Tuesday 13th April 2010 

​

“Death has no form, yet is omnipotent. Death is ever present, yet never there. Death can be sought but not avoided. Death can be addressed but never bargained. Death has no gender, no nationality, no religion, and no alliances. 

 

Death, themself, has existed since the dawn of time, watching the population of the Earth exist and thrive. As the Earth aged and the creatures of the Earth evolved and grew, Death’s role, a vital piece in keeping the balance, grew as well. Death grew weary. Collecting souls was a tedious task. Mind numbingly tedious. ‘Soul destroying’, even.”

 

“Papa! You’re not funny!”

​

“My apologies, little one. No more, I promise… One day, Death grew so weary of collecting souls, that they decided to take a break from the monotonous task. Death gave themselves the day off and went to sleep.”

​

“How does Death sleep?”

​

“How do you sleep, little one?”

​

“I dunno. I just do.”

​

“Well, death just sleeps as well. But there are more consequences when Death sleeps. As Death slept, the Earth cried out as souls lingered past their end The cries grew louder with each hour, no, minute, no, second!. But Death slept on. Fate was furious and was left with no choice but to intervene. They released their unforgiving wrath on the Earth. Disaster after disaster struck and millions of innocent lives were lost. Their spirits cried out. With each life lost, another soul joined the thunder of cries. The thunder became an eruption that was loud enough to wake the dead.”

 

The little girl sighed and rolled her eyes. Her Papa glared and a little giggle escaped her.

 

The man grinned as he continued, “Death was awoken from their sleep and was immediately overwhelmed by the souls of the departed. When Death had finally caught up with the backlog of souls, they devised another plan to eliminate themselves of the monotonous task. Death gathered the bodies of ten recently departed humans, both men and women, and shared Death’s life-blood with them, awakening them to a second life, or a second death.

Death released them onto the Earth, to collect the souls of those departed. It worked marvellously and Death was free to focus their attention on more important matters like planning the next plague or inciting the next war. 

 

However, Death did not account for one thing. His creatures were without souls and as they collected the poor departed souls of the Earth, they grew hungry, famished, ravenous. They began to eat the souls that they were meant to collect, but it was not enough to fill the dark hole where the souls of their first life had been. They grew unrestrained, out of control, and turned to fresher souls. The souls of the living were far more… satisfying.

​

Death’s creatures ploughed through the living, draining the souls from their bodies, but as they did, they created more ravenous soulless creatures that fed on more living souls, which in turn created even more soulless creatures that fed on even more living souls. Eventually, there were more soulless creatures than there were humans to feed them.”

 

There was a little gasp. “Oh no.”

 

“Oh no, indeed. Death had to act, and quickly if they were to save the human race. Fate and Time would surely be furious with them if they allowed the result of millions of years of evolution to be destroyed just because they found one task tedious.”

​

“But, it is t-teed-e-us,” a little voice protested, leaping up in a vaillant defence for Death. 

​

Her Papa gently encouraged her to lie back down in her bed. “Yes, but it was Death’s task and they must complete it.”

​

“So, what did Death do?”

​

“Death gathered the ten original creatures, Death's chosen ones, and turned the others to dust. Death wanted to grant their chosen ones a second chance, one last chance to be Eternal, so Death gave the ten Eternals the ability to resist, to think, to grow, to feel. Everything that they were missing without a soul.”

​

“So, Death gave them a soul?”

​

“No. Death gave them a mimic of a soul. Death couldn’t give them a real soul. They still had that hole, where the soul is meant to be, but they had a bandage over it now. The creatures still ate from the souls of the living, but they now did so under the restriction and rules of Death. Death had to return to collecting the souls of the departed themselves and under Death’s careful watch, humanity began to thrive once again. Death’s creatures retreated into the shadows, becoming nothing more than a tale told to little children that strayed too far from their mothers.”

​

“But what happened to them? The ten Eternals?”

​

“Some say they are still out there, lingering in the shadows, waiting on their time to return to the light.”

​

“But…?”

​

“But… they are long gone.”

​

“So, what happened to make them ‘long gone’?”

​

“Now that is another story. Maybe one day you will learn it, little one. But you must sleep now.”

 

“But bad things happen when we sleep. You said that when Death slept-”

​

“That wasn’t the point of the story, little one.”

​

“Then what was the point of the story?”

​

“Responsibility. Death’s responsibility was to collect the souls of the dead and they had to do it. They couldn’t ignore it and they couldn’t leave it to someone else. Like when you have to tidy your room, you have to do it. You can’t ignore it and you can’t pass it onto someone else.”

​

The little girl huffed. “I’m not sure I like that story, Papa.”

​

The man laughed deeply. “No?”

​

The little girl shook her head, her ebony pigtails flicking from side to side as she did. “No. I don’t like tidying my room.”

​

The man laughed again. “Of course not. Who does, but just like Death has to collect souls, you have to tidy your room. It is your responsibility.”

​

The young girl pouted. “Did mummy tell you to tell me that story?”

​

“Nobody tells me to do anything.”

​

“Did she order it then?”

​

“Nobody can order me either. Nobody would dare.”

​

The young girl giggled but stopped as her bedroom door opened and her bedroom light turned on. With the return of the light, her papa was gone. Her mother poked her head around the door, looking sternly at the young girl in the bed. “Sleep, little miss. It’s long past your bedtime.”

​

“Sorry, Mummy.”

​

Her mother, a woman of twenty-nine years, a mother for six, entered the room. She sat on the edge of the bed, encouraging the young girl to lie down. She raised the duvet and gently tucked the little girl in. Her mother pressed a gentle kiss on her forehead and whispered, “sleep now. Daddy gets home tomorrow.”

​

“Will Daddy read me a story tomorrow?”

​

“We’ll see. Daddy’s a busy man. But that’s a tomorrow problem. It’s time to put today’s problems to rest. Go to sleep.”

​

The woman stood and neatened the bed covers, making sure the little girl was tucked in properly. “Goodnight baby.”

“Night Mummy.”

​

The mother retreated back to the door. She sent one last smile to the little girl, before turning off the light and leaving, closing the door behind her. 

​

“Good night Papa.”

​

“Good night, sweet one. Sleep well little crow. Fate can be cruel and your responsibilities are far more than you know. I hope you can bear them better than old Charles. But they are tomorrow’s problems. It’s time to put today’s to rest.”