Tales of Death´s Daughter

Fresh air tickled my nostrils as I woke up on an unfamiliar hill on my back. Above me two stars were far apart from each other, probably circling around each other with a third, way smaller one between them in a tug of war.

This was the place I had dreamt so often about already but wasn’t able to locate yet.

“Well, meeting your mum went really well, didn’t it?” My own voice greeted me from above me, probably in the other side of the hill I was laying on. Feeling the grass below me seemingly coming straight from a wasteland, I stood up slowly and faced myself.

She or I or whatever was standing a few metres away in a lush field of flowers blooming all around her until right in the middle of us. Then, the flowers were replaced by poisonous ones or spiky withered plants.

“I had worse.” I mumbled and stretched my arms which strangely felt really well. As I did so, I finally noticed the door behind her and instantly turned around. There was one for me as well and that one was opened, just like hers was. This was the place that mysterious door lead to.

“Hmm … don’t you have any questions?” She asked which bewildered me quite a bit. I was insane, but I wouldn’t want to talk with myself if I could avoid it.

“Eh? Why? It’s obvious that I have serve schizophrenia at this point, so why would I bother talking to you?” I asked and looked towards the stars again. They did look kind of beautiful in their never ending dance after all.

“Oh. I’m not you and neither aren’t I a part of you.” The other me said indignantly.

“That’s what I would say in your shoes.” I claimed.

“It’s not a lie though.” She told me a little bit angrily. Her emotions were hard to read though as I couldn’t see any colours in her eyes, no matter how hard I looked. It was as if she didn’t have a soul or didn’t bother to make it look like she had one.

“Prove it.” I told her.

“Your sunglasses.” They were gone. So what? She did have to give me a little bit more than that.

“I don’t get it.” I shrugged a bit. Either I was a bit dumb, or she was asking a bit too much.

“Magical circles were engraved into it to enable you to see during the day, but what powered them?” She asked as if there was something to it I had yet to find out.

“Godly magic.” They did work on their own after all and nobody could sense anything with them.

“Wrong. Wouldn’t you feel it then?” She asked with a slight smile on her face.

“What are you implying?” I growled a little. It was as if she was testing me which certainly didn’t feel that great.

“There was a soul in them.” She claimed while I shook my head. I could feel souls and there wasn’t any inside.

“I would have felt that as well.” I thus claimed.

“Not if the soul consists of something different. Like fire, water or life. Then you would be unable to feel it, wouldn’t you?” Well, my own soul consisted of death alone and I wasn’t really able to feel Irminsuls as well, so I would probably miss these special souls if they were in front of me. But then … she had to be something which I found rather unlikely to be true.

“So you want to say you are a goddess who lived in my glasses? I think I rubbed them a little, do I get three wishes now?” I asked jokingly which she didn’t take that well.

“If your wishes are to die, to lose everything and to see your friends being murdered … then yes, you are already on that path.” Well, that was a bummer.

“What’s your element?” I asked after a little while. Hopefully, whatever she was would make a mistake there in claiming to be a goddess of something without being able to prove it.

“Life.” Well, I just wanted to call her a liar until I thought about it a little. Luna’s soul turned back to life after I had taken her in … and I certainly wasn’t the reason for that change.

“… I’m so done with Irminsul.” If that girl was really the daughter of that origin godess, then she had to know something which meant I was lied to … again.

“My mother did nothing wrong. In fact, she probably wanted to tell you the truth but was thrown out of this world by Aska.” As if I’d ever believe that. Life and death were on equal footing. It was virtually impossible for Aska to impose his will onto her except he used some underhanded tricks which definitely didn’t happen.

“He doesn’t have the strength for that.” I thus claimed surely.

“Except this world is under his influence. He lied to you from the very beginning. Back when I was still living properly, he wasn’t in the fruit business. Instead, he was letting his creativity free reign by …” She started, but didn’t even have to continue as I finished her sentence.

“Creating shows … just like the one I’m starring in.” It was the only logical conclusion. Otherwise he wouldn’t be able to block Irminsul from talking to me at all … which meant he was the root of all my problems regarding freedom. Not the other gods. Just him.

“Precisely.” The girl said.

“So he never wanted to end this show …” I mumbled and continued to think about all the implications.

“He probably got no approval from the council to create a shard otherwise.” The girl told me which would make sense. Otherwise I saw no reason as to why he would do such a show with me in it. Well, maybe for enjoyment but that was secondary.

“All he wanted was me … or rather … you just said you aren’t living properly anymore?” I asked while already imagining the worst. She was within me for a reason after all.

“I am … like a ghost. Normal gods do have their bodies which is basically indestructible thanks to being restored time and time again … but a god is able to destroy their own body with some rare tools.” She told me while looking to the ground. For me, that explained everything.

