Threads of the Soul

Chapter 490 - 490: Straight Up

Death. For as long as humanity had feared the unknown and across countless cultures, Death had been personified and given an identity.The Grim Reaper, Thanatos, Shinigami. Even his own name, his actual real name of Sephtis, was the name of an old Death God and was kindly given to him by his cult worshipping mother who had a fondness for strange and depressing names.There was a reason he didn't go by Sephtis anymore.

But, even after everything Seth had been through in his life, the thought of Death being an actual person was one that he never considered to be real. He had fought actual gods, and so assumed that many 'Gods of Death' were just that.

People with Divine power posing as the end of all things Himself. Hell, even Seth was sort of doing that as Corvus, as in his strange little cult he had been given the title of a God of Death.

So of course his first thought was that this man was just like one of those. Someone using a little divine power to pretend, and yet... that thought quickly escaped his mind. It just didn't feel right.

He couldn't feel any divine power emanating from him, nor was this man trying to get anything from him. Sure, he had led him here to a place that he had ended up dying, but he had appeared before Seth when he was much weaker.

If all he wanted was for Seth to be dead, then there had to be easier ways than this. But there wasn't just the lack of Divine power. The man lacked... everything. He had no presence, no mass, no disturbance on the air. He couldn't even feel any motivation from him.

He just... existed in a state that defied all known rules of existence, and yet there he was. Smoking away without a care.

"You're not a God... Are you?"

"No Brother, I am not." Death answered with a smile, taking another drag of his cigarette before continuing with a puff of smoke, "I am what you call a Fundamental. I do not use the 'Divine Power' of the gods, because I do not need to bend the universe to my will.

I have no will. I am part of the universe, and it is part of me. My existence, along with the other Fundamentals, is tied to the existence of the universe. Without us it simply unravels into nothingness."

He waved his hand through the smoke, scattering it throughout the tunnel before it gradually dispersed into nothingness, as if to demonstrate what would happen to the universe. As if the entire universe and all of existence could even come close to being compared to a puff of cigarette smoke.

"Okay... But if you are some fundamental force of the universe, why the hell do you keep calling me brother? Gonna tell me that my father was the creator of the universe or something?"

Death laughed at Seth's accusation, waving it off.

"No, no. Nothing of the sort. Even if you were, that's not how that works. Why do I call you brother... A good question, that will have to be saved until you are no longer dying."

"Great, So do you mind telling me what exactly is killing me so I can stop it?" Seth asked with a roll of his eyes and a deep sight, "Is my soul tearing apart again? Because if so I can probably fix it this time."

"No brother, it's actually the opposite. Nothing is killing you, per say, you are simply... dying. Here, Allow me to demonstrate. This, is you."

Death held up his hand, creating a small ball of light above his palm that was no bigger than a marble, as he continued, "And this, is all the souls you just absorbed from that box." Then, with a snap of his fingers, thousands of other balls of light appeared around him, each perfectly identical to the one that hovered above his palm. He gave Seth a sad smile, snapping his fingers again.

All at once, the lights darted around the cavernous room, faster than his eyes could track. He tried to follow the one that was supposed to be him, but he quickly lost it, until they all came to a stop with one of them still hovering above Death's palm.

"A person is made up of mind, body and soul. Some can exist without one, but never without two. Not as the same person they were. Losing all three? Well... that's where I come in.

You aren't being killed."

"I'm just dying. Their minds, their souls, my body. I'm just going to be another soul lost in the crowd. My identity is dying...."

Death nodded as Seth completed his sentence, giving him another sad smile as the realisation dawned on Seth.

"Your system didn't realise it, but the true purpose of those boxes is truly quite nefarious." Death explained, "By absorbing it in an effort to help you, it has accidentally doomed you. Before you ask, no... There is nothing that I can do. All I have done is place them away temporarily. But that will fade in a few minutes.

Even this conversation is more than I should be doing. Saving lives isn't exactly my thing."

"So there's nothing I can do to stop it? I just have to accept my fate of fading away?"

Death smirked, bringing his cigarette up to his lips,

"Now... I didn't say that. Perhaps while you are clear in the head, you should take the chance to ask yourself, what it takes to be a true Celestial."

Seth frowned at his words, playing them over in his head, before realisation struck him again. His eyes widened and he snapped up to look at Death, who simply chuckled and blew out a cloud of twinkling, purple smoke.

"Until we meet again, Brother."

The smoke obscured his form completely, leaving only his silver eyes piercing through the cloud. When the cloud finally dispersed, Death was gone. But Seth wasn't worried, if anything Death not hanging around was a good thing. Besides, now he knew exactly what to do.

He just had to ask himself some important questions.

Closing his eyes and leaning back, Seth dove into the meeting room of his soul, dragging his other selves in with him. Although it wasn't going to be the private meeting that he had hoped for.