Identity

Vita knew what Mors was about to do and acted quickly, she stood up and tried to grab her arm, only for her vision to turn black. 

"Stay away!"

Mors shouted and used his power to summon a few ivies and push Vita away. 

He could feel his heart racing at the close call after seeing Vita thrown away, which made him frown in confusion. 

'This is so weird.'

The desperation, the fear, and his heart's reaction. Everything was so weird from the very beginning, he had never felt those feelings and emotions before. 

Meanwhile, Vita felt dizzy as her vision slowly returned, she got up with difficulty and winced as her whole body ached. 

"Ughh… Me hurt…"

Vita whimpered softly, making Butter float around her worriedly. 

Now that they were at a safe distance, Butter felt assured enough to come close to Vita. 

Vita pulled herself together and stayed in her place, she was afraid of getting near that god and angering him again. 

"S-Sir god-"

"I'm not a god or anything, call me Mors."

Vita nodded and asked again, "Umm, Mors… Me saw my friends yesterday… Err… Their dead bodies…"

Mors, who eventually calmed down from his sudden and foreign outburst, sighed at Vita's question before deciding to answer her. 

"Listen, you cannot help everyone. Even your power has a limit."

"Huh?"

Mors summoned a few bones and threw them to Vita, the bones that appeared to belong to one of Vita's friends. 

"..."

"What are you doing staring at them? Help and revive them. Isn't that your goal?"

Vita was shaking but he was right, she wanted to come here, revive her friends, and go back with them to the Rami Village. 

She touched the bones and activated her power, making Mors stare at her stupefied. 

'That power…'

It was the power he felt invading his territory from time to time and reviving some places of the forest. 

'So it was her all along.'

The realization strangely did not bring him any unnecessary feelings like he expected, which made him relieved. 

Vita poured her power into the bones, her eyes turning completely silver as she emitted a healing aura that started to revive the space around her. 

However… 

The bones had no change. They were still bones, no flesh, no soul, nothing changed at all. 

Vita gulped nervously and poured all of her power into the bones, only for the same result. 

"Why…why?!"

Mors scoffed before approaching her and touching the bones with his fingers, causing it to crumble to dust. 

"This is the difference between me and you."

Vita was crying and screaming in despair as she saw the bones slipping through her hands, bringing a strange forced smile into Mors' face. 

"You are strange. So powerful yet so frail. You are losing your mind over a simple death?"

"W-What–?!"

"Death is something to be respected and accepted, no need to cry over it."

Mors almost reached to touch Vita's head but stopped himself at last second, instead, he kneeled in front of her while gathering the dust. 

"Look, you thought you could bring this to life. But I killed it even more instead. That's the difference between life and death."

Life was difficult, full of misery and hardships. And death? It was serene, calm, soothing and easy.

That was why people wanted Mors to bring their lives to an easier end. No one would like to suffer while living. 

"Do you know why you couldn't bring that thing to life?"

The frail girl in front of him seemed to be weaker and weaker, which Mors guessed to be due to her overuse of her power. 

Nonetheless, nothing enough to stop him from knocking some sense into her. 

"It was because they did not want to be alive."

Vita stumbled down and fell backward before stuttering, "No, no no! You are lying, why would my friends not wanna be alive anymore?! And why you keep telling me about this nonsense?!"

"A stupid girl… haaa…"

Mors took a deep breath before standing up, brushing the dust off his outfit and looking back at Vita. 

"Can't you get me? I'm death. I'm what everyone wants, and they forced me to accept their death. Did you think they came here for your sake? Unfortunately, you are quite mistaken."

After saying that, Mors simply turned his back on Vita, leaving only one sentence behind him. 

"They came here to accept death. Don't waste my time or yours anymore."

Vita was left there, sobbing and crying without making a single noise as Mors' words tormented her. 

'They…they no wanna live no more…'

Mors had sent her Butter before, and she was able to revive it. 

So he had no reason to lie about why she could not do the same for another time. In addition, he seemed to know her power like the back of his hand. 

He called himself death, a thing that everyone wanted… 

Then, what was she? 

"Who am I…?"

Was she 'life', an existence that seemed to be so beautiful, yet most people hated and preferred death over it? 

Her identity, her beliefs, her love for life was all suddenly denied. 

She ran after Mors and cried, "What do you mean?! Everyone wants to live! It's their instincts!"

Only to be pushed behind with the ivies, while receiving an ice-cold answer. 

"Everyone who has lived enough would crave death. It's a simple cycle, as long as you think enough. You are going to understand. Think more about your identity, about that Village you love so much as well."

Although Mors did not know how Vita lived, he had his own experience, which made him pity her. 

"You will realize, nothing looks as it appears to be."

Vita suddenly felt so exhausted as her head was filled with all of his words, it felt as if her whole world was closing on her, and she could not even fight it. 

But then, a familiar voice greeted her before she fainted and fell into someone's arms. 

"Rest a bit, Vii."

Lu, who watched the whole scene, stared at Mors' back with flaming eyes. 

"And you, Mors? Maybe we should have a talk."