Cursed Immortal (special preview)

My mother looks at me and she knows. By some grace, she manages to convince my wife to stay, it will never happen again. I agree and tell her if I should break that vow she can kill me and bury me in the roses. 

I still feel nothing.

I discover as the days go by that my senses are gone. I can see and hear, but when I touch something I do not feel the texture of it. I shove my hand into the flames and I feel no pain. When I eat I do not taste the wood or wine. When I am holding my baby I do not smell how sweet she is. I feel no pleasure, no pain. My body is a tomb for my soul to rot in.

And rot it does.

My mother passes away, and while I feel the grief my body does not allow me to have it. I also notice, that as time passes, my form never changes. I remain young and healthy while those around me begin to wither away. My wife shows the fine lines a good life will give. My Aesha grows and marries, leaving us behind. I am given grandchildren and they give me great-grandchildren. And yet, I never once look like a grandfather.

My wife dies, my daughter dies, my grandchildren die. Yet I remain. My great-granddaughter Tali moves in with me with her growing family. For a moment, I have peace again. My great-great granddaughter is born where I was born. Her name was Mythri and for the first time in a long time, my mind was quiet.

Tali loved to travel and she was taking her family to visit a dear friend of hers. I didn’t much like it, I enjoyed having her and Mythri around. And since she was pregnant again, I didn’t want them to travel. She insisted and they left. One day, I receive word that Tali’s caravan was attacked by Gnoll slavers. No one survived. Once again, I am left to rot in the tomb of my body.

I try to distract my mind, for while my body feels nothing, my mind has been left in a mire of agony and brambles. It feels steeped in acid and knives. It is a paper cut submerged in lemon juice. I could go on, but it would probably not make sense to anyone.

I decide to go hunting. The act of it distracts me. I focus on the target and not my own thoughts. I come upon a deer and as I am aiming my bow, I freeze. I stare at it and watch it. My hands tremble and I drop the arrow and bow. The deer skips away at the sound of it.

How can I kill when everything I’ve ever cared about as died?

I’m standing there when suddenly, there is a woman in front of me. She’s small but lithe and she floats off the forest floor. Her hair is a deep wine red and floats around her like a cloud. Her eyes are bright green and her skin glows with a radiance I’d only ever seen in sunrises and sunsets.

She pokes me, right in the eye. I pull back and grab her hand.

“Why are you sad?” She asks me.

“Go away,” I whisper.

She tilts her head to the side. “That does not answer my question, young man,” she follows me as I start to walk away. 

“Young man,” I scoff. “Do you think I am so young?”

She flows out in front of me. “Most people I meet are young,” she says.

I glare at her. “I am well over a hundred, young lady,” I snarl through my gritted teeth.

Her eyes widen at me. “Yes,” she says with a nod. “That is still very young.”

“You look younger than I do!” I snap at her. “How old might you be that a century is so young?”

“Try five centuries,” she fans out her entire palm in my face. “You are still just a baby sapling like much of these forest is.” She grins at me in triumph.