Though life may exist for a limited time, it ultimately comes down to the moment of death to end it all. That is certainly true for any mortal creature, whether it’s a human, demon, an elf, any other living creature, or even a dragon, yet the ones outside the mortal plain just see death as part of mortal cycle. A cycle that they don’t interfere in. Most immortals chose to ignore their mortal counterparts in favor of solitude or obtaining wisdom. Some were tasked with duties that involved mortals, such creatures being the angels that serve the gods.

Originally, angels were a species and recognized as such before becoming known as gods’ messengers. They all share their origin with the Great Tree from whose branches they sprouted like flowers. Of course the Great Trees were gigantic trees that occupied the unknown land in a dimension never explored by mankind. While the trees were by far not the tallest, they were very wide reaching with its branches extending all over the land they occupied. The beings that came to be known as angels were originally created by the Great Trees and were the residents of their own dimension.

Their realm was the realm of immortals. They knew nothing of the impermanence of life and how rules governed the other worlds.

Of course in no time, angels found out that their world is not the only world in existence. Curious about the other realms and unable to restrain their interest, angels journeyed to the other dimension. None knew how they managed to journey to other realms, but their existence all over other realms serves to confirm it. Some simply knew not where they were going and in a sense slipped through the cracks between their world and the others.

Some have arrived in a realm occupied by mortals. To their curiosity they found out that the dimension of mortals was separated into realms, each having borders set up in form of invisible barriers.

To their horror, they discovered that they had no corporeal forms in this realm. They could only have limited influence upon reality. In a sense they were bodiless energy that possessed consciousness. Their forms from their own world vanished, only returning if they influenced the territory enough to call it their own domain. They were same as ghosts.

Because of having no corporeal forms, many angels chose to watch over humanity and were rather fascinated by their beliefs. They watched and learned many things over the countless years of following peculiar individuals. Then one day, angel discovered that he could possess a body of a human being, essentially allowing the angel to have his own body. The angel found a way to change the body to suit his needs, modifying its appearance to that of his own and granting the body the wings that became the signature marking of the angels. Soon, other angels followed the suit and started interacting with human beings. This interaction inspired human beings to come up with so many legends honoring the angels while mostly ignorant of their true origins. This was certainly due to human beings considering angels something of divine origin while the angels were trying to appease human beings in order to understand them better.

After occupying human bodies, some angels grew out of learning about human beings and started to genuinely understand them. Many chose to lead their lives as human beings. Because they permanently occupied human bodies they chose to forgo their immortality in order to become one with humanity. This partially can be attributed to them falling in love with humanity. Though seeing this trend, the gods of the world forbid the angels from occupying human bodies for it made the angels be out of their influence. Some cruel gods have even hunted down many angels who did occupy human bodies in order to eliminate the trend of possession. Afterwards, the practice of possession was mostly forgotten.

Some angels did not feel any sentiment towards humanity and chose to leave the dimension altogether, in favor of having their own bodies in their own reality rather than exist as specters within human realm.

Yet, some found themselves in the middle ground. They did not want to occupy a human host and become mortal nor did they want to leave this dimension. They simply wanted to have a place in this world.

They quickly found out that the world of mortals follows the rules set by nature and in order to have influence and be immortal within this world they have to become part of the cycle. Unlike mortals, angels held access to every stage and realm of existence. All doors were open to them, but one. They always knew there is a Creator who set up all the rules of existence to every realm created, but this Creator never interfered. The Creator was the ultimate observer. Angels deduced that Creator was very curious about life and its course. The entire course.

Angels deduced the existence of the creator because of the fact that no matter what they tried they could not bend certain rules of reality and were forced to obey and abide by them. One of such rules was becoming part of cycle of nature.

By becoming part of cycle of nature, angel was able to obtain a corporeal form without possessing a human body and maintained immortality. There a many ways angels have become part of nature cycle, each one being pledging loyalty and fealty to a specific god and be granted a physical form in return.

Those who pledged themselves to the primordial god of death, Olim, had a duty to help souls move on after death. Of course there were many rules that had to be followed, which includes the fact that they are unable to interfere until after the mortal dies.

