Prologue
“Would you ever want to live forever?” The words were far away, distant, as if in a dream. I couldn’t do or say anything as my body betrayed me. I was wearing such strange clothes, in a shop drinking a strange drink.
“Maybe, depends…” I was screaming in my head. No! Ignore her! Walk away! I remember now. This was what my life used to be.
As if the realization triggered something, the edges of the world turned to fog. So much had happened since then. My life used to be completely different. The memory faded completely and I returned to reality.
The world was cold. I was wearing nothing more than my under clothes. The damp air soaked right through them, under my skin, into my bones. I was shivering uncontrollably.
I lifted my head, eyes straining in the dark. Drip, drip, drip. condensation formed water droplets on the ceiling, dripping on the hard stone floor.
“You once told me you would want to live forever.” An eerie feminine voice echoed from the depths of the cave ahead. Run! My instincts were screaming, but a strange force took control of my body. I inched forward, my socks soggy on the cavern floor.
“What do you want from me?” I whispered. This was all wrong. My heart was racing, my feet still bringing me farther into the cave. A faint glow appeared in the distance, slowly lighting the cavern up until I could see the details around me. Every groove and edge, and the figure standing before a reflecting pool.
She was strikingly beautiful. Unnaturally so. She smiled at me, too sweet, too fake. She was a black widow and I was her next meal. She opened her mouth slowly and with a sickly sweet laugh she spoke: “I just want to give you the gift of immortality.”
I started thrashing, fighting against the force. No! I will not let this happen. But the sorceresses power was too strong. I could fight tooth and bone with everything in me, and I would never get anywhere. I realized that I was going to go down. There was no hope left for me, but at least I would go down fighting. If I had to I would even die.
The pool was right in front of me now. I was kicking at the stones trying to find purchase to hook my foot on. The water had a metallic sheen. No, not water, but something else. I stared at the pool. My doom in a puddle. Rocks, jagged and smooth surrounded it like a ring. If I could manage to get a sharp rock I could wield it to my advantage and maybe….
“Silly girl. You think you can fight me. I am an immortal, as you shall be, soon. Maybe then you would stand a chance.” She started laughing hysterically. The laugh of a villain whose plan was put into action without the interference of pesky heroes.
At this point I was at the very edge, toes almost touching the strange liquid. She looked at me and lazily waved her hand. My body lifted into the air. I was completely immobile. She waved her hand again, a little more intently this time. I moved forward until I was hovering over the top of the pool. She started mumbling under her breath. A different language I didn’t understand.
I began to hyperventilate. I couldn’t become like her. This monster. I refuse. I would not. I would rather drown in the pool. I was freaking out. Everything in my body telling me this was wrong. No! No! I blacked out. All sense and feeling gone. Just blackness. My thoughts and nothing else.
