Chapter 10
There was a time I lived just like this–always on the run, drifting from city to city, hiding from the world.
When the head of my clan cast the curse of immortality, he also altered the fate inscribed in our stars. Each immortal descendant was destined for wealth, so as Elizabeth and I wandered from place to place, our lives slowly stabilized. The days settled into a quiet rhythm. Comfortable,
even.
Without Santiago between us, we coexisted like old friends. No grudges, no bitterness–just two survivors clinging to the same lifeboat.
A year passed.
My body began to deteriorate rapidly. My once–eternal youth faded, and I could feel my vitality slipping away, little by little. Meanwhile, Elizabeth only grew more vibrant–glowing with health untouched even by the smallest illness.
Two years passed.
My limbs started reacting slower. My body was warning me–time was running out.
Three years passed.
My skin aged alarmingly fast, transforming me into someone who looked decades older–worn and wrinkled, like a woman in her eighties. I barely recognized myself in the mirror.
Elizabeth panicked.
She stayed by my bedside, sobbing as she pleaded with me not to leave her.
“Immortality is unbearable,” she wept. “I can’t keep doing this. If you go, what will I do? Who else will ever understand me again?”
I smiled but said nothing.
It felt like an invisible hand was tightening around my throat. I could feel the moment arriving-
real, final death.
At last, the endless solitude would come to an end.
In a haze, I saw a familiar figure standing silently by the doorway.
He looked thin, faded, like a ghost of the man he once was. There was no light left in him, just a quiet, resigned stillness.
Santiago.
He had come after all.
Perhaps he, too, had reached the end of his senseless life.
His mistakes had, ironically, freed me in the end. But forgiveness would never be his to have. Elizabeth didn’t see him. She remained at my side, crying until the moment I slipped away.
When my breath stilled, she quietly packed her bag, then she left alone.
Her journey had only just begun, and a long and lonely road awaited her.
[The End.]
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