Feathers of a Bird

A god is created through a thought in mortal minds. They are an idea that humans worship, an idea that humans believe. Whether it be the flow that they label as time, the raw force of nature of the world or perhaps the descent to anarchy. Of course, these things have existed even before homo sapiens came to be.

But not all of them are self-reliant to exist by themselves.

The god stared at the grim reaper, solemn.

"Your time's already almost up, Mumei." Mori Calliope, death incarnate, spoke to the old owl. "Just accept it. The old cities of civilisation are crumbling down by the second. Nature is retaking everything, the wilderness from feral beasts who cares not for relics."

"Yes, I know that, grim reaper. I've been thinking of it for as long as I have ever could." Mumei responded to death. "But as long as the old glyphs exist, as long as words of mankind still persist, I will still continue to be here, to do what I am supposed to do."

Mori produced her scythe once again, the chine resting over her shoulder as she shot her an apathetic look. "And that's getting in the way of fate?"

"No," The owl reaffirmed her footing in the crater. "I'm not standing in between fate and a hard place, Mori Calliope. I'm standing between rebirth and the survival of humanity. Your cold hands won't touch his soul."

"Rebirth?"

The grim reaper clutched the handle of her trusted companion zealously. In the dictionary of the grim reaper, there was no such word as 'rebirth'. If you lose, you lose. There's no second time.

Mori Calliope had never personally conversed with the guardian of civilisation, Nanashi Mumei. She recalled some form of acknowledgement whenever the soul that required to be ferried was with the old owl, these encounters were less than her fingers can count, and all of them the old owl would accept that there was nothing that she could do.

And now, that old owl stood before her, believing that she could defy her. A pattern that Mori could recognize so well. Same in the daily life of a human. People who would talk big about not being afraid of scary things, of being able to close their eyes at night in fear of something in their closet. Yes, gods do it too.

The grim reaper swung her scythe, there Mori saw a flicker in the eyes of the old owl.

"I see that you know." Through the unsmitten eyes of death, Mori witnessed the same expression. "You subservient gods are all the same. You act as the leader to a pack of monkeys, comforting them to accept death all the same but when you yourself are about to die, who's going to comfort you? The higher beings? Your council?"

Mumei remained silent.

Earnestly, she already knew that they themselves don't truly care about the utter survival of humanity in the first place. They were all naturally independent from humanity. It was only a matter of time before she herself would be wiped away from the frame, and remain amongst the remains of what the lesser gods become.

But she couldn't find it in her heart to be angry at them. It wasn't their responsibility in the first place to be humanity's guardian. That was her job, that was why she was created.

"Henceforth from today, your name shall be Mumei." Those words rang true, the voice that she could not remember.

"Henceforth from today, your name shall be Mumei."

She was crowned with that name, she was crowned with the title of 'Guardian of Civilisation'.

"Henceforth from today, your name shall be Mumei."

She was crowned with that knowledge, she was crowned with every word ever written on any paper.

"Henceforth from today, your name shall be–"

"Are you listening to me, Nanashi Mumei?" The grim reaper spat to the desert wind. "Or are you seriously coming to the realization that you're going to die like all of the other lesser gods when humanity went poof?"

Mumei finally looked at what was in front of her again. Death was slowly descending down the crater, eyes behind her pink veil that did not even reflect a single shine of life.

With a deep breath, the old owl smiled. "No, I only had to take a moment to fully take in the words you have just said. Thank you for reminding me that death is omnipotent and that I cannot win against you."

Mori quirked a careful brow, stopping just several inches away from her.

"Really now?"

"Yes, Mori Calliope." She nodded. "I cannot win, but I am still Nanashi Mumei, Guardian of Civilisation that humans have created and carved for themselves."

Suddenly, Mori could feel herself being lifted into the air again. She clicked her attempting to swing her scythe down upon the old owl's head, missing by a strand.

