Chapter 1(Revised)
The woman let out a groan of pain,her hand going to floor for support as she heaved herself up from the tiled ground. Dried blood coated her fingers like a tight fitting pair of sticky,crimson colored gloves. She hadn't meant to let this happen,being with child,that is. And here she was,trying to crawl her way to a bed to push out the child, something the woman viewed as a parasite.
She took a few steps, practically hobbling,until she fell over,grabbing at her stomach in intense pain. A yell that echoed throughout the small house ripped from her throat,it felt as if her insides had started to twist,rearrange itself,and eat away at her stomach. She gripped the leg of a chair,sides heaving as she breathed heavily. All she had to do was push and push until that dreaded child came out,right? That's what she would do.
It felt as if centuries passed before the woman pushed out the child, her head covered slightly with brown hair popped out,and with time,the rest of her small body did too. As soon as her mouth took in a small gust of air,little cries escaped her throat,arms squirming as tears rolled down her reddened cheeks. The woman took a look at her child,a smile spreading across her lips. It was funny to the new mother,just moments ago,she was dreading having a child,but now she found self warming up to the brown haired baby.
That warmth escaped out the door that swung open and filled with a blue mist. "No,"The woman breathed out,she held the child to her sweat drenched chest in a panic and felt her way up the brick wall. She could hear humming in her ears,it was like the heavens were serenading her and her child,the sound of death,she thought with a wince.
Just as the woman took a step,she felt something flow around her feet,to her horror,the blue fog had already reached the tip of her big toe. The fog spun around her,it filled her nose and lungs,her throat scratched in a coughing fit. She fell to the ground and onto her hands and feet,her eyes squinting at the sight before her. The fog started to form into the silhouette of a man. From the fog came a bony cloaked figure who had cold eyes sunken into its skull. The woman felt as if she couldn't breathe as she struggled to back away from this thing. "Please, don't take her."
The man laughed bitterly,"Take her? Is that what you think of me,Lucia? I'm here to see your child." All she could could here from his tone was...honesty,and maybe a bit of hurt. "Well, that's what you did to my brother and Diego! How could I not be suspicious?"
The man let out a sigh,taking off his hood as he settled himself into a chair. Once the hood was off of his head,muscle and skin started to form around the skull. He was a lightly tanned man with a jaw hidden by his black beard. He had a head full of bouncy curls and his eyes were a light grey color. His nose was slightly bent "I know you have a right to suspicious,but I have no choice! You've know that since I came back. I hate taking dead souls,I hate hurting you,and I hate this damned curse!"
He stomped his foot angrily against the ground. Lucia's eyes softened at the sight,she understood it,the feeling of being trapped. "I'm sorry,Miguel. Maybe I've only been seeing things my way for all this time. I- I didn't know how much you've been struggling."
"It's alright. This is new to you,seeing me again. I know it's been a while. Because of,you know."
"There could be a way to fix this. You said the curse could be passed on,right?" Miguel nodded his head. Lucia rubbed her baby's hair gently before passing her over to Miguel. He smiled,taking her in his arms. Her small hands reached for the fabric of his cloak,gripping it gently. A new expression crossed Miguel's face,his eyes widened with desperation. He murmured,fixating on the child in his arms,"You're right."
He suddenly stood up,baby still in his arms. Lucia's eyebrows furrowed,"Miguel?Adónde vas?" She pushed herself back up,her back supported by the wall. The blue fog filled the room again and her eyes widened in realization. She reached her hand out,as if she could just grab her child if she reached far enough ."No! No! Por qué haces esto?"
Miguel pulled the hood back onto his head," You reminded me that there was a fix to this curse,being Death. Just pass it onto someone else,right?" Lucia's face twisted with anger,her knuckles turned bone white as they clenched. She cried out," You can't just leave for 100 years and come back to steal my daughter. I won't allow it."
" You have no control over this matter. And I'll be doing you a favor,right? You don't have to take care of this child after I take her."
" She doesn't deserve to live that life. Don't you care for her?" Miguel's eyebrows furrowed,as if he were in thought for a moment. He turned away without a word. Suddenly,he felt a tug on the back of his cloak and looked over his shoulder,again,it felt as if he were actually trying to think things through,but his thoughts hadn't won. He spared Lucia a glance,his expression somewhat apologetic, before the fog swallowed him and the child whole.
