The woman still sat on the floor of the hallway, staring at the door ahead of her, the door that led to Origin. It had not been until months after her escape from this building turned tomb that she had learned that the organic chemical compound (now known as Libitina) had somehow altered her gene coding, granting her special healing powers, as well as immortality. This may seem like a boon to some, but it had been the bane of her existence ever since the fateful day when Libitina had spread its deadly cloud. Yes, it had kept her alive where a normal human would have died, but it had not saved her from suffering. Just because one cannot die, does not mean one cannot suffer!
Maybe she had returned here to find answers, though she knew in her heart that there were none. There had been others who had survived. Some were immortals, like herself, others had mutated in different ways. She did not know why some of them had endured while the majority had perished via Libitina. Maybe there was something in their genes that allowed for a rapid mutation for survival, or maybe it was the circumstances under which exposure occurred. It may never be known. But in her search for reasons, she had come back here, to where it all began.
Slowly the woman climbed to her feet and took the last few torturous steps toward the door that lead to Origin. There were indeed barriers in front of it, ones that had never been removed. She pushed them out of the way and opened the door. The smell of decaying bodies had long since vanished from the room, and was now replaced with only the musty odor of age and disuse. She walked over to where she had been sitting that day, on the day of Destruction. The body that had fallen on her in the chaos still lay near her seat. She knelt down and gently placed her hand on the skeleton, paying respect to the dead. She then moved and sat down in the auditorium chair. Almost instantly she felt overwhelmed by emotions and ghosts from the past. Spirits living in the present swarmed around her and through the hall, morphing into the shape of their human form, all watching her as she sat there, none moving close enough to touch. She closed her eyes again, remembering the faces of those who had been there with her, the pain they, and she, had suffered – and the end all but she had come to. Opening her eyes she looked around her, meeting the eyes of each of the faces. “I will remember you,” she said quietly. Then the spirit that had touched her before stepped forward through the crowd. She heard his voice not in her ears, but directly in her mind.
“Thank you,” he said. “When you are ready, return to here and you shall have the rest you have granted us.” He smiled and then disappeared, quickly followed by each of the others.
The woman smiled sadly, nodding her head. Yes, she would return here someday, but not yet. There was still much she could do for this world. It was then that she realized why she had returned to this place. She had come back here searching for peace – reconciliation of mind, and soul, and heart. She had needed closure from the past. She had needed to remember those who had been lost, and face the charred demons of history. Now… now she could move forward and move on. But even with leaving her past behind, ever would the Ghosts of time gone by be with her, but she did not mind. They would not be forgotten, for it was her duty to remember them and the Day of Origin.
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