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 Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 10:14 am
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There was mud everywhere. The rain had made the skyline gray and gloomy, filling the trenches ankle deep with water. A shiver of cold raced down the narrow space and bodies pressed closer to the wall, shifting only slightly. No one even bothered to remove their feet from the muck, there was nowhere to put them anyway. A brief flash of lightening illuminated the grim, miserable faces around the trench, disappearing with a rumble of thunder. One figure was moving down the middle, graceful despite how the mud tugged at the soaked boots he wore. Tall, thin, and dressed like the others he only stood out to others by the red cross band he wore on his left arm. The material had been white with a red cross at one point, but was now stained a muted gray. A medic.
Unknown to the people he was among, the Xypth walked to each of his comrades to offer what aid he could. This was not the first war the peace-loving healer had seen. But it was quickly becoming the bloodiest. It hurt his heart to see this conflict and all those it was effecting. Ivaih, a creature of great age, had taken on the human name of Issac and wore the looks of a normal human. Brown hair with blue eyes, his ears shaped similarly to theirs. To the humans he was no different than them and that was how he meant it to be. A lot of them were suffering. The water was causing foot problems, trench foot in fact, and there was little he could do about stopping it. There were to many men, to much water, and very little resources.
"Doc!"
Peering through the rain he saw someone further down waving at him. Reassuring the man he was with that he'd be back he slogged toward the frantic soldier. A young baby faced man who, to Ivaih, was to young to even be here. Getting closer he could see how pale he was, trying to lift up a man beside him. Ah. Moving past him he squatted, just above the water line, in front of the other soldier who looked gloomily up at him. "Your feet?" A stupid question but he knew getting him to talk would be helpful. The man was sitting in the water, his rifle held against his chest, both feet propped up against the far slick wall to keep them from the water. Sitting, however, was not the best solution in this case.
"What gave me away?"
The snarky response that got Ivaih smiling faintly. Even in pain these humans had humor. "Let me see what I can do." Taking the boots off without further ado he pealed back the soaked socks and got a look at the beginning of trench foot. Quietly he did his best to work his magics along with applying the humans remedy to the ailment. Whale oil. It helped, thankfully, but his own powers would likely save the mans foot. "Have any dry socks?" Likely not, and when he shook his head he dug into the bag at his side. He had a pair left which he handed over. Monitoring the strings of his work he smiled faintly. "Keep them as dry as possible, apply the oil, you'll be fine." Standing again and letting his eyes scan the others.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 12:32 pm
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He strolled about the strip of land they called "No Man's Land." Elsewhere people were dying by the hundreds if not thousands, but he had fine-tuned the system so well by then that he did not need to be there for all of those deaths. These days, he only showed up for wars and famines and plagues, basically the stuff that would kill many people at once. Then again, he was at the smaller deaths as well, and the death of every living creature; Time was a concept he could take or leave as he chose.
He was a very traditional version of Death: a tall skeleton in black robes who carried a giant scythe. Then again that was how he came to be: he was an anthropomorphic personification. It was somewhat weird reaping those that had essentially created him, yet that was his job and he performed it well. He tapped his scythe to a rat that had been trying to dig its way out of the mud for the past five minutes. The scythe was still pristine, glinting in the flash of lightning. For that matter, even though he walked through the mud, none of it had gotten on his robe nor even on his feet.
He pulled out a scroll and checked over it, "ah yes. I have one to get before the big fight. Let's see where he is..." he rolled the scroll up and placed it back who knows where. Seriously, he didn't have any pockets, yet the scroll was placed somewhere safely away. He scanned both lines of trenches before walking over to the "Allied" ones. He wasn't exactly sure why the teams were broken up this way, but it seemed that is what the humans thought proper. He walked along the wall of the trenches, no one paying him any mind though he was not invisible. Simply he was something that no one thought they should be able to see, and so they did not see him.