No mortal knows what happens after death, other than the fact that it’s beyond the current world and angels occupy it. While vague, what they know is the truth. There are angels waiting in the world beyond and those responsible for sending the souls there.

Out of the angels that chose to stay immortal, those that serve Olim became the agents of sending souls to the world beyond. While most mortals could travel to the world beyond after death, some had lingering attachments to the world of the living- the problem some angels attempted to resolve. To prevent human being from being trapped in between planes of existence as a ghost, certain angels attempted to allow them to rest in peace. While the angels could not help the souls with unfinished business, they could help souls that completed their tasks in life but were stranded. The interesting fact is- many souls end up like this after the occupant of the soul perishes, leading to certain angels to come and send them to the world beyond.  These angels became known as Shinigami. They were also known as the Reapers, the servant of Primordial god of death, Olim.

On a particular day, a certain Reaper named Desolai was taking care of her duties as usual. Reaping a soul- essentially severing the connection with this reality of the soul that has finished its business. There are countless Shinigami existing within this realm, so there never was a need to rush, but the duty was still duty. She had certain souls she had to reap in order to maintain her position. It became meaning of her existence. She has long forgotten of who she used to be before due to the centuries upon centuries spent being a Shinigami. By now Shinigami became part of cycle of nature, so the only thing that mattered to her was her duty. At least that’s what she likes to think. After completing her duty for a day, she stays in human realm longer in order to observe humanity and in particular their relationships with each other. Angels never knew of such things without becoming mortals. The relationships like company, friendships, love, and family were largely a mystery to them. Desolai watched the mothers take care of their babies with undeniable curiosity. She was fascinated by the fact that human beings could create life and that they nurtured it. Angels could not reproduce by nature unless they become mortals, so immortal angels like Shinigami are rather mystified with the human concepts of love and caring. Desolai would spend long hours watching happy families spending their times together and often wonder if the human beings are the saddest or the happiest of creatures. They were rather limited when it came to lifespan but were fortunate enough to have the power to have influence the world. Desolai sadly remarked that she while she had a physical form; she was both intangible and invisible to human beings. Being a Shinigami meant she could only interact with souls of the deceased and had a duty to perform her position. She could not change the fate of a human being nor interfere and she only came for them at the end. This fact she has long ago accepted.

After watching or rather stalking human families, she flapped her black wings and flew back to her domain. Her domain occupied the same plane of existence as the human realm but was hidden thoroughly. To human eyes and senses, her domain appears to be a large mountain. Human beings could even climb it to prove its authenticity. Only when she passed through the mountain could she go to her domain. Her domain was a large space that seemed to exist in its own pocket dimension considering it was far larger than the space occupied by the mountain. Within her domain she built many things, including a mansion, a barn, and a forest. She also built many other structures over the years, mostly due to her fascination with human beings. In order to liven up her domain, she grew grass and plants within it and allowed animals to enter her domain once the plants have grown enough. Within her domain she held the absolute authority and she could even manipulate time within it. Because of this growing grasslands and tall trees from seeds was an easy matter. Additionally, within her own domain she could interact with anything, touch anything, and she was free to enjoy the feel of wind, sun, and water. Such experiences are impossible within the human world, so she cherished the moments she could spend in her domain after completing her duty for the day. Yet something always seemed to be missing.

Desolai landed on the grass with her wings folding on her back like clothing. She enjoyed the feel of the grass, the soft sensation that it produced. The cool air around her made her comprehend the beauty of life and how she was free to do what she wanted, as long as she was within her domain. All alone. All alone.

Dung, dung, dung, dung, dung…..

A sound, and a very unfamiliar one at that. Desolai was alarmed to hear it within her own domain. She scanned her surroundings but could not find anything within her vicinity. She chose to follow her hearing and flew in the direction the sound came from. It was coming from the barn.

She quickly flew by to the barn and found an unexpected sight. The wall of the barn was broken as if it was pierced from the outside by a strong force. The barn was intact just with a huge hole in its wall. She was perplexed, how was there damage on the barn when she was the only occupant of her domain, aside from the animals, but there wasn’t an animal that was strong or smart enough to do this. Granted, the barn was made with inferior materials due to the fact that she imitated the barn of a commoner, but still it is not easy to make a hole like this.