"That's why,"

An ancient art to direct the winds where the sails should go. A useful trick for explorers to chart the world when it was still young, Mumei herself had witnessed it, and now Mori will become a witness to it as well. With a slight bit of modification to power and also the fact she was a god.

"I'm sorry, grim reaper. If you could just let me delay my death a little longer."

"You bitc–"

And away the ship sailed. Long to travel the vast seas, to record them all into paper and like paper did Mori Calliope fly off into the horizons of the desert. Anger unseen, death now further away, and the scalding heat returned to the desert dunes.

Mumei still stood in front of the vessel's corpse, pressing her hand behind her ears, listening to the gale that pass by.

Three seconds.

Mori was soaring past the afternoon sky, her eyes fixated upon trying to stop her momentum from travelling even further behind.

Four seconds.

She crashed through the ruined city, breaking through several layers of old concrete and beams. She swung her scythe, scraping upon any surface, any friction to stop herself from flying even further away.

Five seconds.

The grim reaper's back suddenly burst into several scythes, jutting out from the spine and shoulder bones as they were quickly disintegrated into cold jets of air. The force hammering between each other caused her eyes to go inside her face, her clothes and skin ripping and flaying off until both forces equalized.

Six seconds.

Gravity finally claimed the grim reaper, pulling her back down to where she belonged, appearing like a skinned pig in a butcher shop among the sandy outskirts of the sunken city.

Seven seconds.

And Mori Calliope cursed out to the Guardian of Civilisation.

"MUUMEEIII!!"

Nanashi Mumei flinched, retracting her hand from her ear. That was about as far as she could send the grim reaper off. It was rather frightening for her. From the very moment she had been born, she had never tried to fend off death of all things. If anything, this was the first time she had ever been worried about her own death.

But now she definitely did.

She took a moment to recompose herself. With the time she had bought herself, she should start moving as soon as she could. Then, the old owl could feel heat, heat not from the desert but from what she claimed to protect.

She quickly crawled out of the crater. The moment she did, flames spewed out of it like a volcano. A light brighter than the sun, a light that could cast away all the darkness that mankind could have feared.

The phoenix lived again.

When the light finally dimmed enough for Mumei to open her eyes, there she could see the vessel, peacefully sleeping. Unhindered by the desert heat, unhindered by the cold touch of death. Pure sanctity; the Everlasting Phoenix.

After snuffing out any residual flames that decided to stick onto her clothing, the old owl slid down the crinkling glass crater. Gently, she sat down next to the vessel, staring without a word spoken from her lips. Like a bird, nestling next to her young.

While he was indeed a vessel to the Everlasting Phoenix, he was still inherently human. He was human, and he was alive, sleeping like a little child.

Mumei took a deep breath once again, shaking out all of the pent worries through her exhale before extending her hand over to his face. The sacred writings and symbols, all associated with the worship of the Everlasting Phoenix. Drawn with an actual feather from the Everlasting Phoenix itself.

Did the Everlasting Phoenix predict that the grim reapers would succeed? Was this man its fail-safe? Then how come she had never come to know of his existence? Every written knowledge, every word on paper or stone, Mumei would definitely know. Granted, she may have forgotten it, but she would still remember some information at least!

Then, perhaps this human sleeping in front of her, was personally created by the Everlasting Phoenix? Wait, then that would mean he wasn't human at all! The Everlasting Phoenix can't just birth humans out of its fires, no it most definitely can't!

Mumei moved her hands over to the gem that was embedded in the vessel's chest. She could feel the warmth emanating from it, something pulsing inside as if she was touching the shell of an egg, the embryo inside slowly developing into a chick.

It was still weak. A hatchling would require a mother to feed it. Was this a new form of reincarnating for the phoenix? Was this the actual eggshell of a phoenix?

Then, when it hatches, what will happen to the human harbouring it?

