Moon of The Afterlife

Chapter 1: Fireflies

WEARING a pair of jeans, rubber shoes, and a gray hoodie, the God of death, stood at the sidewalk with his back leaning against a vandalized wall where you can see an endless line of homeless people and bystanders doing their businesses. Private and public utility vehicles of different sizes filled the busy street, as everyone endures the burden of the heavy traffic. The day has finally ended, though, making the slow flow of traffic less frustrating for those whose work ends at 8:00 PM.

The noisy streets of the city are never an ideal place for him. The situations humans are facing every day are sad, and it always makes him feel bad for them. For him, the tall trees and humming of the birds are more pleasing than loud noises and poverty. But he chose to leave his tree and watch people as they live and die. 

"Tss, dying is better than this shitty life of mine," A homeless man hissed and threw a carton of leftover food away. He is a middle-aged man with an overgrown beard and hair. His clothes and body are dirty, and he smells unpleasant. The man closed his eyes and leaned his head back to the wall behind him as he let out a deep frustrated sigh. "Almighty, if I wouldn't pick up a pocket full of money tomorrow, You better let me die before I get compelled on doing something You could never forgive."

That made the God beside him chuckle. "You still have a long life to live," he said, which caught the homeless man's attention. 

"How do you know? Are you Almighty?" the man sarcastically asked and sneered. He looked at him and shook his head before closing his eyes again. "I guess youngsters don't have many things to do nowadays that they can afford to waste time listening to other people's complaints about life. Young man, it's still a long way for you to understand how cruel life is. Most of the time, it took being in my position to understand."

But the God of death just laughed. "You're wrong. I've seen worse situations than yours all my life, and just witnessing all those moments of grief is enough to understand humans," he replied. 

The man opened his eyes again with furrowed eyebrows before looking up to the God of death. "You're talking as if you're not a human," he commented. 

The God of death turned to look at him and gave the man a wide smile. "You're right. I'm not a human,"

The man stared at Him with astonishment before the loud sounds of automobile horns filled the air as people screamed in shock and fear when a motorcycle trying to drive through the small spaces between each car got smashed by a bus. The driver suddenly appeared the moment the bus started moving forward, taking the bus driver in surprise, making him unable to avoid the accident. 

Sidapa looked away and glanced at the accident, then sighed. "That poor man's life ends here," he said and stood straight while still watching everyone as they gathered around the accident. 

"Who are you?"

The God of death looked back to the homeless man again and smiled one last time. "Sidapa," he said and then left. 

He has the power to let a human live longer, and despite being the God of death, he is kind and forgiving. His only duty is to set life span to everything that lives. He does not necessarily watch them as they die, but he chose to do so.

Sidapa walked around while silently observing every person he walks past, and humans don't have an idea that every day, the God of death comes across them unnoticed. He's been observing humans for thousands of years. And during those times, billions of lifespans he has set have ended. 

"Thousands of years of walking; how many steps did I already make? And about how many more steps should I take before this world brings me to you?"

Sidapa stopped walking in front of a circular plant box located on the east side of the Park. The beautiful flowers are starting to wilt. Stems and leaves are turning yellow, and their fragrance has completely faded. 

"Bloom until the end of spring," he ordered, and the wilting flowers suddenly came back to life. Stems and leaves turned green, flowers gained their bright colors back and emitted their fragrance to reach the heavens.

Sidapa looked at the gray and lightless moon above and smiled weakly. He wonders if Bulan can smell the fragrant flowers or hear the mermaids he kept ordering to sing. He doesn't know if his efforts could reach his beloved moon, but he silently hopes it does. 

The clouds covered the lightless moon, making it invisible in the meantime. Sidapa's smile slowly faded as he took his eyes off the moon. Couples enjoying their night out and groups of friends hanging out congested the area. Children enjoy playing around, and their laughter overfills the air. He was about to leave when a firefly appeared in front of him. 

It's only one, at first. Then became two, three, four, and then ten, until it became countless. 

"Lead the moon spirit to me," Sidapa ordered, but the fireflies did not obey him. Instead. They scattered all over the place like hundreds of tiny flashing light bulbs. He just sneered and rolled his eyes before walking away to go home.

