An old entity discovers a new purpose
Year 12, Taieri College
I have gone by many names over the course of my existence.
Thanatos, Mors, Hel, El Tio, Anubis, The Grim Reaper. But I had never been referred to as this before.
As I stood behind the small group sat around the campfire, they had mentioned their incredible luck over the past few days and one had slowly said to the others: ‘‘I don’t think what has been happening to us is luck or anything like that. I think it’s something more, something almost like the spirit of life itself’’. Life. Never had I been referred to as Life.
For years I had been helping the souls of the departed to the afterlife, punishing the wicked and rewarding the innocent.
When the world ended and most of humanity had flooded to my doors, I had to change something about myself.
I was no longer a bringer of death and despair. Instead, I began to focus on protecting those who needed it most, those left behind on Earth.
Originally I was careful, providing small things for the ones who needed it — food for the starving, water for the thirsty, shelter for the cold and wet — but eventually as people became hostile to one another, I had to step in.
It’s wrong for Death to personally kill. I’m just supposed to guide those who were killed, but by manipulating the physical world I’m able to give an advantage to those who deserve it.
Whether it was pushing a dropped weapon closer to someone, or tripping the attacker by moving something in front of them as they are running.
That’s how I keep people alive. Of course I’m not always like that. I am still the spirit of death, and if it’s someone’s time then it’s their time.
‘‘Life.’’ The word rolled out my mouth, spoken with a raspy voice not used in years.
One of the children in the small group suddenly started coughing violently, awaking with a start.
This child was why I was following this group; as much as I hate to take children, this one’s time was nearly up.
As the adults flocked to the child, I turned away.
In the back of my mind a voice screamed that I can’t keep putting it off.
He was just suffering more with each passing day.
This world was dead, and I was forcing the people left on it, to live through its horrors.
Another violent coughing session dragged me out of my daydream.
I sighed in defeat. It was his time. I made my way to the child’s bed mat, kneeling down near him.
Beside me I heard the child’s mother praying to the gods to spare her child.
My hand faltered inches from the child’s shoulder.
This child didn’t deserve to die. He didn’t do anything wrong, no guilt hung on his shoulders.
Yet, I didn’t want him to suffer any more.
I let my hand fall upon the child’s shoulder and the coughing stopped.
The child’s soul never appeared beside me.
Light suddenly flared up from the child, causing me to stagger away.
I stared, shocked as the light rose from the child’s chest before it disappeared back inside him and a small breath came from his mouth. ‘‘Mmom?’’
Everyone stared in stunned silence at the child’s sudden recovery before the mother cried out and brought the child close to her in an embrace.
I shouldn’t be able to heal people, that’s not what I do.
This world is supposed to die, along with those left on it and I can’t change that.
‘‘But you can change that, you have changed that,’’ a new voice called from the back of my head.
I stared at my hands — hands that had ended the lives of so many over my time.
How could they ever heal when all they did was kill, what gave me the right to choose who can live.
‘‘And what gave you the choice over when someone dies.
‘‘You have protected those incapable of protecting themselves, you have helped save this world.
‘‘You are deserving of this, you can become a protector, and no more will you have to be the executioner.’’
I looked up at the earth left behind, my mouth opening slowly to once more convey a message on a voice not used in years.
‘‘No more will I be the executioner.’’
The land around me shimmered a vibrant green as soil not fertile for years became so, grass began to grow around my feet.
As I watched, a large bush grew from the ground before me and from its center formed a rose that gleamed a brilliant red in the world of brown.
I slowly looked around at the land before me, and watching the rose blow gently in the breeze I felt something that I haven’t ever felt. Hope.
That was all I needed as I walked, Life following in the wake of Death.