Melancholia

Survival

Aurora's P.O.V

Man, this kid is insane.

How can he not notice that he isn't human? No human should be able to survive that little red pill.

That pill is used to kill the most deadliest of demons, vampires, and lycans. Usually crushed and mixed with gunpowder and made into a bullet.

His heart stopped beating 2 minutes and 38 seconds ago. Yes, I was counting down.

I've always asked "Why? Why do you do this to yourself, Cynric?"

He'd never answer. The damn boy just smirked at me when I asked. By the way he screams you would think he hated it, yet he always came back.

I've known Cynric since he was 16 and I'm always worried about the stubborn kid.

If I'm not here in the mausoleum he will seek other places for the pill and even resort to physical violence.

Lucian had once told me that he found him beaten to a bloody pulp in an alley staring up at the sky with a shit-eating grin on his face.

I myself do not know what he is. I've never met another species that can survive the red pill. Not even I can.

The red pill itself was made of Clostridium Botulinum, Batrachotoxin, Verbena Officinalis, and Aconitum Lycontonum with a dash of silver and sage. A dangerous mixture.

Clostridium Botulinum blocks the chemical that makes nerves work, causing death by paralysis.

Batrachotoxin is the deadliest in ingredient in a lethal cocktail of toxins. This blocks cell signaling, paralyzing muscles. Heart muscles are particularly sensitive to the toxin, leading to an irregular pulse and, soon after, a heart attack.

Verbena Officinalis, also know as, vervain, is a potent herb, and also a vampire's most well-known weakness. If a vampire has physical contact with vervain, it will burn them. If a vampire ingests vervain, the vampire will become feverish and extremely weak.

Aconitum Lycontonum, otherwise known as Wolfsbane, is part of the extremely poisonous genus of plants known as aconitum. These plants were used across the ages for poisoning both people and animals, and in particular wolves.

6 minutes 45 seconds

Now, I was worried. He usually woke up after 4 minutes. What if he doesn't wake up this time? Just like the others..

My palms were sweaty as I stared at his face while he laid completely still on my daybed. His cheeks were still pink even though his heart stopped spreading blood throughout his body.

Beads of sweat were starting to form on my temple as I watched the boy in awe and terror. He still wasn't moving neither was his heart.

I could always replenish him, since that's what necromancers do, but he always got angry with me for ruining his "mortal timer." Whatever the hell that means.

His eyebrows were still scrunched up and his mouth was in what looked to be a relaxed grimace, if that makes any sense. His hair was spread all over the pillow and his arms laid on his thighs.

8 minutes 53 seconds

My eyes kept darting around the room, trying to feel his spirit to see if he had actually died from the pill when the softest sound reached my ears.

Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.

A startled cry left my throat when the calming sound of his heart restarting seeped into me. He wasn't truly dead. The others were just weak.

A strained look came upon Cynric's face, as it always does, when he began to wake up. His left leg twitched. It was the first to come back.

He described waking as feeling like you do not have a body. Just floating through space and time when you come to a stop and feel something growing on you; a body part.

The other body parts slowly come back one by one, like a flower and it's petals sprouting in the springtime.

His entire body was still here and intact with me, but his astral body was elsewhere. He's in a completely different dimension.

He wouldn't tell me where he went when he roamed through those dimensions, though. I doubt he really knew.

Time is nothing there. 8 minutes and 53 seconds here could be an entire week to a year in another dimension, depending on where he's going.

But the thing is, he doesn't know that he's going to other dimensions. He thinks he's dreaming. He think those things are just a figment of his dreamy imagination.

When he first started taking the pills he told me everything. What he saw, what he heard. What he spoke to.

After hearing my warnings not to talk to those beings because they are indeed real, he stopped telling me. He kept it all bottled up, just like he did with everything else.

The sound of groaning snapped me out of my thoughts and I quickly looked to Cynric. His hands where now grasping his thighs and I could tell he was struggling to open his eyes.

"Cynric," I started softly, "Can you hear me?"

I hope he tells me what he saw, I thought, I missed seeing the spark of curiosity and realization in his eyes when he spilled on what he witnessed.

Another groan was sent my way and his forehead scrunched up. His fingers were twitching and it seemed like he was finally getting feeling back in them.

I got up and walked over to him, kneeling on the floor and placing my hand on his forehead. His body seemed to be at normal temperature.

My heart was drumming against my chest as I watched him lift his right hand and place it on his chest, right above his heart. He pressed down on it as if it would ease whatever feeling he was experiencing from that area. I stood.

His eyes slowly opened and they quickly darted around the room before landing on me. He quickly swung his legs over the edge or the daybed and stared at his feet.

I backed up and observed him even more. His breathing faltered a bit and his hands started shaking.

"Cynric..are...are you ok? What do you remember?"

I could see that he was blinking at a rapid pace, probably to come to terms with what had happened while he was out.

He took a moment to gather his thoughts, his mouth opening and closing before he finally spoke. He looked up at me, huge brown eyes staring into me.

"I think I just saw the devil."