NOVPUBBeyond the Earth, beyond the very universe itself, exist countless realities. Though we call them "realms," even that word falls short. These places are not part of the real world, nor are they mere figments of imagination. They exist in between.
Those who dwell there are not beings in the traditional sense. They are the Concept. Not born of it, they are it.
Below the One, yet above All.
A single thought from one of them could fracture reality. A whispered word could rewrite causality. Universes unravel or coalesce by their whims. Creation itself is fragile in their presence.
Each of these beings possesses its own World. A Realm. A Throne. A Domain.
Call it what you will, it changes nothing.
These Domains are truth incarnate.
And Death is one of them.
Death is the Concept of death itself, finality incarnate. She is the end of all things, the last page in every story. But if Death exists, then so too must her opposite.
Lady Life.
Where Death ends, Life begins. They were born together, two sides of the same eternal coin. One cannot exist without the other. Their presence is balanced. A boundary between beginnings and endings.
Since the dawn of everything, since even the Creator vanished, these two have taken on the most sacred duty:
They oversee the Cycle of Rebirth. The Wheel of Reincarnation. Samsara. Bhavachakra. And many more names.
But in essence, there are three cycles: Life. Death. And Rebirth.
It has been this way for ages uncounted. Neither ever failed. Not once.
Until now.
---
"Death! What have you done?!"
The voice rang through the nothingness like a chime cracking glass.
Lady Life emerged, radiant and furious, cloaked in blooming galaxies and swirling light.
Across from her, lounging atop a throne sculpted from endings, withered stars, fallen empires, forgotten names, everything that comes to an end, sat Death.
Reclined in lazy grace, she smiled, shadows curling like cats around her feet.
"Ohh~ Sister," Death purred, her voice like a lullaby spoken at a funeral, "it feels like eons since we last spoke~"
"Don't you dare play the fool, Dea- huh?"
Life faltered mid-word.
Her brow furrowed. Something was wrong.
Not with the realm, but with her.
Death was different.
Not stronger. Not weaker.
Just… changed.
There was a glint in her eye, wild and warm and utterly alien.
"You..." Life's voice sharpened. "What happened to you?"
Death tilted her head. Smiling sweetly. Mockingly.
"Me? Oh, nothing serious..."
She leaned forward just enough for her smirk to deepen into something dangerous.
"I just got myself a man"
Life blinked.
Then blinked again.
"Ohh~ You just got yourse- HUH?! WHAT?!"
Her cry echoed into the void.
"Death, what are you doing?"
Lady Life's voice trembled, not with fear, but with incredulity.
"You know we can't... Do that. You know full well... We don't have the heart of a mortal. We were never meant to. Something like that is..." She shook her head, eyes narrowed, "Impossible"
Death exhaled softly, as if sighing out a lifetime of memories that were never hers to have.
"Right. I thought the same," Her voice was low, almost wistful. "But something in me shifted... The moment I first looked into his eyes"
A pause. The weight of it was palpable.
"I didn't believe it myself at first," She murmured, "This... Feeling. It shouldn't be real. And yet... Here it is. Blooming like a forbidden flower in the soil of my being"
Lady Life stiffened, an uneasy wind brushing across her luminous form.
"Wait," She said slowly, a growing dread coloring her tone, "That man… The one you're talking about, it's not Him, is it?"
Silence.
Death didn't respond. She didn't have to.
The smile on her lips was answer enough.
Soft. Knowing. Dangerous.
Lady Life staggered back a step, her radiant light flickering.
"You fool! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
Death only tilted her head, her eyes distant, lost in a memory that burned colder than any void.
"For the first time in all eternity… I felt alive, Sister." Death's voice was soft but unwavering, each word steeped in the still certainty of finality. "And I don't have any regret"
Lady Life stared at her sister, her opposite, her equal, and felt a shiver of something dangerously close to fear.
"You... What if Fate finds out about this?"
Death chuckled. It was a sound like dry petals falling onto a closed coffin.
"What can he do?" she asked, her smile edged with disdain. "He is like us, Sister. Just another Concept trying to fill a throne far too vast for one soul. He plays the part of the Creator, but even he knows, no one can truly take the Creator's place"
Her eyes narrowed, shadows curling tighter around her.
