It wasn’t supposed to end this way.
They had made promises to each other a lifetime ago. She, to grow old. He, to truly age. Together, to die as equals.
He believed himself cursed from a young age. Bound to an immortal entity that took a liking to him and granted a similar “boon.” To never age. Whenever injured, either from an iron brand or a simple paper cut, his body would patch itself together like new. Magic, he knew. A form of which he was completely ignorant to, only a naïve idiot trying to escape a dangerous situation. Helping someone that took advantage of his vulnerability. Lives lost because of his desires. Both innocent and guilty, like his late master. Those who were guilty connected with this entity and worked to exploit its abilities and powers. However, he could not deny his role in the slaughters that took place in the name of his “gift.”
The man knew there was a catch to his immortality, but in his many conversations with the entity known as Leo, he could never entice answers from the creature. Even without these answers, once he found a method of escape, he took it. Working endlessly with opposing forces, he helped put Leo’s machinations to an end. He was a “hero,” someone who was a “victim” of the situation. Bile would always rise in the back of his throat whenever he heard anything of the sort.
His own personal tragedy would not become apparent to him until later. The research that had been the center of so many problems disappeared when the government got involved. Even with his own involvement, he could not get them to release the records or tell him anything about them. Fear of what another selfish individual could unleash upon the world.
After everything, he felt this was a fair compromise, with a hollow feeling taking hold in his soul. So he left. His “gift” meant he had no need for food or water, so he went on an endless journey. While he himself viewed it as nothing more than a curse, many of those he had encountered in those days believed the opposite.
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It came down to time. The time to learn and grow. And so he did. He learned a lot about the different cultures and natural phenomena of the land. After many years, society regarded the man as an eminent scholar and innovator.
The hollowness remained.
Until he got to know the love of his life. The taste of food and drinks finally appealed to him. She herself was an expert on the plants and animals of the world with a boundless curiosity. They spent hours working through theories and experiments to continue to grow and gain knowledge for the sake of it. The pair spent years together until he felt secure in sharing his secret with her. He had no expectations regarding her response, but he definitely did not expect her immediate support in removing the curse–the drive behind his journey and search for answers. With tears running down his face, they made their promises to each other. And for a long while, he was content.
Life had other plans for him, as it did his entire life. One summer, a plague had spread throughout the community they called home. The man was unharmed by this worldly burden. The woman, however…
Despite his experiences, he had never learned to extend his powers to another being. Desperate manipulations and urging, yet the regeneration never took hold. The best he could do was place her in stasis, neither improving nor worsening, simply stuck in time. The irony burned inside of him, but now he had a new goal–save her.
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Thoughts of his past before and after her flitted through his mind as he laid on the ground in their lab, surrounded by corpses and the blood of their enemies. Those that dared to stop him from reuniting with his love. Laid there, with the lives he had gathered in trial after trial to make it happen. Never succeeding, but trying again. After all, he had time.
Voices made their way into the lab from outside, and the man felt nothing but exhaustion. Would these mere mortals be able to end his curse? Or would the knowledge of his failure be his only keepsake?
“Oh, Skylar, my love. I’m sorry I could not keep my promise.”