Prisoner of Death
“Which do you choose; red or white?” The voice is haunting; a mere echo shrouded in darkness too thick to see through.
“What?” I replied, my voice too echoing in the thick black.
“You must choose…” the voice once again beckons.
What does it mean to choose? When has anything in life ever allowed mortals like us to choose what we desire? Our destinies have always been preordained. I have been taught that ever since I was a child. We have no choice of what path we take; we merely take side roads until we reach that destination. I was never allowed to pick; never allowed to have a choice. I was destined to be who I am; a priestess of Miyu. I was never allowed a choice, so why must I choose now? And what am I choosing for?
“Choose…” the voice beckons hauntingly, louder and clearer than before.
I know that voice.
“Red… or… White?” the echoing voice whispers.
“I do not understand,” I respond solemnly.
“Do you wish to die?” the voice responds softly. “Or do you wish to be a prisoner?”
“Why must I choose such a fate?” I question the darkness. “I was only trying to help…”
“You must choose…” the voice says clearly. “It is your destiny to choose your own fate…”
When have humans ever been able to decide their own fate? We have always been preordained to live our lives a certain way. I believed in that. I followed that line of belief. I said that line of belief. So, why must everything I ever believed in be tossed away like it was false? Why must I destroy everything that was taught to me, and that I believed in so? I cannot decide to be a prisoner. And I cannot decide to die; there are people who need me. Or, at least, so I believed.
“I am sorry,” I whisper to the darkness hiding that familiar voice. “I cannot choose those fates. There are people who still need me.”
“You must choose…”
“I cannot.”
“It is your destiny.”
“My destiny has been set for me since the day of my birth.”
“That it has… and now you must choose which fate you will have.”
“I choose neither…”
“You must choose…”
“Never.”
A pain so great shot through my chest. It shot from the front, and out of my back, almost as if something was being ripped from inside of me. And then a small gem fell into my hand. A gem the size of a large cherry sits gently in the palm of my hand. In the center of it is a silver cross in the shape of four diamonds; the longest diamond being on the bottom. A different color takes up a fourth of the gem; blue, red, purple, and yellow. Even in the darkness, it sparkles with a great light, almost as if it is being lit from within.
“What is this?” I ask.
“It is your soul,” responds the voice in the darkness.
“My soul?”
“Your destiny was to choose which fate you wanted,” the voice clarifies. “You chose neither fate. You have now become both. And you have become that which you have always hated, and protected others from.”
I can feel a single tear run down the left side of my face. “What have you done?”
“You will never age… you will never die… you will never need food or water… you will never feel complete… you will remain alone… forever. You have become a prisoner of the death you will soon wish you had. You were given the choice to choose your fate. And now it has come to this. You have become… the monster you wished to protect everyone from. You are Death…”
“No…”
Image thanks to Google Images
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