, who was too good to go to hell, but allowed to visit as she is not ready to leave her friends behind by going to heaven yet. Zane is take. Out of his body for the trip. Satan starts showing them around, but Molly is suspicious. Satan offers food, woman, and dancing, but Molly keeps him from being tempted. She insists on seeing the Irish section. When they get to the Irish island, it is a messy snow covered city slum being shoveled by litterers. Molly sees her friend Sean and is surprised he is still there since he died ages ago and Satan says the people only stay long enough to pay off their bad deeds. Molly notices something wrong with Sean’s sleeve and goes to reach for it. He pulls away and tells her he is fine as is. Molly falls into Zane, who bumps into another man. Zane agrees their punishment seems fair. Satan takes him back to his house where he renters he own body.
12. Molly tells him to be careful because Satan is taking over Zane’s death house. She sits on his lap so she can whisper to him that she felt her friend’s skin and that the clothes on the people in hell were only illusions. Satan was not punishing them but torturing them. Satan’s chef appears and tries to get Zane to eat his food, but Zane sends him back to hell since he has domain over souls. Next, Helen of Troy tries to seduce him, but she sends herself back to hell when he tells her he is trying to save the woman he loves. Zane goes to the Purgatory computer and asks how many souls Satan has released from working off their debts. The computer tells him there aren’t any such cases. Mortis calls to him and he goes out to his horse. Mortis warns him that Satan has sent hellhounds after him. They ride for a while, but Mortis cannot outrun the hounds. Zane kills them with his scythe and sends them back to hell. He goes to Luna’s house to update her on what is going on. A man charges in to kill Zane. Since Zane is on strike, he will not be protected by the magic his office usually provides. The man goes to shoot Zane, but Luna gets in the way and is shot in the leg. Zane starts tearing the man apart. Luna is able to heal her leg with a healing stone pushing her soul slightly more towards evil. Zane then uses the stone to heal the attacker not realizing how vicious he had become to protect Luna. He realizes as long as she is near him, she will be in more danger and leaves. A giant preying mantis comes after him next, but during that fight, he realizes they cannot kill him because his soul is in balance and he cannot reap himself. He calls to Mortis to get out of there.
13. Zane goes to Luna’s house, but finds Satan’s note saying he has taken her. Zane makes his way into hell threatening to mame anyone who tries to stop him. Luna is tied to a chair and being tortured. If she curses Satan, her soul becomes more pure and she goes to heaven. If she gives in, she stays in hell. Zane almost gives in to rescue Luna from pain. He gets new inspiration when Luna says Satan cannot trick her with Zane’s voice. Zane attacks Satan, who sends a globe of light at him. It is heat, but the cloak protects him. Satan points out it is only the office that protects him. Zane takes off his cloak, hood, and all gems. Luna calls out to him not to give in to Satan’s goading. Zane takes his soul and Satan reforms behind Zane. Zane declares he has prevailed. Satan realizes Zane has reached his full power. He realized if there was a way to keep Death from doing his job, Satan would have done it a long time ago. Zane had faith in his office that Satan and God could not interfere with Death. Satan and God are just two more incarnations. Zane is free ti take Luna with him and they go back to his death house. They watch the news saying his petition has been cancelled due to the matter being resolved privately. The four other incarnations agree he is a good choice for the office and purgatory is proud to have him. He goes to catch up on the backlog accumulated during his strike. He goes ti take a baby that has an incurable condition and convinces the mother it is best for him to take the soul knowing it will go to heaven. The mother is surprised he has compassion.