“Regarding Sika’s soul–”

“It is tied to yours. Right here, can you see it?” Death suddenly places his hand on my chest, I grab his wrist to stop him, “What are you–”

“Observe.” He pushes through my grip and draws out a red string of light. That’s–That’s my soul! I stare at the vivid colour. It really does look like the colour of those clown balloons. When he lets go of it, it floats up above my head and blossoms into a large smoky sphere.

“Little Balloon.”

“This golden thing, it’s Sika’s?” I point to a tight knot in the middle of the cord. It has no beginning and no end, but it’s clearly tethered with mine.

Death nods slowly. “This friend of yours…I know not who is more the fool, you or him.”

I try to undo the knot, but it’s the one part of my soul I cannot touch at all.

“Do not meddle with it.” Death sighs and leans back.

I withdraw my hand and stare at the colours which slowly fade back into my chest. Sika’s soul is very bright, so bright that it’s like staring at the sun for too long and finding tears in your eyes. Such a strong soul…why did he say it wasn’t stable enough to do the trials?

“Merely circumstance due to his constitution.” Death answers, “If you can break the binding, you will no longer be forced to accompany your friend on his ‘trips’.”

“Will he–”

Death’s phone blares with a loud ringtone, startling me. It’s a distorted xylophone playing on repeat, like a wedding march tune that slowly loses all will to live by the fourth note. Death massages his temples and mutes the call. He has the expression of a tired parent. “Do you have any other questions, Yin Rivers? I am not exactly on vacation.”

I think for a second. The god I met wrote a spell in the air just before I was transported. Having seen Death and Judgement, they gave off completely different auras. No use of spells or anything of the sort to do their duties. Both of them calmed me. Scared me, but calmed me. But I threw up multiple times in the presence of that god. Is that how gods are?

Death nods his head, “He is most certainly a god. Only–”

His phone rings again. He rolls his eyes and rapidly sends a message. I watch carefully, observing the collector of souls, guide of the afterlife, take on the role of someone who looks like their daughter just called from school to tell them she’d fallen down a flight of stairs. He gets up and paces around the room, pinching the space between his eyebrows. Then he pauses to continue, “Only gods would play with life. The very thought of it is nauseating.”

So it isn’t just me. “You said only gods play with life, but didn’t they create it? Create us? Why would they–”

“Life?” He tilts his head partially to look at his phone, “Frankly, this god you speak of seems to be lacking in the department of divinity itself. No being creates life. Life creates life.”

Oh. That must be the Third Cycle.  “When you said one of three, that’s you, Judgement, and Life, isn’t it?”

“That is correct. We are what most mortals call ‘guides’…apologies, a minute of your patience. I must respond to this.”

“It’s fine.”

Coming to think of it, if Life is the creator of everything, that means the god I met can’t be the real deal. His list of ‘lives’…something doesn’t seem right with it. How can a god play with souls and grant new lives if he doesn’t have the authority?

“What?!”

I snap my head up at Death’s sudden outburst. His expression returns to normal in less than a second. “Apologies. Life is currently having a meltdown via email and has just informed me that their extremely valuable tome has been stolen…by a very odd-looking…‘gym-bro?’” He reads those words with a hint of bewilderment. “Ridiculous.”

A gym-bro? No, wait, “That’s him! That’s the god I met!”

A day and a half later, I’m fit enough to be discharged. Mum is waiting outside with a car that I’m pretty sure Sika organised. Mum said he’d be waiting at the lobby for me. I haven’t seen him yet, or had the chance to confront him. But I do know that I don’t have a choice. With Sika’s God in possession of something which could disturb the souls of mortals, it’s only a matter of time before it escalates to disrupt the Cycles themselves.

Basically, the world is fucked if he continues. 

If I recall correctly, Death told me that I’d be working with him to gather more information about the god and his powers, since I’m the closest link to both Sika and his god due to the binding of our souls. If I have to continue the life trials, I may as well do it to get more info on how it works. Before leaving the room, Death didn’t forget to tell me what Sika had done while I was unconscious.

“By the way, Yin Rivers, that friend of yours, he has temporarily relocated your family to his guest house in the city. It is perhaps due to the binding of your soul to his, that he cannot be away from you for too long.”

“Is there a way to unbind our souls?”

“I will look into it. Unfortunately you may have to bear with the life trials for a little longer…my blessing is with you. Be careful. Do not fall into the wrong hands.”

As I walk down the corridor, I can sense the tug on my chest as I approach his figure. Sika’s hair glows in the sunset like the colour of his soul. I don’t want to look at him.

“Yin–”

“I think you owe me an apology.”

He holds a set of papers in his hands, glancing around the hospital lobby sheepishly. “Yin, dude, I…I really didn’t think that sorta stuff would happen.”

“Well, I’m sure you didn’t think of anything at all.” When I look up, he seems like he’s about to cry. A part of me feels like I’m the one in the wrong. No, I must not get swayed by his circumstances. Not after what’s happened.

“Dude, I’m…I’m sorry, Yin.” Face ridden with guilt, he hands me the set of papers. “Here, your discharge summary. And dude…some sketchy lookin’ guys approached your mom with these papers. I think it’s about your…other job. That’s why I told her to stay at the guesthouse for a couple’ weeks. O-Of course I didn’t tell her about the job dude, only said it’s for you to get some rest. She thinks you had a seizure.”

I snatch the sheets out of his hand and give it a quick glance. There’s a shipment of ‘mind alleviating tea’ passing through the river bank at dawn, goods are to be stored in…my house?!

…If a patrol comes or Jaha finds out, we will be evicted, or worse, killed.

…I’ll handle this later.

I quickly stuff the papers into my bag. “I’m glad you felt responsible enough to hand me this at least.”

“Dude, you’re my best buddy. It’s the least I could’a done after everythin’ else.”

“…I don’t have the energy to deal with you right now Sika.” I look back at the entrance to see Mum waiting for me in the shade. “However, I will give you my thanks for paying my hospital bills and lending us your chauffeur and guest house.”

He grabs my hand as I’m about to leave. “…I’m so sorry. I really am. If there’s anything’ you wanna ask me, I promise I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

“Give up the life trials. Don’t stay in touch.”

He drops to his knees and shakes his head vigorously. “Are you mad?! I’ll never do that dude! Tell me anything else, I can’t let you go, you’re my…you’re my best friend…!”

“I thought you said you’d do anything?”

His hands tighten around my arms and he hangs his head. “Anything but that. I have no choice. My father…”

I have to do this if I am to find a way to stop our souls from being linked. Sika has still not told me of how he did it or when it happened. And he has never told me what he discovered after the death of his father.

“Yin, dude, please stay with me. I promise I’ll be better, dude, I promise I won’t do somethin’ stupid or get carried away like last time–”

“Then cooperate with me. Help me learn more about your god. When I tell you ‘no’, respect it. Is that too much to ask?”

He looks up at me from the floor in a bit of disbelief. “You mean…you’ll stay?”

I lift him up so as to not attract too much attention. “I’ll stay. I will also do the life trials with you, but only if you promise to listen when I talk to you. Don’t just hear me, listen.”

His face breaks out into a smile and he hugs me. “I promise! I’ll listen for sure dude! Thank you, thank you so much!”

For the first time in a while, I’m unable to return his hug.