Curate, connect, and discover
Fair Warning - Blog Posts
Just wanted to throw this out there rq but just to make it clear I love receiving messages from folks and am super duper okay with DM's !! Id like to be more personally involved with the community beyond just shitposts and reblogs lmao, and I have so many genuinely amazing and cool mutuals I'd love to get to know better so if anyone ever wants to start up a convo in DM's, ask me questions, or send random kintype posts accompanied by a "you" message, Im 1000% down for that :]
Sower of Souls
Some may call me old, but I am but a blink in comparison to Time.
Some now call me cruel and unfeeling and unjust, to take what one holds dear. But I simply hold onto the memories of those who couldn’t shoulder the burdens of time.
Some see my skeletal figure, an amalgamation of the souls I protect, and call me a monster.
Sometimes I wonder if I am one, myself.
Alas, every animal, from the worm to the shark, from the elephant to the polar bear, fears me. Hates me. Every single one I have to fight to make them see the sad inevitability of their passing.
“You… are like me?” said the figure in front of me.
‘Curious,’ I think to myself, ‘to find one with that look in their eyes.’
“How So?” I ask the bipedal mammal in front of me. They are one of the first of their species, and yet they have more pain in their eyes than I have seen yet.
“You’re…” They gesture at what I think is my face with their palms. ‘Odd… no claws to tear, no teeth to puncture. No tail to balance. Life certainly is wonderful…’
“And what of my face? Is it truly so ghastly that you can’t put words together?” I say in a somewhat humorously self-deprecating manner.
“In pain? Like me?”
‘My attention has certainly been captured now’
“Why would I be in pain?” I ask, devoted to finish this conversation before I gather their soul so they can move on. “I am ageless, so long as there is life to die. Shouldn’t that make me monstrous to you?” My head shifts between animals, settling on an enlarged ant’s, between sentences.
“Seeing everything die around you? Isn’t that painful?”
“Hmm… You are the first to ask me that in a long time.”
Inwardly, I can only think ‘How do they know this? What happened to this poor soul?’
And, most importantly:
‘How will their kin fare with this kind of knowledge?’
After some amiable smalltalk, they come with me willingly. They take next to no convincing, saying things like “I’d probably weigh down my kin as I am anyways,” and “I will miss them, but you’ve said I will see them again. That is enough for me”
The level of maturity in this new creature, even if their lifespan is so fleeting and filled with rife, is astonishing to me.
I knew this wouldn’t be the last time I’d have such an enlightening discussion, not by a longshot.
It had been a while, and many humans had come and gone. As many as there were that were like the first, there seemed to be double, sometimes even ten times as many, that were adamant about staying. Ready to fight me with sticks and rocks and ghostly flames of the crude torches they died with.
Of the ones that I met from the former group, all of them said the same things as that first. The one without a name.
“Hello human. I’d believe that’s what you’re calling yourselves, anyways.” I said, skeleton shining from the heavy rain. “I see your body is quite mangled. You might survive yet, but it might be best to come with me before the pain kicks in.” I say to them, eye sockets staring at their disembodied leg sitting not too far away from them.
They shake their head frantically. ‘Sigh… well, hopefully they don’t take long to convince. Many other souls are wandering around in this rain, and I’d rather they not find out what fading into the universe feels like.’
“Please human, I jus-”
“My name is Ura.” they looked into my eyes and said with a scowl.
“Ura then.” Are they not human? I could have sworn… “I know you’re scared, and possibly worried about your younglings. But you must surely see that you’re not in good shape?”
“I’ll live. Find them. I have to.” The determination radiating off of this Ura was all-encompassing. Like a fire under an ocean, refusing to die out.
But the fire must eventually run out of fuel.
“I know you think I’m going to die. And I will. But this is not my time.” Quite stubborn, this one. “My family will find me, heal me. As I’ve done for them.” And this crazy Uri took their torch to burn their wound closed underneath the rocks they were stuck under. The ones that kept him only a little dry.
“Will they though?” I asked wholeheartedly hoping this Ura was right. Yet, I knew they would be another victim today. “They must have fled by now, the rain here is too strong. The wind too mighty.”
