Immortal Beloved – Chapter One
By this I solemnly swear…
"Ugh…"
A dull pain in my ribs confirms to me that I am, indeed, still alive. The next thing I can feel is my throat, which feels uncomfortably dry; it's probably crusted with layers upon layers of blood. I can still taste its distinct coppery flavor in my mouth--on my tongue, on my lips. Doubtless it is also caked blood I feel flaking off my bottom lip as it trembles from the cold that manifests in the core of my body.
I am dying.
Lina Inverse, age twenty sorceress extraordinaire and bandit killer like none other before her, is finally embarking upon the last leg of her journey through life. And who will be there in my last moments to witness my death?--No one.
I open my eyes, noting with disgust how my blood, like a sticky adhesive, binds my eyelids together. I scan the area around me slowly, moving only my eyes. There is plenty of rubble all around me; that last attack had sent the entire building down, caving in on top of me and my enemy, too, without a doubt. I can hear the crackle of fire coming from somewhere as well, but I can't turn my head to check. My head feels disconnected from the rest of my body.
A glance downward informs me that I have been impaled through the abdomen by a split wooden plank, though it is far enough to the side to have just missed my diaphragm, explaining why I can still breathe. That's lovely, I think with a dry indifference. Nothing can scare me now, just as nothing can change the fact that I am dying.
I glance up and sigh disappointedly. I would have liked to see the sky one last time before my hour of death, but unfortunately my last glimpse of the world has been blocked by a thick cloud of dust hanging like a weight upon my soul. I can't even feel the warmth of the sun's rays as it tries to make its way through the particles of dirt that hang suspended in the air.
I am alerted to my senses by the sound of something hitting the ground nearby. Perhaps I am not here alone. I call out to my visitor in a feeble voice: "Who's there?"
At first there is silence, and then a familiar voice.
"It's me, Lina-san."
My eyes settle on his figure as he emerges from the astral plane, feet settling one after another on the ground a short distance away from me. Instead of the annoying grin he usually wears, his expression for once is actually rather sincere. Had I been feeling better, I would have used some witty comment to greet him, but instead I settle for a simple mention of his name, "Xelloss."
I see what looks like dismay on his face and wonder if I sounded much worse than I thought. He pauses for a moment before he finally steps forward, coming to a kneeling position at my side. He doesn't need to examine my wounds to know that my condition is hopeless. In fact, I get the feeling that he already knew that before he came.
He can see the questioning look in my eyes and spares no time in answering it, seeing as I don't have much longer to live. "I'm here to make you a deal, Lina-san."
I groan. Speaking puts such a strain on my bruised and battered body; I speculate that a majority of my ribs have been fractured. "What do you mean?" I sputter along with a small, bloody cough.
He pauses briefly before responding, "The Pledge."
My lips press firmly together, forming a stoic, flat line. "I'm not interested," I reply coldly as I close my eyes. "Immortality is not a gift, Xelloss; it is a curse," I say, forgetting that he himself is an immortal.
He shakes his head at me slowly, regrettably. "I'm not giving you a choice in the matter, Lina-san," he softly adds, seeming to have already anticipated that response.
My eyes shoot back open. I stare at him, eyes wide and searching as he looks upon me in all seriousness. Then he places his staff on the ground at his side and reaches for my hand.
"Wait. Why are you--"
He lifts my hand, appearing to note how brittle it feels after being fractured in so many places. I wince; my hand lacks the solid structure of the healthy limb it once was--it is nothing more than a mass of flesh with bits of hardness placed inside. Regardless, my hand is necessary to make The Pledge, so it will have to do.
I try to resist him. I mentally scream at all the parts of my body to move, to do anything, but they do not. They remain as lifeless as I am--as helpless as I am--like useless appendages that do not belong. Tears fill my eyes as I watch Xelloss in horror. "No…I don't want this…"
He elevates my hand upon his own as he begins reciting the words of The Pledge in a language alien to my ears. But I know the content of his words, and my heart becomes wrought with dread at the single mention of my name. Then, suddenly, my vision is blurred by a black fog; I deduce that my body is probably surrounded by this ominous swirl of dark energy.
Xelloss opens his eyes. Two deep, violet eyes stare at me as he lowers my hand and charges a mass of energy in his own. I can feel my heart stopping as I desperately scream, "Stop--"
"Forgive me, Lina-san."
"Stop it!"
Author's Note: Well, it looks like my flair for tragedy has returned. At first, I wrote this in the third-person past tense as usual, but then I thought there needed to be a change of pace and converted it into the first-person present tense. It seems to have an entirely different effect, and though the strangeness of it all irks me a little, I do like the overall result. Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, though I'm not sure if there is as much to comment on as there is to ask about, at this point. By the way, did anyone catch the Beethoven reference ;D?