She opened the door of the barn. She found something, someone she didn’t expect.

A human being. Young man with black hair, average height, and yellowish face. He looked to be in his late teens. He was sleeping on a hay stack. His clothes were shredded so he looked rather bizarre considering the only piece of clothing that was intact was his underwear. Desolai was somewhat embarrassed for reason she could not understand.

When Desolai approached the young man, he opened his eyes. When he saw her he proceeded to scream. “Aaaah! A skeleton monster!”

Desolai was still in her form of Reaper, it was a form she changed into when she was taking care of duty, so she was rather scary. She took on that form because human beings associated death with such appearance. It was not her preferred form. She looked like a three meter tall skeleton with black wings dressed in black dress.

“Apologies for the appearance, human” Desolai changed her form to her preferred form. The three meter tall skeleton was replaced by a beautiful woman with very pale skin. Of course the height of the being stayed the same.

“You changed!” man was rather surprised. He could not contain his shock. There was genuine surprise in his eyes, but the fear didn’t seem to completely vanish.

“What are you?”

“I am a Shinigami, the master of this domain.” She looked at him with a questioning look. “The one who should be asking questions should be me, why are you in my domain? Who are you?”

“Shinigami? What is that? And also… Who am I?”

“You don’t know?” Desolai was not sure if he was making a joke out of her or was pretending to be an imbecile. She was not familiar with ways of human beings or how to have a valid conversation for that matter. She usually conversed with the souls of deceased and they were not the most talkative bunch.

“I don’t think so” the young man shook his head.

Desolai approached him. He seemed frightened but didn’t stand back or tremble. She placed her palm on his forehead. Her palm felt very cold as if it was made of stone.

She inspected him. He was not lying. His mind seems to be completely empty except for his ability to speak and some skills. She couldn’t even find any trace of his past, as if it was completely erased. She could sense that he wasn’t completely a human. She felt the energy in his body. Yes, it seems like he is only a half. What is the other half, she inspected his aura further, she felt it, and it was aura of a demon. He was half demon.

“A demon, I see…” she murmured. He was rather perplexed at what she was saying.

She poured her intent through her palm into his forehead to see within him. She wanted to see what constitutes the person who intruded upon her domain and knew absolutely nothing about himself.

To her surprise she found that the man’s soul was fractured. It was half, no, one fourth the size of a normal soul. The living soul in his body was not whole and to make the matters more complex, there were countless dead souls occupying his body as well. The living souls had a spark in them that Shinigami could see, and at death the soul loses that spark.

Desolai was astounded, how did this man get his soul fractured and how in the world did he become infused to so many dead souls? This is not supposed to be possible in nature, yet here is a freak of nature within her own domain! She was speechless. A soul is supposed to be whole and stable, that is the rule. Yet his soul was rather a weird sight. Yet that would explain the memory loss. If his soul was fractured, then it would mean he lost piece of himself. As for the dead souls, they seem to have permanently fused to his body, desperately clinging to him. She could not do anything to pull them off of him. The dead souls clustered around the fragmented living soul, clinging to it for life. Essentially it was a symbiotic relationship. Desolai felt that fractured living soul allowed the other dead souls to cling on to life, while they allowed the living soul to stay stable. It was a rather bizarre sight.

“Human! Follow me” Desolai told the young man. She flew off ahead towards her mansion. She deliberately flew in slow motion so that he would be able to follow her.

As expected, man followed her on foot in a rather slow pace even though he was trying his hardest to keep up. The entrance of the house was surrounded by metal fences that were shaped like spears. No doubt, to keep the intruders away, if there were any. While there was vegetation and life outside the house, inside the fence looked far different. It was as if someone took all the paint of life and just proceeded to erase them, leaving just bare soil and bleak atmosphere. With a gesture of Desolai hand the gate to the mansion opened. Man followed her to the inside.

