Present Time

Chorong

The tension inside the room was so evident that even the other gods had left already. Chorong glared at Death, not in the bit scared that she was glaring at a god, “I can’t stay here and skip classes, Eunji!” They were seated around a table inside the throne room, eating dinner together with Life and Joohyun. And just like them, they too were arguing.

“I’m an intern, Seungwan! I can’t miss work because I also have deadlines to meet!” Joohyun pointed her fork at Life, her nostrils fuming.

The two gods had frowns on their faces but they continued to shake their heads. Death rolled her eyes and rubbed her thumb over Chorong’s hand, “No means no, agapi mou.”

“You’re in danger, dummy. You think I will let you roam around earth with a crazy god out to get you?” Life slowly pushed the fork away and explained the situation over and over again.

Chorong shook her head, “I can’t fail my classes. And I will fail if I continue to stay here!” Frustrated by how the gods weren’t letting them go back to earth, Chorong stood up and walked out of the throne room. She felt someone behind her and when she looked, it was Joohyun, walking with the same scowling face she had.

“Stupid Seungwan. Stupid god. Stupid!” Joohyun stomped her feet and went with her best friend to the garden.

They settled on one of the marble benches in the garden. For a while, Chorong and Joohyun kept quiet and just looked at the vast sky of Equilibrium. Chorong thought about the days that have passed. Being there with Death and her best friend was relaxing but also nerve wrecking. Being around five to six gods made her feel so small and useless. It was okay when they were just around Death and Life but with Time’s piercing gaze, Destiny’s jokes, and even Dream’s conversations with Fate, it all made her feel like she was an outsider. Yes, they all agreed to protect the humans but that didn’t make it less intimidating for Chorong to be around them. At least Joohyun already suggested something that was helpful to them. But Chorong? All she could think about was that she always managed to give Death problems. She was a freeloader.

Which was exactly why she wanted to go and attend her classes. She wanted to see and to know what Professor Ann would tell them next. Maybe she knew how to kill gods and even if it was just from textbooks, Chorong couldn’t help but hang on to that tiny possibility of her being able to help the gods around her.

“I want to go back to earth. I want to attend my classes,” she uttered. Joohyun looked at her with a confused expression.

“Is this about the professor you told me about? The one who wears green contacts?” she nodded at her best friend’s question, answering yes to both. Joohyun took her hand and sighed, “Chorong, she’s a teacher. What she knows is probably based on textbooks. And from what we’ve seen so far, nothing from textbooks is true.”

Chorong nodded, “I know. But I want to help, Hyun. If there’s a chance that I could help, I want to take that chance. I’m being such a drag here.”

“You think I’m not?” Joohyun threw her head back and closed her eyes. “I feel like a dead weight here because I’m human and Seungwan is practically forced to protect me. At least in your case, Death loves you. You two are each other’s halves. While me? I’m collateral damage.”

They both kept quiet. After a while, they decided to head back inside. Equilibrium was a magical place, if that’s how Chorong could describe it. The sky was blue, there was no sun but the weather was warm and consistent. At night, there were two moons and the stars are way brighter than anything that could be seen on earth. Chorong often found herself staring at the night sky whenever she couldn’t sleep. And during those times, Death would always stay beside her or hug her from behind, asking her to go back to bed. Though a god doesn’t need to sleep, Death does whenever she is with Chorong.

Chorong got inside Death’s quarters and threw herself on the bed. For someone who didn’t do much the whole day, she felt a bit tired. And she was pretty sure that the gods were discussing their plans. Or maybe they’re playing on their phones again. Just yesterday, when they came back, Destiny got curious about the smartphone that Chorong was using and asked if she could have one. The ending was every single one of them has a phone now and they’re thrilled to be playing human games. If Chorong was being honest, the gods didn’t look like gods while she taught them how to use their phones. When she taught them how to use their money slash cards (courtesy of Death) to buy some apps and in game purchases, they all cheered. Most of them even purchased more than a thousand dollars worth of power ups already.

“Agapi mou,” she heard Death call her. Chorong ignored the god and continued to smell the pillow she was hugging, which actually smells like Death. “Chorong, come on. Don’t be unreasonable right now.”

