"Hey young-man, watch out where you are going !"  shouted an old man as I ran past him. I just got a call from the hospital. The nurse, who sounded to be a lady in her mid thirties, said," Mr. Alex, we don't think that your mother is going to make it. Please come to the hospital as soon as you can." I just left my class mid-through. MY mom is more important that Mr. Feng's history lesson. On a normal day, I would have been happy to skip school but today it feels it just as awful.

As soon as I reached the hospital, I dashed towards my mom's ward. As soon as she saw me, a smile appeared on her face.  It was obvious that she was trying to suppress her pain. I felt guilty as I saw her. Tears rolled down my cheeks. She saw me crying and said, trying to hold her tears back," I knew that this day would come. I was prepared for it. Come on Alex, you can't just keep on crying. What if your girlfriend saw you. She would be thinking you are such a crybaby." I laughed between my tears, knowing she was trying to lighten the mood.  She added "When I am gone, take care of yourself. Your father left us when you were just 5, but look at me, I am no better. Leaving my son alone in this harsh world at the ripe  age of 17". "No mom," I replied "You are all I have. Please don't blame yourself. I am glad that you were my mom." She smiled and closed her eyes, entering her eternal rest.

5 DAYS PASSED,

The past 5 days I was a mess. I couldn't bring myself to do anything. I decided to go to school despite all the problems and mental exhaustion. "Hey buddy, how are you feeling ?" asked by friend Brandon. He was handsome and rich guy unlike me, but still we were best friends. "Lets go to the class." I said. I noticed he wasn't happy at my return. Suddenly I bumped into my girlfriend Erika, who I thought would be happy to see me, but instead she was furious. "Can't you see where you are going ? Or have the loss of your mother dulled your senses ?" I was shocked. I turned to Brandon, "Hey please calm her down. What did I do wrong ?" She asked Brandon, "Did you not tell him Brandon ?" I was still not able to understand what was going on. Brandon just stood there silently. Then Erika said "Oh! No problem I will tell you." She continued "Brandon and I are dating now." "What?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "But why? What was my mistake ?" "Your only mistake is that you are a poor orphan." she replied harshly. "Brandon is rich and handsome. Why would I not want to date him." Brandon did not say a single word. After this turn of events I ran straight to my mom's grave. "WHY? WHY? WHY? WHY?"

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"What did I do to deserve this. First my dad left me, then my mom died, and now my girlfriend left me for my best friend." "God, if you are there then answer me." I shouted at the top of my voice. My knees gave in and I fell to the ground and started crying. "A sudden breeze caught my attention. There was someone standing there in solitude. The air grew colder and the grass near the man started to wither. "I have come to answer your call" said the man breaking the dead silence. His voice was cold as ice and his words sent a chill down my spine. "Who are you?" 

The man simply looked straight into my eyes as if he could see through me. After a moment, which seemed like eternity, he said " My name is Hades, the god of death. I am responsible to look over the Underworld and the death of people." I thought he was joking but his eyes said that he was serious. " I was touched by your words and sad that the Fates finally rebelled." "What?" I muttered. "The Fates have started to think that they are above the rest of the gods. They interfere in other Shinigami's work, disrupted Yama's work, and interfered in Shiva's cycle of destruction. All the gods are trying to suppress them but either thay are injured, like me, or do not have the power to fight the Fates."

I felt anger building up in me. "How can I defeat the Fates?" I asked in anger. "It doesn't matter to you how the relation between gods is. So why do you want to defeat them?" "To take revenge for my mom" I said without skipping a beat. "Just tell me a way to defeat the Fates. I will do anything in return." "Anything you say?" He asked coldly. "Yes. I am willing to offer my life to you." 

"It wouldn't be required." He replied. "I was looking for a successor to inherit my position as the God of Death. Now I can see my successor right in front of me." He continued. "Wait" I interrupted, "I will become the God of Death ?" I asked. He gazed towards me and said "No one who understands the meaning of pain, suffering and death better than you. The God of Death should be able to understand others pain and should have both sympathy and empathy towards other. You are the perfect candidate as my successor." 

"But..." I was interrupted by Hades " No need to answer right now." He took out a book and handed  it to me " The greater wisdom you have the more decisive you can be. Read this Grimoire to understand and learn the basics of becoming a God. The book was titled 'How to become a God candidate for dummies'. I was a bit doubtful but Hades was dead serious. "I will be waiting for you at same time at same place as your answer may lead the world to chaos or a new Era."

As I was going back I turned around once more only to find Hades gone.