Miguel observed his surroundings,he was in a place that had become all too familiar to him in the last hundred years he had become trapped by his duty. The dark blue film that seemed to cover his sight when he stepped foot in the afterlife,the tall trees,twisting trees that were barren no matter the season,and the house that he created out of magic. He slowly walked towards the cobblestone path leading to the giant house of bricks and into the doorway until finally,he reached the dining room.
Miguel set down the child on the table,her eyes fluttering open. He noticed the dark green of her eyes that sat at the edges and faded into a light brown color in the middle. It reminded him of the land around the river where he first met Lucia,he saw flashes of the flowing river and her small smile when he saw her sitting on a stump blowing into a wooden flute,her fingers tapping against the holes at the top to make noise.
Miguel stepped towards the flowing river warily,drops of water from the heavy rain and river flew onto his chainmail armor. He wiped at his chest with the fabric of his shirt underneath the armor. He muttered under his breath,complaining over the chill of the water,"I don't even get why I have to-" The sound of a whistle made his head perk up,he had heard of tales of soldiers being lured across the river by beautiful music just to get slaughtered and Miguel didn't want to die. But curiosity caught him in it's naive grip and lifted his arm to his helmet to take it off of his head.
Miguel heard more whistles and turned his head to look at the source of the sound. Just a few feet from him was a stump, occupied by a young woman with long,silky black hair and sharp brown eyes lined by thick eyelashes. Miguel was taken aback by her beauty and hadn't even noticed the flute that she held to her mouth. By no means was he a bold man,but something drove him to call out to her,"What are you doing out in this harsh weather? You'll surely catch a chill."
"It's better than being married off to a man three times my age. That's no life to live."
Miguel nodded in agreement,settling himself next to her on the stump. "That sounds dreadful. What are you planning to do,then? Drown yourself in this river to escape that life?"
"No,no,of course not. Este es el río de la vida, no de la muerte. Ni se me ocurriría ahogarme ahí." Miguel smiled," I see your reasoning there. Well,if you're staying out here to wait out that marriage of yours I'd love to wait with you." He added jokingly,"And maybe become the man you do marry."
The woman tilted her head back with a soft laugh,"I'll consider it. Maybe get to know me first,though."
Miguel was drawn back to the present,looking at the girl squirming in front of him on the table. He held her up,"Your name will be Rio Vidal." Rio giggled at the name,as if approving of it.
Four years had passed since Rio had been taken from her mother,well,four years in the afterlife had passed. Four hundred years passed in the world of the living. Her hair had turned a darker brown and started to form waves,the green ring around the brown of her eyes started to become less green and more of a brownish color with small hints of the green from before.
While Rio sat in the house every day,Miguel escaped to his duties. Every once in a while,he would stay for a little bit of time to read stories with Rio,stories that told of women turned into spiders,poems from the Spanish,and tales of the gods above. Rio wished that things were different,why couldn't he just stay for one day? She rested her head against his cloak,"Papa,will you stay and not go he-man world?"
"I am Death,I cannot reject my duties,"He replied with a casual tone,as if it were a normal thing to leave your daughter at home everyday just for some "job". "Why did you choose Death?"
Miguel blinked,his expression surprised,he hadn't been asked that question in centuries. He looked down at the storybook closed in his lap," I don't know." His eyes heavied with regret as he patted Rio's head,"But you'll know,someday."
Rio tilted her head,dark brown hair falling onto her shoulder,in her confusion,she looked up at Miguel and asked," I'll be able to mind read?" He held back a laugh at the oblivious question and smiled,"No,but good try."
Miguel was once again reminded in those few years of who he was taking childhood from and who he took from their true parent. His jaw clenched at the thought of Lucia and the shine in her eyes from tears threatening to fall against her cheeks. He hadn't meant to hurt her,just as much as he didn't mean to actually connect with Rio. It only ever made him feel more guilt at the fact that he would soon ruin her life by passing the job onto her.
