Though life may exist for a limited time, it ultimately comes down to the moment of death to end it all. Life is but a blip in the grand scale of things, ultimately fleeting, ending at a moment’s notice.
That is true for any mortal creature, be it human, demon, elf or any other living being. For even dragons will fall to the hands of time. Yet there are beings outside of the cycle… immortals, entities of unimaginable power.The ones outside the mortal plain just see death as part of mortal cycle. A cycle that they don’t interfere in.Most chose to ignore their mortal counterparts in favor of solitude or obtaining wisdom. Some were tasked with duties that involved mortals, such creatures being the angels that serve the gods.
Originally, angels were a species and recognized as such before becoming known as gods’ messengers. Angels were born immortal, a race free of death and endless curiosity. Their progenitor is the Great Tree from whose branches they sprouted like flowers. These Trees were gigantic, unmatched in reach, occupying the unknown in a dimension never explored by mankind. While the Trees were by far not the tallest, they were wide, reaching with its branches extending all over the land they occupied.. The beings that came to be known as angels were originally created by the Great Trees and were the residents of their own dimension.
Their realm was the realm of immortals. They knew nothing of the impermanence of life and how rules governed the other worlds.
In time the angels discovered that their world was not all there was. Curious and unable to restrain their interest, they journeyed into the unknown dimensions. None knew how they managed to journey to other realms, but their existence all over other realms serves to confirm it. Some simply knew not where they were going and in a sense slipped through the cracks between their world and the others.
Some have arrived in a realm occupied by mortals. To their curiosity they found out that the dimension of mortals was separated into realms, each having borders set up in form of invisible barriers.
To their horror, they discovered that they had no corporeal forms in this realm. This caused them great despair, for their influence on reality was severely limited. In a sense they were bodiless energy that possessed consciousness. Their original forms from their own world vanished, only returning if they influenced the territory enough to call it their own domain. They were same as ghosts.
Because of having no corporeal forms, many angels chose to watch over humanity and were rather fascinated by their beliefs. They watched and learned many things over the countless years of following peculiar individuals. Then one day, angel discovered that he could possess a body of a human being, essentially allowing the angel to have his own body. The angel found a way to change the body to suit his needs, modifying its appearance to that of his own and granting the body the wings that became the signature marking of the angels. Soon, other angels followed the suit and started interacting with human beings. This interaction inspired human beings to come up with so many legends honoring the angels while mostly ignorant of their true origins. This was certainly due to human beings considering angels something of divine origin while the angels were trying to appease human beings in order to understand them better.
After occupying human bodies, some angels grew out of learning about human beings and started to genuinely understand them. Many chose to lead their lives as human beings. Because they permanently occupied human bodies they chose to forgo their immortality in order to become one with humanity. This partially can be attributed to them falling in love with humanity. Though seeing this trend, the gods of the world forbid the angels from occupying human bodies for it made the angels be out of their influence. Some cruel gods have even hunted down many angels who did occupy human bodies in order to eliminate the trend of possession. Afterwards, the practice of possession was mostly forgotten.
Some angels did not feel any sentiment towards humanity and chose to leave the dimension altogether, in favor of having their own bodies in their own reality rather than exist as specters within human realm.
Yet, some found themselves in the middle ground. They did not want to occupy a human host and become mortal nor did they want to leave this dimension. They simply wanted to have a place in this world.
They quickly found out that the world of mortals follows the rules set by nature and in order to have influence and be immortal within this world they have to become part of the cycle. Unlike mortals, angels held access to every stage and realm of existence. All doors were open to them, but one. They always knew there is a Creator who set up all the rules of existence to every realm created, but this Creator never interfered. The Creator was the ultimate observer. Angels deduced that Creator was very curious about life and its course. The entire course.
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Angels deduced the existence of the creator because of the fact that no matter what they tried they could not bend certain rules of reality and were forced to obey and abide by them. One of such rules was becoming part of cycle of nature.
