Lady in the Jar

His assistants all thought that he had gone mad. They heard him talking when there was no one there. They heard many words, but the most important one was Vivien. It was the name of the only woman that the great wizard Tobias had ever loved.

Poor Tobias, they would murmur. Her death, it was too much for him. He’s gone quite daft.

Of course they were all wrong. Tobias was not mad, or daft, and was only slightly eccentric. But he was old, older than he would have liked to be. He was still a very tall, stately man, with a hawkish nose, and iron gray hair, that had once been black. His eyes were an intense forest green, and he had thick bushy eyebrows.

One of his peculiarities was that everywhere he went, he carried a jar with him. This occurrence happened only shortly after Vivien’s tragic death, the death that should have never happened.

It was a tall, elegant jar, a dark, blue, glass, vessel. Anyone could see that it held water. Anyone would have supposed it held much, much more. They noticed his delicate care of the jar, the way ( if they were not mistaken) that he seemed to bestow loving glances on the jar, his harshest features softening. He guarded the jar as if it were more precious than a star’s voice, or a phoenix’s tear.

None of his assistants ever knew. They would never understand his abominable act of love.

One day, Tobias knew. He simply knew that he was going to die. He rushed into his room on the eve of his death, with the jar.

He closed the door. Sat the jar on the table and lifted the lid. It was her. It was Vivien. It was the woman to whom he had given a most pitiful immortality.

Her face wavered in the water, then became clearer. She was as beautiful now as on the day when she had died. Her face bore none of the usual signs of time.

Her hair, a dark honey color fell in waves about her face. Her eyes were a deep blue, and her lips, full and symmetrical. He never could kiss those lips.

This night would not be like the others.

‘’I’m dying. ‘’ rasped Tobias. ‘’ I’m dying, my beautiful Vivien.’’

The face of Vivien gave look of some concern, but seemed mostly relieved.

‘’ Take me with you. Spill my continents upon the floor until I am nothing on this earth. Do what I asked years before, instead of condemning me to this lifeless life.’’

The water rippled as she shook her honey curls.

‘’ No!’’ shouted Tobias, ‘’ You are beautiful. You are forever.’’

‘’ I am as old as you, though I don’t look it, and I am unnatural. This should have never been.’’

‘’ I resurrected you! I gave you life.’’

‘’ You gave me your own selfish heart,’’ said Vivien, her blue eyes glaring at him, out of the water. ‘’ You didn’t care about me. You wanted me for yourself. I didn’t realize the kind of person you were. Don’t deny it!’’

‘’ Vivien!’’ cried Tobias.

Already Vivien had begun to feel a strength that she had never felt before. The jar jiggled until it crashed on the floor below.

Tobias collapsed in absolute shook, a look of horror permanently fixed on his face.

When the cleaning crew came into the room, they simply wondered why Tobias, in his last moments, should be careless with the jar that he had kept safe all those years.