An Earth day had passed since Azrial last saw Artemio—the God of Life—and since then no news of any Golden Child being made had been announced to him prior to their last meeting. This exhausted his persistence, as he was agitated to finally see humanity once more optimistic about the future. To him, there has been much death and misery for the humans that he no longer wishes for them to suffer; so that Artemio finally agreed to such an intrusive deal was just marvelous news for the young God of Death. He was happy all the way back to his domain, back from his meeting with Artemio, that even Kallias was perplexed by the sudden change in behavior. His God of Death was usually bored and serious—so this was a lovely change in atmosphere for both of them. However, this attitude quickly changed to restlessness as Kallias watched Azrail pace around his Passing Room, anxiously staring at the charts filled with glowing or dim names, seeing no sudden change in deaths.

Of course, the Golden Child would be just an infant by the time that Azrail would finally notice their existence, but even then its mere presence could improve human's mood and be able to bring just a little peace onto a small region of land. Though as minutes shifted into hours, Azrail observed in disappointment as death continued to troll over the humans like a massive tsunami wave.

Pacing back and forth inside the Passing Room, Azrail occasionally sent an anxious glance towards the names--sometimes even racing over to the globe that floated in the middle of his office, peering in as he checked every nook and cranny of Earth only to be disappointed to see that not even a special Birth Mother for the Golden Child to have yet to be assigned.

"..." What was taking Artemio so long? Azrail thought--checking off names hurriedly while peeking over towards the glowing globe that shimmered ever so beautifully with worried eyes. Was it so much to ask as to not see humans suffer no more? He just didn't wish to see anyone mourn and despair over another death any longer--oh, and the children! Every single time that he would take time out of his day to watch the death of one of his chosen, Azrail burned holes in his desk as he watched children weep over their dead loved ones. Just because he was used to seeing death did not mean that he would be okay with it. In fact--he wished for death to be abolished altogether! But that would be selfish and wrong. Without death there would be no life; the both of them co-existed. You just couldn't have one without the other--and even if you tried to accomplish such a feat, nothing good would come out of it. Even when he wished to see no more, he knew he just had to. He couldn't just shield himself from the world and still call himself an existing being. As an ex-human, he still had a birth-given right to view the world as it truly is and to never shy away from it and shield himself like a man-child.

Yet it hurt so badly. He just wishes for all of this to stop. He doesn't want to see death anymore. None of this is fair-

"Announcing the almighty—God of Life!" The celestial sound of trumpets rang throughout the spacious room as the double doors flew open, doves quickly flying inside and settling anywhere as dozens of hooded figures stormed in, marching to the side as they created a perfect line of which Artemio could walkthrough. Watching this scene unfold, Azrail sweat dropped as he recalled how all of this was perfectly similar to the last unannounced intrusion into his domain that Artemio executed. It was like everyone there rehearsed this for the first time without flaws. Celestial beings truly are something else, huh?

Strolling inside the dim-lit room Artemio frowned at the closed windows, the lack of sunlight bothering his eyesight as he wasn't used to such dark places. "What are you--a bat?" Standing frozen as Artemio stalked over towards the closed curtains, Azrail couldn't help but sigh as he saw the dissatisfied change of expressions on Artemio's face. "I don't think the moon will help-"

"Why the hell is it always the moon hanging in the sky and never the sun? Shouldn't you only have the sun like me, and not only the moon? Is it different for every god?" Cutting Azrail off before he could finish his sentence, Artemio inspected the sun from where he stood before opening the balcony door, pushing it open as it stepped outside, the mild wind brushing past his hair making it sway gently. Azrail watched as Artemio's beautiful red hair shimmered in the waning moon, flowing as gently as a falling petal in the warm wind. Feeling the god's intent gaze on him Artemio turned around, eyeing him cautiously before he finally snapped out of his trance.

"What? Is there something in my clothes-"

"You have an exquisite taste in her hair."

Hearing these blunt words stumble out of Azrail's mouth, Artemio became frozen as his eyes widened in shock. Finally, noticing the words that he so boldly said Azrail covered his mouth, embarrassed to have said such bold claims on the obnoxious God of Life. Looking up towards the frozen Artemio, Azrail brought his hands in front of him and shook them, his expression changing quickly into a mixture of embarrassment and urgency as he attempted to clarify his words.

"Hold on, that's not what I meant-"

"Shut up and let's go back to business!" Walking towards Azrail Artemion forcefully pumped into his shoulder, pushing him back slightly as he watched Artemion storm over towards the scroll that an emotionless servant held in front of his head, his form bowed and his head inclined his reverence. Continuing to observe the servant, Azrail hummed as he finally realized that was the personal servant of the God of Life.