By becoming part of cycle of nature, angel was able to obtain a corporeal form without possessing a human body and maintained immortality. There a many ways angels have become part of nature cycle, each one being pledging loyalty and fealty to a specific god and be granted a physical form in return.
Those who pledged themselves to the primordial god of death, Olim, had a duty to help souls move on after death. Of course there were many rules that had to be followed, which includes the fact that they are unable to interfere until after the mortal dies.
No mortal knows what happens after death, other than the fact that it’s beyond the current world and angels occupy it. While vague, what they know is the truth. There are angels waiting in the world beyond and those responsible for sending the souls there.
Out of the angels that chose to stay immortal, those that serve Olim became the agents of sending souls to the world beyond. While most mortals could travel to the world beyond after death, some had lingering attachments to the world of the living- the problem some angels attempted to resolve. To prevent human being from being trapped in between planes of existence as a ghost, certain angels attempted to allow them to rest in peace. While the angels could not help the souls with unfinished business, they could help souls that completed their tasks in life but were stranded. The interesting fact is- many souls end up like this after the occupant of the soul perishes, leading to certain angels to come and send them to the world beyond. These angels became known as Shinigami. They were also known as the Reapers, the servant of Primordial god of death, Olim.
On a particular day, a certain Reaper named Desolai was taking care of her duties as usual. Reaping a soul- essentially severing the connection with this reality of the soul that has finished its business. There are countless Shinigami existing within this realm, so there never was a need to rush, but the duty was still duty. She had certain souls she had to reap in order to maintain her position. It became meaning of her existence. She has long forgotten of who she used to be before due to the centuries upon centuries spent being a Shinigami. By now Shinigami became part of cycle of nature, so the only thing that mattered to her was her duty. At least that’s what she likes to think. After completing her duty for a day, she stays in human realm longer in order to observe humanity and in particular their relationships with each other. Angels never knew of such things without becoming mortals. The relationships like company, friendships, love, and family were largely a mystery to them. Desolai watched the mothers take care of their babies with undeniable curiosity. She was fascinated by the fact that human beings could create life and that they nurtured it. Angels could not reproduce by nature unless they become mortals, so immortal angels like Shinigami are rather mystified with the human concepts of love and caring. Desolai would spend long hours watching happy families spending their times together and often wonder if the human beings are the saddest or the happiest of creatures. They were rather limited when it came to lifespan but were fortunate enough to have the power to have influence the world. Desolai sadly remarked that she while she had a physical form; she was both intangible and invisible to human beings. Being a Shinigami meant she could only interact with souls of the deceased and had a duty to perform her position. She could not change the fate of a human being nor interfere and she only came for them at the end. This fact she has long ago accepted.
After watching or rather stalking human families, she flapped her black wings and flew back to her domain. Her domain occupied the same plane of existence as the human realm but was hidden thoroughly. To human eyes and senses, her domain appears to be a large mountain. Human beings could even climb it to prove its authenticity. Only when she passed through the mountain could she go to her domain. Her domain was a large space that seemed to exist in its own pocket dimension considering it was far larger than the space occupied by the mountain. Within her domain she built many things, including a mansion, a barn, and a forest. She also built many other structures over the years, mostly due to her fascination with human beings. In order to liven up her domain, she grew grass and plants within it and allowed animals to enter her domain once the plants have grown enough. Within her domain she held the absolute authority and she could even manipulate time within it. Because of this growing grasslands and tall trees from seeds was an easy matter. Additionally, within her own domain she could interact with anything, touch anything, and she was free to enjoy the feel of wind, sun, and water. Such experiences are impossible within the human world, so she cherished the moments she could spend in her domain after completing her duty for the day. Yet something always seemed to be missing.
Desolai landed on the grass with her wings folding on her back like clothing. She enjoyed the feel of the grass, the soft sensation that it produced. The cool air around her made her comprehend the beauty of life and how she was free to do what she wanted, as long as she was within her domain. All alone. All alone.