ROUGH DRAFT - Coye 6.17 (Patreon)

In the beginning of realm space when all the different gods were creating their domains, the Elven goddess sang A song of light and beauty to establish the realm of Sylvandiel. The melody gave life to the black void, her lyrics sprouting forests from emptiness and the harmony creating the first elves so that she needn’t sing alone. Taken with her creations, the goddess blessed them in numerous ways. She gave them a gift after gift, chief among which was the ability to live forever in her grace. The greater the gift, however, The greater the price. Such long life is not without conditions.

After she was done giving her gifts, the goddess burned through so much of her power that she took the form of a slumbering tree where she remains in the center of the realm to this day. All elves are born with a set amount of the goddess’s grace within their bodies, which is the source of their immortality. By default, this amount of grace lets any elf live for 1000 years and any half elf for half as long.

By drinking from the sap of the god tree, elves can replenish their lifespan and add on to it, which is easier said than done given how the high elves have constructed their city around the tree and restrict access to the sap to those who can pay tribute.

Assuming he didn’t die from his line of work or other circumstances, Coye had 480 years left in his allotted time. Human life expectancy in Karnalle varied greatly  depending on the place, but for a well off guild mistress with great health care and an amazing healer at her disposal, Dorothy was looking at anywhere from 40 to 60 years left on average, and she would only remain conventionally attractive without the help of magical beauty products for so long. Suzette had even less, and Coye didn’t even know how long a gengaggi lived for as he was too afraid to ask. The only person he had in his life that could be counted as a constant companion was Shayla, who told him before that they had comparable lifespans.

Coye never thought about any of this if he could help it. He didn’t like thinking on the fact that he would live long after his loved ones would leave without him, how he would remain eternally young and beautiful while everyone else would wither and grow gray around him. Doing so, especially lately, only made him second-guess every decision he’d ever made.

Why even bother making connections? Why bother falling in love with someone who won’t last? Was that fair to them? Clearly, Dorothy didn’t think it was since that was why she brought it up. His thoughts were getting ahead of him and he knew that he couldn’t run from the topic any longer. Nonetheless, he tried and scooted significantly away from Dorothy.

Dorothy took note of the immediate increase in stress. She’d never seen Coye looks so weak and scared before. It brought her immense pain knowing how sensitive this was for him.

“I’m sorry,” she bit her lip and looked down. “This is why I said we didn’t have to talk about it tonight. I thought it might be a touchy subject, but-“

“But you don’t want to have a couple of fun decades with me before you start to grow old,” Coye said under his breath. He didn’t sound sassy or accusatory, more understanding than anything else. “ I wouldn’t blame you if you don’t think it’s worth the hassle.“

“N-No!” Dorothy read him wrong and believed he was guilting her, something she knew he would never do if he was in his right state of mind. “ i’m not trying to say that, I just, oh gods, I really should’ve bought a book or something that tells you how to have this conversation…” she was close to crying but was holding off on it to remain strong.

‘ baby, I know this is hard for you but you need to let her talk!‘ Shayla could feel his pain and it tore her tiny heart apart. ‘ it’s hard for her, too!’

Coye knew that, but it didn’t make it easier. “ sorry. Say what you need to say and we’ll talk about it, I guess.“

“ i’m trying to tell you that I’m open minded about this, if it really doesn’t bother you… it’s just that… I have enough self-esteem issues as things are, and the thought of you losing interest in me one day because I am old and you aren’t terrifies me… if you live on then you’ll obviously take on other lovers, and I know you never would, but my mind asks what if he forgets about you…”

“ I would never-“

“ I know you wouldn’t!“ Dorothy raised her voice, now unsuccessfully fighting off her tears. “But can you imagine how I would have to live with the fear that it might happen, no matter how much you told me it won’t?”

“ there are all kinds of Magic beauty products,” Coye countered. “ I don’t care how expensive they are. I’ll get even stronger and grind out so much gold I can afford anything and everything to-“

“ to help me look pretty for you just a little bit longer?” Dorothy whimpered. She hated talking like this. She didn’t want to make light of his fears or his efforts to bargain, but that was all it was. Bargaining.