"Ah, yes, you, Daniel Smythe. You will be coming with me in about a minute. Don't worry, I won't tell you how you go. Actually, I don't know how you go, but if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
Of course Daniel couldn't hear him, didn't know he was about to die. It was just for some reason there was a part of the trench, about the dimensions of a person, he was avoiding. Death lit up a cigarette and looked at his wrist bone where one would typically wear a watch. He didn't have one, but it was something that humans did, and so he mimicked it. Same with the cigarette, he couldn't feel the effect of the nicotine nor did it really do anything for him, but he saw a lot of people doing it, so he was trying it.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2017 1:08 pm
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After leaving the duo he had moved to a solitary area and rested. The use of his gifts on humans, especially with this many needing it, was draining. Even now he could feel strings of his magic still attached to those he was helping. A slow healing so as to not draw any suspicions. Many he was healing would likely not survive but he still did what he could for them. Even as he thought about this he caught movement out of the corner of his eye and followed it. His gaze fell upon the black robed skeleton wielding a scythe and he sighed. This was not the first time he had seen the figure. In fact the other being was among them because of the swath of death being visited upon these people.
It was disheartening to see the other being here, however, as it generally meant the amount of deaths were not going down. Great tragedy was heralded with this particular ones appearance. Looking around quietly he followed the skeletal one to where he was going, hearing him speaking once he was close enough. Extending his powers he made himself hidden from the humans and pulled himself out of the trench to be on more equal footing with Death. He was not angry with him, just tired and deciding it was high time he had met the other. The places they worked had them constantly bumping into one another after all, and at this point he felt it would be rude not to approach.
Not bothering to try and hide himself from the other he came close and peered around. "I beg your pardon, I don't mean to intrude on your work. I have seen you several places and thought it rude if I did not acknowledge our closeness." Due to their work they had been in the same area for years now. It had just never been a good time. Right now it was relatively quiet, for a war zone anyway. Ivaih looked down at the man Death was hovering near, not having known him before and lamenting the necessity of such a young creature to die when he was otherwise healthy. War. Humans had been fighting for nearly as long as their species had appeared on this planet and yet they never learned from it.
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 5:22 am
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At first he didn't even realize he was being addressed, it almost never happened, unless it was the deceased talking to him, and with no one recently dead just yet... "oh! You mean me? Sorry, I'm not used to being visible. Yes, yes, I probably should have introduced myself earlier, but then, you might have thought you were about to die. And making you think that really would have been very rude of me. That and I am not always certain who can see me and who can't. You are Ivaih the Xypth, correct? I am Death, as I assume you know. And you might want to move over a few steps, Daniel here is about to die. Could be a bullet or a bomb, I don't actually know what it will be. I would hate for you to have to expend effort to save yourself."
Overhead a whistling was heard. The bomb landed short of the trench, sending a shower of dirt and shrapnel like a fountain of death. A few men were injured, but Daniel caught the brunt of the shrapnel. Bits of metal ranging in size from a tack to a fist had punctured his chest and throat and face, tearing him to bits. Daniel noticed Death for the first time, and he knew it was too late.
"Welcome to the antechamber to the afterlife, Daniel Smythe. I'll lead you out in a moment, let me just speak to my associate." He looked back over to Ivaih, "you might want to tend to those quickly. In about three minutes and twenty-seven seconds, there will start to be a lot more casualties. I'm not permitted to say how many, but it is a number between forty and forty-two, all within the next few hours."
"What did you call the medic? Why can he hear you? What-?"
"Don't worry about it. I'll explain on the way out. For now, you need to let him get to work. Some of these men aren't scheduled for pickup yet." He gestured for Daniel to follow him, and soon they were walking out into No Man's Land. As they walked further and further away, their outlines became less distinct until soon they were not visible at all. All the while, Death was talking to Daniel, but even if one had extraordinary hearing, the words would be lost. Dead men tell no tales, after all.
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Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2017 10:26 am
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At first it seemed liked the other didn't realize he was talking to him, and that made him smile a little. What it must be like to only talk to the dead. "That is understandable, I take the fault for not having approached sooner." Meeting others was difficult in the current state of things after all. Humans war had made the mythological creatures scarce, none wishing to become involved in the conflict. They had learned that a close proximity to a humans war could be dangerous for themselves. Ivaih, however, had never really shied away from the more dangerous side of revealing himself to the young species.
