𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄:
Fearing death is pointless
(1357)

DEATH.

One can always feel when death's presence is near.

It was like a gentle whisper of, "prepare yourself" to the cold wind as it brushed one's skin.

Feeling.

Touching.

Caressing one slowly. 

Like a soothing lullaby before being consumed by the endless dark void.

Succumbing to its embrace with open arms.

Some say death is peaceful. That feeling of death is just the process of dying, but one's death can never be felt but primarily focused on others' death.

They say death is what motivates one to achieve their goals.

Genesis read about death before from well-known philosophers, but still, she can never really decipher its meaning.

According to Aristotle, the dead are more blessed and happier than the living, and to die is to return to one's real home.

To Plato, the fear of death is only natural to humans, but death should be viewed as the achievement of life.

Even Socrates believed that because of the immortality of the soul, death could not be evil because freeing the soul by guiding it to the eternal truths was the entire point of life. When death does come, it is a liberation of the soul.

Epicurus argued death cannot touch one because, "while we exist, death is not present, and when death is present, we no longer exist." Since death cannot feel one, it cannot be wrong. Fear is rational only for something bad. So Epicurus concludes that fearing death is pointless.

So many explanations and descriptions of death, but Genesis wonders what these Philosophers would say when they have experienced death in the first place. Would their opinion change? That death is not what it really seems in their twisted yet abnormally meaningful perspective of living and dying.

Genesis' questions would have been answered by another question because that is what philosophers are: they seek the truth above all, that to philosophize is the preparation for death.

A plague invaded Northern France, and Genesis' village was not lucky.

Even Amira wasn't lucky as well. Emilia was taken away. And Genesis will find her.

Genesis was a coughing fit for two days. With a high fever and blazing headaches. Genesis' body felt numb and weak, and she was vomiting every hour, the metal-like taste of blood on her tongue. Slowly losing the energy to be conscious that every time she closes her eyes, she expects for her surroundings to be different.

With her body being physically weak. She doesn't have control of her magic to heal herself but her mother, Helen, casted a spell that allowed her to feel better for a few hours. And Helen spent the time making Genesis the well-needed sustenance that her body needs, food.

"Here," Helen kneels in front of Genesis as she lay weakly on the bed. Helen places the spoon full of food in Genesis' mouth, "Every bite, child." Genesis managed to swallow, but every move of her muscle was painful to endure.

"Everything hurts." Genesis stresses. Helen pats a cloth on her forehead, wiping off the sweat that spreads from her forehead to her chest. "It'll be alright," Helen assures, but her features say otherwise, the way her emotionless expression worries Genesis. And they both knew that only one of them would survive. And it isn't Genesis.

"Mother."

"Hush now." Helen then brought a wooden cup to her lips, "Drink every last bit." as the liquid touches Genesis' tongue, the taste is unexplainable. Still, Genesis is getting dizzy, and her surroundings start to blur. She was only hearing her mother's chants.

───⊱⁜⊰───

GENESIS WOKE UP WITH A GASP ESCAPING HER PLUMP LIPS.

She felt different in many ways that she could not easily explain. She feels like herself, but she also doesn't. Her surroundings felt different. It all felt sensitive. It was no help when her head was throbbing and her teeth were aching. She felt immensely hungry, and she knew why.

All of these are signs that she was transitioning into a vampire.

"No. No. No." Genesis frantically panics as she looks around her surroundings. Her eyes zoomed towards the bedside table with an empty wooden cup next to a cup filled with what Genesis could smell, blood, and it smelled scrumptious. It was luring her, tempting her. 

Just a taste, but her mind screamed in disagreement to not drink the blood. Still, goodness, was it challenging to resist, she took the cup and drank it eagerly and aggressively, and that was where she felt it. How she handled her fangs made itself known, how something felt different with her face, and how her heightened senses bombarded her. Genesis placed a hand on her mouth as her fingertips grazed the elongated teeth. Then her hand went to her cheek, feeling the veins coming from her eyes.

Genesis turned into the creature her kind hated.

And with that thought, she couldn't feel her magic.

She felt amounts of loss and dread she hadn't felt before as tears unknowingly fell from her cheeks.

She doesn't have the magic anymore.

Emptiness started to consume her, and her only purpose was gone. Genesis needs to talk to her mother, but all thoughts of conversation are halted when she sees her mother on the ground. Genesis then hastily removes herself from the bed and is instantly at her mother's side.

"Mother, please," Genesis begs, her tone pleading as a sob escapes her throat. Shaking Helen's shoulder, trying to wake her, but alas, Genesis couldn't hear Helen's heartbeat. Then she saw it, a note with a ring tucked safely in Helen's hands.

Along with a golden chain necklace with the Ackerman family symbol as a pendant.

───⊱⁜⊰───

Genesis,

I express my gratitude to you for teaching me to read and write if not. I would not have written this letter. Oh, my child, have you grown wonderfully over the five and twenty years of your life. You're my pride and joy, and my only regret is not telling you while I was still alive.

I beg you to forgive me. I have committed something that I know that you will hate more than anything, you might think I am selfish, but I cannot come to peace with the fact that you will not get the life you wanted and deserve. So my only option was to turn you into a vampire.

I do not know if a witch can turn into a vampire, as I will know nature will not allow it. But I have done my fair share of reading, and I know that it will work. I made a daylight ring for you that will allow you to walk freely under the sun and a talisman that will enable you to use magic when you touch it, it might not be the same as it once was but I can never bear the thought of you losing touch with your magic.

A mother's love is endless, Genesis. I would do anything for you, my dearest.

–Mother