Present Time

Death

"So what do we do now?" four gods sat around the table. Each of them had sullen faces. The death of two gods was too much and if another god gets killed, it would mean destruction for mankind. Death, Life, Time, and Dream looked at their own hands, wondering what to do– trying to think of something they could do. “We don’t know where she is. I can’t feel her presence. Neither can Life.”

Death looked at the table beside them and saw Chorong and Joohyun were sitting. Life and Death decided that it would be for the best to have the two human girls stay with them for the time being, while Fury was still on the loose. Time and Dream didn’t say anything when they declared that. It was also more of they couldn’t because it wasn’t their business.

“The question is,” Dream sighed before she clasped her hands together and leaned on the table. “How did she manage to kill two of the most powerful gods? For all we know, Light and Dark are indestructible.”

Life leaned her head back, looking at the ceiling, and let out a sigh as well, “We do not know for sure, Dream. None of us were there when the killing occurred. And like you, I don’t have the slightest clue on how to kill a god. If I did, I would have killed Fury before.”

“We are just as clueless as you are regarding this, Dream,” Death spoke as she took another look at Chorong. Her other half was busy discussing something with Joohyun. She even took out her notebook and showed it to her best friend. If circumstances were different, Death would have laughed and found the scene adorable.

“Death,” Time called her attention. She turned to the god who was looking at her with serious eyes, “We need to see Fate and Destiny.”

“We cannot leave two humans here in Equilibrium, Time. At the same time, we cannot send them back to the human world unguarded. Fury will kill them,” she countered. It was not an option to leave Chorong without a god around. Not when Fury was certain to kill her.

Life covered her face with her hands, clearly frustrated, “And even if we give them thousands of souls as guards, Fury could easily destroy each and every one of them in a snap. We all know how she is. She’s uncontrollable, berserk even.”

“We can’t just stay here forever!” Time slammed her hands on the table but Death remained stoic. She already decided that her priority was to make sure that Chorong was safe and nothing could change that. Not even another god.

“Bring them then,” they all looked at Dream when she spoke so nonchalantly. She shrugged and raised an eyebrow, “What? We can’t leave them here so why not bring them to where we’re supposed to go? It’s the most logical option.”

“We can’t let them get more tangled up in the situation. They’re humans. They’re literally supposed to be on earth, doing what they should be doing,” Life explained with a tired voice.

“You think they’re not tangled up with our problems yet?” Time stood up and walked towards where Chorong and Joohyun were. “I hate to break it to you, Life, but they’re pretty much already caught up in this situation no matter what they do. It’s a given fact that Fury already knows that Chorong is here. She’s not stupid as well. By now, she already figured out Life’s connection with Joohyun.”

“That’s impossible,” Life stood up with a frown on her face. Death silently agreed with the sentiments of her sister. It was impossible to track a single human without being connected to them. So how would Fury track Joohyun? Unless Joohyun was her half then it wasn’t in the least bit possible.

“Why do you think they always get into tight situations?” none of them answered Time’s question. She continued, “We saw how Fury was before we managed to imprison her. We know her capabilities as a mad god. And who knows how much she has against us. If we don’t bring these two humans with us, they’ll end up dead. Dream is right, we should bring them with us.”

Chorong and Joohyun patiently waited for them to finish their discussion. Death knew that the two humans were terrified of the idea of meeting Fury. Death was too. And by the looks of it, Life was scared as well.

No one said a word after that. All of the gods were trying their best to come up with a plan or even an idea to find something out. To figure out at least one clue. But they were too complacent. They never saw it coming. The day when Fury would escape and cause chaos again all over the world. Before, it was a lot easier to locate her because they had Light and Dark. Anything that was touched by light, whether through fire or sun, Light would know. And anything not touched by light, Dark knew. There was no escape for Fury. But now that Light and Dark were gone, it was almost as if they were looking for a needle in the ocean. And they had eye masks on so they couldn’t really see anything. They were blind.

“I agree with Time,” Dream broke the silence. Her voice echoed throughout the throne room, “It would be best to have them with us than risk Fury finding them.

Death sighed and nodded. She wasn’t supposed to bring Chorong to meet other gods but if it was needed in order to keep her safe then Death had no choice. “Fine. But the moment a confrontation with Fury happens, my priority is to save Chorong and keep her safe.”

Life let out another breath, “I will not let anything happen to Joohyun.” Death looked at her, eyes squinting but her sister just looked away. There was definitely something going on but why Life was refusing to tell her, Death could not understand.

"Let's get going then," Time suddenly disappeared, followed by Dream. When they were left alone, she noticed Life on her way to where Joohyun was. She didn’t mind. Instead, Death looked at Chorong and waited for her to look back.

"Agapi mou, come, let's get going," she raised her hand, waiting for her other half to take it as she always did. Chorong stood up and walked towards her. Her eyes screamed confusion and Death couldn’t help but sigh.

She took the hand that was waiting for her and asked,“Where are we going?” Death took a good look at Chorong, wondering how she was the only thing keeping her from losing her sanity. How was Chorong so perfect? Even for a god, Death had flaws. A lot of them. But whenever she would look at Chorong, there wasn’t something she didn’t love. And if there was something she would discover from the girl, she would eventually love it as well. With a smile, the god fixed her hair.

“We’re going on a short trip to visit Destiny and Fate,” Chorong’s expression when she heard the answer made the god chuckle. In her three lifetimes, this one including, Chorong never met other gods before. Of course the gods knew who she was because Death nearly followed Fury when her first and second life died.

Death turned to look at her sister. She saw Life hugging Joohyun, her arms wrapped around the girl’s waist. It would look as if Life wanted to be one with Joohyun. Like she wanted to disappear and just be part of the girl. Life’s eyes contained too much fear that even Death could feel it. And by hugging Joohyun, Death assumed that it was Life’s way of making her own fears disappear. She would know. Death’s like that too when it came to Chorong.

Her assumptions were becoming more and more clear with each time she would see how Life was with the girl. But Joohyun wasn’t lying when she told Death that they were just friends. Her eyes could never lie. And one of Death’s abilities was to read human eyes, Joohyun was still human. Death decided not to meddle anymore as long as Chorong was safe.

She pulled Chorong closer to her and visualized Fate’s realm. In a blink of an eye, they were standing in a room full of red threads. Time and Dream were already seated when they arrived, drinking tea. Death held Chorong’s hand and led them to where the other gods were gathered.

“It’s been a while, Death,” the lean god greeted her with a smile. She stopped connecting the red threads and faced Death.

“It’s been centuries since we last saw each other, Fate,” Death smiled.

Fate looked stunning. She has always been. With her calm and quiet demeanor, most gods have always been crushing on her. But always stuck with Destiny.

The god looked at Chorong and smiled, “Ah, your other half. Welcome to our realm. Feel free to look around. Just don’t break anything. We don’t want humans to cut ties all of a sudden.” Fate waved her hand and a chair appeared before Death, just by the table. Death let go of Chorong and just let her roam around the room, amazed by the threads that were scattered. Each thread represents a human’s life and with each knot it has with another thread signifies an encounter with another human. 

“Where’s Life?” she asked as soon as she sat down. She half expected her sister to arrive first since Death pretty much talked to Chorong before they teleported.

“They’ll be here in twenty seconds,” a woman dressed in purple appeared beside Fate and smiled at Death. “Long time no see, Death.”

Before Death could answer, Life appeared with Joohyun between her arms. Her sister looked at them and said, “Destiny.”

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