Miguel felt the vibrations of Rio's snore through his cloak and turned his head to look down at her eyes shut peacefully. He slid his hands under her back and the back of her knees and lifted her up to his chest. He pushed the door to her bedroom open and walked through the doorway.
Rio's bedroom was simple,in the left corner of her room was her small bed that sat just below the window that allowed Rio to see some of the clearing outside of the house. Sitting next to her bed was a nightstand and rocking chair that she and Miguel had painted a night sky over with misshapen stars and blotches of purple,blue,and black paint. Not much else in her room besides a bookshelf stuffed into a random spot along the wall. Just a normal room. Well,besides from the fact that Miguel would find plants like vines and ferns that he would have to pull out from the crevices between the floor and walls.
Miguel set Rio onto the bed gently and walked back through the doorway and shut the door behind him. Knock knock. Miguel jumped at the sound of the knocks on the door,no,they can't be here. Never in his few hundred years of being Death had one of them ever knocked on his door. He hesitantly wrapped his hand around the door knob and twisted it. He was met with the unimpressed face of a pale,dark haired woman.
Her thin black eyebrows raised above her jade green eyes that landed on Miguel. He rubbed his eyes,maybe as a means to avoid any more eye contact with those green eyes that stabbed daggers in his soul just by looking,"I'm guessing this is serious."
"Obviously,Miguel."
The woman crossed her arms,fully letting her Greek accent drip over her words as if to exaggerate her anger,"So,are you going to tell any of us why you took a living soul to the afterlife? Let me ask you another question,did you think this wouldn't have major consequences?"
"I knew that I'd be punished,so if you're asking that,then yes,I-" The woman cut him off already,her eyebrows furrowing in deep anger,"No,vlaka! Θεέ, τοσοῦτον ἰδιώτης εἶ, ὅτι μοι μισεῖν τὴν πρότερον ἐργασίαν μου ἐγείρει! " She paced around angrily and pushed Miguel aside to go inside the house. "I don't get what I did-"
"Of course you don't,not only are you the blandest of the Deaths,but also one of the most stupid."
"Okay,I didn't answer the door to be verbally insulted,so you can leave." Miguel walked towards the door,most likely leading the woman out but she stayed,legs locked in place on the tilted floor. "Except I can't leave until I talk about what you did and how exactly it's bad."
Miguel let out a groan,only to be met by a glare from the woman. "You think that this is an annoyance in your schedule? Imagine my surprise when I was just resting on the beach and I suddenly get picked to tell you what your little mistake has done to the natural order."
Miguel's head finally seemed to perk up in concern. "I thought it wouldn't,though. The natural order only gets messed up when a dead souls hasn't been taken." His eyes narrowed in thought,that's how it went,right? The woman shook her head," That is not how it works at all. The natural order is messed up by any one misplaced soul. Sure, it's fine if it's a ghost or something because at least that doesn't catch the gods' attention and it doesn't affect any living or dead souls,but a living soul in the afterlife? That's a no go,yet you did it. Every soul has a place in the natural order,like a food chain,and you just broke it by bringing a living child to a place where she doesn't belong."
" I can't just bring her back?"
For the first time,the woman's expression turned worried,her green eyes widened slightly. "Under normal circumstances,yes you could just drop right back into the world of the living,but I'm not sure you can do that." Miguel chuckled in disbelief,"Why not?"
"You've created a prophecy by bringing her to the afterlife. A prophecy that says she could kill millions if she ever comes in contact with the dark hold."
Rio rubbed her eyes as she woke from her sleep and looked down at her legs,covered by the white blanket of her bed. She looked around her room,she could've sworn- "AH!" She fell out of her bed at the sight of the dark figure in her rocking chair. Shake. Scratch. Fizz. Dim light filled her sight as a match was struck against the match box and fire was tilted onto the tip of a candle. She looked back up to see Miguel laying on her rocking chair.
"I didn't get a chance to tell you a bedtime story,so I thought I'd do it when you woke up." Rio tilted her head in confusion,"But you already d-"
"Then you get an extra one today," Miguel flashed a smile and scooted the rocking chair closer to Rio's bed. She looked past his shoulder where her bookshelf sat,"Aren't you grabbing a book?"