"And besides... He needs us. All of us. He wouldn't dare act"
Lady Life folded her arms, her voice now a sharp whisper of growing desperation.
"But still... This relationship is wrong, Death. You know that"
Death's gaze turned distant, as though she were seeing a moment not yet written.
"You don't understand, Sister..." Her voice trembled, not with doubt, but something deeper. Reverence. Awe. "You'll understand when you meet him face to face."
She stood now, tall and terrible in her beauty, as ancient stars died behind her.
"He is not merely Will... He is Will that chose" A pause. Her smile softened, solemn now. "He took the essence of Will and became something greater. Not the cold inevitability of action, but the choice to defy it. He is Will… But he acts not like Will at all"
Death stood now, no longer lounging, no longer teasing. She stood before her sister, a presence as still and inevitable as the last breath before silence.
"...And you know how Will ends"
Her voice was low, almost mournful, but laced with an undeniable truth.
"He could've done something greater. He was the one closest to the Creator. Closer than any of us," Her gaze turned inward, distant. "But in the end... He didn't choose. Fate did, while Will? He surrendered"
She stepped closer, shadows curling around her feet like loyal beasts.
"He only chose when he knew it was his end." Death's tone was heavy now, a slow burn of old grief turned into steel. "And we know this. We were there, Sister. All of us. Watching"
She stopped just a breath away from Lady Life.
"We didn't stop Fate that day. Not because we rejected Will. Not because we supported Fate"
A pause. The air between them seemed to hum with the echo of ancient memory.
"But because once Will finally made his will known..." Her eyes locked with Life's darkness, staring into light. "...We all knew. Even Fate couldn't stop it"
Silence fell like the closing of a book, final and absolute.
"This time," Death whispered, a smirk curling her lips, "I'm not just going to watch from the sidelines"
She turned, her gaze fierce with purpose and something far more dangerous... Devotion.
"I'm going to interfere. Because The Will now…?" She chuckled softly, a melodic note wrapped in dread. "He's no longer just an idea. He's my darling, after all~"
With that, Death brushed past Lady Life, her flowing shadow trailing like a veil stitched from forgotten ends.
Lady Life turned quickly.
"...Where are you going?"
Death didn't stop, but her voice floated back like a hymn of doom wrapped in silk.
"Come if you want" A pause. A hint of affection in her tone, buried beneath the layers of eternity. "I just want to see what my darling is doing right now"
And with that, the space around her folded, like time itself stepped aside, parting for Death as she vanished into the unseen.
Lady Life remained still, staring into the distance. The light around her pulsed, not with its usual radiant certainty, but with flickers of hesitation.
Was it fear?
Was it jealousy?
Or perhaps…
The first crack in the balance that held all of existence together?
Her thoughts swirled in silence, tangled in what she had seen in her sister's eyes. Devotion. Defiance. Desire.
And without realizing it, without fully understanding why, Lady Life moved.
She followed.
Step by step, she let herself be pulled along the fraying thread her sister had spun, chasing a shadow into the space between realms.
She forgot, no, chose to forget that she hadn't come here out of curiosity. That her arrival had been urgent. Necessary.
She had come because Death had broken protocol.
Because Death had taken the soul of Hercules, a hero fated to rise again from the Wheel of Reincarnation… And not returned it.
That was why she came.
But now?
Now all she could think of was the man who made Death smile. The one who made the Concept of the End feel alive.
Who was he, to stir the still heart of Death?
And what was this man, the man in question, doing right now?
Well~
For someone who stirred the still heart of Death and threatened the balance of cosmic law, he was currently in a very... Humble position.
Kneeling.
Right in front of a semi-circle of formidable women: his wives, his sharp-eyed mother, his suspicious cousin, and his terrifyingly quiet but proud grandmother.
Behind them stood his children, some confused, one trying not to laugh, and, to the side, his father, arms crossed, wearing an expression somewhere between pity and amusement.
He was trying to explain something.
Something big.
Something that should've been impossible.
....
...
..
.
