[ WP ] '' The thing about immortality is that even if it preserves your body , it does n't stop the wearing down of your soul ... ''

It had seemed so simple then, who would n't want to live forever? None of us had believed the stories. Besides, there was so much in the world to see, far too much to get to in one lifetime. 
 
 Who could have known I'd spend the bulk of those added years hunting down the others that had been in there that fateful night. 
 
 At first it had been everything we'd dreamed of... summers on the riviera, winters on some remote island, whiling away the days with wine, women, and each other. Money ceased to be an obstacle, so we lived like kings who would never die, because that's what we were really. 
 
 That went on for a few years, and it almost would have been worth it, just for the memories. At my bleakest points, at the lonely 3 AM of the soul that it seems I find myself more and more often, I try to latch onto those memories of laughter and warmth, but that does make it harder when I eventually catch one of the others and see what they've become. 
 
 You see, the thing about immortality is that even if it preserves your body, it does n't stop the wearing down of your soul. 
 
 It started with things no one could be blamed for, really. Our friends and family passed on one by one, until we were the only ones left, adrift in a world of strangers. We became detached from the world around us, and eventually, from humanity and all it entails. Wine and women no longer passed muster, when your only concern has been living the sweet life for one hundred years, you eventually have to devise more and more innovative ways to try to spark any kind of interest or reaction. 
 
 For some of us this started as mostly victimless pranks, more about the elaborateness or intricacy of what we were trying to pull off. Some of us tended in a darker direction, and that's where their inner demons were laid bare. Were these things always there, just lurking under the surface for want of time and opportunity, or had something fundamentally changed within us, and it was only a matter of time before we all became the thing which we feared most, an unrecognizable monster? 
 
 Walters was the first... a string of missing persons reports in whatever city he happened to be in, until eventually the rest of us confronted him about it as we sat on the balcony of the monumental palazzo he'd bought in Venice. 
 
 He lounged with a goblet of wine in hand, appearing wholly unconcerned with the accusation we brought before him 
 
 `` What does it matter, they'll be gone in the blink of an eye anyway, their light extinguished before they've made any real impression... providing me with some fleeting entertainment is probably the most they can ever hope to achieve'' he smirked, quaffing the rest of his wine and pouring himself another. 
 
 His affected lack of concern was just an act, because when we went back together the next night equipped with weapons to put an end to him, he had disappeared, gone completely dark. 
 
 It took three years, but we finally tracked him down in a remote tower in the Romanian wilderness and he'd become... unrecognizable. He was raving and we saw things there that are burned into my brain that make me wish we'd never drank from that damned fountain so many decades ago. 
 
 I'd thought that would be the end of a long nightmare and deep feelings of guilt that we'd caused so much suffering for the families of the victims. We celebrated together that night as if we'd saved the world. But it was n't too last. 
 
 It was only a short time after that Martin fell into a similar pattern, and so on down the line until there are only two of us left, the rest vanquished in one way or another to end their respective reigns of terror. 
 
 Now I am on my way across the Atlantic to America to track down James, the only other one remaining. So far I have n't fallen prey to the same depravations as the others, but I know it's just a matter of time now. If I'm able to defeat him I will end my own life, but before you think about holding me in any sympathetic light, dear reader, know that it's mostly a selfish act at this point. I've seen too many horrific things over these years to want to continue in this realm, and I'm ready for whatever judgement awaits me in the next. 
 
 I write this that you may understand, perhaps, that it did not start out this way, and we never intended it too. But more importantly, if I should fail in my quest, it falls to the finder of this missive to finish the job. Otherwise he will continue on, unchecked forever, and who knows how many will meet their inglorious end at his hands.
