The Last Orellen

Chapter 3: The Death God in White

The Death God in White

The arrival of a pixie in the first world was not subtle.

One-winged Lutcha stepped through the portal, which Megimon was strengthening with nearly every bit of his might, and a sound like thunder rolled across the desert. The atmospheric magic shuddered like a struck gong.

The scrubby plants and pitiful reeds around the little stream withered or burned or burst into bloom, depending on which random thread of the pixies taint touched them first. In their burrows, the shine lizards writhed. One of them squealed as spines sprouted from its back. Another fell on its side, twitching.

Well, well." Lutcha stretched her thin arms over her head. Her faceted eyes reflected the bright sun. This is new.

Its temporary, Megimon said quickly. Were in the middle of nowhere, but this world doesnt need something like you in it for long.

Its niiiiicee here, Lutcha said, arching like a cat and shivering with pleasure. I thought the first world didnt have much magic in it, but this place is definitely better than our swamp. What a pleasant chaotica.

AhI believe were standing on an unmapped convergence point. Most of the world isnt like this.

The pixie snorted. Stupid human, she said fondly. "This is no convergence point."

Whatever the case, I called you here to ask for your help. If you can. Megimon gestured to the twisted form of the boy at his feet. The childs breath was shallow and too fast now. He didnt seem to be capable of anything resembling speech.

Lutcha stepped closer and bent over the boy curiously, her dark green hair brushing his skin.

Its dying, she reported. Badly.

I noticed, said Megimon. Can you do something for him? Im aware its not exactly your purview, but

Lutcha sniffed the boy. Then, she tilted her head, and a disturbing smile spread over her face. Sylph.

What?

An aerial. A wind spirit. One has tried to break into being through this small human. His mana pathways are fascinating.

Hes possessed by a demon? Megimon said, shocked.

No, you fool. Didnt I just say the spirit tried to give birth to itself. It didnt succeed. She gestured dismissively. Anyway, proper demons would be offended to hear you class a sylph among them. Its like confusing the spark from a flint with a bolt of lightning.

Megimon had scanned the village with his magic. The ruins were full of corpses, stripped to nothing but bones. Everyone who lived here is dead, he told the pixie. I thought perhaps the shredding plague had crossed the continent to find this place, and the villagers had no immunity to it whatsoever. But I suppose this explains it better.

Higher beings could sometimes force their way into existence on this plane. Megimon was clear on that much even if he didnt understand how the nothingness beyond the third world could spontaneously develop a will and become something more. The thought was too uncanny to ponder for long, even for a sorcerer.

Historically, a catastrophe was the result of such an intrusion into the first world. Beings like sylphs needed to consume vast amounts of life and magic to fully develop. Cities worth.

But thanks to the small size of this village, the general dearth of mana in the Erberen, and the absence of even any significant plant lifewell, this was a disaster that had died before it was born.

He heard Lutcha giggle, and he looked down to see the pixie prodding the dying boys chest. Some of his pathways have exploded. Magically, hes just goo inside. Actually, a few other important things inside him are goo, too. Thats a nasty toxin thats killing him. We should take a sample back with us. This would be useful even in our world.

I called you here to help me with the child, Lutcha. Not torment him and collect exotic poisons.

The pixie poked the boy a few more times, then stood up. I guess hes the soul the Disc sent you to fetch? Since I dont smell any other souls around here.

Someone threw the Disc into the flycarp pond, Megimon said with a glare. What if I can't fix the blasted thing?

Is it broken? The pixie seemed surprised. I didnt throw it very hard.

Obviously you did something to it. Its not supposed to find living children.

I watched you attune it. Its set to find souls of a certain age with unusually high planar permanence, low sense of self, and moderately anomalous fates, said Lutcha, ticking the requirements off on her four-jointed fingers. You didnt specifically tune it to find souls that had already detached from their hosts. Its just that a human soul doesnt begin to lose its sense of itself until the body has died. Under normal circumstances."

Realization struck Megimon. You mean the sylph trying to break through must have

Yes. The boys soul is no longer sound. It's in flux, almost like hes already died. Whats surprising is that the Disc didnt alert us to him months ago, when it first happened. It must be the fate component. Perhaps he was supposed to live on, but now that hes been gooified, it's reporting the anomaly.

Poor child, thought Megimon. Hed been at the center of the disaster that had no doubt slaughtered everyone he knew. When Lutcha heals him, Ill take him to one of the churches of Parneda.

