The Alchemists

Caspar had never apologized to a woman he dated his whole life! Even Katia, who was his fiancée for 50 years, was very lenient and she forgave all his unpleasant actions – an example would be when Caspar casually dated a women he met on the way to her place.

He knew that he had irresistible charm, and he had seen countless women throw themselves at him.

Katia never protested or left him just because Caspar was having fun with other women.

What made Katia finally decide to leave was because Caspar kept her hanging. After so long he never took the last step to marry her. Indeed 50 years was a long time and Katia couldn't stand it anymore.

Caspar did not mean to hurt her, he simply could not bring himself to commit to her because he realized that he didn't actually love her.

Caspar's parents who died together during World War 2 were married for more than four centuries and they were a perfect example of true love. They had known each other since they were children and both became Alchemists in their early 20s.

They provided Caspar and his siblings with a loving household until they died in each other's embrace under the rubble of the building where they lived.

Since Caspar reached adulthood at the age of 25 until they died, his parents were his best friends.

Even after Caspar went away to explore the world, and Flora got married and started a family, and Aldebar was born and grew up to be a world adventurer, all of them always came home to their family castle in Germany to get together every 10 years.

They had a close-knit relationship. Since their parents passed away, only Aldebar lived in the castle because he was the only alchemist in the family to inherit their grandfather's secret immortality potion.

Caspar wanted to fall in love and marry someone, just like his father fell in love with his mother and married her, but for more than 400 years he did not find a woman who captured his heart. When he was devastated after the death of his parents, he met Katia in England.

She was attending art school. Katia was a beautiful and kind lady from a noble family. They became friends because they often met at art community events in London and soon they started dating. Katia was able to comfort Caspar's heart and cheer him up.

Five years later Caspar decided to tell her the secrets of the Alchemists. Katia, whom he first met when she was 20 years old, began to change her appearance and at the age of 25 - she slowly started to age.

Caspar was worried that Katia would soon look older than him. He also could not let Katia age and then die, leaving him alone.

Finally, one night after a romantic dinner in Surrey, Caspar told Katia everything. The girl's first reaction, predictably, was that Caspar was just joking.

"I told you I'm an Alchemist."

"I don't even know what that means. You told me, but I just thought that meant you were interested in alchemy."

"My dear Kat, my clan, the Alchemists, stay young like this forever. My ancestors found the elixir to immortality hundreds of years ago. We stop aging once our body reaches its prime and we stay perfect for infinity. We don't even know if we are ever going to die naturally; the oldest alchemist alive is almost 600 years old. We don't get sick, we don't experience any physical disability, and we don't get old. So, naturally, we are what you call the perfect humans. If you can be a doctor by studying for 5 years after finishing your basic education, imagine how much you can learn in a span of hundreds of years? Naturally, I can be whatever I want to be, and I can take my sweet time when doing anything. Since we are not in a hurry, my people are very casual when it comes to marriage and kids. My parents had me when they were already 90 because they are the first generation of Alchemists and at that time it was not known how long they could keep their youth. Later generations are more relaxed about it since we know that even if you go to 600, you'll still look and feel as if you're in your twenties."

Katia accepted the fact that Caspar did look very young for someone who was almost 400 years old. He looked like he was the same age as Katia, only 25 years old.

Plus, Caspar was also very handsome. Katia didn't see a single wrinkle on his face...

"So, you are all immortal? You cannot die?"

"Well, we are not immune to bullets, but we cannot die of natural causes like ordinary people who are weak and susceptible to disease. During the last world war... many of my people died during city attacks."

Katia was stunned.

"I can't believe this..." Katia sighed softly.

"That's why I hate war. It is meaningless." Caspar closed his eyes and tried to control his emotions. He still couldn't forget the death of his parents.

"Oh..."

Katia was lost for words.

Caspar explained everything to her so nonchalantly. It was as if he was just talking about the weather tomorrow. But it didn't make sense. Katia felt as if Caspar was discussing the beautiful snowfall outside their window, even though it was actually in the middle of summer.

How could Katia accept all this weird information?

"Why did you tell me all this?" Katia asked finally.

"Because... I think... I have fallen in love with you..." Caspar looked deep into Katia's eyes. "I don't know if I want to be with you forever, but if I don't decide quickly, in a few years, you will grow old and die and I can't take that risk. We've been together for five years, and you can certainly see for yourself I have not changed... but you look more mature and soon you will look older than me. So, I want to give you... my family's inheritance, so that you can stay like this forever... You will not age, just like me... and we can always be together. "

Fifty years ago, Katia's finally decided to accept Caspar's proposal and chose to live forever with him, leaving her family and her best friend, Karl, behind. Caspar gave Katia the immortality potion and she accepted their engagement. Katia then spent fifty years waiting for Caspar to keep his promise and marry her.

Katia had never been angry at Caspar when he dated all the women in his life and casually dumped them, because she knew that Caspar's relationship with them was not serious. Besides, she received the immortality potion, so she thought that she was special.

However, after half a century, Katia realized that Caspar also was not serious about her and they would never get married... Therefore, Katia finally left.