March 2009

Life

For the past few days, Life’s sister, Death, had been traveling back and forth to the human world. It was normal for them to travel there but she seemed… excited. If that was the proper word for what Life has been seeing. Just like earlier, Death patted her head before teleporting away. It was safe to say that Death was acting weird.

Death even changed the way she dressed! These days, she has been wearing what humans call jeans and shirts. She also left their cloaks to have cobwebs on it. Life looked at her own cloak, the shining white with gold details she has been wearing since they came to exist. Death’s cloak was the same as hers but in black. But the details are the same. Life wondered why Death started wearing human clothes.

Being the curious god that she was, Life followed her sister. And to her absolute surprise, she saw Death with her other half, walking together on a busy street in the human world. She guessed that Chorong finally came of age and Death had claimed her. But why wasn’t she staying with the gods in Equilibrium? If they were already together, why wasn’t Chorong living with them like she used to?

Life teleported to where her other half was. She saw Joohyun talking to some acquaintances because they were all writing something down. She turned herself invisible and stood beside Joohyun.

“Okay, so we can’t buy drinks since we’re all minors. Let’s just stick with some cranberry juice and some other foods, yeah?” she told the group. Life sat on the table and rested her chin on her hand as she observed how Joohyun discussed what she wanted to happen.

It was a bit late but apparently, they were planning a surprise for Chorong. Life unconsciously agreed with the plan since it would be nice for Death’s other half to enjoy her coming of age even though it was late.

Life followed Joohyun as she walked out and was on her way to the market to buy the things they needed. She looked extra beautiful especially when she would frown as she read her list. She couldn’t help but smile whenever Joohyun would do tiny gestures to celebrate something. After buying everything she needed, Joohyun decided to walk home.

Sensing some danger, Life walked ahead of her other half and made herself visible at the corner. The route back to their house was secluded and somehow dangerous. Life saw a group of men waiting for a victim. Unlike Death, Life doesn’t like the idea of killing humans– even if they were bad ones.

She turned to her heel to meet Joohyun. Lost in her own thoughts, she bumped into the god, “Sorry,” she uttered. She held Joohyun’s arm, causing the girl to look at her, “What?”

“Don’t take this route home. It’s dangerous,” Life said. Joohyun frowned and yanked her arm away.

“Who the hell are you? And please, don’t tell me what to do. I’ve been taking this way home since I was a kid. I can handle myself,” Joohyun took a step aside and started walking again.

"Listen to me!" Life said out of frustration. Joohyun turned her head to face her, "I won't let you get in a dangerous situation."

"Look, Miss, I don't know who you are but I'm telling you it's okay. Besides, no one would believe a cosplayer like you," she looked at Life from head to toe and rolled her eyes. The god usually doesn't lose her patience. It was Death’s job to be temperamental. But this girl grew up to be a brat! Joohyun continued to walk so she had no choice but to lift her off the ground and carry her like a sack of potatoes. Although if that was true then maybe Joohyun’s the most beautiful potato to ever existed. 

“Hey! Put me down! This is called kidnapping!” Joohyun struggled over her shoulder. 

"Hush! Do I have to remind you of who I am?" Life hissed at her. She kept hitting the god’s back so she had no choice but to put her to sleep and teleported to Equilibrium. "Servant!" she called.

"Yes, Mistress?" a soul appeared right away. She gave the soul servant the bag that Joohyun was carrying and proceeded to her quarters located at the right wing. She put Joohyun down and fixed her hair.

For millions of years, Life has never lost patience. But this human. It was as if Joohyun knew which buttons to push to make her temper go beyond the heavens. She walked out of her quarters and went to the throne room. She found Death with her other half. Death looked at her and nodded, “Why do you look so off, Life?” Her question made Chorong look at Life as well.

"I see you two are together again," Life sat on her throne and massaged her temple. She saw how Chorong blushed and shook her head when Death looked at her with a playful smile.

"We're not together!" the human shook her head.

"Yet," Death followed. Chorong looked at her and then looked down, her face becoming redder than it already was.

"Eunji!" the girl whined. Death smiled and tucked Chorong’s loose hair behind her ear.

"Eunji? That's what she calls you in this lifetime?" Life asked in an amazed tone.

Death nodded, then looked at Life "What's wrong?"

"Nothing that you should be alarmed off," she stood up and started walking towards the exit of the throne room.

"We're not together!" she heard Chorong whisper to her sister. She turned her head again and looked at the ‘not together’ couple.

She saw her sister kissing her other half's palm, "Not yet, agapi mou. But soon we will be. Again."

Life rolled her eyes and walked back to her quarters. Death really does turn soft when it comes to her other half. While for Life, she’s usually considerate to humans but when it comes to Joohyun, the girl managed to push her to her limits.

Joohyun was already sitting up when she entered her room again, “I see you’re awake.”

“Where the hell am I?!” Joohyun demanded. Life sighed and sat on the edge of the bed.

“Say, Joohyun, do you not remember me?” she asked. Joohyun raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “Fine. You’re here in Equilibrium. A place where you are neither dead nor alive. I’m Life and I’m a god.”

Joohyun stared at her and then started laughing, “What did you smoke? That’s insane!”

"What do you mean?"

"You sound high. Seriously, where am I?" she asked. Another sigh escaped the god’s lips, "What?"

"Nothing. You don't believe me, hayati."

"My name's Joohyun, not hayati. Please stop calling me that," she stood up and faced Life, "Where is my stuff? I need to prepare for Chorong’s surprise birthday."

Life snapped her fingers and a servant appeared with her stuff, "I'll take you home. Death's here so I can't have her see you."

"Seriously, you should stop smoking that. You're hallucinating," she said between her chuckles. "And you need to learn some fashion because that cloak is not fashionable. Not even one bit."

"This cloak is older than your ancestors," Life told Joohyun..

"Yeah because it's prehistoric fashion," she answered. Life closed her eyes before she stood up.

"Let's get you home before I lose my patience with you again," she made her sleep and carried her stuff before teleporting to her room.

Life placed her down on her bed and left the stuff she bought beside it. She held her hand and kissed the back of it. “I have things to learn if I want you to believe me," she whispered before she teleported back to Equilibrium.

~

Death

Learning over the past few days was definitely fun for Death. Apparently, their cloaks are ‘out of style’ as Chorong would call it. So for the past few days, she has been teaching Death about what humans call ‘fashion’. She even accompanied Death to a boutique and they bought some clothes together.

"Again, Eunji, where do you get money?" she asked. They were at a store, buying more clothes because apparently, Death enjoyed it.

"We have an infinite amount of money, Agapi Mou. Me and Life are gods and the money that falls out of people's pockets are all taken by our servants. They are stored in a place in Equilibrium which we can use whenever we please. We never really used money so now, I am what you say rich," she explained. Chorong’s mouth parted, "Why?"

"You mean you have a whole room filled with money? Different kinds of mon