Invincible

Chapter 2 - Immortality

    "Do you?" He looked into my eyes, as if staring into my soul.

I hesitated. Then said firmly, "Yes."

"Very well." He held out his hand, and a blue wisp of light soon appeared above it. I gasped slightly. It looked like one of the streams of light I sometimes saw in the night sky (that, in years to come, was named an aurora borealis). Those occurrences were one of the most spiritual things that could happen—they represented spirits, in the spirit realm, communicating with us, or connecting themselves with the living.

At least, that's what they meant to our tribe.

With his hands, he formed the stream of light into a ball and handed it to me. It immediately dissolved in my hand, briefly sending a wave of blue light over me.

I felt...different. I wasn't sure how, but I just felt stronger, smarter, more straightforward.

The spirit gave me a wise smile, said, "Good luck." and vanished.

I didn't know where to go. I stood up and left the cave, then tried to retrace my steps to find my way back to my tribe.

After a long time, the sun was high in the sky, and I finally found the woods. Catori's body was gone. I had no idea if the hunting party was still out. For a moment, I considered going back out to hunt for the mammoth. That wavering moment was enough. I (slightly reluctantly) ventured back out into the vast tundra in a sudden fit of rage, and began to search for that mammoth that had killed my friend.

I went in the direction I'd seen it going earlier, after...after it had done the deed.

I searched relentlessly for a very long time, and I finally found it, walking slowly, perhaps in search of food.

I didn't care what it was doing. I went straight to doing what I'd intended to. I took out my spear, and let out a yell, perhaps a war cry, filled with pain and revenge, as I plunged it into the mammoth's leg.

It turned around as quickly as such a huge creature could manage and let out a sort of yelp. I took the spear out as it attempted to fight me off. I was testing whether or not this immunity thing was really working, and it turns out it did. It didn't really matter at the time whether or not it did, though, I was filled with sorrow and pain.

Even if it hadn't worked, I was probably filled with enough adrenaline to kill it the way I did anyways.

Unable to be crushed by the mammoth due to my new invincibility, I flung the spear into its stomach, apparently hitting a vital spot. The mammoth fell to the ground, and I looked on as the light slowly faded from its eyes, blood-crusted tusks slowly lowering to the ice.

Once I was sure it was dead, I did the best job of cutting it up that I could with my tools, and I stuffed as much of it as possible into the sack I'd originally brought for hunting. No matter how upset I was, I knew my tribe needed food.

I ventured back to the tribe, and I arrived as the sun was setting.

Just a day before, I'd been experiencing a similar sunset with Catori. But my life was so different now, it felt like it was forever ago.

I hopped across the creek and ran through the forest. Looking up at the stars gave such a different feeling now. I longer felt peace and comfort, I felt as if they were mocking me. After that day, I felt like nothing should ever be the same—yet here they were, just as they were every night.

I arrived back in my tribe. They were all so worried, but we sat down around a fire to cook the food (including the mammoth I'd killed) and I told them everything that had happened. I even told them of the spirit, and the wish I'd made. At this, they became increasingly more worried. They were pleased that I'd talked with a spirit, they were concerned about the wish I'd been granted, and they were in mourning over the death of Catori—the hunting party had brought her body back hours ago.

"Are you really sure about this?" asked my father.

"Yes, this means you will be alive...for the rest of eternity," my mother agreed.

"You do understand that, right?" my other friend Ituha said.

I nodded. I understood that I'd made the wish at a time when I was too overridden with grief to make wise decisions. I didn't know what I'd do. I didn't even know whether or not I regretted my decision. Whatever happened, I also knew I couldn't change it.

Later that night, we had the burial.

The tribe leader led the ritual, and we buried Catori in a wooden coffin with flowers, her favorite possessions (clay dolls, beads, among other things), and well wishes for the afterlife.

We stood in a circle as the leader called our ancestors in the spirit world to join in, and he spoke about how death was a part of nature.

I wish the world had kept that ritual as the years passed. It was much more comforting than the "goodbye forever" that people eventually developed.