"This one will be different and very important,Rio,so make sure you listen."
Rio jumped back up onto her bed and sat cross legged on her pillows. Miguel cleared his throat and looked up at the ceiling as if he were trying to reach into his mind to find the details of the story. After a few moments,he found it.
"A long time ago,there lived a time where humans and gods lived in the same realm,although they were found on the highest of mountains,in the most dangerous of caves,or even far underground,they lived in the same realm. Creatures could still die,but they would be ferried by one of the gods instead of by another human. That would all change one day when a prideful man named Kapaneus,crossed the gods. He had been a problem since the gods didn't allow him to have their title or even portion of their power. He cried out in anger,' Why can't I be a god? For I could best any one of you and I must be among your ranks!' The gods struck him their power and in their rage,they carried him to the horizon,the steadied sun scorching his fair,freckled skin to a crisp. One of them turned to him and boomed with a sadistic smirk,'You want the power of gods? We will give you that,we will give you immortality and power. Your power will give the ability to take from those you love and the whole world since that is all you please. You will be damned eternally to the loneliness of being hated by every soul in this universe.' The god pointed his staff to Kapaneus,who wheezed out in protest,unable to make any other sound due to his burnt vocal cords. Power shot through the man's chest as pained wheezes came out of the man's mouth that started to melt,leaving only the bone beneath. The gods dropped Kapaneus by the arms,leaving the man on his bony knees. 'Kapaneus, we are kind beings,so you will spared from being punished for eternity if you can find a successor to this curse.' With that,the gods walked away,they had finished with the prideful man,but he was not through with the world,for he would pass the curse onto many and make them ferry the souls of the dead into the afterlife. That is how the role of Death came to be bestowed upon humans."
There was a problem,well,not really,Rio didn't see any fault with the "curse" of becoming Death. In fact,she enjoyed the thought of the adventures that came with ferrying souls. Finally getting to walk through the forests and jungles that she only got to read about in her storybooks. She was so caught up in the thought that she didn't even question why her dad had told her this story. "I don't see any problem with becoming Death."
As soon as the words left Rio's mouth and swam through Miguel's head,his eyes widened and then he frowned,looking a bit defeated.
Distract her from the world of the living,and the prophecy won't come true.
The woman never told him what else to do if she became even more fascinated by the gruesome story. Alright,then,time to detour. If he couldn't keep her from the world of the living,he would just have to keep her from discovering the dark hold. It wouldn't be that hard,right? Besides,the dark hold was an artifact that improved on existing magic,not one that gave magic to a random human.
At least Miguel could go with his original plan,give Rio the curse and escape from the confines of the afterlife. He could live his dream life after, although it couldn't be among the living,he still anticipated it.
Miguel put on his best smile as he opened his mouth to ask Rio,"You liked the story,right?"- She nodded eagerly-"I just wish there were a way for you to see how good my job is,like I don't know,becoming my apprentice. " Her head perked up,"What's that?"
"You help me pick up the souls and bring them back, that's what. And I'll train you to become the next Death. How does that sound?" Miguel feared that his voice had started to become breathless with desperation for her to accept,but there was no need to worry,Rio had been smiling the whole time and jumped up excitedly from her bed," I want to become your appentic!"
"Apprentice."
Rio was too excited to notice him correcting her,so she just nodded at the words coming out of his mouth. She grabbed at his cloak that hung on the rocking chair,the cloak felt somewhat velvety and soft,with an edge of roughness from all his work over the years. His clothes swapped out to a simple white kirtle that he wore from time to time. Rio looked at the cloak with a curious and energetic glint in her brown eyes,"Do I get a cloak like this one?"
"You do,but you'll need to prove you're worthy of the role as my apprentice first. Which is why I'm testing you by sending you to deliver a soul to me." Rio set down the corner of the cloak she had pulled at. "A soul? Which one?"
" One of the last souls in the Calderu Coven."
Rio was already out the bedroom door by the time Miguel finished his sentence. Things seemed to be going great(so far),but in the back of his mind,he knew,that this would end in disaster and would make him wish he would've never taken that child in the first place.