The most striking feature that this servant possessed was the stunning golden locks of hair that seemed to flow with no effort or help by the wind—it just shimmered and glowed so effortlessly under the waning moon even with its little light that it amazed even Azrail. It looked so soft, so tender and delicate, as it could break with even the slightest touch. To him—it looked as if the finest silk was to be combined with the purest of gold that was crafted by the gods. Oh, and his face--so slim and unblemished, as if it was the skin of a newborn infant. His skin was a tawny color that glowed under the moonlight, making him appear more of a god than a servant to Azrail. He was just so... breathtakingly beautiful that no proper words could describe. With a slim nose and seemingly tall stature, his body was just like his gods—lean and flat on the stomach, yet bulky on the chest with muscular arms stretching his clothing. Even with the emotionless expression, Azrail couldn't help but find him majestic, even with such a grim face.

Feeling someone looking at him, the servant looked up only to glance back down in shame as both Azrail and the servant's eyes meet for a split second; but even with such little time, Azrail could already hear his non-existent heart beat faster than the gushing water from his waterfall. The man's eyes... what god could ever transform such beautiful ruby red eyes? It was like they combined all the finest red rubies in existence and carefully implanted them into his innocent, caring eyes. So big and doe-eyed... like an innocent dove. So oblivious of the world and its impurities...

"-rail. Azrail. Hey, Azrail! Quit looking so soft! What's gotten into you?!" Snapping out of his trance after the loud shouting of Artemio woke him up, Azrail blankly stared at the agitated male, a tad bit furious that he would snap him out of something that he greatly enjoyed. "You were saying?" Finally, having Azrail's attention on himself, Artemio's proud demeanor came back as he twirled around, walking over towards where he left the scroll and picked it up, unraveling it as he presented it to Azrail. Immediately, as his golden eyes settled on the opened scroll, did he have to squint his eyes to adjust to the brightness that was being poured into his eyes? Once he adjusted his eyesight, Azrail looked at the scroll only to the design of what he could only think of as being the design of a human being—but with various designs left to be yet undecided. "Since you begged for a Golden Child, I thought it only suitable if you were to help me create this... thing." Presenting the various design ideas that were scribbled down on the golden scroll, Artemio turned around once more and walked over towards Azrail's desk, placing the scroll down as he summoned a diamond quill in his hand.

"First off; what should be their biological gender?" Not once moving from where he stood, Azrail silently shook his head and walked over to stand next to him, peering down at the scroll before pointing at the second option. "I think it should be woman—it would bring more attention over to her since she would do something grand in a man's world." Not giving him any sign that he agreed, Artemio instead just wrote what he said as all the male body parts disappeared from the page, leaving them with nothing but options that a biological woman might get. "You are rather silly;wishing for a woman to be put into such grand power. I do believe a man should do it instead of a woman. Woman are rather fragile and weak, so we wouldn't wish for them to hurt their pretty little selves now would we?" Slowly moving his stare over towards Artemio, Azrail finally understood with what he was currently handling. And he did not enjoy this news.

"Why should it matter whether or not it is a woman or a man? Both or equal in all terms--so why would one body of flesh and bone have more value over the other? Isn't that rather idiotic and narrow-minded?"

"It isn't idiotic or narrow-minded. All that I am doing is showing some concern for the damsels, is all."

"I think you are just scared having your fragile-ego damaged. Now aren't you pathetic?" Not flinching even when Artemio's hands slammed against his desk, splitting it in half, Azrail remained calm as he felt the harsh stare of the God of Life's white eyes glaring down at him with utter fury. "Me? Pathetic? What has that pathetic excuse of a God of Nature been spewing to you? Stop hovering over him so much, it damaging your brain; well, more than it already is." His voice was furious as he neared his head closer to where Azrail's eyes—which were trained on the scroll—was.

"Why are you so afraid of others proving to be better than you? All you do is put others down just because you know you are not good enough, but even then, your method does not soothe the wound, so why not stop?" Turning his head to instead gaze up at the taller god, Azrail's mouth remained a firm line as the both of them held eye contact, neither blinking. "Because," Grabbing the scroll and quill, Artemio shoved it into his arms, his smoldering white eyes glaring heatedly down at Azrail with anger as he rose from where he was. "I am better than everyone. Take your things and complete it by yourself. I am leaving." Twisting his body around, Artemio stormed out of the room—along with his servants—and down the halls before dashing from detection completely.

Staring down at the glowing scroll, Azrail sighed as he passed by a worried Kallias, heading towards his room to rest for a while. Why did he have to tell the hard truth? Is there ever a time when you should speak the harsh truth.

He was too blunt for his luck. 

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ʜᴀᴠᴇ ᴀ ɢᴏᴏᴅ ᴅᴀʏ/ɴɪɢʜᴛ ᴍʏ ʟᴏᴠᴇꜱ!

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