Page 1 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

1

Mikhail

Coincidences exist only in a naïve mind – one that believes bad luck is a bizarre twist of fate. ‘Fate’ is the excuse when you refuse to take responsibility for your actions. And for your thoughts.

I’m not afraid of death.

As if to prove him wrong, death came for Mikhail again, and again. And he was notmerelyafraid of it. He was terrified.

With every last beat of his heart, he was trapped between the yearning for absolute freedom and his duty. Because of the latter, Mikhail would not break.

No ending was ever final, yet he kept asking himself,What if this time, it really is?

How many times could a heart stop its rhythm before it surrendered? Physical tissue could regenerate and replace necrosis. The decay in his mind, however, had become harder and harder to replace with hope.

He had no idea where he was. Antambazi, more than likely. Since his capture, they’d kept him blindfolded, cutting off all distractions while the deafening song of despair roared through his mind.

Every creature deserves their fate.

Every creatureistheir fate – a chain of actions, words, and thoughts.

Mikhail had believed he understood ‘life’ better than all the fools chasing fleeting instances of joy in an aimless existence. Now, he realised he’d envied their courage to pursue happiness.He’d never dared to chase his own because he didn’t deserve it. Except for once, but… too late. He’d sown the seeds of resentment far too long ago to expect anything other than failure to sprout from them.

Yet, was he ready to give up? Whenever the poison seeped into his blood, his initial reaction was always to fight it. He tried to escape, but the sturdy chains, reinforced by magic, prevented his body from transforming.

The first time his respiratory muscles failed and his lungs burned from lack of air, a surge of panic and helplessness nearly burst his heart. It had taken him a while to understand that the less he resisted the approaching death, the more merciful it became.

Sometimes, he prayed to gods he didn’t believe in.

But more often than not, he would replay his last words to Amelia:‘I’m letting you go so you can be safe, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be together again very soon.’It was enough to get him fighting. He would not lose the battle. Amelia was counting on him, even though he didn’t deserve her trust.

Still, no matter how hard he tried, escape continued to slip from his grasp. Every single time.

The animal spirit trapped in his useless body thrashed and howled in pain.

Then came the death of his physical body. The white light that all the dead saw was there, but he had no intention of succumbing to it.

Now followed the greatest horror. The waiting. The panic-inducing question:Will this be the last torture?

The first breath gave him the answer. The scent of disinfectant filled his nostrils. In the distance, faint voices spoke – though he was unsure whether they came from the Otherworld or a neighbouring room.

The pain from the wounds under the shackles brought himback among the living. For a brief instant, he was grateful that fate had given him another chance to return and fulfil his promise to Amelia.

And when he once again realised he was trapped and his next death awaited him in less than a few hours, the only words echoing in his mind were,‘I’ve loved you since I was four.’

If he could go back, he would have taken Amelia somewhere safe. His arrogance and sense of invincibility had led them into this situation.

If he could go back, he would have told her to decline the role of Oracle, and then he would have stayed as far away from her as possible.

If he could go back, he would have found her when she was four years old and erased from her mind any illusion that she could find anything other than trouble in him.

He hoped Amelia had already forgotten him and wasn’t testing the goodwill of the reptilians to locate him. He prayed that, wherever she was, she was safe…

Damn it!

Who was he fooling? Underneath all the necrotic and scarred layers of his heart lay the hope that he hadn’t ruined everything, after all. That she was thinking about him. And she would come for him.

Amelia had little experience in the immortal world, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t handle herself. And he… he could still escape, as long as none of the deaths ended him permanently.