January 1994

Death

Death sat on her throne and watched over the humans while sipping some herbal tea. Being a god was hard. While it’s fun to teleport anywhere and make something out of nothing, it wasn’t all perfect and everything as the mortals would perceive it. Being able to live forever only sounded appealing since they knew they were against time but for Death, it wasn’t as fun as it sounds like. Not when she saw all sorts of people die and she had to attend to their remains. Now the tricky part of her job, souls. Souls can either be sent to fantasia (the afterlife, as humans call it) or put into another human body. And for the past centuries, Death has been preserving one soul. On repeat.

Life came in and sat beside her with the same annoying grin Death hated to see, “How’s my favorite sister?” Death rolled her eyes and didn’t say a word as she continued to watch the humans, “I’ve been wondering, Death…”

The sentence made Death look at her sister. It was rare for Life to sound serious so it got her attention.

"How come they always choose you?" Life asked as she rested her chin on her hand. "Life is fun but they choose to die."

In Death’s experience with humans, she could definitely say that they all want to live but they think that death is an easy solution to their problems. They think that once they die, the suffering ends. But it was much more complex than that. Souls go through so much first before they get reincarnated. Sometimes, they even suffer in order to make up for the sins they have made when they were still alive. Worse comes to worst, they don’t reincarnate at all.

"Humans are difficult to understand," she told her. Death looked away and saw the child containing the most important soul for her, playing with dolls, "They think dying can make them feel at peace." Death smiled to herself and turned her attention to the teapot, pouring more tea for herself and for her sister.

"Now that . I give them a lot of options but they manage to choose the worst possible choice," Life looked at where she was looking.

The throne room is a place where they can see the world. Every single part. For humans, it would look like a huge CCTV room. There’s a big globe in the middle and it's like a projection of what humans do. The bigger the projection, the more they are likely to make bad decisions.

"Death," Life called.

"What? For once, keep quiet," she scolded. Life patted her arm and pointed to one corner of the globe. The projection got bigger and she couldn't help but stare. As recognition dawned on her, Death said, "That's the former village leader.”

"I know that! But look!" Life pointed at the man who is cleaning his gun while mumbling things even the gods could not understand. As the man continued to clean his machine gun, it dawned on Life on what was about to happen, "He'll kill the entire village!"

Death felt her whole body start to numb. Pictures of the precious little girl containing the soul of her other half flashed inside her mind. Thousands of scenarios played simultaneously that it almost made her feel nauseous. The memories of seeing her other half dead started flooding in and Death could feel her body start to tremble.  Anger seeped through her veins. Her other half can’t die. Not when she has yet to live her life.

The former village leader started his revenge, thus the killing began. Gunshots could be heard throughout the village. His men killed every villager from left to right. Even children who were innocent and tried to escape ended up dead with a bullet straight through their bodies.

"This can't be!" Death stood up and teleported to the house of the family where her other half was born. The urgency to find the child was running through her veins. It didn’t matter if she showed herself in front of humans. Death needed to make sure that her other half’s soul was still pretty much in a breathing body. 

She found the family hiding inside the main room. The father tried to attack her with a katana but with a raise of a hand, Death made it disappear. She held the man’s shoulder and made him incapable of moving before she turned to the woman.

"Don't kill our daughter. I beg of you," her mother begged as she held the child between her arms. Death shook her head before she let go of the man and crouched to the woman’s level.

“I will help,” she said with firmness in her voice. She turned to the father who nodded at her before bowing, “Grab everything you can. Only what is needed. Move with haste and then follow me.”

Death looked around, wondering where she could possibly take them. She’s pretty sure she was going to answer to Balance after this incident but she couldn’t care less. In the middle of her deep thought, she saw the child looking at her with her wide brown eyes.

"Hello," she said with innocent eyes. The god smiled and touched her cheek.

I will save you again this time, Death thought to herself. Her parents finished getting all their needs so the god stood up again, "Follow me and don't look back." Death took the child in her arms and made her sleep.

In a snap, her counterpart appeared in front of them and said, "You're messing things up again!"

"Hush," she said. "Too much death has happened now and it would ruin the balance if this family dies too. It's an entire massacre."

She shrugged and looked at the family. Life followed her gaze and smiled before she disappeared. As the family went out on the streets, passing by the killers, Death covered them with her power to make them invisible.

The woman spoke, "Honey, the village."

"Don't look away from my back, woman. Once you look away, they will notice your presence. You will become visible to the mortal eye," Death told her. The father held his wife’s hand and continued to walk behind the god.

They reached the dock by the end of the mountains. Without nowhere to go, the father asked, "Where do we go?"

"This place is no longer safe. I have prepared a boat for you and your family to set sail to the neighboring city," the god answered. There was no sign of any fear in his eyes. Death nodded, acknowledging his courage and will to protect his family, "I will be waiting on the other side to guarantee your safety. Her safety," she looked at the sleeping child in her arms.

"You will not come?" the mother asked with a softer voice.

She shook her head and sighed, "I can only save you from near death situations but I cannot accompany you in a safe journey. Do not worry. The waves are calm and they will make sure of your safety." Death handed the child to the woman, "When you reach the dock on the other side, go to the third cottage on the left. You will find there the things you will need to start anew. I will be there to keep you safe but you will no longer see me."

"Thank you," the man said.

"Take care of her in exchange," she pointed at the child sleeping in her mother's embrace. "On her day of age, I will return to take her back. Like what you have wished for at the church. She will go back to where she belongs."

"And that is where?" her mother asked.

A smile escaped Death’s lips, "With