The Carmen Chronicles: Rebirth

Chapter 6: Unbreakable

The lightning flashed and the thunder rumbled as the rain fell, but this did not lessen the beauty of the scene that laid before me. I stared down at the ocean and watched as the waves slapped against the rocks at the shoreline, reflecting on my life and what had led me to this moment. I had never been a stranger to loss, it actually seemed to be rather a theme for me. But losing him, losing them...It was more than I could bare. The guilt I felt over having murdered more than three hundred innocent people compelled me to climb that mountain as fast as I could. The horrified face of Alonzo and his screams of agony pushed me to the edge of the cliffs. The knowledge that I was now cursed to live alone in this world until the end of time, never reuniting with my mother, that finalised my choice. As I closed my eyes, I imagined Magdalena standing before me, her arms outstretched, waiting to welcome me home with a hug. I stretched my arms wide, and allowed the wind to gently push my body over the edge. Fear filled me as I fell, my brain alerted me to the mortal peril I had just put myself in; but my eyes remained firmly shut. With a sickening heavy thud, my body landed on the damp rocks below. But I was still alive, and even more bizarrely, I felt no pain. Confused, I opened my eyes and sat up, slowly stretching out my arms and legs. My pale skin remained flawlessly smooth and strong, there were no broken bones, not even a single scratch on my body. My dress however, was not so fortunate. The sharp rocks on which I had landed had torn the delicate material in several places, leaving multiple areas of my torso exposed. I rolled my eyes as I stood, hating myself for the failed attempt on my life. Looking up from where I had taken my plunge, I realised the highest point of the cliffs had to be at least three thousand feet, and yet here I stood: unbreakable and immortal. I took one last look at the ground on which I landed; the entire area was covered in large, sharp rocks. It should have been more than enough to kill me. And yet, somehow it seemed to have the opposite effect. The impact of my body had smashed the rocks I landed on; they had been completely pulverised under the force of my fall. I cursed the earth, the dumb rocks, and my irritating, indestructible body as I fled back toward the village.

It was time for Plan B.

*

Never before had I seen the marketplace so empty, or so quiet. The stench of decaying bodies already filled the air as I stood outside the apothecary, its front door still lay in pieces on the ground. A clear memory stirred in my mind of my crazed self effortlessly ripping the door off its hinges, finding the chemist and his family and slaughtering them all before the door had even hit the ground. My guilt burned like acid in the pit of my stomach as I flew inside and stood before hundreds of bottles that were stacked against the wall, a fine layer of dust covering most of them. My vision unimpaired by my blind speed, I soon found what I was looking for: wolfsbane. I knew the toxicity found in this plant was enough to kill the wolves that lived too close to our village, the hunters would lay a trap laced with the poison and within a few short hours of consumption, the animals would be dead. I held onto the small bottle and turned to leave, but then I remembered what happened at the cliffs. That fall was enough to kill any human being, and yet I walked away without so much as a scratch. I reasoned that while this wolfsbane might be enough to kill an animal or a human being, it may not be strong enough to take the life of an immortal. Taking no chances, I picked up a small bag lying next to the body of the youngest child and pocketed the wolfsbane, as well as mugwort, mandrake and henbane. And then I ran. The wind blew past me as I raced toward my destination, and within a matter of seconds I found myself standing in the kitchen of my old house. Years ago, word had reached me of my father having packed what little belongings he had and left the village in search of a new life, leaving a new family to move into my childhood home. I had no idea where he was now, and while I still felt betrayed and angry by his decision to sell me to the Moreno family, I was relieved his body was not among my other victims. Still unable to control the speed with which I walked, I took what felt like a single step and suddenly found myself in my mother's bedroom. It smelt different than I remembered, there was no trace left of Magdalena, nor of Philipe. Of course I never really expected there to be, but I had only ever known this home under the ownership of my parents. Everything about this room had changed. The colours, the furniture, the smells. I could taste the scent of the humans as they walked through this house in the days before I slaughtered them all, even through the stench of death that hung heavy in the air. Well, it was not the perfect setting I had imagined, but it was still my mother's bedroom. I removed the small bag from my shoulder and placed it flat on the bed next to the bloodless bodies of the young married couple. For a moment, my eyes lingered on their pale faces; their eyes were still closed, they looked so peaceful, it almost appeared as though they were sleeping beside each other. But they were not asleep, and I did not need my brain to remind me that the absence of their heartbeat indicated they were dead; my memory of their final moments of life was horrifyingly clear.