PEOPLE were mesmerized by the sight of hundreds of fireflies, including a young man standing near the fountain. He has bronze hair, a sharp nose, thin lips, and a pair of gray eyes. He can smell the fragrance of the blooming flowers. He lifted his hand to touch a firefly, and it perched at the tip of his index finger for a second before flying away. 

He's Libulan. The missing deity and spirit of the moon. 

The clouds that covered the lightless moon went away. Libulan looked up at his empty shell and flashed a faint smile. "Humans are doing just fine even though their moon remains lightless," he commented. 

He can smell the flowers' fragrance, and the fireflies that showed up remind him of the God of death he once knew thousands of years ago, when he used to be up there, shining and dancing with his brothers and sisters to please everyone below. However, he can no longer remember his name. 

Bulan smiled and shook his head. "Why am I thinking about that God again? He wasn't the only deity who adores the moon." he thought to himself. 

Libulan lives a life of a human for thousands of years. He changed his name multiple times and moved from place to place. He also keeps changing his profession to blend with humans and to keep his real identity unknown. His current identity is Arche Bernal, and in his present life, he's a cafe owner. 

"Arche!" a girl with a  heart-shaped face and wide child-like eyes called and ran to his side with a big smile on her face. "I called mom and told her I'm going to stay over in your new apartment for tonight. Let's go! Cook me some pasta!" she happily said while dragging him along.

"Alright, stop dragging me!" then he laughed. 

The girl who called him is Louise, his sister, and the closest person to him in the present life. She's 22, and Arche's human age is 31. But he's actually over 2,000 years old already. 

Louise flashed a big smile to Arche and then stopped. She wrapped her arms around Arche's and said, "Sorry," 

Arche just smiled and pinched his little sister's cheek as they walked their way to where they parked Arche's car. And after that, he drove to his new apartment. 

Louise merrily ran around the empty apartment as soon as Arche opened the door. She looked around with a big smile and turned back to her brother. "Your apartment is smaller than I thought," she said and walked towards the kitchen where Arche went straight into as soon as they arrived. 

This is spacious enough for a single man in his thirties," Arche replied as he sorted the ingredients they bought on their way to his place. 

Louise stood at the kitchen counter and placed her chin on her hands as she placed her elbows on the countertop. "Bringing in a girlfriend will give this place a better ambiance,"

Arche's place only has one bedroom, an average-sized kitchen and dining space, a tiny bathroom, and an eight square meter living room. It's a little more than twice the size of his bedroom in their house, but he likes it. 

Louise watched her brother as he kept his full attention on preparing the ingredients. Arche just finished sorting them out and stuffing his kitchen cupboard with the excess grocery supply. 

"You think so?" Arche asked without looking at Louise. 

"Uhm!" she nodded. "After breaking up with Lily, you never dated anyone again. It's almost four years. I think it's time for you to look for someone better than that b***h,"

Arche laughed after seeing Louise's annoyed face as she rolled her eyes with an evident distaste for the girl she mentioned. 

"You set me up with her,"

"I know! And I regret it, big time!" Louise exclaimed and then sighed. "I wish I could find you a perfect girl to date. Your pretty face can't go to waste," she added.

After turning on the gas stove and placing the large pan with olive oil and water, Arche opened a can of evaporated milk and prepared a clove of garlic, canned tuna, salt, parsley, lemon, and pasta. 

"You know, you shouldn't stress yourself out with my love life, Louise. I will find the right person to marry. And to do that, we have to trust the process," he responded as his hands moved swiftly with the kitchen knife as he minced the clove of garlic. He also drained the tuna, sliced the lemon, and chopped the parsley while waiting for the water to boil. Arche set everything aside and looked at Louise before adding, "Worry about your health. It's more important than anything else," and walking closer to his sister to pinch her cheek. 

"Ow!" Louise complained and winced after pulling her face away from Arche's pinch. She rubbed her cheek and said, "My health will either get worse or stay the same, Arche. I want to see you get married, at least, before my body completely gives up,"

"Louise," Arche called with a cold and authoritative voice. "This will be the last time I'll hear those words coming out of your mouth."