“I’m fucked.” I mumbled after a little while. No matter how hard I thought about it, this was the only solution I came to. Luna was kept alive because of her. Without that girl, Luna would never see the light of this world again. Even worse, that girl was not only Irminsul’s daughter but also Aska’s. Why else should he put her inside me? For him, I was definitely more valuable than some random goddess who chose to end her life … but not worthier than his own daughter. He wanted her back … just like I was desperate to get Luna back. “I … I believe it is not possible to recreate your old body?”

“I fear not. My soul needs … a trained body of a goddess to sustain itself … which basically means I need the body of a four hundred year old goddess which has a high compatibility with me.” And there I had the reason I existed in the first place … as someone who grew a freaking body for her.

“And I wore you all this time which means that is reached now?” I asked even though I really didn’t have to. The fact that Aska put her inside me told me everything after all.

“You are quite calm for a dying person.” She said a bit surprised.

“Death is part of my life.” I told her nonchalantly. I had seen so much death already that dying for real didn’t faze me much at this point.

“I believe I heard this sentence already … well, never mind. It was nice meeting you, you can throw me out of your body now.” She told me, this time taking me off guard. I mean, I probably could try to expel her somehow, but I just couldn’t see why it would benefit me.

“What?” I asked a bit dumbly.

“I know you are capable of doing so?” She asked not understanding that this may not even be my issue with her proposal.

“That would irreparably damage Luna’s soul and … and I don’t think I have much longer to live afterwards.” I told her straight away.

“Huh?” She asked dumbly. For real though, she wasn’t good at planning or looking into the future, was she?

“This is your first time being resurrected like this, isn’t it?” There may be the possibility I wasn’t the first candidate for her revival, but judging by her reactions, that didn’t seem to be the case.

“Yes?” She confirmed.

“Okay, let me tell you how this works. I expel you from my body. Then Luna’s soul gets wrecked which I want to avoid at all costs. And secondly, what stops him from threatening all my friends unless I give you this body? After all, I cannot destroy you for real. Souls of gods are immortal after all, even if the body isn’t like you just claimed. So if I decline my friends are all dead, you are still there and this whole world is done for. That’s a rather shitty ending. So why don’t you leave yourself?” I asked even though I knew the answer already. She was a goddess of life, there was basically no chance she would murder someone easily.

“… I’m not going to be responsible for Luna’s second death.” She claimed, right on point with my assumptions.

“See? So you are stuck with me.” I told her and pushed my tongue out of my mouth. I was fucked … but she was royally fucked.

“I have known my father for hundreds of years … and he never gave up on his objectives.” She told me desperately, unwilling to live with Aska at all costs.

“I have two objectives. One is to make Luna happy and the other one is for my friends to live. And let me tell you, I’m going to succeed with at least the first one.” I told her with a smile on my face. I didn’t need to survive. My shitty life would only go downhill after this anyway, so it was better to put an end to it as long as it served my goals.

“… how?” She mumbled quietly.

“Oh, I’m usually not the type of villain to explain my plans, but I’m making an exception for you. I have seen what happens to creatures who had two souls in them. The body crumbles first most of the times and if not, one soul perishes to enable the other to survive.”

“You will not save Luna by ruining this body we are both inside.” The girl claimed while going through her hairs, finally understanding that my future may look bleak, but hers looked horrible.

“But he won’t achieve his goals either. To conclude, it’s either Luna and you who survives, none of us, or me. She is … my family … the only piece I still have left and I will make sure she will survive.” There was no chance Aska would bet on the odds, and rather strike a deal with me to avoid that horrible scenario where both of our souls would crumble.

“… you do not want to live?” She asked which made me think a little. The place we were in was giving her a hint of an answer already, but not the whole picture. My side was filled with death, but all the plants still clung to life and so did I.

“Oh no, I’m not like you? I want to live … but that’s only secondary.” I didn’t want to go into that vegetative state she was in prior to her awakening within me … but it didn’t look as if I had any other choice.

“Aska will raise her … he already ruined the two of us, are you sure he won’t do the same to her?” She asked, but I had already thought about it. Obviously, that girl wasn’t capable of standing up to Aska, so I didn’t intent to let them have Luna since the very beginning.

“He’s not going to raise her? I will ask Irminsul to do that, otherwise I’m going to ruin this body thoroughly.” It would be a condition for my surrender that was for sure. I had done nothing right in my whole fucking life … I had murdered my own mother for fucks sake … but I wanted to make things right with Luna. I owed her that much.

“You are … insane.” She claimed while I broke out in laughter. She knew she was talking with a piece of Aska and this she should know that much already.

“I am dealing with Aska. I had far too little information about his objectives until it was too late … and I’m going to pay the price for that now.” I had no clue what went on behind the scenes at all. And now I had to go all in to get anything, something he must have been aware of. There was no chance he hadn’t thought about all my options as well and he knew very well which one I would pick … because that’s the one he would choose as well.

“Nonono, you aren’t paying any price whatsoever! You are leaving me alone with the reason I committed suicide! I’m not agreeing to this crazy plan you put forth!” Her agreement didn’t matter though. I was still in control of my body and that would remain for a long time if I didn’t do anything at least that was my hope.

