Mortal Death

Digging one's own grave

Edith had decided to lead us into battle. The elegant woman was determined and her strong voice filled the white hall, where all of the Givers had gathered in their classic uniforms.

"Today is going to be the day everything will come to a decision. This decision belongs not to one of us, not to all of us, but to Life and Death together. We still need to support them and help with their decision, because they are not capable of fighting the force that is holding us from peace."

Her view wandered around the crowd and for one second she met my eye. There was tension in it and a desperation clinging onto hope.

She continued: "We assume that this force is in form of Dr. Suicide and we know that he has help from his side. He commands dark creatures, skull demons, that are waiting for us, but we need to keep calm as long as we can. We will not be the ones who start the fight!"

Murmuring and heavy nodding swept over the Givers and I turned around to look at all of them.

All of them together were a bunch of about sixty people, which was a lot more than the thirteen Reapers and the four Causes.

I was positive that, if we acted carefully enough, we wouldn't loose as much as half of them, but more positivity was not possible.

First because of Dr. Suicide's strange self confidence, that made me uneasy, and second because of my lack of magical will power.

Edith closed her speech.

"We will go and meet at the Green Wood cemetery in their area, but they can do that id it makes them feel stronger. Remember Givers, we are there for diplomacy and we only want Life back. Let's go Givers."

The first ten of the sixty pairs of feet began to walk into the elevator and in bits of ten the white hall cleared, until only about ten were left.

I was standing next to Ezra, who was holding my hand since a few minutes and it as afraid that he was not going to let me go, even if he had to.

I didn't want to see him sad if I had to leave him in exchange for Life, but I feared that there was no other option than doing exactly this.

We stepped into the elevator with Edith, Brina and a few others silently. The stress was visible on everyone's face and I began to chew on the inner side of my cheek, which I usually never did.

"We will get this right", Ezra whispered and I looked at him questioning, "We will try not to fight."

"You're too optimistic", I said and I actually meant it cheerfully, but my voice didn't sound like it.

We stayed silent, until we had walked out of the hospital, in the direction our group was going to go to for portaling.

Edith pulled her pair of golden floral scissors from her coat she wore over the simple white uniform.

Hers consisted out of a long sleeve and white pants from thick fabric. I didn't wear one, instead I wore my black jeans and black top as usual.

Brina had asked if I wanted to wear one, but I had said no. I wasn't going to wear the armor of any side today, I was wearing my own armor.

The young evening sounded as if New York had been wrapped in cotton in the Green Wood cemetery and the ground was slightly muddy. The familiar feeling calmed me a little, but the Givers seemed to feel a lot more uncomfortable.

"Has everyone arrived yet?", I asked as I was looking at the crowd of Givers standing in the graveyard.

Ezra nodded slightly confused: "Yes that's everyone. Do you miss anybody?"