The god of death watched with a smile as Tivwo stepped out of his domain with Turum.

“You know,” he said to Purum. “I’m glad I got to do something helpful. Makes everything that’s happened a bit worthwhile.”

The mermaid nodded, her scales glittering under the shining light of the caves. “And Tushen loses another victim.”

“Speaking of,” Walter said. “It will take a bit to make what I have in mind for the man. Flipper, can you hold onto him for me?”

The turtle saluted and gave a chipper chirp.

“Haha, glad you’re eager.”

Flipper squeaked again, motioning his head to Purum.

“Oh, right,” Walter said. “Purum, I won’t have time to help settle you into your role, and I don’t know how comfortable you’d be with me. So Flipper here will show you the ropes.”

Purum raised an eyebrow, but agreed. “I look forward to learning ‘the ropes’ as you say.”

Walter smirked. “Sorry, slang from my original world. It means Flipper will teach you how everything works.”

“Your intent was translated easily enough,” Purum answered. “But thank you for the clarity.”

Now that she mentioned it, Walter did notice that it was easier to understand what others were saying. At some point the people around him started to sound like actual people and not machine translators.

“Huh, when did that happen?” Walter mused.

“When ya decided to embrace your role as a god of death, you idiot,” Davy said.

Walter jumped. The god had just appeared beside Walter without so much as a warning. “Jesus! You scared me half to death!”

Purum laughed. “A death god scared half to death. That’s good.”

Davy didn’t look so pleased. “Lad, what were you thinking?”

“What?” Walter asked. “Why are you angry?”

“Lad, you can’t just let souls leave your domain!”

Walter frowned and focused on Davy. The gnarled old man’s face was wrinkled in frustration, making him look much older.

Walter instantly got defensive. “I didn’t let a soul leave. I made a deal.”

“And what if they escape you, lad?” Davy belted. His voice shook the caves, sending the few souls diving for cover. Purum jumped between Davy and Walter, the woman’s body raised threateningly.

“So what if they escape me.” Walter stated. “There’s plenty more souls. More deserving souls too.”

“Lad,” Davy groaned. “Don’t you see what you did? If she can escape you, then others can too! There’s a reason the stories of death make sure the soul can’t leave.”

Walter pushed past Purum, his anger growing to match Davy’s. “You’re the one who told me to make a decision! You’re the one who told me that no matter what I chose it would be alright!”

“I didn’t think you’d be so daft as to let the dead escape your domain!” Davy shouted. “You’re supposed to be helping fix the cycle, lad. This just adds more problems.”

“So I’m just supposed to let that girl live without a mother?!” Walter boomed. His eyes flashed blue-black. “You want me to sit by when I have the power to do something about it?!”

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Yes!” Davy shouted, his voice practically pushing Walter backward. “You have to, lad! Death has to be impartial! This girl lost her mother, what about the hundreds more just like her? What about all of them? Did you think about that?”

“Of course I didn’t!” Walter argued. “Why would I? Someone I knew needed help, and I could help! I’m not going to sit and think, ‘oh, what about all the other little girls in the world?’ We both know that’s a stupid argument!”

Davy stomped his foot, cracking the stone underneath. Flipper flinched at the noise as it echoed across the walls. Seeing the animal react, Davy took a moment to calm down. He spoke through clenched teeth. “Lad. I’m not trying to say what you did was wrong. But it is stupid. There are terrible things in this world, people that aren’t as innocent as a young girl in a fishing village who only wants her mother. You making a deal with the girl opens the doors for others. And if they beat you, there are consequences.”

Walter huffed. “Well, whose fault is it for throwing me out into a world without any training? If you recall, I wanted more time to learn.”

“You didn’t need more time,” Davy said. “You needed action. You weren’t accepting the god part of yourself, lad.”

“You know that for sure, do you?” Walter contested.

Davy sighed. “Yes, lad. If I went at it your way your human soul would have tried to quantify your powers. You would have limited your abilities, and I wasn’t about to have that. I had to push you, lad. You had to see for yourself what it meant to be Death.”

“Boy, it sure would have been great to—I don’t know? Maybe, know that before I left?” Walter said sarcastically.

Davy rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. “Lad, if I told you, would you have gone?”

Walter looked away. He knew he wouldn’t have. Not without a fight at least.

The world was silent for a moment as Walter sulked. Flipper wanted to comfort his creator, but Purum held him back. She didn’t want the small creature to get between the two gods if it led to a fight.

Eventually, Walter looked up at Davy, his face scrunched. “I couldn’t do nothing. I can’t sit there and let something that terrible happen.”

Davy stared at the man in front of him. “You might not have a choice.”

“Then you should find someone else,” Walter stated.

“No, we won’t,” A new voice said.

Both gods turned to find Sod standing at Walter’s entrance.

Walter scoffed. “You heard Davy. I’m not cut out for this.”

“So you say,” Sod replied. “I disagree.”

“You saw what he did,” Davy said. “There’s every chance he breaks things.”

“You are looking at it wrong,” Sod said.

“How’s that?” Walter asked.

Sod floated across the cave pools to stand between the two gods. “As Davy Jones said earlier, gods are aspects. But that isn’t all they are. There are facets to gods, shaped by the perception of those who interact with them. Take Zeus. To the ancient Greeks, he acted one way but to the Romans, he acted differently. The culture shaped how they saw the god.”

“That doesn’t change anything,” Davy said. “One child’s perception won’t change the danger that comes from what Walter did.”

“And what was it that I did that was so wrong?” Walter shot back. “Was it the wager? Or was it the fact that I let someone take a soul from my domain?”

“Both,” Davy stated.

“I’d do it again,” Walter said.

“Lad, you—” Davy started.

“Stop,” Sod said. “I wasn’t finished.”

Walter and Davy glared at each other but stopped arguing.

Sod shook his head. “Davy, you forget that the stories are important. Yes, Walter has shown that you can wager with Death, but it also gives him the ability to move freely through the world. Before, Death could only travel to places where death was present. A wide area, to be sure, but still limited.”

“Wait, wait,” Walter said. “Hold the phone. I could only travel to places where death was present? Is that why I was at that village?”

“Of course,” Sod said. “You should have plenty of Earth stories about Death appearing to those about to die. Didn’t you notice that Death never appeared to someone healthy?”

Walter threw his hands in the air. “Great! Another thing I didn’t know before going down!”

“Again, you wouldn’t have gone down if I explained any of this,” Davy stated.

“That’s not the point!” Walter shouted. All the tension from the past few days (or weeks or months, Walter honestly couldn’t say) exploded.

“How am I supposed to trust you to teach me correctly if you won’t explain anything!” Walter snapped.

Davy crossed his arms. “Maybe if you stopped rejecting the godhood it wouldn’t be a problem.”

“I’m not!” Walter huffed.

“Of course you are,” Davy countered. “You’re still hung up over your own death. How are you supposed to be a god of Death if you can’t even confront your own?”

Walter grabbed his face and groaned. “And you think that throwing me into things is how I’m going to accept that?”

Davy raised an eyebrow. “Well, it worked didn’t it?”

“Jesus Christ you really don’t understand people!” Walter complained. He turned to Sod. “And you! You’re the same, you know! Just standing there while I broke down. Neither of you actually seem to care about anything except getting the job done! Well, I’m not a robot! I’m not empty of emotion! Did it ever occur to you that of course I’m going to have hang-ups about death? I didn’t exactly go out peacefully!”