La Danta

4,543 years since initial death
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It took Valerie nearly thirty minutes to be resurrected.

Her injuries were automatically healed as her body regenerated. Most of her clothing on the other hand was torn apart. She inhaled loudly, suddenly jolting from her rest. Immediately, she scouted her surroundings. Mark could kill her again for some unknown reason. She had no idea why this happened, but she was afraid that he'd just attack her out of instinct again.

However, that wasn't the case. Mark was still in the cave with her, but he was seated against a shattered column with his hands covering his face. He was still conscious, but he was too afraid to remove his hands or even make a sound. Instead, he stayed in place and shivered.

Valerie slowly approached him. She had grabbed both of her daggers from the ground and readied them. Already dual-wielding them, she wasn't going to take any chances. Once she stood in front of him, she raised one dagger and was ready to plunge it into his head.

Right before she could, Mark finally spoke. "Go ahead." His tone was far too quiet and slow. He never even looked at her, his hands were still over his face. "After what I did to you, it's only fair you return the favor."

"Is this another trick?" Valerie was caught off guard, but she couldn't do anything just yet.

"Maybe." He moved his hands away from his face slowly, revealing his dark brown eyes. Something about him still looked sinister, as if he was glaring at her with a thousand-yard death stare. "I really don't know how I'll react. The longer you take, the more likely I'll hurt you again. Just do it now before that happens!"

His voice had raised, but also showed a sign of despair. He wasn't lying. Rather, he was scared of himself.

Valerie hesitated. She still couldn't bear the thought of murdering him, but maybe it was for the greater good. Something was obviously happening to him, and if death is his only solution, perhaps she has no other choice.

"A hundred year long marriage, and I have never seen you behave that way before." She kept her daggers close by her side, hoping not to fight again. "What caused that to happen?"

Mark paused for several seconds, maintaining eye-contact with her. As much as he wanted to keep some things secret, he knew he'd have to confess one day. "Whoever it is you fought, he isn't me."

"Bullshit." Valerie kept a firm and strict tone, not allowing herself to fall for any traps. "Clearly this isn't the first time you've acted that way. There's no excuse for what you did. But what I want to understand is why? I don't know if you were possessed or if your sin took control, but I demand answers now."

"You're exactly right." He remained seated exactly where he was, never making a single move. "It was my sin; my wrath. It always has been. Every moment of my life has been affected by it, and I can't remember a single time when it ever helped improve anything. It has led to so much death and unimaginable destruction. It led me down a path of murder I can never recover from."

Valerie reattached her daggers back into one piece, but she was careful to keep it clenched just in case anything happens. "Four thousand years and you're still a pathetic, whiny bitch who can't take responsibility for his own actions. How many people have you told this sob story to? No wonder your own daughter turned into a serial killer."

"What was that?" Mark suddenly stood up.

Despite that being a dangerous topic to bring up in front of him, Valerie kept her confidence. "When I saw you back in Venice, I had to follow you to make sure you were who I thought you were. A couple years later I was part of the Spanish Empire, and before heading on an expedition, I found Kara. That was her name, wasn't it? At the time she made me proud because I was once just like her. A young assassin that hunted the guilty. But now I see that she was a sadist demon, just like her father."

"Say that again, and I swear, I will repeatedly murder you here everyday for an eternity." His anger was returning to him again, rapidly this time. 

"Wouldn't be the first time anyone has threatened me with that before." Valerie's quick response only worsened his temper.

It was enough to drive him towards madness again. "So you really want to go there, huh? You have the audacity to throw my daughter under the bus just to insult me. And for what exactly? Just so I'll confess and take responsibility? Fine then, here's my confession. I am the embodiment of evil and the bringer of war. I am a psychotic serial killer that has taken more lives than any man before in history combined! Valerie, I am Jack the Ripper! That's who I am; a ruthless, cold-blooded, heartless and deranged murderer!"