Chorong continued to ignore Death even when she felt the god sit on the edge of the bed. Death took her hand but she refused to acknowledge the god’s presence. But when she felt Eunji’s lips on her palm, she got surprised and jerked away, “Hey!” Death smiled at her and pulled her for a hug until Chorong found her face against Eunji’s shoulder, “Eunji!”

“Shh, I can feel your anger even from the throne room,” the god whispered with a chuckle. “Destiny’s been teasing me about it too.”

“Well maybe you should just let me go and attend my classes,” she complained but still managed to relax against the god’s shoulder. Chorong could never deny that she liked the way Death would always calm her down. The fresh scent that the god had was surprising (since she’s Death and all) but whenever Chorong would feel Death around her, it made her want to stay beside the god more.

Her thoughts were stopped when she felt Death’s body shaking from laughter. The god broke the hug and cupped her face, “Just stay here for a week or two. To calm things down. And then we’ll let you two go back.”

Chorong stared at the god.

“Can we agree on that, my love?” Chorong thought it was unfair. It was unfair how Death would use her eyes to distract her. The god knew how much her eyes could make Chorong feel out of this world that she would find herself agreeing to whatever the god said the moment their eyes met. And that’s exactly what happened. Chorong nodded and agreed to stay in Equilibrium for two weeks, just as Death wanted her to.

Death laid down the bed and pulled the human into a hug, cuddling her. Chorong couldn’t stop herself from sighing in contentment. She remained quiet. The two stayed in that position for a while. Over the days (months, really), they got used to doing just that. Being consumed by the comfortable silence between them, hearing nothing but each other’s heartbeat and even breathing. It was a good kind of silence.

Death broke the silence, “I have a better idea, let’s explore earth.” Chorong looked at her, confused, “Let’s go on a date?”

“We’re in the middle of a war with a god who managed to kill two other gods and you want to have a date?” she asked in disbelief.

“Fury will never attack me head on,” the god answered her with a proud smile. “So?”

“So what?” Chorong sat up and stared at Death.

The god sat up too and smiled. She reached out to fix the human’s hair, “Change your clothes, love. I will wait for you at the throne room.” Without another word, Death disappeared. She didn’t even walk out of the room, instead, she teleported away.

A bit annoyed but also excited, Chorong stood up and grabbed some clothes inside the walk-in closet that Death made for her before she went out of the room. The throne room was in the middle of the right and left wing, which were Life and Death’s quarters respectively. Chorong hasn’t been to Life’s room but that’s where Joohyun was staying. Among all the hundreds of rooms there, Life wanted Joohyun to stay in her room because she didn’t want Destiny near the girl. Chorong was growing a bit frustrated with the two. It was obvious that there was something between them but they both refused to admit it.

“Chorong? Is that you?” she looked to her left and saw Destiny. Chorong smiled and waved at the god, “It is you! Going somewhere?” Destiny approached her with a smile.

“Death wanted to go somewhere. I don’t know where though because she never mentioned anything,” she walked beside the god. Destiny was beyond beautiful. Her presence demanded attention wherever she went. Her humor was out of the world too. Sometimes, Chorong would find Death laughing at Destiny’s silly antics. The god’s eyes also conveyed things that words simply cannot express. The lilac colored irises that Destiny possessed were simply captivating. “Say, Destiny?”

“Hmm?”

“Your eyes, why are they purple?” Chorong stared at the god’s eyes, trying to see if it would change to another color.

Destiny chuckled and patted her head, “Each god has her own eye color, Chorong. It’s something we cannot change. Mine happens to be lilac.” She twirled a finger and made a purple mist appear, “Maybe you’ve noticed that Death has silver eyes and Life has amber.”

“Yes, I did,” she answered. “But their eyes change color. I once saw Death’s eyes become black.”

“That’s because our eye color changes when we’re mad and enraged. Mine changes to lavender when I’m mad but it becomes the darkest shade of violet when I’m close to insanity. It’s different for each god, Chorong,” they reached the door to the throne room. “You should look at Fragment’s eyes. She has what you humans call heterochromia.”

Chorong nodded but she has yet to meet Fragment. The god hasn’t been to Equilibrium yet.

They entered the throne room and found Death playing cards with Dream and Fate. With a new knowledge about the gods’ eyes, Chorong took her time to look at each god’s eyes to check its color. And much to Destiny’s words, they were all different. Dream’s eyes were blue, like the ocean. The kind of eyes one would get lost into when they stare for too