Gift

Chapter 2: The Beginning of a New Journey

What is Death?

The question has been asked for thousands of years, from the moment that human consciousness began to wonder about itself. It was in the heart of every religion and philosophy ever created: what does it mean when we die? What happens after death? Is there a heaven or hell? Will I be judged by a God? And so on.

I would like to propose an answer: nothing changes. We are all born into this world already dead. Our lives and actions do not affect anything beyond our own existence. When we leave this mortal coil, everything goes back to how it was before we were born. The universe will still exist; life will continue as it always has done. Nothing will have changed. There is no afterlife. There is no heaven or hell. There isn't even any purpose to life. Life exists purely because it can. Death is just another form of birth, and the only difference between being alive and dead is the fact that you don't remember what happened while you were alive.

For some people, this is difficult to understand. They want something more than just survival. They want to accomplish things, achieve their goals and dreams, make a difference. But there's nothing we can do to change anything besides ourselves. No matter how much power we have, it will never have any effect beyond our own flesh. We are all born with the same amount of potential, and once we've used it up, it's gone forever. We cannot control the weather; we cannot cause earthquakes; we can't stop meteors from smashing into the planet. All of those things happen whether or not we like them. We cannot alter history. If we could do these things, then there wouldn't be miracles - we could simply create whatever we wanted.

So what is there to live for? Why should we bother going through life if we know we're going to die anyway?

We have one simple tool at our disposal. It doesn't give us more time, but it does allow us to use the time we have better. That is the greatest gift we can give ourselves: a chance to live a full life without regrets.

There is a saying in the military: 'Live fast, die young.' This is a phrase that has been repeated many times throughout history, and it means exactly what it says. Live your life to the fullest, and if you happen to die along the way, that's fine too. You may not have accomplished all of your goals, but the important thing is that you lived.

Why shouldn't you be afraid of dying? Because death is nothing more than a natural part of life, and there is nothing wrong with accepting this.

So what does all of that mean when I'm given the role of death? That is a question I don't have the answer to.

"Ajal?"

Will I have to fight people? Kill them?

"Ajal!"

I snapped to my senses. "Yeah? What's up?"

Katria looked at me with concern on her face. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, just fine. Why do you ask?"

"No reason, you seemed to be in some deep thought. What were you thinking about?"

Deep thought? I don't remember thinking about much of anything. All I remember is Kaito bringing us back home and saying he needed to talk to our parents. Speaking of which, I don't see Kaito anywhere around here.

"Hey Katria, where is Kaito?" I asked.

"He already headed inside. "She walks forward, "Come on, we should join them."

"Alright, let's go."

We enter the house and find everyone sitting in a circle around the table. Kaito is sitting in the chair comfortably and sipping on tea. My mother looks up and smiles.