A era of life and death.

This is the world we live in. I was taught to always remember this, even at times of doubt.

In a world where ignorance is bliss and deadly sins pull on the strings of fate, this is where the need to maintain balance comes in. A job that requires select few to take judgment upon those who live… and decide who truly dies.

At least, that’s what I have been taught as a modern reaper of souls.

The Grim Reaper, the Shinigami, the Death God; however you call them, reapers have been a point of muse and inspiration to the entertainment media. Allow me to clarify one thing all of them got right: yes, we are real, and we do take your souls at death. Everything else known about us is either incomplete information or simply speculation.

We do not kill. We take.

The scythe, though the original weapon of the first reapers, is not the only weapon we utilize. We aren’t limited to sharp weapons either (especially gardening tools like that one series insists on). Anything and everything that is approved by the soul-reaping law can take one’s soul away. However, the use of cameras has become increasingly popular. Thank the cognition of the mortal mind for that.

Have you ever heard of the myth that taking a picture with an old camera traps your soul in it? Due the infamous superstitions of that myth, any camera a shinigami uses does just that. However, more recent ones such as myself were given special phones that do that job and more. Imagine holding the lives of so… so many individuals in an electronic brick that you morals depend on.

As for where shinigami come from… where do I start?

No, we’re not from Hell, and no, we aren’t people who committed suicide in our human lives. Surprise: shinigami are human. Everything about us mix in with society, the only difference being a mark of death placed upon us when we are “chosen.” That is to say, anybody and everybody who lives can become a shinigami through certain circumstances. The mark of death is simply a mysterious aura that makes us exempt from death itself. Broken system, I know, but I didn’t make the rules.

That said, there are still many rules I didn’t know myself, even after being one for who knows how long...

I’m sure I’ve bored you to death about this. Why am I even explaining this, you ask?

Well… you chose to read this, didn’t you?

Perhaps talking about this story will help ease my loneliness in here….

.....wherever I am, that is.