The War Finally Ends, the Snail Has Come
The Snail, when immortality finally comes to an end:
“I’ve been wondering when you’d arrive, old friend”
There we stood, face to face. After years playing a game of chase. Though the sands of time did nothing to change us, you could see the years behind both of our eyes. We were locked in a seemingly endless cycle, but I was ready to end it.
“We've been at this for so long, I was wondering if you’d ever give up the chase. But I know now that you could never. I’m the one who locked you into this endless game of cat and mouse”
I laughed, but it sounded dry and tired. I wished that the years that had passed had at least done something to me, proving that I had come this far. But I still looked the same as I did all those years ago when I made that deal. I was so young and greedy, not thinking of the consequences of taking his deal.
“At this point, I’m not sure how long it’s been, old friend. I stopped counting after the first 10,000 years. I bet you never stopped, always counting the seconds until this endless cycle finally stopped. I’m honestly still surprised I lasted this long. I should have known though, immortal can only mean one thing”
“I just wish I had known how the world would end before I got the chance to truly feel happy.
I gazed up at the endless cosmos. It was so different from the sky I gazed upon back a few millennia, or even the one I saw before the deal. I couldn’t help but smile at the thought before hot tears ran down my face.
“Do you miss the old sky? I bet you do, for you could never forget. Could you?”
I felt the burden of expectation from my old friend, he never wanted this. He never wanted to chase me until I took my final breath. My chest tightened, I’ve been so cruel keeping him like this.
“All this time, I think all I was searching for was true happiness, or maybe someone I truly loved. I was yearning for something that I had never felt before. But everyone I have ever loved is gone. My parents, every one of my past lovers, all my friends”
I glanced back at him, not afraid to put my tears on display. I realize now as the world comes crashing down around me, that I have wasted my time here. Even now as I will soon be left with nothing but me and him, I still yearn for that feeling I had been searching for.
“You know old friend, I’ve just realized what I had been looking for”
I paused to look down at him, he was still making his endless journey towards me. But I could feel his desperation, the emotion brimming at his eyes as he knows he is almost there, that he is almost free.
“All this time I’ve been searching for someone who would never leave my side. And I was so caught in the fight against you and the sand of time, that I never realized you were the true company I was searching for”
I laughed. It was ripe now and full of emotion. All the emotions I had been searching to fulfill in another. I laughed till the tears that had paused flowing came rushing back.
I wrapped my arms around myself and threw my head back. Is this what it’s like to finally feel fulfilled? To finally be given the ecstasy of relief, finding the thing you spent your entire life looking for? I could have sworn I saw him pause for a moment, as if he understood what I was feeling, as if he too was searching for that connection that all humans seek. We stood for a moment, both still for the first time.
“I have seen empires rise and fall, I have made empires fall and I have built them. I have loved and lost the ones I loved. I have been the cause of someone’s loss and I have been the reason for one to love. But I think I’ve been here too long”
I took one last look at my oldest friend and extended my hand, ready for my time to come. I knew the end would be more painful than anything I could ever imagine.
“You can kill me, you don’t deserve to suffer any longer”
The snail, my first enemy, my last friend looked up at me. I liked to think it was smiling. Thanking me for letting this end.
He strode forward once more, moved by the promise of release. I like to think he knows that this will be his end as well, for he will have no one else to chase. No one else exists anymore.
With his final stride I felt his cool skin hit my skin. Closing my eyes I took a breath, ready for the agony to begin.
I opened my eyes to see the snail sitting utop my hand. I stood and brought him up. I could feel my years coming back to me, but he was making it painless. I gave a final view of the cosmos, as both of our bodies faded and fell into dust, settling into the cosmos and ending the lifelong war.
kaledo-art
yousharknotpass
vaporwave
pixelskylines
