Pandora, ???? POV

Life and Death is basically a circle of destruction and creation – and nothing is exempted from that vicious cycle. It is a perverse and endless phenomenon that is both beautifully tragic as well as unnecessary. 

Do you seriously believe that Life was created to simply die? Of course not. Despite what many would think of the Gods and the other Superior Beings, Life is a blessing that even they appreciate. So why does Life end?

Let’s start with Humans and the other mortal species. Did you know that that the concept of ether is what’s killing humans? I digress, of course. Ether is the scientific law of what people call air. Of course, the current people on the planet aren’t advanced enough to know that yet.

Living things breathe. From the mammals who live on land to the fish who swim in the sea – everything breathes – and that is precisely why they die. Of course, not breathing will also cause people to die. So what is with this unwinnable status quo? Well it’s about mana, of course.

Mana is called many different things by many different tongues. Humans from a civilization long dead thought of mana as “chi”. Other creatures called this the essence of life and so on and so forth. Mana is the existence of divinity inside every living being alive. It is the very existence of this universal law that creates life – as well as takes it.

The combination of ether (oxygen) and mana causes the surrounding blood cells to rapidly dry and deteriorate. This is the concept of aging that people were led to believe was natural. Another side-effect of the union of oxygen and ether is what people a couple million years ago would refer to as “cancer”.

There are several types of cancer such as that of the bone, the heart, the mind and even the skin. There are many causes of this fatal disease – but all of them are wrong, at least in the eyes of someone like me.

Cancer is the result of the metastasis of the dead blood cells from the union of oxygen and ether. The corroded leftovers that spread throughout the body is the cause of the degeneration of everything around it. For example, when the fragmented blood cell goes to the lungs, it develops lung cancer.

Of course, other factors such as lifestyle, eating habits and external components will simply speed up this process. In truth, the corroded blood cells are the primary cause of every imaginable diseases known to every form of life. Cancer, venereal diseases, genetic diseases and whatever form of suffering is the result of the union of mana and oxygen.

I simply call these things as “Fragment of the Gods” or simply God’s Fragment.

Did you really think that the things created by the Gods would be imperfect? Of course not. Though this may sound haughty or even arrogant, life was created to thrive for a long time.

For example, a long time ago in a civilization on a planet called Earth, people had a lifespan that reached up to 900 years of age. The God who managed that planet went through a lot but what he created genuinely made him happy.

The creator of that civilization wanted his people to live normal lives so he simply created animals as well as his favorite race: Humanity. He didn’t give them magic nor did he allow other forms of life to thrive on that planet. Angels, Demons, Beasts and even other bipedal creatures such as elves and dwarves did not exist in that land.

In the beginning, after he had created light, he then created everything else around that patch of land the humans eventually referred to as the milky way galaxy. He also invited other Gods to help him manage his creation. These Gods were the cause of the many religions that sprouted on that planet but that’s another story for another time.

The Gods taught the Humans how to control the spread of God’s Fragment. Of course, as a universal law, it was absolute so even though the humans knew how to contain it, they could not fully suppress it so they could only live for a measly 900 years – but that was enough.

A couple thousand years after their creation, their creator was disheartened and he abandoned his children. No longer did the Gods interfere with Humanity and slowly, humanity forgot about the means of containing God’s Fragment. Eventually, this slowly corroded their measly life expectancy until it plummeted to a disgusting 30-year lifespan.

The disgustingly low life expectancy was a cause of their environment. Everything was dirty and everyone was hungry. The state of things caused many wars and power struggles and this in turn sped up the development of God’s Fragment in every single being in the planet.

Luckily, a couple hundred years later, humanity discovered the importance of cleanliness and this raised their life expectancy to about 80 years of life.

Of course, the appearance of such talented humans was no accident. Earth’s God had not truly abandoned his children and every now and then, he would send a human that would create something beneficial to their race such as the process of sterilization or even the person who created pasteurization which helped humans stave of bacteria that caused the rapid expansion of God’s Fragment.

