ETERNITY - Part 2
by Krys C.
2000 AD
Archaelogical Site
China
The sun was setting…
a bright sphere of blinding red light nestling between the
crevices of mountains as it slowly made its way to its nocturnal
rest…
The figure has finally
reached her quest.
Amidst the dusty
environment of the archaeological dig, various instruments
ranging from highly sophisticated monitoring machines to simple
well-worn spades surrounded the female figure who knelt over the
dusty antiquated square chest. With trembling fingers, she
reached out, her demeanor uncertain and apprehensive of what she
may find but her eyes sparkled in excitement and anticipation,
and slowly and reverently she dusted the soil particles and
little pebbles away before slowly lifting the lid…. As the
lid was raised, the exotically lined but dusty scarlet silk
interior cushioned several scrolls – historic timeworn
pieces of antiquity. Unable to resist, she reached out with her
glove-covered fingers and gingerly touched them, one by one,
savoring the contact with these wondrous pieces of bygone times.
Breathlessly she unrolled a scroll… tenderly as if
unwrapping a child… and with great care she laid it on the
ground… As the scroll was unrolled, the ancient script was
revealed… and a look of wonder and curiosity appeared in her
eyes and she drank in the words, easily comprehending the ancient
writing as if these were written in modern prose…
~~~ ancient script ~~~
“…He turned away and I realized that
this was the end. Looking down, I see the ground rising towards
me and I shake my head slowly, willing away the numbness that
threatens to overwhelm me… My vision is blurring and yet I
must try to end this tale that I have commenced... my legacy…
Yet my chest hurts so much now… And as I
hold onto my chest with my left hand, I feel my clothes getting
soaked and my hand is very wet… and around me, the ground is
darkening as my life-force is slowly draining away. Why do I not
stop it? To staunch the ever-rising flood of blood gushing from
my chest? Why should I? What was the use? Throughout my life, I
did my duty as I was raised to do… And in so doing, I failed
the one who mattered most… and now he has turned away…
Indeed, what amazing feats I have achieved… for my country…
for my family... Yet now I ask myself, but what of me? What have
I ever done for myself? The only thing I ever wanted in my life
stood no great distance away… so very close and yet so far
away…
Looking at him now, I see him bathed in the
moonlight as he walks away resolutely… and I drink in the
beauty of his proud stance, the strength of his resolve… I
feel my lips curving into an aching smile… briefly and so
painfully, my lips trembling uncontrollably… I tried to call
out… I tried to speak once again... to make him turn back
once more… but no words came out and my throat aches,
burning with the bitterness of the poison and hurting with the
pressure of rising tears… And so now, I let them flow…
carelessly, ceaselessly and ever so silently… not wanting
him to hear my pain nor know the graveness of my fate…
Darkness surrounds me now and I thank the
shadows for keeping me in their grasp…shielding my pathetic
appearance from his view, protecting me from what I could never
bear from him… his pity… From the moment we met, I have
known his passion, his love, his rage and now, his contempt
– all these I have seen but never his pity… no,
anything but that…
And as I write this now, I charge you, dear
reader with a quest… to search for him… and advice him
of my fate… I ask you to kindly tell him… that…
…for whatever it was worth, I did love him…
…with every breath I took and with every
fiber of my being… I loved him…
…more than I ever believed possible…
more than life itself…
…if only I had a chance, I would have told
him…
With my last words, I thank you, dear reader, as
I surrender my life into the cold hands that await me on the
other side…”
back to: Eternity