“C’mon Shadow, get your head out of that fucking diary, and pay attention. Intelligence is waiting for you, so he can start teaching,” Yggdrasil said. She then proceeded to take my journal and beat me over the head with it. I replied in kind, taking the journal out of her hand using my shadows and beating her over the head with it. Don’t judge me because, believe it or not, she expected me to do this. Yggdrasil is a Shaper and wields the most powerful nature ability in this world. She has ginger hair, thousands of freckles, and piercing green eyes. She is also one of my best friends.

  “Look Yggdra (her nickname), I know you like using your ability and all, but shouldn’t there be another way we can get you to be able use it?” I asked while still hitting her with my journal, already anticipating her response.

  “Nope,” she replied with a huge grin, happy that she could use her ability. She shut eyes tight for a moment and created a wooden box with something inside.

  “Fine,” I said with a sigh, “what did you make this time?”

  “A figurine of Death. I hope he likes it!” She said with a dumb smile on her face.

  “Great. Another reminder that I am all alone,” I said in a half-depressed, half-sarcastic tone.

  “Shadow, you’ll be fine. You will find someone someday, just hang in there,” Yggdra said, before jumping in for a hug, “and besides, you got your two best friends to help you!”

  “UGH!!!!!!!!!!!! Why did I think this was a good idea?” Intelligence said. “Yggdra and Shadow are mock-fighting, again, Fire and Ice are trying to disintegrate each other as they make out, envy and jealousy are in the middle of a literal dick measuring contest trying to impress lust, and fear is trying to make water, ironically might I add, drown. I just want to teach this fucking class already, so would everyone shut the FUCK UP!!!”

  Everyone returned to their seats, even the figurine of Death.

  “Okay class, who can tell me what empathy is?” Intelligence said, “that is, if you are even smart enough to comprehend my words.”

  At that moment, even Pride said, “Damn!”

  “It is the capacity to feel the emotions of others as if they were your own,” I said.

  “Very good Shadow, although I guess it makes sense that you would know, considering your personality and nature as a Shadow,” Intelligence replied, “But what is puzzling about empathy is that there is no ability-user for it even though it is such an important aspect of our lives. Why might that be?”

  “Maybe none of this bullshit matters, and if this world added the embodiment of empathy there would be no more conflict because we would not have to fight in order to express ourselves!” Death said while standing in the threshold to the lecture hall.

  There are three things you need to know about Death. First of all, his appearance is somewhat unusual (even for this world). He is about 5’ 8”, his skin is unnaturally pale, he carries around a scythe everywhere (he rarely uses it in battle, mostly resorting to his fists), and he wears these very thick sunglasses with a top hat that can change its height. Second, he is my best friend, and wants to kill you (as in everyone). Third, he can be an asshole sometimes, but when he is hanging out with someone he cares about, he is the nicest person you’ll ever meet.

  “Well, look who decided to show up! Our lord and savior, Death has come to grace us with his presence!” Intelligence said with an overexaggerated bow.

  “Don’t be a dick, Intelligence, and don’t mock me with that stupid ritual. I killed Religion for a reason, remember?” Death said. with a disgusted look on his face. “The fact that you teach here is ridiculous, I mean, we are the same fucking age and even Pride doesn’t sound as arrogant as you every time you open up your mouth.”

  “Hey Death, we still going to dinner tonight?” Yggdra yelled across the lecture hall.

  “Of course, Wisdom picked out a great place to eat. Shadow, you should meet Wisdom. She is really great, and I think you would like her.” Death yelled back to us, and then he said to everyone, “Well, I came here, insulted Intelligence, talked to my girlfriend, and I still want to kill all of you, so I will just take my leave.”

  “Death! Catch!” Yggdra said, throwing the wooden box with his figurine inside.

  “Aww! Thanks, Yggdra!” Death said, opening the box, “I definitely won’t kill you tonight!” Then, he walked out of the lecture hall.

  “Wait up!” I said. I jumped to my shadow and traveled across the room to his shadow as he walked away.

  “Those assholes,” Intelligence said, “They always do whatever the fuck they want. Unfortunately, Death was right about one possibility, that this world doesn’t want us to have someone to help express ourselves because fighting is what this world wants. My theory is that Empathy already exists in this world, but we either aren’t able to observe them because their ability is always working in this world since we understand the idea, or we are always observing them, so we cannot truly feel the effects of empathy because they can’t use their powers. Whatever, all of you can fuck of and leave, we are done for the day!” He then proceeded to start throwing some of the slower concepts out of the window. “Guess I’ll visit Time today,” Intelligence sighed. “Boy, is he gonna be cranky.”

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…

  “Why do we even have those classes?” Death said as we jumped over the rooftops on our way to visit Writer. “I mean, Intelligence knows that there isn’t a way to stop the fighting in this world better than anyone else, and it’s not like there is a point to figuring out why we are here. Also, I think that Intel was calling you out during that lecture. Why else would he bring up empathy?”

  “Well, it figures he would know considering he is intelligence, but that just makes this more annoying. Trying to protect my identity and Empathy’s is hard enough as is, and now Intel is making a move…” I responded still inside Death’s shadow. “Just what is he planning? Regardless, as long as I can keep Empathy safe, I am happy.”

  “Well… you’re not gonna like what I say next,” Death said nervously.

  “What did you do?!” I said angrily.

  “Oh, nothing! Um… uh… well… you see…” Death stammered nervously.