Oh! Looking at Daniel he sighed faintly. Another life he could do nothing to save. Taking appropriate measures to be out of the way of whatever was going to happen he only heard the aftermath. Knowing he now had work to do to save those that had survived he gave a nod to Death. "I am sorry our chat is cut short, but both our work seems to be needing us." Smiling weakly and waving he hopped back into the trench, being sure no one saw him until he shifted back into their sight and ran over. Briefly he checked Daniel's body, just to not be suspicious, and then went about tending to the others. Shrapnel was nasty and he managed to get the majority out of those affected.
As Death had said the next few hours were chaotic and saw a heavy amount of loss. Some Ivaih could help, others he could only ease into their deaths. Hours of slogging through blood and rain muddied trenches left him on a more isolated front, checking for survivors. The image of Death leading Daniel across the No Man's Land stayed with him as he found that not many of the men he was checking had made it. Such senseless loss of life. Disheartened he found a crate to sit heavily on, looking balefully at the trench around him.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 4:44 pm
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Right as their last breath escaped their lips, Death neatly cut through them with his scythe. Even were there another living organism beside his target, he would not touch them, he could only strike the dead. Once he had cut them, the spirits or life essence or whatever it was rose up. Some of them had a multitude of questions for him, others tried to run away, yet still others accepted their fate in silence. Each one was given their moment, yet he was in place to end the next one.
While he was taking Albert Camden, his twenty-ninth client since the heavy bombing began, a shell exploded directly in front of Death. Being dead, he had assumed it would not affect him at all. He was most assuredly wrong. The shell exploded, the concussive force battering at him. Tiny bones scattered to the wind, and even his skull was blown back into the Allied trench. "Oh bugger," mumbled the disembodied head as it tried rolling itself back to his body. He couldn't quite make it up the slope though. Soon his body had returned and placed the skull back on, giving it a few tentative twists to make sure it was aligned right. He was still missing a hand, three fingers, and a foot, but they were already working on crawling back to him. "Pile up somewhere. I shall be back momentarily," he said to them. The foot stopped, it was having the hardest time moving, and the other parts started edging towards it. Once he had returned from taking Albert, he reattached the pieces. "Stupid bloody war," he muttered under his breath, so to speak.
With the shelling temporarily over, he found Ivaih and strolled over to him. "Do not fear, you are not about to die, nor is anyone else here. Well, not for a little while at least." There was a crate beside Ivaih, currently unoccupied, but maybe he wanted to be alone at the moment. "May I sit with you?" he asked, still moving no closer until he was given permission.
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Posted: Wed Jun 21, 2017 10:58 pm
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As Death was gathering himself together Ivaih had been doing much the same. Eyes closed in both concentration and weariness he let himself relax and reconnect with the tendrils of magic he had sent out. As his companion had said there had been a lot of death and he was able to withdraw some as soon as their suffering had come to an end. When he heard footsteps coming his way his eyes opened, for a moment they glittered a swirling sparkling green before it snuffed. Ah, it seemed he did have someone to talk to after all. For now it seemed the shelling was over and the constant thrum of war had dulled into background noise once more.
"Ah, I thank you for the assurance. I sometimes feel as if I have come to close to making your acquaintance in that way." Being here with the humans was deadly if he were to be honest with himself. Ever since their curious species had first walked, oblivious, among the creatures of the world they had seemingly been in endless conflict. It was a wonder their short-lived peoples had made it this far in the grand scheme of things. It was frankly exhausting now to keep up with humanity. Perhaps a break from this war torn part of the world was something he needed. Perhaps a visit to home even.
"But of course, feel free to sit." It was not often he ran into a being other than humans here. Interactions between his own species only happened if he went home, or went searching. Many preferred to hide away and watch. There was no sense to it. The more they shrank inwards the more of the old world they lost. "It must be tiring work." A quiet comment, unsure if the other would want to speak on work, or if he, too, wished to reminisce of home and an older world where death was not such a frequent commonplace. Once death had been a celebration of a long life and a passing on. He wondered if this affected Death the same as others, or if he was perhaps used to its cycle now.
