The curse of immortality

My name is Edward Holden. And I am an immortal.

I have been this way for as long as I can rememeber. How I came to be cursed with this denial of rest is a tale for another day. But suffice to say, I am denied Death.

For hundreds of years I have walked this world, watching humanity  grow, and evolve. Civilizations rise and fall. Sometimes, I took part in it, for good and for ill. Other times, I simply watched, and waited, and remembered.

It’s true, many times have I taken the role of both the virtuous and valorous warrior of light, and the detestable and feared Dark Lord in turn. I have delved into the very darkest and most evil arts known to human kind, and the most pious and holy light arts as well.

But all of this is but a means to an end for me. I have lived too long. Seen too much. To go on as I have is to leave behind concepts just as joy, and love, and companionship, because I knew them to be transitory - Of the moment. I knew they will all turn to ash and dust in time. Only those whose lives are brief can believe that love is eternal. Instead, I have outlived any family I started, My first tribe and family have been returned to the earth hundred thousand of years ago. My last family, only a few centuries ago. I will not go through that pain again. I decided travel again... And then I met her.

Himiko. A woman who was every bit as immortal as I was. A woman of Japanese descent, with blazing red hair. I courted her, and married her, against my better judgement and past experiences, hoping that our shared gift of immortality would allow me to experience contentment, at long last, a measure of peace. But it was not to be. I set out to complete my pilgrimage and my training, mastering my powers and experiences. But, once I returned to Japan, and then Yamatai, I learned that my wife, Himiko, had disappeared. I had hoped to return to witness the birth of my child, but I could no longer find them. For years I searched the entire eastern coast of Asia for them, for I could still feel them in my soul... until I couldn't. Like candles being snuffed out, their light faded from my vision.

I tore eastern Asia apart in my frantic search, but eventually, I had to accept that they were gone. For three weeks, my despair caused horrendous weathers all across the continent. Monsoonal rains, tropical storms, and tidal waves crushed the coasts. And I retreated and became reclusive again. I lived among the tallest peaks of the Himalayan mountains for many years, trying to come to terms with my loss.

Eventually, I returned west, back to Europe. I threw myself into my training in perfecting my powers, and my pilgrimages around the planet - detaching myself from loving others again.

Once i was certain I could learn no more, the world had, strangely enjoyed a wider peace for nearly a century. The Neapoleonic wars had exhausted most people's desire for war in Europe, with most conflicts more localized, or civil in nature. The new world, which became America, had recently suffered a crippling civil war that saw 750,000 people dead. A devastating result for a fledgeling nation. However, that was nothing compared to what was coming next.

The after effects of such a long period peace, coupled with rising tensions between the European great powers. Once the Serbian incident occurred, tensions broke, and the world fell into the morass of a war unlike any before it.

I fought to protect my country of origin against the aggression of the Central powers once my country joined the Entente. We were neutral for the most part of the war, with Germany eagerly buying oil and food from us during the first half of the war, but the aggression of the Central powers once King Charles I passed away, and the coronation of King Ferdinand I galvanized the country against Germany, with much encouragement and generous concessions from the Allies. And thus for the final years of the war, I used my training, my powers, my skills and the weapons my country game me to help push back the Central powers.

The horrors I saw there... in those trenches... changed me.

9 million people dead. And for what? Monarchies and politicians whims. The whims and desires of rulers had not changed, only the scale and the tools had changed. And again, only the soldiers and civilians beneath the rulers ever really felt the effects. War had to change. And withe circumstances of the end of this war, the Treaties of Versailles, ensured that war would return, very soon.

While debating what to do about the current state of the world, and knowing what was going to happen, I was approached by a group of wealthy and influential aristocrats, nobles, politicians and corporate leaders from the United States, Soviet Union, and the Republic of China. They called themselves, whimsically, the "Philosophers." I had almost burst out laughing at the name, but I held my tongue when they began to explain their plan, and the ideas they had. Some had merit. They knew of me, of my powers, and my immortality, despite my best efforts to keep that as well guarded a secret as I could.

They apparently needed me. They wanted me to train the soldiers of the future allies to help them fight against the war we all knew was coming. They were well aware of the horrors of the trenches, and they needed someone who could master the art of rapid asymmetric warfare, total war.