Sometimes, when the balance of life threatened the equilibrium of the planet, the Gods would send someone truly terrible but capable to mess things up a little. Sometimes they did so by accident. This resulted in the many wars and the many “tyrants” that appeared every now and then during Earth’s history. Truth be told, this was the disgusting side of humans that exists even until now, eons after Earth’s demise.

For example, my chilldhood friend Amaterasu appeared via proxy to the Imperial Family of the country she was managing. Her message was delivered by a fanatically patriotic priestess that she randomly chose.

Her only criteria of selection were that the person should have a pure heart as well as love for her country. Of course, she never imagined that the woman was suffering from a common psychological disorder known as “schizophrenia”. In short, the woman was severely disturbed. The fact that she was a social psychopath did not help either.

She appealed to her country’s imperial family to protect their people as well as to make their empire healthier, especially since it just recently survived through countless wars known as the “Sengoku Era” which was known as period of many conflicts and political upheavals.

Of course, because her message was distorted by the priestess, the imperial family with their hot blood took this as an affirmation of their superiority over the other races of the world. Driven by necessity as well as the Priestess’ urging, the country declared war on the whole world.

This resulted in the deaths of many – which disgusts me until now. Amaterasu was heartbroken but such was the nature of humans. Even without the interference of the Gods, they would still find it in their hearts to kill their fellow man. What more of other races that were unrelated to them, right?

Anyway, the planet known as Earth has been gone for a long time now, obviously, a result of their own machinations. In short, the ego of humanity caused their downfall to nuclear war. Another concept that they too had come up with.

The world that is the biggest among every sub-world created by the Gods and Demons around me is called Elysium. It is simply a combination of the basis of many planets that had come into being and are now gone.

For example, the planet had some vestiges of what used to be Earth. It is primarily a sphere that is made up of at least 80% water and just 20% land. The difference between Earth and Elysium is that Elysium is as big as the star that Earth used to orbit. I believe they called this star “The Sun.”

Anyway, I digress. Precisely because it is the amalgamation of many different world, it is also made up of many different forms of life. Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Dragons and whatever mystical being you can think of exist in this land.

Amaterasu had a hand in the creation of the “culture” that the world followed which is why some of the more fantastical elements of Elysium were similar to what you could find in what they call a “light novel” from the planet called Earth. It seems as though Earth had affected her the most as she still has a collection of “games” and these “light novels” even unto this day.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

Basically speaking, Elysium is a world where there is an adventurer’s guild that allowed mortals to take up various jobs in exchange for money or precious materials. It is a fairly simple system but it works so I have no qualms with that.

Oh, there’s no need to worry about their lifespans either. Mortals here live depending on their racial features. For example, Elves can live for up to a couple thousand years while Orcs can live to about four hundred years. Humans live the shortest at around two hundred years. This time this was intentional because humans reproduce at such an alarming rate.

On the other hand, while Orcs and Goblins can live longer, they also die faster because they’re stupid so that balances things out.

Anyway, magic is also commonplace on Elysium because the various races here received the blessing of the Gods allowing them to harness the divinity (or mana) inside of them. Magic is classified according to strength and from what I remember from the stories, titles are given according to the amount of magic that one can harness.

For example, the most powerful magician who currently leads the Grand Magic Academy is called “Warlock” and his mana grade is 80.

On the other hand, Odin, one of the Gods most proficient with Magic has a mana grade of around 800 which allows him to destroy at least 10% of Elysium at his full power – the price of this, however, is death due to the exhaustion of his divinity. In other words – if he were to use all of his mana as well as his life force, his divinity, then he can destroy at least 10% of Elysium.

Mr. Warlock, on the other hand, can achieve at the same price at most, the destruction of a major city. If I were to compare him with something from Earth, then he’d be as strong as at least two nuclear bombs.

Speaking of which, I once asked Odin what my mana grade was. With sweat flowing down his face, he simply said that it was infinite. I think he was just trying to make me feel better about being useless.