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Posted: Sat Jun 24, 2017 10:22 am
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He sat down on the crate, and a man who was just about to sit there moved to another part of the trench for reasons he couldn't understand. "I do not have a physical body that can grow weary, but this...work is mentally tiring, yes. Then again, my entire existence is a conundrum, so I really should be much more used to it." He had been busy even back in the days before humans and their wars. There had always been bacteria and insects and other small creatures with short lives, and he had been there to reap them all.
One tiny little chip of bone that had broken off during the earlier explosion finally managed to make its way back to him and settle into place, healing over as if there had never been a break at all. He wondered how many more little chips he was missing and how long they would take to make it back to him. "If its any consolation, I checked to see how many humans I would be reaping if you were not here. The number is significantly higher." He looked out over the trenches, watching the humans console their injured, lament their dead, and try to calm themselves down. Many of them were smoking cigarettes, they had been told by their superiors that it would help calm their nerves. Death doubted that anyone had mentioned how it was also killing them. Still, he pulled his own pack out and took one, then offered them to Ivaih "care for a slow death in stick format?" he offered. No matter how many were taken out of the pack, it was always full.
"You needn't worry about visits from me, you have a long life ahead of you. Surprisingly, some of these men have long lives waiting for them, well, not long by our standards, but impressive for a human." Most people thought that Death carried around hourglasses that marked how long individuals had to live. Well, those did exist, but they were somewhere safe and locked away for only him to see. But when he looked at someone, he could see them as they were, but he could also see a date on them, in gothic font, announcing in the one true calendar when they would die. He hated looking in mirrors.
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Posted: Sun Jun 25, 2017 10:56 am
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It made sense that his body didn't tire, someone with duties like his would have to be after all. Especially lately. There was much death here, thought not yet as many as the plague that had spread the western countries a handful of centuries before. "Mmm. Even still, things like this are difficult." For him it was the multitudes of injured, trying to save lives here was draining on him. Most days he felt exhausted. The sheer numbers, on both sides, was overwhelming to him. And that wasn't even counting the camps.
Upon hearing that he was ultimately responsible for a higher survival rate made tension flood out of him. This entire time he hadn't been sure if he was helping or not. It had been extremely hard losing those he was tending to. "I appreciate you telling me that. Its become difficult to keep track, it often feels as if I have lost more than I save." Knowing he was helping here gave him a new strength. No matter what he would stay until the end. For most here he was just a dedicated field medic, a 'Doc', for himself he knew his healing had its limits.
"Thank you." Reaching to take one of the proffered cigarettes. Even though its harmful affects didn't touch him it felt a natural thing to do. The other soldiers did and he'd taken it up shortly after this had started. Lighting the cigarette he nodded quietly. A long life. He had wondered if he might end his life here among the humans. It was a relief and wonder that he wouldn't. "Thank you. I'm glad to hear all of that." Taking a drag off the cigarette he leaned his back against the muddy trench wall. Why not, he was already covered in it. "Now if only the humans could get along." Smiling ruefully at the idea.
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Posted: Tue Jun 27, 2017 5:16 pm
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He leaned back as the smoke floated out of his jaw and eye sockets, only reaffirming that there was technically nothing within his skull. He cocked his head to the side for a moment, pondering, before replying: "they will not get along. There are patterns of death indicative of war occurring off and on for many many years. The early 1940's look to be particularly brutal, or at least particularly deadly." The expiration dates glared at him, but he ignored them, choosing to look at the people instead. Even though he had been working with them since humans first evolved, there was still so much he didn't understand. "I don't understand how beings can kill other beings. Well, I can understand why certain predatory species kill prey species, it is a matter of survival. But I cannot fathom how omnivorous creatures, such as humans, can kill creatures of other species, much less how they can kill members of their own species. Granted, in my entire existence, I have never killed anything. Perhaps I am too sheltered?"
