LEON “AWW~” I heard my mother say. Then, she patted my head. “I have faith in you, (.....). I know you’ll do just fine without me,” she said. “That’s not true! I’m only ten!” I reasoned out. “For now,” she uttered. “Okay. (.....), whenever you feel lonely, just look at the moon,” she advised. “The moon?” I frowned. “Why the moon, Mom?” I asked. “I don’t know,” she half joked, and chuckled when I pouted at her. “I mean, just look at it,” she encouraged, and pointed a finger at the moon. I stayed longer that day so it was already night time. “The moon is so beautiful, don’t you think?” I stared at it for a while. Back then, I never understood what my Mom tried to imply. Who would’ve thought that it was her way of saying that she loved me all her life? “What’s so special about the moon, Mom?” I retorted, a little disinterested about it. “You know… I was told that I can never get pregnant. That was also the reason why your father left me because I couldn’t give him a child,” she re

SIDAPA WHEN the world was created, several gods were given important roles to keep the balance between good and evil. Some became the Goddess of the Sea, some became the God of the Sun, and others chose to be a lot closer to humans and took many forms. Gods and Goddesses all had their true forms. In order to relate themselves to the mortals, a lot of us took the form of humans when they visited their realm. One of the few, who neither looked like a human nor a God, was me. Born from darkness and light itself, I became the God of Death. In the near future, humans would have known me as the Grim Reaper. When I came to the mortal realm, I took residence in the highest peak of the mountain called Madja-as, a place that no humans dared to climb for it was known to send them to their early deaths. All I had with me was the giant, black tree. There, I silently welcomed every new soul that was yet to be given a body to live in. I would measure its lifespan and carve it to the tree with th

SIDAPA I GASPED when I remembered about it, and I quickly left to find some herbal plants nearby. It didn’t take me that long to find one. I handed over some leaves and vines to the guy, and he accepted them. “Wrap them around your leg. It will ease the swelling,” I told him, and he just stared at the leaves. “What? You don’t know how?” I raised an eyebrow. I laughed when he shook his head. “Don’t laugh at me, Mister! I am not from here, so I really have no idea about these… these things you gave me,” he admitted. “What are these for?” he asked with teary eyes, before showing me the vines. “Use that to tie the leaves together so they won’t fall off when you move,” I said, and he looked more confused. “Please put the leaves for me,” he pleaded. “What?” I exclaimed. “My claws… I might hurt you,” I refused. He sat down and sighed. He felt hopeless. “Can I ask you something?” he opened up while trying to figure out how to apply the leaves on his injury at the same time. “What is it

SIDAPA “CAN’T breathe,” I said, and Libulan quickly released the hug. I lied. No one had ever hugged me before so it was an alien feeling. I couldn’t tell if it was comfortable or something I would find displeasing. Libulan wiped off his tears and sniffed, before flashing a smile. “I’m glad that you’re alive!” “Sorry for scaring you like that,” I apologized. “That’s why I didn’t want you to see me while I was making the machete. I had a feeling you’d react like this,” I told him. Libulan pouted, and scoffed at me before stomping his foot. “You should have told me beforehand! What if I actually stabbed you with my spear?” “Then I will just have to stop you,” I sarcastically replied. He was still annoyed and relieved at the same time, but he chose to close the topic and he asked me something that would likely change the way I saw things until now. “Hey, Sidapa… Those souls that weren’t given a chance to be reborn or forever rest in the afterlife, what exactly happens to them? I’ve

SIDAPA “WHY is that?” I asked. “Because he already did enough. He died without regrets,” he reasoned. “Did I get it right?” “What you said is true,” I uttered, before I opened a little portal just below us. Libulan was alarmed. “Wait, what’s that for? That’s the portal towards the afterlife, right?” he reaffirmed. I just stared at him as I took back the soul with the use of the invisible force again and let it hover at the center of the portal. The size of the portal was a meter in diameter. Its center was pitch black, and a deep purple smoke was circling around its outer area. “Libulan, look at it for the last time,” I told him, and he stared at it and focused. He frowned. “It’s still blue,” he said. “Are you sure?” I tried to shake his thoughts. Libulan gave it another stare, and his expression slowly changed. “I can see some shades of black. It’s concentrated in the center,” he revealed. “That’s the core of his soul,” I clarified. “Although he did his role as a perfect lea