Some immortals live to fulfill their purpose. He'd rather live for himself. Alyosha Mikhailov, avatar of Evil and continent-wide villain for roughly seven thousand years, is frankly over it. With his quiet manners and sensitive heart, the prophecy that keeps reincarnating him into the role of Big Bad feels less like fate and more like a cosmic joke. So he decides to do the unthinkable and ask for help from the only other immortal he knows—the avatar of Good. Otherwise known as Alyosha's closest thing to a coworker and friend. Casimir Alekhin is thriving. As the ever-popular avatar of Good, he's perfectly pleased with the world and would happily clock another seven thousand years on his theoretical timecard. Sure, he has to stab Alyosha every few decades, but isn't that basically a mild inconvenience when you're talking about immortality? If only Alyosha would stop taking it so personally. But as Alyosha digs for a way to shatter the prophecy once and for all, Casimir begins to worry that his friend isn't confused—he's serious. And the closer Alyosha gets to freedom, the more Casimir is forced to face a truth he's avoided for millennia: forever only matters if you have someone to spend it with.