His condition was worsening by the second and Shayla was working overtime to try and comfort him. ‘ it’s going to be OK, baby. I promise. Take a deep breath’s. Come on, that’s it. Remember what Coco told you The other day.’ She was fighting to keep him from a full on anxiety attack.

Coye did, and he latched on to the idea like a drowning man swimming to a life boat. “ it doesn’t just have to be beauty products. There’s all kinds of magical bullshit out there in all the different realms, right? People with high mana like mages live a lot longer than normal people, too. There are ways we can fight this.”

“Coye…”

He started mumbling, sounding more desperate by the second. “ Magic ways to extend life spans, reverse aging, even stop it all together.“

Dorothy considered where she should go now with this. What he was saying was absolutely true. Realm space as they knew it was filled with gods and magic. People who were immortal through this means or that were not so common that you were ever likely to meet one, but they did exist. She didn’t know what to say. Should she encourage him and pretend everything could maybe be fine? Should she remain realistic?

oddly enough, the question of whether or not she even loved him enough to want to live forever with him wasn’t even on her mind. It was a foregone conclusion. If it was possible, she wouldn’t hesitate even though it was childish. They weren’t even an official couple yet, and already she was so deeply devoted to him.

She decided that she should mix optimism and skepticism and equal measure to try and temper his expectations while not upsetting him.

“It’s true that there are ways to live longer. I know about a lot of monsters that supposedly slow or stop aging and even some that gift immortality outright, But for everyone of those monsters that actually do that, 99% of them are fake. The ones that do are usually insanely strong, insanely rare, or deals with the devil type where you get more than you ask for. Aside from monsters there are magical ways and even alchemical solutions like the philosopher stone, but as far as I know that one is only theoretical…”

“ so you’re saying it’s possible?” Her attempts to temper his expectations failed and he was getting overly optimistic. It hurt her to have to do it, but she changed the goalpost and brought up another important point.

“Coye… i’m trying to say that just getting lucky enough to find an immortality solution for a single person is nearly impossible, and as things stand, you need enough for at least three people… probably more, if your recent behavior is anything to go off of…” Dorothy looked away awkwardly.

“ i’ll make it work,” he said, determined.

“ OK, let’s say you somehow do find enough in mortality solution for however big of a harem you end up having…” she blushed hard all of a sudden as she twiddle her thumbs and struggled to say the next part. “ I don’t know about you, but, um… I think I would like to have kids one day, so…”

Any other scenario, Shayla would’ve thought this was moving very fast. That wasn’t the kind of thing you talked about on a first date, even if you were friends with your date for two years. Still, It definitely needed to be brought up in the context of this conversation. His answer was a little predictable, given what she knew about him.

“ I want kids!” Coye blurted out. “ lots of them, I think?”

“L-Lots…?” Dorothy tried not to picture how that might look, then shook her head. “ you’re just proving my point, Coye. What about those future kids? Would we just live forever and watch them die, or could you content yourself with never having any so that it wouldn’t happen? Because if you think finding immortality for that many people is easy, well, I think we’d see a lot more clans of immortals running around…”

“Ah…” Coye muttered. He hadn’t thought about that. At least not in the context of the current situation. Of course he worried about living past his kids, but this was a horrifying reminder of that been a actual possibility. A quarter elf only had 250 years. His grandchildren would diminish even further.

Just like that, all the false hope he’d been cultivating until now withered away and he felt more defeated than ever.

‘Coye, it’s ok,’ Shayla was still fighting this losing battle, intent on not letting him fall to his anxiety. ‘ I know I’m realistic and I always try and center you, but if this is something you absolutely need for your life, then I’m going to support you. Fuck realistic. You’ll make it happen. Just focus on that. You’ll make it happen!’

