☤3

[madetosin]

[The same question was still plaguing Muraki even weeks after his arrival. It was clear enough that it was the person who had tried to kill him was his loss. And while he remembered nothing - no detail or memory at all of that person directly - there was the rest of it to lead him there. Notably the boy. Which meant that whoever it was had to be a shinigami.

But of course, as much as he might try, it was unlikely that the Ministry of Hades had a manifest of it's personnel in Paradisa's library.

Nor could ask about that directly. Most humble doctors didn't know intimate details about the workings of the afterlife.]

It occurs to me that even with all the difference between the people here there is at least one thing that is common to most of us.

Death.

Doctors fight it every day in some form. But in the end it's fighting a symptom of an inevitable end, no matter the cause. But mortality isn't a physical enemy you can face down and win.

So it interests me that for some the manifestation of death can be a real thing. There's various kinds of death mythology I've run across - the Grim Reaper in the West, shinigami in the East, angels of death in Christianity, Thanatos in the Greek pantheon. All entities that can be evaded or outsmarted by more cunning mortals.

Considering the nature of some of the residents here, I thought it might be possible that for some of you, such things are more than myth.

So, tell me, friends, about death in your world. How does it work? Have you had any direct contact with such beings? Have you fought it in your own way?

I am, as they say, all ears.

[He'll be ensconced in some corner of the library as he awaits answers, continuing his search in vain, a table stacks with all manner of references to manifestations of death]

Comments

[cheerupemoborg]

[He scoffs at the inevitable end part.]

I fought it, in the beginning. In time, though, I began to believe the opposite of being doomed to die was far worse.

[madetosin]

You feel immortality would be a curse? What made you change your mind?

[cheerupemoborg]

It is. Most people don't think about it, but if you live forever, what happens in a billion years?

Or a trillion? Everything is gone... but you still exist.

[madetosin]

An unsettling thought.

I wonder how the gods manage it.

[cheerupemoborg]

I doubt they even think about it.

[madetosin]

Being born to it has it's advances, I suppose. But if you think about, that could be part of their problem. They don't have time for the sufferings of mortals because they've never been mortal.

[cheerupemoborg]

That, and they probably haven't dealt with a mortal granted god-like power - someone who could really appreciate it.

...Speaking from experience?

[madetosin]

Hm? Me? No...I'm quite mortal. [Unfortunately]

[cheerupemoborg]

Lucky you.

[madetosin]

Are you speaking from experience?

[cheerupemoborg]

Yes, unfortunately.

[madetosin]

So you say, and yet you've succeeded where so many have tried.

[cheerupemoborg]

Succeeded implies that I sought this out.

I didn't. It came to me in an accident.

[madetosin]

Another definition of fortunate then.

Though I imagine that means you wouldn't know how to replicate the results?

[cheerupemoborg]

No, and even then there's no guarantee the energies that transformed me wouldn't just flat out kill you.

Why, looking to live a few more decades?

[madetosin]

Something like that, if perfected, could do humanity a lot of good.

[exanimatus]

He was here a while ago. You just missed him, I'm afraid.

[madetosin]

Which version?

[exanimatus]

I imagine he's closer to the Grim Reaper than most of the others, but his world operates on its own set of rules. That, and he was here under somewhat bizarre circumstances that may have affected the way he presented himself.

[madetosin]

I imagine simply being here is bizarre enough.

[exanimatus]

Mm. The place has its own set of rules.

[madetosin]

I've heard death isn't permanent here, yes. An inconvenience for a being made to regulate such a thing.

Did he know how the castle does it?

[exanimatus]

I can't say I ever asked him, but I wouldn't be surprised.

[madetosin]

Pity he kept it to himself, then. It could have been useful to the rest of us.

[exanimatus]

Who knows? Maybe he'll be here again, one day.

And what about your world, hm?

[madetosin]

I'm from Earth. There's no mystery there. What people believe to be the rules change depend on time and culture.

Personally, coming from Tokyo, the shinigami myth [lol] is one of the more common beliefs.

[exanimatus]

Sounds like just another ordinary Earth, then. [mm, boring. :<]

[madetosin]

Your point is?