Immortal Dead

A Second Chance at Life

Capra led me up the hill and inside an old, large building. It quickly gave off vibes of a home. It felt warm, cozy, and most importantly, safe. I wandered around the building, hearing faint echoes from down a long hallway of what sounded like a hammer on steel. In the main room was another small fire, but this one with a strange sword stuck in it, sporting a coiled blade. I stred at it for a moment I hadn't noticed someone approach me. "That is the bonfire of the undead." She said. I nearly jumped as I turned to face her. "Who are you?" I asked. This woman wore a black robe, with a blindfold hiding her eyes from view. "I am the keeper of the flame." She replied. "I tend to it for the whomever the next undead turns out to be." She smiles and kneels in front of the flame, gently waving a hand over it, causing the embers to burn, and the flame to roar back to life. "That's you." I heard a familiar voice behind me say. "You're this age's undead who will break the curse." I looked at Capra, who was now standing to my side, with confusion. "Undead? Curse? I don't know what you're talking about." I said. 

Capra smiled and put a hand on my shoulder "Don't worry Leeroy, you'll make sense of it as we go, now follow me, it's time to leave." She explained. "We?" I asked. She nodded. "Yes we, I'm coming with you." The blind woman then said to me "Simply place your hand onto the smoldering blade, and it will take you where you need to go." I looked at her, and without seeing me, she could tell me concerned reaction. "Do not worry, it will not hurt you." She took my hand, and placed it over the sword. "Close your eyes." She whispered. And with that, I felt a cool fog surround me, and when I opened my eyes, I was no longer in that safe, homey environment, and instead I found myself on a large tower inside a sprawling castle. 

Capra came to my side "We have a long ways to go, best we make haste." She said, and started making her way down the flight of stairs leading down the tower. I followed behind her and asked "Long ways to go where? You haven't explained where were going, what were doing or why." She didn't stop for a second, and continued on her way out the old, wooden door. "Didn't you listen to the firekeeper? You must break the curse that has plagued this land, and I'm here to help you." she said. "I stopped for a moment. "So..that means I'm-" before I could even finish, Capra cut me off. "Undead? Yes. You bare the curse, the same curse you're destined to break, not only for your own sake but for everyone else as well." 

We were greeted by many paths, towers, hidden escapeways and the like. I felt like I was wandering a maze, and at times I wondered if Capra even knew where she was going. After walking these old, bricked paths, we came upon a large tower. Capra put an arm in front of me, stopping me in my tracks. "What? Is this where we were heading?" I asked her. She reached for her staff and whispered very quietly "Do you hear them?" I looked around, paying close attention to my surroundings. I could faintly hear the sound of clanking metal. It was slowly getting louder, I started tensing up. "They're almost here, nows your chance to try and impress me." Capra said, followed by a giggle. It was now they started to appear, one after the other, these tall, fully plated knights. They all funnelled through the narrow entrance of the tower. I looked over my shoulder and saw another group of knights take formation behind us, cutting us off from any escape routes. I leaned in slightly and said "You don't happen to have any tricks up your sleeve, do you?" I asked. To which she responded- "Tons." 

She pointed her staff at the group in front, and a thick, blue beam of energy was conjured, and tore through two of the knights. This triggered the rest of the knights and caused them to start rushing our way. I quickly turned to face the group on our backs, and fired a blast of flames onto the ground. The knights were running at a speed that made it difficult to stop so quickly in their tracks, while most of them managed, although cutting it close, a few weren't so lucky, and ran right into the flames. They let out a bloodcurdling scream so loud I felt my ears ring. Capra had raised her staff above her head, and summoned a storm of small, spiked pellets that rained down from above, impaling many of the knights' armor, even catching one in the head. 

I still had a number of knights held back behind my wall of flame, which was quickly dying out. I had to think of something. I let out a deep breath, held my hands together and focused my energy into one, large ball of flame. My fire had turned to smoke, and the loud footsteps, and metal rushing my way was apparent. I could feel the immense heat burning in my hands, growing hotter and hotter. They were close, but before they had a chance to make another step, I let go, and the fiery blast was flying in their direction at high speed and exploded on impact. This was followed by more screams, and a large smoke cloud. I fell to my knees and tried to catch my breath, I felt drained. I looked up and luckily, I didn't see anyone coming through the smoke.

 Behind me, stood Capra, leaning against the wall. "That was a bit better, but what would you have done if there were more?" She asked. I slowly managed to get up and turn to face her. "I..don't know. I feel like it's a chore even just to stand." She looked me dead in the eye and said "You'd die, and I'd have waited all this time for nothing. We need to find you a teacher, and lucky for you I may know where we can find one.