CHAPTER 2: THE GOLDEN AGE

There was a little girl hiding in her room. Her sorrow and sadness filled the whole place. She's crying and someone can hear the sound of her troubled heart. This someone is a girl in a cape who was walking to reach this crying girl.

On the other hand, there was this Black spirit who suddenly got bigger and stronger. It was like a spirit hunting for its food. This creature suddenly sensed a negative emotion and followed the scent of sorrow. It runs very fast to the destination and when that spirit arrives. This evil saw the girl who was crying, the black thick spirit was about to eat this girl when-- a sharp blue scythe suddenly appeared in front of him and cutted his tongue. The spirit growls in pain.

“Na-ahh! If I were you, I wouldn't do that” said the girl who's wearing a cape. She uncapped herself and shows her mischievous smile to the evil spirit. 

“--because if you do? You'll die in no time!” She said then winked at the girl who was crying. 

The little girl saw the evil spirit and thought it was a monster. She cries then runs away and hides behind the girl in a cape.

“Don't worry dear, I got you” She said. 

The little girl just looked at her with teary eyes. The evil thing was about to eat both of them. She suddenly looked at it with fury eyes and touched it's black thick hands intensely. A blue neon fire suddenly appeared in the whole body of the evil spirit. It was surprising and it exploded by itself. 

“I already warned you!” she said. 

The little girl behind her was amazed and muttered...

--“Who are you?”

She turns around and looks at the girl then smiles.

 “You can call me Azrael,” she said. 

“Now, tell me how you do feel?-- still sad?” she asked the girl but the girl just nodded at her. Azrael patted the little girl's head and hugged her. 

Her eyes gleamed and saw a vision. She saw the little girl’s past life and experiences again. Azrael released the little girl from her hug and looked her straight in the eyes.

“You may have lost your loved ones dear, but always remember they don't want you to be eaten by your own sorrow. Think about those people who were left behind as well like you-- they also want you to move forward in life” Azrael said. The little girl wiped her eyes and tried to get back to her senses. 

“By the way-” she looked at Azrael with confused eyes. 

“What is that monster?” she asked. Azrael just smiled at her.

“That's a ghoul, it's an evil spirit that harms and eats humans with negative emotions. So, if you feel depressed or angry they will find you and eat you. Just like what happened recently because they don't see people unless that person is currently having negative emotions” she said. 

“Then how were you able to defeat that ghoul?” she asked. Azrael turns her back to the little girl. She's getting ready to leave the place. 

“Because I'm a psychopomp!” she said. She turned her head to her then smiled. 

“A Guardian of Souls” She continued then winked at her. 

After that she suddenly disappeared in front of the little girl like a wind that vanished in the mist of the night. The girl was left dumbfounded.

***

The girl in a cape was the last psychopomp called “Azrael”. She’s the guardian of souls of the living and the dead. She uses the name “Azrael” when she’s in the land of the dead while she lives under the name of “Melinoe A. Cadman” in the human world. She is a beautiful girl who has long black and silver blue hair that lived for three-thousand years. She’s an immortal and kept living with the human family as the daughter of “Cadman”. She’s been the only daughter of this family for thousands of generations that she was reincarnated.

Whenever Azrael’s human body reached her limit life-span. A new baby will be born that will serve as her body and shelter in the human world while her real body will stay in the land of the dead in the meantime. This baby has no soul; it is cursed to be Azrael’s human body by Satan.

Azrael was currently running on the roofs of the houses in the spirit world, the replica of the human world but this place was only covered with blue and gray color. She spread her black wings then flew through the top of their mansion. After reaching this destination, she sat down at the top of their roof where her room is near. She returned back as a human and the place suddenly turned into a colorful world. She’s now back to being a human that lives in the land of the living.

As she looked at the city from the top, she took a deep breath of distress. She kept thinking that something was not right. She thinks that there’s still something missing in her life but she can't remember what it is. She wants to remember the truth but Satan always kept it from her. Whenever she asks about the memory that she lost in the war during the “Void Era”. Satan always changed the topic like he was hiding something from her.

“That sly devil! I really hate him!” she said. She remembers their last conversation together.

***

"Now say, How will you know who that person is if you couldn't even remember his name?" Satan said mischievously.

Azrael looked at him angrily. 

"I will remember his name!" She said and walked near him then looked him straight in the eyes. 

"-and If I did! Everything will be back to normal and I won't have to be your reaper anymore!" Azrael said with fury eyes

"pfft! HAHAHA--" He laughed hard

"--Believe me, you wouldn't want that normal life of yours to come back" He teasingly said.

"Watch me!" She said then sneered at him 

"I will leave this place no matter what --whether you like it or not!" Azrael shouted.

***

Her face frowns like a little girl. She kept thinking about how selfish this devil is. All she wanted was the truth behind her existence. She knows that she’s being manipulated by this sly devil. All her life she believed that she was born as an accomplice to him and she could never change it. Satan made her believe that it is her fate to be with him as long as she lives.

“Curse you, Satan!” she shouted in her mind. She heard a knock coming outside her room. She’s still on the rooftop.

“Ma’am Melinoe, your father wants to see you,” a servant said.

“Alright! I’ll be right there for a moment” She shouted.