The churches of the holy blacksmith were known for their compassion toward those suffering from mental trauma. No doubt they were badly overextended right now, with the plague sweeping the South every other year and battles breaking out between the more powerful family lines to the north and east. But Megimon would have his family make a generous donation so that the boy could grow up in relative comfort.

Of course, that depended on him being made well in the first place.

Now that youre done being fascinated by the poor lad, Lutcha, will you help?

She shook her head and sighed. Honestly, I cant believe you risked tainting the world to call me here for this, Megimon Orellen. You really are the silliest practitioner Ive ever met. Couldnt you just have taken care of it yourself?

Clearly I couldnt, he said stiffly. Lutcha knew he wasnt a healer. She knew he was useless at any spells outside of the narrow skillset hed spent his life mastering. She didnt need to rub it in.

Well, Ill take care of it for you then, she said. So long as you buy me better tea next time you go shopping.

Megimon nodded.

The pixie reached down and swept the boys dark hair away from his face with surprising gentleness. Little human, she said. Can you hear me?

She was infusing him with a bit of her magic to strengthen and stabilize what was left of his mind. His lids fluttered open to reveal very pale blue eyes.

Megimon gave him an encouraging smile.

#

Elph began to cry.

Finally, finally.

The death god was here, wearing the long white robes he always wore in the stories. In his hand, he carried a large golden circle of metal with strange symbols engraved on it. It didn't look like the gold blades Elph had imagined, but that was okay. The god had come.

Another facesmall and green with frightening eyeswas very close to his own.

The lizard god. She had to be. They had both come from Mount Sayar together.

Please, he said, his voice little more than a whisper. Please. Is it over?

Youll be out of pain soon, said the death god. Lutcha will help you.

He wassmiling. It was a kind smile. He wasnt angry at Elph, then. That was good.

I didnt kill any of your children, Elph whispered to the lizard woman. Im sorry I took their tails, but I was careful not to kill them.

The small green god tilted her head, then shrugged. Thanks, I guess. Hey, is there anything you wish you could've change about your life?

M-my family. I wish I hadn't...I wish they were still...

Riiight, said the lizard god. But that ones pretty far out of reach. I meant more along the lines of: did you ever wish you were a red-head? Or that your front teeth were larger? Or that you were born a female human instead of a male one?

Lutcha, stop picking on the child, the god of death said, annoyance in his voice.

Elph didnt understand at all, but it was surely wrong not to answer the lizard woman in some way. Im a boy, he said. And I dont care much about my teeth.

The gods green face looked bored. That wasnt good. He couldnt risk angering such a being.

Fanna...my sister. She had curls. Nobody else in the village did. When we were younger, I was so jealous. Elph hoped that was interesting enough. He knew his mind wasn't working very well right now. His thoughts seemed slower and more scattered than they should have.

Her fingers patted his cheek. She wasn't treating him roughly, but the muscles of his face still spasmed. He whimpered.

We cant leave it any longer, said the god of death in a quiet voice. Hes suffered enough.

I agree. Green fingers drifted lower. Child who almost became a sylph, look me up if you ever ascend to the next world. Well get drunk together. Ill even buy the first round.

Then, with a terrible strength that made no sense given her size, the lizard god snapped Elphs neck.

#

Megimon bellowed with shock. Lutcha! No!

What? said the pixie, frowning over her shoulder. Did you want me to do it some other way? A broken neck seemed efficient enough. And I even said kind things to him first.

The sorcerer stared at her, his arms hanging limply at his sides. I called you here to heal him, he said. But youyou justmurdered

The pixies mouth made a surprised O. Then she laughed. Wow! I just assumed you were too much of a tenderbelly to extract the soul yourself. I misread the situation.

Misread

She stood up and stretched her arms over her head. Next time Ill ask first. But really, if you want people to do something ridiculous and time consuming and probablyimpossible, you have to tell them, Megimon. How was I supposed to know you were in the mood for a miracle instead of the practical solution?

He was still gaping at her in horror.

"If you think about it in the right way, I didn't kill him. I'm just helping him acquire a brand new body, since he wasn't having fun with his old one." She clapped her hands together and beamed down at the dead boy. "Now suck out his soul, bottle it, and deliver it to your mad descendants."

She paused for a beat, then added, "And do remind the crypt guardians about the curly hair. His next life will probably be even shorter than this one, all things considered. He should at least get something pleasant out of it."

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