Icaro Incombustible Nº15
soul? That answer is what I am begging for. And that being repeated with pride that despicable sentence: -I will not let you die. My heart was beating faster. The space in my cell contracted. That sentence that at first sounded promising was turning into the verdict of a ruthless sentence. -Sir – I implored it-, are you the one who has escaped from the realm of the creatures of the night, or have you been sent by the gods to be the guardian of my deranged body? Answer my questions and show me your face to venerate you if you wish, I beseech you, and I will thank you fervently. The monster began to disfigure. His mouth opened as it ate itself until becoming a pulsating mass that soon changed into a new form. A gloomy and grotesque figure as such. An even more disgusting form than the previous one emerged from monster. Its body was that of a crow... No, it was rather a magpie. But its face was that of a woman. The monster had become a harpy. My mind was dazed by that act; my body was paralyzed at the mercy of the beast. Its malformed eyes turned more ghoulish than before. In his eyes there was nothing more than pure malice and hatred. –I will not let you live - the big ugly bird said. Those words affected me even more than the previous ones. My mind could not glimpse what the beast wanted from me. Of all possible forms it could have become, it turned into the most disturbing one. Frightening as such. Its ancient voice raised to require me its demands:-Pay me my tribute. Indignant about that being, I had no option rather than obey. I took my hand to one side of my body and after tearing and lifting my skin I took one of my right ribs to offer it to my unusual guest. It accepted my offering gladly. -Harpy – I shouted it, exasperated-, either a messenger from evil or night, what do you want?
Why did you visit me tonight? tell me the truth, will you release or enslave me even more? Answer me, I am begging you. And the harpy was silent... - Harpy, either an angel or a demon, I beg you to reassure my troubled soul clarifying my doubts, tell me! Who are you and what do you want? Answer me, I beseech you. The harpy began to gobble it up becoming the pulsating mass again. My being was crying out for clarifying my doubts. My mind was close to madness as the mass was turning into its new form. It was me. The monster was changing again to become me. He remained deformed and grotesque as such. It was clearly a bad version of me. –I will never forsake you- the beast said with full conviction. I trembled when hearing that outrage. Whereas before I longed for any company, now I wanted my solitude back. -I am your Nemesis - it said with pride. It was then that I realized it. The beast would let me neither live nor die. It will not forsake me. It will torture and torment my body, mind and soul until there is nothing of them. Until the days come to an end and we reach eternity. The beast kneeled down to me and I fed on it until my hunger was satisfied. For now it has disappeared. But it will come back by nightfall. The monster will visit my cell every night. The beast will be my Nemesis, my punishment. It will feed me on its body and it will feed it on mine. Until the days come to an end and we reach eternity.
17