Right, I’ve been speaking for a long time now but you still have no idea about who I am. My name is _____. Some of my friends simply call me “One” but I’ve taken a liking to the name “John”, also from Earth. So you can refer to me simply as John. Of course, you don’t really exist either since you are just a figment of my imagination but again, I digress.

I’m not a God and I’m not a Demon but I am someone who is friends with many of those great personalities. For example, my childhood friend Amaterasu. She is an extremely beautiful woman with contrasting features. She has sharp eyes that are shining with wisdom but her face is soft and lovely. Framing her face is her long silver hair which is styled practically to suit her warrior nature. She is of medium height and her body is moderately toned due to her nature as a warrior. Her greatest assets are her breasts which can only be described as perfect.

Though I say that, to me, she’s simply a childish friend but I can’t deny that I appreciate her companionship. As you, my imaginary friend may have noticed is that I’m an unreliable narrator because my thoughts fly around here and there all the time. Well that’s because I’m someone who loves to imagine. I love to dream. That’s all I’ve been doing since the creation of the cosmos and that’s a habit I can’t simply get over because I wanted to. In fact, I’m simply imagining this conversation right now.

Anyway, I live in the furthest region of the cosmos called Pandora. In fact, Zeus once told me that he encouraged the people on earth to create a story based on my home and it was pretty well received as a story of hope. I digress, once again.

Pandora is the home of many fantastic beasts and they are all different from one another. For example, my cute pet Jormungandr is a very big snake. If I had to compare its size, then I guess it’s almost as big as a big mountain on Earth. Some of my God friends called her a world eater but I always get mad when they say that. Didn’t they know that women, regardless of their race hated to talk about their weight?

Jormungandr is one of my favorite pets. She’s loyal and she’s fiercely protective of me and I in turn take care of her. For some reason, the other Gods are strangely afraid of her saying that she’s extremely poisonous. The most scared of her is my friend Odin’s son Thor. Apparently, they fought once with Thor losing by a slight margin.

Oh well, I guess Thor is still weak after all, he’s only a couple hundred million years old. He’s still got a long way to go. Speaking of which, I can easily control Jormungadr and when I try to exert strength when she’s being rough, just lightly hitting her once apparently knocked her out for a hundred years. Maybe it’s just that she’s extremely loyal to me so she wouldn’t hurt me or she was simply tired.

Another one of my loyal pets is Byakko. She is a beautiful white tiger that can apparently pierce the skies – at least according to some of my friends. While she’s not any weaker than Jormungadr, she’s definitely smaller on the scale of being bigger than at least a hundred times compared to Earth’s Siberian Tiger. She’s really cute though and she loves belly rubs the most.

Anyway you get the point. I live in a place filled with many of such creatures and I’m very much offended that even Gods call them “Danger Beasts”, the highest possible classification of danger to any living being but all they are is “cute” to me. I live in this area because my beloved pets live here and I enjoy the quiet. My friends visit me from time to time though.

Amaterasu, on the other hand, lives in my house too. My house was built by the joint efforts of the Gods Hestia, Artemis and Hephaestus. They told me that they were somewhat renowned as Gods of the Arts so I let them do what they wanted. I think they went overboard though. I digress, again.

Amaterasu not only lives in my house, she also sleeps in my room. What a clingy child – but I can’t say I hate it.

What else should I tell you? Oh. I remember. Some of the bosses of the various Gods often visit me. The last time, it was Zeus, Amaterasu, Horus, Indra, Ahura Mazda and Odin. They were offering me flattering words and often asked me if I needed anything of them. Of course, Amaterasu was simply there because she lived with me but the rest of these boss Gods often pester me like this. I’m touched by their friendship but I think that they feel sorry for me which is why they offer me favors every now and then.

But I’m someone who appreciates the friendship given to me, who is a lesser being to these great personages.

Anyway, talking about the various circumstances around me as well as the state of the worlds has roused my spirit. I have long desired to leave Pandora and go around Elysium on a trip. Maybe I’ll even join the adventurer’s guild. Ares did once told me that I’m probably a better fighter than he was since I was able to beat both him and Hercules with a single punch.