The mansion itself was decorated with various things that did not seem to match up in style. It was almost like a mix up of various forms of decoration taken from different periods in history. Some were angular, some were round, and some looked rather unusual. It seems like the owner of the house was trying to imitate human beings for a long time without any sense of style of their own. That would explain the giant triangular door that opened by spinning around horizontally along the center of the door. There was no decoration on the door, it was only distinguishable from the rest of the house because it was colored pure white instead of greyish black like the rest of the outside of the house.

Shinigami and man entered the house. Somehow the inside of the house seemed far larger than the outside. When man tried to focus on his surroundings he understood that the size of the inside made him feel like some sort of an insect inside of giant’s lair. He felt dizzy at the thought and sat down to relieve his senses. Desolai sensed his discomfort and she waited a little bit for him to snap out of it. It was rather curious for her to see a living being’s reaction to her house, considering he was her first mortal guest.

Man managed to take few deep breaths and followed Desolai further. There were so many hallways that he was sure he would be lost for eternity if he wasn’t guided by Shinigami. She on the other hand was flying around confident of the whereabouts of absolutely anything within the house considering she is the one who built it. Man could not keep up with navigating inside the house, and soon he gave up trying to mentally map the inside of the mansion.

Finally they arrived to the entrance of a room. The room had a round entrance without a door. It was gigantic entrance size of an elephant. It was decorated in gold and precious stones. The archway had some words decorated on it with black ink. Man squinted his eyes in an effort to read it. It said “Answers you seek lie on the inside.” He wasn’t sure why it said that and why Shinigami would design the entrance in such weird fashion.

They entered the room.

“This is my library” Desolai spread her arms around gesturing towards the entirety of the room. Man’s eyes opened wide in astonishment. The library was simply gigantic. Other than the entrance there didn’t seem to be any boundaries to the library, no walls or ceilings were visible. It was almost as if the library occupied a small realm of its own. He was partially right in his assumption.

There were countless books lining up the shelves. Man tried to take in how many there were in total, but he lost count in low thousands. Shinigami ignored the magnificent sight of the books, most likely because she visited this place very often. Instead she ordered her library in an authoritative voice.

“Bring me this mortal’s book of life!”

The room obeyed the command instantaneously. From the far corner of the room in a huge section labeled living, a single book flew out at an alarmingly high speed towards the Desolai. The book didn’t seem to have an ability to track anyone’s direct location except for Desolai, so it almost ended up hitting the man in the head before he ducked just in time. The book landed in Desolai’s hands. The book seemed to be made of rather rough material, but it was coated in leather making it feel rather smooth to the touch. The pages were of golden white color.

Desolai looked at the book’s cover. It said Sabgyn Finnerman. She opened the first page, there were accounts detailing the person’s earlier life. She flipped through the pages in order to find the entry in the book that was happening at the present time. Each person’s book of life kept up with the person as long as they were alive and it wrote the account of the person within its pages for every action taken by the said person. Right now it should be easy to find the page writing his current state, considering it would be moving along and writing within its pages, making new words appear within it. To her surprise she couldn’t find the page that was writing anything new. Instead she found a dead end. The point in the book where the writing has stopped. She looked at the dead end in the book and the person next to her. Impossible, he was still alive, not a soul, but a flesh and blood. Furthermore, his book should have arrived from the section named Departed if his life already ended and his book met a dead end.

There was no mistake. This book belongs to this man, no, used to belong. Now nothing was keeping track of him. But how could this be? Desolai, out of her curiosity towards the exact nature of her visitor opened up the last entry within the book and read it.

“Sabgyn Finnerman knew that his death was near, which is why he attempted a last desperate shot against a man turned angel, Aldan. He managed to trick Aldan into getting into a trap that sent both Sabgyn and Aldan flying out of the city at a speed faster than the speed of sound. During the skirmish, Aldan managed to fatally wound Sabgyn and attempted to explode him by overloading him with heavenly energy. It would have been successful if not for the fact that Sabgyn refused to give in to his fate and used his only ability to channel the energy within himself towards splitting himself. Of course their actions backfired both ways. Instead of temporarily splitting once, the overload in energy forced Sabgyn to permanently split twice and his animal spirit left his body. His existence as a single living being is over, his account ends here.” Desolai read it out loud, but she still could not believe it.