The vessel grumbled from his sleep, his hand veering up to his face to cover the bright shining sun that's stabbing his eyes. Mumei quickly retracted her hand and waited for him to fully regain consciousness.

When he came to realize that he was in a crater, he quickly sat up, panicking before Mumei opened her mouth.

"Whoa there! Calm down, it's fine." The old owl spoke. "Are you okay?"

"Wh… Where?"

"Well…" Mumei scratched the cheek of her face. It wasn't until now that she realized she didn't think of a proper answer to greet him with. "You fought with a grim reaper when I arrived. You're in the, um, aftermath of the fight."

Instead of an understanding hum, a brief flashback of him clashing with death incarnate, Mumei was a bit taken aback when his reaction was confusion.

"...Fight? What do you mean?" His words became slightly more agitated. "I fought with her? Where is she?"

Instead of being glad that the grim reaper was now gone, he was in distress. After all, she was the first contact he had after wandering in an empty world devoided of people.

"She's, well, she's away doing something important reaper business. We won't be seeing her for a while." 'For a while'; Mumei didn't know how long but that phrase was good enough for her. She stood up, dusting away any sand from her skirt. "Come on, can you stand up, Phoenix?"

"Phoenix?"

The word slipped out of Mumei's mouth. It was at that moment that she came to the realization that the human in front of him was now, just a human. Not the Everlasting Phoenix. It made sense that he didn't remember his duel with death. He was just there to ferry the egg.

"Aha, uh, sorry, your skin is just covered in the old Everlasting Phoenix's text and symbols. I just sort of called you that, ahahaha…" She rubbed the back of her head, trying to play it off to the best of her abilities. "I'm sorry. Do you have a name?"

Just like the moment when he first met Mori Calliope, he was wordless. Only a thousand-yard stare. Mumei looked away briefly, sweat rolling down her face before assuming the truth.

"So, you don't have a name?"

The vessel shook his head. Not even a single name in his memory, ever since he woke up in that crypt that stunk death. The old owl hummed to herself, a finger on her chin.

"Then… How about Aephery?" Mumei suggested. It was an old name that she remembered was in use back then, and the first name that popped into her mind.

"Aephery." The vessel repeated. "My name… is Aephery. What's… What's your name?"

"Ah! My name? I'm Nanashi Mumei, just an old wandering god." She greeted, smiling the best she could. "You can ask me anything. I have the answer, I think."

"You… do?" Aephery tilted his head, his eyes blinking monotonously with each passing second.

"Of course! Granted if the knowledge isn't burned away, ahahah…"

"I want to know." He lowered his head, his fingers grasping at the clumps of glass that ripped at his skin. Blood sinking into them, drawing down onto the floor before they burn shut. Mumei could only look as that burning feeling didn't translate into his eyes when he looked up.

"I want to know why I exist."

"Ah… That." Her eyes dart to the left, nervously rubbing her arm. "I'm afraid I don't fully know that yet."

Disappointed, he gazed downwards once again.

"But what I do know."

His chin lifted, witnessing the old owl shining underneath the sun.

"Is that you're the key to resurrecting humanity. You're the key to returning the old civilisation that has gone extinct. Aephery, I know that's what you want to do deep down, and I'll help you."

She extended her hand; kindness.

"I know that, Aephery, and I can tell you more if you come with me."

Just like before with Mori, he stared at her hand but it was different from Mori's cold pale skin. Something felt… more genuine. More alive, unironically.

The winds whisper as he raised his hand to take Mumei's.

"Okay. I'll go with you."

And the old owl smiled, smiled more than she had ever since the extinction of humankind.

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

The pair soon walked over into the distance, under the blazing sun of the desert. From when they crawled out of the crater, Aephery had not let go of Mumei's hand. It felt natural to cling onto her, for some reason. Like natural instinct to do so.

It was normal, for Mumei had that natural warmth that a hatchling would want. A child holding his mother's hands, as they wander into the dunes;

To save the humanity that they lost.