Remembering that made me realize that maybe I was being pitied by them for having such frail strength for a man. Ah, they are so kind but I’m no fool. They are renowned for their strength so it’s impossible for me to beat them with a punch. I appreciate your kindness, you too, but that almost led me to think that I was good at fighting.

Well I still don’t know what I’m going to do in Elysium but I guess I’ll find out when I get there. How do I tell Amaterasu though? And should I bring Byakko with me? Ah so troublesome but I think this is going to be the start of a wonderful adventure.

Maybe I can find a Woman there for me. I’m constantly surrounded by Goddesses like Amaterasu and they are all supremely beautiful but that’s the problem. They are too perfect for someone pitiable like me. I’m not worthy of my childhood friend’s love so I guess I can only hope of finding someone on Elysium but even then I’m not that hopeful.

I mean every time I see the male Gods who visit me, they are all peerlessly handsome and some of them even have Goddesses as their wives. Yes, Goddesses!

Amaterasu once told me that she encourages polygamy with a sharp glint in her eyes – ah, I truly envy the man that she loves. Speaking of which, I had heard from her father, my friend Izanagi that the guy Amaterasu likes was the chief of all the Gods, the most powerful one. He said this with a knowing grin. Ah, I’m being pitied again.

Ah, I feel depressed because I can’t even be compared to him but no matter. I believe that even though I’m not good looking enough compared to a God, much more the Chief one, I think I’m still better looking compared to the mortals living in Elysium…or so I hope.

I guess my adventure has become one for love? Or was it for my curiosity. I don’t even care anymore because I’ll probably get depressed again. Sigh.

I do know that I’ll have to be careful because Elysium is filled with danger but it’s not from the beasts or the terrain, it’s from the fragile hearts of the mortals who harbor ill-will towards their fellows. I wonder, is that world still suffering from wars? Are they still killing each other? Raping and pillaging foreign lands?

I guess I’ll find out.

…

I open my eyes and I take in the scenery in front of me. I am in my garden sitting in a relaxed position and on my lap is a head filled with silky silver hair. She smells nice.

“I guess it’s going to be quite the argument when I tell her of my decision, huh.” I wryly smile to myself. I gently caress my childhood friend’s head and I call out her name.

“Amaterasu, we need to talk.”

…

Pandora, Amaterasu POV

“I wonder, where is he?” I ask myself, as I exit our home.

My dearly beloved is a strange character. He’s supremely powerful and he is universally accepted as the Chief God among all major and minor pantheons. You’d think that someone like him would be haughty or arrogant like the other Gods but he isn’t. He’s really gentle and he’s really kind. For all of his wisdom though, he can sometimes be annoyingly dense. What an idiot.

As I was lost in my thoughts of my beloved, I find myself forgetting to breathe. Sitting with his eyes closed and with the light of the sky illuminating him as though he was the most beautiful, most fragile creature was my beloved.

The beautiful garden groomed by Artemis paled in comparison compared to my beloved. The world around him seems to be colorless because the mere sight of him enraptures and captures the love of anyone who sees him. Of course, this is true for even the other Goddesses so I have a lot of rivals. Tsk, how annoying.

I try to place my hand on his porcelain like face but I immediately retract it as if I was afraid of harming him. Of course, with my measly power, how can I compare to someone like him? I love him but I am not worthy of him so I can only be content with being his “foolish childhood friend” but even that much is enough – for now.

He has no idea how much he means to me – and to the world around him. He is beloved by all and all of the Gods would rush to his aid should he ask for them – that’s just how respected he is.

I saw his lap and I found myself desiring to lie on it. My heartbeat quickens but I immediately suppress it.

“I’m not a sinful woman, I’m just tired.” I gently assured myself.

Just thinking about his firm body made me flustered but I paid it no mind, I’m tired anyway so I’ll just tell him that when he wakes up.

I gave in to my desires and I rested my head on his lap.

“Mm, his smell…it’s really soothing.”

And with that, I fell asleep.

…

Amaterasu POV End.