“I have hope in them. And I will hang on.” Something welled in my chest at these words. Something I hadn’t felt since I stopped talking with Time and Life.
It wasn’t quite desperation, nor was it will. It was more… a bond, of sorts, starting to form. Something I felt deep down for all souls, yet felt void of these few million years.
I felt kinship to this bright young child..
“I will wait with you, then. I’m sure the souls can hold out a little longer, those that want to keep fighting anyways.” The ones that don’t will come to me before they begin to fade.
And so we waited. The storm raged, though it’s wind and torrents spiked and plummeted at times.
Soon, the Uri slept, though it was halted by every rustle of a bush outside this makeshift cave.
“URIIIII!” a… woman, I’d believe the term was?- yelled in the jungle.
So focused on finding his kind that she called out to every predator in the area, I tutted.
“MAI, I'M HERE!” the Uri called back, screaming with all his might.
Rapid footsteps approached, several pairs of them.
And faster than I could catch (though I say this purely for dramatics), the woman and two smaller humans barreled into the Uri. Wrapping their arms around him and carrying him out.
Any exchange between them was lost on me, as the flame on the ocean floor grew. For the first time since my birth…
A soul, on the brink of death, was brought back.
And that meant it might happen again.
Happen again it did, as these Humans formed ever larger tribes. Even as these tribes quarreled over resources, they formed strong bonds (as well as names. How I hadn’t caught that Uri was a name was beyond me…) forged from fear and love. Fear of outside threats, and love for their tribes.
Wars between tribes brought many souls to me, but these humans learned from their mistakes more often than not. And they spread far and wide, bringing with them ingenuity and bonding unseen.
Until cities rose; entire areas filled with housing and farms, most connected to some body of water.
And of those cities, an unknown wiseman perished. Or would wisewoman be the more accurate term.
I was on my way to get them, entering into their abode- a shack outside the border, near the edge of the bustling city- with nothing but myself.
As I came in the door, I noticed two things out of place in the house.
A black cloak, made of a smooth-yet-durable cotton. It clashed with the otherwise colorfulness of the home, what with the pottery strewn across the tables, and the dyes used to make paintings on wood and stone alike. Primitive compared to where Humans came to be, but effective nonetheless.
And a sickle with dull edges. The only tool in the house that wasn’t used to cut wood or mix spices or make paints. And the only one that should have had an edge.
I was so transfixed by the uncanny items hanging near the entrance that I hadn’t noticed the soul of the old woman until she was before me.
“I figured so many try to fight you, call you names or spit in your face. I guess I wanted to help one more person before I went.” She said in her croaky yet cheery voice.
“A gift? For me?” I said astounded and befuddled. “I am Death, the cruel taker. The unjust executioner. They Who Reap Souls.” I listed some of the titles I’d accrued in the beginning. “Why would you do something like that… for me?”
“Oh, dear. You might be old, Thanatos, but you really are so inexperienced when it comes to others.” Thanatos? “The cloak is for your ghastly appearance. I’ve heard the rumors that you were ashamed of how odd you look- though I don’t see why it’s so odd myself- so I made you the cloak to hide yourself. It also does well to comfort, so see to it that it gets use!” She said that last part sternly, and I turned to her unsure of what to say. Unsure of how to show that the thought meant so much to me.
“And that sickle? It’s just so you have something to fiddle with, and to show that you’re not so scary. A tool that dull shows age, and that kind of tool shows that you’re simply a part of the cycle.” Her eyes looked directly into where mine would be with a kindness that rivaled the intensity of the determination of Uri. Someone who knew firsthand how cruel the world could be, yet chose to fight against how unjust and unfeeling it was.
And as she moved on, holding my hand, I felt the pain she went through, and the hard earned wisdom she’d gained from it.
TBC- I’m feeling lazy, and figure that what I’ve written now will suffice until I can take some more time to write.
I started a job recently, so don’t expect me to update it super soon. But this just would /NOT/ leave me alone after seeing a series by Jenny Jinya called “Loving Reaper”. Probably old news by now, but as long as it has an impact, amirite