Chapter Text
My rejuvenated body was…glorious. No longer did the aches of aging plague me. No more would the droop of my body’s energy wane before the machinations of my mind stilled.
How bittersweet it had been when I was drawn back from the tumultuous, endorphinous rush of wholeness that had greeted me. During my transformation, as I crossed unto death’s reach–an outpouring of love found me.
As the veil of the living lifted from my spirit, the energy of my ancestors rushed to cover me, drawing me close in an all-encompassing embrace.
Foolish of me to have ever been afraid of such a thing.
Gutting was the feeling of loss when that curtain closed abruptly, and the overflowing river of communication fell silent. As if it had never been.
When I returned to my cleaned and reassembled bones I was born anew. It was a heady, near orgasmic realization that I was now beyond death’s reach.
For the most part. Immortal did not mean unkillable. Rather, in my circumstance, I was very difficult to kill. In actuality, immortality simply meant I was very, very, very long lived. Nothing was forever. The necropolis always collected those she favored. Like a benevolent mother swan, she gathered close her beloved ducklings under the shelter of her wings.
When the doors outside the chamber opened, I strode forward with purpose.
“Emmrich?” A feminine voice called, half-hope and half-dread.
My attention swiveled to take in the woman before me. She was an elf. A diminutive one at that. Her height was further diminished by her frail frame swamped by her long, magenta hair that flowed unbound to her waist.
“Emmrich…do you…?” Her enormous lavender eyes were a beacon, her entire heart shining from within their depths. “Do you remember me?”
I watched her for a moment. Observing the twin flames of fear and hope warring for dominance within her breast. Her life force was a brilliant, electric purple. Buzzing and crackling with life. Surely her magic affinity revolved around such an element for it to be reflected within her so vibrantly.
So distracted by the sight of her, it took me longer than was polite to answer her query. So long, in fact, that the hope within her gaze had begun to dim.
“I’m dreadfully sorry…” I replied, unsure how to proceed. “Are we acquainted with one another? Oh–Yes! I do believe we spoke once. After one of my public lectures with the undergraduates. I’m fretfully sorry but I do not remember what was discussed. I find the world much…changed.”
The woman drew back in a horrified gasp, as if I had stuck her with a mortal wound.
“No…No, no, no.” She denied, each syllable more distraught than the next. “This–You said–You–”
At the sight of her helpless tears, I took a hesitant step forward–only to stop once she visibly flinched.
“I have offended you greatly.” I sighed, aggrieved to have caused such offense. “I apologize for my lapse in judgement.”
She lifted a hand to halt my approach, a desperate command even as silent tears trekked down her ruddy cheeks.
I was unable to give her the apology she no doubt deserved. She fled from my sight the next moment.
Whatever had transpired between us, whoever this mystery woman was–I had hurt her deeply by forgetting.