He, Sabgyn Finnerman, no longer existed as a single entity. Does this mean there is more than one of him going around this world? That would seem rather bizarre.

She turned towards her guest. She asked him in rather gentle tone in contrast to the scary tone she used before. “Is name Sabgyn Finnerman seem familiar to you?”

He shook his head. That name did not ring a bell to him. He looked rather confused upon hearing the name.

“Well, the name is somewhat complex, so for now I shall call you Nur, is that fine with you?”

“Nur, seems easy enough to remember” man now called Nur replied. “But what does it mean?”

“A ray of light, simplest thing I could think of at the moment.” Desolai replied honestly.

She had no idea how to treat this human being. Having only a fraction of his living soul within him meant that he was effectively exempt from entries to the book of life. She suspected that due to his condition his capabilities were likewise reduced. Desolai scratched her head; she didn’t know it was possible to end up dividing a soul and live with just a fraction of it. He was the first case she ever witnessed of this strange condition. Not to mention the fact that she had no clue how the countless dead souls within him could influence him. For now, the fractured living soul seems to be in control.

Wait just a minute! A realization hit Desolai. She should be able to predict the next action of any mortal when they are near her. It was a passive ability of Reapers; they could see the immediate future of the ones they gaze upon. Yet, when she looks at Nur, she can see him only in present time. She could not see anything.

“Nur, catch this!” she threw a book at him.

She half expected him to catch it in order to verify that her ability was still functioning. Instead, Nur was too slow and the book hit him in the face with a loud slap. He fell over backwards with his hands clutching his face in pain.

“Shinigami, what was that for?”

Desolai’s suspicion was confirmed. She could not see his future or his fate. The fact that his account of life has stopped but has not departed could only mean one thing. He currently exists outside of fate. The books of life were intricately connected to souls and fate, so anything occurring within the books was not a surprise to a Shinigami who could see the future. In the eyes of Shinigami, fate was predefined, so there was no use to be even surprised. Everything just follows a script set by the creator.

“Apologies, your action was not what I was expecting.”

“What do you expect if someone throws a brick sized thing at your face!”

“Not this.” Desolai replied calmly.

His original fate was severed. She was sure that his original fate was supposed to be ending with death, yet with his actions he has ensured his existence outside of fate. Having a complete soul means one has a predefined fate, but an incomplete soul makes the fate obsolete, considering the person is incomplete. This meant that he is now some sort of existence that actually had a choice of its own in existence, not following a predefined path by the creator. He was an interference.

Desolai wasn’t sure when he would die, incomplete soul does not display the time of death. Until he dies, she had no power over him. She could not control him.

Then what in the world should she do with him, after all he is not bound by the laws like the others. But maybe he might have some uses.

“Nur, do you have anywhere you are willing to go?”

Nur scratched his head for a moment, and then returned a blank stare as if telling her that he has no idea. To add more emphasis he shrugged his shoulders with a goofy grin spreading across his face almost in a clown-like fashion.

“I see. Then would you like to be of service to me?”

“Service?” Nur asked with a look of total confusion laced with uncertainty.

“Indeed. It has been an eternity since I last had a visitor, and never was a case when my visitor was a mortal.” That was the truth. Occasionally other Shinigami came by to greet her, but the last time that happened was around seven hundred fifty years ago. Due to immortal nature of Shinigami the time was inconsequential to them for the most part. Yet, Desolai could not conceal the fact that she felt loneliness within this quiet house of death.

“I would like for you to become a servant of mine, even if temporary, in order to assist me in my duty.” Desolai lied about this part. She did not truly require anyone’s assistance, yet a mortal visitor was not something she wanted to let go of just yet. Not to mention the fact that he is Interference. She has heard of them before but she considered them to be just a myth. Yet now there is a flesh and blood Interference standing right beside her. Also, the fact that she felt if she let her visitor leave so soon she would be left all alone in this land of emptiness.

If anything, she wanted to observe him for the time being. This would aide in relieving the boredom and need for company she felt for centuries.

“So, if I become your servant, does that mean I get to stay here?” Nur asked.

