Immortal Wars: The Summoning

Long ago, I wrote the first book of a series that wouldn’t get very far.  Immortal Wars was fueled by my interest in fantasy, science fiction, and superheroes.  I had no idea what I was doing, but plotted out 9 books with a cast of characters that were predominantly immortal.  I was watching a lot of ‘Highlander’ back then too.  I published the first book through a vanity press in 2002 and it went . . . absolutely nowhere.  Click on the cover and see the insane price that I had to work with.  Still, I did it very cheap and considered it a resume builder and experiment.

So, you can see that I had an interest in immortality a long time ago.  The Guardians were four kids, and an ancient mentor, who are awaken with powers and immortality, which they took to far too easily.  At least with Windemere stories, the characters live in a world of magic and monsters.  This was Earth and only the one into comic books should have been okay with things.  Needless to say it failed, but the system worked out fairly well.  An immortal could heal any wound within seconds as long as it wasn’t inflicted by another immortal because their energies cancelled each other out.  They were still strong, durable, and fast, but they could kill each other.

Fast forward to now where I have gods, goddesses, and demigods that would thrash the Guardians pretty easily.  These immortals are harder to kill and don’t have the restriction of being killed by each other.  Special items, creatures, and spells can do the job, but they have a more ingrained role in the universe than the Guardians.  There are times where a god or goddess gets hit hard enough to rattle them while the demigods can get killed if they sustain enough damage.  Honestly, the immortals in Windemere are a lot more casual than the ones in Immortal Wars since I went with such a simple system.  If I need one to get hurt or killed, I make up something magical instead of coming up with a rule.  There’s also the Law of Influence that comes about 98% of the immortal community out of mortal business.

Will I ever revive the old series?  Probably not in its original form.  I do have an idea to bring the characters into another series where they’ll appear as the first beings of Windemere that were sealed due to problems.  Beyond that, I can’t look at the old notes without realizing that I’m not that teenager any more.  The stories were fun, but not as deep and extensive as what I’m doing now.  This will forever be my first attempt, which I’ve learned most authors won’t even publish or bring attention to.  Yet, I do find it funny that I’m always creeping back toward immortality.  There really is something about the idea of living forever that intrigues me.  Not that I would want to be one, but thinking about how such a person could function and avoid insanity.

So, what are your thoughts on immortality?  Have you ever used it in a story or have a beloved book where it’s part of the adventure?

For more immortal fun, check out The Spirit Well!