That sealed Louise's mouth shut. She stretched the corners of her lips to form a straight line that doesn't count as a smile and nodded. "Sorry," she murmured sadly. 

Arche exhaled loudly and stared at his sister. "Stop displaying that face; I hate it. You're not going to die," he said before going back to cooking.

Silence settled between them as Arche continued preparing his sister's favorite meal. Louise decided to stay silent until Arche finally placed a plate of tuna pasta in front of her, which made her smile widely and excitedly. 

"Yay!" Louise clapped and thanked her brother before shoving the first big bite into her mouth. 

"Eat slowly," Arche reminded and walked out of the kitchen. "Leave the plate in the sink once you finish eating. I'll fix the room so you can rest early," he added as he walked in the direction of the bedroom. 

"Okay!"

Louise is diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. Her body has always been weak, and her health condition has always been poor. But her condition got discovered recently, after her 21st birthday. Despite her symptoms, Louise didn't take her health seriously, assuming that it was only due to her unhealthy diet and lifestyle. It was her brother who noticed that something was wrong with her. 

While Louise is busy eating in the kitchen, Arche prepares his bed for his sister. The bedroom is the only part of his apartment that has been stuffed and decorated. His other stuff is still inside those large boxes outside, which he plans to set up tomorrow with Louise. As soon as Arche finished fixing the bed, he heard a piece of familiar music. The music is a love song that he remembered hearing last, 200 years ago. It was the song sung by the mermaids by the God of death's command. But it wasn't being sung this time— it's played with a wind instrument. 

The music is so clear that it sounds like someone near is playing it. With that, Arche glances over the open glass door of his room that separates the room and the balcony and sees the fireflies dancing with the soft music. And before he knew it, he found himself standing outside while watching the tiny light-carrying insects that scattered through the air. The music sounded better while standing there. And then he realized that the person playing the instrument was only a few meters away from him. 

Arche looked at the man standing outside the balcony next to his, and he smiled at him after realizing the man was watching him with evident mesmerization while playing the flute. Arche's beauty captured his attention, making the man stop and bring the flute away from his lips to smile back. 

"I must've disturbed your slumber. I apologize," the man said.

He has a well-defined jaw and a muscular body. His eyes are hazel brown in color, and his hair is black. He looks ordinary, but he has good appeal.

"No, you didn't. It's actually a good piece," Arche responded.  

Arche doesn't seem to find the man familiar, but the man thinks he knows Arche. It's because the man is Sidapa— the God of death Arche barely remembers. 

"Do you live in that unit?" Arche asked after a few moments. "I moved here yesterday." 

Sidapa nodded and said, "Yeah. I live in this unit," while staring at his new neighbor. The fireflies are still lingering outside their balconies, which makes Sidapa more curious. Sidapa ordered them to lead the missing Bulan to him earlier, and when a firefly perched into Arche's right shoulder, Sidapa's heart throbbed and asked Arche, "Do you know me?" 

Confusion plastered in Arche's face. Arche knew the song Sidapa played a while ago, but not him. He kept staring at Sidapa, but he couldn't recall seeing him anywhere, until now, in that balcony. 

"No," he answered. "Right now is the first time I saw you around this building. Why?"

Sidapa exhaled the breath he didn't know he was holding before shaking his head with a hint of disappointment. "Nothing. I just thought you look familiar," he replied. 

Sidapa wasn't mistaken when he thought he already found Libulan, but Arche's faded memory made him miss the truth. Arche wasn't lying when he said he didn't know him, but he wasn't telling the truth either. Arche no longer remembers how the God of death looks, and he wasn't aware he's been looking for him. Hence, they didn't know they found each other. 

"What's your name? Mine's Arche," Arche broke the silence as he walked towards the end of his balcony to offer a handshake to his new neighbor. 

Sidapa looked at him and hesitated to tell him his real name and see if the man who claimed to be Arche would recognize him or his human name to keep his real identity unknown. But after a few moments, he decided to accept his hand. 

"Dante," Sidapa said and smiled. 

The moment Sidapa took Arche's hand, the moon flickered for the first time after thousands of years.