A city without law and justice

Mortis opened his eyes abruptly and feeling still drained shocked, he looked around and realized that he was in the middle of a street in an old desert town. The houses were built of mud bricks and the street was covered with a carpet of dust and sand. The air was dry and hot, and it smelled of spices, sweat, and desperation. Mortis sensed immediately that this was a brutal and criminal city. There were no laws and no legal system - only the law of the strongest and survival.

Mortis watched as people in the city fought each other and struggled to survive. Children played in the streets and ran back and forth between buildings. They wore dirty, torn clothes and had hunger in their eyes. Mortis couldn't help but feel sorry for them.

Suddenly, Mortis heard the crying of a little girl. He followed the sound and found her in a dark alley. She had tears in her eyes and held a small loaf of bread in her hands. She looked around fearfully and Mortis sensed that she was in great danger.

Mortis looked around and felt uncomfortable. The little girl with dark brown eyes and black eyes divided the bread into two halves and happily bit into it.

Mortis tried to talk to the girl but the girl did not react which almost made Mortis angry but he would never get physical or angry with a child. So he tried to pull the girl by the hand and Mortis noticed that people were already gathering and looking for a girl.

However, when Mortis touched her, she flinched and wondered where he suddenly came from. "Girl, you are in danger. You have to get away from here, they are already looking for you," Mortis said and tried to pick up the child, but his arms went through the girl and he could not grab her. Shortly after, he heard shouts from men and women, "There she is, we found the thief!" Mortis yelled at the girl, "Run away, they don't look friendly. I'll stop them!" But when Mortis went to take his scythe out of the ring, nothing happened, which surprised him. The worst part, however, was that no one could see him, and as if he were now a ghost, the men and women ran through him to the girl. Mortis roared, but the girl died in a dark corner in a world Mortis did not know.

Mortis wanted to wake up, he thought it was a bad nightmare, but when he closed his eyes for a moment and opened them again, he was at the beginning point. Mortis immediately ran to get the girl to move. He put his hand to her face and said, "Girl, you need to get out of here and hide properly." The girl nodded, took the bread, hid it under her shirt and crawled through a small hole in the wall into another alley.

Mortis could just walk through the wall and follow her. She continued to walk undercover towards the edge of town, where in a dark corner another girl looked emaciated and not healthy. The girl Mortis followed took her bread, divided it in half and gave one half to the other girl. But no sooner had they both eaten than men came into the alley, destroyed the small tent and tried to drag the girls outside. "Nora, run!" said the first girl, but she just stayed seated and said, "It's too late, Zara, thank you." "What are you talking about, Nora?" yelled Zara. When Zara stood up, it was obvious how badly sick and emaciated she was. Nora, running toward the wild men, tried to save Zara, but the little girl didn't stand a chance and was just swept aside like garbage. The men were after Zara because she was still somewhat fit and so brought money in the real market. "Run!" said Nora and Mortis at the same time, while Mortis in his rage kept trying to hit the men.

With tears in her eyes, Nora ran away, but her way was not long, for she ran towards the market and met another bad death. Mortis did not know what was going on, but it was worse for him than seeing 100 dead sinners. This was a child with bright eyes who had to suffer like this for a piece of bread.

Mortis wondered if he had enough power to secure both himself and other realms so that children would not go hungry and would be protected from all dangers. But no sooner had he finished spinning this thought than he was back at the starting point.

Mortis did not know what it was all about, but he wanted to help this girl, and help, and help, and twenty more times. But each fate of the girl was horrible, and one thing was certain: she would not survive this day. On the 24th time, Mortis sat down and did nothing. He looked at her and wondered how she could always shine like that in a world like this. No matter what happened, she always looked as if there was no evil and no evil in this world, and this despite the fact that this area was just dripping with greed, hatred and all evil.

When Mortis was at a loss, he simply took the child in his arms, wanting to protect him from this cruel world that was losing its last light by depriving that light of life. "Maybe I should be more like you and also be more excited about little things and appreciate the life I have with everyone in it that I love. Maybe I should also show who I really am more than just this stubborn old man."

Zara giggled. "But that's what you show. I've never been hugged like that. Thank you, big brother. That feels nice." Mortis was about to say something when time stopped. An angel suddenly stood next to Mortis and said, "Congratulations on passing the test of understanding.

Mortis was bursting with anger. "What do you mean by exam? What brain-dead monkey thought up this sick exam?" he roared with rage.

"That was my tiny thing. I thought maybe this would work best on you," the angel said emotionlessly. "And what is this? A dream? Or is this really happening somewhere in the universe?"

"Yes, you're right about that. It happened somewhere, and in a world that tells you something. Or didn't you notice it was Earth about a thousand years ago?" the angel replied.

"I don't give a damn what world or what era it is. Give me the child so it doesn't have to suffer and be used for your sick games more often," Mortis said sourly.

"I'm afraid I can't do that, and you shouldn't try," said the angel.

"You know what, you old fucker? What I can or can't change, you let nicely be my business!" Mortis' eyes began to glow, and he formed a silver scythe out of mist, taking momentum with it and cutting a silver streak through space and time. Stepping through this, Mortis finally lifted Zara and walked with her to Nora, bringing her to him as well. He then walked through the rift again before it closed. The two girls were amazed to see an angel, and actually knew nothing of Mortis. Only Zara trusted him, without knowing why.

The angel shook his head and sent Mortis back. Then the angel turned around and was about to fly a round when he repeated softly, "Old fucker, you can tell which god he's descended from. I'd better leave the other trials to others, or I might as well paint a target on my back."

Mortis suddenly appeared in the room where he had disappeared earlier. He was surprised to see that everyone was still there and Helga seemed fine, thankfully. The four women in the room asked him where he had been and where he got the two girls. Mortis didn't know what to say, so he handed Valeria to Nora and gave Zara to Lumina.

Lumina immediately noticed that the two were sick and malnourished. The two women took the children to their room. Marlene packed up her things while Mortis gave her some gold coins as thanks. He wanted to get rid of them quickly to talk to Helga, who looked hale and hearty.

Helga rose and cleaned herself up before Mortis returned. She was sitting on a clean bed. Mortis wanted to sit down next to her to talk to her and inquire about her well-being, but she grabbed him by both ears and turned his head with an angry expression on her face. In doing so, she puffed out her cheeks and Mortis was in pain.

"Ow ow ow, why does it hurt so much even though my levels are so high?" asked Mortis with his face contorted in pain. Helga said, "The question is, how many more women are you hiding and why are you carrying around children?"

"Ouch, I'll explain in a minute, but let go," Mortis said, trying to free himself from her grip. Then he started to explain, "See, it's actually your fault, you asked for it," Mortis said and jumped off the bed. He ran out of the room laughing. Helga yelled after him, "Come back here right now, or are you going to run to the next one to comfort you now?"

Mortis returned to the room and looked at Helga in love. Then he asked, "How can you say that? Even if you wanted to sell me as a breeding bull to anyone, I still love you. Or don't you believe me?"

Helga was surprised at the different facets Mortis showed all at once. She almost wondered if he was really her husband. But when he sat down next to her and stroked her like yesterday, she realized that he was her husband, who was only in the process of breaking his own shells from the inside and being more open.