“Indeed”

“Then I accept.” Nur said with a beaming smile on his face. Truthfully, he did not know where he was but by agreeing to Shinigami’s terms he was able to procure himself a safe place to live in for the time being. Now, more importantly…

A growling sound emerged. It echoed throughout the library, bouncing off of non-existing ceiling.

Desolai looked at Nur, the source of the sound. Nur finally realized it was a sound made by his empty stomach. She tilted her head as if to question the reason for such a strange sound while Nur lowered his head in embarrassment.

“It seems like I need to eat.” Nur said while rubbing his empty stomach.

“Of course! Mortals must consume remains of other mortals to survive! I must have forgotten it.” Shinigami don’t require food, which is why the concept of eating was rather foreign to someone like Desolai.

With such a vulgar description of eating, Nur could only suppress a chuckle and nod in agreement.

“Then let us leave for the mortal realm. But first you must get yourself cleaned and get a change of clothing. I will not let my servant perform his duty while looking like a vagrant!”

She beckoned Nur to come closer. When he approached her, she lifted him up by the waist and carried him off with her like a sack of potatoes.

In Nur’s eyes it was being carried by a three meter tall beauty. It was nothing to complain about other than being highly embarrassing. Still he kept his mouth shut, after all, his new boss was being generous to him.

He smiled, Desolai really is a nice person, no, a Shinigami. 

In an inn, within a very distant city of Jauin, people led their ordinary lives, not considering what could be lurking right beside their high held noses. The city had very frequent rains due to it being located close to the rivers and lakes, which is why there was always some mud on the streets. Currently, the rain did not seem to want to stop any time soon, leading the residents of the inn to continue drinking liquors, eating, and flirting.

None seemed to notice a spectral, hooded figure sitting at one of the spots. In their eyes, there was none there. But they instinctively backed away from that location due to their primal instincts telling them to stay away from the ominous shadow they couldn’t see but could feel.

The hooded figure was three meters tall, with the hood covering its face. Near it sat a smaller figure, nearly half the size of the hooded figure. He was wearing a grey cloak that concealed his face. Then he suddenly took the hood off himself.

“Why in the world do these things have to cover our faces, I can barely see with it on!”

The tall figure looked in smaller figure’s direction. It had reddish black flames in place of its eye sockets on an expressionless skull. Yep, a skeleton in black cloak. If anyone was able to see this, they sure would have panicked and left the inn already.

“It suits me better this way; I don’t have to wander about anyone watching me.” Desolai replied.

“I see, but wait, none can actually see you! And why are you in this form?” small figure’s voice was filled with confusion. He gestured at the skeleton.

“Nur, this form is the one I use when I am performing my duty.”

Nur smiled meekly and replied.

“Yes, but it’s rather scary. It would have been far less scary if my boss had a real face to look at!” He had to admit he was rather freaked out about having conversation with skeleton. “Please don’t tell me that skull for a face is your true form!”

The expressionless face of the skull looked rather confused before the lower jaw dropped down. “This is just how I appear to mortals, it is nothing like my true form. My outer appearance is completely of my choosing.” Desolai put her hand on her skull which instantly was replaced by a human face, complete with human appearance. The only indications of her not so human nature were the eyes that seemed to have red flames dancing within them.

“Nur, is this form more preferable?”

Nur wasn’t sure how to respond, he didn’t want to accidently insult his new boss. “Well, it’s not as scary anymore; I can at least tell what expressions you are making”

“That is good; I wouldn’t want to scare away my new and only servant.” Desolai said rather sarcastically. The appearance did not really matter to her much considering the fact that after becoming part of natural cycle, she was able to obtain a semi-corporeal form with changeable appearance. Because people associated death with skeletons, she found it appropriate to appear as one.

“I have been meaning to ask for a while, but how can they not see you” Nur asked, pointing in the direction of bar keeper and everyone who occupied the inn.

“Naturally, because we are not occupying the same plane of existence as them.” Desolai extended her left hand out while a large man was walking nearby. Instead of making contact, her hand passed through him with the man not even realizing who was near him. “To them, we are invisible and intangible.”

