And thus... he was gone, vanishing into the boundless ether which harbored all of the spiritual essence in the world.
Zen had found it rather... novel. He never did possess what could be called a mortal soul, being an Aspect of Death. In spite of that, this migration of spirit felt almost comforting.
What irony...
The expanse was a tranquil void, containing the numerous specs of life which cycled through periods of existence, and now it was pulling his own into its boundary.
And yet, something else... something just as harrowing was yanking at him from beyond the coil of mortality.
Hm...
So even then... after realizing his capacity for human emotion, the concept of Chronos was still reaching out for its existential components, including that portion of itself.
He never did belong to that collection of souls in any shape or form, so he figured it was inevitable such an event would befall him at some point.
It was a hefty burden which he could only shoulder... alone.
Ngh-
Amidst that flowing ocean of spirits, a familiar one was looming near his own. He directs his sight down toward it, the ethereal image of their prior forms in his view, and he was taken aback by the identity of the presence.
Rei...
The small bundle was lingering close to him in the quiet wavering of the space, almost as if within a deep slumber from which she would never wake.
Of course... she had her sorrowful memories restored to her before, but she still possessed that same link to him which tied them together...
How poetic of fate for the deity and mortal pair. He knew all too well that she belonged to the realm of the living, so he already closed his heart to that inevitability.
As he remained still in that vastness, her soul begins withdrawing from his own, motioning back toward the mortal world...
...
The same world which denied her freedom...
...
He falters for an instant as he gazed down at her retreating state.
...
The same world which left her rotting...
...
He closes his eyes at that moment, but he remains hesitant.
...
The same world which neglected her worth...
...
His hand snaps forward, latching onto the wrist of her tinier form.
...
No... he would never think of subjecting her to such an existence, perish even the slightest chance of it occurring to her again. Through his brief contemplation, he was assured of that.
Having the deceased reject him or welcome him had become so... commonplace. Rei did no different in denying that compliance, but she suffered at the impudence of his mere curiosity.
He made his tactless mistake. He knew it there and beyond himself. She had gone through trial and tribulation for her lease on life, but even then... she desired so much more than just that.
Resolved in his choice for the both of them, he opens his eyes back up, and he pulls her meager spirit back toward his own.
As the coalescence of divine power encompassed Zen, he wraps the light of his being around that of Rei, fading into the murky energy as a united glimmer...
YOU ARE READING
Its Sweet Embrace
FanfictionHe really must have been such a careless deity... Even when he had restored her dreadful memories, her eyes still retained that lush green to them, that desire for a new beginning. Now... he had to take the matter of her existence into his own hands...