His wrath was starting to appear once more. "I am not the man you once loved a long time ago. You don't know what I've done after your death in Madrid. You haven't seen me tear a poor girl apart for hours on end and mutilate her out of sheer boredom! I've reached a point where I don't need my wrath to take another man's life. This is who I've become, and that is fine by me."

Valerie was stunned to say the least. She couldn't move a single muscle. Her breathing intensified as she processed everything he had said. "So I was right. You've done this before. You sick, twisted bastard. You've always been like this."

"After I killed you, I ripped you into shreds. I tore some of your clothes off with my hands and cut through the rest with your daggers. Then I pulled your organs out and shattered your skeleton. I continued until I was satisfied, but I just went too far this time."

Before Valerie could even ask, Mark continued. "When I murdered those women in Whitechapel, I wasn't in control of my own actions. But when I swung that blade into you; I was fully aware. I chose to do it because I wanted it. I wanted to feel the sensation of tearing someone apart again and I didn't want to stop until I was finished. But that's not the worst part."

For a brief moment, he smirked. It was a smile that was enough to frighten anyone who would see it. "I liked it. All throughout my life, I've enjoyed it. I laughed as my enemies were burning alive in a fire I created. I felt the adrenaline rush through me when I massacred hundreds in battle. Then came Whitechapel. I was too weak to accept it, but not anymore. I love my work, and I would happily do it again."

Silence filled the cave for a moment. Not a single person spoke nor moved.

As for Valerie, she wanted to kill him. Her hands were shaking and she lost all affection she ever had for her husband. "You couldn't have fought against it? You allowed so many people to die, and for what? Just for your own pleasure?!"

"Why don't we switch sins then?!" Mark snapped back at her loudly. "I'm sure with lust, I could be getting laid left and right without a damn in the world. Oh I'd be living the dream baby! Because that's all you are. You're a sex icon, you live off of sex. It's like air, you'll die without it!  Meanwhile, you can take my wrath and see how long you can fucking last before you start a massacre! You think your life is so hard? What, some guys used to torture you when you were just a wee little girl learning about your immortality? Well tough luck! You're like an insect to me anyways! Compared to what I've been through, you're nothing but a mere pixel in my vast limitless virtual sandbox that I call life! A non-essential side character that appears in my main quest!"

"Asshole!" Valerie had snapped, not wanting to hear anymore of this. Rather than attacking him, she chose to stand still. Fighting him again would only lead to disaster; especially when he's already enraged. However, she had no problem screaming at him. "You think my life has been easy? How dare you?!"

Mark argued back, slightly cracking his voice in the process by his sheer rage as he approached her. "Oh is that so? It's not like you've made my life any easier at least. Oh Milton, you'll hurt someone like that. No Mark, that's against the law. Don't do that Maalik, it's morally wrong. I can't live like that anymore! Jesus Christ you've torn me apart! The least I could do for now is return the favor physically because it's what you deserve. But now that I think about it, I should have left you to rot and suffer in Madrid."

"And I should have done my job and killed you in Venice;" her response had done it, "you and your family."

She received a violent slap across her face. When she tried defending herself, Mark already disarmed her and forcefully grabbed her by her collar. He was ready to scream again, but not this time. He remained quiet, conveying his message through his scowl.

Finally, he shoved her back. She quickly regained her balance. In complete silence, they didn't move for several moments. Valerie looked to the ground in defeat. But the truth was, she knew how to get the final laugh. She still had an ace up her sleeve.

Therefore, when Mark turned his back to walk away, she had to stop him.

"By the way, we're not immortal!"

That made him come to a halt. He couldn't help but look back at her, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

She paused, unwilling to answer immediately. The nearby torches continued to illuminate the area, revealing the very ancient stone discs on the wall that held a dangerous secret. Valerie had discovered this secret before being killed, and she was ready to share it now.

"You heard me very well." The way she spoke sounded sinister, but there was an emotional tone behind it. She was afraid to speak the truth. "Me and you are going to die one day; permanently."

"Uh huh." Mark answered back. He didn't know how to react to this information. It just seemed like she was trying to aggravate him again. "You're suggesting an end to our eternal lives? What's your source, genius?"

