Alchemist

With a touch of insanity, he weaves his own destiny: might be vanity, might be bravety – a split second of bravery, just enough to turn back the clock. Dust, ashes, and smoke on his ivory face. He was a good lad – with a kind heart but no common sense. Befooled and misled by a naïve illusion that he could bend time. Grown in seclusion, away from trial and error, pleasure and terror, success or failure, raised by nescience, the science of silence, he felt confused when his attempts showed no result. Meant to diffuse, time still stood still, stale, unwilling to unveil things left behind, unveiling his will – committed but doomed to be quelled. Bewail! Things left behind, yet hard to hide, they are compelled to decay. Oh, don’t repel, don’t lament, we’re all under a spell, which is so damn hard to spell: gibabrajabberwockycadaberishbra. Okay. It’s just a harmless mantra, a fangless cobra. He kneels on cold cement, a few centimeters away from a silk carpet – one cannot kneel on a wall – almost like a lifeless puppet. Pray! Your strings are tightened, but they’re out of tune; no self-respecting musician will play with you. Pray! Slay your demons, but leave alive just a few, make them your pages, your cloying friends, your secret foes. They’ll dance on these pages, eager to set the paper on fire. Outcasts and outliers – their lies so transparent, apparent, predictive. But their gayety is very addictive, contagious. He can’t help but give in – he is courageous, immortal, a semi-god. Let’s make an arson! Crack! The fire licks the grass, the sod, all the top brass. This place needs a parson! ‘Tis a train wreck! Check! Checkmate, mate! But now the place is so warm! Devastated like after a storm, after a blizzard that lost its tail –furious – you let it be wiped out by the hail, you let it burn to the ground just to bask in the ashes? Or were you simply curious? But now green turned black. Live turned dead. Tick-tock-tack! Not your fault, you say. You just wanted to turn back the clock, to unlock a new level – you’re a rebel, a hero of our time. To make a mistake is not yet a crime. He’s a good chap, his heart made of gold, his head full of great ideas – full of crap? – No! More trust and less fears! He has a new goal – all the dead now shall rise, he will make his amends, he’ll bring back to life all these lost souls! Splash! Breathe in life into this flesh. Look, it opened its eyes! Wrong! It does not have eyelids. It’s still dead. Don’t lose hope though. Yes, this science takes long, but this road leads to success! It’s like a game of chess: you may sacrifice a lot for your king, in order to win, you must lose some pawns, some knights, some sleepless nights. One pawn is enough to bring back the queen. Your queen, that’s what all this is about. You don’t want to win, you want to turn back time, to bring back your love to life. Sixty-four squares, all black and white – your existence without her all black and white, persistent nightmares on repeat: their arms intertwined, a cup in their hands, that is what they strived for over decades: eternity. She was the first to take a few sips, her lips – a crimson sunset. The phosphorescent fluid enters her throat and rips her apart, and her eyes turn bloody-red. The next moment she’s dead. Another life ruined under the crescent moon. He could have joined her, but he was too scared to die so soon – they craved eternity, that was their dream, her final wish: to see the posterity, to witness the fate of this planet. All he needs now is to redeem her from death. He has the wit and the talent – he’ll accomplish the rest. Yet, these nightmares won’t let him have rest. Is it a test? He read all the books on dark magic – he should have succeeded by now. Why things are so tragic? He sold his soul to the devil – why has he not exceeded the whimsical nature so far? It’s like fighting a windmill. Was the deal one-sided? He felt betrayed and misguided. All they ever wanted was eternal life, eternal love. It just wasn’t enough to simply exist to perish someday. How could they cherish something so incomplete and fragile? He deserved to have more. They were young and agile. Why things couldn’t stay this way forever and ever and ever?..