Dorothy could see how bad he was doing and she wanted to comfort him in anyway if she could. This time, she was the one who pulled him in for a hug. It felt strange doing so for the first time, but she held him tight and didn’t let go.

“I’m So sorry I brought this up…” she sobbed. “ it’s OK, Coye. It’ll be OK. I know now that you, um, that you Love me so much that you would go to any lengths to make us happy together, so I can… I can Live with my doubts. I know you’re not going to lose interest in me or abandon me. I’m so sorry for ruining our night together. I didn’t want that at all, so please…”

Coye hugged Dorothy back just as tight, still fighting back the onset of an anxiety attack. She could tell him things were OK as long as she liked, but it didn’t change things. For a moment, his attention turned to Shayla who was still funneling positive thoughts into his head to stabilize his mood. He remembered how good it felt when she put mana in his body, and that’s when he knew he had to ask for some.

‘Shayla, I’m not doing good. I don’t think I’ll feel any better unless I get some help.’

‘ oh, uh, sure…? What Can I do to help?’

‘ can you transfer me some of your mana from over there?’

‘ wait, I don’t think that’s the answer here! That made you really frisky and crazy, remember?’

‘ and also made me feel really happy and that’s really what I need right now.’

Shayla bit her lip at the awkward situation he put her in. She wanted to do it just to make him feel better, but she looked at Dorothy who was hugging him unknowingly while this conversation took place. If it made him act crazy, there was no knowing what he might try with Dorothy present. It was probably a really bad idea, but Shayla was very weak to his suffering.

‘ please, even if it’s just a little bit…’

‘ I don’t even know if I can do it from over here!’

‘ then try,’ he begged, clutching Dorothy tighter. ‘Please.’

‘ all right, fine! I guess I’ve got no choice…’ she sighed. She was going to only give him a few drops if that was possible, so she closed her eyes and focused on the connection between them. Sure enough, she was able to visualize his mana circuits from several feet away. Following the same way she did it the first time around, she transferred some into him and watched, hoping the results would not be as bad as last time.

Initially, things weren’t as bad. Coye Felt a tremendous relief as soon as he felt Shayla’s comforting presence invade his body. It enveloped him within like a second hug, and just like last time, there was indeed a measure of arousal, but more importantly it was able to help calm down his tears.

“Coye…?” Dorothy called out, sensing a change. “ are you feeling any better?”

“ lots,” he kept on hugging her as the fairy mana Course through him. As it did, something new started to rise up from inside him. Others would’ve called it a coping mechanism, but to Coye, he saw it more as sheer determination.

“You know, it’s funny…” He started to laugh.

“Uh…” Dorothy pulled away and looked to him, finding that his eyes were glowing in the dim light. Even more than they were before. It was startling, the way they sparkled and pulsated with magic.

‘Oh, fuck…’ shayla felt regret before he even said a word. She could sense the powerful emotions he was now going through. At least there wasn’t any sadness anymore just like he asked for, but everything else was just as concerning.  He was feeling rather egotistical and she just knew that this wasn’t going to be good.

“ what’s so funny, Coye…?” Dorothy asked, though she was intimidated to hear the answer.

“The idea that I would even let you go old and gray. You’re so beautiful and I intend on loving you like a queen until the end of time itself.”

“Ah… ahaha…?!” Dorothy was so startled that she scooted away. That was much, much too high of a praise for her to process. Her glasses were slipping off of her nose. “ that’s, um, A very nice thought, I…”

“ it’s not a thought,“ Coye was steadfast in his refusal. “ it’s a promise. So what if immortality is hard to achieve? There’s no point in living if I can’t have endless fun with the girls I love and fill the realms with my immortal children!”

‘Oh, gods…’ Shayla face palmed herself. He went from 0 to 1000 and it barely even took any of her mana to get him there. She was going to stay quiet for now, but if she had intervene, then that’s exactly what she would do.

“ you seem to have put a lot of thought into this…” Dorothy asked, her voice wavering in light of his sudden confidence.