“Sucks to be you. But as far as I can tell, you basically left my soul already, orbiting around the outskirts of my body, and my connection to this body is stronger than yours … so good luck wrestling control away from me. Additionally, you aren’t capable of leaving because that would mean you would kill Luna … and we all know you aren’t capable of that.” I claimed happily. Despite dying, I would get what I wanted.

“You … you can’t do that!” She shouted out angrily which honestly fell on deaf ears.

“Want to see me do it?” I asked while laughing happily.

“I’m … I’m ready to erase Luna’s soul before you can hand over this body to me.” We both stared at each other, probing our determination going forwards until I realised that her words may be true. I couldn’t imagine her crushing Luna’s soul without being drowned in regret, but the threat of being controlled by Aska may be able to drive her to such lengths.

“What do you want?” I growled unhappily. A single sentence of her was enough to ruin all my plans after all.

“I do not want to live with him and by the looks of it, neither do you.” Yeah, because he was a shitty manipulative person. Our egos didn’t fit on the same world, let alone in the same room for too long.

“… we need another option.” I finally concluded. I couldn’t risk her fulfilling that threat after all.

“You are the one making plans all the times.” She said quietly.

“I presume you aren’t, just like your mother?” I snickered a little.

“… yes. She tried to free me from his grasps multiple times but it didn’t work out.” Oh wonder. You don’t win against Aska when you fight him head on … because he will use everything he has to win.

“That’s so sad.” I mumbled.

“You are lacking empathy, just like the god you were ripped out of.” Well, that was pretty mean of her.

“… what would happen to me when my soul leaves this body?” I asked, thinking about a certain possibility of manipulating the god of death from within.

“I believe Aska would absorb you fully again.” Well, that sounded like I was going to lose everything, so I’d rather avoid that.

“Wait, that’s possible? Is it also doable with two souls … like merge them together or some shit?” I asked a little hopeful. Maybe … just maybe we could take that route.

“Oh no … maybe? No god was insane enough to merge his soul with another one …” Nobody but the most desperate ones would try … but that doesn’t say that they hadn’t tried to do it with human souls.

“So it’s not impossible?” I thus wasted.

“You want to lower the burden on this body don’t you? That way we could give birth to Luna and at least some part of you would survive.” The other goddess finally understood that we could both lose something, but gain a rather happy life in return which would be the first time for both of us.

“That’s part of the reason, yes. But I also need your ability to deal with every other element there is … I hope you can do that, can’t you?” I tilted my head to the side with great interest. If she told me she couldn’t l, I could basically bury that plan I had right away.

“I can’t do death.” Well, but I could. In fact it was the only element I could control at all.

“Perfect. In that case, I really do have a plan.” I told her beamingly.

“I … have to say that a soul is full of energy, especially a god’s soul.” Yeah, I knew. Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to shoot beams of death from my fingertips.

“So what?” I asked a bit annoyed she was finding issues where there probably weren’t any.

“When two become one, that extra energy has to go somewhere.” Yeah … and?

“Oh, so we are going to have a little explosion?” I kind of looked forwards to see that …

“One that will destroy the planet for sure.” She told me while I opened my mouth slowly. I had expected a bit of the planet to be gone … but the whole thing? I mean, the 50+ square kilometres?

“Don’t worry about that. I already have a solution at hand.” I claimed.

“Really?”

“Really.” I did not. The world may explode … but that was a sacrifice I was willing to make. After all, my friends would be king dead at this point as my guess was this was still far, far into the future. The durability of the body and soul had an impact on the length after all and ours were pretty durable.

“So I guess that means we are working together now?” The girl asked quietly and strangely exited.

“It does.” As much as I hated to admit it, working with this parasite was the only option I had at this point if I wanted to save Luna.

“Okay, how high are our chances to win?” She asked while looking at me rather hopefully.

“Twenty percent.” I would reach my goals if I succeeded or not, that was for sure … but I wasn’t entirely convinced sacrificing too much could be called a win.

“That high? Well … it’s better than nothing. What makes you believe you have a chance against him?” She asked doubtful. For real though, so far I hadn’t won against Aska and even I feared that streak would continue.

“Because I can finally see the full picture and know what he knows. I am exactly the same as he is, so whoever has more information wins.” I claimed, justifying ever time I lost against Aska until now.

“But do we really have more information?” The goddess asked while I could only nod my head. It was the only bit of hope I had after all.

“He might not know you are awake now … so let’s keep it that way.” The tv series was behind what happened and maybe Aska wasn’t updated as well, even though that might be untrue. But even then, these cameras couldn’t look inside us and they would never know that this goddess already awoke when we hid it.

“Okay … would you care to explain me your plan now?” She asked eagerly. She would probably laugh at me and claim I was insane when I told her my plan … but so what?

“Sure, but first off,” I extended my hand towards her and smiled brightly. “Lucinda.”

“Lucy. It’s nice to meet you.” Lucy said while I cursed my fate. She really was the good version of me. Not only did I played her role half my life, but now she was also within me for real.