Everything Mark had previously said became irrelevant. When compared to what Valerie was about to tell him, it was nothing but a child's tantrum. That was when she pointed a finger towards the surrounding walls and the discs.

Staring at the discs had reminded her of a horrible truth. These discs were calendars. The ancient Mayan calendars, she finally found them after all this time. She was there during their creation, she had witnessed the ticking of each disc.

But what laid in front of her was something larger. This massive calendar was counting down the years until one end point. She knew exactly what it meant.

"It's not a suggestion; it's a fact. This calendar is counting down its first alautun."

Mark stared at it, he couldn't figure out how it worked. "What the hell is an alautun?"

"Our calendars have several units of time measurement, such as the b'ak'tun and the alautun." Like an instructor, she began pointing at different parts of the calendar. "2012 was our last b'ak'tun. Despite popular belief, it was never meant to signify the end of the world. A b'ak'tun is not the end of time. Rather, it's the alautun. On the day the calendar ticks its first and final alautun, it's the day it finally stops counting."

"I'll pretend like I understood what you just said, but please enlighten me." He was still confused. "What does any of this crap have to do with us?"

"The alautun is the final unit of the long count calendar. We are time travelers; in a way at least. So when time comes to an end, so do the travelers." Suddenly, she lifted her left hand up. The inscription was still engraved into her palm. "You noticed my hand before murdering me. It appeared on the plane, right before our crash. So maybe you were right. Maybe I am responsible for all of this. So the least you can do is shut the fuck up and listen to me for once; dick."

Mark became slightly offended. On her hand, a small design was inscribed. To him, it seemed like a poorly drawn cartoon. It was a random assortment of shapes forming a cube with several gaps in the center of it. There was even a squigle that resembled a mustached man. Just as he was figuring out what it was, Valerie gave him the answer.

"That's the Mayan symbol of an alautun. Once that time comes, our immortality will end and we will finally rest in peace." The moment she said it, they both felt a sense of dread. They had basically been told the date of their death, but only she knew exactly how long it would be until that day comes.

Mark took a moment to digest everything he heard. "But why you? I've spent all my life trying to learn how to end this curse. Now, all of a sudden, you're telling me the Mayans had that figured out long ago? Them, of all people?"

"You don't have to be racist about it, but you're missing the point. This is my destiny, I'm connected to this. I know exactly when I'm going to die, and now I know this means you too have an expiration date."

She could tell just by the look on his face that he still wasn't understand any of it. Valerie pointed at him, wanting to finally end this confrontation. "Show me your hands."

He slightly hesitated before complying. As expected, his hands were perfectly normal. There were no glowing signs, nor cryptic sketches.

Valerie broke the silence. "You have to find your destiny to know how to end your immortality. Following my path towards my origins have led me here, and now I know that to end my curse, I must wait for the alautun to arrive. You need to find your path and discover how to put an end to your curse."

Mark's anger had diminished, rendering him calm and slightly anxious. He found it difficult to look her in the eyes, but that's exactly what he had to do. "Well, how long do you have?"

But when he didn't get an immediate answer, his anxiety and anger slowly began to increase. Even if it wasn't his fate, he needed an estimate on how long it might take for destiny to arrive.

"Valerie." He was running out of ideas, he just needs an answer. "How long will it take for the first alautun to arrive? I need to know just how long we're looking at here, my fate might last longer."

She was avoiding the inevitable. A tear rolled down her cheek, forcing her to close her eyes and look away from him. This information won't just hurt him, but it'll hurt her too.

Mark suddenly approached her with his arms forward, grabbing her shoulders. One of his hands jolted forward, slapping her face hard as he began shaking her. "Valerie! Answer me, damn it! How much longer are you destined to live for?" The desperation in his voice was clear. He was no longer angry. He was scared. Terrified of what the truth may be.

When Valerie finally spoke, he stopped thinking.

His mind had shut down.

Permanently, this time.

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