Monster

4.5 | Uncertainty

Yuri was tense. From her seat, she could see everyone moving past her, and could keep and eye on the door. It was a good place to be. She had decided to take Jeno to a local ice cream shop, but she didn't expect to be so concerned about it. Like Afia, she could see the lifespans of other people, but she also saw their cause of death. And not only that, but she saw what kind of person they were. Good, or evil, it was written over their heads, along with a list of their crimes.

She stabbed her spoon into her cup, slicing a frozen strawberry in half. "Who would have thought this world had so many people with bad intentions?"

Jeno shrugged. "They haven't all committed crimes."

"They all have the ability to though."

"Stop being so cynical and finish your ice cream." 

Yuri stuck out her tongue at him and aggressively took a bite. "Humanity is inherently evil, they all have that capability. Most choose to be good, they want to be good, but others just succumb to the darkness." 

Jeno raised an eyebrow. "You know this, how?"

Yuri scrapped her spoon along the bottom of the cup. "Comes with the job. The knowledge just sorta appears in my head. Well, that and someone else's wise words."

"Hmmm. Maybe, you could chill for a second?"

"Nope." She glared at a man who walked closely by a young girl adjacent to her. 'Pedophile,' she noted. 'Dies in a car accident.'

"Yuri, stop staring at people. They're gonna think you want to kill them."

"I do. That's the thing. At the end of the road, when their life-force finally fades, their soul calls out to me. Their flame dies, and I'm there to collect the pieces. No matter who they are, good or evil, rich or poor, they all end up in my hands." 

Jeno raised an eyebrow, spoon in his mouth. "So, what about me?"

Yuri glanced at him. "Good. You beat up some bullies once. You'll die of old age."

"Huh. Seems boring." 

"It's normal. I'd rather you'd be safe than play the hero."

"Why not, you get to?"

Yuri set her empty ice cream cup on the table. "I get to, because I was chosen. I had a choice, but I was going to die anyways. At least now I have the chance to spend time with you."

He nodded. "I guess. So, what do you know about souls?" 

"Well, for one, monsters don't have them. A soul represents what is good, it's what keeps a life-force fire burning. The brighter the fire, the better the person. Each sin a person commits dulls the flame. You'd think having a soul would make a person immortal, since it keeps the fire burning, but no, there are plenty of things that can extinguish a person's flame. The winds of Time for example. And the crushing darkness of a person's wrongdoing."

"You say that so lightly."

"I don't have a choice." 

"Why not?"

"Because no matter how much I feel for the people that have to move on, I know that they're dead. No second chances. They move on."

"So why haven't you collected any souls yet?"

Yuri glanced at her staff, invisible to humans as it leaned against their table. "When I collect a soul, I take it to a set of two doors, one made of copper, and one made of gold. The soul goes where it knows it has to be. Depending on the person's life, how much a soul is tainted, it chooses a door, and leaves. Those doors haven't appeared to me yet." 

"Why?"

Yuri sighed. "I haven't completed my mortal destiny yet." 

Jeno set his cup down. "Why not Yuri?" His tone was harsher now.

Yuri sighed. "I made a promise to you. To get you out, to spend time with you. You're important to me."

"So? These souls are important too? They'll be stuck in the in-between unless you do what you were meant to Yuri! I can wait!"

"But what if you wait forever?!"

"At least I'll have the knowledge that my sister was destined to do something great."

"Why are you like this?"

"Because I care about you Yuri, you're my sister. You've looked after me all of your life, even when you weren't here, you made sure I was safe. Even in death, you're protecting me. You've always put me above yourself. Please Yuri."

She thought about it, biting her tongue until it bled. "Fine, but with one condition.

"Anything."

"You're going to do it with me."

"That's fine by me." Jeno cleared his throat. "What do you have to do?"

"I don't know. Afia said it had something to do with my feelings."

"Well, what do you feel?"

"You can't just ask me how I feel. I don't know which feeling I'm supposed to follow."

"Start with the biggest one."

"I-" she stared at him, then looked away, following the cracks in the cement.

"Yuri..."

"Fine. I guess I feel-" she paused. "I feel alone. I have you, but I feel like something's missing. Like there's something I forgot."

Jeno shrugged. "Maybe you need closure. Maybe you need to remind yourself that whatever happened wasn't your fault."

"Maybe I do."

"So, how are you going to do that?" 

"I guess I'll start with the thing that made my life spiral out of control."

"And what's that?"

Yuri chuckled lightly and flung her ice cream spoon at Jeno, hitting him in the nose. "I've got to go find the book."

"Where do we start?"

"The place where it all began Jeno."

"The bookstore?"

"No. Way before that. We have to go to the Library."

"Well. There are hundreds of libraries in the world, how are we ever going to find it?"

"Jeno, honey, you're forgetting who I am! It's not just any library. It's a library kept by Time. It's where the chronicles of everyone and everything that ever happen or ever lived are kept. It's where the book was bound."

"Oh. So, where is it?"

"Ah, ah, ah. The question here isn't, 'where is it?'. The question is, where is it not?"

I am very much excite

Until next time!