KATHARINA
I watched as the inky black liquid in the cauldron hissed, sputtered, then collapsed into a fine layer of powder.
Another failure.
A shadow flickered across my face—sharp as a blade—and for a heartbeat, a monstrous fire surged in my chest, an urge to reduce everything around me to ash.
How much longer would it take?
Another hundred years? A thousand? Ten thousand?
I simply couldn’t understand what I was doing wrong. Every attempt ended the same way, leaving me with nothing but a trail of failures.
I had gathered rare plants, deadly poisons, sacred herbs, healing roots—tested them separately, fused them together, and re-fused them tirelessly in countless orders.
And still, nothing.
Absolutely no progress toward curing immortality.
It felt as though I was circling endless