She jumped on the balcony of her room and went inside to fix herself. She changed her clothes into a beautiful white floral dress with white see-through long sleeves. After preparing, she went outside to see her father. One of the servants led her to the room.

“Here Ma'am,” the servant said. Melinoe just bowed to him as to say thanks.

“Father, I’m here as you pleased.” She said, The man sitting on the fancy swivel chair turned around and looked at her.

“My daughter! Melinoe, come here have a sit” The man said joyfully after seeing his daughter.

“Father--” 

“How many times do I have to tell you that you should stop being formal with me? I only feel old whenever you call me that way” He said. Melinoe just rolled her eyes jokingly then giggled.

“Alright, Dad! Are you happy now?” She said with a smile.

“Yes, I am. My beautiful daughter!” He said then about to kiss her to her cheeks but Melinoe stopped him.

“Oh! Come on, Dad. I’m not a kid anymore. Let’s just cut out to the chase.” She said Melinoe looked at his dad as if she was observing him. 

“Why do you have to leave?!” She heard that made her eyes widened.

“We can just bring you to your school whenever you want using your car, I could talk to your bodyguards about that.” His dad said in his thoughts. She can hear his thoughts, which made her smile.

“Dad?! Are you lost in your thoughts again?” She asked while smiling at him.

“No, I’m not. Anyway, your mother told me that you wanted to live on your own in a private dorm in your school. Is that right?” He said. She just nodded at him.

“But why?! Don’t you want to live here with me and your family?” His father asked.

“Look Dad! I’m a grown up now. Besides, It’s our tradition too. The Cadman family must let their daughter live their lives on their own at the age of 20, Remember?” She said that made her father frown.

“Alright, looks like I can never change your mind” He said.

“Yep! Also, it doesn’t mean that I’m far from you. I won’t see you again. I’ll still visit my family because I love them very much, you know?” She said cheerfully that made her father smile.

“I understand, dear. Just remember you’re free to come back here anytime. Everything is set in your new home. Your clothes as well as your car and the money. Always take care of yourself out there, okay?” He said.

“I promise,” She said, then hugged him. She kissed him on his cheeks and left the room.

His father just looked at her daughter leaving their home from his windows. It is their family’s tradition to let their daughter leave the place at the age of 20 because all the daughters that their family ever had was also Azrael herself. On the other hand, Azrael kept thinking about the things that happened in the “Void Era”. 

It is believed that there was a war started before the first Golden Age. The events that happened before the first Golden Age were now called the “Void Era”. It is an Era that was extinguished between the B.C.E (Before common era) and the C.E (common era). It is the forgotten memory of Azrael that only Satan knows. A sudden flash of memory shows up again in her mind.

***

“Don’t worry, I got you,” someone whispered.

It was the voice of a man. She can feel his arms lifting her body as if he was carrying her. Everything was blurry and she couldn’t see anything because of the rain. The night was filled with darkness and she became unconscious.

***

“Ma’am, Melinoe! Are you alright?!” The bodyguard that was sent by his father asked.

“I’m alright” She said.

Her face frowned, and couldn’t remember the man’s face. Everytime she tried to remember, her head started ringing and the pain that she felt for thinking couldn’t stop. A tear fell down on her cheeks.

Who are you really?!

I wanna know your name,

I wanna remember your face,

I wanna hear your voice once more,

Why does my heart ache just because I couldn’t remember you?

Who are you?!

She was lost in her thoughts as she arrived at her destination. The bodyguard just went back to it’s own room while Azrael just stayed inside her home standing in the middle of the room. All she could do was to cry on her knees inside her new home because of the emptiness that she’s feeling. 

Her sorrow made the place where she lives her new era suddenly turned into blue and gray. She was returned back to the land of the dead, and the three evil spirits that kept waiting around her were about to attack her. Suddenly a blue neon fire appears in their body and purifies these spirits in an instant. 

If the evil spirit turned back to being gray it means they are purified but if the evil spirit vanishes because of the fire. It means they can no longer be purified and could never be reincarnated again.

“I’m not in the right mood to play with you guys” She muttered as she stopped crying.

“So if I were you--” She said

As she stood up on the ground. She glared at the other evil spirits that’s coming with her fury crystal blue eyes. The look of her eyes has the blaze of a blue neon fire that can intimidate anything and anyone. That includes the evil spirits in front of her.

“--I’m gonna leave this place now,” she said, then took a step forward near the other evil spirits.

“before I make you vanish in this world!” She shouted.

Her shout made a strong wind that was blowing out in her room and made every window and door open in an instant. The evil spirits shivered as they felt the anger of Azrael. Some of them were blown away by the strong wind and some aren’t until the strong wind disappears. Everything became quiet, Azrael looked at the spirits who were left inside her room. The spirits suddenly quivered with fright.

The evil spirits vanished and the whole place turned back to normal. It became colorful again, It only means she was back to the human world. She let out a deep sigh of distress. She fixed all her baggage in her new place. Then started to do some of her works as a student in the University of Shangri-La. She was hoping to find some clues from this place that will help her recover her lost memories.

“I promise,”

“No matter what it takes,”

“I’ll find you!”

She said in her thoughts as the night started to pass. The new dawn approaches where hope still rises.

AZRAEL THE LAST PSYCHOPOMP

"to kill or to save: choose your purpose"

Written by: Chavinsky Y.E