“Does this mean I can’t even touch food? Why did we come here in the first place?” Nur was talking about his growing hunger.

“Don’t jump to conclusions too quickly. We are occupying the plane of existence reserved for the Shinigami, so I can’t interfere in any of mortal’s affairs.”

“You can’t interfere? Why not? Is there some rule preventing you? Can’t you break it?”

“Indeed, there is a rule- rule of nature. I am physically incapable of breaking the rules even if I tried.” For emphasis she let her hand pass through the table in front of her. “Of course, that doesn’t mean I can’t touch trivial, small things” She grabbed a piece of bread from the basket on top of the table. “Of course it takes quite a concentration to do so, the bigger the object the harder it is to lift it up.”

She gave the piece of bread to Nur who took it cautiously as if it might pass through him. Curiously he was able to touch it and eat it without any problem.

He decided to grab the food himself.

“Remember, they can’t see you, but they can see the bread, so make sure to be cautious.”

“All right! I will do just that” Nur timed the interval when none in the room was looking at the plate of food that was about to be served, then he made a swift grab for the plate and the fork. He was successful. None noticed it moved until they realized it was gone. By that time Nur was already enjoying the soup.

“You know, this is rather convenient. But hey, if I am eating it right now wouldn’t they see the food disappearing into thin air.”

“No, the moment you grabbed the food it entered the Shinigami dimension. Anything that occupies this dimension is beyond the reach of their sight.”

“Ah, is that so. Rather nice.” Nur replied. “By the way, on the way here you said something about teaching me the thing you called ‘Duty’, what is that?”

“Allowing the deceased soul to move on to the after-life of course.” Desolai replied in a matter of fact manner. “Human soul most of the times ends up trapped in this reality from either lingering attachments, unfulfilled duty, or fulfillment of personal desire such as revenge. In worst cases they become malevolent spirits that are beyond anyone’s help. They can’t be reaped and they end up hostless, stuck to the mortal realm by the chains of their own ambition. They are theoretically stuck in mortal realm until they fulfill their duty, but without a body it’s the same as eternity. My, no, our duty is to prevent the newly deceased soul from becoming a malevolent spirit.”

“Malevolent spirit, huh, sounds rather scary” Nur said with a an expression full of fear and shuddering at the thought of it.

Desolai just stared at him astounded. ‘Does he not realize that he is currently being occupied by countless malevolent spirits? How can someone be so ignorant of their own soul? Must be the side effect of having fractured his soul, perhaps that is it.’

 “They are nothing to fear. They are just disembodied essences of former human beings that try to possess any living being that comes near them. They do so in hope that they can fulfill their duty while occupying the vessel and be able to move on to the afterlife.”

“Ah, that doesn’t sound too bad, aside from possessing the living beings part” Nur replied.

“If anything, it is just sad to watch.” Desolai said with a nonchalant nod. “Malevolent spirits have to wait for eternity if they get stuck to the mortal realm and without consent of living beings they can’t even fulfill their duty, so they’re pretty much stuck on earth, with none able to help them. That is why we, Shinigami help the soul pass on before it turns into a malevolent spirit.”

“So there is a time interval before soul becomes a malevolent spirit?” Nur asked.

“Yes, but it depends upon the decision that the deceased soul makes right after death, whether to stay or go on. My job is to ensure the soul goes on.”

Both Nur and Desolai stood up. Desolai extended her hand. A gigantic shadow rift opened upon the wall of the inn. None in the inn saw it. The shadow rift was like a door through which Nur and Desolai went through.

“By the way, where are we going?” Nur asked.

“To the upcoming death, of course.” Desolai out her hand into her sleeve, producing a book. “Asul Jem, the one possessing the power of the Sacred Stallion.”

“You can tell when someone is going to die?” Nur asked, not denying his obvious fascination.

“Of course, that is my duty after all. I can also tell the cause of death and the history of the one about to die. I just wait before the deed is done, then I can just take care of the soul.”

“Sounds logical.”

“It has to be. Death is the inevitable end. It will come sooner than later, so there is not use in trying to avoid it.”

“I agree, master Desolai” Nur said courteously.

“Just Desolai is fine, Nur”