I had to write an entirely new military doctrine, and training methods to accompany it. But, to prove my methods were sound, I specifically directly trained a single special operations commando unit. The Cobra unit. I had found six promising young soldiers from across all three of the superpowers that comprised the Philosophers founding countries. The Squad Leader was a young woman named Joy, the daughter of one of the Philosophers Wiseman's committee members. All six of the handpicked members showed affinity with similar metahuman powers I was familiar with, o as part of their new training, I showed them how to tap into their powers. They tied their powers to specific emotions they each feel while in battle. Not the most efficient method, but it was enough for what was desired. Only Joy knew how to tap into her powers beyond her emotion.

Once their training was complete, I named Joy as the founder and commander of the Cobras, and once again, disappeared from history, watching and waiting.

My contribution yielded little...

The worst conflict in human history still came to pass, and this time, a staggering 75 million people were killed across the globe. No place was untouched this time.

Nothing I did mattered, despite the Cobra unit's best efforts, and the Allies having achieved final victory.

I could no longer do this, I couldn't teach people how to fight with weapons beyond the tools they use. Atomic explosions, while powerful indeed, were brief flashes in the pan. But if someone who could use their powers to destroy countries whenever and however often they chose, they would become a true living weapon of mass death and destruction. Imagine of someone like Adolf Hitler, or Emperor Hirohito, or Benito Mussolini, or Joseph Stalin had the powers this training could have provided them? Maniacs with any form of individual power like that would be a nightmare scenario.

So instead of becoming a new Bright Lord or Dark Lord, I became a scientist, a driver of evolution, and sequestered myself away in laboratory facilities across the world.

After the War, I received the best education and tutoring and studied the sciences for a few decades. My immortality enabled me to achieve knowledge unheard of by other scientists and doctors. Plus,my prior experiences with the military forces of the world meant I was able to keep up with all of them. Mechanical engineering, bio sciences, computer and data sciences and more. I absorbed information as quickly as I could. Eventually I was approached again by strangers seeking my expertise. This time, it was an aristocrat named Ozwall .E Spencer, two doctors named Dr. James Marcus, Dr. Edward Ashford, and a strange woman I knew only as Miranda.

After showing me their works on the African Progenitor Orchid, and the Black Mold, and explaining that they also wished to study the condition of immortality in my blood, I agreed to both assist with the research, and periodically supply them with blood samples. They supplied me with several first class laboratory facilities around the world, provided me with hand picked research teams and staff, plus whatever else I had needed. Thus, I began to train and apprentice a Dr. Juan Sanchez, and a Dr. James Isaac Ferral. And, for the next 7 years, progress towards human evolution using the progenitor flower, the black mold, several modified parasitical symbiotic lifeforms, and even the advents of nanotechnology and the nanites I had developed to create the Black Queen, but it was on the even of the Black Queen's completion that another betrayal had occurred, and argument broke out between Sanchez and Ferral, an argument that turned into a fight and subsequently, James killed Juan.

I remained unaware of this until many years later, after I had reawakened and regained my memories. That is because James tried to kill me too, with a gunshot to the back of my head.

By seemingly dead body was used in James' continued experiments. For nearly 20 years, my body was bombarded with all the mutagens, and experimental procedures Umbrella could conceive of. All the proccesses they could learn from, the Lisa Trevor tragedy, Dr Marcus' betrayal, The Veronica escapades, Birkin and Wesker's agenda, the proto Las Plagas and Uroboros, all of it... My immortality kept me alive, and kept adapting the mutagens into ever more powerful compounds Ozwall could exploit.

That was, until James could no longer stand being exploited by Ozwall and the company. He felt cheated of the wealth and glory, and in a fit of rage, he released me with an inhibitor chip. Hoping I would somehow escape the Raccoon City quarantine zone, and make my way to Spencer himself, where he could enact his surprise, and transform me into a B.O.W of colossal proportions, just to finally kill the now decrepid old man.

It didn't work out quite as James had hoped. My immortality and my growing modified powers caused the chip to degrade, before finally, a new group of friends, the Taylor siblings, freed me by removing the chip.

But, now, as I stand on the threshold, atop Raccoon City Town Hall, I am about to try and use my powers to contain the blast of several thermobaric missiles. I need to hold on as long as I can so the others can get out. Then, maybe Death can finally have me.

I have been alive too long. Seen too much. I think... I have earned a long rest...