It was coming for him and no matter how hard he told himself to wait for it, to embrace it, he found himself running. Running as far and as fast as he could. Not me, he thought. After all I’ve done, not me. He tried to outrun this force but he knew he would eventually tire. Still, he ran...
Until he didn’t. He was spent. He stopped, turned around, ready to accept his fate like all the others. To his surprise, it was gone. His pursuer was nowhere to be found. The realization that he had beaten the ultimate test, however, did not come with elation.
He had been prepared to celebrate, to bask in his glory. After all, a whole new world of possibilities was now open to him. But, shockingly, none of them seemed that spectacular anymore. He found himself without purpose. He was prepared for anything but this. All he felt now was loneliness. An infinite degree of isolation and un-being.
His triumph, if he chose to call it that, had outdid him and suddenly he became immensely aware of how insignificant he was in the grand scheme of things.
And then finally, he understood. Life is nothing without death and immortality is the ultimate curse. He had not won; he was being penalized.
With this in mind, he tightened his laces and started walking back, searching for the one thing he had been trying so hard to escape.
He no longer feared mortality; he craved it.
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