He looked over to his new friend? Could anyone be friends with Death? What even exactly was a friend? Either way, Ivaih was someone who would actually talk to him and had even welcomed him without having a death wish, which frankly was exceedingly rare. "You seem tired. The weariness you asked me if I had seems to have affected you. You can rest if you wish, there won't be any deaths for awhile. Not over in this trench at least. Is there anything you would like for me to bring to you? Time and space are optional to me, so I could go anywhere, get most anything, and be back before you even asked it. Not that I would go back in time, it might confuse you back then."
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Posted: Thu Jun 29, 2017 3:47 pm
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"For once my presence is a comfort to the living. This makes me happy," not that anything had changed about his visage or manner, yet the air around him seemed lighter. He shuddered ever so slightly when Ivaih asked if he ever talked to others like him. "Well, we are not really the same thing. You are one of the mythical nigh-immortal beings, and I am an anthropomorphic personification. As for whether or not I talk to others like you, last time I tried I lost my head." He knew very few idiomatic expressions, and this was definitely not one of them. "It seems one of your elders took my appearance to be a threat to his life. Frankly I was just checking to make sure the death system was working properly, and had come to reap an ant. But he believed I only mentioned the ant to hide my true intentions of reaping him. So he beheaded me with his horns. I have to say I have a healthy respect for them now, as nothing is quite so disconcerting as massive horns piercing your eye sockets." He shuddered again as he recalled the clacking of his skull rattling on the man's antlers. "No, counter-intuitively, I get along with things better the less lifespan they have. Though of course I do not meet them until once they are dead. Those that can see me normally do not often wish to see me." He put the spent cigarette out in his hand before flicking it out into No Man's Land. A few people nearby wondered why there was a cigarette butt flying through the air, seeming to come from no source, but they soon attributed it to seeing things or the wind changing the trajectory.
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Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2017 1:02 pm
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It must be hard, being Death. The only people who ever 'saw' him were beings like himself or those that were dead. It was also understandable that not everyone would be overly thrilled to have him in their presence. For Ivaih he held no fear or anger toward Death, and likely would have greeted him the same, alive or dying. "Ah well. I count you among 'us' because of your separation from the fragile humanity." Smiling faintly. Nearly lost his head? Raising an eyebrow in askance he waited to see if he would elaborate. An elder. That made sense in a way, some of the so called 'immortal' creatures still had irrational fears of dying. Honestly with their long lives it should be easier.
"Yes. The horns are definitely not just aesthetic. I apologize on his behalf, you would think us longer living species would have more sense." That was interesting. Death had a closer and easier relationship with those of shorter lives? Thinking on this he hummed a bit, contemplative. "That is very interesting, my curiosity on the matter has climbed. I, for one, don't understand that. If you had been coming for my life I would not have fought you on it. There comes a time when even beings like myself will meet their ends. I would hope to greet you as a friend, rather than treat you as if you were a threat. Death eventually comes to all." Finishing his cigarette he snuffed it against the crate and then flicked it up over the trench.
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Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2017 10:32 pm
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"You think reasonably, logically. But what if you think of life not as a string that eventually runs its course, but as a bucket of unknown volume. A small bucket only holds a grain or two before it is full, but a very large bucket can hold much sand. Someone who has lived a long time, they gather much sand and often have been trying to set it to use for a long time. They feel that another century or five and things will be complete. They see that time as very little. But shorter-lived creatures, they do not gather as much, and what little they have they are willing to put into simpler patterns. When they wish for more time, it is little time." He thought for a moment on particulars of what Ivaih had said, finding that maybe a few terms helped explain things as well. "Some of your brethren, they have mislead themselves. They refer to themselves as 'immortals', but from what I hear you say, you are aware of the true state of things. No, nothing is immortal. Not even things you think would last forever really will." It was morbid of him, he knew, thinking of his own death, but it was still a very haunting notion. Death had a death, because death would eventually die. Of course it was the implications of this hat were terrifying. "If you would like, I could try to differentiate my 'I'm coming to reap you' entrance from my 'I find it pleasurable to be in your company' entrance? Not sure what I would do to differentiate though, I have never cared much for dramatics or foolery."
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