Story of a Diamond

Albina spent the majority of her youthful, fearless years caring for her grandmother. She was still a high school student; her mother had to work to support the family, and she had never known her father. While her peers were out having fun, she mostly stayed home, handling household chores, cooking, and taking care of her grandmother, who suffered from severe dementia. This was the life she was born into, with few memories of her grandmother's healthy days. A few photos belonging to her mother might have been the only proof of a period of time when they were possibly happy.

By the time she turned 17, she was tired of the stale, elderly-smelling air of the house, the pile of cigarette butts her mother left on the table every night, and being invisible and deemed a weirdo at school. She finally chose a university in a different city and went to the first one she got into with a scholarship. She wanted to feel guilty but was unable to summon such an emotion.

At university, she began studying the one thing she excelled at: chemistry. It was probably a talent inherited from her unknown father, as her mother was a simple woman who only understood basic matters. Albina started university as a skinny, pale, lanky-haired, peculiar-looking young woman, who was hungry to discover life and freedom. She just didn’t know how to do it; no one had ever taught her.

The biggest legacy her adolescence left her with was her fear. Her greatest fear was becoming an unhappy, sick, and old woman in the future, just like her grandmother. On the bright side, these fears protected her from irresponsible behaviours in life. She took care of her body and health, started earning money early, and stayed away from drugs and men. She was proud of herself in this regard.

After graduating, she began working as an assistant in a chemistry lab and lived alone with the money she earned. She was highly experienced in running a household. However, a once-secretive habit came to light once she had her own place. Every day, she meticulously examined her body in the mirror, searching for any signs of aging. This habit grew to such an extent that she eventually covered an entire room with mirrors, from floor to ceiling, wall to wall.

Over the years, she started noticing various flaws and changes in her body while scrutinizing it in the mirror. To be sure, she sometimes spent hours naked in the mirrored room, trying to calm herself until convinced it was just a minor change.

The inadequacy of research and technology on rejuvenation got on her nerves. Plastic surgery wasn’t a solution; even replacing organs had its limits. Beyond the limited solutions offered by science, there was one field that had pushed the boundaries of human intellect for centuries, stealing the role of God—the ultimate solution: alchemy.

Albina didn’t want to age, but she wasn’t content with her life either. The constant restlessness gnawing at her brain was there every time she woke up and with every breath she took. Her closest friend was her reflection in the mirror. She couldn’t even see herself as a complete woman; she had tried exploring her sexuality many times but couldn’t embrace her body, leading only to disgust.

Thus, she began researching. Unhappy in this body and state of existence, she decided to create a new one for herself. Her only condition was to retain her consciousness and continue experiencing life. It was enough for her new body to be sturdy and resistant to deformation. A technology that turned dead people into diamonds existed, but it only transformed the body. Albina’s required transformation was far beyond this.

Alchemy required deep knowledge of chemistry and a touch of science that transcended existing boundaries. Albina was a successful chemist, but to go beyond known knowledge, the only resource available to a city-dwelling person was the internet. Finding what she wanted via a Google search was impossible. Thus, she delved directly into the dark web.

Eternal life wasn’t just a niche interest of hers; millions of people were spending their fortunes in pursuit of it. Many purchased materials for inhumane experiments through the dark web. All she needed was a prescription detailing the steps of the procedure she desired. She posted an ad and waited.

This wait changed her life’s energy. Excited, she decided to do something she’d never done before: get drunk on a street full of bars. That same night, she ate noodles from a Chinese restaurant she had always found dirty but had been curious about.

The next morning, she woke up at home, in her vomit. In pain from a splitting headache, she took a shower and collapsed on the couch. While checking her messages, she nervously picked at her cuticles. To kill time, she turned on the TV, opened every bag of chips she’d never tried before, and lined them up in front of her. She spent hours flipping through movie channels and eating chips. For years, she had lived on boiled vegetables. She finally understood why people couldn’t stop eating chips.

She wondered what else she could do. Soon, she wouldn’t need her body anymore. She could use it however she wanted. That night, she went out again and entered one of the seedy dance clubs she had always avoided. Although the heavy smell of sweat made her nauseous, she persevered. That night, for the first time, she slept with a man and tried some drugs. The drug made it hard to define her sexual experience, but the night had been more fun than she expected, bringing her an unexpected carefree happiness. It was enough.

On Monday, she struggled to cope with the hysteria and disappointment of a still-empty inbox. But she knew someone, somewhere, had this information. When she went to the lab, she realized for the first time that she had a weekend worth talking about and was more than just the oddball in the room—she was someone intriguing. When she returned home that evening, she noticed she hadn’t visited her mirrored room in two days. Curious, she ran there and stripped. She was sure her reckless behaviour had severely damaged her body in those two days. She eagerly searched for flaws, only to be startled by a sound from her phone. She rushed to the living room.

Someone had responded to her ad. Someone had taken her seriously. A man had made an offer and proposed a meeting. Without hesitation, she agreed to meet this mysterious stranger.

Late that night, under a bridge often featured in films for shady dealings, she met the man. He picked her up in a luxury car and drove out of the city. She tried to make sense of the situation for a while. It got clear as the driver referred to his master, who would host her at his mansion.

Luxury was an understatement for the mansion that appeared before her. She had no idea who this man was, but he claimed to have the knowledge she needed for her transformation. He showed her his laboratory and books. The process was simple: using alchemical metals and the recipe in the book, Albina would first be turned into a liquid. Then, through a compression process, she would be transformed into a crystal. That was the simplest explanation.

This would be a trade. For this transformation, the man was willing to invest significant resources, worth a fortune, as far as she understood—and in return, Albina would become a diamond and attain eternal life. More importantly, thanks to him, she would experience a wealth and life she had never imagined. Who knew? Perhaps she would pass through generations, opening doors to different experiences.

She agreed immidiatelly. There was no reason to wait. She decided to obey whatever the man said. His speech and demeanour hinted at noble lineage, trustful enough. After the agreement, she was escorted to the laboratory with an assistant. Albina stripped and stepped into the large metal barrel the man indicated. When the lid vacuum-sealed shut, she lost her view but could still sense her existence through the hum that soon began, resonating deeply through her mind, body, and heart. Though her breath became labored, she clenched her teeth and endured the pressure. She could hear the saliva trickling from between her teeth and the groans from her strained vocal cords.

Gradually, a liquid began to fill the barrel. She could feel its coolness around her feet. The hum, vibrations, and pressure immobilized her in the confined space. She had no choice but to wait calmly. As the liquid rose, the pressure and breathlessness faded. Eventually, the hum ceased, and the lid opened. She sensed the light but couldn’t visually comprehend her surroundings. It felt like an entirely new perception. Then, she filled a different container and waited.

Slowly, her body began to warm, as if every cell was trying to come together with the heat. It felt as though her volume, the space her being occupied, was shrinking. As she became smaller, she began to feel her density. She was transforming into a particle teeming with energy. She glowed—perhaps even illuminated—with a transcendence she had never felt before. It was like the night she had taken drugs but without the numbness.

And finally, it was over. Albina had transformed into a roughly 1,000-carat diamond, with a slight yellow tint and an oval shape. She was carefully examined and placed into a strong setting that embraced her delicate curves, where she would remain for thousands of years. She no longer had worries, and her memories of past emotions felt like distant echoes. As her old self drifted away, she felt immense joy. In a world where she had never truly felt her existence, she was reborn.