“ I have. Let it be known that you, Suzette, Byng, anyone else I fall in love with will never leave my side! Our children, too!”

“Coye, I… I think  it’s a little too soon to think about that…”

“ you were the one who brought up kids,” he reminded her, which got Dorothy to concede the point.

“ OK, maybe that’s true, but…”

“ i’ve read books about coping with my lifespan, you know. All of them said the same thing. Value your time with those who wont live as long as you.  They claimed that life has no meaning without death, but you know what? Fuck that. That’s what losers say to justify the fact that they’re scared of dying. Fuck endings. I’m not going to have any of that no matter what it takes to achieve.“

As his egotistical rambling continue to spiral out of control, the strangest thing started to happen. He wasn’t just saying these things, Dorothy and Shayla realized. Coye spoke so confidently that both of them were nearly utterly convinced he could really pull off what he was saying.

If only he could’ve left things there, then maybe he would have made his point. Instead, his talking got his blood flowing and he approached Dorothy with impure intentions.

“Dorothy…” Coye whispered her name as he scooted closer. His hands found her bare shoulders and reveled in their softness.

“Um… oh, dear… Coye…” her voice was uncertain and scared. She probably should’ve been more scared, but… in a strange way, this was the most romantic thing she’d ever heard. He loved her so much that it made him want to defeat death and do the impossible. Sure, it was weird, and he was being a little scary… but… Dorothy was discovering she kind of liked scary.

He pushed her down to the bed and laid on top of her, pinning her as he stared into her trembling eyes. He leaned in close, whispering, “Are you ready to live forever?”

“Ah…” she squeaked. Was he… oh, gods, He was. Coye was putting her down and he was hard. She could feel him rubbing up against her and it made her entire body shiver and shake. “Coye… didn’t you say that there was something you needed to tell me about before we could, ah, um… make things official…?”

Dorothy was hesitating, but it was more out of confusion than not wanting this to happen.

“ that can wait till later. I’ve wanted you for so long, and I don’t think I can wait any longer.”

And he didn’t. Coye Leaned down on the bed and firmly took Dorothy’s first kiss faster than she knew what was coming. One moment she was thinking about his hard on and living forever and the next he was pressing his lips into hers. She was scared, worried for him, but still fairly into it. Dorothy couldn’t believe this was happening. It was her first kiss and it was so passionate. She didn’t know what to do, she tried kissing him back, but no matter what she did it felt awkward and like she didn’t know what she was doing. That’s because she didn’t, but she tried not to think about it. She had an easy time with that, seeing as how he kept grinding himself against her down below. Her heart was racing. She’s never been more turned on in her life, not even close.

Dorothy was on the verge of bucking her hips as she felt the first taste of his tongue against hers, when she suddenly opened her eyes and was stunned at what she saw. There was a frying pan hovering over his head. It was just floating there, until an invisible hand reared it back and smashed downwards, nailing Coye on the skull.

Dorothy shrieked as he was briefly knocked out and the pan fell to the floor, clanging loudly as it did. SHe lifted him up by his shoulders and Shook him, asking, “Coye, are you OK? Wake up! I… I don’t know what’s happening! I think we might be under attack, or-“

Something shifted in the corner of her eye. A bright blue light lit up the darkening room. She looked to his nightstand and Became deeply confused. Was her first kiss so good that it was giving her hallucinations? Because it almost looked like there was a tiny little lady with wings coming out of Coye’s hat… but that couldn’t be, could it?

There’s no way that there was a fairy here. Ok, not a fairy but more specifically a pixie by the look of things, but still. Surely not. But the longer Dorothy continued to look at it, it still didn’t go away.

“Hiya, Dorothy.” Shayla raised a hand in greeting and flew closer, looking rather exasperated and nervous.

“Ah…” Dorothy blinked repeatedly, unsure of what to think. “Um… h-Hello there…?” Amazing. She knew her name. That had so many implications that she didn’t know what to make of it. “And you are?”

“ I’m the secret Coye was going to tell you about.”