  I should probably mention that there are only a handful of people in this world that can make Death scared, and both Yggdra and I are proud to be on that list.

  “WHAT… DID… YOU… DO?!” I repeated again, preparing to kick his ass.

  “I uh… told someone about you and Empathy,” Death said before being stitched to the ground by his own shadow.

  “That’s fine.” I said as I jumped out of his shadow and released him.

  “Wait really?! That’s great because she is–” Death was interrupted mid-sentence by a punch in the gut thanks to another good friend of mine.

  “Of course not, mother-fucker!” Empathy yelled at Death with her torso sticking part way out of my body. “Do you know how many people are trying to find me right now?! I am safe only because I share a body with Shadow, and you should know better than to tell anyone about this arrangement!”

  “She’s like you two!” Death cried out still doubled over from Empathy’s punch.

  “Wait… what?!” Empathy and I said in unison.

  “Wisdom you remember that I mentioned her when you were in class, right?” Death asked, and we nodded. “Well, she isn’t just Wisdom, she also shares a body with Earth or Terra as she is better known among the Shapers. Apparently, there are a number of people who, just like you two, err… four, share a body with another ability-user.”

  “Well, I guess it’s okay for now. Can we meet her?” Empathy asked.

  “Well, she is already at Writer’s house. We should hurry, we don’t want to be late.” Death said. “Knowing him, he already knows we are going to be late, though that won’t keep him from chewing us out.”

  “Yeah, let’s get there quickly before Empathy and I collapse from today’s emotional energy.” I said, hoping we could at least lie down on a couch before fainting.

  We hurried over to Writer’s house, and right before Empathy and I fainted, I got to see the most beautiful woman ever. She was tall, had flowing black hair, with eyes that were a deep blue. I felt like if I stared deep enough into them I would see the whole world. Most astonishing of all was her beaming smile that told me she knew exactly how I felt. In that moment it was the first time that I, no, we felt like there was someone in this world who truly understood us.

  When we came to, Wisdom was sitting next to us with Terra in the seat right next to her. “So, you two can also separate for short periods of time. Interesting, oh, and what is this? I can sense a deep level of affection that you two have for someone in this room.” I said slyly knowing that empathy would probably kill me for this later. “Could it be, that you two like… us?”

  Empathy jumped out of my body and tried to act as sarcastically surprised as possible but fell over laughing. I should probably mention that Empathy is around 5’ 9” and is my age. She has white hair, red eyes, and can change her skin color to match her emotions.

  “I knew I’d love you Shadow!” Wisdom said, laughing with Empathy. “Do you want to go out with me?”

  “And the feelings are mutual everyone! The crowd is going wild!” I said, mimicking an announcers voice making Empathy and Wisdom laugh even harder. “Yes, definitely, absolutely! Empathy, I think it’s your turn.”

  “Hey, Terra! I like you! And you are kind of cute! Do you want to go out with me?” Empathy asked.

  “E-Empathy!” Terra stammered obviously flustered in this situation, “Yes, of course I would, but you two are so forward about this.”

  “Well, we knew that we wanted to be with the two of you the moment we laid our eyes on you. You two were the first to truly understand us, and we have been looking for someone like that for our entire lives.” Empathy and I said in unison.

  “How do you guys know that?” Terra asked still flustered.

  “Because Empathy can feel our love and our understanding,” Wisdom said putting her hand on Terra’s shoulder. “Oh! Shadow, Writer told me you were writing a journal? Do you mind if I quickly add a passage into this conversation?”

  “Sure, I guess.” I said before handing her my journal.

  Hello to whoever finds this journal. I am Wisdom. If you’re thinking that this story is promoting the idea of love at first sight, it isn’t. Terra and I have actually known about Shadow and Empathy for a long time. We never met them in person, but we knew from Writer that he was our other half. We don’t believe in destiny, but I believed that only person I would ever want to fall in love with is Shadow. I am certain that Terra feels the same way about Empathy. They have had to deal with the pain of this world for so long, and we felt this need to find them and comfort them. We have also felt the pain of this world. I have felt it through every choice I make, my ability allows me to see the possible futures from my choices, and I must watch a future die every time I make a choice. Terra felt the pain of this world because she can never stand at its center. Since we are bound together, she will never be able to reach her home without killing me in the process, and she will never do that. All Shadow and Empathy ever needed to do was take a look at us and know we were the ones they wanted to be with, but that was only because we can understand them. We know that all they ask of us is understanding, but we will do everything in our power to make them happy. I am giving the journal back to Shadow now.

  “Well, you are right about how we feel,” I said, reading the passage she contributed to my journal. “And we promise to spend the time we have together making the lives you two live as happy as possible.”

  “Agreed!” Empathy said.

  “Empathy!” Terra said tears of joy running down her cheeks. “Thank you!” She hugged Empathy with all her might.

  “Terra, if you hug me any harder I think you are going to break something,” Empathy said with a strained voice.

  Terra let go of Empathy, “sorry,” she said.

  “It’s okay. Do you two want to go somewhere tonight?” Empathy asked.

  “How about we go to our house? We can share stories there!” Wisdom and Terra said simultaneously.

  “But first, you need to talk to Writer. I am pretty he is waiting for all of us to finish our confessions and get to his office,” Wisdom said.

  “Okay! Let’s go together,” I said interlocking arms with a very enthusiastic Wisdom.

  “Yes, let’s,” Wisdom agreed.